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November  12,  2014 


Colleen  McFarland, 

Director  of  Archives  and  Records  Management 
Mennonite  Church  USA 
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Goshen,  IN  46526 

Dear  Colleen, 

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88:01  JANUARY  2,  1973 


We're  living  in  fractious 
times.  Polarized  is  the 
standard  word  for  it.  The 
main  sign  seems  to  be  the 
question  mark,  along  with 
the  exclamation  point. 

Doubt  and  shock.  Some 
literary  thinkers  combined 
the  signs  of  the  two — the 
interrogative  and  the  exclamation — and 
called  it  the  interrobang. 

That’s  about  the  size  of  it  today — the 
uncertainty  and  the  incredulity  . . . the 
incessant  interrobangs.  People  don’t  shake 
hands  anymore,  they  just  shake  their 
heads. 

Things  seem  to  be  coming  apart,  break- 
ing up,  caving  in.  A lot  of  people  are 
simply  copping  out.  The  religious  scene 


/hiftmQ 


today  is  one  of  fragmentation.  As  Stephen 
Leacock  once  put  it,  the  situation  is  like 
a man  who  gets  on  his  horse  and  rides 
off  in  all  directions  at  the  same  time. 

I was  in  Atlanta  recently  at  the  United 
Methodist  governing  convention.  It  typi- 
fied the  character  of  church  conventions 
these  days.  There  was  a separate  caucus 
for  every  kind  and  cause.  A woman’s 
caucus,  a black  caucus,  a youth  caucus, 
a reform  and  renewal  caucus,  a Hispanic- 
American  caucus,  an  evangelical  caucus, 
an  American  Indian  caucus. 

Out  of  this  scramble  of  vying  inter- 
ests, how  do  we  report  the  truth?  We 
simply  have  to  listen  and  relay  the  mix, 
the  claims  and  counterclaims,  believing 
that  out  of  that  clash  and  competition 
of  ideas,  the  truth  will  stand  forth  with 
its  own  invincibility.  It’s  a matter  of  con- 
fidence . . . faith  in  the  power  of  truth 
itself.  To  you  and  to  me,  to  anyone  in 
the  information  field,  it’s  a powerful 
product.  It’s  one  of  the  names  of  God. 

And  it’s  always  at  work  in  the  world, 
in  the  clamor  of  the  times,  no  matter 
how  murky  or  wild  the  weather.  No  one, 
no  school,  nor  scholar,  nor  group,  evan- 
gelical or  ecumenical,  right,  left,  or  in 
the  middle,  has  a comer  on  it.  You 
can  t pin  it  down,  limit  it,  or  cage  it  up 
in  anybody’s  compound.  It  travels  wide 
and  free,  unfettered  and  full  of  surprises. 

Nevertheless,  we  always  try  to  see 


what  it’s  doing  and  where  it’s  going.  We 
inevitably  miss  the  mark,  more  or  less, 
but  it’s  the  human  condition  to  keep 
probing  for  it.  “To,  it’s  here,”  someone 
says.  “Lo,  it’s  there.”  Buy  this,  fly  there, 
drive  that  kind  of  car,  vote  this  ticket, 
join  up,  it’ll  bring  status,  security,  and 
virility. 

Jesus  called  it  a deceptive  game,  and 
our  generation  has  learned  he’s  right,  in 
an  age  of  the  big  lie  and  credibility  gaps. 
Our  eyes  are  clouded,  our  world  won- 
derfully mysterious,  no  matter  how  we 
try  to  shrink  it  to  our  billboards  and 
technical  formulas,  and  the  truth  goes 
where  it  will. 

Our  job  is  to  keep  open  to  it,  alert  to 
its  untamed  ways.  We  can  never  say  it’s 
entirely  one  place  or  another,  in  one  form 
or  another,  but  we  can  spot  a few  things 
that  are  happening,  and  sometimes,  catch 
a glimmering  of  authenticity  in  them 
however.  Some  of  the  indicators  may 
prove  phony,  yet  others  may  point  the 
way.  We  can  count  on  the  truth  coming 
through  if  we  let  it  and  don’t  presume  to 
manage  it. 

Without  any  crystal  ball,  and  realizing 
the  pitfalls  of  trying  to  specify  trends 
while  they’re  still  in  the  making,  I’m 
going  to  give  in  to  the  old  human  temp- 
tation here  of  trying  to  make  some  of 
them  out — no  guarantees  attached.  In 
this  time  of  hurtling  mutability,  trends 
sometimes  are  highly  evanescent,  vanish- 
ing as  quickly  as  they  come.  Someone 
suggested  the  difference  between  a fad 
and  a trend  is  that  a trend  lasts  at  least 
six  months.  From  the  blurry  circuit  I 


scene/ 


travel,  I see  these  broad  religious  tenden- 
cies at  work. 

A bleak  and  self-flagellating  period  of 
knocking  the  church  from  within  is  com- 
ing to  a close.  For  nearly  the  last  fifteen 
years,  a favorite  ecclesiastical  pastime 
has  been  belaboring  the  church’s  char- 
acter, deriding  its  institutional  clumsi- 
ness, bewailing  its  faults  and  weakness, 
and  despairing  of  its  future.  It  has 
amounted  to  a virtual  orgy  of  self-doubt 
and  demoralization,  which  saw  only  the 
church’s  decline  and  decay.  In  the  midst 
of  it,  one  church  commentator  said  that 
to  be  for  the  church,  you  had  ta  be 
against  it. 


on  (he 


But  something  has  happened  to  mute 
that  mournful  tone.  The  dirge  has  gradu- 
ally shifted  to  a different  cadence,  to  a 
more  hopeful  tone.  Somehow,  they  have 
come  through  their  swamp  of  depres- 
sion and  realized  that  the  rocky  old  ark 
is  not  all  bad.  Most  of  its  crew  have 
quit  apologizing  for  it  and  quit  being  em- 
barrassed about  its  message,  and  even 
seem  to  be  showing  a little  confidence  in 
its  making  it,  after  all. 

This  doesn’t  mean  the  critical  reform- 
ing impulse  is  dead.  Continuous  criti- 
cism and  restoration  are  a constant  en- 
terprise of  the  church.  But  criticism  can 
become  something  other  than  construc- 
tive. It  can  take  on  a mood  of  collapse, 
of  giving  up,  of  failure  of  nerve,  of 
abandoning  ship.  And  for  awhile,  that 
was  the  way  the  religious  winds  seemed 
to  be  blowing.  But  I hear  a new  note  in 
the  more  careful  studies,  the  steadying 
reports,  the  stirring  anticipatory  voices, 
even  in  the  mellower,  cooperative  stances 
of  the  special  caucuses.  They  aren’t  bash- 
ing down  doors  anymore.  They’re  also 
listening  to  others,  trying  to  work  from 
within,  to  build  up  the  whole  structure. 
Scripture  calls  Christians  the  “people  of 
hope.”  Well,  for  a change  they’re  doing 
it  again. 

Of  course,  anyone  can  misgauge  the 
current.  It  may  be  a momentary  flicker 
in  the  rather  dark  picture  of  the  change 
in  modem  times,  it  may  fall  again  into 
the  bitter  backwaters.  I recall  a couple 
of  old  lines,  “Don’t  worry,”  one  fellow 
said,  “things  could  be  worse.”  So  the 
other  guy  stopped  worrying,  and  sure 
enough,  things  got  worse. 

Another  prominent  trend  that  seems 
widely  apparent  and  which  has  been  fre- 
quently cited  is  the  new  kind  of  fluidity, 
spontaneity,  and  freedom  of  contempo- 
rary religious  life.  At  first,  this  scared 
the  church  institutionalists.  But  now, 
after  a little  reflection  on  Christian  his- 
tory, they  recognize  that  revitalizing  en- 
ergies usually  have  come  in  unexpected 
and  unplanned  ways,  on  the  edges  of  ec- 
clesiastical organizations  and  also  from  ' 
outside  them. 

These  phenomena  distinctly  and  dra- 
matically are  operating  today.  They’re  , 
overrunning  and  blurring  the  old  insti- 
tutional lines.  Locally  and  nationally,  ex- 


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2 


JANUARY  2,  1973 


cept  in  the  more  enclosed  communities, 
the  flow  of  faith  breaks  across  the  in- 
stitutional demarkations,  running  this 
way  and  that,  both  within  and  beyond 
them,  infiltrating  new  zones  of  human- 
ity, mixing,  seasoning,  stirring  it  up. 

All  through  Christian  thought  and  ac- 
tion, you  see  this  going  on.  Its  headline 
manifestation,  of  course,  is  in  the  Jesus 
movement  among  young  people.  Some- 
times, as  you  know,  conventionally  re- 
ligious parents  are  shaken  up  about  it 
and  cry,  “Whoa.”  But  it  goes  on.  So  does 
the  rest  of  the  unfenced,  mobile  reli- 
gious activity,  crisscrossing  lines  among 
young  and  old — in  community  action 
groups,  neighborhood  study  cells,  coffee 
houses,  occupational  groups,  house 
churches,  campus  fellowships,  under- 


religiou/ 


ground  newspapers,  healing  services. 
There  are  the  Pentecostal-type  prayer 
meetings  among  old-line  Protestants, 
evangelicals,  and  Roman  Catholics  . . . 
the  growing,  theological  concourse  among 
church  officials  and  scholars  of  all  kinds. 
Even  Southern  Baptists  and  Roman  Cath- 
olics are  going  on  retreats  together. 

Ten  years  ago,  the  churches  had  the 
quality  of  intactness,  of  clearly  deline- 
ated jurisdictions,  almost  of  locked  gates. 
But  the  contours  of  Christianity  seem  to 
be  changing  from  the  institutional  form 
to  that  of  a free-flowing  movement.  It 
overruns  old  structural  boundaries  and 
organizational  lines  and  methods.  It  has 
become  a more  flexible,  diversified,  loose- 
ly allied  activity,  less  tied  to  predeter- 
mined customs  of  conventional  controls. 
It’s  freer,  sometimes  wilder.  It  disturbs 
some  church  leaders.  And  yet,  funda- 
mentally, it  does  not  seem  to  be  anti- 
church, only  anti-inertia.  It  wants  to 
move,  to  act  out  and  celebrate  its  faith 
with  high  heart. 

Actually,  it  resembles  Christianity  in 
its  origins  when  it  was  unattached  to 
• any  cultures,  state  systems,  establish- 
ments, or  incorporated  regulations.  Early 
Christianity  was  illegal.  Its  followers 
wouldn’t  worship  the  state  gods.  They 
were  called  “infidels,”  atheists,  op- 
< posed  to  official  religion.  It  was  mostly 
underground  business,  with  eventual 
hideouts  in  the  catacombs.  It  circulated 


without  fixed  organizational  channels, 
random,  creative,  spreading. 

Once  again,  the  church  itself  is  some- 
thing of  an  outsider.  Through  most  of 
its  later  history,  it  has  been  linked  to 
governments,  including  Protestantism, 
even  in  this  country,  despite  the  con- 
stitutional discouragement  of  it.  But  now, 
these  props  have  fallen  away  in  the 
schools  and  courtrooms,  and  tax  exemp- 
tions are  under  attack.  Once  again,  the 
church  is  on  its  own,  unsheltered  and 
unsecured  by  any  state  system  or  culture. 

And  that  situation  is  being  underlined 
even  more  by  the  new  manifestations  of 
unestablished,  transdenominational,  unin- 
stitutionalized religious  activity.  Of 
course,  this  holds  uncertainties  and  risks. 

It  can  produce  some  bizarre  aberrations, 
shallow  assumptions,  and  silliness,  but  it 
also  can  pump  some  zest  into  the  cause. 
In  any  case,  it  is  happening.  It  seems, 
for  the  moment,  to  dim  the  institutional 
gridwork  in  the  churches,  but  maybe  that 
is  simply  because  of  its  comparatively 
livelier  image.  And  that  can  t be  alto- 
gether a loss  and  may  presage  an  im- 
mense gain. 

A third  development,  and  one  which 
seems  to  be  of  fundamental,  lasting  sig- 
nificance, is  that  the  new  generation  no 
longer  worships  at  the  shrine  of  tech- 
niques and  science.  That  old  “god”  has 
fallen  as  the  dark  side  of  technology 
loomed,  and  as  bloated  consumption  and 
soaring  gnp’s  threatened  the  earth  and 
revealed  the  emptiness  of  the  materialist 
dream. 

The  young  have  rejected  quantity  and 
technical  efficiency  as  their  ideal.  The 
ambiguities  and  monstrosities  of  modern 
war,  also  have  undermined  the  national 
“gods.”  There  aren’t  so  many  idols 
around  anymore.  The  “golden  calves” 
have  become  tarnished  and  lost  their 
spell.  Strictly  empirical  thinking  no  long- 
er is  trusted.  The  young  prefer  poetry. 
This  condition  is  reversing  the  powerful 
and  overwhelming  secularizing  trend 
that  for  a time  seemed  to  engulf  us. 

The  fourth  major  trend  discernible  to- 
day is  the  swing  away  from  a predomi- 
nant church  emphasis  on  implementing 
Christian  ethics  in  action  toward  strength- 
ening its  motivational  foundations.  As  you 
know,  there  always  have  been  tensions 
over  the  balance  between  these  two  as- 
pects of  the  faith,  tagged  with  such  la- 
bels as  “social  action”  versus  “soul  win- 
ning,” proclaiming  the  faith  versus  ap- 
plying it,  working  for  personal  salvation 
versus  working  for  social  justice,  evan- 
gelism versus  action. 

You’re  all  familiar  with  that  friction. 


Maybe  it  should  be  called  fiction.  As  I 
see  it,  and  as  others  increasingly  have 
come  to  see  it,  it  is  a bogus,  misleading, 
and  superficially  defined  issue.  Christi- 
anity involves  the  whole  of  life,  not  just 
its  private  dimension.  It  pertains  to  all 
spheres,  individual  and  corporate,  and 
not  just  its  revival  meetings. 

However,  the  concentration  on  one 
side  or  the  other  can  disfigure  and  weak- 
en the  whole.  The  faith  cannot  live  and 
function  and  serve  without  its  sustaining 
source.  That  source,  of  course,  is  a deep- 
ly inward  quality,  a conviction  and  dedi- 
cation among  individuals.  It  catches  and 
burns  and  lights  up  personal  souls. 

A heightened  sense  of  the  need  for 
content  is  abroad  these  days,  and  is  in- 
dicated not  just  by  the  wide-scale  enlist- 
ment in  Key  73,  but  in  a general  resur- 
gence of  evangelistic,  teaching  emphasis 
in  the  various  denominations.  Down 
through  history,  the  pendulum  has  moved 
back  and  forth  on  the  dual  role  of  the 
churches.  It  now  is  swinging  strongly 
toward  inner  renewal,  personal  nurture, 
and  devotional  life,  toward  strengthen- 
ing and  extending  the  underpinnings. 

Evangelicals  have  made  this  point  and 
do  so  with  deepening  impact.  In  using 
the  term  “evangelicals,”  I do  not  mean 
only  those  in  the  typically  evangelical 
denominations,  but  also  the  large  pro- 
portion of  them  in  the  big,  traditional 
church  bodies.  This  element  in  Christi- 
anity is  widely  operative  and  influential, 
both  in  its  distinctive  groups  and  in  the 
seasoning  of  the  whole. 

It  seems  to  me  that  one  reason  its  mes- 
sage has  come  home  lately  is  not  just 
that  the  time  was  ripe  for  it,  but  also 
that  it  has  acquired  some  increasingly 
competent  expression.  I’m  referring  to 
the  rising  caliber  of  some  of  the  evan- 
gelical seminaries  and  faculties  and  to 


kind/cope 

the  knowledgeability  and  alertness  of 
some  of  the  evangelical  journals. 

Something  else  also  must  be  said  here. 
Evangelicals,  while  sowing  their  particu- 
lar seed  abroad,  have  also  gained  some- 
thing themselves  from  the  experience. 
At  least  that’s  my  impression,  and  many 
others  have  said  it.  It  is  that  among  the 
most  persuasive  evangelicals,  while  pump- 
ing their  special  insights  into  the  church 
at  large,  also  have  absorbed  some  tem- 


> 


THE  MENNONITE 


3 


pering  ideas  themselves.  They’ve  become 
more  sensitive  to  the  social  implications 
of  the  gospel.  While  they’ve  worked  main- 
ly to  balance  out  the  overweighted  social- 
action  preoccupations  in  general,  they 
also  have  at  the  same  time  enlarged 
their  own  vision  to  include  that  obliga- 
tion. In  other  words,  the  traffic  has 
been  two  ways. 


However,  the  main  tendency  now 
among  the  churches  generally  seems  to 
be  toward  implanting  and  cultivating 
faith  itself  rather  than  the  doing  of  it. 
This  doesn’t  mean  they’ve  quit  trying  to 
translate  it  into  living  terms  and  prac- 
tical structures.  But  they’re  bringing  per- 
sonal nurture  more  fully  into  the  process, 
recognizing  that  it  must  be  there,  first 


and  primarily,  in  order  to  keep  up  steam 
and  stay  on  course.  Moreover,  this  con- 
centration on  personal  nurture  seems  to 
be  gaining  rapidly,  both  in  the  churches  ' 
and  alongside  them. 

Just  as  evangelicals  have  served  to 
focus  attention  on  this  indispensable  per-  < 
sonal  dimension,  so  in  the  times  ahead, 
there  may  be  a need  for  those  who  will 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  tw 
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f 


4 


JANUARY  2,  1973 


guard  against  the  countertrend  going  too 
far.  Just  as  some  kept  vigil  against  over- 
externalizing  the  faith,  so  there  may 
need  to  be  in  the  future  some  deter- 
mined activitists  to  keep  the  faith  from 
pulling  back  in  secluded  sanctity,  apart 
from  the  messy  world  which  Christ  so 
loved  and  through  whose  trials  and 
abuses  he  brought  his  truth. 

In  fact,  there  already  are  signs  in  the 
contemporary  atmosphere  of  an  intense- 
ly privatized  sort  of  religion.  They  call 
it  the  “private  path.”  It  has  little  to  do 
with  anything  except  itself,  and  indeed, 
seems  to  find  its  greatest  satisfactions  in 
cutting  oneself  off  from  the  vexations 
of  reality.  You  see  it  particularly  in  the 
ballooning  oriental  influence  among  west- 
erners, in  the  Krishna  cults,  the  Zen  ex- 
ercises, the  consciousness  - expanding 
groups,  the  withdrawal  into  communes, 
in  the  drug  culture’s  barren  self-absorp- 
tion, in  the  “doing  my  own  thing”  catch- 
word of  modem  youth.  Some  of  the 
Jesus  movement,  for  all  its  concentra- 
tion on  Bible  verses,  also  seems  to  cut 
itself  off  from  the  centuries  of  biblical 
scholarship  and  shows  little  interest  in 
tackling  the  problems  of  this  earth. 

We  may  be  seeing  the  rise  of  an  exag- 
geratedly private  religious  generation.  My 
daughter  was  off  for  a three-day  retreat 
at  a monastery  this  past  week  and  she 
has  been  there  often.  I can’t  say  that  I 
blame  her,  in  the  midst  of  some  of  the 
inanities  and  horrors  of  modem  culture. 
It  makes  you  want  to  run  and  hide  and 
sometimes  scream.  A lot  of  people,  in- 
cluding some  of  the  most  sensitive,  are 
doing  it.  It’s  a private  sort  of  piety  with- 
out its  full  range  and  responsibility.  My 
impression  is  that  a great  deal  of  cur- 
rent religious  inclinations  are  headed  into 
this  enclosed,  hyperpersonal  realm — a 
privatized  form  of  faith. 

To  a degree,  it  is  symptomatic  of  the 
cut-flower  characteristics  of  modem  life. 
In  so  many  ways,  particularly  the  young, 
have  divorced  themselves  from  history, 
from  their  roots,  their  lineage,  the  lega- 
cies of  the  past.  The  past  gets  little  re- 
spect nowadays,  only  the  “now.”  This 
one-dimensional  view  is  a narrow  trav- 
esty of  reality. 

The  Christian  anthropologist,  Margaret 
Mead,  says  that  modem  youth  in  their 
attempts  to  build  a “religion  with  mean- 
ing” are  creating  a mishmash  from  ev- 
ery religion  that  ever  existed.  “This,” 
she  says,  “is  what  primitive  people  do 
when  they  first  encounter  civilization.” 
Young  people,  she  goes  on,  want  to  build 
a religion,  but  they  have  “no  access  to 
historical  religion,”  and  so  they  whip  to- 


gether their  conglomerations  without 
content  or  meaning. 

To  a great  extent,  they  do  so  in  isola- 
tion, apart  from  inherited  tradition,  apart 
from  other  generations,  even  apart  from 
each  other  in  the  intensely  private  forms 
of  their  inward  looking. 

Such  an  approach  is  not  full-fledged 
Christianity,  which  always  looks  out- 
ward to  others.  In  its  very  origins,  it  in- 
volved a sharing  of  God  with  people  in 
their  ordinary  situations,  and  of  people 
with  one  another,  of  mutual  involvement 
in  the  common  problems  and  hopes  of 
this  mortal  existence.  The  church  cannot 
abandon  this  realism  and  realistic  stance 
and  draw  back  into  monastic  contempla- 
tion, in  order  to  avoid  the  dirt  and  pain 
of  involvement  in  the  very  world  God 
gave  us. 

I see  these  main,  broad  tendencies  at 
work  on  the  religious  scene  today: 

— The  churches  are  shifting  from  a 
dismal,  demeaning  laceration  of  them- 
selves and  their  own  shortcomings  to  a 
more  purposeful,  optimistic  stance.  They 
are  beginning  to  see  the  light  ahead 
rather  than  surrendering  to  the  surround- 
ing gloom. 

— At  the  same  time,  the  old  institu- 
tional patterns  are  dissolving  into  a fluid, 
ever-shifting  pattern  in  which  Christi- 
anity, as  in  its  origins,  seems  less  an 
organization  and  more  of  a supple,  ver- 
satile, intercirculating  movement. 

— Along  with  this,  the  direct,  deliber- 
ate presentations  of  the  gospel  summons 
itself  has  assumed  mounting  emphasis 
within  the  churches,  complementing  and 
enriching  their  former  all-out  sweat  to 
inject  its  ethics  into  society. 

Simultaneously  with  this  heightened 
attention  to  spiritual  nurture  has  come 
a wave  of  privatized  religion,  largely  as 
a result  of  cultural  influences  outside  the 
churches.  Youth  particularly,  disillusioned 
with  modem  values  and  practices,  are 
withdrawing  into  a kind  of  private  piety. 
It  seems  to  reject  the  created  world  as 
a divine  flop,  discounting  its  past  and  its 
possibilities,  running  away  from  it. 

The  greatest  weakness  of  Christianity 
today  is  its  failure  to  teach.  This  was 
one  of  the  main  tasks  set  for  it  by  its 
founder,  but  religious  education  among 
Protestants  today  is  in  shambles.  The 
Sunday  schools  are  shrinking  and  most 
of  those  around  are  amateurish,  usually 
taught  by  laymen  whose  own  under- 
standing of  Christianity  is  on  a grade- 
school  level.  In  fact,  most  of  the  con- 
stituency of  the  church  has  a kind  of 
kindergarten  concept  of  their  faith.  Re- 
peated surveys  have  shown  the  over- 


whelming prevalence  of  religious  igno- 
rance. The  general  situation  is  biblical  il- 
literacy and  a virtual  blank  about  the- 
ology. 

This  is  a flimsy,  shaky  footing  for 
Christianity  to  try  to  go  on.  So  many 
of  its  representatives  have  such  a trivial- 
izing concept  of  it  that  it  is  little  wonder 
so  many  bright  neutral  minds  turn  away 
from  it.  Yet  what  they  usually  reject  is 
not  Christianity  but  the  inane  distortions 
of  it.  This  is  one  of  the  withering,  cor- 
rosive afflictions  of  the  faith  in  our  time. 

Our  young  people  go  away  to  college, 
devoid  of  religious  understanding,  so 
much  so  that  they  sign  petitions  and 
stage  demonstrations  to  ge  academic 
courses  about  it,  trying  to  make  up,  in 
uncertain  ways,  for  the  job  the  churches 
didn’t  do.  Many  others,  untaught  by  the 
church  and  disinterested  in  the  soft  soup 
they’ve  been  fed  by  it,  go  on  through 
life,  either  dismissing  the  whole  business 
or  handing  out  caricatures  of  it.  This  is 
the  deadly  weight  under  which  the  church 
labors  in  a sharp-minded  and  educated 
culture. 

Yet  ours  is  a religion  of  the  book 
and  not  just  of  sentiment.  It  calls  for  the 
brain,  particularly  in  our  day,  as  well  as 
the  heart.  I think  that  the  most  urgent 
need  in  the  church  today  is  that  it  again 
take  up  the  responsibility  that  Jesus  as- 
signed it — that  it  again,  in  earnest,  be- 
come a teacher.  It’s  what  the  kids  are 
looking  for,  but  what  they  don’t  find  in 
church.  It’s  a main  interest  of  adults, 
victims  of  scattered,  unsystematic  smat- 
terings of  theology. 

To  my  mind,  most  sermons  could  bet- 
ter be  used  just  for  teaching,  for  hard, 
candid  grappling  with  the  profundities  of 
the  gospel,  its  enigmas,  its  immediacy, 
and  its  piercing  universality.  Not  to  do 
so,  to  go  on  with  the  pap  that  now  pre- 
vails, is  to  disparage  the  concern  and 
capabilities  of  modern  people  and  to 
shrug  off  their  deep  hungers  to  under- 
stand. 

Explaining,  examining,  probing  is  part 
of  the  pursuit  of  truth,  the  struggle  to 
understand.  We  will  never  be  free,  never 
be  as  we  ourselves  want  to  be,  as  long 
as  we  are  blinded  and  blocked  by  ig- 
norance. Not  knowing,  a person  can 
never  freely  choose  because  he  doesn’t 
actually  know  the  nature  of  the  options, 
or  what  is  best.  Thus  we  are  bound  by 
our  obtuseness,  our  failures  to  perceive, 
and  so  is  the  church.  But  the  objective 
is  worth  the  effort.  It  is  the  great  goal, 
and  it  can  and  will  be  done.  “You  will 
know  the  truth,”  Jesus  said,  “and  the 
truth  will  make  you  free.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


5 


NEWS 


Society  wants  criminals,  consultation  told 


Abe  H.  Peters 

A consultation  on  the  criminal  justice 
system,  involving  the  university  and  the 
church,  was  held  recently  on  the  campus 
of  the  State  University  of  New  York  in 
Albany,  New  York. 

It  was  an  attempt  to  look  at  some  of 
the  major  issues  in  the  process  of  identi- 
fying and  dealing  with  “criminals”  in 
American  society  and  to  define  some 
priorities  for  the  church  and  the  univer- 
sity to  do  their  part  in  changing  the 
criminal  justice  system. 

Speakers  included  Daniel  Katkin,  as- 
sistant professor,  College  of  Human  De- 
velopment, Penn  State;  Marvin  Chand- 
ler, associate  director  for  Black  Minis- 
tries, Genesee  Ecumenical  Ministries, 
Rochester,  New  York;  Leslie  Wilkins, 
professor  in  the  School  of  Criminal 
Justice,  State  University  of  New  York 
at  Albany;  and  William  Stringfellow, 
lawyer,  theologian,  and  author. 

Field  sessions  and  task  forces  were 
set  up  in  interest  areas  related  to  the 
criminal  justice  system.  Field  sessions 
were  held  on  location  at  police  stations, 
police  court,  family  court,  neighborhood 
tenants’  association,  prison,  and  other 
institutions. 

The  consultation  began  by  looking  at 
the  effect  labels  have  on  so-called  ex- 
offenders. Too  often  labels,  good  or  bad, 
have  adverse  effects.  Labels  can  cause 
loss  of  jobs  and  friends,  and  curtailment 
of  social  life.  Labels  have  a tendency 
to  give  mental  and  personal  anguish, 
and  give  a sense  of  loneliness.  These  were 
observations  of  ex-prisoners. 

In  general,  man  seeks  to  live  in  such 
a way  as  not  to  be  labeled,  yet  society 
has  a way  of  labeling  to  give  it  a certain 
status.  To  live  a life  of  nonconformity 
invites  labels. 

The  over-all  question  of  the  consulta- 
tion was:  Does  society  need  criminals? 
To  this  question,  Daniel  Katkin  re- 
sponded that  labels  are  not  really  neces- 
sary, but  society  creates  them  by  mak- 
ing criminal  laws. 

The  purpose  of  criminal  law  is  to 
define  acts  that  we  do  not  want  others 
to  continue  in.  That  is  to  say  that  cer- 
tain acts  are  wrong  according  to  the 


standards  we  set;  man  makes  laws  for 
social  protection,  feeling  that  some  peo- 
ple need  to  be  put  away  for  the  protec- 
tion of  society. 

Society  is  concerned  about  being  com- 
patible with  being  safe.  Rich  people 
never  break  the  law,  they  have  the  money 
to  change  the  law  to  make  themselves 
law-abiding.  An  example  of  this  is  the 
difference  between  tax  and  welfare 
frauds.  In  essence  they  are  identical,  but 
it  is  the  welfare  fraud  that  is  considered 
criminal. 

The  whole  prison  system,  it  was  agreed, 
is  in  a deplorable  condition.  The  prisons 
do  not  aid  in  creating  a person  of  social- 
ly right  behavior.  Rehabilitation  in  prison 
is  a sham.  Yet  for  some  reason  society 
expects  new  men  to  come  out  of  our 
institutions,  forgetting  that  society  is  not 
serious  in  the  deterring  of  crime,  but 
rather  in  setting  a norm  of  behavior  to 
its  own  pattern.  Too  often  society  is 
not  concerned  about  the  “why”  but 
about  the  punishment  of  the  act. 

Deviates  are  used  to  set  social  behav- 
ior boundaries  so  that  it  can  be  said, 
“I  am  not  as  bad  as  such  and  such.”  For 
some  reason  the  more  intense  people 
can  create  and  make  the  feeling  toward 
a common  enemy,  the  greater  the  feel- 
ing of  unity  there  is  in  a common  socie- 
ty. In  short,  society  sets  up  standards 
that  create  criminals. 

Nice  people  seem  not  to  want  a so- 
ciety without  criminals.  Marvin  Chand- 
ler said  that  this  is  “a  profound  sickness 
in  American  society.” 

For  too  long  we  have  thought  of  a 
crime  solved  when  we  found  someone 
to  blame,  for  it  has  been  convenient  to 
have  a criminal,  someone  to  blame,  for 
the  easing  of  our  own  behavior  patterns. 
The  victim  is  generally  not  the  real  prob- 
lem, but  those  who  victimize  him  (soci- 
ety). Every  criminal  is  a comment  on 
the  society  he  comes  from,  as  well  as 
himself. 

Mr.  Wilkins,  considering  moral  values 
for  the  future,  asked,  “What  are  the 
values  of  the  Protestant  ethic?”  Quoting 
Trist  he  said,  “The  four  cornerstones  of 
our  traditional  morality  are  achievement, 


self-control,  independence,  and  endur- 
ance of  distress  (grin  and  bear  it).”  Mr. 
Wilkins  then  listed  the  values  of  dissi- 
dents, which  were  “self-actualization, 
self-expression,  interdependence,  and  a 
capacity  for  joy.”  He  noted  that  not  all 
items  of  these  two  sets  are  in  conflict; 
but  perhaps  the  most  difficult  to  recon- 
cile is  that  of  the  new  value  of  inter- 
dependence as  against  the  old  value  of 
independence. 

There  will  be  crime  in  1990,  Mr.  Wil- 
kins says,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped,  if  not 
projected,  that  it  will  then  be  defined  in 
terms  of  updated  value  systems.  “It  is 
important  that  we  take  more  care  to 
avoid  in  the  future  the  creation  of  prob- 
lems through  our  methods  of  seeking  to 
eliminate  them,”  he  said.  “We  must 
work  for  both  more  democracy  and  more 
technology  at  one  and  the  same  time. 
This  will  be  difficult,  but  it  is  essential 
for  survival  of  our  society  as  we  know  it.” 

Mr.  Stringfellow  looked  at  the  whole 
problem  as  a power  problem.  He  stated 
that  the  “chief  problem  of  our  country 
is  lawless  authority,  a mounting  of  tech- 
nical totalitarianism.”  This  he  then  pro- 
ceeded to  equate  with  the  scriptural 
Antichrist  of  the  New  Testament. 

Seminars  on  the  offender 
planned  in  Kansas,  Manitoba 

Two  seminars  on  the  church  and  the  of- 
fender are  being  planned  in  January  and 
February. 

Four  Mennonite  groups  in  the  Kansas 
area  are  cosponsoring  a seminar  January 
12-13  at  First  Mennonite  Church,  New- 
ton, Kansas.  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee (Manitoba)  has  scheduled  a sem- 
inar for  those  in  Manitoba  and  Saskatche- 
wan February  9-10  at  the  University  of 
Manitoba  in  Winipeg. 

Richard  Simmons,  executive  director 
of  Job  Therapy,  Inc.,  in  Seattle,  Wash- 
ington, will  be  keynote  speaker  Friday 
evening  at  the  Kansas  seminar,  which  is 
sponsored  by  the  Mennonite  Church, 
General  Conference  Mennonite  Church, 
Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  and  Church 
of  God  in  Christ,  Mennonite. 


JANUARY  2,  1973 


6 


The  Job  Therapy  program,  developed 
by  Mr.  Simmons  in  Seattle,  matches  vol- 
unteers with  prisoners  on  a one-to-one 
basis.  This  man-to-man  approach  in  cor- 
rections has  spread  to  other  areas,  and 
a number  of  Mennonites  in  Washington 
and  British  Columbia  are  involved  in  the 
program. 

Friday  evening’s  second  speaker  will 
be  Garry  Porter,  a psychiatrist  and  Wich- 
ita city  commissioner,  who  has  helped 
write  and  secure  passage  for  a penal  re- 
form bill  in  Kansas. 

Saturday  will  be  spent  in  a survey  of 
Mennonite  involvement  in  offender  min- 
istries and  field  trips  to  area  penal  institu- 
tions: Kansas  State  Industrial  Reforma- 
tory in  Hutchinson,  Stratford  House  (a 
halfway  house  for  men  released  from 
prison)  in  Wichita,  a juvenile  home,  and 
a county  jail. 

The  Manitoba-Saskatchewan  seminar 
will  begin  Friday  evening  with  a theo- 
logical presentation,  “I,  the  offender,”  by 
J.  T.  L.  James,  an  Anglican  priest  now 
on  the  staff  of  the  provincial  probation 
service.  Until  two  years  ago,  he  was  chap- 
lain at  Headingly  Jail,  a provincial  in- 
stitution. 

Saturday  morning  seminar  participants 
will  talk  about  the  present  penal  system 
with  C.  N.  Friesen  and  Henry  Dueck, 
staff  members  at  Grosvenor  Place,  a 
halfway  house  sponsored  by  mcc. 

Saturday  afternoon’s  tentative  program 
includes  a presentation  on  the  Job  Ther- 
apy program  in  Manitoba. 

More  seminars  on  the  offender,  includ- 
ing one  next  fall,  are  being  planned  by 
the  Manitoba  committee. 


India  poverty  project 
helps  provide  fish,  rice 

Raising  fish  in  rice  fields  is  a goal  of  the 
Economic  Life  and  Relief  Committee 
(telarc)  of  Mennonites  in  India.  The 
agricultural  project,  coordinated  by  Jake 
Giesbrecht,  now  has  1,000  fingerling  fish, 
which  he  hopes  to  put  into  rice  paddies. 
New  varieties  of  rice  are  being  harvested, 
with  sixty  bushels  to  the  acre  in  some 
areas.  With  the  help  of  money  from  the 
Poverty  Fund,  the  project  has  purchased 
extra  land  for  the  demonstration  farm 
and  has  begun  digging  an  irrigation  well. 


Traffic  ticket  leads 
policeman  to  MCC 

It  all  began  when  a Christian  minister 
in  Japan  violated  a traffic  law.  Taka- 
nori  Sasaki,  a Japanese  policeman,  an 
expert  in  working  with  juvenile  delin- 
quents, wrote  him  a ticket.  Relation- 
ships growing  out  of  that  first  encounter 
changed  Mr.  Sasaki’s  life  radically.  He 
left  his  job  as  a policeman  and  became 
a Christian  and  a Mennonite  Central 
Committee  volunteer. 

“In  Japan  one  seldom  changes  one’s 
job,”  said  Mr.  Sasaki’s  pastor,  Yorifumi 
Yaguchi.  “Mr.  Sasaki  had  been  working 
with  the  police  department  since  he  was 
eighteen  years  old  and  had  been  well 
paid.  But  he  was  sure  he  was  called 
to  serve  as  an  mcc  worker  and  was 
ready  to  quit  his  police  job.” 

Mr.  Sasaki  dramatically  withdrew  from 
the  police  department  in  1970  in  order 
to  do  peace  work.  “I  am  against  all  war 
and  military  training,”  he  explained  in 
his  application  for  work  with  mcc.  “In 
solving  problems  we  must  use  nonre- 
sistant  methods.  Men  must  know  that 
violence  breeds  violence. 

“I  want  to  serve  with  mcc  because  I 
want  to  know  Christ  through  service.  I 
want  to  do  whatever  I can  to  help  suf- 
fering men  and  women,  especially  those 
in  Asia  and  Africa,  to  discover  ways  to 
overcome  ignorance,  poverty  and  lack 
of  freedom  to  choose.  I believe  this  can- 
not be  done  with  financial  and  material 
aid  alone  but  happens  as  people  resolve 
their  inner  and  interpersonal  problems.” 

In  addition  to  his  police  work  with 
young  people,  Mr.  Sasaki  had  some  ex- 


perience in  rough  construction  and  com- 
mercial fishing  and  interests  in  judo,  dra- 
matics, and  creative  writing.  Although 
construction  work  was  not  his  first  pref- 
erence, Mr.  Sasaki  agreed  to  serve  with 
mcc  for  two  years  at  Bambergen,  Ger- 
many, helping  to  construct  the  retreat 
center,  Lindenweise,  for  the  Evangelische 
Taufgesinnte  Gemeinde,  a church  his- 
torically related  to  the  Mennonite  church 
and  pietistic  in  emphasis. 

In  his  work  with  mcc,  Mr.  Sasaki 
worked  hard  at  developing  his  language 
skills  in  English  and  German.  He  noted 
the  contrast  between  German  and  Jap- 
anese cultures,  too.  “German  people  have 
different  history  and  culture,”  he  wrote 
to  Peter  Dyck,  mcc  director  for  Europe 
and  North  Africa.  “But  I think  our  hu- 
manness is  the  same.” 

During  his  involvement  at  Linden- 
weise, mixing  cement  and  mortar,  laying 
and  carrying  blocks,  putting  up  rafters, 
and  laying  tiles  and  plastering,  Mr.  Sa- 
saki decided  he  would  like  to  spend 
some  time  in  biblical  studies  at  the 
Bienenberg  Bible  School  in  Switzerland. 
“Then  after  that  I want  to  go  back  to 
Japan  for  two  or  three  months  and  then 
go  to  Vietnam  to  work  with  children,” 
he  decided.  Mr.  Sasaki  is  presently  study- 
ing at  the  Bienenberg  in  preparation  for 
such  work. 

Mr.  Sasaki  is  one  of  twenty-two  non- 
North  American  volunteers  now  serving 
with  mcc.  The  largest  group  of  non- 
North  Americans  comes  from  the  Neth- 
erlands. Other  countries  include  Japan, 
Paraguay,  Germany,  Zaire,  India,  and 
Kenya.  Mcc  hopes  to  actively  encourage 
more  non-North  Americans  to  consider 
participating  in  service  programs. 


Takanori  Sasaki  {left),  a former  Japanese  policeman,  helps  pour  concrete  at  the 
Lindenweise,  a church  retreat  center  in  Bambergen,  Germany.  Mr.  Sasaki  recently 
completed  his  MCC  service  at  Bambergen  and  is  attending  Bienenberg  Bible  School 
in  Switzerland. 


THE  MENNONITE 


7 


Intentional  communities 
will  stay  in  CHM— - for  now 

Intentional  communities  and  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries  will  remain 
structurally  related  for  the  time  being, 
but  this  relationship  is  not  permanent, 
said  the  chm  executive  committee  in 
early  December  in  its  recommendation 
to  the  commission. 

The  executive  committee’s  recommen- 
dation affirmed  “the  concept  and  practice 
of  intentional  communities  as  a viable 
mission  strategy  growing  out  of  Anabap- 
tist theology  and  emerging  from  our 
voluntary  service  experience,  and  offer- 
ing some  prophetic  stimulus  for  the 
church  in  our  day.” 

The  committee  recommended  that 
chm  continue  to  relate  to  current  or 
new  intentional  communities  as  a class 
of  voluntary  service  units,  but  the  com- 
mittee hoped  that  the  intentional  com- 
munities would  explore  more  permanent 
patterns  of  relationship  with  each  other 
and  with  conference  bodies. 

The  chm  executive  committee  wrote 
its  recommendation  after  more  than  a 
day  of  deliberation  by  a specially  called 
panel  of  eight  persons  failed  to  produce 
consensus  on  a course  of  action.  The 
panel,  split  half  and  half,  gave  the  com- 
mittee two  proposals:  one  suggesting  that 
chm  continue  relating  to  intentional 
communities  with  certain  guidelines,  the 
other  suggestions  that  chm  express  sup- 
port for  intentional  communities  but  not 
be  related  formally  to  intentional  com- 
munities and  thus  not  serve  as  a tax- 
exemption  facilitator  for  them. 

The  panel  listened  December  4 to 
representatives  of  the  two  intentional 
communities  now  under  the  voluntary 
service  program — The  Bridge  in  Newton, 
Kansas,  and  Fairview  Mennonite  House 
in  Wichita  — Virgil  Vogt  from  Reba 
Place,  a fifteen-year-old  intentional  com- 
munity in  Evanston,  Illinois;  conference 
staff  members;  and  reading  of  legal  opin- 
ions. 

Some  who  spoke  said  voluntary  service 
and  the  intentional  communities  should 
continue  to  be  related  because  VS  affirms 
a Christian  style  of  life,  the  relationship 
allows  dialog  between  the  communities 
and  the  established  congregations,  the  re- 
lationship helps  congregations  under- 
stand voluntary  service,  it  provides  a 
legal  alternative  to  the  payment  of  war 
taxes  and  frees  more  money  for  kingdom 
work,  and  intentional  communities  point- 
ed the  way  to  the  future. 

Others  said  the  relationship  between 


intentional  communities  and  chm  ali- 
enated some  church  people,  presented 
administrative  problems,  was  an  easy 
way  to  get  out  of  paying  taxes,  and 
might  jeopardize  the  conference’s  tax- 
exempt  status. 

Mr.  Vogt  suggested  that  intentional 
communities  are  to  the  1970s  what  vol- 
untary service  was  to*  the  1940s. 

The  executive  committee’s  recommen- 
dation will  go  to  the  commission’s  annu- 
al meeting  in  February  in  Newton. 

Poverty  program  may  have 
consultant  for  congregations 

The  new  poverty  reference  council  of 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries  is 
recommending  to  chm  the  hiring  of  a 
half-time  consultant  in  the  U.S.  and  a 
third-time  consultant  in  Canada  to  assist 
congregations  and  other  similar  groups 
in  developing  projects  and  presenting 
them  for  funding  to  government  or  other 
agencies. 

The  reference  council  chose  this  op- 
tion rather  than  to  become  another  foun- 
dation giving  grants  or  to  do  one  major 
project  with  all  the  money. 

The  council  suggested  that,  instead, 
local  churches  make  use  of  government 
and  foundation  grants  and  federal  rev- 
enue-sharing and  that  chm  hire  con- 
stants to  help  congregations  do  this. 

The  consultants  would  help  congre- 
gations identify  poverty  needs,  provide 
technical  assistance  for  meeting  them, 
develop  models  which  might  be  used  in 
several  places,  assist  voluntary  service 
units  in  the  initiation  of  projects,  and 
blend  evangelism  and  poverty  emphases. 

The  reference  council  also  affirmed 
the  fifty-fifty  poverty  funds  distribution 
overseas  and  in  North  America  and  has 
recommended  $25,000  in  1973  for  pov- 
erty projects  in  North  America. 

Some  of  this  money  might  be  avail- 
able for  seed  money  if  a grant  would 
bring  in  more  than  matching  funds. 

CHM  staff  to  change 
Budget  to  increase 

Staff  and  budget  changes  were  consid- 
ered December  5-6  by  the  executive 
committee  of  the  commission  on  Home 
Ministries. 

George  Lehman,  director  of  voluntary 
service,  will  be  concluding  his  agreed- 
upon  four  years  of  service  next  August. 
Judi  Janzen,  will  also  be  concluding  her 
term  as  associate  VS  director  which 


she  has  done  on  an  extended  VS  term 
basis. 

Palmer  Becker,  executive  secretary  of 
the  commission,  said  new  staff  will  be 
sought  to  continue  the  strong  relation- 
ship between  congregations  and  volun- 
tary service  units.  Voluntary  service  will 
remain  open  to  persons  of  all  ages  and 
will  emphasize  the  unit  life  together. 

A recommended  new  staff  member  is 
Paul  Boschman,  who,  subject  to  final 
negotiation  with  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission  and  the  Congregational 
Resources  Board  of  the  Conference  of 
Mennonites  in  Canada,  will  serve  for 
one  year  as  mission  and  evangelism  rep- 
resentative in  Canada. 

Mr.  Becker  said  Canadian  staff  was 
getting  more  requests  about  Key  73  and 
goal-setting  from  congregations  than 
present  staff  or  provincial  ministers  can 
fulfill. 

The  executive  committee  also  asked 
David  Whitermore  to  extend  from  Feb- 
ruary until  June  his  work  with  the  com- 
mission. Mr.  Whitermore  has  been  help- 
ing congregations  become  mobilized  for 
Key  73  as  well  as  interpreting  the  work  of 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

Several  significant  budget  changes  are 
also  planned  for  the  coming  year,  with  a 
recommended  6.2  percent  over-all  bud- 
get increase.  This  increase  will  have  been 
made  possible  by  the  elimination  of  debt 
repayment  and  increased  giving. 

Recommended  to  the  commission  are 
increases  of  approximately 

- — -50  percent  for  the  work  in  Gulf- 
port, Mississippi.  Two  new  workers, 
Doug  and  Marilyn  Dick,  have  been  re- 
quested to  come  by  the  local  Good 
Deeds  Association. 

— 40  percent  in  congregational  evan- 
gelism and  service.  This  includes  con- 
sultation services  connected  with  Key 
73  and  salaries  of  Paul  Boschman  and 
David  Whitermore. 

— 25  percent  in  radio  and  television. 

— 15  percent  in  Indian  ministries. 

— 7 percent  in  peace  and  social  con- 
cerns. 

Expected  to  stay  about  the  same  are 
voluntary  service  (The  number  of  vol- 
unteers is  declining.)  and  church  subsi- 
dies (The  districts  are  expected  to  carry 
major  responsibility.) 

In  addition,  $25,000  may  be  added 
to  the  budget  for  poverty  projects,  in 
accordance  with  resolutions  passed  at 
the  demise  of  the  Poverty  Fund. 


8 


JANUARY  2,  1973 


World's  biggest— by  mistake 

Storm  clouds  hang  menacingly  over  the  Kerimaki  church,  the  largest  wooden  church 
in  the  world,  a title  achieved  by  mistake.  A fire  in  1840  destroyed  the  old  church  in 
this  small  village  in  southeastern  Finland.  The  villagers  wrote  to  Helsinki  for  archi- 
tectural drawings  for  a new  building.  These  duly  arrived  and  local  artisans  got  to 
work.  They  wondered  a bit  about  the  measurements  but  continued  building.  When 
they  were  finished  they  had  a church  for  3,400  people,  but  there  were  and  are 
only  800  souls  in  Kerimaki.  The  villagers  checked  the  drawings  again  and  discovered 
that  the  architect  had  made  all  the  measurements  in  feet,  while  they  had  been  build- 
ing in  meters.  Inside  and  out,  the  church  is  built  entirely  of  wood  except  for  the 
chandeliers,  windows,  and  the  lower  part  of  the  belfry,  which  is  stone. 


Three  films  on  Asia  planned 
for  1974  mission  study 

Three  films  will  form  the  basis  of  the 
1974  overseas  mission  study  for  North 
American  Mennonites.  Scheduled  for  re- 
lease in  1973  the  films  will  center  on  the 
church  in  India,  Japan,  and  Indonesia. 

The  project  is  sponsored  by  the  inter- 
Mennonite  mission  education  council 
and  reference  committee  in  cooperation 
with  overseas  Mennonite  churches.  Exe- 
utive  producer  for  the  films  is  Harold 
Weaver,  Elkhart,  Indiana. 

The  1974  mission  study  project  fol- 
lows the  pattern  set  in  1972  with  a 
film  trilogy  interpreting  the  work  of  the 
church  in  Latin  America.  The  Asia  film 
committee  proposes  to  do  a film  from 
each  of  the  three  countries,  instead  of 
using  a thematic  treatment  as  was  done 
in  the  Latin  America  films. 

Print  materials  for  the  study,  a series 
of  leaflets  and  leaders’  guide,  will  be 
planned  under  the  direction  of  Paul 
Lederach  of  Mennonite  Publishing  House. 
Ken  Anderson  Films,  Winona  Lake,  In- 
diana, will  produce  the  three  films. 

Cooperating  mission  and  publication 
agencies  in  the  venture  are  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church,  Menno- 
nite Church,  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church,  and  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee. 


Coptic  church  invites 
teachers  to  Egypt 

Mennonite  Central  Committee  has  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  of  the  Coptic  Evan- 
gelical Church  of  Egypt,  a church  which 
emerged  out  of  the  missionary  endeav- 
ors of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States,  to  assist  with  the 
placement  of  some  expatriate  English 
teachers  in  Assuit,  Egypt. 

Assuit  is  in  the  heart  of  the  country, 
five  hours  by  train  south  of  Cairo,  and 
has  a population  of  110,000. 

According  to  Rev.  Abdel  Malik  Mi- 
hanni,  director  of  the  Coptic  Evangeli- 
cal Church  schools,  men  are  needed  for 
a boys’  secondary  school  and  women 
for  a girls’  school  which  includes  kin- 
dergarten through  grade  12.  The  mate- 
rials used  for  English  instruction  follow 
the  national  Ministry  of  Education  cur- 
riculum. 

Fifty  percent  of  the  students  at  the 
boys’  school  and  60  percent  at  the 
girls’  school  are  Christians.  Christian 
students  study  the  Bible  and  Muslim 
students  study  the  Koran. 


THE  MENNONITE 


9 


MCC  invests  in  inner  city  loan  association  I 


Luann  Habegger 


The  church’s  use  of  its  money  is  being 
called  into  question.  Earlier  this  year, 
a report  prepared  by  the  Corporate 
Information  Center  of  the  National  Coun- 
cil of  Churches  accused  the  church  of 
failure  to  take  the  moral  and  ethical 
initiative  in  the  distribution  of  its  wealth. 
The  report  pointed  out  that  church  in- 
vestments in  companies  producing  bombs 
that  mutilate  and  sear  the  human  flesh 
contradict  religious  pronouncements 
preaching  peace. 

After  some  initial  exploration  of  its 
investment  policy,  the  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  decided  to  reinvest  a 
small  part  of  its  assets.  Several  months 
ago  it  deposited  $20,000  in  the  Inde- 
pendence Federal  Savings  and  Loan  As- 
sociation (ifsla)  in  Washington,  D.C. 

Ifsla  had  opened  its  doors,  to  the 
surprise  of  many  people,  on  July  9,  1968. 
Even  more  surprising,  for  some  people, 
is  the  fact  that  the  doors  of  ifsla  are 
still  open,  and  a growing  number  of 
customers  are  entering. 

What’s  so  different  about  ifsla?  Until 
it  came  into  existence  four  years  ago, 
no  savings  and  loan  association  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  concentrated  its 
loans  in  Washington’s  inner  city  or  had 
any  black  operating  officers  or  directors, 
even  though  69  percent  of  Washington 
is  black.  When  the  five  black  and  four 
white  business  and  professional  men  ap- 
plied for  a federal  charter  for  ifsla, 
they  were  told  that  there  were  already 
enough  savings  and  loan  agencies  in 
Washington.  No  new  federal  charter  had 
been  issued  there  for  thirty  years. 

Resistance  gave  way  when  the  organ- 
izers, determined  to  develop  the  econ- 
nomic  resources  of  the  inner  city  by 


encouraging  thrift  and  home  ownership, 
pointed  out  that  blacks  had  more  diffi- 
culty getting  direct  loans  than  whites, 
that  the  appraised  assessments  for  homes 
in  black  neighborhoods  were  less  than 
for  comparable  homes  in  white  neigh- 
borhoods, and  that  blacks  were  charged 
higher  interest  rates  than  whites  and 
given  less  time  to  pay  their  loans. 

Since  opening,  ifsla  has  seen  itself  as 
a myth-slayer.  One  common  myth  for 
example,  is:  “Loan  a black  some  money, 


and  you’ll  be  lucky  if  you  get  it  back.” 
Ifsla’s  outstanding  home  loans  total  over 
$13  million.  Although  90  percent  of 
the  loans  have  been  made  to  the  inner 
city,  ifsla  has  an  extremely  low  re- 
possession and  foreclosure  record  — a 
record  most  savings  and  loans  would 
envy. 

Ifsla  is  appealing  to  Washingtonians 
to  let  their  money  work  for  a change. 
That’s  not  a bad  thought  for  Mennonites, 
either. 


Volunteers  serve  city  youth  in  Toronto 


Amzie  Brubaker,  director  of  the  Toronto 
Service  Program,  has  prepared  the  fol- 
lowing on  MCC ’s  work  in  Toronto. 


Toronto  Service  Program  is  an  out- 
growth of  a request  by  Mennonite  pas- 
tors for  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
to  become  involved  in  Canada’s  second 
largest  city.  Mcc’s  involvement  in  Tor- 
onto dates  back  to  the  summer  of  1968 
with  the  introduction  of  five  voluntary 
service  personnel.  Now,  four  years  later, 
twenty-two  VSers  are  serving  in  two  gov- 
ernment housing  projects  and  as  staff  for 
the  Children’s  Aid  Society’s  youth  hostels. 

The  cas  hostels  are  homes  for  young 
people  who  have  come  through  the  courts 
or  simply  have  had  difficulty  in  coping 
with  their  natural  home  environment. 
Some  have  been  charged  with  drugs, 
sexual  immorality,  or  shoplifting.  But 
the  basis  of  most  of  their  problems  is 
in  the  home  and  parent  relationships. 

Mcc  provides  three  volunteers  for 
each  of  four  cas  hostels.  The  staff  is  on 
duty  twenty-four  hours  a day.  Working 


Several  residents  of  a Children’s  Aid  Society  hostel  relax  on  their  front  steps. 


in  a hostel  is  so  demanding  that  the  pay 
is  not  adequate  to  attract  salaried  staff. 
For  this  reason,  cas  is  finding  it  difficult 
to  hire  responsible  personnel.  Thanks  to 
the  dedication  of  the  VSers,  the  hostel 
program  is  considered  workable  and  cas 
has  now  opened  two  more  hostels. 

Warden  Woods  is  a public  housing 
project  operated  by  the  Ontario  Hous- 
ing Corporation.  Through  the  ministry 
of  John  Hess,  pastor  of  the  Warden 
Woods  Church,  and  others  in  the  com- 
munity, a unique  social  service  model 
was  put  into  operation.  The  Warden 
Woods  community  service  team  is  com- 
posed of  workers  from  the  Mennonite 
church,  Children’s  Aid  Society,  and  the 
Department  of  Public  Health. 

The  VSers  at  Warden  Woods  are  mem- 
bers of  the  community  service  team. 
They  meet  regularly  with  the  team  to 
discuss  cases.  Several  volunteers  serve 
as  case  aides  to  the  social  workers  on  the 
team,  working  with  families  and  assist- 
ing the  social  worker  in  any  way  possible. 
One  VSer  is  responsible  for  a coffeehouse 
for  youth.  Volunteers  also  supervise  a 
workshop  for  unemployed  men. 

Lawrence  Heights  is  another  housing 
project.  This  project  is  located  a few 
blocks  from  the  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church.  Here  VSers  are  involved  in  a 
day  care  center  for  children  whose  moth- 
ers are  working.  They  administer  a hot 
lunch  program. 

My  vision  as  Toronto  Service  Pro- 
gram director  is  to  provide  a more  ade- 
quate setting  for  VSers  to  sort  out  pri- 
orities and  to  receive  the  support  and 
encouragement  they  need  working  in  this 
city.  Hopefully  VS  is  not  only  two  years 
that  one  gives  to  the  church,  but  also  a 
step  forward  in  personal  growth. 


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10 


JANUARY  2,  1973 


Sifting  the  tradition 

Floyd  Bartel 


It  was  with  mixed  feelings  that  I drove 
to  the  Lower  Skippack  Church  to  attend 
the  services  commemorating  the  125th 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  East- 
ern District  Conference — mixed  because 
I really  did  not  want  to  celebrate  the 
Oberholtzer  split — mixed  because  I did 

* not  want  to  see  old  misunderstandings 
perpetuated.  However,  as  I listened  and 
as  I participated  in  the  well-planned 

. program  the  historical  committee  had 
arranged,  my  heart  was  thrilled  to  hear 
and  to  sense  the  spirit  in  which  this  ob- 
servance was  being  carried  on.  After 

* 125  years  God  had  been  able  to  give  us 
- enough  objectivity  to  look  at  the  Ober- 
holtzer schism  in  a reflective  and  even 
repentant  attitude. 

j.  Winfield  Fretz,  a son  of  the  Grace 
, Mennonite  Church,  Lansdale,  Pennsyl- 
vania, spoke  in  the  afternoon  about 
« how  church  quarrels  develop  and  how 
i such  group  conflict  can  be  resolved. 
He  shared,  as  an  example  of  the  effects 
of  the  schism,  what  had  happened  in  his 
own  family.  Later,  referring  to  Cole- 
man’s classic  study  of  groups  in  con- 
flict, he  analyzed  the  dynamics  of  the 
„ whole  Oberholtzer  affair  in  a most  inter- 
esting way. 

Resolving  church  quarrels  is  extremely 
difficult.  Jesus  gave  the  steps  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  Matthew  18.  But  church  groups 
are  not  always  willing  or  wise  enough 
to  submit  to  the  Jesus  way  in  dealing 
with  conflict.  Actually,  times  of  con- 
flict also  have  great  potential  for  growth 
„ and  creativeness  if  we  could  allow  God 
to  deal  with  us  at  times  like  that. 

How  are  church  quarrels  that  have 
resulted  in  such  a split  as  ours  finally 
» resolved?  Dr.  Fretz  suggested  a court- 
ship process.  Such  a courtship  might  take 
years.  But  judging  from  the  evidence. 
4 of  increasing  cooperation  in  various  ways 

* — mcc,  mds,  historical  libraries,  Ger- 
mantown Corporation,  youth  advisor 
workshops,  vbs  workshops,  eass  com- 
mittee— the  courtship  is  in  progress! 
Thank  God  for  his  infinite  patience  with 

’ us  and  for  his  reconciling  work  in  our 
hearts  and  in  our  relationships. 

John  Ruth,  the  evening  speaker,  ap- 
peared in  the  plain  coat  John  Oberholt- 
zer refused  to  wear  125  years  ago!  But 
John  Ruth  won  our  hearts  with  his  open- 
aess  and  sense  of  humor  as  he  led  us 
' in  a perceptive  reflection  on  our  expe- 


rience. About  his  plain  coat  he  said, 

“I  guess  if  I had  to  wear  it  I wouldn’t 
want  it  either,  but  now  that  I don’t  have 
to  I want  to  wear  it  because  the  tradi- 
tion it  represents  has  profound  meaning 
to  me.” 

He  asked  the  question,  “How  are 
true  Christian  values  learned  and  lived 
out  in  our  actual  experiences?”  His  an- 
swer was  that  the  committed  and  disci- 
plined community  (fellowship  of  be- 
lievers) with  its  traditions  is  essential. 
God  revealed  himself  through  such  a 
community  of  his  people,  Israel.  Today 
he  still  uses  the  new  covenant  community 
(the  church)  to  make  the  gospel  known 
through  its  witness  and  its  uniquely 
Chrisitan  life  style. 

But  as  times  change  the  church  faces 
the  challenge  of  continuing  to  be  the 
faithful  and  true  community  of  God’s 
people.  How?  Some  Mennonite  churches 
have  tried  so  hard  to  preserve  the  tradi- 
tions at  any  price  that  they  resisted  all 
change  and  not  only  lost  their  witness 
in  the  world  but  also  quenched  the  spirit 
within.  Others  decided  to  leave  the  old 
traditions  behind  and  go  contemporary. 
They  paid  another  kind  of  price — the 
loss  of  many  of  those  Christian  values 
seen  in  the  early  church  and  the  Ana- 
baptist movement  such  as  nonresistance, 
simple  life  style,  mutual  aid,  brother- 
hood, and  meaningful  discipleship.  So 
that  has  not  been  a satisfactory  answer 
either.  The  biblical  approach,  John  Ruth 
suggested,  was  not  to  preserve  the  tra- 
dition at  all  costs  nor  to  abandon  it, 
but  to  sift  it  for  each  new  era.  This  the 
Bible  prophets  did.  This  is  what  John 
Ruth  was  beginning  to  do  for  us. 

I would  add  that  the  church  remains 
faithful  only  as  she  is  brought  into  being 
anew  by  the  work  of  God.  After  so 
many  years  of  no  contact  and  no  com- 
munication between  our  two  groups,  it 
is  deeply  gratifying  to  me  to  see  the 
growing  relationship  between  the  two 
groups  these  last  fifteen  years.  We  tend 
to  disrupt;  but  God  reconciles.  Let  us 
pray  that  God  will  continue  his  reconcil- 
ing work  with  us.  Both  groups  lost  much 
because  of  the  separation  in  1857  per- 
haps it  is  not  too  late  for  both  groups 
still  to  gain  much  from  a growing  friend- 
ship! 


* 


IPF  conference  on  “third” 
world  “scheduled  in  March 

“Third  world  development  and  exploi- 
tation” is  the  theme  of  the  Intercollegiate 
Peace  Fellowship  annual  conference  in 
1973.  The  conference  will  be  held  March 
18-20  in — pending  final  planning — New 
York  City.  The  presence  of  the  United 
Nations  as  a resource  was  a major  factor 
in  choosing  the  New  York  City  location. 

Intercollegiate  Peace  Fellowship  is  a 
loosely  structured  organization  combin- 
ing fifteen  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in 
Christ  colleges  and  seminaries  across 
North  America.  The  Mennonite  Central 
Committee,  Peace  Section,  Akron,  Penn- 
sylvania, provides  an  advisor  to  the  three- 
member  executive  committee  and  serves 
as  one  of  the  sponsors.  Funding  for  the 
organization  comes  from  the  Schowalter 
Foundation. 

The  purpose  of  the  peace  fellowship 
is  “to  promote  the  cause  of  biblical  non- 
resistance  and  to  study  the  implications 
of  nonresistance  in  current  social  issues 
by  providing  channels  for  sharing  ideas 
among  the  college  peace  groups. 

Representatives  from  the  member 
schools  met  during  the  November  16-18 
mcc  Peace  Section  assembly  in  Chicago 
to  plan  the  spring  conference. 

An  action  taken  by  the  ipf  executive 
committee  in  August  1972  invites  Men- 
nonite college  students  at  public  institu- 
tions to  participate  in  peace  fellowship 
activities.  In  addition  to  staging  the  an- 
nual conference,  the  Peace  Fellowship 
during  the  school  year  publishes  a bi- 
monthly newsletter,  Peace  notes. 

The  1972-73  executive  includes  Lois 
Keeney,  a student  at  Bluffton  College; 
Dennis  Koehn,  the  first  ipf  convict  serv- 
ing time  at  the  Federal  Youth  Center  in 
Englewood,  Colorado;  and  Les  Brandt, 
a student  at  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible 
College,  Winnipeg,  Manitoba.  Ted 
Koontz,  associate  executive  secretary  of 
mcc  Peace  Section,  serves  as  advisor. 

Students  interested  in  participating  in 
the  spring  conference  should  write  Lois 
Keeney,  Box  374,  Marbeck  Center,  Bluff- 
ton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817. 


THE  MENNONITE 


11 


Mennonites  active  in  India 
drought  relief  programs 

India  has  suffered  this  year  both  from  ex- 
cessive floods  and  from  extreme  drought. 
The  drought  that  now  grips  most  of  India 
has  severely  affected  the  Telengana  area 
of  Andhra  Pradesh,  Bihar,  and  West  Ben- 
gal. Many  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in 
Christ  churches  are  in  these  areas. 

“Recently  Jake  Giesbrecht  and  I,  a 
General  Conference  missionary  at  Sarai- 
pali,  visited  the  General  Conference  and 
Mennonite  Brethren  areas,”  wrote  P.  J. 
Mai  agar,  director  of  Mennonite  Chris- 
tian Service  Fellowship  of  India  (mcsfi). 
“During  the  past  decade  of  my  tenure 
with  mcsfi,  I have  never  faced  such 
dismal  needs.  We  hope  funds  and  other 
needed  help  will  be  coming  from  both 
India  and  abroad.” 

J.  R.  Isaacs,  program  director  for  the 
Mennonite  Service  Agency  (msa),  an 
agricultural  development  arm  of  the  Bi- 
har Mennonite  Churches  and  of  Men- 
nonite Central  Committee,  and  Neil  Jan- 
zen,  mcc  director  in  India,  also  toured 
Chandwa  and  Balamuth  blocks,  two  of 
the  drought-affected  areas,  in  early  No- 
vember. They  report  losses  of  50  to  100 
percent  of  normal  rice  crops.  As  winter 
approaches  and  last  year’s  rice  is  ex- 
hausted, thousands  of  families  in  these 
areas  face  starvation. 

Msa  and  mcc  have  moved  quickly  to 
help  out  in  this  situation  by  designating 
$30,000  for  food-for-work  programs.  Un- 
til food  can  be  shipped  in,  however,  cash 
is  being  paid  for  work.  Fifteen  projects 
including  building  small  earthen  dams  to 
store  water  for  the  dry  season,  raising 
pigs,  and  digging  wells,  are  now  in  proc- 
ess under  the  direction  of  Isaacs.  These 
programs  are  designed  to  benefit  imme- 
diately as  many  people  as  possible  and 
also  to  have  future  food-production  value. 

Mr.  Isaacs  has  also  called  these  “food- 
/rom-work”  projects,  intending  that  any 
work  done  under  the  msa  relief  pro- 
gram should  develop  new  food  resources 
against  future  famine. 

In  all  of  its  efforts  in  this  emergency, 
msa  works  in  close  cooperation  with 
government  programs.  Msa  assists  not 
only  local  Mennonite  farmers.  More 
than  half  of  msa  recipients  are  non- 
Mennonite  or  non-Christian.  Many  of 
these  are  needy,  since  the  government 
neglects  them  because  of  their  remote 
location. 

“The  evidence  of  drought  is  obvious,” 
said  Neil  Janzen.  “Rice  often  stands  less 
than  ten  inches  high.  Normally  it  may 


grow  to  four  feet.  Cattle  have  been  sent 
to  graze  on  the  fields  since  the  people 
know  they  will  produce  no  rice.  Signs 
of  malnutrition,  usually  not  uncommon 
in  the  area,  are  even  more  evident  with 
the  decrease  in  food  supply.” 

The  people  work  hard  in  the  food-for- 
work  projects.  Men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren are  moving  thousands  of  cubic  feet 
of  earth.  A family  can  earn  enough  to 
feed  itself  in  that  way. 

“It  is  almost  evening,”  wrote  Mr.  Jan- 
zen, summarizing  his  visit  with  Mr. 
Isaacs  to  several  msa  projects.  “The  peo- 
ple are  weary  after  a day  of  hard  man- 
ual work.  We  met  some  of  them  return- 
ing from  the  market  where  they  bought 
supplies  with  this  week’s  wages.  Each 
person  carried  his  weekly  food  supply  of 
six  pounds  of  rice,  a few  tomatoes,  and 
some  spices.  One  man  had  bought  a trap 
to  catch  some  wild  birds.  A boy  proudly 
showed  a small  slate  he  had  invested  in. 
Someone  had  promised  to  teach  him  to 
write.  Next  week  when  he  accepts  his 
wages  he  will  sign  his  name  to  the  re- 
ceipt rather  than  leaving  his  thumbprint. 
Without  the  work  provided  by  msa  and 
mcc,  these  people  could  not  eat.  To- 
morrow and  next  week  they  will  work, 
but  after  that  who  will  provide?” 


Words  &1  deeds 


Canadian  Mennonites  have  responded 
sensitively  to  the  Mennonite  Central 
Committee’s  decision  a year  ago  to  ask 
its  constituents  to  cut  back  their  mate- 
rial aid  giving  somewhat.  Material  aid 
receipts  in  Canada  in  1972  were  one- 
third  lower  than  in  1971,  and  that,  say 
mcc  administrators,  is  just  right.  During 
the  past  few  years,  material  aid  contri- 
butions were  outstripping  mcc’s  needs, 
largely  because  mcc  was  often  able  to 
purchase  goods  abroad  for  less  than  the 
cost  of  bringing  them  in  from  North 
America.  Mennonite  women  began  look- 
ing for  new  outlets  for  their  energies 
immediately  after  the  lower  quotas  for 
material  aid  goods  were  announced.  One 
of  the  creative  ideas  that  has  emerged 
in  the  establishment  of  self-help  centers 
at  which  contributed  goods  are  sold  and 
the  cash  income  turned  over  to  mcc. 
Three  of  these  shops  have  already  been 
established  in  Manitoba,  and  Saskatche- 
wan women  are  in  the  process  of  initiat- 
ing a similar  venture  in  their  province. 


Two  drivers  covering  the  identical  1,000- 
mile  route  had  opposite  instructions. 
One  was  to  make  the  best  possible  time,, 
the  other  was  to  avoid  all  unnecessary 
risks  and  follow  the  traffic  flow.  The  time 
saving  to  the  fast  driver  was  thirty-one 
minutes  in  a trip  of  over  twenty  hours. 
He  passed  2,000  cars,  braked  1,339  times 
and  used  10  extra  gallons  of  gas.  The 
“slow”  driver  passed  1 3 cars,  braked  652 
times — with  much  less  tension  and  less 
hazard  if  measured  only  by  the  risk  in- 
volved in  passing.  Something  to  remem- 
ber when  the  urge  comes  to  lead  the 
pack.  Ministers  Life  Line 


Only  40  percent  of  all  adults  in  the 
United  States  attended  church  during  a 
typical  week  in  1971,  continuing  the 
steady  decline  that  has  been  measured 
every  year  since  the  high  point  of  1958 
when  49  percent  attended  church.  Ro- 
man Catholics  were  the  highest  of  any 
denomination  with  57  percent,  down 
from  a high  of  71  percent  in  1964.  Prot- 
estant and  Jewish  attendance  has  re- 
mained fairly  steady  since  1964  at  37 
percent  and  19  percent  respectively.  Old- 
er groups  did  better  than  younger,  blacks 
better  than  whites,  the  South  better  than 
other  parts  of  the  country.  The  number 
of  years  of  education  seemed  to  make 
no  difference.  Ministers  Life  Line 


Significant  growth  in  personal  indebted- 
ness during  the  past  twenty  years,  says 
Roger  Blackwell,  associate  professor  of 
marketing  at  Ohio  State  University,  may 
be  a key  factor  in  holding  down  church 
contributions.  Reason:  Money  that  is 
owed  and  therefore  committed  before 
paycheck  is  ever  received  is  not  avail- 
able for  other  purposes.  Note  the  dra- 
matic increase.  In  1950,  total  indebted- 
ness (consumer  plus  mortgage)  was  31.1 
percent  of  income;  in  1960,  55.5  per- 
cent; in  1970,  61.8. 


“The  interest  among  youth  is  high  for 
the  social  implications  of  the  gospel,” 
said  Myron  Augsburger,  president  of 
Eastern  Mennonite  College.  “Many  evan- 
gelicals who  once  were  silent  are  now 
becoming  vocal.”  Dr.  Augsburger,  speak- 
ing at  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
headquarters  in  Akron,  Pennsylvania, 
said,  “Anything  you  do  that  makes  Christ 
an  option  is  evangelism.  There  is  no 
theological  line  dividing  mcc  and  emc, 
or  dividing  emc,  mcc,  Salunga,  and  Elk- 
hart. There  is  no  line  between  evan- 
gelism and  service.  Our  total  life  is  part 
of  God’s  work.” 


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JANUARY  2,  1973 


RECORD 


Published 


The  Christian  and  capital  punishment 
by  John  Howard  Yoder  has  been  re- 
printed by  Faith  and  Life  Press,  New- 
ton, Kans.  The  twenty-four-page  booklet, 
first  published  in  1961,  has  been  reprint- 
ed  by  special  request  of  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  (Ontario).  Mcc  (On- 
tario) plans  to  send  copies  to  govern- 
ment officials,  since  the  issue  of  capital 
punishment  is  coming  up  for  debate  in 
the  Canadian  Parliament.  The  book  is 
available  for  60  cents  from  Faith  and 
i Life  Bookstores  in  Newton,  Kans.,  and 
' Berne,  Ind.,  and  from  Fellowship  Book- 
center  in  Winnipeg,  Man. 

Ministers 


, Larry  Voth,  pastor  of  the  Mennonite 
i Church,  Markham,  Illinois,  for  the  past 
twelve  years,  has  resigned  effective  July 
1 to  become  director  of  development 
- at  Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kan- 
sas. He  also  served  as  part-time  pastor 
of  the  Markham  United  Church  of 
, Christ  for  the  past  two  years.  Mr.  Voth 
is  president  of  the  Central  District  Con- 
ference and  is  a member  of  the  General 
Board  of  the  General  Conference. 


y 

“Mr.  Nguyu  of  Somaliland,  meet 
Mr.  Mabobo  of  Borneo.  You  two 
should  have  a lot  to  talk  about, 
both  being  natives.” 

„ ©PUNCH 


Workers 


Russel  Lloyd  Blackadar,  State  Col- 
lege, Pennsylvania,  has  begun  a year  of 
voluntary  service  in  Gulfport,  Mississippi, 
under  the  General  Conference  Commis- 
sion on  Home  Ministries.  He  is  working 
as  a teacher’s  assistant  and  supervising 
a recreation  program  in  North  Gulfport, 
a low-income  black  community.  Russel, 
a member  of  University  Baptist  Church 
in  State  College,  has  attended  Princeton 
University. 

Homer  Peters,  Bethesda  Church,  Hen- 
derson, Nebr.,  began  service  at  Bryan 
Memorial  Hospital,  Lincoln,  Nebr.,  on 
Nov.  20. 

Roberta  June  Wiltheiss,  Piqua,  Ohio, 
will  serve  for  six  months  in  the  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana,  voluntary  service  unit, 
beginning  January  4.  She  is  a 1972  grad- 
uate of  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio, 
with  a BA  in  elementary  education.  Ro- 
berta is  a member  of  the  Union  Baptist 
Church,  Piqua,  Ohio. 


REVIEW 


Calendar 

Jan.  16-19 — Mennonite  Indian  leaders 
council,  Ariz. 

Jan.  19-20 — Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee annual  meeting,  Leamington,  Ont. 

Feb.  7-9 — Council  of  commissions, 
Newton,  Kans. 

Feb.  9-10 — Annual  all-unit  meeting  of 
Mennonite  Disaster  Service,  First  Men- 
nonite Church,  Morton,  111. 

Canadian 

Jan.  11-13 — Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee (Canada)  annual  meeting,  Saska- 
toon, Sask. 

Jan.  25-27 — Annual  council  of  boards 
of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Can- 
ada, Winnipeg. 

Feb.  9-10 — Offender  seminar,  spon- 
sored by  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
(Manitoba),  University  of  Manitoba, 
Winnipeg. 

Western 

Jan.  12-13 — Offender  seminar,  First 
Mennonite  Church,  Newton,  Kans. 


Religion  and  the  new  majority 


Religion  and  the  new  majority:  Billy 
Graham,  Middle  America,  and  the  poli- 
tics of  the  ’70’s,  by  Lowell  D.  Streiker 
and  Gerald  S.  Strober  ( Association  Press, 
New  York,  1972,  $5.95)  is  reviewed  by 
Gayle  and  Ted  Koontz,  who  are  both 
on  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
staff  in  Akron,  Pennsylvania.  Gayle  is  a 
writer  for  Information  Services  and  Ted 
is  on  the  Peace  Section  staff. 

Mr.  Streiker  and  Mr.  Strober  con- 
clude that  Billy  Graham  is  a potent  sym- 
bol in  the  fusion  of  traditional  Amer- 
ican values  and  fundamentalist  religion. 
He  is  that.  But  to  them  he  is  also  a sym- 
bol of  hope — a man  who  can  serve  as 
the  conscience  of  an  essentially  religious 
America.  The  authors  argue  that  since 
the  social,  moral,  and  political  decisions 
of  the  majority  of  Americans  are  based 


on  the  social  ethics  of  revivalism  (the 
only  way  to  social  change  is  through  in- 
dividual salvation)  and  on  traditional 
American  values,  Mr.  Graham  is  truly 
“the  man  for  the  season.” 

Because  of  the  authors’  attempt  to 
present  their  material  in  a somewhat  ob- 
jective manner  by  including  both  positive 
and  critical  views  of  Billy  Graham,  for 
example,  these  conclusions  at  the  end  of 
the  book  come  somewhat  as  a surprise. 
But  their  conclusions  are  more  under- 
standable when  one  recognizes  that  Mr. 
Streiker  and  Mr.  Strober’s  real  concern 
is  to  answer  the  question,  “How  can  we 
revitalize  and  hold  America  together  in 
an  age  of  national  doubt?” 

They  see  the  blending  of  traditional 
American  values  and  fundamentalist  re- 
ligion as  a focal  point  at  which  the  new 
majority  can  gather.  They  recommend 


THE  MENNONITE 


13 


that  the  major  church  groups  should 
respond  to  the  crisis  of  the  1970s  by 
carefully  evaluating  “all  current  social 
and  political  programs  with  the  inten- 


MEDITATION 


tion  of  eliminating  those  which  ...  in- 
crease polarization  within  American  life” 
(p.  196).  They  suggest  it  is  time  for  the 
church  to  respond  to  the  majority  who 
are  more  interested  in  inculcating  spir- 
itual and  moral  values  than  in  programs 
of  social  action. 

It  could  be  that  such  a blending  will 
unite  a majority  of  Americans.  However 
Mr.  Streiker  and  Mr.  Strober’s  conclu- 
sion raises  important  questions  about  the 
nature  of  the  church,  the  nature  of  the 
gospel,  and  even  the  adequacy  of  the 
blending  of  American  and  fundamental- 
ist religious  values  for  the  long-range 
survival  of  the  United  States.  The  prob- 
lems are  related  to  the  personalistic 
thrust  of  the  traditions  which  the  authors 
see  being  fused. 

The  complex  of  traditional  American 
values,  sometimes  referred  to  as  Amer- 
ican civil  religion,  include  personal  in- 
dependence, human  dignity,  social  and 
political  democracy,  sincerity,  competi- 
tion, hard  work,  and  thrift.  An  implicit 
faith  that  America  is  ordained  of  God 
and  has  a special  destiny,  as  well  as  the 
idea  that  anyone  can  succeed  if  he  works 
hard  enough,  are  other  central  elements 
of  the  American  civil  religion. 

The  authors  characterize  fundamental- 
ist religion  by  belief  in  the  inspiration 
and  authority  of  the  Bible,  the  virgin 
birth,  the  substitutionary  death  of  Christ, 
the  resurrection  and  second  coming  of 
Jesus,  and  an  emphasis  on  individual  sal- 
vation. Such  religion  focuses  on  doctrine 
rather  than  life  in  Christian  community 
and  on  an  individual’s  direct  relation  to 
God  rather  than  on  God’s  working  in 
and  through  history  and  other  people. 

A merger  of  these  two  individualistic 
traditions  may  give  temporary  hope  to 
Middle  Americans  and  in  fact  unite  them, 
but  it  is  doubtful  that  such  values  will 
make  it  possible  for  America  to  cope 
with  the  world  that  is  emerging  and  to 
live  at  peace  with  it  in  the  long  run. 

But  to  those  of  us  steeped  in  an  Ana- 
baptist view  of  religion,  the  basic  prob- 
lem lies  elsewhere.  Even  to  be  concerned 
as  Mr.  Streiker  and  Mr.  Strober  are  with 
asking  how  religion  can  sustain  the 
American  way  of  life  seems  strange.  To 
focus  on  that  concern  makes  religion 
serve  the  interests  of  something  more 
ultimate — the  state.  Surely  this  is  wrong. 
The  church  has  a life  of  its  own  and 
exists  for  its  own  reasons.  It  is  set  apart 
from  the  state  and  its  function  is  not  to 


Thoughts  and  afterthoughts 


Lord,  in  this  new  year, 

I resolve  to  go  about  my  ways 
With  love  for  all — 
Courageous  in  deed, 

Pure  in  thought, 

Steadfast  in  loyalty — 

A worthy  image  of  thee. 


And  if  this  asks  too  much  of  me, 
I resolve  to  go  about  my  ways 
With  respect  for  all — 

Warm  in  heart, 

Honest  in  word, 

Joyful  in  spirit — 

A devoted  disciple  of  Christ. 

And  if  this  asks  too  much  of  me, 
I resolve  to  go  about  my  ways 
With  tolerance  for  all — 
Harboring  no  ill  will, 

No  resentment, 

No  misgivings — 

A trusted  servant  of  thine. 


And  if  this  asks  too  much  of  me, 
I resolve  to  go  about  my  ways 
With  sympathy  for  all — 


Quick  to  understand. 

Ready  to  forgive, 

Patient  with  others’  failings — 
An  earnest,  faithful  Christian. 


And  if  this  asks  too  much  of  me, 
I resolve  to  go  about  my  ways 
With  prayers  for  all — 

For  others’  peace  of  mind, 
Health  of  body, 

Blessings  of  family — 

A humble  child  of  God. 


But,  if  even  this  asks  too  much  of  me, 
I resolve  to  go  about  my  ways 
In  silence. 

If  I can  do  no  good, 

Let  me  do  no  harm. 

If  I cannot  love, 

Let  me  not  hate. 

If  I am  so  poor  in  spirit 
That  I have  nothing  to  spare, 

Give  me  the  gift  of  contemplation. 
That  I may  listen  for  your  voice 
And  redirect  my  life. 

Phyllis  Reynolds  Naylor 


provide  legitimation  for  it.  Mr.  Streiker 
and  Mr.  Strober’s  position  comes  peri- 
lously close  to  accepting  the  kingdom  of 
this  world  as  the  kingdom  of  God. 

In  addition,  the  religion  of  the  new 
majority  completely  misses  the  prophetic 
task  of  the  church.  Mr.  Streiker  and 
Mr.  Strober  ask  churches  to  be  even 
more  docile  than  they  already  are.  Ana- 
baptists cannot  be  satisfied  with  such  ac- 
commodation and  fence-sitting.  The 
church  must  be  prophetic,  and  prophets 
are  seldom  welcomed  by  the  majority. 
The  content  of  the  call  to  join  the  com- 
munity of  faith  must  not  be  watered 
down  in  order  to  be  popular.  Conceiv- 
ing Christianity  in  personalistic  terms  is 
one  easy  way  to  make  it  acceptable,  yet 
national  idolatry  is  sin  as  surely  as  per- 
sonal immorality. 

In  contrast  to  the  new  majority  which 
would  see  social  change  coming  as  the 
result  of  new  attitudes  resulting  from 
personal  conversion.  Anabaptists  know 


the  importance  of  the  prophetic  minority 
which  pioneers  in  new  forms  of  social 
relationships.  New  attitudes  are  neces- 
sary. But  good  intentions  alone  are  not 
enough.  A deeper  understanding  of  the 
effect  of  institutions  on  individuals  and 
models  for  more  humane  institutions  are 
also  needed. 

Finally  the  religion  of  the  new  ma- 
jority fails  to  take  seriously  the  nature 
of  the  church  as  a community  of  believ- 
ers. Anabaptist  Christians  are  convinced 
that  the  Christian  life  cannot  be  lived  in 
isolation.  While  personal  commitment  to 
Christ  is  necessary,  participation  in  a 
church  community  is  crucial  in  helping 
individual  Christians  determine  what  liv- 
ing the  Christian  life  means.  The  church 
does  not  preach  salvation,  but  is  an 
agent  of  reconciliation  in  the  world. 

Mr.  Streiker  and  Mr.  Strober’s  book 
may  be  good  sociology,  but  from  a theo- 
logical point  of  view,  their  conclusions 
leave  something  to  be  desired. 


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14 


JANUARY  2,  1973 


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LETTERS 


Warm  fellowship  at  low  ebb 

Dear  Editor:  As  we  read  The  Menno- 
nite we  find  a growing  interest  in  inter- 
Mennonite  ecumenism  when  warm  Chris- 
tian fellowship  (1  John  1)  is  at  its  lowest 
ebb  in  the  General  Conference  brother- 
hood. In  the  church,  distinction  of  Jews 
' and  Gentiles  must  disappear  (1  Cor. 
12:13  andEph.  2:13-22). 

We  have  also  heard  much  about 
Probe,  Explo,  and  Key  73,  and  rightly 
so.  These  tell  us  that  Christ  is  the  only 
answer.  Yet  Christianity  can’t  give  us 
all  solutions,  but  it  sets  goals  before  us 
' and  power  to  achieve  them.  If  gaining 
heaven  in  the  sweet  by  and  by  is  the 
only  goal  of  life— by  least  resistance- 
then  there  can’t  be  much  growth  spir- 
itually or  otherwise. 

Christianity  (or  the  Bible)  holds  ^be- 
fore us  an  infinite  growth  after  the  In- 

* finite  Example.”  “Be  ye  therefore  per- 
fect as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect. 

Once  I heard  the  Beatitudes  expound- 
ed by  an  evangelist,  and  to  my  surprise 
I later  heard  comments  such  as:  “That 
sure  was  good  for  them  over  there,  and 
“They  needed  it,  too.”  Furthermore, 

' other  comments  so  often  made  are:  “We 
at  least  are  more  mission-minded  or  more 
spiritual.”  “We  are  already  too  full  in 
our  own  church  building,  so  why  try  to 
expand  more?”  This  defeats  the  love  of 

* Christ  which  constrains  us — not  to  jeal- 
ousy or  competitive  Christianity — but  to 
increase  and  excel  more  in  love  ( 1 Thess. 
3:12  fT ) which  is  a healthy  competition. 

* The  center  of  redemption  (incarna- 
tion) is  to  save  us  from  “self”  which  in 
itself  isn’t  evil  but  can  become  a god 

\ as  well  as  nationalism,  materialism,  etc. 
The  First  Commandment  strikes  at  this 

* and  so  does  the  first  Beatitude.  The  cen- 
tral thing  we  find  in  Phil.  2:7,  “He  emp- 

* tied  himself  and  descended  (humility) 

4 but  God  raised  (exalted)  him  highly” 

(Phil.  2:9).  The  goal  for  him  and  man 
was:  lose  yourself  and  you  will  find  it 
again,  just  as  a seed  empties  into  the 

* earth,  dies,  and  then  grows  into  a plant 
or  tree.  But  a bud  may  be  a perfect 

* bud  but  still  not  a flower — it  must  grow 
first. 

Ephesians  4 is  the  best  reading  I know 
of  on  church  or  believers’  unity.  You 
have  heard  it  said,  “If  you  find  a per- 
< feet  church  (or  political  party)  don’t 


join  it  because  then  it  will  be  imper- 
fect.” Yes,  there  is  an  intellectual  and 
psychological  perfectionism  where  you 
work  out  from  yourself — in  fear  or  trem- 
bling. In  2 Peter  3:18  we  read:  “But  go 
on  growing  in  the  grace  and  knowledge 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.”  We  can’t  grow 
into  grace  but  can  only  grow  after  in  it, 
and  there  is  only  one  way:  by  the  new 
birth  (John  3). 

Paul  in  Romans  7 had  a problem  too: 
“Who  shall  deliver  me  from  this  body 
of  death?”  He  found  the  answer  as  Ro- 
mans 8 explains  it  clearly.  Ours  is  a spir- 
itual growth— the  finite  striving  always 
to  approach  the  Infinite  but  never  arriv- 
ing. . 

Such  perfection  in  love,  etc.,  is  by 
imperfect  manifestations.  A boy  brought 
his  daddy  a glass  of  water  but  two  dirty 
fingers  caused  dirt  to  trickle  down  inside 
the  glass.  But  when  daddy  drank  it  all 
the  boy  rubbed  his  dirty  hands  on  his 
jacket  saying,  “Daddy,  can’t  I do  some- 
thing else  for  you?”  Yes,  the  manifesta- 
tion of  a perfect  love. 

There  are  three  goals  for  us  in  Christ’s 
atonement:  (1)  He  gave  himself  to  save 
us  from  our  sins,  (2)  to  redeem  us  from 
the  present  world,  (3)  and  from  being 
dominated  by  self  and  this  social  order 
( Status  quo).  Why  not  give  thanks  to 
God? 

Joe  Eck,  Route  2,  Box  13,  Sedgwick, 
Kans.  67135.  Nov.  25 


Thanks  for  Meeting  house  2 

Dear  Editor:  “Behold,  how  good  and 
pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  to- 
gether in  unity!”  (Psalm  133:1).  Or  as 
the  footnote  in  the  New  English  Bible 
gives  it,  “worship  together.” 

Praise  God  for  the  “New  era  in  inter- 
Mennonite  relations”  (November  21  is- 
sue) and  that  in  the  second  joint  issue 
of  the  Gospel  herald  and  The  Mennonite 
there  was  “Rubbing  shoulders  and  touch- 
ing hands”  with  Mennonite  Brethren  and 
Evangelical  Mennonites  also. 

Surely  when  it  comes  to  sharing  Christ  s 
love  with  others  all  Christians  should  be 
able  to  join  hands  together,  not  only 
Mennonites.  It  was  said  of  the  early 
church,  “Behold,  how  they  love  one  an- 
other.” This  love  was  not  fault-finding 
but  stretched  out  and  drew  others  in. 

On  this  Thanksgiving  Day,  it  seemed 
like  a good  time  to  express  my  thanks 
and  encouragement  for  this  new  direction 
in  Mennonite  journalism.  Olin  A.  Kreh- 
hiel,  1626  South  Klein  Ave.,  Reedley, 
Calif.  93654.  Nov.  23 


Contents 


Shifting  scenes  on  the  religious 

landscape  ^ 

News  , 

Record  ^ 

Religion  and  the  new  majority  lo 

Thoughts  and  afterthoughts  14 

Letters  

Listen,  brother  16 

COVER 

American  artist  Corita  Kent  has  designea 
the  poster  on  the  cover  for  the  World 
Conference  on  Salvation  Today,  which  is 
being  held  in  Bangkok,  Thailand,  from 
December  29  to  January  8.  More  than 
300  participants  from  all  six  continents 
will  celebrate  salvation  as  a gift  of  God 
and  see  how  the  churches  can  act  with 
new  vigor.  The  conference  is  under  the 
sponsorship  of  the  World  Council  of 
Churches. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

George  W.  Cornell  is  the  religion  writer 
for  Associated  Press.  The  article  is  adapt- 
ed from  an  address  he  gave  to  the  1972 
convention  of  the  Evangelical  Press  As- 
sociation. 

Abe  H.  Peters,  Box  156,  Topeka,  Ind. 
46571,  is  a prison  minister  and,  until 
December,  pastor  of  the  Topeka  Menno- 
nite Church. 

Luann  Habegger  is  a staff  member  in 
the  MCC  Peace  Section's  Washington, 
D.C.,  office,  100  Maryland  Ave.  N.E., 
Washington  20002. 

Floyd  G.  Bartel  is  pastor  of  the  Bethel 
Mennonite  Church,  2100  Manor  Ridge 
Drive,  Lancaster,  Pa.  17603. 

Phyllis  Reynolds  Naylor's  address  is 
9910  Holmhurst  Rd.,  Bethesda,  Md. 
20034. 

CREDITS 

Cover  4,  and  9,  Religious  News  Service; 
7,  10,  MCC. 

lf  The., 
Mennonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone-. 
Area  204/888-6781 

Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100  

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 IC3; 
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R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


« 


THE  MENNONITE 


15 


Listen , brother 

As  we  look  in  on  the  adult  Sunday  school  class 
at  the  Last  Mennonite  Church  this  week,  it  is 
in  the  midst  of  its  regular  Sabbath  free-for-all,  a 
rousing  “discussion”  on  the  theme  of  the  morning. 

Gladys,  after  a number  of  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts, finally  has  the  floor.  She  pauses  mo- 
mentarily in  the  middle  of  her  little  speech  to 
ponder  her  choice  of  words,  but  before  she  can 
continue,  George  has  jumped  in  with  a little 
quip  on  something  that  the  previous  speaker  said. 
We  are  informed  later  that  he  manages  to  squeeze 
in  several  such  sundry  comments  every  Sunday. 

As  George’s  voice  lowers,  apparently  signaling 
the  completion  of  his  contribution  for  this  round, 
John  deftly  times  his  entry  into  the  discussion 
so  that  he  is  already  in  full  swing  by  the  time 
his  classmate  is  putting  a period  on  his  final 
sentence. 

As  John  holds  forth,  three  or  four  others  in 
the  class  are  making  mental  preparations  to  edge 
into  the  conversation  just  as  soon  as  he  shows 
signs  of  faltering. 

By  the  end  of  the  “education”  hour,  a host  of 
tantalizing  and  tentative  insights  and  questions 
and  partially  articulated  personal  needs — many  of 
them  crying  for  clarification  and  elaboration — 
have  floated  past  the  ears  of  the  class  members, 
but  few  of  them  are  comprehended. 

The  foregoing  parody  of  the  dearth  of  careful 
listening  in  and  by  the  church  community  is  over- 
drawn of  course,  but  the  problem  nevertheless  is 
real.  Consider  the  following  examples: 

Item.  Philip  Potter  is  a black  Jamaican  Bible 
scholar  and  church  administrator.  He  was  re- 
cently appointed  to  the  top  executive  staff  posi- 
tion in  the  World  Council  of  Churches.  He  told 
a Canadian  audience  earlier  this  winter  that  the 
western  Christians’  failure  to  seek  the  counsel  of 
third  world  people  before  moving  into  their  com- 
munities with  elaborate  development  schemes  is 
deeply  disturbing  to  the  recipient  peoples.  This 
attitude  which  assumes  that  it  has  all  the  answers 
and  that  it  does  not  need  to  listen  to  the  people 
who  are  to  be  served  is  nothing  short  of  idola- 
trous, said  Dr.  Potter. 

Item.  A young  Indian  author  from  Alberta, 
Harold  Cardinal,  has  written  a book  entitled 
The  unjust  society.  In  it  he  has  this  to  say  about 
white  man’s  inability  to  listen. 


“Until  very  recently  white  man  has  expected 
Indians  to  do'  all  the  listening.  Indians,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  felt  that  the  white  man  just 
couldn’t  shut  up  long  enough  to  listen.  . . . We 
want  the  beginnings  of  real  purposeful  dialog 
with  non-Indian  people  and  government  repre- 
sentatives in  order  to  get  on  with  the  business 
of  solving  some  of  the  most  basic  difficulties 
that  we  face.” 

Item.  Canadian  Mennonites  sent  a sizable  dele- 
gation to  the  Peace  Section  assembly  in  Chicago 
in  November.  A number  of  them,  especially  stu- 
dents at  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College, 
worked  hard  to  outline  some  of  the  Canadian 
and  international  issues  which  they  hoped  might 
be  added  to  the  list  of  perennial  U.  S.  issues  with 
which  the  Peace  Section  has  been  preoccupied 
for  years. 

The  Canadian  group  came  home  frustrated. 
They  reported  that  they  had  been  given  time  on 
the  program  and  they  had  been  applauded  po- 
litely, but  as  soon  as  they  were  finished  the 
discussion  reverted  once  more  to  the  problems 
of  Indochina,  the  draft,  war  taxes,  and  other 
U.S.  problems.  There  was  no  question  in  the 
Canadian  delegates’  minds  about  the  crucial  im- 
portance of  these  issues,  but  they  felt  it  was 
time  that  the  Peace  Section,  as  an  international 
agency,  add  some  new  items  to  its  agenda. 

Item.  One  of  the  keen  disappointments  which  a 
number  of  people  in  Saskatoon  experienced  after 
their  renewal  a year  ago  was  the  quick  demise 
of  the  sharing  periods  soon  after  they  were  begun. 
The  sharing  experiences  at  worship  services  and 
in  small  groups  had  been  stimulated  by  the 
afterglow  meetings  held  regularly  during  the  re- 
vival last  year. 

One  member  of  a Mennonite  congregation  put 
it  this  way:  “There  was  a real  readiness  to  share 
frankly  and  openly  with  each  other.  Everyone 
was  ready  to  talk,  but  no  one  seemed  to  be 
ready  to  listen.”  Thus,  one  of  the  most  hopeful 
elements  of  the  renewal  died. 

We  can’t  do  without  words  in  our  worship, 
witness,  and  everyday  intercourse,  but  no  matter 
how  thoughtfully  or  emotionally  these  words  are 
conceived  they  will  be  stillborn  if  no  one  pours 
the  creative  breath  of  life  into  them  by  listening. 

Let  those  who  have  ears  listen,  lk 


ELKHART 

library 


TW 

Mennoiiite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:02  JANUARY  9,  1973 


Bibles  for  smuggling 


Gerald  Studer 

“Sixty-one  Bibles  and  New  Testaments 
go  into  Russia  in  a large  jam  container!” 
— -“Twenty-one  New  Testaments  into 
Russia  in  a hollowed-out  wooden  leg.” 
— “She  traveled  6,000  miles  across  Rus- 
sia in  search  of  a Bible!” — “How  we 
send  thousands  of  Gospels  into  Russia.” 

Such  headlines  have  an  intrinsic  ap- 
peal. The  very  idea  of  “smuggling”  fas- 
cinates most  people.  The  stories  behind 
these  headlines  move  “free”  Christians 
to  admire  and  sympathize  with  the  per- 
secuted believers — and  to  be  incensed 
with  the  persecutors.  If  smuggling  is  not 
always  justified,  surely  it  must  be  war- 
ranted, they  feel,  when  behind  the  re- 
pression lies  an  enslaving  and  aggressive 
atheism.  This  situation  has  prompted  the 
development  of  various  strategies  to  get 
around,  under,  or  over  the  severe  com- 
munist regulations  against  both  the  pub- 
lication of  Bibles  within  the  communist- 
dominated  countries  and  the  importa- 
tion of  such  from  without. 

The  history  of  the  printing  and  dis- 
tribution of  the  Bible  is  peppered  with 
smuggling.  A book  on  the  current  chil- 
dren’s book  market.  The  Bible  smuggler 
(Herald  Press),  tells  the  story  of  Wil- 
liam Tyndale  and  his  clandestine  efforts 
to  provide  Bibles  in  the  vernacular  to 
the  English  populace  at  a time  in  the 
1500s  when  there  were  stringent  prohi- 
bitions against  it.  Christians  have  noth- 
ing but  admiration  and  gratitude  for 
Tyndale’s  heroic  efforts.  But  surely  the 
method  cannot  be  given  a blanket  en- 
dorsement. Each  case  must  be  evaluated 
in  light  of  the  total  situation  and  the 
“success”  must  be  judged  in  view  of  the 
broader  implications. 

Today,  missionaries  stationed  in  Hong 
Kong  report  that  copies  of  a miniature 
Chinese  New  Testament  have  been  taken 
back  into  China  by  elderly  Chinese 
women  who  are  permitted  to  visit  their 
relatives  outside  the  so-called  bamboo 
curtain.  Some  return  to  China  with  these 
little  books  concealed  in  the  folds  of 


their  dresses.  These  New  Testaments 
were  not  published  to  facilitate  smug- 
gling but  rather  because  their  small  size 
appeals  to  youth  and  to  anyone  who 
desires  compactness  of  size  and  light- 
ness in  weight. 

Many  Christian  travelers  to  Russia 
have  successfully  taken  one  or  two 
Testaments  or  Bibles  in  their  personal 
luggage  and  left  them  with  the  believers 
they  met  there.  They  have  done  this  in 
the  spirit  of  giving  a gift  to  a friend 
and  not  with  any  intention  to  smuggle, 
even  though,  to  be  sure,  the  scarcity  of 
such  books,  available  in  the  country 
made  the  gift  all  the  more  a treasure 
to  the  recipient. 

Undoubtedly,  many  Christians  in  the 
Americas  and  Europe  are  not  concerned 
enough  about  their  brothers  and  sisters 
in  communist  countries.  We  have  not 
been  imaginative  enough  in  exploring 
ways  to  learn  from  each  other  and 
share  with  one  another  our  faith  and 
support.  But  such  attempts  should  have 
a maximum  of  integrity  so  that  the 
greatest  good  is  ministered  to  the  great- 
est possible  number  of  the  Christians 
there.  It  is  not  enough  that  we  enjoy 
taking  the  risk  of  a method  if  it  may 
bring  harm  to  our  fellow-Christans! 

The  situation  in  iron  curtain  countries 
is  constantly  changing.  Policies  can  be 
quite  different  at  any  given  time  from 
one  country  to  another,  and  even  from 
one  checkpoint  to  another  within  the 
same  country. 

There  was  a time  several  years  ago 
when  one  relief  work  officer  of  my  ac- 
quaintance entered  Russia  at  Moscow 
for  a thirty-day  visit.  He  purposely  took 
a number  of  Bibles,  Testaments,  and 
concordances  with  him.  When  his  bag- 
gage was  examined  upon  arrival,  the 
Russian  officer  pointed  out  that  since  he 
would  be  in  the  country  for  so  many 
days  and  traveling  widely,  surely  he 
would  not  want  to  be  burdened  with  all 
these  books.  Consequently  the  officer 


politely  confiscated  the  books  except  for 
one  or  two  copies  of  each.  Upon  leaving 
the  country  a month  later  at  a point 
more  than  a 1,000  miles  from  his  point  , 
of  entry,  my  friend  was  approached  by 
name  by  a Russian  official  and  given  a > 
package  containing  all  the  books  that  v 
had  been  retained  four  weeks  earlier. 

More  recently  this  same  relief  officer 
visited  a major  city  in  Poland  where  the  * 
national  branch  of  the  United  Bible  So- 
cieties has  a store  on  a main  street,  from 
which  Bibles  and  other  religious  mate- 
rials are  sold  without  limit  or  surveil- 
lance. A Christian  that  my  friend  spoke 
with  there  eloquently  lamented  the  way 
western  Christian  organizations  use  (mis-  * 
use!)  the  Bible  to  fight  communism  and 
thereby  spoil  the  climate  for  better  con- 
ditions for  the  believers  in  such  coun- 
tries. 

One  low-keyed  strategy  to  get  Bibles 
to  Russian  Christians  was  devised  by 
Steve  Durasolf,  a professor  at  Oral  Rob- 
erts University.  Several  years  ago,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Christian  century,  Mr.  Dura- 
solf offered  a free  Bible  in  the  Russian 
language  to  anyone  planning  to  visit 
the  USSR,  provided  they  would  take  it 
with  them  and  leave  it  in  Russia  when 
they  left.  Apparently  this  approach  was 
sufficiently  successful  in  Mr.  Durasoff’s 
mind  to  merit  making  this  offer  a num- 
ber of  years  in  a row. 

However,  a large  group  of  visitors 
from  Oral  Roberts  University  not  long 
ago  were  detained  at  the  border  and 
were  found  to  be  carrying  many  con- 
cealed Bibles.  The  customs  officers  dis- 
covered them  in  coatlinings,  as  well  as 
in  suitcases  and  pockets.  The  whole  in- 
cident was  an  embarrassment,  and  it  was 
nip  and  tuck  whether  the  travelers 
would  be  allowed  to  proceed  with  theif 
visit. 

Another  factor  that  put  the  Russian 
communist  attitude  toward  the  Bible  in 
the  limelight  in  the  western  world  was 
the  publication  in  1967  of  the  book  i 


18 


JANUARY  9,  1973 


God’s  smuggler  (New  American  Li- 
brary). This  recounted  the  story  of  a 
Dutchman  who  operates  under  the  pseu- 
donym “Brother  Andrew.”  More  than 
a decade  ago  he  pioneered  in  a ministry 
of  smuggling  Bibles  to  believers  in  com- 
munist countries  and  preaching  to  un- 
derground gatherings  of  Christians.  This 
work  and  book  are  cited  here  not  to 
question  the  factual  accuracy  of  its  fas- 
cinating story  but  rather  to  suggest  that 
it  might  have  been  far  better  for  our 
Russian  brothers  in  Christ  had  that 
true  story  never  been  told.  No  country 
likes  to  see  its  officers  and  policies  made 
to  look  ridiculous.  Consequently,  when 
this  happens,  it  is  likely  that  retaliatory 
measures  will  be  taken.  Such  measures 
are  meted  out  not  simply  upon  the 
beneficiaries  of  such  “underground  min- 
istry” but  against  all  Christians  in  the 
land.  It  is  probably  not  coincidental 
that  Brother  Andrew  no  longer  goes  to 
communist  countries.  Others  are  going 
for  him;  apparently  his  bridges  have  been 
burned  some  time  ago. 

A third  factor  that  contributes  to 
Bible-smuggling  campaigns  is  the  viru- 
lent anticommunism  of  many  western 
Christians.  Right-wing  coast-to-coast 
broadcasters  like  Carl  Mclntire  and  Billy 
James  Hargis  inflame  the  emotions  of 
their  listeners,  creating  an  audience  that 
will  gladly  support  the  most  questionable 
schemes  for  combatting  communism. 

What  confuses  the  issue  further  is 
the  fact  that  the  Russian  Government 
has  published  the  Bible  in  relatively 
small  editions  from  time  to  time.  Ob- 


servers outside  the  iron  curtain  insist 
upon  interpreting  this  as  a ruse  on  the 
part  of  the  government  to  support  the 
claim  that  they  honor  freedom  of  reli- 
gion. Yet  the  delegations  representing  the 
Russian  Orthodox  or  Evangelical  Bap- 
tist churches  of  Russia  that  have  visited 
the  United  States  from  time  to  time  tes- 
tify to  the  fact  that  Bibles  are  available 
to  them  in  their  country  and  at  modest 
prices.  Many  Christians  in  the  West  in- 
sist upon  reading  any  number  of  things 
between  the  lines  of  such  statements — 
e.g.,  that  this  is  only  partially  true,  or 
that  they  must  answer  that  way,  or 
that  it  is  patently  untrue  and  that  the 
delegates  are  not  Christians  in  fact  but 
rather  Russian  “spies,”  etc. 

In  support  of  the  hunger  for  biblical 
material  in  Russia  was  the  United  Press 
International  story  from  Moscow  in  1966 
which  reported  the  sell-out  in  a matter 
of  minutes  of  100,000  copies  of  a com- 
pendium of  Old  Testament  stories.  It 
nevertheless  remains  to  be  shown  that 
smuggling  is  the  best  response  to  this 
hunger. 

One  of  the  best-publicized  smuggling 
organizations  is  Underground  Evange- 
lism, headquartered  in  Glendale,  Cali- 
fornia, and  headed  by  Founder-Presi- 
dent L.  Joe  Bass.  UE’s  main  emphasis 
is  that  Christian  workers  behind  the 
iron  curtain,  who  are  eager  to  witness 
and  work  for  the  Lord,  lack  the  neces- 
sary tools,  particularly  Bibles  and  other 
Christian  literature.  UE  finances  and 
publishes  this  material  and  mails,  smug- 
gles and  delivers  it  by  any  means  possi- 


Vinyl-bound small  Russian  Bible  printed  in  Europe  for  smuggling  into  the  Soviet 
Union. 


ble.  Every  copy  of  UE’s  multicolored 
monthly  magazine  carries  an  orthodox 
statement  of  faith  plus  an  impressive 
list  of  board-of-reference  members,  sev- 
eral of  whom  are  nationally  known 
among  evangelicals.  In  addition,  two 
widely  known  pastor-authors  have  been 
featured  in  the  UE  magazine,  shown 
conferring  with  Mr.  Bass  on  the  publica- 
tion of  their  books  for  distribution  be- 
hind the  iron  curtain.  The  association 
of  these  prominent  leaders  has  done 
much  to  establish  UE’s  integrity  in  the 
minds  of  thousands  of  supporters. 

This  nondenominational  organization 
emphasizes  that  it  is  performing  a mis- 
sionary work  of  utmost  urgency  that 
is  seemingly  overlooked  by  the  historic 
denominations.  The  monthly  magazine 
brandishes  sensational  headlines  such  as 
“God’s  word  for  the  enslaved  peoples 
of  the  communist  world,”  “Mission  to 
Siberia,”  “The  amazing  story  of  Sergei 
Kourdakov,”  and  “214,000  Bibles  and 
New  Testaments  alone  coming  from 
presses  in  next  two  months.” 

The  “perfect  Bible”  which  UE  has 
developed  for  sending  into  the  commu- 
nist lands  has  four  major  features:  1) 
pocket-size  in  width  and  height  and  as 
thin  and  lightweight  as  possible — the 
better  to  pack  into  small  places;  2)  cov- 
ers of  an  extremely  strong  vinyl  material; 
3)  large  type  which  is  made  possible  in 
spite  of  small  size  by  removing  all  mar- 
gins and  letting  the  print  run  to  the 
edge  of  the  page — an  exaggeration  as 
the  photo  of  one  such  Bible  shows;  and 
finally  4)  no  identification  of  either  pub- 


Title  page  of  the  1968  edition  of  the 
Bible  published  in  Moscow  for  the  Evan- 
gelical Christian  Baptists. 


THE  MENNONITE 


19 


Illustrated  jacket  of  a compendium  of  Old  Testament  stones 
issued  in  Moscow  in  1966  by  the  state-operated  press. 


lisher  or  country  of  origin.  These  Bibles 
are  printed  in  Europe. 

In  addition  to  the  publication  and 
distribution  of  Bibles  and  Testaments  in 
several  languages  of  communist  lands 
(Russian,  Ukrainian,  Romanian,  etc.), 
UE  also  has  a program  to  mail  portions 
of  Scripture  in  ordinary  letter  envelopes 
to  a wide  span  of  recipients.  Hear  their 
own  description  of  this  program: 

“They  are  sent  to  four  free  countries 
in  western  Europe  where  Christians 
hand-address  the  envelopes  in  different 
colors  of  ink,  insert  the  Gospels,  put 
different  kinds  of  postage  stamps  on, 
and  mail  from  different  nearby  towns 
at  different  times  of  the  month.  Every- 
thing is  highly  organized  to  appear  un- 
organized— and  get  by  Russian  censors. 
The  Russian  addresses  are  both  Chris- 
tians whose  addresses  have  been  given 
us,  and  unsaved  peoples  taken  from  tel- 
ephone directories.  ...  To  make  sure 
they  arrive  safely,  some  are  sent  to 
friends  in  Russia  who  write  back,  con- 


firming in  code  that  the  Gospels  have 
arrived.  . . . Almost  all  arrive  safely 

UE  has  featured  in  its  magazine  a 
number  of  men,  former  Christian  work- 
ers in  communist  countries,  whose  testi- 
monies revolve  around  grueling  stories 
of  imprisonment  and  torture.  Each  in 
turn  has  served  on  UE’s  staff  as  a key 
man,  then  has  broken  with  UE  and 
moved  on. 

Richard  Wurmbrand  was  one  of  the 
first  ex-prisoners  to  be  featured  in  UE’s 
magazine  (July  1966),  barely  half  a 
year  after  his  release-by-ransom  from 
Romania.  He  left  Bass  in  March  1967, 
complaining  about  inadequate  account- 
ing of  funds  and  “false  claims”  about 
the  scope  of  UE’s  work  behind  the 
iron  curtain. 

In  a special  letter  circulated  to  sup- 
porters in  May  1970,  Mr.  Wurmbrand 
offered  twelve  principles  for  distinguish- 
ing between  organizations  which  can  be 
trusted  and  those  which  cannot.  Exam- 


ples: “Beware  of  every  organization 
which  pushes  for  money.  . . . Beware 
of  every  organization  which  publishes 
pictures  of  books  or  other  items  smug- 
gled into  communist  countries.  . . . Such 
pictures  are  a deadly  danger  for  be-  ■ | 
lievers  in  communist  countries.  ... 
Beware  of  every  organization  which 
exaggerates.  . . . Don’t  allow  yourself 
to  be  deceived  by  big  names  on  a board 
of  reference.” 

Mr.  Wurmbrand’s  own  organization 
is  known  as  “Jesus  to  the  Communist  ' ■ 
World,  Inc.”  Headquartered  in  Glen- 
dale, California  (where  it  is  within  walk-  ’ 
ing  distance  of  UE’s  offices),  it  claims  ’’  | 
to  be  represented  in  some  thirty  coun- 
tries of  the  free  world.  , j 

This  vast  representation  apparently  is 
an  outgrowth  of  Mr.  Wurmbrand’s  long 
affiliation  with  the  European  Christian 
Mission,  founded  sixty-eight  years  ago.  "-'I 
It  was  the  European  Christian  Mission 
which  helped  him  get  established  in  the 
West  after  his  release  from  Romania. 

The  ecm  consists  of  about  twenty-five 
missions  working  in  various  countries,  -if1 
each  administered  locally  and  indepen- 
dently. Mr.  Wurmbrand,  of  course,  does  -'1 
not  have  administrative  control  of  these 
missions,  even  though  he  maintains  some 
kind  of  workmg  association  with  them. 

Mr.  Wurmbrand  catapulted  into  the 
spotlight  in  May  1966  when  he  appeared  d 
before  the  U.S.  Senate  internal  security 
subcommittee  investigating  communist  sj 
strategy.  He  stripped  to  the  waist  to 
show  committee  members  eighteen  scars 
from  torture  inflicted  by  his  jailers  dur-  > 
ing  two  long  periods  (eight  years  and 
six  years)  of  imprisonment.  “My  body 
represents  Romania,  my  country,”  ex- 
plained the  witness,  “which  has  been  tor-  -J! 
tured  to  a point  that  it  can  no  longer 
weep.”  | 

In  the  next  two  years  Mr.  Wurm- 
brand  also  appeared  before  the  U.S. 
House  of  Representatives’  committee  on 
un-American  activities,  the  right-wing  U:_| 
“Court  of  world  public  opinion”  which 
placed  world  communism  on  trial,  and 
numerous  local  rallies  including  some 
sponsored  by  Billy  James  Hargis’  ultra- 
right Christian  Crusade.  * 

Although  Mr.  Wurmbrand  outgrew 
the  support  of  his  right-wing  sponsors,  % 
his  own  literature  continued  to  empha- 
size the  sensational.  Certain  incidents 
of  martyrdom  and  persecution,  first  re- 
ported by  such  authoritative  sources  as 
Religion  in  communist-dominated  coun- 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


A 


20 


JANUARY  9,  1973 


tries,  have  been  picked  up  and  featured 
by  Mr.  Wurmbrand  repeatedly  and  con- 
tinue to  be  used  years  later  to  elicit 
reader  support.  For  instance,  Nicolai 
Kbmara,  who  was  viciously  tortured  and 
martyred  in  January  1964,  was  featured 
in  a promotional  mailing  as  recently  as 
October  1972. 

Mr.  Wurmbrand  is  also  a principal 
source  of  the  rumor  that,  in  order  to  si- 
lence Watchman  Nee,  “the  communists 
gouged  out  his  eyes,  cut  off  his  tongue, 
and  also  cut  off  both  hands.”  This  story 
is  false  and  was  reported  so  at  the  time. 

His  promotional  style  and  his  method 
of  operation  are  revealed  by  the  follow- 
ing encounter  between  an  executive  of 
l an  international  relief  organization  and 
Mr.  Wurmbrand’s  son  Michael.  The 
executive  was  inquiring  about  a recent 
Wurmbrand  publication  that  pictured  . . . 
the  cockpit  of  an  airplane  with  only 
instrument  panel  and  the  backs  of  a pilot 
and  copilot  showing.  The  caption  ran: 

* “This  airplane  brought  in  one  day 
160,000  copies  of  Gospels  and  tracts 
through  a communist  country.  Planes 
accompanied  by  angels  are  not  detected 
by  radar.  We  are  sorry  not  to  be  able 
to  disclose  more  about  this  type  of  work.” 

The  inquirer  told  young  Mr.  Wurm- 
brand that  he  had  considerable  difficulty 
figuring  out  how  the  whole  scheme  had 
been  carried  off.  He  tried  to  visualize  a 
plane  crossing  into  Russia  without  being 
detected  and,  furthermore,  actually  land- 
ing somewhere  and  unloading  all  the 
quantity  of  Scripture  which  would  then 
presumably  be  transported  somewhere 
else  where  it  would  be  distributed  with- 
out detection  by  either  local  population 
or  the  police. 

Michael  Wurmbrand  quickly  showed 
his  visitor  a map  on  which  the  route  of 
' the  airplane  was  sketched  in  with  a felt 
pen.  The  plane  had  left  Fairbanks,  Alas- 
ka, and  gone  out  over  the  Bering  Strait 
almost,  but  not  quite,  to  the  coast  of 

* Russia.  As  anyone  may  check  for  him- 
self, that  is  not  a great  distance.  Then  the 
plane  turned  and  dumped  the  Bibles 

- and  Christian  literature  into  the  ocean. 
Young  Wurmbrand  showed  his  in- 
credulous listener  a sample  of  the  kind 
..  of  package  in  which  these  items  had 
been  sealed.  It  was  a clear  plastic  en- 
■ velope  containing  three  items:  a Gospel 
of  Luke,  a drinking  straw,  and  a stick 
of  chewing  gum.  He  explained  that  the 

• straw  gave  buoyancy  to  the  plastic  en- 
velope and  kept  it  floating  while  the 
chewing  gum  was  a greeting  from 

' America.  The  waves  would  wash  the 

• packages  on  shore  and  the  people  would 


pick  them  up.  It  was  all  that  simple. 
To  be  sure,  the  caption  leads  a reader 
to  imagine  an  entirely  different  kind 
of  story. 

It  must  be  recognized  that  the  pro- 
grams of  Bible-smuggling  organizations 
generally  include  other  ministries  such 
as  radio  broadcasting  into  communist 
countries,  support  of  national  Christian 
workers  within  communist  countries,  and 
relief  work.  It  also  must  be  realized 
that  in  questioning  the  tactics  of  some 
organizations  we  intend  no  disservice 
to  the  more  balanced  and  less  publicized 
ministries  of  various  denominational,  in- 
terdenominational, and  independent  or- 
ganizations. Our  principal  question  is 
simply  this:  How  worthy  is  it  to  exploit 
the  natural  curiosity  and  antipathies  of 
Christian  people  with  sensational  stories 
of  aggressive  maneuvers  which  handicap 
the  cause  of  Christ  in  communist  lands? 

Even  while  this  article  was  in  prep- 
aration, I received  a mass  mailing  from 
yet  another  organization  formed  to 
smuggle  Bibles  to  communist  countries 
with  a plea  which  sounds  typical.  It 
too  claims  to  be  international,  saying 
“This  broad  program  for  pastors  has 
received  enthusiastic  reception  in  the 
United  States,  Canada,  and  Great  Britain 
both  because  of  the  crucial  needs  ex- 
pressed and  the  exciting  alternative  ways 
to  help.  By  God’s  grace  and  with  YOUR 
HELP  we  ARE  GOING  THROUGH 
the  closed  doors  of  the  iron  curtain, 
which  are  the  ‘Gates  of  Hell.’  ” 

These  smuggling  organizations  are  as- 
suming that  their  activities  are  vitally 
needed — but  are  they?  In  a report  to 
Christianity  today  by  Peter  Geiger  (July 
1971),  it  is  pointed  out  that  the  “cur- 
rent evangelical  passion  for  smuggling 
religious  materials  behind  the  iron  cur- 
tain sometimes  ignores  the  actual  needs 
of  the  recipients.  ...  In  some  cases, 
materials  are  sent  where  they  are  not 
needed,  and  in  others,  political  opinions 
are  included  in  ‘gospel’  material.  . . . 
Dr.  Branco  Lovrec,  publisher  of  Yugo- 
slavia’s monthly  Baptist  magazine  and 
other  religious  materials,  says:  ‘The  mis- 
sion people  bring  us  Bibles  and  litera- 
ture, and  we’re  stuck  with  them.  They 
go  back  home  and  brag,  “We  smuggled 
500  Bibles  behind  the  iron  curtain.  . . .” 
They  want  to  be  heroes  at  home,  not 
just  to  spread  the  gospel.’  ” He  further 
adds:  “Underground  Evangelism  pub- 
lishes all  the  details  which  the  com- 
munist governments  need  to  keep  the 
Christians  under  their  thumbs.” 

In  reply,  UE’s  Mr.  Bass  charges  Peter 
Geiger’s  article  with  misquotation  and 


errors  of  fact.  Mr.  Bass  insists  that  UE 
does  not  engage  in  smuggling  in  Yugo- 
slavia “because  it  is  not  necessary.  Our 
strategies  are  flexible  and  adaptable  to 
the  needs  of  each  country  we  work  in. 
Underground  Evangelism’s  policy  has 
always  been  to  do  all  we  can  through 
open  channels,  but  not  to  stop  there 
. . . we  are  bound  to  obey  God  rather 
than  man.” 

Surely  there  have  always  been  differ- 
ences of  opinion  as  to  the  best  strategy 
in  spreading  the  gospel.  People  will  have 
to  be  convinced  in  their  own  minds  as 
to  where  they  wish  to  put  their  resources 
and  prayers.  But  they  must  never  under- 
estimate the  possibility  of  being  “taken 
in”  by  magazines  whose  flamboyant 
claims  and  melodramatic  stories  and 
pictures  are  designed  as  bait  to  win  the 
support  of  their  readership. 

And  Christians  will  need  to  weigh  the 
claims  of  such  organizations  closely,  for 
they  could  find  themselves  doing  more 
harm  than  good  for  their  brethren  in  the 
communist-dominated  nations  of  the 
world.  Under  these  circumstances,  we 
may  have  to  conclude  that  an  all-out 
campaign  of  Bible  smuggling  isn’t  the 
answer  after  all! 


Russian-language  Gospel  of  John,  un- 
bound in  loose  sheets,  for  mailing  in 
plain  envelopes  to  addresses  in  Russia. 


THE  MENNONITE 


21 


NEWS 


v 


Mennonite  colleges:  the  look  inward 


The  late  1960s  saw  an  emphasis  in  Men- 
nonite colleges  and  other  colleges  in 
North  America  on  issues  beyond  the 
borders  of  the  campus:  war,  civil  rights, 
the  third  world. 

Mennonite  colleges  still  have  peace 
clubs  and  ecology  clubs,  but  the  cam- 
puses are  looking  more  inward  at  dormi- 
tory rules,  Jesus  groups,  curriculum 
changes,  and  the  colleges’  reasons  for 
being. 

These  are  impressions  of  visits  last 
fall  to  three  colleges  related  to  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church: 
Bluffton  College  in  Bluffton,  Ohio;  Beth- 
el College  in  North  Newton,  Kansas; 
and  Freeman  Junior  College,  Freeman, 
South  Dakota. 

At  Bluffton  College  a new  curriculum 
and  a new  school  calendar  went  into 
effect  this  year.  Instead  of  the  traditional 
long  list  of  required  courses,  students 
are  required  to  complete  two  courses  in 
each  of  five  areas:  exploring  meaning 
and  faith,  exploring  the  natural  environ- 
ment, exploring  the  cultural  environ- 
ment, exploring  creativity,  and  exploring 
world  peace. 

There  are  still  requirements  in  a stu- 
dent’s major  field,  but  he  has  the  option 
to  design  his  own  program,  subject  to 
approval.  The  new  calendar  has  two 
three-month  modules  October  to  De- 
cember and  February  to  April  and 
three  one-month  modules  in  September, 
January,  and  May,  plus  one-month  sum- 
mer courses. 

By  October,  students  had  various  re- 
actions to  the  new  arrangement. 

Jan  Hartzler  said,  “I  wish  the  things 
happening  now  had  happened  three  or 
four  years  ago.” 

But  the  problem  of  relevance  of  the 
curriculum  was  not  solved  for  students 
like  John  Shivers,  who  said,  “School  is 
an  unrealistic  situation.  At  first,  I thought 
that  was  good.  Now  I think  it  shuts  off 
too  much  from  the  outside  world.” 

On  the  whole,  however,  the  emphasis 
at  Bluffton  this  year  seems  to  have 
changed  from  the  classroom  to  activities 
outside  the  classroom,  student  rights, 
and  campus  standards.  The  issue  is  the 
meaning  of  community. 

“There’s  not  as  strong  a sense  of  com- 


munity as  seven  years  ago  when  I came 
to  Bluffton,”  said  Professor  Steve  Jacoby. 
“Now  it’s  hard  to  have  an  all-campus 
anything.” 

Student  Nathan  Habegger  added  that 
the  campus  newspaper  found  it  hard  to 
continue  with  so  little  interest  and  so 
little  success  in  finding  a sports  editor. 

“Community  makes  sense  only  for  the 
faculty,”  said  Professor  Von  Hardesty. 

Many  students  and  faculty  members 
recognized  that  part  of  the  difficulty 
in  creating  community  is  the  diversity  of 
those  on  campus.  While  the  faculty  is 
60  to  79  percent  Mennonite,  the  student 
body  of  about  700  is  21  percent  Menno- 
nite. There  are  more  Methodists  than 
Mennonites  in  the  freshman  class.  Most 
of  the  student  body  comes  from  small 
Ohio  towns.  About  10  percent  of  the 
students  are  blacks  from  urban  areas. 
Some  Mennonite  students  come  to  Bluff- 
ton because  of  their  interest  in  peace 
issues.  Some  non-Mennonites  come  to 
stay  away  from  the  hassle  of  state  uni- 
versities with  “too  much  politics  and 
race  problems  and  radicals.” 

The  focus  of  the  community  issue  in 
October  was  dormitory  policies.  Should 


the  “coeducational”  dormitories  (men 
on  one  floor,  women  on  another)  con- 
tinue? Should  students  be  allowed  to 
set  up  houses  for  group  living  off  cam- 
pus? 

“In  the  Anabaptist  tradition,  we  read- 
ily admit  that  one  of  the  distinctives 
is  a stand  against  coercion,  forcing  our 
values  onto  other  people,”  said  Presi- 
dent Benjamin  Sprunger. 

But  the  question  kept  coming  up: 
Shouldn’t  the  college  enforce  some  val- 
ues on  students? 

One  student  complained  that  Bluffton 
had  more  controversy  over  the  food 
service  than  outside  affairs,  but  concerns 
outside  the  campus  were  not  entirely 
forgotten. 

Politics  was  a major  subject  in  an 
election  year.  A September  class  on 
“The  draft,  military  service,  and  war” 
was  in  demand  for  the  next  module. 

Religion  was  also  an  issue.  Chapel 
services  (no  compulsory  attendance) 
were  being  held  in  “the  barn,”  a well- 
patronized  snack  bar  in  the  student 
union. 

Jesus  groups  started  last  year,  but  are 
now  arousing  little  controversy.  A Jesus 


A Bluffton  student  enjoys  a Saturday  morning  meditation  in  front  of  the  student 
center.  How  does  one  solve  the  issue  of  community  on  a heterogenous  campus? 


■-* 


22 


JANUARY  9,  1973 


group  meets  regularly  at  a local  Meth- 
odist church  to  conduct  its  own  services. 

“Last  year  there  was  a lot  of  resent- 
ment against  the  Jesus  people,”  said 
Nancy  Ramseyer,  a student,  “but  now 
there  is  a comfortableness  between  them 
and  the  social  action  group.” 

The  well-established  Student  Christian 
Association  coordinates  all  the  Bible 
studies  which  sprang  up  last  year  and 
is  attempting  to  include  more  non-Men- 
nonites  than  in  the  past. 

Religion  has  become  more  an  issue 
at  Bethel  College.  The  controversy  start- 
ed last  year  with  the  organization  of 
the  Bethel  Christian  Fellowship,  now 
affiliated  with  Inter-Varsity  Fellowship. 

Last  year  the  group  began  with  about 
twenty  participants;  this  year  the  num- 
ber has  grown  to  sixty  or  seventy,  out 
of  a student  body  of  445.  Most  of  the 
participants  are  freshmen  and  sopho- 
mores; about  half  are  Mennonites. 

The  fellowship  has  daily  prayer  meet- 
ings at  12:30  p.m.,  Thursday  night  wor- 
ship, Bible  studies  in  the  dormitories, 
and  action  groups  (“We  paint  a house 
or  go  to  an  old  folks’  home”),  accord- 
ing to  Cheryl  Froese,  president  of  the 
fellowship. 

Others,  particularly  upperclassmen, 
have  felt  that  Bethel  Christian  Fellow- 
ship is  polarizing  the  campus. 

One  student  reported  that,  at  one 
point,  Bethel  Christian  Fellowship  start- 
ed putting  up  signs  with  Bible  verses 
around  campus. 

“I  didn’t  see  the  object  in  it,”  she 
said.  “Then  there  got  to  be  discussions 
in  classes  on  what  are  Christian  values 
and  what  is  a Christian  life  style.” 

The  religious  diversity  at  Bethel, 
where  about  three-fourths  of  the  stu- 
dents are  Mennonites,  is  representative 
of  the  diversity  among  Mennonite 
churches,  said  President  Harold  Schultz. 
“We’re  not  writing  off  any  wing  of  the 
constituency.” 

The  fact  that  most  of  the  Bible  study 
groups  are  composed  of  younger  students 
and  that  most  of  the  students  concerned 
with  social  issues  are  upperclassmen  is 
indicative  of  a real  generation  gap  be- 
tween those  who  came  to  college  before 
Kent  State  and  Cambodia  and  those  who 
came  later,  said  Mr.  Schultz. 

Even  among  those  who  are  concerned 
with  social  issues,  such  as  the  war,  ecol- 
ogy, minority  rights,  or  women’s  libera- 
tion, the  method  has  changed,  said  Pro- 
fessor David  Suderman.  “Instead  of  go- 
ing to  Washington,  D.C.,  and  to  the 
’ streets,  students,  go  to  Kansas  City  to 
work  for  McGovern.” 


A Bethel  student  spent  the  last  hour 
before  supper  at  a library  carrel. 

“At  a recent  Peace  Club  meeting,” 
said  David  Linscheid,  a sophomore  stu- 
dent, “the  graduates  and  older  students 
could  not  understand  how  this  change 
had  come  about.  All  the  talk  was  about 
how  to  work  within  the  system.” 

Paula  Jasso,  Newton  student,  com- 
mented, “The  marching  is  settling  down 
in  planning  and  paperwork.  However, 
the  marching  was  needed  at  the  begin- 
ning to  make  people  aware.” 

But  Ms.  Jasso  saw  the  difference 
caused  not  by  attitude  changes  within 
people,  but  because  the  “people  who 
upset  the  pot”  have  given  up  on  college 
and  did  not  come  back  to  school  this 
year. 

“A  lot  of  students  drop  out  to  do 
something  more  important  to  them, 
said  Professor  Keith  Sprunger.  “Peo- 
ple are  not  as  career-minded  as  they 
were  before.  Last  spring  I couldn’t  de- 
termine where  seniors  would  go  this  fall. 
They  were  not  job-oriented  or  graduate- 
school-oriented  . ’ ’ 

“It’s  important  to  make  education  rel- 
evant, not  education  just  for  knowl- 
edge’s sake,”  said  Ada  Schmidt,  junior 
student.  “It  has  to  mean  something  right 


Steve  Graber  teaches  a social  studies 
class  at  Freeman  Academy. 

now.  I don’t  see  my  education  as  prep- 
aration specifically,  but  as  background 
in  developing  my  ideas  and  my  ways 
of  learning.  College  is  the  best  place  to 
do  that  because  there  is  a group  of  peo- 
ple here  who  can  help  me  do  that — the 
students  as  much  as  the  faculty.” 

At  Freeman  Junior  College  the  over- 
riding issue  was  the  survival  of  the 
school.  Enrollment  is  fifty-one,  down 
from  last  year.  Of  these  fifty-one,  only 
thirty-seven  are  full-time  students.  Press- 
ed by  financial  problems  and  awaiting 
the  results  of  a recent  visit  of  an  accred- 
itation team  from  the  University  of 
South  Dakota,  students  and  faculty  alike 
are  uncertain  about  the  future  of  the 
school.  Fewer  students  from  outside  the 
Freeman  area  attend;  the  dormitory  has 
only  fourteen  students,  most  from  Hen- 
derson, Nebraska. 

Yet  the  students  are  intensely  loyal  to 
the  school.  Most  want  the  junior  college 
and  the  four-year  academy  to  continue. 

“You  get  more  individual  attention 
here,”  said  Marilyn  Stahl,  student  from 
the  Freeman  area.  “The  school  is  more 
of  a community.  It  is  more  concerned 
about  people.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


23 


“The  kids  are  what  make  it,”  said 
Steve  Friesen  of  Henderson.  Berdon  Epp 
agreed,  “The  college  is  so  small  you 
know  everybody.” 

Yet  the  students  also  point  to  the 
school’s  disadvantages:  the  need  for 
more  activities,  the  need  for  a new  sci- 
ence laboratory,  isolation,  the  lack  of  di- 
versity among  students. 

“I  think  next  year  I should  get  away 
from  home  and  have  more  of  a chal- 
lenge. I would  go  to  Bethel  or  Goshen 
or  into  voluntary  service,”  said  Ms. 
Stahl. 

“Affluence  enables  people  to  send  their 
children  away,”  said  Walter  Ortman, 
academy  principal.  “If  parents  had  bet- 
ter control  over  their  children,  we  would 
have  more  students.” 

Everett  Waltner,  student  body  presi- 
dent, saw  the  problem  as  one  of  shifting 
priorities.  “People  no  longer  value  the 
idea  of  a Christian  education,”  he  said. 

Some  people  see  the  solution  to  Free- 
man Junior  College’s  problems  as  offer- 
ing more  vocational-technical  training 
and  expanding  the  industrial  arts  pro- 
gram. Industrial  arts  professor  Glen 
Boese  already  teaches  plastics  and  fiber- 
glass in  addition  to  traditional  courses 
in  woodworking,  metal  work,  and  draft- 
ing. 

The  college  has  scheduled  extension 
classes  for  adults  in  the  surrounding 
communities  from  December  through 
March,  when  farm  work  is  lightest. 

Others  feel  that  the  college  should  be- 
come a community  college,  adding  more 
non-Mennonites  to  the  board  of  direc- 
tors. 

Professor  Laverne  Rutschmann  sug- 
gested relating  closely  to  another  Men- 
nonite  college,  such  as  Bethel,  with  ex- 
changes of  professors. 

Or  perhaps  there  should  be  more  rad- 
ical changes. 

“We  are  small  enough  to  have  the 
freedom  to  experiment  with  new  forms 
of  education,”  said  David  Wiebe,  chair- 
man of  the  administrative  committee 
which  runs  the  school  in  the  absence 
of  a president.  “But  such  experimenta- 
tion is  harder  with  a two-school  pro- 
gram.” 

Survival  is  not  the  only  issue  on  cam- 
pus. The  Peace  Club  continues,  but 
much  of  its  enthusiasm  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  Ecology  Club,  whose  fall 
project  was  gathering  leaves  in  town 
to  give  to  farmers  for  fertilizer. 

The  Jesus  movement  has  not  hit  the 
Freeman  campus.  “But  it  could  happen 
here,”  said  Waldo  Kaufman,  another 
member  of  the  administrative  committee. 


People  on  all  three  campuses  are  con- 
cerned with  the  future  of  the  small 
Christian  college,  the  characteristics 
which  distinguish  it  from  the  state  uni- 
versity or  a small  secular  college,  the 
distinctives  which  make  the  church  col- 
lege worth  preserving. 

Some  students  and  faculty,  particu- 
larly at  predominantly  Mennonite  Free- 
man and  Bethel,  see  the  Christian  col- 
lege as  fulfilling  some  of  the  teaching 
functions  of  the  church,  initiating  chil- 
dren of  Mennonites  into  the  faith. 

“I  get  here  what  I can’t  get  in  church,” 
said  Everett  Waltner.  “The  churches 
don’t  have  material  in  their  libraries  on 
early  Mennonite  history.” 

At  both  Freeman  and  Bethel,  some- 
one commented,  “If  we  lose  the  Menno- 
nite colleges,  we  lose  most  of  the  young 
people  in  the  Mennonite  church.” 

As  more  Mennonites  move  from  rural 
all-Mennonite  communities  to  the  cities, 
the  future  of  the  urban  Mennonite 
church  is  tied  up  with  the  future  of 
the  church  college,  said  Bethel’s  Presi- 
dent Schultz. 

President  Schultz  pointed  out  that 
more  Bethel  alumni  go  into  voluntary 
service  or  tap  or  Pax  than  Mennonite 
alumni  of  non-Mennonite  educational 
institutions. 

“The  Christian  college,”  said  Keith 
Sprunger,  Bethel  professor,  “is  a place 
to  sort  out  the  options.  College  is  a 
good  place  to  do  that  because  other 
people  there  are  working  it  out  at  the 
same  time.  College  makes  a person  more 
service-minded.  The  issue  of  service  to 
the  church  becomes  inescapable;  the  stu- 
dent has  to  deal  with  it.” 

The  self-concept  of  the  college  as 
training  ground  for  young  Mennonites 
hardly  works  for  Bluffton  College,  where 
Mennonite  students  are  in  the  minority. 

The  college’s  Mennonite  identity  stems 
from  the  faculty,  a number  of  faculty 
members  said. 

At  Bluffton,  the  image  is  the  church 
college  as  mission. 

“The  college  is  only  one  of  the  many 
missions  the  church  has,”  said  President 
Sprunger.  “The  process  of  allowing  stu- 
dents to  grow  is  in  fact  a mission. 
Whether  the  percentage  of  students  who 
are  involved  in  that  arm  of  mission  is 
mostly  Mennonite  is  not  the  crucial 
question. 

“The  crucial  question  is:  If  the  col- 
lege is  one  arm  of  the  mission  of  the 
church,  can  Mennonite,  and  particularly 
non-Mennonite,  students  grapple  with 
man’s  knowledge,  the  tenets  of  Anabap- 
tist faith,  the  role  of  the  church  in 


our  society?  Out  of  all  of  this  can  the  1 
student  put  together  a core  of  values 
that  will  serve  him  throughout  his  life?”  j 

That  emphasis  on  values  is  perhaps  | 
the  common  denominator  for  the  three  4 
colleges. 

“You  can’t  put  it  all  together  without  q 
talking  about  values,”  said  Mr.  Schultz.  ^ 
“Values  are  in  demand  now.” 

Bluffton  Professor  Elmer  Neufeld  put 
it  another  way,  “We  have  an  open  ad-  * 
missions  policy,  but  after  students  get  „ 
here,  we  have  a responsibility  to  provide 
them  with  a real  encounter  with  the  m 
Christian  faith:  the  basic  issues  of  mean-  # 
ing,  faith,  and  morality.” 

And  there  are  evidences  of  the  chang- 
es that  encounter  has  produced:  ^ 

Bluffton  student  Larry  Milan  com-  4 
mented,  “When  I first  came  to  Bluffton, 

I was  concerned  only  about  football  and  ^ 
girls.  After  I got  here,  I became  more  w 
concerned  about  books  and  the  world 
outside.  I’m  different.  I have  different 
values.”  Lois  Barrett  Janzen  ^ 

Zaire  Bible  institute 
educates  women,  too  ^ 

When  men  come  to  the  Bible  institute 
in  Kalonda,  Zaire,  to  prepare  for  service 
in  the  church,  wives  and  children  also  /S 
come. 

“We  try  to  emphasize  that  the  women, 
too,  should  come  prepared  to  study,” 
said  Frieda  Guengerich,  missionary  to  N 
Zaire  now  on  furlough. 

But,  although  the  men  must  pass  ex- 
aminations to  enter  the  Bible  institute, 
some  of  the  women  cannot  read  or  write. 

For  the  last  two  years,  Ms.  Guengerich  - 
was  director  of  women’s  work  at  the 
Bible  institute. 

The  women  attend  classes  for  2Vi 
hours  in  the  morning,  with  babysitting 
provided  for  preschool  children,  and 
spend  much  of  the  rest  of  the  day  work- 
ing in  the  field  to  raise  extra  food.  j 

And  the  Bible  institute  staff  tries  to 
emphasize  that  it  is  important  for  the 
future  pastors’  wives  to  be  able  to  lead 
a women’s  meeting  or  give  a Bible  ' 
message. 

The  women  come  to  the  Bible  in- 
stitute at  a variety  of  educational  levels  r 
to  study  reading  and  writing  (if  neces- 
sary), Bible  courses,  sewing,  knitting, 
and  embroidery. 

In  1970,  Ms.  Guengerich  said,  one 
woman  attended  the  men’s  classes  be- 
cause of  her  more  extensive  educational 
background,  but  it  was  difficult  for  her  A 
to  keep  up  with  the  classes  while  caring  ' 
for  a small  baby. 


24 


JANUARY  9,  1973 


B.C.  churches  prepare 
for  evangelism  thrust 

A workshop  to  help  congregations  set 
goals  for  evangelism-that-cares  was  held 
in  November  at  the  West  Abbotsford 
(B.C.)  Mennonite  Church.  The  work- 
shop was  a regular  meeting  of  the  min- 
isters and  deacons  of  the  Conference 
of  United  Mennonite  Churches  of  Brit- 
ish Columbia,  but  for  this  special  occa- 
sion other  interested  church  leaders  were 
also  invited. 

Peter  Nickel,  who  is  employed  by  the 
camp  and  Christian  education  commit- 
tees, led  the  workshop.  Material  from 
Evangelism-in-Depth  formed  the  basis 
of  his  presentations.  In  two  sessions  he 
shared  with  the  group  how  a congrega- 
tion could  go  about  setting  measurable 
and  attainable  goals.  Following  these  ses- 
sions the  participants  divided  into  smal- 
er  workshop  groups  to  ask  each  other, 
“Why  do  we  exist  as  a congregation?” 
and  “What  are  we  accomplishing?” 

The  workshop  was  planned  to  help 
local  churches  prepare  for  Key  73. 

MDS  busy  with  repairs 
after  Great  Lakes  floods 

Three  new  areas  in  western  Ontario, 
southern  Michigan,  and  northern  Ohio 
were  declared  disaster  areas  following 
recent  high  water  flooding  from  two  of 
the  Great  Lakes. 

Nelson  Hostetter,  executive  coordina- 
tor of  Mennonite  Disaster  Service,  re- 
ports that  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Huron 
were  two  to  three  feet  higher  than  nor- 
mal because  of  heavy  rainfall  in  1972. 
Strong  continuing  winds  created  waves 
that  forced  the  water  in  the  southwest 
comer  of  Lake  Huron  up  to  eight  feet 
high. 

In  all  three  areas,  summer  lakeside 
homes  of  the  rich  and  the  homes  of  peo- 
ple with  minimal  incomes  were  hardest 
hit.  In  Monroe,  Minnesota,  700  low- 
income  families  and  in  Toledo,  Ohio, 
800  low-income  families  suffered  home 
damage  in  the  floods. 

Major  mds  operations  are  assisting 
low-income  flood  victims  in  Monroe  and 
Toledo.  Repairs  will  be  continuing  for 
the  next  several  weeks  in  Michigan  and 
Ohio. 

Ontario  mds  units  worked  with  the 
Emergency  Measures  Organization  in  re- 
covery work  at  Pelee  Point,  Ontario. 
Fifty  high  school  students  were  released 
from  school  to  work  with  the  mds  proj- 
ect. Recovery  operations  at  Pelee  Point 
are  now  closed. 


■ UJISt  JWlCKW&t 
othmsu 


.*&&***"  ‘ 


jtjj uibiMumim.m » «v«.i»  j 

Sviv.r-  sum 


m m m 
i ^ -as  m SB. 


Century  of  service 

One  hundred  years  ago  an  Irish  immigrant  named  Jerry  McAuley  opened  the 
world’s  first  Christian  rescue  mission  on  New  York  City’s  lower  East  Side.  Today, 
the  original  McAuley  Water  Street  Mission  is  gone,  but  the  work  continues  in  a 
larger,  more  modern  building  on  nearby  Lafayette  Street.  From  the  original  skid 
row”  mission,  the  work  that  Jerry  McAuley  began  has  expanded  into  the  Inter- 
national Union  of  Gospel  Missions  with  some  350  missions  and  about  950  leaders 
and  other  workers.  At  top  is  an  1890s  photo  of  the  original  Helping  Hand  Mission 
that  Mr.  McAuley  founded  on  Water  Street.  Below  is  a holiday  dinner  at  the  newer 
mission,  which  was  opened  about  ten  years  ago. 


rwoi  d. thci  Hi 
ft  Son  haf 

'Him  ! iculd  ii . 

smsftfTirr 

SWoift  3.:  IS 


THE  MENNONITE 


25 


NCC:  the  awkward  giant  reaches  for  renewal 


The  National  Council  of  Churches  in 
the  United  States  is  viewed  as  the  ubiqui- 
tous embodiment  of  apostasy  by  some 
parts  of  North  American  Christendom, 
and  as  the  shining  manifestation  of  what 
the  church  is  really  all  about  by  others. 
Neither  view  was  borne  out  by  the  ncc’s 
ninth  triennial  assembly  in  Dallas  in 
December. 

The  National  Council  showed  itself 
rather  as  a very  human  organization, 
demonstrating  flashes  of  imaginative 
leadership  and  insight  on  occasion  and 
sputtering  uncertainly  at  other  times. 

Prompted  by  its  chaotic — almost  di- 
sastrous— assembly  in  Detroit  in  1969, 
which  was  brought  to  a virtual  stand- 
still by  the  demands  of  various  caucuses, 
the  Dallas  meeting  was  to  be  the  occa- 
sion for  a major  overhaul  of  the  ncc 
organization.  Changes  in  the  council’s 
structure  were  recommended  and  ap- 
proved, including  the  discontinuance  of 
the  assembly  and  the  enlargement  of  the 
governing  board  to  include  more  wom- 
en, young  people,  and  representatives  of 
minority  groups,  but  the  revisions  ba- 
sically were  not  nearly  as  radical  as  the 
critics  at  Detroit  had  urged. 

Some  observers  fear  that  the  new 
structure,  which  is  intended  to  put  the 
council  in  closer  touch  with  the  grass- 
roots, will  actually  allow  it  to  be  domi- 
nated even  more  by  the  staff  and  a few 
leaders  from  the  large  denominations 
than  it  has  been  up  to  now. 

There  were  promises,  however,  that 
one  of  the  ncc  practices  which  has 
caused  great  consternation  among  rank- 
and-file  church  members,  namely,  the 
drafting  of  pronouncements  on  so  many 
controversial  issues,  would  be  curtailed 
somewhat.  The  new  president  of  the 
council,  W.  Sterling  Cary,  a black  church 
administrator  from  New  York  City,  said 
in  a press  conference  shortly  after  his 
election,  “I  will  do  all  I can  to  discourage 
resolution  drafting  and  to  encourage 
more  activity  toward  solution  of  the 
problems  we  face.  . . . The  day  of 
resolutions  seems  to  be  over,  and  the 
day  of  low-key  activity  seems  to  be  here. 
Our  role  will  be  more  that  of  enabling 
than  verbalizing.” 

Despite  these  words,  the  assembly  con- 
cluded with  the  adoption  of  a flurry  of 
resolutions.  Over  a dozen  were  approved 
by  the  800  delegates  during  the  closing 
sessions  of  the  four-day  meeting.  In- 
cluded were  pronouncements  on  such 


Mrs.  Victor  Baltzell  of  Dallas  and  W. 
Sterling  Cary  of  New  York  were  elected 
as  the  National  Council  of  Churches’ 
first  vice-president  and  president,  re- 
spectively. Mr.  Cary  is  administrator  of 
the  United  Church  of  Christ’s  Greater 
New  York  District  and  is  the  first  black 
president  of  the  NCC.  He  succeeds  Cyn- 
thia Wedel.  Mrs.  Baltzell  is  a Disciples 
of  Christ  lay  woman. 

matters  as  the  Indochina  war,  the  rights 
of  children,  the  conflicts  in  Northern 
Ireland  and  the  Middle  East,  amnesty 
for  war  resisters,  the  lettuce  boycott, 
Key  73,  racial  conflict  in  the  armed 
services,  pastoral  education,  and  local 
ecumenism. 

One  of  the  heavier  resolutions  ap- 
proved by  the  assembly  was  a seven- 
point  statement  on  “military  force  and 
foreign  policy.”  Calling  for  the  demili- 
tarization of  American  society,  the  state- 
ment encouraged  defense  industries  to 
engage  in  production  for  peaceful  pur- 
poses and  urged  Congress  to  reassert  its 
power  concerning  United  States  com- 
mitments abroad.  Only  a handful  of 
delegates  voted  negatively  on  the  reso- 
lution after  it  had  been  debated  for 
nearly  two  hours. 

“Evangelism  and  renewal”  was  an- 
other major  topic  explored  by  the  as- 
sembly. David  Hubbard,  president  of 
Fuller  Theological  Seminary,  and  Colin 
Williams,  dean  of  the  Yale  Divinity 
School,  shared  the  platform  for  an  intro- 
ductory presentation  on  this  subject. 

The  time  for  adversary  relationships 
between  conservative  and  liberal  church- 
es is  past,  said  Dr.  Williams.  “We  have 
common  adversaries  and  we  must  strug- 
gle together,”  he  said. 

“The  greatest  need  in  our  day  is 
for  excitement  about  the  faith,”  de- 
clared Dr.  Hubbard.  “Evangelism  comes 
from  the  overflow  of  a life  being  changed 
by  the  gospel.”  He  said  that  the  deep 
spiritual  hungers  of  our  day  must  be 


recognized.  He  confessed  that  conserva- 
tive evangelicalism  does  have  some  “flat 
sides”  which  need  to  be  “fleshed  out.”- 

The  liberal  wing  of  the  church  has 
been  found  wanting,  conceded  Dr.  Wil- 
liams. Conversion  and  repentance  have 
been  neglected.  “Conservative  evange- 
licals have  been  much  better  at  getting 
people  started  in  the  faith,”  he  said, 
“but  they  haven’t  been  adequate  in  help- 
ing people  to  grow  up  in  the  faith.” 

Other  noted  speakers  who  addressed 
the  assembly  were  anthropologist  Mar- 
garet Mead,  Imamu  Amiri  Baraka  (Leroi 
Jones),  and  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  Pat- 
rick Flores  of  San  Antonio,  Texas. 

Mr.  Baraka’s  presence  was  protested 
by  two  representatives  of  the  American 
Jewish  Committee  who  attended  the 
general  assembly  as  fraternal  delegates. 
They  admitted  that  Mr.  Baraka  had 
made  no  anti-Semitic  statement  at  the 
ncc  meeting,  but  they  insisted  he  was 
“notorious  for  his  antiwhite  racism  and 
vicious  anti-Semitism.”  The  ncc  pro- 
gram planners  were  also  questioned 
sharply  about  the  propriety  of  paying  the 
poet  an  honorarium  of  $1,500  plus  ex- 
penses when  most  of  the  other  speakers 
appeared  free  of  charge. 

The  criticisms  of  the  National  Council 
at  Dallas  were  quite  mild,  however,  com- 
pared to  some  of  the  flak  which  it  re- 
ceived in  previous  years.  The  general 
attitude  toward  the  council  now  is  un- 
mistakably on  the  upswing.  Several  de- 
nominational leaders  publicly  stated  that 
their  denominations  had  recently  re- 
affirmed their  strong  support  of  the  or- 
ganization. 

Despite  the  new  enthusiasm,  the  coun- 
cil is  still  not  “out  of  the  woods”  con- 
cerning either  its  long-standing  financial 
problems,  which  were  highlighted  by  a 
$300,000  reduction  in  its  budget  for 
1973,  nor  its  difficulties  in  achieving 
grassroots  confidence.  Conservative  mem- 
bers of  mainline  denominations  will  need 
considerable  reassurance  during  the 
coming  months  and  years  that  the  coun- 
cil is  indeed  striking  out  in  a new  direc- 
tion. A real  rapprochement  with  the 
National  Association  of  Evangelicals  still 
seems  a long  way  off,  Dr.  Hubbard’s 
presence  on  the  program  notwithstand- 
ing. 

The  council’s  budget  for  this  year 
amounts  to  $13,800,000  for  overseas 
ministries,  Christian  life  and  mission, 
Christian  education,  communications, 


26 


JANUARY  9,  1973 


1 Christian  unity,  and  administrative  ex- 
] penses.  The  42  million  communicants 
belonging  to  the  council’s  thirty-three 
( member  denominations  will  thus  be  ask- 
4 ed  to  give  an  average  of  33  cents  each 
toward  the  ecumenical  organization’s 
work  in  1973.  North  American  Menno- 
nites’  cash  contributions  to  the  Men- 
nonite  Central  Committee  in  1972  aver- 
aged over  $9.00  per  person. 

Seven  Mennonites  attended  the  gen- 
eral assembly  as  fraternal  delegates,  con- 
sultants, observers,  and  members  of  the 
i press.  They  were  Heinz  Janzen,  general 
j secretary  of  the  General  Conference, 
Marlin  Kim,  pastor  of  the  Houston 
j Mennonite  Church;  Paul  Kraybill,  gen- 
ii eral  secretary  of  the  Mennonite  Church  s 
| general  board;  Simon  Gingerich,  sec- 
I Tetary  of  home  missions  for  the  Men- 
! nonite  Board  of  Missions,  Elkhart;  Al- 
bert Widjaja,  former  chairman  of  the 
[ Chinese  Mennonite  Church  in  Indones- 
i ia  and  now  a graduate  student  in  Clare- 
\ mont,  California;  Doug  Hostetter,  a grad- 
uate student  in  New  York  who  has 
taken  a semester’s  leave  to  serve  as  re- 
I source  coordinator  for  Asian  peace  at 
| the  Methodist  office  in  the  Church  Cen- 
ter for  the  United  Nations;  and  Larry 
Kehler,  editor  of  The  Mennonite. 

The  Dallas  assembly  was  Mr.  Kim’s 
j first  head-on  experience  with  the  Nation- 
al Council  of  Churches.  He  liked  the 
program’s  balance.  “It  matches  up  close- 
ly with  my  understanding  of  the  Ana- 
baptist vision,”  he  said,  “particularly  its 
emphasis  on  Jesus  as  savior,  Jesus  as 
lord,  and  Jesus  as  servant.”  He  con- 
curred with  the  definition  that  “evan- 
gelism flows  out  of  renewal”  which 
was  proposed  at  one  of  the  sessions. 

Neither  Mr.  Kim  nor  Heinz  Janzen 
foresee  any  compelling  reasons  for  the 
General  Conference  to  become  a mem- 
ber of  the  council  at  this  time.  The  new 
structure  will  again  permit  nonmember 
J denominations  to  participate  in  selected 
programs  of  their  choice, 
j Doug  Hostetter,  who  came  to  Dallas 
to  help  organize  a “meal  of  restitution 
j to  kick  off  a nationwide,  interdenomi- 
national project  to  assist  war  victims  in 
North  Vietnam,  also  helped  to  draft  sev- 
1 eral  assembly  resolutions  concerning  the 
Indochina  war.  Mr.  Hostetter  said  he 
was  pleased  at  the  high  percentage  of 
the  delegates — over  90  percent  accord- 
I ing  to  some  estimates — who  voted  in 
favor  of  these  resolutions. 

The  project  for  North  Vietnamese  war 
sufferers  which  he  was  helping  to  pro- 
mote on  behalf  of  its  two  sponsoring 
agencies,  Clergy  and  Laity  Concerned 


and  the  Fellowship  of  Reconciliation, 
has  been  named,  “For  the  victims.”  It 
is  patterned  after  mcc’s  “Vietnam  Christ- 
mas” appeal,  which  Mr.  Hostetter  also 
helped  to  organize. 

Paul  Kraybill  of  the  Mennonite 
Church  said  that  the  Dallas  assembly 
showed  a “renewed  and  real  commit- 
ment to  the  ecumenical  movement 
again.”  He  saw  no  likelihood  though  of 
his  conference’s  becoming  formally  in- 
volved in  it.  “We  can  be  as  involved  as 
consultants  as  we  could  as  actual  mem- 
bers. What’s  so  ecumenical  about  having 
five  members  sit  on  the  governing 
board?”  he  wondered. 

“The  Mennonite  World  Conference,” 
said  Mr.  Kraybill,  “is  the  frontier  for 
Mennonites.  We  need  to  get  more  in- 
volved in  the  international  church.” 

He  further  expressed  the  hope  that 
the  Mennonite  conferences  would  not 
have  to  go  the  same  route  as  the  Na- 
tional Council  in  getting  broader  rep- 
resentation on  their  boards  and  commit- 
tees. The  new  National  Council  of 
Churches  structure  stipulates  that  a given 
percentage  of  all  board  positions  must  be 
allocated  to  women,  young  people,  and 
minority  groups.  This  type  of  rigid,  le- 
galistic quota  system  held  little  appeal 
for  Mr.  Kraybill. 

Albert  Widjaja,  who  was  associate 
secretary  of  the  Indonesia  Council  of 
Churches  for  two  years  and  who  is  now 


Black  militant  Imamu  Amiri  Baraka 
(left)  and  Roman  Catholic  Bishop  Patrick 
Flores  addressed  the  opening  session  of 
the  triennial  general  assembly  of  the 
National  Council  of  Churches  in  Dallas. 
The  appearance  of  Mr.  Baraka  spurred 
controversy.  Accusing  him  of  anti-Semi- 
tism, representatives  of  the  Anti-Defa- 
mation League  of  B’nai  B’rith  declined 
to  attend  the  assembly  as  observers, 
and  representatives  of  the  American  Jew- 
ish Committee  issued  a protest,  though 
they  did  attend.  In  his  address,  Mr. 
Baraka  charged  that  “too  often”  the 
church  is  “the  most  reactionary  force 
in  the  world.”  Bishop  Flores,  the  only 
Mexican- American  prelate  in  the  U.S. 
Catholic  Church,  called  for  the  church 
to  concern  itself  with  social  injustice. 


taking  a doctoral  program  in  religion  and 
government  at  Claremont  Graduate 
School,  was  at  the  Dallas  assembly  as 
a fraternal  delegate  from  Indonesia.  He 
said  that  the  North  American  churches’ 
preoccupation  with  social  issues  had  ob- 
scured their  sense  of  mission  both  in 
North  America  and  abroad.  He  feared 
that  the  National  Council  would  have  to 
cut  back  on  its  international  programs 
because  the  local  churches  were  becom- 
ing more  isolationist  in  their  attitude 
and  consequently  withholding  support 
from  agencies  that  are  working  abroad. 

Mr.  Widjaja  was  pleased,  however,  by 
the  positive  steps  which  were  taken  in 
Dallas  to  resolve  some  of  the  conflicts 
between  liberal  and  conservative  factions 
in  the  council. 

It  was  this  writer’s  impression  at  Dal- 
las that  the  National  Council  is  more  the 
awkward,  well-intentioned  giant  than  the 
seditious  ogre  that  it  is  often  pictured 
to  be  in  some  of  our  circles.  It  obviously 
suffers  from  its  bigness.  It  has  ample 
touches  of  both  sensitivity  and  sophisti- 
cation, but  its  size  continues  to  cause 
many  communication  lags  and  break- 
downs. Too  often,  unfortunately,  its  left 
hand  does  not  know  what  its  right  hand 
is  doing.  Larry  Kehler 

Words  & deeds 

Offerings  during  a recent  four-day  mis- 
sionary conference  at  the  First  Menno- 
nite Church,  Berne,  Indiana,  totalled 
$41,217,  a new  high  for  the  nineteen- 
year  period  in  which  these  conferences 
have  been  held. 


The  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College 
and  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Bible  Col- 
lege, both  of  Winnipeg,  will  be  sponsor- 
ing a joint  ministers’  course  February 
19-23.  This  is  the  first  time  in  the  two 
schools’  history  that  this  annual  course 
will  be  taught  cooperatively.  Faculty 
members  from  both  institutions  will 
share  in  the  leadership  of  discussions 
on  such  topics  as  worship,  renewal 
movements,  the  ministry  of  healing, 
and  the  ministry  as  it  relates  to  specific 
problem  areas  in  ethics. 


Ninety  students  at  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton,  Kans.,  skipped  their  noon  meals 
at  the  school’s  cafeteria  during  Decem- 
ber. The  money  refunded  for  the  meals 
was  sent  to  mcc’s  Vietnam  Christmas 
fund,  which  is  being  used  to  reequip 
bombed  hospitals  in  North  Vietnam. 


THE  MENNONITE 


27 


REVIEW 

So  good  it's  hard  to  believe 

James  W.  Arnold 


Robert  Radnitz’  Sounder  drops  on 
the  current  movie  market  like  penicillin 
on  a covey  of  streptococci  germs. 

It  is  so  good  it  is  hard  to  believe. 

Sounder  is  about  a loving  family, 
living  something  that  looks  like  real  life, 
and  filmed  with  a gentle,  luminous 
beauty  by  veteran  director  Martin  Ritt. 

Mr.  Radnitz  is  the  kind  of  producer  a 
critic  roots  for.  For  more  than  ten  years, 
through  the  whole  money-grubbing  cin- 
ema revolution,  this  young  man  has 
persistently  combined  his  love  of  chil- 
dren, animals,  and  nature  into  a series 
of  incredibly  intelligent  films:  Misty, 
Island  of  the  blue  dolphins,  And  now 
Miguel,  My  side  of  the  mountain. 

If  he  had  done  it  like  Disney,  he 
might  now  be  rich  and  famous  as  a 
benefactor  to  the  innocent.  Instead  he 
has  been  honest.  The  policy,  I think, 
is  about  to  pay  off. 

Sounder  is  the  name  of  a dog,  a 
floppy-eared  hound  dog,  and  the  film 
may  as  well  have  been  titled  Bowser. 

Since  kids  and  locale  (rural  Louisi- 
ana) are  also  involved,  Robert  Radnitz 
seems  to  be  working  his  old  groove. 
One  of  the  differences  is  that  the  family 
is  blacky  in  the  hard  times  of  the  mid- 
1930s.  Another  is  that  the  dog  is  not 
crucial;  he’s  just  around. 

Most  importantly,  the  story  is  told 
from  three  strongly  sympathetic  view- 
points: father  and  mother,  as  well  as 
son.  It  has  a power  that  almost  any- 
one will  find  hard  to  resist. 

The  trouble  with  most  movies  is  that 
they  are  built  on  the  conventions  of  the 
stage:  dramatic  turning  points  and  con- 
frontations, usually  contrived,  and  a lot 
of  noisy  dialog. 

Film  doesn’t  need  this  artificiality:  it 
is  capable  of  entering  and  observing 
everyday  life  and  transforming  it  into 
a new  kind  of  drama. 

A good  film  can  make  a father’s  ar- 
rival home  from  work  an  aesthetic  mo- 
ment. To  invoke  interest,  he  doesn’t  have 
to  be  a member  of  the  Mafia. 

This  is  by  way  of  noting  that  Sounder 
is  not  superplotted.  The  biggest  tension 
comes  early.  The  sharecropper-father 
(Paul  Winfield)  takes  food  from  a store 


to  feed  his  family  and  is  sent  to  a prison 
camp  for  a year. 

The  first  problem  is  finding  out  where, 
since  it  is  “against  the  rules”  to  give 
such  information  to  black  families. 

Then  the  boy  (Kevin  Hooks)  and 
dog  make  a long  overland  trip  to  visit 
the  camp — where  they  are  roughly  turned 
away. 

But  the  waifs  are  taken  in  by  a bright 
young  schoolteacher  (Janet  MacLach- 
lan),  who  stirs  the  boy’s  racial  pride 
and  desire  for  learning. 

Finally  it  comes  down  to  this:  the 
father  serves  his  time  and  rejoins  his 
family.  But  there  is  now  the  issue  of 
whether  his  son  should  leave  and  return 
to  school. 

All  the  tremendous  motives  in  the 
film — love  of  family  and  place — are  pit- 
ted against  the  desire  to  learn,  to  go 
out  and  do  something  with  the  world. 

The  father  has  the  wisdom  to  know 
that  filial  love  can  be  a trap:  “Don’t 
get  too  used  to  this  place,”  he  tells  his 
son,  “and  the  life  they’ve  set  up  for 
you.” 

Within  this  simple  frame,  warm  and 
positive  relationships  multiply  like  but- 
terflies: father-son,  father-mother,  moth- 
er-son, brother-brother,  teacher-pupils, 
friend-friend,  family-animal-earth. 

Even  the  white  landlord  is  treated 
with  more  kindness  than  he  deserves. 
The  only  truly  negative  combination  in 
the  film  is  white  law-black  people,  which 
director  Ritt  strikingly  symbolizes  in  one 
scene,  as  the  mother  (Cicely  Tyson,  who 
is  just  plain  magnificent)  approaches 
the  white  courthouse. 

The  film  is  saturated  with  a sense  of 
weather  and  place — oppressive  heat,  sun- 
drenched green. 

The  obvious  sentimental  touch  is 
avoided:  e.g.,  the  several  emotional  re- 
unions (boy-dog,  husband-wife,  father- 
son)  are  seen  from  a distance  and  are 
even  more  effective  for  their  subtlety. 

The  sensitivity  ranges  from  the  po- 
etic (an  up-angle  shot  of  workers  walk- 
ing home  from  a ball  game  through  a 
sunny  cornfield)  to  the  social  and  moral 
(an  empty  courtroom  as  the  father  is 
sentenced,  a slow  pan  of  ancient  church- 


yard graves  as  a black  congregation  sings 
a melancholy  Give  me  that  old-time  reli- 
gion). 

Characters  are  constantly  forced  to 
make  moral  decisions.  A typically  deft 
scene:  when  the  boy  arrives  at  the 
house  of  a white  woman  acquaintance, 
she  is  listening  to  a soap  opera.  She 
turns  it  off  for  an  act  of  charity,  asking 
him  if  he’d  like  a cool  drink. 

But  he  demands  more:  will  she  find 
out  where  his  father  is,  thus  risking 
the  racial  proprieties?  This  woman  is 
forced  to  escalate  her  charity  three  more 
times,  and  she  does. 

We  began  by  saying  that  Sounder  is 
about  real  people  who  love  one  another 
in  a time  of  hardship  and  trouble.  It 
goes  down  with  the  mixture  of  sadness, 
compassion,  and  delight  that  is  typical 
of  memorable  motion  pictures. 

RECORD 


Published 

Basic  Christian  convictions  by  Edmund 
G.  Kaufman  has  been  published  by  Beth- 
el College,  North  Newton,  Kans.  The 
338-page  book,  intended  as  an  introduc- 
tory discussion  of  the  Christian  faith, 
is  based  on  the  course  Dr.  Kaufman 
taught  for  many  years  at  Bethel. 
Dr.  Kaufman  was  president  of  Bethel 
College  from  1932  to  1952  and  was 
professor  of  sociology,  religion,  and  phi- 
losophy from  1931  until  his  retirement 
in  1963. The  book  is  available  for  $6.50 
from  the  Bethel  College  Bookstore,  Men- 
nonite  Historical  Library  and  Archives, 
and  Faith  and  Life  Bookstore  in  New- 
ton, Kans. 

Calendar 


Canadian 

Jan.  11-13 — Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee (Canada)  annual  meeting,  Sas- 
katoon, Sask. 

Jan.  25-27 — Annual  council  of  boards 
of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in 
Canada,  Winnipeg. 

Feb.  9-10 — Offender  seminar,  spon- 
sored by  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
(Manitoba),  University  of  Manitoba, 
Winnipeg. 

Western 

Jan.  12-13 — Offender  seminar,  First 
Mennonite  Church,  Newton,  Kans. 


4 

* 


4 


1 

1 


J 


i 


>» 

1 


4 


A 


J 

- 

/ 


28 


JANUARY  9,  1973 


LETTERS 


Bridging  our  separateness 

Dear  Editors:  Meetinghouse  2 (No- 
vember 21  issue)  nudges  me  to  express 
a word  of  appreciation  for  your  efforts 
as  editors.  Particularly  your  efforts  to 
bring  Mennonites  together,  whether  it 
be  across  denominational  or  internation- 
al lines.  I have  been  receiving  both 
The  Mennonite  and  the  Gospel  herald, 
and  it  has  been  my  feeling  that  much  of 
the  material  was  appropriate  to  both 
of  our  church  groups.  Thus  your  efforts 
at  putting  out  joint  material  quarterly 
recognizes  our  common  interests  and 
our  mutuality. 

Paul  Kraybill  was  right  on  when  he 
noted  that  the  coming  generation  is  ig- 
noring our  denominational  lines.  This 
has  been  evident  for  some  time.  At  the 
mcc  peace  assemblies  which  have  been 
going  for  four  years,  denominationalism 
of  Mennonite  youth  has  been  absent. 
Other  instances  can  be  pointed  to.  This 
holds  large  implications  for  our  church 
institutions.  Will  the  colleges  be  able 
to  be  competitive  with  each  other  when 
students  no  longer  care  whether  the 
institution  belongs  to  one  denomination 
or  another?  Will  not  our  support  of  so 
many  institutions  be  looked  on  as  waste- 
ful and  meaningless?  Must  all  institutions 
struggle  to  survive  when  fewer  in  num- 
ber would  be  better  able  to  achieve  our 
goals? 

It  was  also  suggested  that  the  push 
for  merging  our  denominational  boards 
has  subsided.  God  forbid!  Merger  for 
the  sake  of  merging  is  false.  But  main- 
taining separate  offices  for  the  sake  of 
maintaining  denominational  tradition  and 
pride  is  also  false.  Again,  must  we  wait 
to  work  in  full  unity  until  the  old  foun- 
dations have  rotted  away  and  crumbled? 
If  the  coming  generation  says  that  our 
denominational  lines  are  meaningless, 
so  too  will  they  say  are  our  separate  of- 
fices and  ways  of  organizing.  How  long 
must  we  add  committees  to  committees 
and  meetings  to  meetings  to  work  both 
singly  and  together?  While  we  can  re- 
joice that  we  are  doing  many  things 
together,  let  us  look  to  the  day  when  we 
can  dismantle  unnecessary  structures. 
Our  dividedness  must  never  be  seen  as 
the  gift  of  God.  It  is  the  result  of  our 
failings. 

I would  hope  that  the  phrase  “third 


world”  will  be  eliminated  from  the  vo- 
cabulary of  the  Mennonite  churches. 
Who  is  the  “first”  and  who  the  “sec- 
ond”? From  whose  standpoint  and  judg- 
ment? Does  not  that  phrase  “put  down” 
the  majority  of  the  world? 

Another  thing:  the  word  “Anabap- 
tist” is  a wrong  designation  for  current 
day  Mennonites.  Thus  to  state  “Anabap- 
tist churchmen  discuss  cooperation”  is 
not  correct.  It  is  our  hope  that  the  Ana- 
baptist values  are  still  held  to,  but  to 
give  ourselves  that  title  is  both  presump- 
tuous and  historically  inaccurate.  David 
Habegger,  800  East  Hively  Ave.,  Elk- 
hart, Ind.  46514.  Dec.  1 

Death  and  dying  issue 

Dear  Larry:  I appreciated  your  feature 
on  death  and  dying  (November  28  is- 
sue). This  is  a subject  that  we  are  con- 
fronted with  several  times  a week,  and 
we  deal  daily  with  people  in  grief.  I 
would  like  some  more  copies  of  this  is- 
sue. I will  share  them  with  other  chap- 
lains in  the  chain  if  there  are  extras. 
Lome  W.  Friesen,  chaplain,  Whitesburg 
Appalachian  Regional  Hospital,  Whites- 
burg, Ky.  41858.  Dec.  8 

I was  changed  at  Bethel 

Dear  Editor:  I am  writing  in  reply 
to  Abel  Epp’s  letter  (December  5,  1972, 
issue).  One  paragraph  in  the  article  real- 
ly hit  home  with  me.  “I  do  feel  sorry 
for  the  individual  who  must  go  to  Explo 
to  find  greater  love  of  Christ  than  at 
our  Mennonite  conferences.” 

I’m  not  knocking  our  Mennonite  con- 
ferences (because  I have  never  been 
there),  also  I am  not  playing  up  Explo 
72  (for  I wasn’t  there  either).  But  I do 
see  a deep  concern  in  our  Mennonite 
communities  (especially  Henderson,  Ne- 
braska, my  home  community)  for  a 
deeper  love  of  lesus  to  show  through. 
I was  baptized  when  I was  a junior  in 
high  school,  but  never  felt  close  to  lesus. 
I somehow  started  hating  the  commu- 
nity for  (1)  materialism  and  (2)  for 
not  providing  programs  of  interest  to  get 
me  closer  to  Jesus.  Eventually  I was  so 
far  from  Jesus  Christ  I didn’t  realize  I 
was  really  doing  anything  wrong.  I de- 
tested going  to  church.  To  me  it  was  so 
much  fake. 


Then,  I came  to  Bethel  College.  The 
first  few  weeks  I was  really  bored,  and 
not  contributing  much  to  my  welfare 
or  to  anyone  else’s.  Then,  like  a great 
miracle,  I was  taken  under  the  wings 
of  Bethel  Christian  Fellowship.  I started 
going  to  their  Bible  studies,  noon  prayer 
meetings,  and  Thursday  night  fellow- 
ships. Jesus’  love  really  showed  through 
these  people.  They  care  enough  about 
a person  to  go  out  of  their  way  for  him. 

I never  experienced  true  agape  love  un- 
til I came  here. 

My  change  in  the  last  three  months 
has  been  so  drastic,  when  going  home 
people  say,  “I  don’t  believe  it’s  you. 
“You  just  don’t  seem  like  the  type  to  be 
in  some  Bible  group.”  I am  concerned 
about  the  alienation  I have  had  from 
my  home  community.  I feel  so  out  of 
place  going  back  there,  because  I am 
a different  person  (inside  and  out).  I 
have  inward  reservations  about  going 
back  there,  for  I feel  I may  fall  back 
into  the  same  life  I had  before  I really 
found  Jesus.  I don’t  know  if  I will  find 
the  true  brotherly  love  there  that  I have 
found  here  at  Bethel. 

But  for  now  I am  turned  on  about  the 
Bible  and  can’t  quit  reading  it.  Jesus 
is  so  real  to  me.  His  love  for  others  is 
being  shown  so  greatly  to  me  through 
other  people.  Praise  God  for  all  the 
things  he’s  done  for  me.  Cleo  Koop, 
Goering  Hall,  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Dec.  7 

Blessed  despite  militarism 

Dear  Editor:  For  the  most  part,  I must 
agree  with  Abel  Epp  (Letters,  Decem- 
ber 5 issue).  But  the  part  I can’t  under- 
stand is  the  following  paragraph: 

“I  do  feel  sorry  for  the  individual  who 
must  go  to  Explo  72  to  find  greater  love 
of  Christ  than  at  our  Mennonite  con- 
ferences. Forgive  us,  Weldon  Lehman. 
I do  know  that  some  of  the  speakers 
there  are  quite  militaristic.” 

I’ll  have  to  agree  that  many  of  the 
speakers  were  “quite  militaristic”  at  Ex- 
plo. Even  though  they  were  militaristic, 
their  words  were  used  by  God  to  speak 
to  the  individuals  who  were  there.  I 
know,  because  I was  there,  that  the 
words  meant  a great  deal  to  me  and 
laid  great  conviction  on  my  heart.  Just 
because  the  philosophy  of  Campus  Cru- 


THE  MENNONITE 


29 


sade  is  different  from  that  of  us  Men- 
nonites  is  no  reason  to  put  them,  or 
Weldon  Lehman,  down. 

I’m  sure  many  will  agree  that  too 
many  people  in  the  United  States  put 
their  country  before  their  God.  What 
even  bothers  me  more  is  that  I believe 
there  are  many  Mennonites  who  put 
their  religion  before  God.  If  so,  is  this 
a good  way  to  spread  the  news  of  Christ? 

Believe  it  or  not,  Abel,  I don’t  even 
have  to  go  to  one  of  “our  Mennonite 
conferences”  to  find  greater  love  of 
Christ. 

I was  at  Explo  ’72,  Weldon  Lehman 
was  at  Explo  ’72,  and  so  were  many 
other  Mennonites,  most  of  whom  I’m 
sure  received  a great  blessing  from  it. 
Were  you,  Mr.  Epp?  Brent  H.  Sprunger, 
Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Ind.  46526. 

Dec.  5 

Repentance,  not  dissent 

Dear  Larry:  I would  like  to  join  Mel- 
vin D.  Schmidt  (Letters,  October  24 
issue)  in  expressing  appreciation  for 
Hugo  Jantz’s  article  “A  missing  dimen- 
sion in  American  evangelism”  in  which 
he  calls  us  back  to  an  evangelism  under- 
girded by  an  integrity  and  reality  of 
life  like  that  displayed  by  the  early 
Christians  and  early  Anabaptists. 

However,  I would  like  to  suggest  an 
alternative  to  Melvin’s  conclusion  that 
the  authentic  Mennonite  posture  in  re- 
lation to  the  continentwide  Key  73 
evangelism  thrust  is  therefore  dissent. 
May  I suggest  that  it  might  be  more 
properly  repentance. 

We  can  hardly  criticize  other  evange- 
lism efforts  until  the  tarnish  is  removed, 
and  the  integrity  restored  to  our  own 
lives  and  congregations,  and  we  are  ac- 
tive in  a caring  evangelism.  Given  our 
background,  perhaps  we  more  than  oth- 
ers need  to  heed  the  call  to  repentance 
and  prayer  even  if  it  comes  to  us  through 
a “massive”  cooperative  program. 

Neither  the  mass  media  nor  “big 
names”  will  accomplish  the  goals  of  Key 
73.  The  real  action  will  have  to  be  in 
local  congregations  and  communities. 

If  we  as  Mennonites  could  really 
experience  the  kind  of  change  and  re- 
newal that  Mr.  lantz  is  talking  about, 
our  evangelism,  growing  out  of  an  inner 
integrity  and  really  caring  for  the  whole 
man,  might  influence  the  direction  of 
Key  73. 

The  kind  of  interaction  of  Christians 
of  various  backgrounds  that  is  possible 
in  Key  73  may  leave  us  richer,  too. 
It  may  also  make  it  possible  for  non- 


MEDITATION 


Good  homemaking 


The  home  of  Martha  and  Mary  was  a mixture  of  some  unique  ingredients  and 
patterns  of  our  present-day  homes.  Our  homes  would  be  much  poorer  and  probably 
less  comfortable  without  the  Marthas  with  their  care  for  many  things,  with  their 
concern  for  dust  and  disorder,  and  their  worship  of  broomsticks  and  dust  cloths, 
to  say  nothing  of  their  zeal  for  cooking  and  seeing  that  we  are  well  fed  and  well 
cared  for. 

But  such  zeal  at  times  does  not  tend  entirely  to  the  making  of  the  home.  The 
rigid  discipline  of  overly  efficient  housekeeping  may  be  apt  on  occasion  to  break, 
rather  than  make,  the  home. 

Good  homemaking  must  take  into  account  the  sentimental  Mary  as  well  as  the 
practical  Martha.  It  was  Mary’s  glory,  and  her  fault,  that  she  forgot  some  common- 
place duties  and  commonplace  things  in  her  contemplation  of  their  guest  and  all 
that  he  had  to  teach  them.  It  was  perhaps  ungracious  that  she  should  not  have 
assisted  her  sister  Martha. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  Master  would  have  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  the  home 
just  as  much  if  the  meal  had  been  simple,  and  Martha,  instead  of  being  so  fussy 
about  much  serving,  had  also  sat  at  his  feet. 

There  is  an  innate  richness  of  good  homemaking  and  of  hospitality  in  receiving 
guests  that  cannot  be  translated  into  terms  of  mere  preparation  and  serving.  It  takes 
many  things  to  make  a home  in  which  to  live. 

After  we  have  developed  in  our  home  Martha-like  efficiency,  we  need  something 
more.  In  fact,  the  only  way  to  insure  a good  home  and  a good  home  life  is  to  begin 
with  the  one  thing  that  Jesus  said  was  needful:  the  part  that  Mary  has  chosen. 
And  if  we  want  our  homes  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  we  too  must  listen, 
ponder,  and  receive  Christ’s  words  and  teachings. 

An  anonymous  author  put  it  this  way: 

In  Bethany’s  calm  shade  the  Savior  loved  to  rest. 

With  joy  must  every  heart  be  filled,  with  so  divine  a guest. 

Oh  may  my  home  so  ordered  be,  that  Christ  the  Lord  may  dwell  with  me. 

Fly  not  the  household  task,  the  duteous  care, 

Each  gladness  heighten,  each  sorrow  share, 

With  Martha’s  zeal,  yet  Mary’s  better  part, 

Walk  thou  within  thy  house,  with  perfect  heart. 

Ida  Gaeddert 


< 

% 

fl 

*5 


Christians  to  see  Christ  more  clearly 
than  they  could  through  the  competing 
witness  of  a fractured  church.  Malcolm 
Wenger,  associate  secretary  for  evange- 
lism, General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 

Nov.  30 

Black  consciousness 

Dear  Editor:  Mr.  Juhnke’s  appraisal  of 
black  power  (November  28,  1972,  issue) 
leaves  me  wondering  whether  the  writer 
agrees  with  the  blacks  about  what  should 
be  done  in  South  Africa.  He  claims 
that  the  blacks  need  a new  constitution. 

I do  not  believe  that  a new  black  con- 
stitution will  solve  the  problems.  There 
are  many  new  African  states  with  new 
constitutions,  and  yet  they  are  still  poor 


and  their  citizens  would  emigrate  to 
South  Africa,  if  they  were  allowed  en- 
try. A black  constitution  is  likely  to 
lead  to  new  black  racism  as  we  recently 
saw  it  practiced  in  Uganda. 

What  is  Mr.  Juhnke  trying  to  say  ^ 
when  he  talks  of  the  “working  pawns 
in  the  game  for  white  privilege”?  Is  he  > 
quoting  black  opinion  or  his  own?  It  T 
appears  to  me  that  every  outsider  should 
refrain  from  encouraging  black  appetite, 
but  rather  encourage  the  blacks  to  co- 
operate and  encourage  the  whites  to  -j 
educate  black  responsibility.  I am  sure  j 
that  many  whites  are  suggesting  just  4>j 
that,  but  the  main  obstacle  is  the  whites’  4 
fear  of  revolution  and  bloodshed,  if  they 
turn  too  much  power  over  to  the  blacks 
too  soon.  Adalbert  Goertz,  22  Stricfcler  V 
Ave.,  Waynesboro,  Pa.  17268.  Dec.  2 


3 

1 


30 


JANUARY  9,  1973 


>- ■V— 


Some  families  are  creative. 

Family  worship  happens  at  appro- 
priate times  and  meaningful  ways 
without  a guide  to  follow. 

Some  families  need  a guide. 

New  insight  and  fresh  stimulation 
come  as  some  type  of  family  wor- 
ship guide  is  used. 

Some  families . . . HAVE  NO  FAMILY  WORSHIP. 


the  new  family  worship  guide,  can 

help  your  family. 

Worship  guidelines  for  families  with  children. 

(Lower  Junior  and  Junior  Sunday  school  outlines  are  followed) 

Worship  guidelines  for  youth  adult. 

(Uniform  Sunday  school  outlines  are  followed) 

Prayer  requests  that  focus  on  specific  persons  and  needs  that  will 
add  new  dimensions  to  your  understanding  of  the  work  of  the 
Mennonite  Church.  Several  feature  articles  each  quarter. 

REJOICE  is  produced  cooperatively  by  the  Conference  of  Mennonites 
in  Canada,  the  General  Conference  Mennonite  Church,  the 
Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  and  the  Mennonite  Church. 

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Send  orders  to:  FAITH  AND  LIFE  PRESS 

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Code_ 


Contents 


Bibles  for  smuggling  

News  

So  good  it's  hard  to  believe 

Letters  

Good  homemaking  

Who  will  answer?  

COVER 

A miniature  Chinese  New  Testament 
published  in  Hong  Kong.  See  the  lead 
article  (pages  18-21)  on  the  smuggling 
of  Bibles  and  Testaments  into  commu- 
nist lands. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Gerald  Studer,  312  S.  Hickory,  Scott- 
dale,  Pa.  15683,  is  pastor  of  the  Scott- 
dale  Mennonite  Church. 

This  week's  film  review  is  by  James 
W Arnold.  2239  N.  Terrace  Ave.,  Mil- 
waukee, Wise.  53202.  He  writes  movie 
critiques  for  a variety  of  publications. 

Ida  Gaeddert  does  her  homemaking 
at  RD  #7,  York,  Pa.  17402.  She  and 
her  husband  are  members  of  Bethel  Men- 
nonite Church,  Lancaster. 

Lewis  B.  Smedes  is  a member  of  the 
faculty  at  Fuller  Theological  Seminary, 
Pasedena,  Calif.  The  back  page  article 
is  a condensation  of  a piece  he  did  for 
the  September  1972  issue  of  the  Re- 
formed Journal. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  18-21,  Paul  M.  Schrock,  Box 
200,  Scottdale,  Pa.  15683;  25,  26,  27, 
Religious  News  Service. 

mir  The., 
Mennonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 

Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114: 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 2-8th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


18 

22 

28 

29 

30 
32 


THE  MENNONITE 


31 


Who  will  answer? 

Lewis  B.  Smedes 


The  breakdown  of  the  negotiations  for  a cease- 
fire in  Vietnam  and  the  intensified  bombings 
prompted  us  to  select  this  article  for  use  at  this 
time.  The  writer  is  on  the  faculty  of  Fuller  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Pasadena.  California. 

One  thought  about  our  sustained  bombardment 
of  Vietnam  haunts  me  almost  daily.  What  will 
we  evangelical  people  think  of  ourselves  later, 
after  it  is  finally  over,  when  we  examine  our 
sensitivity  to  the  bombing  today?  What  judgment 
will  we  make  on  our  silence?  What  judgment  will 
be  made  on  us?  How  will  we  stand  in  that  day? 

God’s  earth  has  never  seen  the  likes  of  what 
we  are  doing  in  Indochina.  A million  tons  on 
Indochina  in  1972!  . . . 

How  is  the  massive  public  indifference  of  the 
evangelical  community  to  this  awful  moral  issue 
to  be  explained? 

Each  of  us  has  his  own  autobiography  to  con- 
sider. Few  of  us  are  hounding  the  Pentagon  to 
win  the  war  anymore.  But  what  has  gradually 
brought  about  the  shift  from  support  to  indiffer- 
ence? Is  it  sheer  frustration,  economic  crunch? 

The  only  way  for  evangelical  middle  America 
to  be  conscience-struck  is  through  an  authentic 
appeal  from  the  heart  of  the  gospel.  And  the  only 
person  who  can  speak  clearly  from  the  gospel 
to  the  heart  of  middle  America  is  Billy  Graham. 
Graham  has  the  heart  of  evangelical  middle 
America  in  his  hands.  If  he  spoke,  middle  Amer- 
ica would  respond. 

But  on  this  point  he  does  not  speak. 

I am  not  saying  that  Graham  should  condemn 
the  bombing;  this  is  his  judgment  alone.  But  I 
am  wondering  why  he  does  not  press  home  to  us 
all  the  moral  issue  of  the  bombing,  the  spiritual 
issue,  the  evangelical  issue.  What  the  evangelical 
community  has  to  hear,  deep  in  its  moral  cham- 
bers, is  that  the  bombing  is  a Christian  issue  of 
terrible  dimensions. 

Two  things  have  to  be  clear  to  us.  If  the 
bombing  is  wrong,  it  is  a horrendous  wrong. 
And,  if  we  are  in  doubt  about  its  rightness,  we 
must  be  against  going  on  with  it.  We  cannot  go 
on  with  this  hellish  business  unless  we  are  pro- 
foundly and  clearly  certain  that  it  is  justifiable 
before  the  face  of  God. 

One  cannot  help  wondering:  does  Graham 


have  no  doubts?  Does  he  not  hear  the  question 
screaming  to  us  from  a far  country:  Is  it  right? 
Is  it  right?  And  if  he  has  doubts  about  the  moral- 
ity of  it  all,  should  he  not  let  his  doubts  be 
known? 

I am  sensitive  to  Graham’s  problems.  It  may 
be  said  that  he  would  compromise  something — 
who  knows  what? — of  his  effectiveness  in  laying 
the  claims  of  the  gospel  on  individuals  if  he  were 
to  get  involved  in  this  political  issue. 

Smoothing  down  the  cutting  edge  of  the  gospel 
to  individuals  would  be  the  last  thing  I would 
want  to  see  Graham  do.  But  this  is  no  real 
alternative,  and  we  know  it  is  not.  Why  is  it 
not  possible,  in  the  name  of  Christ  the  Lord, 
to  compel  people  to  face  up  to  the  most  pro- 
found moral  issue  of  the  moment  in  public  life? 

The  bombing  is  a spiritual  issue.  Evangelical 
awareness  of  it  is  a barometer  of  its  spiritual  sen- 
sitivity to  the  large  and  momentous  moral  ques- 
tions. Evangelical  America  does  need  to  be 
aroused. 

Another  compelling  item  in  the  picture  is  that 
Mr.  Nixon  has  apparently  closed  his  doors  to 
ministers  who  he  knows  are  against  the  bomb- 
ing— 

His  doors  are  wide  open  to  Graham.  It  would 
be  a great  hour  in  American  evangelicalism  if 
Graham  would  use  his  entree  to  the  White  House 
to'  press  the  moral  urgency  of  the  massive  bomb- 
ing with  the  same  grace  and  power  that  he  preach- 
es the  gospel  of  personal  salvation. 

I repeat  that  it  is  not  my  place  to  demand 
that  Graham  agree  with  me.  In  my  own  judg- 
ment, there  is  not  a single  ingredient  in  traditional 
Christian  morality  by  which  the  bombing  can 
be  justified.  But  Graham  will  make  his  own  judg- 
ment on  that,  and  probably  has.  What  he  can 
and  ought  to  do  is  compel  the  evangelical  com- 
munity of  America  to  face  head-on  the  inescap- 
able moral  issue  and  to  come  to  a responsible 
moral  response  to  it. 

The  words  of  the  great  hymn  “Just  as  I am,” 
sung  a million  times  over,  will  not  drown  out  this 
question:  What  did  you  think,  what  did  you  say, 
about  the  seven  million  tons  of  bombs  dropped 
on  a small  country  far  from  your  shores ? It  is 
a moral  and  spiritual  question.  And  we  will  not 
be  able  to  evade  it  forever. 


Tin* 

Mennonite 


OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN, 


THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


* 


FLKHART 


UBRMy 


-5' 


A 


88=03  JANUARY  16,  1973 


Virginia  Berney 


A mother’s  tender  letter  to  her  eight-year-old  hyper- 
kinetic son.  She  shares  the  self-doubt  which  she 
suffered  when  all  efforts  to  train  her  restless,  irri- 
table boy  seemed  to  fail,  and  the  relief  which 
! gradually  began  to  come  when  they  discovered  the 
reasons  for  John’s  antisocial  behavior  and  were 
introduced  to  medication  which  helps  him. 


I Little  guy — blond  hair,  blue  eyes,  two  front  teeth 
coming  through  to  fill  the  eight-year-old’s  gap — what 
a source  of  consternation  you’ve  been  in  our  family. 

| What  tears  and  fears  you’ve  engendered  in  this  par- 
I sonage  home  since  first  you  were  greeted  eagerly  by 
[ four  sisters  and  your  new  parents.  You  were  then  our 
greatly  anticipated  two-months-old  adopted  baby  John. 

: To  us  you  couldn’t  have  been  more  special  and  adored. 
That  was  over  eight  years  ago,  but  by  the  time  you 
were  five,  self-punishment  had  increasingly  become  my 
lot.  Over  and  over  the  nauseous  waves  of  incompetence 
and  failure,  of  being  unable  to  cope,  swept  over  me. 
And  then  body  and  brain  being  a unity,  I found  myself 
facing  up  to  an  ulcer,  hard  to  take  for  one  who  had 
theretofore  regarded  ulcers  as  “just  deserts  for  those 
of  little  faith. 

When  did  we  first  realize  there  was  something  differ- 
ent about  you?  It’s  lost  in  our  making  allowances,  the 
kind  that  blame  differences  on  the  fact  that  “he’s  a 
boy,”  “he’s  just  spoiled,”  “he’s  adopted,”  “too  many 
sisters  are  trying  to  teach  him.”  All  those  explanations 
to  ourselves  kept  us  from  acknowledging  that  some- 
thing was  truly  amiss. 

You  were  resistant  to  affection.  You  didn’t  want  that 
rocking  and  tenderness  which  we  were  all  so  anxious  to 
bestow.  Your  restlessness  wouldn’t  allow  you  to  settle 
down  while  being  cuddled.  Irritability  was  most  often 
your  mood. 

Before  many  months  your  restless  energy  and  dis- 
^ satisfaction  were  taking  you  all  over  the  house.  First 
j hands,  and  knees,  then  feet  were  your  vehicles  to  mis- 
chief, as  you  climbed  on  top  of  the  refrigerator  and 
made  mincemeat  of  all  in  your  path. 

No  guidelines  enforced  by  praise,  rewards,  scoldings, 
spankings,  or  punishments  of  any  kind  held  you  in 
i?  check.  “Hard  to  handle”  was  the  phrase  we  used.  We 
i tried  to  help  you  use  your  energy  constructively,  pro- 
viding building  toys  and  creative  materials  like  crayons 
] and  paints  and  toy  tools  as  you  got  older.  Always  the 
result  was  the  same — no  interest.  You  were  alert;  your 
speech  developed  normally  and  there  was  no  problem 
r in  motor  development.  Yet,  where  was  the  desire  to 
please  and  gain  an  encouraging  word  from  us?  Where 


was  there  any  sense  of  wanting  to  accomplish  a new 
task  for  self-approval,  if  not  for  family  approval? 

Turmoil  resulted  inevitably  when  you  were  with 
other  children.  The  block  tower  would  be  kicked  over, 
the  toys  broken,  something  missing  would  be  found  in 
your  pocket.  As  you  grew,  problems  grew.  You  lived 
on  borrowed  time,  so  often  did  we  or  the  neighbors 
find  you  running  in  the  street,  playing  with  matches 
and  sharp  knives,  trying  medicines  from  the  bathroom 
cabinet  (no  hiding  place  was  out  of  your  range).  Mem- 
ories include  the  year  you  were  four  and  the  struggle 
of  nursery  school.  You  didn’t  want  to  go  and  you 
didn’t  want  to  stay  and  you  didn’t  want  to  come  home. 

Kindergarten  was  the  same.  You  were  late  walking 
your  six  blocks  day  after  day,  arriving  at  school  with 
pockets  bulging  with  newly  found  matchbooks  and 
ladybugs.  We  spent  hours  and  miles  each  day  looking 
for  you  in  the  neighborhood,  each  time  fearing  that 
when  you  were  located  we’d  have  to  cope  with  some 
new  mischief.  Taking  you  to  social  events  with  the  fam- 
ily usually  ended  the  same  way:  the  whole  frustrated 
family  looking  for  you. 

You  were  a blow  to  parental  pride  when  we  accom- 
panied you  to  apologize  for  setting  fires  in  neighbors’ 
garages  or  spraying  paint  on  their  cars,  or  when  to- 
gether we  returned  pilfered  goods  to  stores.  Tensions 
with  certain  neighbors  mounted.  There  were  tears  at 
night  after  you  were  finally  asleep  and  exasperated 
tears  during  the  day  when  there  seemed  no  hope  in 
sight — when  spankings  and  consignment  to  your  room 
and  denial  of  desserts  and  tongue  lashings  had  me  more 
ashamed  of  myself  than  of  you  for  dealing  in  such 
harsh  terms,  and  my  efforts  to  find  praiseworthy  ac- 
tions and  positive  affirmations  of  your  worth  had  re- 
sulted in  a big  zero. 

This  was  the  general  state  of  things  when  you  came 
home  from  kindergarten  one  day  with  a dittoed  note 
safety-pinned  to  your  shirt.  Mothers  were  being  invited 
to  weekly  hour-long  sessions  with  two  psychologists  to 
discuss  raising  children.  As  we  introduced  ourselves  at 
the  first  session,  it  became  apparent  that  we  were  a 
selected  group,  mothers  of  problem  children  from  sev- 
eral schools.  I acknowledged  in  rather  brief  fashion 
our  “hard-to-handle”  son,  but  soon  found  myself  lis- 
tening intently  to  another  mother  describe  her  son,  us- 
ing the  work  hyperkinetic.  Her  story  sounded  agoniz- 
ingly familiar  and  her  demeanor  revealed  the  struggles 
she  had  been  through.  At  the  session’s  conclusion,  I 
sought  out  my  “soul  sister,”  who1  was  eager  to  send  me 
a magazine  article  which  had  helped  her. 

A few  days  later  the  article  arrived  in  the  mail.  We 
nearly  burst  with  excitement  when  we  read  a descrip- 
tion of  behavior  like  our  son’s  and  the  fact  that  some- 
thing could  be  done.  The  girls  each  read  it  and  con- 


THE  MENNONITE 


35 


eluded  that  their  brother  was  indeed  being  described. 
Now  some  sense  could  be  made:  You  weren’t  to  blame 
for  your  difficulties,  and  neither  were  we!  A great 
weight  began  to  lift. 

A hyperkinetic  child,  for  some  unexplained  reason, 
has  an  impairment  of  his  mental  function.  Whether  it’s 
a genetic  trait,  or  whatever  the  cause,  his  brain  appar- 
ently doesn’t  sort  out  the  stimuli  and  evaluate  them  as 
does  a normal  brain.  Most  important,  the  condition 
can  be  helped. 

Back  in  1937  Charles  Bradley  discovered  improve- 
ment in  the  behavior  of  hyperactive  (hyperkinetic  is 
used  synonymously)  children  when  they  were  given 
stimulating  drugs.  This  reaction  strongly  suggested  a 
specific  biochemical  imbalance  in  the  brain  which  the 
drugs  rectified. 

We  had  noted  that  in  certain  situations  of  strain, 
i.e.,  a visit  to  the  doctor,  you  calmed  down,  John,  and 
acted  more  normally;  also,  when  you  had  a fever  your 
behavior  improved  dramatically.  These  reactions  seem 
to  indicate  that  in  conditions  of  stress  the  system  step- 
ped up  its  production  of  the  chemicals  which  the  cen- 
tral nervous  system  needed  in  order  to  function  prop- 
erly. Drugs  which  are  helpful  with  most  children  are 
d-amphetamines  (Dexedrine)  and  methylphenidates 
(Ritalin). 

The  condition  is  much  more  common  in  boys  than 
in  girls,  and  is  more  common  in  adopted  children  than 
in  natural  children.  Most  children  do  not  receive  help 
until  they  reach  school  age.  Too  few  teachers  and 
school  systems  are  equipped  to  meet  the  special  chal- 
lenge of  the  estimated  4 percent  who  have  this  problem 
in  varying  degrees,  but  increasingly  it  is  coming  to  pub- 
lic attention. 

Some  of  this  attention  has  been  the  result  of  furor 
over  reliance  on  drugs  to  improve  behavior  both  in  and 
out  of  the  classroom  (see  “Pills  for  classroom  peace?” 
by  Edward  Ladd,  Saturday  review,  November  21,  1970, 
p.  66  ff).  In  this  day  of  increasing  drug  abuse,  misuse 
of  some  of  the  same  drugs  which  allay  the  symptoms 
of  the  hyperkinetic  child  has  led  naturally  to  a question- 
ing of  the  wisdom  of  the  treatment. 

Are  we  raising  an  addict?  Doctors  say  not.  The 
hyperkinetic  is  dependent  in  the  same  way  a diabetic 
is  dependent  on  insulin:  it  is  needed  to  help  the  body 
function  normally. 

Though  the  psychiatrist  was  understanding  of  you, 
John,  he  was  even  more  so  of  us;  moreover,  he  him- 
self had  a hyperkinetic  son.  He  helped  us  to  under- 
stand the  problem,  he  prescribed  medication,  and  he 


instilled  the  hope  that  you  will  outgrow  the  condition 
as  his  own  son  has.  Often,  he  said,  he  has  seen  adoles- 
cents of  sixteen  or  seventeen  turn  into  responsible  ' 
friendly  teen-agers,  leaving  behind  their  antisocial  be- 
havior and  personality  traints.  But  much  of  what  will 
happen  then  depends  on  the  patterns  and  associations 
formed  in  earlier  years. 

Since  you  started  medication,  life  has  been  better 
for  all  of  us.  A second  year  of  kindergarten  went  much 
more  smoothly.  Where  formerly  you  could  seldom  be 
motivated  to  dress  yourself,  once  the  medication  takes 
effect  you  put  your  clothes  on,  eat  breakfast,  and  often 
even  get  to  school  on  time.  You  can  take  suggestions, 
be  agreeable  and  sometimes  even  helpful,  you  can  feel 
remorse  when  you’ve  broken  something,  you  can  be  t 
talked  to  in  a normal  tone  of  voice  and  give  evidence 
of  hearing,  you  can  be  disciplined  with  some  effect. 
You’re  not  so  elusive,  so  often  unhappy,  so  unmanage- 
able, and  wild.  A small  pill  three  times  a day  makes 
the  big  difference. 

Not  all  problems  are  solved.  Some  days  the  medica-  1 
tion  has  more  effect  than  others.  When,  after  several 
months,  the  drug  seems  to  be  doing  little  good,  we 
vary  the  treatment  with  the  doctor’s  help  and  the  effect- 
iveness is  renewed.  We  need  and  gladly  accept  extra 
help  from  the  school,  church  school  teachers,  and  the 
local  mental  health  center.  Private  tutoring  in  reading 
has  been  added  to  try  to  make  up  the  big  discrepancy 
between  what  tests  have  shown  to  be  your  potential 
ability  and  your  performance  level. 

Just  realizing  that  you  and  others  like  you  are  vic- 
tims of  forces  you  can’t  control  gave  us  a new  lease  on 
life.  Partially  gone  are  the  overwhelming  self-doubts. 
The  challenge  of  helping  you  to  a useful  fulfilling  life, 
instead  of  the  life  of  a delinquent  or  criminal,  which 
you  could  fall  into  so  easily,  looms  on  ahead.  We’re 
trying.  We  take  all  the  people  help  we  can  get,  but  be- 
yond that  we  need  God’s  help. 

Prayer.  O God,  thank  you  for  entrusting  John  to  us. 
Help  us  to  really  accept  the  idea  that  he  is  not  a nor- 
mal child  and  not  expect  more  of  him  or  ourselves  than 
can  be  fulfilled.  Help  us  to  instill  in  him  a sense  of  his 
worthiness  even  though  he  often  fails  to  live  up  to  the 
expectations  of  society  and  ourselves.  May  we  be  more 
patient  and  loving.  Thank  you  for  friends  who  give 
support  to  our  sagging  family  egos,  for  competent  pro- 
fessionals who  take  John’s  problems  seriously,  and  for 
the  medication  that  enables  our  family  to  function  more 
normally.  We  commit  each  of  us  to  your  keeping. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
OiUich.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Ccnada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


36 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


\ ms 

General  Board  prepares  for  February  meeting 


i Placement  of  ministers  and  other  church 
personnel,  Mennonite  history,  and  final 
funding  of  the  Poverty  Fund  concerned 
the  General  Board  executive  committee 
December  19-20  in  its  preparations  for 
'the  full  General  Board  meeting  in  Feb- 
| ruary. 

The  executive  committee  requested 
| that  the  functions  of  the  personnel  office 
I and  ministerial  placement  be  reviewed 
| and  asked  whether  procedures  could  be 

I streamlined. 

Elaine  Roupp,  personnel  director,  re- 
ported that  increased  percentages  of  sin- 
gle, female,  and  younger  persons  applied 
for  General  Conference  service  in  1972 
than  in  earlier  years.  More  people  are 
interested  in  one-year  assignments  since 
the  military  draft  is  winding  down.  This 
creates  an  acute  continuity  problem  for 
voluntary  service  units,  she  said. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission  requires  fewer  appli- 
cants, and  those  must  have  more  educa- 
tion, more  experience,  and  pass  the  scru- 
tiny of  overseas  church  leaders. 

Ministerial  placement  is  becoming  de- 
centralized with  district  ministers  taking 
more  and  more  responsibility.  Yet  dozens 
of  churches  and  scores  of  pastors  con- 
tinue to  use  the  services  of  D.  C.  Wedel, 
ministerial  placement  officer. 


The  executive  committee  looked  with 
favor  on  the  employment  of  David 
Whitermore  by  the  Commission  on  Home 
Ministries  and  Paul  Boschman  by  chm 
and  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion. The  itineration  ministries  of  these 
men  personalize  the  work  of  the  confer- 
ence in  local  churches,  the  executive 
committee  felt.  The  two  will  also  be  as- 
sisting congregations  in  evangelism  and 
goal-setting.  More  than  twenty  congre- 
gations have  initiated  goal-setting  pro- 
cedures in  cooperation  with  chm. 

The  executive  committee  also  approved 
procedures  for  final  disbursement  of 
Poverty  Fund  assets  and  income  to  com- 
plete current  projects  and  fund  two  ad- 
ditional programs:  the  Gulfport  Credit 
Union  with  $5,000  and  an  India  literacy 
project  with  $7,000. 

The  Commission  on  Education  was 
asked  to  listen  and  respond  to  requests 
that  the  General  Conference  do  more  to 
promote  interest  in  Mennonite  history. 
The  executive  committee  noted  that  the 
following  agencies  are  already  involved: 

— Mennonite  historical  libraries  at 
Newton,  Bluffton,  Winnipeg,  and  Goshen. 

— -Institute  of  Mennonite  Studies  at 
Elkhart. 

— Mennonite  historical  societies  in  In- 
diana, Ontario,  and  Manitoba. 


— local  centennial  committees. 

—Faith  and  Life  Press,  which  pub- 
lishes historical  books. 

The  executive  committee  meets  to  deal 
with  pressing  matters,  to  hear  staff  con- 
cerns, and  to  prepare  for  the  full  board 
meeting  in  February.  It  reiterated  its 
function,  not  exerting  heavy-handed  au- 
thority, but  facilitating  open  communica- 
tion among  churches,  agencies,  and  other 
church  bodies. 

The  committee  supported  General 
Secretary  Heinz  Janzen’s  continued  meet- 
ing with  moderators  and  general  secre- 
taries of  other  Mennonite  church  bodies 
to  survey  existing  and  potential  coopera- 
tion. 

At  the  February  meeting,  the  board 
plans  a fuller  look  at  the  results  of  the 
Church  Member  Profile  and  its  implica- 
tions for  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  life  and  programming.  Five  Men- 
nonite groups  participated  in  the  wide- 
scale  survey  of  beliefs  and  attitudes  of 
North  American  Mennonites. 

General  Board  officers  and  staff  were 
pleased  about  substantially  increased 
budget  receipts.  Deficits  from  previous 
years  were  scheduled  to  be  sharply  re- 
duced by  the  end  of  1972,  freeing  more 
current  income  for  mission  and  services. 


Hopi  Christians 

A new  hymnal  in  the  Hopi  language  was 
dedicated  at  special  song  festivals  held 
at  Oraibi,  Arizona,  November  5-6,  and 
at  Flagstaff,  Arizona  on  November  12. 
The  new  songbook  entitled  Lomatuawh- 
tatawi  (Hopi  gospel  songs)  incorporates 
an  earlier  book  published  in  1931  with 
the  assistance  of  missionary  J.  R.  Duerk- 
sen.  Three  thousand  copies  of  the  new 
book  were  printed. 

John  P.  Suderman,  missionary  to  the 
Hopis  from  1930-47  spent  the  past  four 
years  collecting  new  Hopi  songs,  adding 
the  musical  notation  and  preparing  them 
for  the  printer. 

Of  the  128  songs  in  the  1931  edition, 
about  half  are  original  texts  by  Hopi 
Christians  and  the  remainder  translations 
of  songs  familiar  to  English-speaking 


celebrate  new  hymnal 


Christians.  Most  of  the  146  new  songs 
are  also  translations. 

The  Hopi  Christians  decided  not  to 
use  traditional  Hopi  melodies  in  their 
hymnody  because  of  the  non-Christian 
connotations  that  these  tunes  held  for 
them. 

Of  the  274  songs  in  the  new  Hopi 
hymnal  the  texts  for  241  were  supplied 
by  thirty-one  different  Hopi  Christians. 
The  texts  for  27  songs  were  prepared  by 
four  missionaries,  and  6 songs  represent 
collaboration  between  Hopi  Christians 
and  missionaries. 

The  largest  number  of  songs  were 
prepared  by  Reuben  Lomayesva  (fifty- 
nine),  Otto  Lomavitu  (twenty-nine,  with 
collaboration  on  three  additional  songs), 
K.  T.  Johnson  (forty),  Daniel  Quimay- 


ousie  (twenty-six),  Pleniny  Adams  (ten), 
and  J.  B.  Frey  (twelve). 

Cost  of  the  project  was  slightly  over 
$5,000.  Over  $600  has  been  contributed 
by  friends  of  the  Hopis.  The  Hopi  Chris- 
tians and  churches  have  already  paid 
about  $3,000  and  hope  to  raise  the  re- 
mainder shortly. 

To  dedicate  the  new  hymnal,  the  Hopis 
held  a 2x/2-hour  songfest,  followed  by 
a potluck  supper  and  another  service  in 
the  evening.  The  Oraibi  celebration  end- 
ed with  another  song  service  Monday 
evening. 

In  Flagstaff,  where  many  Hopis  have 
moved,  there  were  three  more  song  serv- 
ices and  a carry-in  supper.  Malcolm 
Wenger 


THE  MENNONITE 


37 


Peace  churches  respond  to  WCC  study 


The  following  report  was  written  by  Ted 
Koontz,  associate  executive  secretary, 
mcc  Peace  Section : 

On  December  15-17,  representatives 
from  the  historic  peace  churches  met  for 
the  second  time  to  discuss  the  World 
Council  of  Churches’  study  document, 
“Violence,  nonviolence,  and  the  struggle 
for  social  justice.”  Mennonites  attending 
the  meeting  in  Richmond,  Indiana,  in- 
cluded Walter  Klaassen,  Paul  Peachey, 
Douglas  Hostetter,  William  Keeney,  and 
Ted  Koontz. 

The  wcc  study  was  an  outgrowth  of 
pressure  from  those  within  the  council 
interested  in  exploring  nonviolent  meth- 
ods of  social  change,  and  the  controversy 
stirred  by  the  wcc  grants  to  revolution- 
ary movements,  part  of  wee’s  program 
to  combat  racism.  The  historic  peace 
churches’  consultation  was  convened  so 
that  peace  church  concerns  about  vio- 
lence and  nonviolence  could  be  incorpo- 
rated into  the  wcc  study  process. 

The  consultation  affirmed  that,  more 
than  any  past  wcc  document,  this  study 
is  a serious  attempt  to  wrestle  with  the 
possibilities  of  nonviolent  action.  Almost 
one-fourth  of  the  document  deals  with 
the  specifics  of  nonviolent  action  and  a 
strong  case  is  made  for  nonviolence  on 
the  ground  that  it  can  be  effective.  The 
document  also  recognizes  that  overt  vio- 
lence of  revolutionaries  is  rooted  in  the 


For  the  majority  of  evangelicals  in  Latin 
America,  eschatology  is  futuristic.  Al- 
though a definite  expressed  position  does 
not  exist,  most  believe  that  the  kingdom 
of  God  will  be  fulfilled  in  the  future. 
This  was  one  of  the  conclusions  drawn 
by  the  second  international  consultation 
of  the  Latin  American  Theological  Fra- 
ternity, which  met  in  Lima,  Peru,  De- 
cember 11-19. 

The  task  of  hermeneutics,  the  consul- 
tation said,  must  take  into  consideration 
two  facets  of  biblical  teaching:  “There 
is  a present  aspect  of  the  kingdom,  the 
now,  and  there  is  a future  aspect  of  the 
kingdom,  the  not  yet."  Both  aspects 
should  motivate  the  believer  to  be  busy 
in  the  realization  of  the  kingdom. 

Five  papers  on  the  subject  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  were  presented  to  the  nine- 
day  meeting.  Among  those  who  made 
presentations  were  Jose  Miguez  Bonino, 


injustices  of  social  institutions.  That  such 
“structural  violence”  can  be  as  harmful 
to  persons  as  overt  violence  is  rightly 
emphasized  in  the  study.  The  church’s 
mission  to  identify  with  the  poor  and  op- 
pressed in  confronting  structural  violence 
is  also  strongly  presented. 

In  spite  of  the  strengths  of  the  docu- 
ment, representatives  of  the  peace  church- 
es felt  that  some  substantive  changes 
were  required  and  some  issues  needed  to 
be  restated.  There  was  general  agreement 
that  the  theological  framework  in  which 
the  document  discusses  the  use  of  vio- 
lence or  nonviolence  is  inadequate. 
Among  the  themes  which  the  consulta- 
tion felt  must  be  incorporated  into  the 
document  are  the  conception  of  the 
church  as  the  “people  of  God”  in  a spe- 
cial sense,  the  relation  of  church  to 
world,  the  Christian  rationale  for  non- 
violence in  contrast  to  the  pragmatic 
approach  of  the  study  document,  and  a 
biblical  understanding  of  power  which 
recognizes  suffering  love  as  powerful. 

Another  concern  was  that  the  support 
given  to  revolutionaries  (“freedom  fight- 
ers”) be  more  discriminate.  The  group 
did  not  want  to  support  all  who  consider 
themselves  freedom  fighters.  The  criteria 
by  which  decisions  about  support  are 
made  must  be  defined  and  applied  care- 
fully. 

Others  expressed  concern  about  lack 
of  careful  thought  about  how  one  decides 


Samuel  Escobar,  Emilio  Antonio  Nunez, 
Rene  C.  Padilla,  and  John  H.  Yoder. 

Thirty-two  members  of  the  fraternity 
from  fifteen  countries  attended  the  meet- 
ing. Two  other  Mennonites  besides  Dr. 
Yoder  participated:  Flugo  Zorilla,  of  the 
Colombian  Mennonite  Brethren  Church, 
who  will  soon  join  the  seminary  faculty 
at  San  Jose;  and  Mervin  Brenneman,  a 
Lancaster  Conference  Mennonite,  who 
teaches  Old  Testament  at  San  Jose. 

In  view  of  the  plans  by  the  Billy  Gra- 
ham Association  to  hold  a second  inter- 
national congress  on  evangelism  in  Lau- 
sanne, Switzerland,  in  1974,  the  fraternity 
agreed  to  make  some  proposals  which 
would  hold  the  congress  to  take  the  Latin 
American  situation  seriously.  Its  pro- 
posals call  upon  the  congress  to  take 
decisive  action  for  an  adequate  evange- 
lization and  the  implementation  in  Latin 
America  of  the  claims  of  the  kingdom. 


when  social  change  is  best,  and  if  it  is, 
what  kind  of  change.  Some  participants  i 
felt  that  one  should  not  accept  change 
as  good,  especially  movement  toward  0 
Western  technology  and  the  conception  t 
of  participatory  democracy,  without  ask- 
ing serious  questions. 

The  consultation  appointed  a drafting  s 
committee  to  write  a response  to  the  $ 
wcc  expressing  the  historic  peace  church- 
es’ concerns  about  the  study.  The  con-  * 
sultation  hopes  its  concerns  can  be  pre-  • 
sented  in  a fresh  and  positive  way,  using 
biblical  themes  such  as  incarnation,  the 
new  humanity,  and  rebirth.  'h 

A wcc  statement  resulting  from  the  , 
study  will  be  presented  to  the  wcc  cen- 
tral committee  in  August  1973  for  adop-  , 
tion.  The  central  committee  may  also  y 
authorize  a program  to  support  move- 
ments which  emphasize  nonviolent  means 
of  social  change.  Such  a program  would  -* 
bring  to  wider  public  attention  nonvio- 
lent possibilities  for  confronting  injustice. 

MCC  investigates  needs 
after  Nicaraguan  quake 

A three-member  team  from  the  United 
States  was  scheduled  to  arrive  in  Nica- 
ragua in  late  December  to  investigate 
relief  and  reconstruction  needs  resulting 
from  the  earthquake  which  struck  the 
capital  city  of  Managua  December  23. 

Edgar  Stoesz,  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee director  for  Latin  America,  was 
to  be  joined  in  Nicaragua  by  Mark 
Peachy  of  Irwin,  Ohio,  and  Amos  Miller 
of  Goshen,  Indiana,  secretary  and  vice- 
chairman,  respectively,  of  the  Conserva- 
tive Mennonite  Board  of  Missions.  Their 
visit  was  coordinated  with  one  of  Henry 
Weaver,  Jr.,  and  Bruce  Glick  of  Goshen 
College,  who  are  planning  an  ongoing 
service-study  program  in  Nicaragua. 

Any  relief  and  reconstruction  work  by 
mcc  will  probably  be  done  in  close  co- 
ordination with  missionaries  of  the  three 
related  Mennonite  mission  boards  with 
work  in  Nicaragua  — the  Conservative 
Board  of  Missions,  the  Brethren  in  Christ,  , 
and  the  Evangelical  Mennonite  Confer- 
ence of  Manitoba. 

Coordination  with  the  Goshen  College 
study  program  is  also  anticipated. 

At  the  moment  there  are  no  plans  for 
involvement  of  Mennonite  Disaster  Serv- 
ice personnel,  although  the  investigating 
team  was  to  assess  the  need  for  persons 
with  construction  skills. 


Theologians  discuss  kingdom 


38 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


Whatyou  should  know  about  mental  retardation 

Jack  J.  Fransen  and  Vernon  H.  Neufeld 


Mental  retardation  is  one  problem  which 
has  touched  probably  everyone  if  not 
directly  then  through  a relative  or  ac- 
quaintance. Yet,  surprisingly,  it  is  a 
problem  about  which  too  few  have  be- 
come concerned  except  parents  of  re- 
tarded persons  who  have  had  little  choice. 
Parents  have  been  embarrassed,  and 
friends  and  relatives  have  stayed  away. 
Worst  of  all,  the  retarded  person  has 
been  isolated  or  coddled,  or  both,  and 
thus  prevented  from  developing. 

There  is  much  ignorance  about  the  ex- 
istence of  mental  retardation  and  the 
persons  affected  by  it.  People  in  the 
church  too  often  have  been  counted 
among  the  unenlightened.  Before  we 
who  are  in  the  church  can  change  the 
situation  and  deal  with  mental  retarda- 
tion we  need  to  be  better  informed. 

What  should  we  know  about  mental 
retardation?  We  would  like  to  suggest 
three  areas  as  a starter. 

The  hidden  retarded.  We  ought  to 
know  that  there  are  many  retarded  per- 
sons around.  Often  we  don’t  see  them  or 
know  where  they  are.  The  experts  tell 
us  that  about  three  out  of  every  one 
hundred  persons  are  mentally  retarded. 
Perhaps  five  to  six  million  individuals  in 
the  United  States  and  Canada  are  re- 
tarded. One  doesn’t  see  many  retarded 
people  when  one  shops,  goes  to  school, 


or  attends  church  because  often  they 
are  kept  home  or  placed  in  some  foster 
home  or  institution,  and  so  out  of  sight. 
Many  of  the  approximately  six  million 
individuals  have  never  been  diagnosed 
as  retarded,  particularly  those  who  live 
in  impoverished  urban  and  rural  slums. 

Although  between  100,000  and  125,- 
000  babies  born  each  year  are  retarded, 
there  are  more  adult  retardates  than 
children.  Perhaps  surprising  to  many,  if 
a retarded  child  reaches  the  age  of  five 
or  six  he  has  a good  chance  of  growing 
up.  The  life  expectancy  of  a mildly  re- 
tarded person  is  about  the  same  as  the 
general  population.  The  more  severely 
retarded  may  not  live  as  long,  but  even 
profoundly  retarded  persons  are  known 
to  live  seventy  or  eighty  years.  The  ad- 
vances of  medical  science  are  extending 
the  life  expectancy  of  the  retarded  even 
more. 

There  are  many  causes  of  retardation. 
Some  of  the  most  commonly  known  are 
German  measles  (rubella)  in  the  mother 
during  the  first  three  months  of  preg- 
nancy, syphilis,  meningitis,  toxoplasmo- 
sis, Rh  factor  incompatibility  between 
mother  and  infant,  lead  poisoning  in 
young  children,  chromosome  abnormali- 
ties, and  malnutrition.  About  one  child 
in  600  is  bom  with  Down’s  syndrome 
(mongolism). 


Other  causes  are  social  and  cultural. 
Perhaps  three-fourths  of  the  mentally 
retarded  are  so  because  their  develop- 
ment has  been  adversely  affected  by  an 
inadequate  diet,  inadequate  prenatal  and 
perinatal  care,  family  and  social  depriva- 
tion and  lack  of  stimulation  towards 
growth  and  development  through  learn- 
ing opportunities. 

Needs  of  the  retarded.  We  also  ought 
to  know  what  kind  of  needs  the  men- 
tally retarded  have.  Persons  working 
with  parents  of  retarded  children  have 
discovered  that  the  parents  often  do  not 
know  what  their  children  lack. 

The  retarded  have  physical  needs  like 
anyone  else.  They  need  appropriate  med- 
ical, dental,  and  other  services.  But  more 
than  anyone  else,  the  retarded  often  have 
special  physical  ailments  and  require 
more  help.  Often  they  have  multiple 
handicaps  such  as  retardation  and  blind- 
ness, deafness,  malformations,  or  obes- 
ity, which  compound  their  difficulties. 
Sometimes  there  are  distinctive  physical 
problems,  such  as  the  dental  needs  of  a 
mongoloid.  The  doctor  or  dentist  does 
not  always  know  how  to  care  for  the 
handicapped  person  with  his  special  diffi- 
culties. Some  refuse  to  treat  retarded 
patients. 

The  retarded  person  has  psycho-social 
needs.  He  too  is  human.  He  needs  to 


A student  volunteer  teaches  two  slow  learners  words,  a subject  with  which  they  both 
have  difficulty.  The  youngsters  are  being  taught  at  a speech  and  learning  center  in 
St.  Mary’s  Hospital  in  San  Francisco.  The  center  stresses  the  urgency  of  early 
evaluation"  of  children  who  appear  to  have  learning  disabilities.  Through  an  early 
testing  program,  the  child’s  learning  problem  is  diagnosed  and  hope  is  restored  to 
parents  who  may  have  thought  their  child  was  unteachable. 


-V 


be  accepted  and  loved.  He  needs  to  de- 
velop socially  in  relating  to  others,  and 
he  needs  to  be  active  in  recreational  and 
creative  tasks  as  he  is  able.  That  is  why 
the  “easy  way”  of  isolating  the  handi- 
capped at  home  or  placing  him  in  an 
institution  in  most  instances  inhibits  per- 
sonal and  social  growth  and  dwarfs  him 
short  of  his  potential. 

He  has  educational  needs  and,  when 
intellectually  and  physically  capable,  vo- 
cational needs.  One  of  the  most  gratify- 
ing developments  in  recent  years  is  the 
increased  educational  opportunities  avail- 
able to  the  retarded.  With  this  has  come 
the  discovery  that  almost  all  of  them 
can  learn  far  more  than  was  earlier  be- 
lieved. The  retarded  are  eager  to  learn 
and  must  be  helped  to  reach  their  edu- 
cational and  vocational  potential.  Teach- 
ing them  is  a tough  job.  Often  there  are 
not  enough  special  teachers  or  funds 
available.  But  as  a result  of  recent  ad- 
vances, many  of  the  less  severely  retard- 
ed adults  have  learned  vocational  skills 
and  are  working  and  supporting  them- 
selves. 

Available  resources.  We  need  to  know 
what  resources  and  services  exist  for  the 
retarded  and  their  families.  Frequently 
community  services  are  available  but 
families  do  not  know  about  them.  Sparse- 
ly populated  areas  will  likely  have  few 
services,  but  many  urban  centers  have 
resources. 

What  are  the  professional  resources 
available  in  meeting  the  handicapped 
person’s  needs?  There  is  the  medical  spe- 
cialist, whether  pediatrician,  neurologist, 
psychiatrist,  or  cardiologist;  the  dentist, 
orthodontist,  or  dental  hygienist;  the  oph- 
thalmologist, the  speech  and  hearing  spe- 
cialist; the  occupational,  recreational, 
physical  therapist;  the  educational  and 
vocational  consultant  and  specialist.  One 
needs  to  know  where  these  professional 
persons  are  and  what  they  can  do. 

Often  agencies  and  institutions  can 
provide  direct  services  and  care  for  the 
retarded  and  their  families.  Foster  homes, 
nurseries,  and  board  and  care  homes  may 
provide  twenty-four-hour  care.  Or  there 
may  be  day  care  or  respite  care  facilities 
which  provide  a second  home  for  the 
retarded  on  a part-time  basis.  Many 
communities  have  workshops,  rehabili- 
tation programs,  training  and  activity 
centers,  and  camps  which  help  further 
the  development  of  the  retarded. 

Another  kind  of  resource  often  un- 
tapped by  parents,  because  they  don’t 
know  about  it  or  they  feel  too  proud  to 
ask,  is  provided  by  governmental  agen- 
cies. Health  and  welfare  agencies  try  to 


help  the  retarded,  the  handicapped,  and 
their  families.  The  public  supports  these 
efforts  of  government  and  for  the  good 
of  the  handicapped  these  resources 
should  be  made  available  to  the  less  for- 
tunate. But  first  we  need  to  know  what 
they  provide  and  how  to  take  advantage 
of  the  services  and  resources  which  may 
be  available. 

We  are  suggesting  that  all  of  us  ought 
to  know  certain  things  about  mental  re- 
tardation. We  ought  to  know  who  the 
retarded  are  and  where  they  are.  We 
ought  to  know  what  their  needs  are,  and 
we  ought  to  know  what  resources  and 
services  are  available.  There  are  some 
six  million  handicapped  persons  whom 
we  are  concerned  about,  some  of  whom 
need  our  help.  We  must  help  all  the 
retarded  individuals  we  can  to  develop 
mentally,  physically,  spiritually,  and  so- 
cially, using  whatever  resources  are  need- 
ed. And  whenever  such  resources  are 
lacking,  the  church  has  a responsibility 
to  step  in  and  fill  the  void. 

The  above  article  is  the  first  of  a series 
of  three. 

African  church  leader 
dies  in  prison 

The  mission  department  of  the  French- 
speaking  Protestant  Church  of  Switzer- 
land has  been  informed  of  the  death  of 
Zedequias  Manganhela,  sixty,  president 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Mozam- 
bique. Mr.  Manganhela  had  been  im- 
prisoned on  June  13,  1972,  with  thirty 
leaders  and  members  of  his  church  and 
several  hundred  other  Mozambicans.  As 
a result  of  six  months  of  isolation  and 
the  pressure  of  interrogation,  he  took  his 
own  life  December  10,  1972. 

He  had  been  president  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  since  1963  and  was  in- 
strumental in  achieving  autonomy  for 
the  church.  It  was  said  that  the  Mozam- 
bicans’ take-over  of  their  own  church 
affairs  was  one  of  the  main  accusations 
leveled  against  Mr.  Manganhela  and  his 
colleagues  by  authorities  in  this  Portu- 
guese province  in  southern  Africa. 

Trained  for  the  ministry  in  Mozam- 
bique and  Portugal,  Mr.  Manganhela 
represented  his  church  at  the  1959  Brazil 
assembly  of  the  World  Alliance  of  Re- 
formed Churches. 

A statement  by  the  Swiss  mission  de- 
partment said:  “His  death  in  the  con- 
text of  the  war  presently  raging  in  Mo- 
zambique is  a serious  blow  to  the  whole 
Christian  world.” 


Words#1  deeds 

• * 

In  a short  time  a group  of  commission- 
ers arrived  to  begin  organization  of  a 
new  Indian  agency  in  the  valley.  One  of  t 
them  mentioned  the  advantages  of  i 
schools  for  Joseph’s  people.  Joseph  re- 
plied that  the  Nez  Perces  did  not  want 
the  white  man’s  schools. 

“Why  do  you  not  want  schools?”  the  y 
commissioner  asked. 

“They  will  teach  us  to  have  churches,” 
Joseph  answered.  ■* 

“Do  you  not  want  churches?” 

“No,  we  do  not  want  churches.” 

“Why  do  you  not  want  churches?”  "1 
“They  will  teach  us  to  quarrel  about  p 
God,”  Joseph  said.  “We  do  not  want  to 
learn  that.  We  may  quarrel  with  men 
sometimes  about  things  on  this  earth.  ■" 
but  we  never  quarrel  about  God.  We  do 
not  want  to  learn  that.”  A quotation 
from  Bury  my  heart  at  wounded  knee,  '*1 
by  Dee  Brown.  v; 


An  mcc  voluntary  service  couple,  Tom  . 
and  Betsy  Van  Horn  of  Fort  Dodge, 
Iowa,  are  beginning  a new  program  at 
the  O’Connor  Commission  Development  - 
Project,  a Toronto  housing  project.  There 
are  roughly  1,000  children  between  the 
ages  of  one  and  nineteen  living  in  the 
project.  Thirty  percent  of  the  236  fam-  i 
ilies  are  one-parent  homes.  More  than 
half  of  the  adults  are  senior  citizens.  t 
Tom  and  Betsy  will  likely  spend  some 
time  at  the  community  school  assisting 
students  with  remedial  reading.  The  4 
Morningside  Mennonite  Church,  locat- 
ed within  five  blocks  of  the  O’Connor 
project,  will  be  the  headquarters  for 
other  activities  such  as  working  with 
children  and  youth  groups,  helping  to 
form  and  support  a women’s  craft  group 
and  a women’s  sewing  group,  and  help-  W* 
ing  develop  the  church  clothing  depot. 
The  Van  Homs  will  be  available  to 
persons  who  feel  isolated  and  need  some- 
one to  talk  to.  They  may  also  assist 
senior  citizens,  many  of  whom  do  not 
have  relatives  close  by  and  need  help  to 
obtain  services  like  meals-on-wheels,  vis-  ■-? 
iting  nurse,  and  homemaking.  Many  of 
these  needs  can  be  met  by  existing 
agencies  if  Tom  and  Betsy  can  help 
make  the  contact. 


40 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


January  16,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 


HAPPENINGS 


Second  seminar  on  offender 
scheduled  in  Bluffton 

The  second  of  two  seminars  to  explore 
the  ministry  to  the  offender  in  the  Cen- 
tral District  is  planned  February  23-24 
at  Marbeck  Center  on  the  Bluffton  Col- 
lege campus,  Bluffton,  Ohio. 

Edgar  Epp,  regional  director  in  On- 
tario by  appointment  of  the  Canadian 
Government  in  Toronto,  will  be  the  main 
resource  person.  Edgar  Epp  is  a former 
prison  warden  and  has  given  leadership 
in  applying  creative  and  redemptive 
methods  in  dealing  with  the  offender.  A 
local  ad  hoc  group,  including  George 
Loeppert,  Mitch  Kingsley,  Stanley  Bohn, 
and  Ralph  Sommers,  is  making  local  ar- 
rangements and  involving  area  resource 
people  for  the  seminar.  Lois  Rensberger, 
chairman  of  the  district  peace  and  service 
committee  is  coordinating  the  planning. 

All  area  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite  churches  as  well  as  Mennonite 
churches  are  being  invited  for  the  sem- 
inar. 

Lodging  will  be  available  at  Riley 
Court  dormitory  of  Bluffton  College. 
Registration  and  further  inquiry  may  be 
addressed  to  Stanley  Bohn,  First  Men- 
nonite Church,  Bluffton,  Ohio. 

Frank  Ward  speaks 
at  Pleasant  Oaks  Church 

In  November  Frank  Ward,  executive 
secretary  for  the  Commission  on  Edu- 
cation of  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite Church,  met  with  interested  per- 
sons at  the  Pleasant  Oaks  Mennonite 
Church.  Mr.  Ward  shared  with  us  some 
of  the  church  trends  in  Christian  educa- 
tion. He  also  answered  questions  which 
were  raised. 

In  looking  to  the  future,  considera- 
tion is  being  given  to  a workshop  led 
by  Mr.  Ward  and  his  Newton  staff,  giv- 
ing us  an  opportunity  to  examine  close- 
ly some  new  approaches  to  Christian 
education.  The  Binding  Tie — Silver  Street 


Christian  courage 

l have  come  to  believe  that  Chris- 
tian courage  consists  in  seeing  the 
danger  fully,  reacting  to  it  with 
human  finitude  and  fear,  and  yet 
being  willing  to  face  the  danger- 
ous situation  for  Christ  or  for  a 
brother,  through  God’s  support. 
God  did  not  say  he  would  take  us 
out  of  the  humanness  of  the  world. 
He  said  that  he  loves  us  and  will 
be  with  us  and  that  through  faith 
we  can  overcome  that  human  weak- 
ness and  can  act  with  courage  in 
spite  of  it.  So,  although  we  still 
experience  fear,  God  has  given  us 
a “cure”  for  it — an  overriding  trust 
in  the  love  of  God.  Keith  Miller 


Education  column 
planned  for  Reporter 

The  education  committee  is  initiating  a 
special  section  for  the  Reporter  on  a bi- 
monthly basis  providing  current  publica- 
tions and  educational  resources. 

Kathleen  Kindle  will  be  responsible 
for  this  column,  with  other  members  of 
the  education  and  publication  committee 
providing  material. 

Youth  of  two  conferences 
join  in  year-end  workshop 

Youth  of  Illinois  of  both  Central  District 
and  Illinois  Conference  churches  united 
for  serious  searching  and  inspiration  at 
Roanoke,  December  28-30  under  the 
leadership  of  Jake  I.  Pauls,  youth  work- 
er for  the  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite Church  and  Arthur  Smucker  of  the 
Mennonite  Church. 

“Pass  it  on"  is  theme 
of  MDS  annual  meeting 

The  Mennonite  Disaster  Service  annual 
all-unit  meeting  for  1973  will  be  held  at 
the  Morton,  Illinois,  First  Mennonite 
Church,  Friday  and  Saturday,  February 
9-10. 

The  theme  of  the  meeting  will  be 
“Pass  it  on”  and  will  feature  reports  of 


Winter  weekends  set 
at  Camp  Friedenswald 

Dads  and  boys  live  it  up  in  winter  fun 
and  fellowship  with  opportunity  for  times 
of  inspiration.  The  Central  District  Men- 
nonite Men  provide  the  program  in  co- 
operation with  Friedenswald.  Fee  is 
$1 1.50;  half  price  for  boys  under  ten. 
Family  weekend  retreat,  February  23-25 

Fun,  fellowship,  inspiration  — all  of 
this  and  more  at  a winter  camp  for 
families.  Live  in  dorms,  a guest  room, 
or  one  of  the  cabins.  State  your  prefer- 
ence on  your  registration.  Ride  the  to- 
boggans and  tubes,  crosscountry  ski,  or 
just  prop  your  feet  up  in  front  of  the 
fireplace.  Opportunity  for  dialog  and  in- 
spiration will  be  provided.  Fee  is  $11.50 
for  each  person;  half  price  for  under 
ten;  $55  maximum  charge  per  family. 
(Those  requesting  guest  rooms  add  $1.50 
per  day  for  each  room.) 

Married  couples  retreat,  March  9-11 

Central  District  is  sponsoring  its  sec- 
ond retreat  to  strengthen  the  home  by 
enriching  the  role  and  relationships  of 
father  and  mother. 

Ray  Keim  of  Oaklawn  Psychiatric  Cen- 
ter will  be  the  leader.  Mr.  Keim  has  di- 
rected many  couples’  retreats  and  brings 
unique  spiritual  and  professional  re- 
sources to  this  experience.  Registrations 
are  limited.  Send  your  names  directly  to 
Jess  Kauffman,  Camp  Friedenswald, 
Route  3,  Cassopolis,  Michigan.  Register 
now.  Cost  is  $11.50  per  person. 

Other  information 

All  weekend  retreats  begin  with  reg- 
istration at  7 p.m.,  Friday,  and  conclude 
with  the  noon  meal  on  Sunday.  Accom- 
modations can  be  provided  in  dormitory, 
private  rooms,  or  heated  cabins.  Bring 
your  own  bedrolls  and  linens.  Evening 
snacks  are  provided  on  a freewill  basis. 
Winter  sports  include  the  toboggan  run 
with  toboggans  and  tubes,  crosscountry 
skiing,  and  skating  when  available.  In- 
side atmosphere  is  provided  by  the  big 
fireplace,  table  games,  and  your  friends. 

the  major  1972  mds  projects  in  Buffalo 
Creek,  West  Virginia,  Rapid  City,  South 
Dakota,  and  the  eastern  states  flood  proj- 
ects. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-l 


The  Oakgrove  Mennonite  Church  of  Smithville,  Ohio,  gathered  its  leadership  for  a 
weekend  retreat  at  Inspiration  Hill,  a Brethren  church  camp  near  Smithville.  Peter 
Wiebe  (standing),  pastor  of  the  congregation,  guided  the  group  in  sharing  about 
Oakgrove.  Past,  present,  and  future  concerns  and  areas  of  interest  were  noted.  These 
were  combined  into  seven  areas,  and  the  entire  group  was  divided  into  seven  task 
forces  to  develop  a specific  statement  of  goals  for  that  area  and  program  suggestions 
to  reach  these  goals  in  1973.  This  was  an  intensive  experience  of  work  and  inspiration. 


Study  on  ministry 
now  available 

Pastoral  leadership,  ordination,  and  the 
gifts  of  the  entire  congregation  are  in- 
cluded on  a study  on  the  ministry,  be- 
ing suggested  to  all  congregations  by  the 
General  Conference’s  committee  on  the 
ministry. 

The  study  on  the  ministry  was  pro- 
moted by  a number  of  current  pressures 
on  the  pastoral  ministry,  Heinz  Janzen, 
general  secretary,  said. 

“Young  ministers  coming  up  are  ask- 
ing if  the  traditional  patterns  of  the 
ministry  are  biblical  or  Anabaptist.  Dis- 
trict ministers  are  observing  an  identity 
crisis  which  causes  many  of  our  more 
creative  and  committed  men  to  drop 
out,”  he  said. 

The  committee  on  the  ministry  is  en- 
couraging congregations  to  undertake  the 
study  on  the  ministry  in  connection  with 
the  church  goal-setting  process  which 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries  is 
urging.  Information  from  congregational 
studies  is  to  be  shared  with  the  General 
Conference  and  district  or  area  com- 
mittees on  the  ministry.  The  General 
Conference  committee  will  bring  the 
findings  together  in  a statement  to  be 
presented  for  approval  at  the  1974  Gen- 
eral Conference  sessions. 

A study  guide  is  now  available  from 
the  Newton  office. 


College,  seminary  students 
will  confer  in  Elkhart 

The  annual  College-Seminary  Student 
Conference  will  be  held  February  24-26 
on  the  campus  of  Associated  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminaries,  Elkhart,  Indiana. 

The  theme  is  “The  whole  person  in 
the  whole  community.”  Part  of  the  pro- 
gram will  present  the  seminary’s  quest 
for  wholeness  through  off-campus  com- 
munity involvement.  Wendell  Badertscher 
hopes  to  do  this  through  a multimedia 
production. 

Lotus  Troyer  observes 
ordination  anniversary 

Lotus  Troyer  observed  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  his  ordination  to  the 
ministry  at  special  services  and  an  open 
house  at  the  Flanagan  Mennonite  Church 
on  December  10. 

Mr.  Troyer  was  ordained  at  the  Car- 
lock  Mennonite  Church,  December  14, 
1947,  by  R.  L.  Hartzler.  Since  that  time 
he  has  served  churches  at  Carlock  and 
Meadows  in  Illinois,  Smithville,  Ohio, 
and  Summerfield  and  Flanagan,  Illinois. 
He  is  presently  serving  the  Flanagan 
Mennonite  Church  at  Flanagan  and  is 
also  chaplain  at  the  Meadows  Menno- 
nite Home  at  Meadows.  Burdell  Roesch- 
ley 


Northern  District  plans 
family  life  seminars 

Bernie  Wiebe,  Grand  Forks,  North  Da- 
kota, will  be  resource  leader  for  a series 
of  family  life  seminars  sponsored  during 
the  next  several  months  by  the  Northern 
District  peace  and  social  concerns  com- 
mittee. 

Mr.  Wiebe,  a graduate  student  at  the 
University  of  North  Dakota  and  former 
director  of  Faith  and  Life  Radio  and 
Television  for  the  General  Conference, 
will  lead  sessions  on  such  topics  as  “God’s 
Spirit  in  today’s  family,”  “Sex  informa- 
tion in  the  family,”  “The  new  morality,” 
“Communication  in  marriage,”  “Facing 
conflict  in  the  family,”  “Relationships  do 
matter,”  and  “Getting  it  together  (Faith 
in  action).” 

Wilfred  Ulrich,  chairman  of  the  peace 
and  social  concerns  committee,  said  the 
committee  had  chosen  to  sponsor  the 
family  life  seminars  “to  put  some  mean- 
ing into  the  area  of  social  concerns  in 
light  of  current  social  change.” 

Mr.  Wiebe  will  work  with  entire  con- 
gregations or  smaller  groups  speaking  to 
the  questions  people  have  concerning  the 
family. 

Northern  District  congregations  which 
have  already  requested  the  seminar  in- 
clude Bethlehem  Mennonite  Church, 
Bloomfield,  Montana;  Bethesda  Menno- 
nite Church,  Henderson,  Nebraska; 
Bethel  Mennonite  Church  and  First 
Mennonite  Church,  Mountain  Lake, 
Minnesota;  Salem  Mennonite  Church  and 
Salem-Zion  Mennonite  Church,  Freeman,  J 
South  Dakota;  and  Good  Shepherd  Men- 
nonite Church,  Sioux  Falls,  South  Da- 
kota. 

Lay  leaders  will  be 
trained  in  India 

i 

Theological  training  by  extension  is  be- 
ginning in  India,  according  to  Edward 
and  Ramoth  Burkhalter,  missionaries  on 
furlough. 

The  Burkhalters,  in  high  school  work 
for  the  last  ten  years,  will  continue  their 
involvement  in  education  with  theolog-  *1 
ical  training  of  laymen  when  they  return 
to  India  next  July. 

“The  need  to  train  laymen  has  arisen,” 
said  Ramoth,  “because  many  congrega- 
tions can’t  support  pastors.” 

Under  the  new  extension  program, 
sponsored  by  several  Indian  seminaries, 
Edward  will  be  one  of  the  teachers  of 
seminary  courses  to  laymen.  j 


A-2 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


To  think  about 
in  prayer-for-peace 

The  Washington  Memo  summarized  a 
book  by  Richard  Barnet,  called  Roots  of 
war,  and  pointed  out  several  things 
which  we  should  be  aware  of:  “It  is 
(Barnet’s)  thesis  that  the  U.S.  involve- 
ment in  war  and  our  huge  military  build- 
up have  been  primarily  the  design  of  our 
own  political  and  economic  institutions, 
not  the  result  of  enemy  aggression  or 
external  events.”  He  listed  three  areas 
as  being  the  source  of  our  involvement 
and  present  status. 

1.  Concentration  of  power  in  a na- 
tional security  bureaucracy.  The  group 
in  power  in  our  country  is  an  elite  group 
which  plays  by  its  own  rules  and  disre- 
gards the  needs  and  concerns  of  the 
public.  He  states  that  the  same  people 
rotate  through  various  positions  of  pow- 
er. To  break  this  excessive  power  of  the 
elite,  Barnet  suggests:  (a)  cutting  down 
the  military  bureaucracy’s  budget  rather 
than  expanding  it,  which  is  now  being 
proposed,  and  put  the  money  and  power 
into  building  instead  of  destroying,  (b) 
Congress  should  be  making  decisions 
about  war  and  military  expansion  ac- 
cording to  the  desires  of  the  people,  (c) 
The  peacemakers  should  be  rewarded  in- 
stead of  the  warmakers  who  receive  med- 
als, promotions,  and  honors. 

There  is  no  peace  because  there  are 
no  peacemakers.  There  are  no  makers 
of  peace  because  the  making  of  peace 
is  at  least  as  costly  as  the  making  of 
war. 


2.  Entrenched  capitalist  economy.  Our 
economic  system  places  military  efforts 
abroad  to  protect  our  investments  and 
create  and  secure  business  expansion. 
Wasteful  military  production  needs  to  be 
replaced  by  domestic  production. 

3.  The  vulnerability  of  the  public  to 
manipulation  on  national  security  issues. 
We  are  asked  to  support  our  country  in 
the  sake  of  national  interest  but  are  not 
asked  for  judgment  and  decision.  It  is 
assumed  we  support  our  country  because 
it  does  what  we  want  it  to,  but  we  did 
not  decide.  We  make  all  kinds  of  ex- 
cuses for  not  taking  steps  personally  to 
end  the  war.  (“You  will  hear  of  wars 
and  rumors  of  war.”) 

There  is  no  peace  because  there  are 
no  peacemakers.  There  are  no  makers  of 
peace  because  the  making  of  peace  is  at 
least  as  costly  as  the  making  of  war. 


Youth  leaders  to  be  offered 
training  in  communication 

How  do  you  respond  when  a member  of 
your  youth  group  says  during  a discus- 
sion: “I’m  sick  of  having  all  this  reli- 
gious garbage  shoved  at  me.  You  can 
do  whatever  you  choose,  but  leave  me 
out  of  it”? 

Or  what  do  you  do  when  one  mem- 
ber constantly  makes  jokes  during  a 
youth  cabinet  meeting,  preventing  the 
group  from  making  any  progress  in  its 
planning? 

Jake  I.  Pauls,  director  of  youth  min- 
istries for  the  General  Conference  Com- 
mission on  Education,  and  Art  Smoker, 
secretary  for  youth  ministry  of  the  Men- 
nonite  Church,  have  designed  a seminar 
to  help  youth  leaders  and  their  sponsors 
deal  with  such  situations. 

The  Christian  youth  leader  skills  sem- 
inar is  based  on  the  book  Parent  effec- 
tiveness training  by  Thomas  Gordon,  but 
has  been  adapted  for  use  in  interper- 
sonal relationships  other  than  the  par- 
ent-child relationship  and  relates  Gor- 
don’s approach  to  the  life  of  Jesus  and 
sharing  faith. 

“The  whole  course,”  said  Mr.  Pauls, 
“is  at  the  heart  of  the  peace  position, 
relating  to  others  in  a nonviolent  way.” 
The  seminar  deals  specifically  with 
communications  skills:  how  to  respond 
to  others  so  they  will  want  to  share  their 
ideas;  how  to  talk  so  others  will  want  to 
listen  to  one’s  concerns  and  feelings; 
how  to  deal  with  conflicts  and  prob- 
lems experienced  by  persons  and  groups, 
and  how  to  handle  differences  in  values 
and  beliefs. 

The  seminar  is  planned  for  five  three- 
hour  sessions,  either  in  one  weekend  or 
on  consecutive  evenings.  Seminars  have 
already  been  scheduled  in  Lancaster  and 
Souderton,  Pennsylvania,  and  at  Swan 
Lake  Christian  Camp,  South  Dakota. 

Mr.  Pauls  and  Mr.  Smoker  are  hop- 
ing to  introduce  the  seminar  in  as  many 
areas  as  possible  this  winter. 

Each  seminar  is  limited  to  thirty  per- 
sons and  will  be  training  in  communica- 
tion skills,  not  lectures  or  sensitivity 
training. 

Next  fall,  four  regional  seminars  will 
be  offered  to  persons  interested  in  in- 
structing the  course. 

“We  see  this  as  ongoing  training,  not 
just  a one-year  thing,”  Mr.  Pauls  said. 


Youth  fellowship  at  Normal 
reports  peace  commitments 

Some  of  the  commitments  to  be  a “peace- 
maker” which  were  made  at  a worship 
service  at  the  Normal,  Illinois,  church, 
included : 

Vote  for  a peace  candidate  (expressed 
in  some  form  by  18  persons) . 

Talk  with  others  regarding  human  de- 
struction on  war  that  is  glossed  over  by 
distance  and  personal  noninvolvement. 

Letter  to  government  officials  affirm- 
ing them  in  peace  efforts  (4) . 

More  encouragement  — less  criticism 

(5). 

Question  not  only  my  deeds  but  the 
motives. 

Work  for  peace  in  my  family. 

Work  with  local  church  and  civic 
groups  in  effort  to  reconcile  tensions  and 
misunderstandings. 

Continue  to  support  mcc  and  other 
church  agencies  that  work  to  heal  bro- 
kenness. 

Be  a friend  to  someone  who  doesn’t 
have  many  friends. 

Be  more  loving  and  understanding. 

Try  to  be  more  understanding  of  the 
hurts  of  the  world. 

Help  settle  differences  between  peo- 
ple at  work. 

Visit  with  a family  that  has  experi- 
enced brokenness  and  hurt. 

Relate  to  and  help  kids  at  school  if 
they  seem  down. 

Avoid  talking  behind  people’s  backs 
(3). 

Won’t  fight  with  brothers. 

Voice  concern  that  TB  seals  should 
also  represent  sacred  story  of  Christmas. 
Read  Bible  more  (3). 

Help  care  for  a sick  person. 

Pray  for  peace  (5). 

Try  not  to  lose  my  temper  and  make 
peace  around  the  house  so  Mom  doesn’t 
have  to  yell  at  me. 

Book  on  death 
penalty  reprinted 

The  Christian  and  capital  punishment 
by  John  Howard  Yoder  has  been  re- 
printed by  Faith  and  Life  Press,  New- 
ton, Kansas. 

The  twenty-four-page  booklet,  first 
published  in  1961,  has  been  reprinted  by 
special  request  of  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  (Ontario).  Mcc  (Ontario) 
plans  to  send  copies  to  government  offi- 
cials, since  the  issue  of  capital  punish- 
ment is  coming  up  for  debate  in  the 
Canadian  Parliament. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-3 


^ CONSIDERATION 

A forum  for  the  sharing  of  Christian  insight  and  concern  among  laymen  and  lay- 
women  of  the  Central  District.  The  ideas  expressed  do  not  necessarily  reflect  the 
position  of  the  Central  District  Reporter,  because  we  stand  for  full  discussion  of 
anyone’s  sincere  Christian  concern. 


From  a physician 

Abortion  is  a fact  in  our  modem  society. 
Many  cogent  reasons  have  been  ad- 
vanced to  liberalize  abortion.  Some  of 
these  include: 

1.  Population  control. 

2.  Limitation  of  family  size  — par- 
ticularly lower  socioeconomic  groups. 

3.  Termination  of  an  unwanted  preg- 
nancy which  would  presumably  result 
in  an  unwanted  and  unloved  child. 

4.  Prevention  of  the  birth  of  an  in- 
fant with  known  or  suspected  congenital 
deformity. 

The  church  is  now  faced  with  develop- 
ing a theology  in  regard  to  abortion. 
She  can  no  longer  ignore  the  issue.  It 
becomes  probably  more  important  for  us 
as  a peace  church  to  come  to  grips  with 
the  issue. 

Fetal  “life”  differs  from  postnatal 
“life.”  But  fetal  “life”  also  differs  mark- 
edly at  different  stages  of  gestation.  I 
find  myself  defining  early  fetal  “life” 
as  potential  human  life,  since  existence 
apart  from  the  mother  is  impossible.  Late 
pregnancy  is  a different  matter,  since 
birth  at  twenty  to  twenty-four  weeks  at 
times  is  compatible  with  survival.  I do 
not  view  abortion  at  less  than  fifteen 
weeks  as  being  theologically  or  morally 
reprehensible.  (I  admit  the  fifteen-week 
period  is  an  arbitrary  point.)  I must  con- 
fess that  I would  prefer  the  use  of  meth- 
ods to  prevent  an  unwanted  pregnancy 
than  the  use  of  abortion  after  the  fact. 

I would  favor  the  change  of  laws  to 
make  abortion  legal  for  those  who  choose 
to  seek  it.  This  will  be  making  avail- 
able to  the  poor  what  the  middle  and 
upper  class  have  always  had  as  an  op- 
tion. 

This  is  the  view  that  I presently  take 
in  counseling  young  women  with  un- 
wanted pregnancies.  I do  not  advise 
abortion  but  do  list  this  as  one  of  the 
options  that  they  have  available.  I,  for 
one,  would  like  to  have  the  input  and 
counsel  of  the  brotherhood  in  helping 
us  in  the  medical  and  allied  fields  come 
to  right  decisions  in  this  matter.  John 
Bertsche. 


From  a husband  and  wife 

The  question  of  abortion  raises  many 
questions.  It  seems  to  me  one  of  the 
issues  is:  When  does  life  begin?  At  con- 
ception? Sometime  during  pregnancy — 
at  quickening?  At  birth?  Christians  have 
traditionally  held  a high  respect  for  life 
from  conception.  Why?  Is  there  a bib- 
lical basis  for  such  belief?  Isaiah  44:2 
speaks  of  “the  Lord  that  formed  thee 
from  the  womb.  . . .”  Other  passages, 
too,  infer  that  God  has  created  life  from 
conception.  The  prophets  speak  of  God’s 
having  a plan  and  purpose  for  their  lives 
while  still  in  the  womb.  “The  Lord  called 
me  from  the  womb”  (Isa  49:1).  Even 
medical  science  makes  one  feel  awe  at 
God’s  miraculous  creative  power.  We 
are  told  an  eight-week-old  fetus,  bare- 
ly an  inch  long,  has  a round  head,  ears, 
eyes,  nose,  and  mouth  as  well  as  tiny 
fingers  and  toes.  Then  a woman’s  ma- 
ternal instincts  seem  to  be  committed  to 
the  life  of  the  child  within.  To  destroy 
that  life  is  completely  contrary  to  her 
nature. 

I strongly  feel  the  answer  to  unwant- 
ed pregnancies  lies  in  the  area  of  birth 
control  rather  than  abortions.  Would  it 
not  be  better  to  be  careful  and  disci- 
plined in  one’s  actions  rather  than  de- 
stroy a life  already  begun? 

As  Christians  we  must  reckon  with 
what  the  Bible  has  to  say  about  taking 
life.  If  man  convinces  himself  he  has  a 
moral  right  to  take  the  life  of  an  un- 
born child,  who  can  tell  where  he  will 
limit  his  authority?  Will  not  the  aged, 
the  deformed,  and  the  retarded  be  his 
next  consideration? 

Homer  and  Twila  Garber,  Bethel  Church, 
Fortuna,  Missouri. 


•OLE! 


Jit 

w 


From  a hospital  chaplain 

The  whole  matter  of  abortion  is  a far 
more  complex  problem  than  we  tend  to 
admit  in  our  desire  and  effort  to  simplify 
life  and  the  projected  ideals  by  which 
we  seek  to  live  our  lives.  It  seems  to  me 
that  all  men  are  prone  to  measure  and 
judge  the  lives  and  values  of  other  men 
against  their  own  ideals.  In  order  to 
preserve  the  sanctity  of  our  ideals,  we 
find  it  necessary  to  dogmatize  them  and 
project  them  into  the  realm  of  God’s  truth 
where  for  all  time  they  may  be  housed 
and  held  as  “the  standard”  by  which  all 
men  must  be  measured.  Unfortunately 
the  large  percentage  of  these  laws  and 
ideals  relate  to  areas  that  I have  little 
difficulty  with  in  my  own  life. 

For  example,  in  my  not  being  a wom- 
an, I am  protected  from  ever  having  to 
be  in  the  position  of  possibly  loosing 
my  life  or  at  least  my  sanity  because  I 
have  become  pregnant.  Also  having  a 
fairly  healthy  wife  and  family  and  be- 
ing fairly  successful  in  using  birth  con- 
trol devices,  I have  insured  against  situ- 
ations, to  this  point,  that  would  cause 
me  to  personally  face  the  truamatic  di- 
lemmas under  which  many  people  seek 
abortions.  It  is  therefore  quite  simple  for 
me  to  hold  a position  on  abortion,  to 
be  dogmatic  in  my  views  and  opinions, 
and  to  call  Scripture  and  God  as  my 
witness. 

This  all  serves  me  quite  well  until  I 
begin  to  deal  with  the  meaning  of  God’s 
love  in  my  relationships  to  my  fellow 
human  beings.  For  “I  may  have  all 
knowledge  and  understand  all  secrets:  I 
may  have  all  the  faith  needed  to  move 
mountains — but  if  I have  not  love,  I am 
nothing.”  The  question  therefore  for  me 
is  “What  does  love  require  of  me  as  I 
relate  to  one  whose  pain  and  human 
situation  might  lead  them  to  seek  an 
abortion?”  It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a 
more  “responsible”  way  of  dealing  with 
the  complicated  issue  of  abortion.  I say 
this  because  I believe  that  to  love  my 
neighbor  involves  having  a sense  of  re- 
sponsibility for  his  or  her  well-being. 

A physician  attempts  to  apply  the 
complex  science  of  medicine  to  the 
unique  and  complicated  condition  of  each 
patient.  And  even  though  two  patients 
may  share  the  same  malady,  the  physi- 
cian must  always  take  into  account  the 
individual  condition  or  situation  of  each 
patient,  meaning  that  his  treatment  of 
the  same  illness  in  two  people  may  be 
quite  different. 

Nevertheless,  regardless  of  what  the 

Continued  on  A-8 


A-4 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


“The  Spirit  is  working, 
leading,  speaking  through 
and  in  us  here  at  Bethel.” 

The  Bethel  Mennonite  Church  at  For- 
tuna,  Missouri,  dates  to  1867  when  a 
year  before  five  families  from  Wayne 
County,  Ohio,  came  into  this  area.  Feel- 
ing the  need  of  worshiping  together,  they 
met  in  homes  until  they  outgrew  that 
and  organized  a Mennonite  fellowship. 

In  1967  we  celebrated  the  centennial 
year  with  remembering  and  inviting  the 
former  pastors  to  speak  at  the  week  of 
meetings  in  June.  Ministers  who  served 
here  were  P.  P.  Lehman,  Mannassah 
Moyer,  John  M.  Regier,  D.  D.  King, 
P.  P.  Hilty,  J.  D.  Warkentin,  Clyde 
Dirks,  Jacob  Unruh,  Leonard  Metzler, 
Howard  Raid,  Erwin  Albrecht,  Paul 
Hilty  (interim  lay  pastor),  Ernest  Por- 
zelius,  Abraham  Friesen,  and  for  two 
years  Russell  Welty  has  been  our  pastor. 

We  have  seen  God’s  hand  working  in 
i our  church,  first  with  the  youth  of  the 
■ church  and  then  the  adults.  A group  of 
! fifteen  youth  meet  weekly  with  their  ypu 
sponsors.  Two  of  our  youth  are  serving 
< two-year  terms  in  VS,  and  one  was  in 
summer  VS.  We  have  seven  in  college, 
and  two  are  beginning  to  teach  school 
this  year.  The  ypu  has  a retreat  each 
year.  They  invite  others  to  make  a large 
enough  group  to  obtain  facilities  at  a 
state  park.  This  is  one  of  the  highlights 
1 for  the  youth. 

A number  of  our  members  took  an 
active  part  in  crop,  serving  in  state  and 
county  offices  and  as  solicitors. 

Some  members  are  working  with  our 
local  CrossLines  program,  calling  elder- 
ly folks  and  helping  in  the  well-baby 
clinic.  One  member  was  reading  the  Bi- 
• ble  to  an  older  lady. 

This  year  six  of  our  members  at- 
tended Probe  72  in  Minneapolis,  and 
four  attended  Explo  72  at  Dallas,  Texas, 
bringing  back  reports  to  us.  Our  ladies’ 


missionary  groups  have  been  studying 
evangelism.  An  hour  one  Sunday  morn- 
ing was  devoted  to  small  group  discus- 
sion on  ways  we  can  help  in  Key  73. 
We  see  God  working  in  these  avenues 
preparing  us  for  participation  in  Key  73. 

October  8 was  observed  as  Laymen’s 
Sunday  with  three  members  helping  in 
giving  the  morning  message  on  “Blessed 
are  the  merciful  for  they  shall  obtain 
mercy.”  Every  Sunday  a time  is  given 
for  the  members  of  the  congregation  to 
share  some  concern  or  testimony  with 
the  others.  We  feel  the  Spirit  is  working 
and  leading  and  speaking  through  and  in 
us  here  at  Bethel. 

We  give  God  the  praise.  Viola  Hilty 

Youth  in  Missouri  meet 

This  year  the  state  myf  group  spent  a 
weekend  in  Versailles,  Missouri,  where 
the  annual  myf  banquet  was  held.  The 
Mount  Zion  and  Bethel  young  people 
shared  the  responsibilities,  planning 
chores  and  solving  last-minute  problems 
of  preparing  a program,  meals,  and  lodg- 
ing for  175  young  people. 

Saturday  afternoon  following  registra- 
tion the  five  basketball  teams  battled  for 
first  place.  The  final  championship  game 
was  played  Saturday  night  after  the  pro- 
gram. Cherry  Box  won  the  final  game 
against  Bethel. 

Following  the  turkey  and  dressing  din- 
ner, a short  skit,  and  special  music,  Bill 
Mason  spoke  to  the  group.  Mr.  Mason 
chose  the  topic  of  “Who  are  you?”  Mr. 
Mason  is  a counselor  at  Hesston  Col- 
lege, Hesston,  Kansas. 

On  Sunday  morning  many  of  the  young 
people  shared  their  testimonies  and  ex- 
periences with  the  congregation.  It  was 
a warm  and  inspiring  time  of  sharing 
the  blessings  of  the  Lord.  Mr.  Mason 
concluded  the  morning  service  with  his 
own  testimony.  Debbie  Bentch,  Fortuna, 
Missouri. 


Help  for  fellowship 

We  are  studying  the  church  and  what 
a Christian  community  in  Evanston,  Illi- 
nois, has  written  may  be  helpful.  Reba 
Place  reports  a number  of  guidelines, 
among  which  were  these  seven: 

1.  Strive  for  clarity  about  what  you 
are  up  to  before  you  begin.  Do  not  as- 
sume that  clarity  lies  at  the  end  of  a 
process  of  experimentation.  The  process 
can  lead  to  confusion  as  well.  Confusion 
breeds  confusion.  Clarity  breeds  clarity. 

2.  Articulate  as  quickly  as  possible  a 
covenant,  be  it  ever  so  simple.  The  fol- 
lowing is  suggested  as  a minimum:  We 
are  together  to  follow  Jesus  and  to  do 
this  both  individually  and  as  a group. 

3.  Use  the  rule  of  Christ  in  Matthew 
18  (especially  verses  15-22).  It  is  still 
relevant  precisely  as  formulated. 

4.  As  quickly  and  as  candidly  as  pos- 
sible, seek  to  identify  the  gift  of  pas- 
toral oversight  (loving,  helpful  insight 
into  persons  and  interpersonal  process- 
es). You  are  fortunate  if  you  have  more 
than  one  such  gifted  person  in  your 
group.  You  are  in  dire  trouble  if  you 
have  none. 

5.  Put  emphasis  on  the  importance  of 
honesty,  especially  in  the  area  of  specific 
criticisms.  Insist  that  concerns  be  ex- 
pressed promptly  and  directly  to  the  per- 
sons involved,  and  that  there  be  no  gos- 
sip. Most  group  hangups  begin  with  fail- 
ure at  this  point. 

6.  Where  it  becomes  apparent  that 
your  fellowship  contains  personality  path- 
ology of  a kind  that  is  severely  disrup- 
tive of  your  group  life,  do  not  just  ride 
along,  trying  to  live  with  it  or  ignore  it. 
Seek  outside  help,  if  necessary,  but  by 
all  means  confront  the  problems.  Separa- 
tion may  be  the  only  solution.  Be  hum- 
ble, attentive  to  reality,  open,  and  pli- 
able to  change.  Continuous  criticism  and 
search  is  the  way  into  the  future.  The 
Mennolite,  First  Church,  Blufftoti,  Ohio. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A- 5 


WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


Theme  . . . “Bear  one  another’s  burdens, 
and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Chris f’  (Gal.  6:2). 

Happy  new  year 

“Happy  new  year!”  “Have  a happy  new 
year!”  “And  a happy  new  year  to  you, 
too!”  Did  you  keep  track  of  the  number 
of  times  a day  you  heard  those  words, 
or  similar  ones,  as  1972  drew  to  a close 
and  1973  dawned  upon  this  world?  Quite 
a staggering  amount  if  added  together. 
Maybe  you  have  felt  like  Lucy  (the  ver- 
bose antiheroine  of  the  cartoon  Peanuts' ) 
when  she  demands,  “Does  your  saying 
‘happy  new  year’  make  it  happy  . . . just 
because  you  say  it,  does  that  mean  it 
will  be?  Is  this  a guarantee?” 

Lucy,  even  as  you  and  I,  probably 
had  the  same  number  of  people  wish  her 
a “happy  new  year”  the  preceding  year, 
and  what  happened  to  those  wishes? 

From  the  same  cartoon,  Snoopy  medi- 
tates atop  his  doghouse,  “So  this  is  the 
last  day  of  the  year.  . . . Another  com- 
plete year  gone  by  and  what  have  I ac- 
complished this  year  that  I haven’t  ac- 
complished every  other  year?  Nothing!” 
But  Lucy  is  more  reflective.  Again  she 
says,  “We  need  bigger  years!” 

But  last  year  is  gone,  long  or  short, 
big  or  little,  happy  or  sad,  a failure  or 
filled  with  accomplishments!  Some  of  us 
may  be  content  with  Snoopy’s  solution, 
our  consistency,  and  go  back  to  sleep 
on  the  top  of  our  doghouses.  Some  of 
us  may  demand  with  Lucy  that  we  be 
given  a guarantee  that  the  coming  year 
will  be  a “happy  new  year”  for  us.  And 
hopefully  more  of  us  will  remember 
words  like  “The  Lord’s  mercies  are  new 
every  morning”  (Lam.  3:22),  “I  will  put 
a new  spirit  within  you”  (Ezek.  11:19), 
and  “Behold,  I make  all  things  new” 
(Rev.  21:5),  and  thus  approach  this 
“new  year”  determined  that  together  with 


God  we  shall,  as  women,  as  families,  as 
societies,  as  churches  begin  to  fill  this 
coming  year  with  deeds  done  each  day 
which  will  make  1973  truly  a “bigger 
year,”  a “better  year,”  a “happier  new 
year”  not  only  for  ourselves  but  for 
those  we  touch  along  the  way.  Mary 
Troyer,  Central  District  WMA 

Thank  you,  Ardythe! 

It  is  not  possible  in  the  space  that  this 
item  will  take  to  really  express  the 
thanks  that  we  as  officers  of  the  cdwma, 
and  I feel  we  speak  for  many  of  the 
others  in  our  Women’s  Missionary  As- 
sociation, wish  to  extend  to  Ardythe 
Flueckiger  who  has  been  the  editor  of 
the  wma  page  of  The  Reporter  these 
past  three  and  one-half  years  plus.  Dur- 
ing this  time  we  became  fully  aware  of 
her  many  talents,  not  the  least  of  which 
was  the  ability  to  complete  her  assign- 
ments each  month  even  when  some  of 
us  failed  to  come  through  with  our  own. 
We’ll  not  eulogize  further,  but  just  say, 
“Thanks  again  for  all  your  work  and 
dedication  to  the  job  of  communicating 
the  work  of  the  cdwma  through  the 
printed  pages  of  The  Reporter,  Ardythe, 
and  may  you  continue  to  find  joy  and 
satisfaction  in  that  which  you  find  to  be 
your  new  responsibilities.”  Mary  Troyer, 
president,  cdwma 

Women  share  concerns 

Immediately  following  the  Peace  Sec- 
tion Assembly  at  the  Chicago  ymca  on 
Saturday  afternoon,  November  18th, 
women  and  other  interested  individuals 
were  invited  to  an  informal  meeting. 
The  purpose  of  this  meeting  was  to  share 
concerns  of  women  interested  in  the 
Mennonite  church. 

It  was  good  to  participate  in  this  ex- 
perience. I sensed  that  many  of  our 
young  mothers  and  singles  are  search- 
ing for  a biblical  interpretation  of  the 
role  for  today’s  women,  new  areas  of 
responsibility  in  the  church,  and  accept- 
ance as  single  women  by  choice.  There 
are  those  who  truly  desire  seminary  ex- 
perience but  feel  that  graduation  offers 
them  too  limited  an  opportunity  to  use 
this  training  for  service.  Many  yearn  for 
more  than  the  traditional  roles  of  wom- 
en as  wife  and  mother  in  the  home,  and 
as  Sunday  school  teachers  and  wma 
workers  in  the  church.  It  seems  the 
Mennonite  fellowship  could  welcome  the 
energies  and  talents  of  all  who  seek  to 
share  in  making  Christ’s  kingdom  more 
real  on  earth.  Mrs.  Russell  Oyer,  first 
vice-president,  gcwma 


Nurses’  lounge  redecorated 

The  main  lounge  of  the  Troyer  nurses’ 
residence  at  Mennonite  Hospital  has  been 
redecorated.  This  was  made  possible,  in 
part,  by  funds  contributed  through  “Sec- 
tion 4”  of  our  Financial  Aid  Schedule. 
The  remodeling  was  done  during  the  year 
of  1971.  Because  not  all  of  the  furniture 
arrived  during  that  year,  a picture  was 
not  shared  with  you  earlier. 

Jacquelyn  Kinder,  director  of  nurses, 
stated  that  the  main  lounge  had  been 
completely  redecorated  during  the  mid- 
fifties by  the  hospital  auxiliary.  During 
the  early  sixties,  the  lounge  was  reno- 
vated with  contributions  received  from 
women’s  mission  societies.  Senior  stu- 
dents, who  have  experienced  the  “be- 
fore” and  “after”  effect  of  the  lounge, 
expressed  their  deep  appreciation  for  its 
beauty  and  comfort.  Said  one  student, 
“We  particularly  like  the  homelike  at- 
mosphere given  by  the  carpeting  and  the 
upholstered  furniture.” 

According  to  Mrs.  Kinder,  the  funds 
that  continue  to  come  in  are  being  al- 
lowed to  accumulate.  They  plan  to  use 
this  money  to  redecorate  the  smaller 
lounges  which  are  on  each  of  the  other 
two  floors  of  the  residence. 


Girls  gather  in  a moment  of  relaxation 
and  recreation  in  the  T royer  Nurses  Resi- 
dence, Bloomington,  Illinois. 


Material  for  this  page  may  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Donald  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, III.  61701. 


A- 6 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


I “Society  wants  criminals” 
Consultation  told 

I had  the  privilege  to  attend  a consulta- 
| tion  on  the  criminal  justice  system,  in- 
volving the  university  and  the  church, 
on  the  campus  of  the  State  University  of 
New  York  in  Albany,  New  York. 

This  consultation  was  an  attempt  to 
I look  at  some  of  the  major  issues  in  the 
process  of  identifying  and  dealing  with 
[ “criminals”  in  American  society  and  to 
define  some  priorities  for  the  church 
and  the  university  to  do  their  part  in 
f changing  the  criminal  justice  system. 

| This  consultation  was  made  possible  by 
I support  from  the  National  Campus  Min- 
[ istry  Association  and  the  Troy  Confer- 
j ence  of  the  United  Methodist  Church. 

The  consultation  began  with  looking 
! at  the  effect  “labels”  have  on  so-called 
I ex-offenders.  Too  often  labels,  good  or 
! bad,  have  adverse  affects.  Labels  can 
• cause  loss  of  jobs,  loss  of  friends,  cur- 
; tailment  of  social  life.  Labels  have  a 
tendency  to  give  mental  and  personal 
; anguish,  and  give  a sense  of  loneliness. 

These  were  observations  of  exprisoners. 
1 In  general,  man  seeks  to  live  in  such 
a way  as  not  to  be  labeled,  yet  society 
has  a way  of  labeling  to  give  it  a cer- 
tain status.  To  live  a life  of  nonconform- 
ity invites  labels,  and  it  is  not  by  acci- 
dent; it  is  often  very  deliberate. 


Nice  people  seem  not  to  want  a 
society  without  criminals.  Marvin 
Chandler  says  that  this  is  “a  pro- 
found sickness  in  American  socie- 
ty.” It  was  agreed  that  it  doesn’t  cost 
much  to  study  the  problem,  but  it 
begins  to  hurt  when  you  share  it. 


The  over-all  question  of  the  consulta- 
tion was:  Does  society  need  criminals? 
To  this  Daniel  Katkin  responded  that 
labels  are  not  really  necessary  but  so- 
ciety creates  them  by  making  criminal 
laws. 

The  purpose  of  criminal  laws  is  to  de- 
fine acts  in  which  we  do  not  want  others 
to  continue.  That  is  to  say  that  certain 
acts  are  wrong  according  to  the  stand- 
ards we  set;  man  makes  laws  for  social 
protection,  feeling  that  some  people  need 
. to  be  put  away  for  the  protection  of  so- 
ciety. Society  is  concerned  about  being 
compatible  with  being  safe.  Rich  people 
never  break  the  law;  they  have  the  mon- 
ey to  change  the  law  to  make  themselves 


law-abiding.  An  example  of  this  is  tax 
frauds  and  welfare  frauds,  which  is  es- 
sense  are  identical,  but  it  is  the  welfare 
fraud  that  is  considered  criminal. 

The  whole  prison  system,  it  was  gen- 
erally agreed,  is  in  a deplorable  condi- 
tion. The  prisons  do  not  aid  in  creating 
a person  of  socially  right  behavior.  Re- 
habilitation in  prison  is  a sham.  Yet  for 
some  reason,  society  expects  new  men  to 
come  out  of  our  institutions,  forgetting 
that  society  is  not  serious  in  the  de- 
terring of  crime,  but  rather  in  setting  a 
norm  of  behavior  to  its  own  pattern. 
Too  often  society  is  not  concerned  about 
this  “why”  but  about  the  punishment  of 
the  act. 

Deviates  are  used  to  set  social  be- 
havior boundaries,  so  it  can  be  said,  “I 
am  not  as  bad  as  such  and  such.  For 
some  reason,  the  more  intense  people 
can  create  the  feeling  toward  a com- 
mon enemy,  the  greater  the  feeling  of 
unity  there  is  in  a common  society.  In 
short,  society  sets  up  standards  that  cre- 
ate criminals. 

Mr.  Chandler  said,  “A  man  is  what 
he  does;  society  is  what  it  does,  the 
church  is  what  it  does,  and  each  will 
have  to  give  an  account  of  their  acts. 

For  too  long  we  have  thought  of  a 
crime  solved  when  and  if  we  found 
someone  to  blame,  for  it  has  been 
very  convenient  to  have  a criminal, 
someone  to  blame,  for  the  easing  of 
our  own  behavior  patterns. 


The  victim  is  generally  not  the  real 
problem,  but  those  who  victimize  him 
(society).  Every  criminal  is  a comment 
on  the  society  he  comes  from,  as  well  as 
himself. 

Leslie  Wilkins,  considering  moral  val- 
ues for  the  future,  asked,  “What  are  the 
values  of  the  Protestant  ethic?”  Quoting 
Trist  he  said,  “The  four  cornerstones  of 
our  traditional  morality  are:  achieve- 

ment, self-control,  independence,  and  en- 
durance of  distress  (grin  and  bear  it”). 
Mr.  Wilkins  then  listed  the  values  of  dis- 
sidents, which  were:  “self-actualization, 
self-expression,  interdependence,  and  a 
capacity  for  joy.”  He  noted  that  not  all 
of  these  two  sets  are  in  conflict;  but 
perhaps  the  most  difficult  to  reconcile  is 
that  of  the  new  value  of  interdepend- 
dence  as  against  the  old  value  of  inde- 
pendence. 

There  will  be  crime  in  1990,  Mr. 
Wilkins  said,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped,  if 


not  projected,  that  it  will  then  be  de- 
fined in  terms  of  updated  value  systems. 

“It  is  important  that  we  take  more  care 
to  avoid  in  the  future  the  creation  of 
problems  through  our  methods  of  seek- 
ing to  eliminate  them,”  said  Mr.  Wilkins. 
“We  must  work  for  both  more  democ- 
racy and  more  technology  at  one  and  the 
same  time.  This  will  be  difficult,  but  it 
is  essential  for  survival  of  our  society  as 
we  know  it.” 

William  Stringfellow  looked  at  the 
whole  problem  as  a power  problem.  He 
stated  that  the  “chief  problem  of  our 
country  is  lawless  authority,  a mounting 
of  technical  totalitarianism.”  This  he  then 
proceeded  to  equate  with  the  scriptural 
Antichrist  of  the  New  Testament. 

The  problem  of  criminal  justice  is  the 
problem  of  each  citizen,  but  in  a special 
way  is  that  of  the  Christian.  The  task  of 
the  church  is  to  let  its  light  shine  in  its 
attitude  to  the  offender  in  prison  and 
to  the  ex-offender  in  our  society.  A be  H. 
Peters 

Mennonite  women’s 
role  examined 

Mennonite  women  have  been  discour- 
aged from  responsibility  and  decision- 
making within  the  church,  said  a group 
of  about  seventy-five  women  and  men 
who  met  following  the  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  Peace  Section  assembly 
in  Chicago  to  discuss  “Women’s  libera- 
tion and  the  Mennonite  church. 

The  informal  meeting  covered  several 
major  problems  of  women  in  the  church. 

There  are  few  women  in  decision- 
making positions  in  the  church.  A few 
boards  have  token  women. 

— The  Bible  is  interpreted  against 
women,  and  God-language  is  male- 
oriented.  Women  theologians  are  needed. 

The  church  has  limited  vocational 

opportunities  for  women,  particularly  for 
women  seminary  students. 

— Single  women  feel  left  out  of  many 
church  activities. 

The  church  needs  to  change  some 

of  its  teaching  on  child  care  and  mar- 
riage. 

What  is  the  role  of  such  organi- 
zations as  the  Women’s  Missionary  As- 
sociation and  the  Women’s  Missionary 
and  Service  Commission? 

Women  need  better  models  in  Chris- 
tian education  material  and  a better 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  women  in 
the  church. 

— Women’s  projects  are  always  sec- 
ondary. 

Continued  on  A- 8 


THE  MENNONITE 


A -7 


HOSPITAL  CHAPLAIN — Continued  from  p.4 

treatment,  the  physician  senses  his  re- 
sponsibility once  he  has  prescribed  the 
treatment.  Herein  lies  the  fallacy  with 
the  dogmatic  view  against  abortion,  for 
in  such  a view  we  “convict”  the  individ- 
uals whose  needs  we  have  generalized 
and  then  prescribe  an  absolute  treatment 
for  all  which  may  condemn  them  to 
illness,  poverty,  insanity,  or  even  death. 
But  in  doing  so,  we  take  no  responsi- 
bility for  the  ultimate  outcome. 

But  at  the  same  time,  I see  a similar 
danger  in  a dogmatic  position  for  “abor- 
tion on  demand.” 

I contest  that  we  remain  “noisy  gongs 
and  clanging  cymbals”  as  we  continue 
to  isolate  and  console  ourselves  in  ir- 
resolvable debates  over  “when  life  be- 
gins.” I would  suggest  that  before  we 
can  take  any  position  on  the  issue  of 
abortion,  we  must  deal  with  and  give 
answer  to  some  very  basic  questions  in 
the  context  of  our  faith  and  life:  What 
does  it  mean  to  be  responsible?  Am  I 
truly  responsible  to  my  brother  and  sister 
when  I demand  that  they  live  by  the  ab- 
solutes of  my  faith  and  my  belief?  What 
does  it  mean  to  love  my  brother  and 
sister  in  the  face  of  such  great  issues? 
Does  the  love  of  God,  which  from  the 
time  of  Adam  gave  me  the  freedom  to 
choose  for  myself,  also  imply  that  my 
love  for  my  brother  and  sister  must  al- 
ways give  him  or  her  the  freedom  to 
choose?  What  does  it  mean  to  be  my 
brother’s  keeper?  Does  it  mean  that  I 
force  him  to  live  by  my  principles?  Or 
does  it  mean  that  I do  what  I can  in  the 
context  of  love  to  help  him  find  the  an- 
swers for  which  he  alone  can  and  must 
ultimately  be  responsible?  Ron  Ropp 

Service  assignments 

Robert  Voth,  Alexanderwohl  Church, 
Goessel,  Kans.,  began  service  Novem- 
ber 7 in  an  inter-Mennonite  voluntary 
service  unit  in  Champaign-Urbana,  HI. 

Philip  W.  Yost,  son  of  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Burton  Yost,  has  begun  his  voluntary 
service  in  Cincinnati  under  Mennonite 
Central  Committee.  Philip  is  a member 
of  First  Mennonite  Church,  Bluffton, 
Ohio. 


WOMEN’S  ROLE — Continued  from  p.  7 

The  session  was  not  devoted  entirely 
to  problem  sharing,  however,  but  in- 
cluded attempts  at  problem  solving. 

Small  groups  discussed  seven  main 
problem  areas  and  suggested  several  pos- 
sible actions  for  church  institutions  and 
women  in  the  church. 

Courses  on  women  in  the  Bible  should 
be  taught  in  Mennonite  institutions,  one 
group  said. 

Another  group  on  women  in  semi- 
nary suggested  a course  on  the  history 
of  the  women’s  liberation  movement  and 
said  the  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminaries  in  Elkhart,  Indiana,  should 
examine  its  responsibility  for  finding  jobs 
for  the  women  it  encourages  to  attend 
seminary. 

The  group  on  child  care  and  mar- 
riage pointed  to  the  need  for  meaning- 
ful half-time  jobs  for  men  and  women. 

The  group  on  education  about  wom- 
en suggested  liberation  teams  to  educate 
congregations  about  women’s  roles  in 
much  the  same  way  that  peace  teams 
have  encouraged  discussion  on  peace  is- 
sues. The  group  also  wanted  revision  of 
Sunday  school  curricula  to  avoid  the 
teaching  of  stereotyped  roles  for  men 
and  women,  publication  of  a list  of  re- 
sources about  women’s  liberation,  publi- 


cation of  articles  about  women  in  Men- 
nonite periodicals,  and  consideration  by 
mission  boards  to  invite  women  overseas 
church  leaders  to  North  America. 

Mennonite  Central  Committee  or  the 
conferences  should  hire  a full-time  or 
part-time  staff  person  to  coordinate  such 
activities,  the  group  concurred. 

The  group  also  suggested  that  women’s 
role  in  the  church  be  considered  as  the 
topic  of  the  next  Peace  Section  assembly. 

God  signals  our  lights 

As  we  journey  down  life’s  path,  we  go 
about  our  daily  tasks.  Things  are  cozy. 
Suddenly  we  come  to  a yellow  light.  We 
need  to  slow  down.  Perhaps  it’s  illness, 
surgery,  an  accident  that  requires  recu- 
peration, family  problems,  or  the  blessed 
birth  of  a child. 

The  light  turns  green  again.  We  must 
go  serve  the  Lord.  We  must  spread  the 
gospel  and  witness  to  others  about  Christ. 
One  day  the  light  will  turn  red.  We 
must  be  prepared  for  we  know  not  when. 
Our  journey  has  ended.  What  have  we 
done  for  God? 

“Man  plans  his  journey  by  his  own 
wit,  but  it  is  the  Lord  who  guides  his 
steps”  (Proverbs  16:9).  A tribute  to 
Pauline  Holsopple  by  Donna  Lehman 


VITAL  STATISTICS 


Deaths 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Mrs.  Sarah 

Luginbuhl,  Nov.  6. 

Congerville,  Eureka,  111.:  Mrs.  Ada 
Comley,  Dec.  5;  Floyd  Sharp,  Nov.  2; 
Mrs.  Joy  White,  Nov.  17. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Charles  Ernest 

Striker,  December. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Odulla  Am- 

stutz,  Nov.  28;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walter 
Schantz,  Nov.  5,  in  a car  accident. 

Pulaski,  Bloomfield,  Iowa:  David  C. 
Cowles,  Dec.  1. 


Anniversaries 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peter 
Lehman,  58th,  Nov.  26. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
N.  N.  Soldner,  50th,  Nov.  26. 

Topeka,  Topeka,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Elva  Yoder,  50th,  Dec.  24. 


Births 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Wayne 
Snyders,  Howard  Joseph,  Nov.  4. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  the  Daniel  Wen- 
gers, Ruth  Marcell,  Dec.  2;  to  the  James 
Allens,  James  Burke,  Dec.  4. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Ron  Con- 
rads, twins,  Charles  Christian  and  Su- 
zanne Irene,  Nov.  9. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  the  Brent 
Burkharts,  Toni  Lynn,  Nov.  1;  to  the 
David  Hiltys,  David  Allen,  Nov.  3;  to 
the  Wallace  Lugibihls,  Jerrod  Eugene, 
Dec.  5;  to  the  Randall  Reichenbachs, 
Lisen  Margaret,  Nov.  10;  to  the  Keith 
Sommers,  Heidi  Ann,  Dec.  5;  to  the 
Robert  Stavishes,  Andrew  Mark,  Nov.  9. 

Silver  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  the  Pat 
Martins,  Rochelle  Raye,  Nov.  8. 


Material  for  the  Central  District  Reporter  should 
be  sent  to:  Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant 

Plain,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


A-8  JANUARY  16,  1973 


Poet  becomes  national  Bengali  monument 


Maynard  Shelly 

Bangladesh  won  its  freedom  with  poetry 
.as  its  secret  weapon. 

The  Bengalis  have  this  thing  about 
poetry.  They  have  always  written,  and 
sung  poems  with  a driving  passion. 

And  now  they’ve  turned  an  old  poet 
-who  hasn’t  written  a couplet  for  thirty 
years  into  a national  monument. 

The  West  Pakistanis  must  have  been 
out  of  their  minds  to  think  that  their 
military  terrorist  operation  during  1971 
would  subdue  the  people  of  what  was 
then  called  East  Pakistan.  It  seemed,  at 
first,  a reasonable  assumption.  Bengalis 
are  by  nature  more  inclined  to  be  ballad 
singers  than  warriors.  But  watch  out  for 
those  ballads.  They  can  be  more  deadly 
than  bullets. 

While  traveling  in  the  train  the  other 
day 

1 saw  a Babu  Sahib,  a member  of  the 
so-called  gentry, 

Throwing  down  on  the  ground  a person 

For  the  simple  reason  that  he  was  a 
coolie. 

Tears  rushed  into  my  eyes. 

Will  the  poor  get  beaten  like  this, 

Throughout  the  world  and  forever? 

That’s  the  social  protest  of  Kazi  Naz- 
rul  Islam,  Bengal’s  greatest  living  poet, 
writing  before  World  War  II.  It  breathes 
that  Bengali  feeling — the  anger  at  op- 
pression whether  by  the  white  British  or 
the  brown  Punjabis  of  faraway  West 
Pakistan. 

His  writings  implied  that  oppression 
would  someday  be  removed — that  the 
oppressor  would  have  to  get  off  the  backs 
of  the  oppressed.  When  people  have  this 
kind  of  hope,  don’t  try  to  hold  them 
down. 

One  of  the  early  official  acts  of  the 
Bangladesh  government  was  to  bring  Naz- 
rul  to  Dacca  from  exile  in  Calcutta.  But 
he  is  paralyzed  and  cannot  speak — has 
not  spoken  for  thirty  years. 

Every  day,  students,  professors,  gov- 
ernment ministers,  and  hundreds  of  or- 
dinary people  come  to  his  house  in  Dac- 
ca to  pay  their  tribute  to  a man  who 
among  the  thousands  of  poets  of  Bengal 
said  it  best,  though  long  before  this 
country  was  carved  out  of  British  India 
in  1947  and  before  people  knew  that 

Kazi  Nazrul  Islam,  Bangladesh’ s greatest 
living  poet. 


41 


the  name  of  Pakistan  would  be  given  to 
two  chunks  of  territory  on  opposite 
sides  of  northern  India. 

Pakistan  was  the  vision  of  a home- 
land for  Muslims  and  a state  organized 
after  the  principles  of  Islam.  It  didn’t 
work.  Promising  brotherhood,  Pakistan 
turned  out  to  be  just  another  defender 
of  the  colonial /feudal  status  quo  which 
meant  that  the  rich  became  richer  while 
the  poor  paid  for  it  all. 

Nazrul  never  had  a chance  to  speak 
on  the  Pakistan  experiment.  But  during 
British  days,  before  1947,  he  dared  to 
say  that  the  established  order  was  not 
good  enough,  that  it  was,  in  fact,  down- 
right rotten. 

Having  insulted  British  pride  and 
threatened  the  supposed  safety  of  the 
empire,  Nazrul  landed  in  jail.  That’s 
what  you  get  for  telling  it  like  it  is, 
even  in  a poem. 

I shall  uproot  this  miserable  earth 
effectively  and  with  ease 
And  create  a new  universe  of  joy  and 
peace. 

Weary  of  struggles,  I,  the  great  rebel 
Shall  rest  in  quiet  only  when  I find 
The  sky  and  the  air  free  of  the  groans 
of  the  oppressed. 

Only  when  the  battlefields  are  cleared 
of  jingling,  bloody  sabers, 

Shall  I,  weary  of  the  struggles,  rest  in 
quiet. 

I,  the  great  rebel. 

That’s  the  Bengali  spirit — and  the  real 
human  spirit,  also. 

Every  day,  a uniformed  nurse  awakens 
the  seventy-three-year-old  poet  from  his 
afternoon  nap  in  his  upstairs  bedroom, 
helps  him  on  with  his  shirt  before  the 
daily  procession  begins.  Students  and 
young  people  stream  through  his  room, 
salute  him  quickly,  turn,  and  leave  the 
room. 

Nazrul’ s powers  to  write  have  long 
since  left  him.  Yet,  Sheikh  Mujibur  Rah- 


man, the  heroic  prime  minister  of  Bang- 
ladesh, and  many  other  government  lead- 
ers have  come  to  sit  with  Nazrul  and  to 
be  photographed  with  him,  a man  who 
cannot  speak  to  them  and  probably  does 
not  understand  what  is  happening  around 
him. 

It’s  all  a bit  embarrassing  to  see,  as 
can  we  who  live  in  a house  beside  Naz- 
rul’s  in  the  Dhanmondi  residential  area 
of  Dacca.  One  feels  that  the  man  whose 
poems  are  enshrined  in  the  literature 
text  of  Bengal  and  who  once  wrote  so 
fiercely  taking  the  part  of  the  exploited 
is  now  himself  being  exploited  by  the 
government  who  brought  him  here  and 
put  him  on  display. 

But  Bangladesh  is  in  search  of  its 
soul,  a prime  task  for  all  newly  inde- 
pendent nations. 

“What  does  it  mean  to  be  Bengali?” 
For  the  first  time  in  centuries,  that  ques- 
tion can  be  pondered  in  the  free  air  of 
a Bengali  nation. 

The  answer  must  come  from  many 
directions.  In  the  building  of  the  nation, 
in  participating  in  world  affairs,  and  in 
the  affirming  of  freedom,  the  people  of 
Bangladesh,  the  world’s  eighth  largest  na- 
tion, will  put  new  meaning  into  the  def- 
inition of  being  Bengali. 

They  will  turn  also  to  their  great  poets, 
to  Nazrul  Islam  and  to  Rabindranath 
Tagore,  now  deceased,  winner  of  a No- 
bel Prize,  whose  poem  about  Bengal  is 
the  national  anthem:  “My  golden  Ban- 
gla,  I love  you.  ...  If  your  face  darkens, 
my  eyes  overflow  with  tears.” 

Bengalis  want  to  be  a people  apart — 
the  people  of  Tagore  and  Nazrul.  But 
the  Bengali  vision  is  also  a bid  for  the 
unity  of  the  world  family.  Besides  songs 
of  protest  and  rebellion,  Nazrul  sang  of 
unity.  He  dreamt  of  a state  . . . 

Where  all  obstacles,  all  differences 
have  mingled  into  one — 

Where  have  united  the  Muslims,  the 
Hindus,  the  Buddhists,  and  the 
Christians. 

That’s  a vision  to  contrast  with  the 
Pakistani  vision  of  an  exclusive  Muslim 
state  that  brought  the  bloody  carnage  of 
1971  and  ten  million  refugees. 


THE  MENNONITE 


VS  has  a knack  for  getting  people  involved 

Carol  Wiebe 


Two  summers  ago  my  situation  was  sim- 
ilar to  that  of  many  college  graduates. 
I couldn’t  accept  simply  settling  down 
in  an  average  situation  and  pocketing 
my  earnings.  My  challenge  was  to  com- 
bine teaching  and  service. 

The  voluntary  service  office  at  New- 
ton, Kansas,  suggested  a voluntary  serv- 
ice teaching  position  in  Gulfport,  Mis- 
sissippi. George  Lehman,  the  voluntary 
service  director,  wrote  to  me,  “The  situ- 
ation in  Gulfport  is  pretty  tense  these 
days  because  of  the  current  rulings  on 
integration.  What  seems  to  have  hap- 
pened is  that  the  schools  will  stay  fairly 
well  segregated  but  the  teaching  staff 
must  be  integrated.  That  means  that,  in 
the  southern  style  of  operation,  the  best 
black  teachers  will  go  to  the  white  schools 
and  the  poorest  white  teachers  will  go 
to  the  black  schools.  As  you  can  see, 
that’s  not  really  very  ideal,  but  there’s 
a tremendous  need  for  white  teachers 
who  can  teach  in  black  schools  who  will 
be  sympathetic  to  black  students  and 
expect  them  to  do  well  rather  than  ex- 
pecting them  to  fail.” 

I arrived  at  Camp  Landon,  VS  unit 
site  located  north  of  Gulfport  on  August 
25,  coming  as  an  earning  VSer — in  which 
I would  turn  my  salary  over  to  the  unit 
and  receive  VS  allowances  plus  a small 
clothing  and  school  allowance. 

My  assignment  was  to  teach  one  of 
the  six  second-grade  groups  at  North 
Gulfport  Elementary  School,  a brick,  one- 
story  structure  located  in  the  predomi- 
nantly black  North  Gulfport  commu- 
nity. Between  600  and  700  students  at- 
tended here  in  grades  one  through  four. 

Monday,  August  30,  the  school  year 
began.  Thirty-two  black  and  white  sec- 
ond-graders and  I were  to  become  very 
well  acquainted  over  the  next  nine 
months. 

The  group  was  rated  as  the  B-level 
group  in  reading  achievement  among  the 
six  second  grades.  Attainment  in  the 
other  subjects  varied  greatly.  Most  of 
these  children  could  therefore  read  and 
learn  fairly  well. 

Some  of  the  children’s  parents  were 
interested  in  helping  in  their  child’s  edu- 
cation, but  some  simply  weren’t — to  them 
we  were  primarily  free  baby-sitters.  I had 
hoped  to  use  parents  as  reading-group  as- 
sistants. Some  indicated  they  were  willing 
to  help;  but  their  attendance  was  infre- 
quent and  this  idea  did  not  materialize. 


Our  principal,  Ann  Tuggle,  was  a mar- 
velous woman  with  a warm  interest  and 
a creative  sense  of  responsibility.  But 
even  she  couldn’t  produce  funds  out  of 
nothing.  Perhaps  our  financial  needs  were 
no  less  than  those  of  the  predominantly 
white  schools  in  the  country,  but  we  were 
somewhat  suspicious  of  allocations  dis- 
tributed by  the  white  school  board.  Sup- 
plies, even  crayons  and  scissors,  were 
not  to  be  provided  by  the  school.  Some 
of  the  children  could  provide  their  own 
— and  then  stealing  by  the  have-nots  be- 
came a common  occurrence.  How  can  a 
child  understand  the  moral  structure 
behind  not  stealing  a pencil  when  a 
classmate  has  two  and  he  has  none? 
Fighting  often  resulted. 

The  teacher  turnover  was  a handicap 
in  some  of  the  classrooms.  Some  teach- 
ers left  for  easier  jobs,  were  military 
wives  here  temporarily,  or  simply  walked 
out  when  faced  with  difficulties. 

The  majority  of  teachers  resorted  to 
paddling  to  gain  control  in  the  class- 
room. My  use  of  the  paddle  was  infre- 
quent, but  occasionally  it  seemed  the 
best  answer  to  a particular  child’s  needs. 
Respect  for  the  children  and  detailed 
planning  of  activities  helped  alleviate  the 
need  for  force. 


Rapport  with  the  children  was  estab- 
lished as  they  became  comfortable,  and 
communications  developed.  My  commu- 
nicating with  children  from  this  culture 
involved  my  learning  the  meaning  to 
phrases  like  “he’s  meddlin’  someone,” 
“shore  did,”  or  “my  big-mamma  carried 
me  to  the  country.”  It  involved  learning 
to  react  in  a cool  way  to  provocations 
by  older  students.  It  involved  learning 
not  to  show  undue  alarm  at  children’s 
fights — panic  by  the  teacher  adds  fuel 
fast.  It  involved  trying  to  mediate  dis- 
putes over  property.  It  involved  learning 
anything  else  I could  have  offered  them. 

It  was  a school  year  of  growth  and 
discovery  for  me.  There  were  so  many 
things  to  appreciate  and  love  in  these 
children — I was  intrigued  by  the  thought 
of  the  potential  these  children  would 
have  sharing  cultures  with  a group  of 
white  children. 

Nonschool  activities  during  the  year 
included  weekly  unit  meetings,  teaching 
a Sunday  school  class,  involvement  with 
the  Mennonite  church  youth  group.  The 
schedule  was  full — then  summer  brought 
a shift  to  a larger  unit  and  an  increased 
pace. 

A five-week  tutoring  program  was 
planned  by  our  unit  in  the  North  Gulf- 


Carol  Wiebe,  in  her  first  year  of  teaching  the  second  grade  at  North  Gulfport 
Elementary  School. 


42 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


Carol,  far  right,  tutors  junior  high  school  students  at  Camp  London. 


port  school  in  the  mornings  and  at  a 
community  center  in  the  afternoons. 
Several  of  the  junior  high  students  in 
the  area  read  on  a primary  level,  so  the 
need  for  help  was  great.  I also  partici- 
pated as  a counselor  in  our  junior  high 
camp  near  Meridian,  Mississippi,  and 
went  along  with  a busload  of  junior  highs 
to  a week  of  camp  at  Camp  Friedenswald 
in  Michigan. 

I began  this  second  year  with  more 
confidence  than  I’d  had  the  previous 
year.  But  my  spirits  fell  rapidly  when  I 
drew  the  D-level  group  among  five  sec- 
ond grades.  Not  only  were  they  con- 
sidered slow  achievers,  but  economical- 
ly poorer  and  especially  difficult  to  dis- 
I cipline. 

The  first  month  of  adjustment  was 
rough.  Some  of  the  children  had  been 
classified  as  first-grade  terrors  by  teach- 
ers the  previous  year;  some  of  the  chil- 
dren had  already  repeated  the  first  grade 
or  this  was  their  second  year  in  grade 
4 two.  After  breaking  through  the  stereo- 
types of  what  I had  anticipated  and 
i beginning  communication,  I discovered 
, an  especially  warm,  responsive  group  of 
children.  I learned  to  pace  their  learning 
experiences  slower  with  more  repetition 
than  had  been  needed  the  previous  year. 

A few  supplies  were  available  this  year, 
but  the  government  Title  I program  still 
^ extended  only  to  the  first-grade  level. 
Break-ins  and  damage  in  the  school  de- 
creased what  was  available.  Our  play- 
ground was  still  a trashy,  dirt  and  weed- 


filled  area — one  of  my  children  suffered 
a severe  leg  laceration  on  an  abandoned 
bathroom  accessory. 

This  year  Prisca  Wiens,  the  other  VS 
teacher,  and  I tried  to  utilize  resources 
such  as  carpet  remnants  and  old  tires  to 
add  spice  to  learning.  We  planned  field 
trips  to  such  places  as  the  public  library, 
a banana  ship,  a fire  station,  the  airport. 
Daily  we  brought  a portable  TV  to  use 
in  watching  educational  reading  programs 
such  as  “The  electric  company.”  I real- 
ly appreciated  the  help  Judy  Buhler,  a 
fellow  VSer,  gave  with  reading  groups. 

I tried  to  approach  discipline  with  dis- 
cussions of  values  and  attitudes,  and  with 
a point  system.  Rewards  for  good  be- 
havior varied  from  a box  of  crayons  to 
going  on  a trip  to  buy  a classroom  ham- 
ster. 

Generating  a loving  atmosphere  in  the 
classroom  is  a constant  goal.  If  the  chil- 
dren, through  our  discussions  and  Chris- 
tian stories,  develop  more  respect  for 
themselves,  others,  and  God,  then  maybe 
conflicts  will  decrease  proportionately.  So 
important  is  their  finding  a sense  of  self- 
worth.  This  was  also  important  in  relat- 
ing to  the  junior  high  Bible  study  groups 
we  had  at  Camp  Landon  once  every 
week. 

Summer  again  brought  camping  and 
tutoring.  This  time  Prisca  and  I concen- 
trated on  the  children  who  had  been  hav- 
ing special  difficulties  in  our  classrooms. 
We  brought  them  out  to  Camp  Landon 
and  worked  with  a small  group  or  indi- 


viduals, while  two  high  school  girls  super- 
vised those  who  were  having  free  time. 

Two  years  in  teaching-earning  VS  were 
a novel  experience  for  me  in  learning 
another  culture.  Professionally,  it  helped 
me  add  a sense  of  service  and  urgency 
to  my  chosen  profession.  It  gave  me  a 
deep  appreciation  for  the  vibrant  Chris- 
tian way  of  living  as  exemplified  by 
some  of  the  unit  members.  My  perspec- 
tive of  life  was  enlarged  to  considering 
continuation  of  a VS-oriented  life.  My 
awareness  of  relying  on  God  for  the 
strength  and  guidance  was  increased. 

But  perhaps  speaking  for  itself  is  the 
fact  that  I am  returning  to  North  Gulf- 
port Elementary  School  for  another  year. 
My  involvement  won’t  be  as  a part  of 
the  structured  unit — I will  be  retaining 
my  salary.  But  I will  be  living  at  Camp 
Landon  and  financially  participating  by 
paying  rent. 

During  this  past  school  year,  I re- 
quested transfer  the  next  year  to  third 
grade  with  my  second  graders  who  can 
move  on.  I hope  this  continuity  will  by- 
pass all  the  time  consumed  by  the  intro- 
ductions to  a new  teacher. 

I am  looking  forward  to  another  year 
of  teaching  at  North  Gulfport  Elemen- 
tary School  and  partial  involvement  in 
VS  life.  Somehow  VS  has  a knack  for 
getting  people  more  involved  in  the  wel- 
fare of  others. 


BIBLICAL  FOUNDATIONS 
FOR  CHRISTIAN  WORSHIP 


Millard  C.  Lind 

The  author  develops  a theology  of  Chris- 
tian worship  Worship  is  defined  as  cele- 
bration.— but  a Christian  celebration  held 
as  a celebration  of  the  rule  of  God  ex- 
perienced in  the  life  of  tne  new  community 
in  Christ. 

This  book  sharply  defines  the  line  be- 
tween the  kingdom  of  God  and  the  kingdom 
of  the  world  and  the  nature  of  worship  in 
each. 

64  pages.  Paper.  $.95. 

A Herald  Press  Book. 

Order  from 

Faith  and  Life  Bookstore 
Newton,  Kansas,  or  Berne,  Indiana 


THE  MENNONITE 


43 


a member  of  the  Horselake  Mennonite 
Church,  Duck  Lake,  Sask. 

James  Klassen,  Lebanon,  Kans.,  has 
begun  a three-year  term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Vietnam.  James  received  a BA 
in  mathematics  from  Bethel  College, 
North  Newton.  He  also  graduated  from 
the  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Sem- 
inaries, Elkhart,  Ind.  James  is  the  son 
of  R.  A.  and  Selma  Klassen,  Lebanon, 
Kans.,  and  a member  of  the  Alexander- 
wohl  Church,  Goessel,  Kans. 

Robert  Schmidt,  director  of  the  Prot- 
estant radio  program  production  center 
at  Kananga,  Zaire,  has  returned  to  his 
home  in  Vancouver,  B.C.,  for  treatment 
of  a stomach  and  intestinal  disorder.  The 
Schmidts  were  serving  under  the  Africa 
Inter-Mennonite  Mission. 


A.  Wilcox  H.  Wilcox 

Harold  and  Agnes  Wilcox,  Monticello, 
Iowa,  began  a year  of  voluntary  service 
in  Hutchinson  January  2.  They  will  work 
at  the  day  care  center  sponsored  by 
First  Mennonite  Church  of  Hutchinson. 
The  Wilcoxes  are  members  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  Monticello. 


Ackerman  Heese 

Joyce  Ackerman,  Meadows  Church, 
Chenoa,  111.,  began  one  year  of  vol- 
untary service  on  Dec.  18.  She  will 
serve  for  one  year  as  a teacher’s  aide  in 
a neighborhood  elementary  school  in 
Philadelphia.  Ms.  Ackerman  graduated 
from  Illinois  State  University  with  a BS 
in  elementary  education.  Her  parents 
are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  Ackerman. 

John  Drescher,  Scottdale,  Pa.,  has  re- 
signed as  editor  of  Gospel  herald  effective 
as  soon  as  a successor  can  be  found.  He 
plans  to  return  to  the  pastorate.  He  has 
been  editor  of  the  Mennonite  Church’s 
official  publication  since  1962. 

Edward  Heese,  Saskatoon,  Sask.,  has 
begun  a two-year  term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Port-au-Prince,  Haiti.  He  will 
be  working  as  an  assistant  to  the  director 
of  Church  World  Service.  Edward  re- 
ceived a BA  in  economics  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Saskatchewan.  He  is  the  son 
of  Mrs.  Lena  Heese,  Saskatoon,  and  a 
member  of  the  Nutana  Park  Church,  Sas- 
katoon. 


Janzen  Klassen 

Judy  Janzen,  Rosthem,  Sask.,  has  be- 
gun a ten-months  term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Akron,  Pa.  She  is  working  in 
the  kitchen  at  mcc  headquarters.  Judy 
attended  the  University  of  Saskatchewan. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  George  P.  and 
Esther  A.  Janzen,  Rosthem,  Sask.,  and 


Don  and  Rosilynn  Stoffel  of  Goshen, 
Ind.,  have  begun  a two-year  term  of 
voluntary  service  with  the  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions,  Elkhart,  Ind.  Mr. 
Stoffel  is  a member  of  Eighth  St.  Church, 
Goshen.  Mrs.  Stoffel  is  a member  of 
Flanagan  Church,  Flanagan,  111.  The 
Stoffels  are  serving  as  program  director 
and  unit  hostess  with  the  VS  unit  at 
Colorado  Springs,  Colo. 


D.  Stoffel 


R.  Stoffel 


RECORD 


Sunday  morning  vision 

Dear  Editor:  One  day  when  I was  half 
asleep  during  church  service,  I had  a 
vision  (dream?). 

I dreamed  that  the  church  had  become 
a fellowship  of  believers,  struggling  to 
find  Christ’s  will  in  their  decisions,  seek- 
ing to  meet  each  other’s  needs  and  the 
world’s. 

To  the  singing  of  a hymn,  I visualized 
an  Anabaptist  church  whose  members 
shared  one  another’s  personal  burdens,. 
and  who  lovingly  confronted  and  loving- 
ly forgave. 

I dreamed  I actually  saw  Mennonites 
finding  new  ways  to  resist  militarism. 

I saw  them  realizing  the  connection 
between  affluence  and  the  need  for  laws,, 
prisons,  and  armies. 

I heard  them  say  they  could  find  no 
scriptural  base  for  materialism. 

I dreamed  that  Christians  came  to  un- 
derstand that  high-level  consumption  de- 
stroys world  citizenship  and  the  environ- 
ment. 

I woke  up  as  people  were  leaving  the 
church  building.  Steven  G.  Schmidt,  FS 
member  and  professor  of  biology,  Hess- 
ton  College,  Hesston,  Kans.  67062. 

Dec.  1 

Meetinghouse  is 
commendable 

Dear  Larry:  I enjoy  reading  The  Men- 
nonite and  find  many  good  articles  and 
valuable  news  items  in  it.  I would  also 
like  to  commend  your  Meetinghouse.  The 
first  issue  was  a good  one.  The  second 
issue  arrived  today  so  I have  not  yet  had 
time  to  read  it.  Delmer  Epp,  pastor,  Ce- 
dar Hills  Mennonite  Church,  12246-100 
Ave.,  Surrey,  B.C.  Nov.  28 

Sunday  school  papers 

Dear  Editor:  I was  somewhat  stunned 
by  the  article  on  Sunday  school  papers 
by  LaVerna  Klippenstein  (December  12 
issue).  I really  liked  it  and  thought  more 
of  us  should  use  these  papers  in  this 
way.  Her  last  paragraph  was  right  on! 
Thanks  for  the  article.  Galen  B.  Penner, 
R.R.  2,  Box  244,  Mt.  Lake,  Minn.  56159. 

Dec.  13 


44 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


MEDITATION 


With  open  Bible 

With  open  Bible  scholars  read  the  place  of  birth. 

With  open  heart  wise  men  found  the  savior. 

With  open  Bible  Satan  tempted  Christ. 

With  open  heart  Christ  fed  five  thousand. 

With  open  Bible,  condemning,  they  brought  her, 

With  guilt  from  oldest  to  youngest  they  disappeared. 

With  open  heart  Jesus  spoke  to  her, 

With  joy  she  went  her  way. 

With  open  Bible  they  passed  the  half-dead  man. 

With  open  heart  the  good  Samaritan  took  him  in. 

With  open  Bible  he  prayed  his  goodness  in  the  synagogue, 
Nothing  happened. 

With  open  heart  the  publican  confessed  his  badness, 

A miracle  happened. 

With  open  Bible  wisdom  enters  the  mind, 

But  forgets  easily. 

With  open  heart  the  living  Word  enters  in, 

And  love  keeps  it  open. 

With  open  Bible 
Learn!! 


With  open  heart 

Teach!!  Dennis  Lehman 


Chaplain  to  the  dying,  dies 

'dear  Editor:  I would  like  to  bring  your 
readers  up  to  date  regarding  Carl  Nighs- 
wonger,  chaplain  at  the  University  of 
Chicago  and  director  of  the  death  and 
[dying  clinic  there  (November  28  issue). 
Carl  himself  died  this  past  spring.  The 
[Saturday  before  Mother’s  Day  he  was 
shopping  with  his  children  and  died  in 
his  car  while  in  the  parking  lot.  The 
cause  was  listed  as  heart  attack.  In  his 
zeal  to  assist  others  through  the  “valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death,”  he  failed  to 
have  corrective  heart  surgery  that  he 
I knew  he  needed. 

Carl  was  the  same  age  as  I,  thirty-nine. 

I Following  his  funeral  his  wife,  Pat,  said  to 
me,  “Bob,  he  loved  you  so  much.”  That 
he  did  . . . me  and  thousands  of  others 
I . . . most  of  whom  he  had  yet  to  meet. 

I In  Carl’s  understanding  of  death,  it  is 
, correct  and  healthy  to  cry  for  his  pass- 
ing, but  let  us  not  forget  to  celebrate  his 
living.  Bob  Hale,  Midwest  editor,  The 
TODAY  Show,  Chicago,  III.  60654. 

Dec.  1 1 

! Concerned  about  1 -W 

I The  following  is  an  open  letter  to  the 
I General  Conference’s  peace  and  social 
I concerns  committee: 

We  are  grateful  for  the  hours  you  spend 
as  our  representatives  in  the  area  of 
service  and  peace.  Many  good  and  great 
things  have  come  out  of  your  meetings 
' as  you  plan  and  organize  and  offer  op- 
portunities to  serve  in  alternative  ways 

However,  may  I point  out  a weakness 
I see,  and  it  causes  great  concern.  The 
' 1-W  program  should  be  given  a second 
look,  perhaps  revised?  Boys  who  choose 
* this  way  run  up  against  many  obstacles: 
securing  jobs  is  d'fficult,  contact  and  fo1- 
I low-up  are  inadequate,  and  the  boys  are 
entirely  too  much  on  their  own.  They 
are  thrown  into  an  environment  many 
are  not  mature  enough  to  cope  with  and 
the  recognition  is  practically  nil.  ...  I, 

I too,  would  prefer  my  sons  to  go  into  VS 
or  Pax,  but  there  are  valid  reasons  why 
some  choose  1-W.  These  young  people 
need  more  nurture  and  contact  than  they 
are  now  receiving. 

I’m  sure  there  would  be  less  trouble 
and  fewer  problems  if  a little  more  con- 
4,  cem  were  given  them.  They,  too,  have 
taken  a stand  — often  courageously  — 
hoping  they  have  made  the  right  decision. 

I have  a son  in  1-W  at  Indianapolis. 
I know  of  his  problems  and  of  others 


I' 


at  various  places.  Surely  there  is  a colu- 
tion.  God  help  us,  and  them!  Roger 
Wyse,  Pulaski  Mennonite  Church,  507 
W Poplar,  Bloomfield,  Iowa  52537. 

Dec.  3 

Playing  God 

Dear  Editor:  Here  is  an  excerpt  from 
our  Able-disabled  newsletter.  It  express- 
es our  attitude  on  abortion.  I wo^k  with 
the  aged,  disabled,  and  blind  'n  our  local 
welfare  department  and  find  the  ab’e- 
disabled  group  one  of  great  courage  on 
optimism. 

The  headline  of  the  article  read,  “De- 
formed, but  happily  alive.”  The  consent 
went  as  follows: 

“Bom  with  a ‘lhalidomide  type’  de- 
formity more  than  forty  years  ago,  At- 
torney Elizabeth  Robson  of  Burlington, 
Ontario,  won  resounding  applause  when 
she  told  the  Canadian  Bar  Association 
that  she’s  glad  her  mother  let  her  be 


born  rather  than  killing  by  abortion. 

“She  denounced  the  ‘playing  God’  of 
people  who  want  to  tell  others  they  ‘have 
no  right  to  live.’ 

“Miss  Robson  took  the  mike  after 
hearing  a defense  of  abortion  by  Dr. 
Fortier  of  Montreal.  Dr.  Fortier  alleged 
that  unwanted  children  are  sometimes 
battered  or  killed  by  parents. 

“Dr.  Dawne  Jubb  of  Toronto  replied 
that  it  makes  no  sense  to  try  to  solve 
child-battering  problems  by  killing  in- 
fants before  they  are  born.” 

With  the  many  contraceptives  now 
available,  abortion  does  not  seem  a good 
answer.  And  what  has  happened  to  self- 
restraint,  self-discipline,  and  se’f-respect? 

Perhaps  instead  of  leaving  the  decision 
to  the  woman  and  her  doctor,  we  should 
say  that  it  should  be  “between  the  man, 
the  woman,  and  God.”  Carrie  M. 
Hughes,  2840  W.  Breese  Rd.,  Lima,  Ohio 
45806.  Nov-  15 


THE  MENNONITE  45 


Testament  of  faith  and  commitment 

Elaine  Rosenberger 


Mercy 

Mercy  walks  my  land 
On  gentle  feet. 

Her  whisper-wind 
Blankets  past  mistakes 
With  present  need  and 
Wills  away  the  smothering  dust 
Of  my  regrets. 

Firmly  she  presses  solid  gold 
Into  the  grasping  palms 
Of  all  my  hooded  creditors. 

Then  sing,  my  soul!  Applaud,  ye  saints! 
And  harmonize  the  Mercy  of  the  Lord! 


Kindness 

Kindness  takes  my  hand 
And  slowly  places  it  with  others, 
Black  or  white  or  bronze. 

My  infant  stammers 
And  faltering  baby-steps 
She  judges  not. 

Instead 

She  coaxes  each  attempt 
At  brotherhood 
With  luxurious  rewards: 

Living  friendships, 

The  evolution  of  a soul 
From  “me”  to  “us,” 

The  excitement  of  togetherness 

With  God,  in 

Family. 

Then  sing,  my  soul!  Applaud,  ye  saints! 
And  harmonize  the  Kindness  of  the  Lord! 


Goodness 

Goodness  greets  me  and 
Reveals  her  face. 

Her  features  speak 
Of  everlasting  care: 

In  hatred,  love; 

In  pain,  healing; 

In  distrust  and  fear,  confidence; 

In  despair,  hope. 

I long  to  know  her  heart, 

To  feel  her  throb, 

To1  serve  her  cause. 

Then  sing,  my  soul!  Applaud,  ye  saints! 
And  harmonize  the  Goodness  of  the  Lord! 

Freedom 

Goodness  takes  her  stand 
With  Mercy,  Kindness, 

In  my  behalf. 

They  merge  as  ONE 
PERFECTION. 

Broader  than  my  contemplations, 
Deeper  than  my  agitations, 

Higher  than  my  aspirations — 

GOD! 

Justice,  quietly  observing, 

Leaves  her  throne, 

Embarrassed, 

Sheds  her  robes  and  bows  before 
The  KING  of  KINGS, 

And  I go  free! 

Free  to  walk  the  way  of  Mercy, 

Free  to  hold  the  hand  of  Kindness 
And  reflect  the  face  of  Goodness 
This  New  Year. 

Then  sing,  my  soul!  Applaud,  ye  saints! 
And  harmonize  the  Freedom  of  the  Lord! 


Material  for  this  page  provided  by 
Women’s  Missionary  Association. 


46 


JANUARY  16,  1973 


1 

1941  First  issue  of  THE 

CHRISTIAN  WITNESS 
of  the 

Krimmer  Mennonite 

2 

1864  Born: 

Charles  Brunner, 
well-  known 
leader  in  the 
Mennonite  Brethren 
in  Christ  Church 

3 

1927  First  issue  ol  the  : jl 
MENNONITE  - : 
QUARTERLY  |J 

REVIEW  Ij 

1528  A 

Emperor  Charles  V 
makes  Ana  baptism 
punishable  by  death 

1527  Felix  Manz  drowned 
in  the  Limmat  River; 
first  martyr  to  die 
at  the  hands  of  the 
Protestant  authorities 

6 

7 

1544  Of  ii>t(«n 

Anabaptists  caught 
in  Berka  (Hesse- 
Saxony)  nine  recant. 

8 J 

9 

10  # 

1834  Czar  grants 

permission  for 
Mennonite  migration 
to  Alexanderwohl 

11 

12 

13 

1825  Born:  Jacob  Finger, 
a Mennonite  lawyer 
who  became  Hessian 

14 

15 

1930  Steamer  "Monte 
Olivia"  sails  from 
Hamburg  with  the 
fust  thirty-three 
Mennonite  famDies 

17  jsii 

1525  Disputation  ol  Zurich 
leads  to 
emergence  of 

Anabaptist-Mennonite 

movement 

18 

1544  |an  Claesz  esecuted 
for  printing  and 
selling  books  written 
by  Menno  Simons 

20 

1892  Mennonite 

Evangelizing  Board 
organized;  first 
mission  board  in 
Mennonite  Church 

ms  MCCbry—io 

W 1 orjjrwv  lov  rvGH 

1800  Theodor  Fliedner, 

22 

23  jf  ^ 

1919  Mennonite  Hospital 
of  Bloomington, 

24 

First  believer's 
baptism  among 
Anabaptists, 
1525  Georg  Btaurock 

26 

27 

Lutheran  minister  who 
founded  Deaconess 
Work  in  Protestant 
church  inspired  by 
visits  to  Dutch 

1539  Martyrdom  of 

Mkhiel  Barentz  and 
Anneken  Ians 

brotherhood 

1615  Born:  Covert  Flinck, 
pupil  of  Rembrandt 

190S  Mennonite  Deaconess 
Home  and  Hospital 

Nebraska 

28 

1528  PBgram  Mar  peck 
removed  from 

engineer  because  of 
suspected  Anabaptist 

Tjifl 

1625  Born:  Thiele  man""' 
Jans*  van  Braght, 
author  of  the 
MARTYRS  MIRROR 

30 

31 

1832  Born:  John 

Holdeman,  founder 
ol  Holdeman 
Mennonhes  (Church 
of  Cod  in  Christ) 

Jauuartf 

History  calendar  contest 


Beginning  with  the  January  7 issue,  On 
the  line  is  featuring  a Mennonite  history 
calendar  each  month.  This  calendar  will 
highlight  significant  dates  in  Mennonite 
history  from  1525  to  the  present. 

The  calendar  is  not  finished.  For  in- 
stance, in  the  January  calendar  the  26th 
has  no  entries  but  the  25th  has  two. 
Readers  of  On  the  line  are  being  asked 
to  help  fill  in  the  blanks.  Any  child  who 
can  discover  a significant  happening  as 
recently  as  last  year  that  should  be  in  the 
calendar  is  urged  to  send  it  in.  This  may 
be  something  that  happened  in  his  com- 
munity or  to  a family  member  or  ac- 
quaintance. In  fact,  the  events  need  not 
be  only  happenings  on  dates  that  are 
blank  in  the  calendar.  They  may  also 
add  to  other  important  events  already 
listed  in  the  calendar. 

In  most  contests  for  children,  adults 
are  asked  not  to  help.  In  this  contest  you 
are  urged  to  give  all  the  help  you  can. 
If  your  child  finds  a date  that  is  not  in- 
cluded, help  him  think  through  whether 
it  was  an  event  of  significance  in  Menno- 
nite history  and  whether  it  would  be  of 
more  than  local  interest.  Encourage  your 
child  to  submit  it  to  On  the  line. 

The  requirement  is  that  a child,  age 
nine  to  fourteen,  will  need  to  be  the  one 
to  submit  the  information  in  order  to  be 
eligible  for  the  prizes. 

The  dates  should  be  sent  to:  On  the 
line,  Mennonite  Publishing  House,  616 
Walnut  Ave.,  Scottdale,  Pennsylvania 
15683. 


A committee  of  judges  will  decide  if 
the  dates  are  of  significant  importance 
to  merit  a place  on  the  calendar.  Any 
child  who  sends  in  a date  that  is  used 
will  receive  a prize. 

Cornelius  Krahn  presents 
historical  lecture  series 

Cornelius  Krahn,  retired  Bethel  professor 
of  church  history  and  German,  made  a 
lecture  tour  through  the  rural  areas  of 
southern  Manitoba  and  to  Mountain  Lake 
and  Minneapolis  in  Minnesota  during 
November  and  December. 

The  tour  centered  around  the  Jacob 
Y.  Shantz  Memorial  Lectures  of  the  Elim 
Christian  Education  Center,  Altona, 
where  Dr.  Krahn  gave  six  presentations 
on  the  Anabaptist-Mennonite  witness. 
Lawrence  Klippenstein  of  the  center 
made  the  arrangements  for  these  and 
over  thirty  other  lectures,  which  were 
presented  in  a number  of  schools  and 
churches  between  Winkler  and  Steinbach 
and  Winnipeg  and  Gretna. 

Dr.  Krahn  also  attended  a joint  meet- 
ing of  the  Centennial  Committee  of  the 
Manitoba  Mennonite  Historical  Society 
and  the  Ontario  Mennonite  Historical 
Society  which  convened  on  December  16 
in  Winnipeg. 


Contents 


John,  my  son  34 

News  37 

Record  44 

Letters  44 

With  open  Bible  45 

Testament  of  faith  and  commitment  46 

History  calendar  contest  47 

The  multidimensional  Jesus  48 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Virginia  Berney  is  a homemaker,  wife  of 
a Methodist  pastor,  and  friend  of  Lois 
Bartel,  who  encouraged  her  to  write  this 
week's  feature  article.  Virginia's  address 
is  1301  Maple,  Pullman,  Wash.  99163. 

Maynard  Shelly  is  on  assignment  in 
Bangladesh  with  MCC.  His  address  is  Box 
785,  Dacca,  Bangladesh. 

Jack  J.  Fransen  is  chief  of  counseling 
services  at  the  regional  center  for  the 
mentally  retarded  operated  through  con- 
tract by  Kings  View,  Reedley,  Calif.,  and 
Vernon  H.  Neufeld  is  director  of  Menno- 
nite Menial  Heal.h  Services,  1105  N. 
Wishon,  Fresno,  Cailf.  93728. 

Carol  Wiebe,  a teacher  in  North  Gulf- 
port, Miss.,  lives  at  Camp  London,  R.R.  1 
(Box  193),  Gulfport,  Miss.  39501. 

Dennis  Lehman  resides  on  R.R.  2 (Box 
187),  Berne,  Ind.  4671  1. 

Elaine  Rosenberger's  poem  first  ap- 
peared in  Voice,  the  publication  of  the 
Women's  Missionary  and  Service  Commis- 
sion of  the  Mennonite  Church.  Elaine’s 
home  is  in  Chalfont,  Pa. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Rohn  Engh,  Pine  Lake  Farm,  Star 
Prairie,  Wise.  54026;  34,  Tom  Stack  and 
Associates;  41,  Press  Information  Dept., 
Ministry  of  Information,  People's  Republic 
of  Bangladesh;  39,  Religious  News  Serv- 
ice; "Testament  of  faith  and  commitment, 
page  46,  first  appeared  in  the  January 
1 972  issue  of  Voice  and  is  used  here  by 
permission. 


Thp 

Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  direcror:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dierrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS  1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


47 


The  multidimensional  Jesus 

The  real  Jesus  doesn’t  match  the  strong  images 
most  of  us  have  sculptured  of  him  in  our  minds. 
It  is  not  that  he  has  tried  to  hide  himself  from 
us — in  fact  he  makes  deliberate  efforts  to  show 
himself  to  us — but  we  see  him  in  one  striking  pose 
and  then  tend  to  freeze  him  permanently  in  that 
attitude,  failing  to  catch  the  multidimensionality 
of  his  personality  and  the  real  thrust  of  his  min- 
istry. 

Because  most  of  us  view  him  single-dimension- 
ally,  we  are  surprised,  and  even  exasperated,  when 
we  put  a measuring  device  to  him  and  discover 
that  he’s  not  what  we  expected  him  to  be.  In  some 
ways  he  turns  out  to  be  bigger  than  life,  but  in 
other  ways  he  disappoints  us  because  he’s  differ- 
ent than  we  supposed  him  to  be. 

He  would  score  low  on  the  piety  measurement 
scale,  for  example,  if  piety  is  understood  in  the 
sense  of  showy  orthodoxy  and  of  saying  the  cor- 
rect words  at  the  appropriate  occasions.  He  brave- 
ly offered  stinging  critiques  of  the  established  re- 
ligion, but  he  assured  his  listeners  that  he  had  not 
come  to  do  away  with  the  law,  but  to  fulfill  it. 

He  could  have  been  big  on  power,  but  the  only 
time  he  shook  the  needle  on  the  Richter  Scale 
was  at  the  moment  of  his  death.  A host  of  angels, 
we  are  told,  hovered  over  him  during  his  earthly 
ministry  ready  to  dive  to  his  defense,  but  he  chose 
the  way  of  weakness  instead.  But  in  this  weakness 
resides  a ticking  time  bomb  which,  if  given  the 
opportunity,  can  explode  the  jaded,  fruitless  ex- 
istence of  sinful  men  and  nations  and  throw  open 
the  doors  to  the  kingdom. 

Christ’s  choice  of  friends  and  associates  was 
also  disappointing  because  they  did  nothing  to 
enhance  his  prestige.  He  placed  the  fate  of  his 
entire  ministry  in  the  hands  of  twelve  undistin- 
guished, quarrelsome  men.  And  they  nearly  blew 
it. 

Were  Jesus  alive  today,  he  might  well  be  spend- 
ing his  time  with  welfare  recipients,  alcoholics, 
offenders,  and  farm  worker  organizers,  rather 
than  with  astronauts,  sports  celebrities,  and  presi- 
dents. Can  you  imagine  him  presenting  the  sermon 
at  a White  House  service?  He  might  have  more 
kind  words  to  say  about  Nader’s  Raiders  and 


some  secular  ventures  for  justice  and  liberty  than 
about  the  National  Council  of  Churches,  the  Billy 
Graham  Association,  or  many  of  our  other  church 
organizations.  He  is  a man  who  can’t  be  captured 
by  any  label. 

When  the  yardstick  is  put  to  his  compassion 
and  courage  and  to  his  insight  into  people’s  deep- 
est needs,  his  towering  contribution  to  mankind 
begins  to  come  into  focus.  His  achievements  dwarf 
all  our  measuring  devices.  He  actually  laid  his  life 
on  the  line  for  his  enemies,  for  the  indifferent, 
and  for  the  helpless.  He  died  for  the  smug  and 
the  cynical,  for  the  misfits  and  the  downtrodden, 
as  well  as  for  the  enemies  of  the  Jewish  people. 
This  subversive  act  shattered  all  the  old  defini- 
tions of  love  and  reconciliation. 

Some  see  Jesus  only  as  a sort  of  personal  valet 
who  stands  ready  to  wipe  away  the  flecks  of  sin 
that  befoul  our  souls.  Others  see  him  exclusively 
as  the  angry  revolutionary  who  upsets  the  status 
quo  and  brings  in  change,  any  kind  of  change. 
And  there  are  those  who  recognize  him  solely  as 
an  inspiring  example,  not  as  the  risen  Lord.  Many 
can  visualize  him  no  further  than  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  theological  tradition  by  which  they 
have  been  brought  up:  liberal,  evangelical  con- 
servative, fundamentalist,  orthodox,  Anabaptist, 
Pentecostal,  etc. 

There  is  always  more  to  Jesus  than  we  can  see 
or  understand.  It  is  with  consternation  that  we 
must  confess  that  a full  view  of  him  always  seems 
to  elude  us.  He  resists  all  attempts  to  capture  and 
domesticate  him.  His  desire  is  to  lead,  not  to  be 
led.  If  we  want  to  travel  with  him,  however,  we 
must  be  ready  to  allow  our  understanding  of  him 
to  expand,  and  even  to  change.  The  broadening 
of  our  view  can  occur  in  a variety  of  ways:  wor- 
ship, service,  study,  prayer,  dialog,  conflict  resolu- 
tion. 

Jesus  invites  us  to  join  him  on  the  dizzying, 
explosive  pilgrimage  of  the  Christian  way.  He  of- 
fers no  bonuses  except  the  promise  that  those 
who  go  with  him  will  learn  to  know  him  more  in- 
timately. When  that  happens,  the  kingdom  has 
indeed  begun,  lk. 


OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:04  JANUARY  23,  1973 


Tom  Skinner 


(ilia  IS  HI  UBiB 


Some  people,  says  the  author,  prefer  to  leave  Jesus  hanging  up  in  the  clouds.  They 
seem  to  be  saying,  “Lay  the  Scripture  on  us  but  don’t  tell  us  what  it  means.  . . . Preach 
Jesus  but  don't  say  how  it  shapes  our  everyday  lives."  But  what  the  world  needs  is  a 
community  of  people  who  are  live  models  on  earth  of  what  is  happening  in  heaven. 


One  of  the  pet  phrases  we  have  as 
Christians  is  “Christ  is  the  answer.”  You 
say,  “Pollution — oh,  Christ  is  the  an- 
swer.” “Racism — Christ  is  the  answer.” 
“War — Christ  is  the  answer.”  In  other 
words,  we  lay  this  “Christ  is  the  answer” 
on  every  issue  that  comes  up. 

It  reminds  me  of  the  young  man  who 
committed  himself  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
who  was  told  by  other  Christians  that  in 
order  to  be  an  effective  witness  he  must 
find  some  way  to  communicate  Jesus 
Christ  to  other  people.  He  came  up 
with  a tremendous  scheme:  He  would 
enter  the  classroom  every  morning  ahead 
of  the  class  and  write  across  the  black- 
board in  big  bold  letters,  “Christ  is  the 
answer!”  And  he  would  sit  back  and 
feel  tremendously  enthused  that  he  had 
witnessed  another  day  to'  the  whole  class. 
Until  one  morning  a sharp  pagan  kid 
came  in  behind  him  and  under  “Christ 
is  the  answer”  wrote,  “Yeah,  but  what 
are  the  questions?” 

Christ  is  the  answer  to  what?  The 
problem  is  that  we  don’t  want  to  discuss 
the  what.  We  prefer  to  leave  Jesus  hang- 
ing up  in  the  clouds.  Frequently  people 
have  said  to  me,  “Now,  brother,  just 
stick  to  the  Word.  Just  preach  the 
Word.”  And  I couldn’t  understand  what 
they  were  talking  about  because  I had 
prepared  my  whole  message  around  the 
Word.  Then  I began  to  see  that  what 
they  were  saying  is,  “Lay  the  Scripture 
on  us  but  don’t  tell  us  what  it  means. 
Preach  the  Word  but  don’t  apply  it  to 
anything.  Preach  Jesus  but  don’t  say 


how  that  shapes  our  everyday  lives.” 
And  the  tragedy  is  that  we  have  been 
preaching  a word  that  doesn’t  say  any- 
thing. 

Christ  is  the  answer,  but  Christ  is  the 
answer  to  something,  to  what?  We  must 
begin  by  coming  to  grips  with  what  it 
means  to  be  the  people  of  God.  For 
Jesus  Christ  was  the  greatest  radical  rev- 
olutionary that  ever  lived.  Jesus  Christ 
was  a radical  and  is  a radical  because  he 
gets  to  the  root  of  man’s  dilemma,  man’s 
problem.  He  is  a revolutionary  because 
he  has  come  to  change  things  complete- 
ly. When  you  and  I think  of  changing 
the  world  system  that  we  live  in,  there  are 
three  alternatives. 

One  alternative  is  to  bum  the  whole 
thing  down,  to  bomb  it  out,  to  destroy 
it.  The  only  problem  with  that  is  that 
it  assumes  that  by  destroying  the  facili- 
ties of  the  system  that  you  can  change 
the  system.  But  systems  are  not  made  up 
of  facilities.  Systems  are  made  up  of 
people,  and  if  you  want  to  change  the 
system,  you’ve  ultimately  got  to  change 
people.  The  problem  is  most  people 
don’t  want  change. 

The  second  alternative  is  to  change 
the  system  by  working  from  within.  The 
problem  here,  however,  is  that,  first  of 
all,  you’ve  got  to  get  in  the  system.  And 
by  the  time  you  get  in  the  system,  you 
then  must  work  yourself  up  so  that  you 
can  get  in  a position  of  power  where 
you  can  effect  change,  and  by  the  time 
you  work  yourself  up  to  a position  where 
you  can  effect  change,  you’ve  had  to  so 


prostitute  yourself  on  the  way  up  that 
you  forgot  what  you  came  there  for. 

Live  models 

The  third  alternative  is  for  some  of 
us  to  get  together  and  build  live  models 
of  what  ought  to  be.  This  is  the  one  I 
opt  for:  A community  of  people  who  are 
to  be  live  models  on  earth  of  what  is 
happening  in  heaven.  People  who  trust 
Jesus  and  who  are  a community.  If  we 
are  to  be  that  kind  of  community,  there 
are  some  essential  concerns  going  on  in 
the  world  that  you  and  I must  deal  with. 

First,  people  are  searching  for  iden- 
tity, seeking  to  come  to  grips  with  who 
they  are.  If  you  listen  closely  to  the  pop 
artists  of  our  generation,  they  are  all 
raising  the  same  question.  “Who’s  going 
to  help  us  get  it  together?  Who’s  going 
to  help  me  learn  who  I am?  Who’s  going 
to  help  me  find  out  what  I’m  about?” 
The  community  has  got  to  be  made  up 
of  people  who  know  who  they  are,  who 
have  solved  their  identity  crises,  who 
can  stand  up  and  live  in  a world  where 
people  don’t  know  why  they  are,  and  say, 
“Over  here — we  have  it  together.” 

Another  concern  in  the  world  is  com- 
munity— people  are  trying  to  find  ways 
by  which  they  can  come  together.  The 
world  system  is  torn  and  people  are  di- 
vided. The  lonely  and  the  despondent 
and  the  frustrated  stand  up  and  say, 
“Where  is  love?  Where  has  it  gone?” 
The  new  community,  God’s  people,  ought 
to  be  able  to  stand  up  and  say,  “Over 
here,  we  practice  love.  We  don’t  just 


50 


JANUARY  23,  1973 


' preach  about  it.  Looking  for  love?  Work 
1 among  us.” 

When  the  hungry  are  being  denied 
| the  right  to  a living,  when  the  poor  are 
I being  denied  the  right  to  legal  defense, 
j when  the  wretched  of  the  earth  are  be- 
j ing  stepped  on  because  of  their  eco- 
nomic status  or  the  national  backgrounds 
j or  their  racial  identity,  the  new  commu- 
j nity,  God’s  people,  has  to  stand  up  and 
say,  “You  want  justice — you’ll  find  it 
l among  us.  We  practice  justice.” 

A third  concern  to  be  dealt  with  is 
i the  issue  of  power,  of  people  in  a power- 
less society  trying  to  find  the  means  and 
j the  right  to  determine  their  own  futures. 

The  Chicanos  are  standing  up  and 
I saying,  “Don’t  call  me  Mexican-Ameri- 
I can  anymore.  From  now  on  you  call  me 


Chicano  because  Mex  is  your  definition 
of  me  and  Chicano  is  my  definition  of 
me,  and  from  now  on  I’m  going  to 
exercise  the  right  to  define  myself.  And 
if  you  want  to  deal  with  me,  you  deal 
with  me  on  my  definition,  not  yours.” 
Black  people  are  standing  up  and  say- 
ing, “We  ain’t  Negroes,  we  ain’t  nugras 
and  nigras  and  nigroes  and  colored;  we 
are  black.  And  if  you  want  to  deal  with 
us,  you  must  deal  with  us  on  the  basis 
of  our  definition  of  ourselves  and  not 
on  the  basis  of  your  definition.” 

Women  are  standing  up  and  saying, 
“We’re  not  sexual  objects,  we’re  not 
playthings,  we’re  not  detached  individ- 
uals; we  are  persons.  And  if  you  want 
to  deal  with  us,  you  must  deal  with  us 
as  persons.” 


Mrs.  Alma  Scott  of  Hollywood,  South  Carolina,  is  building  the  shell  of  a new  con- 
I Crete  block  house  with  the  aid  of  Mennonite  volunteers.  The  shack  in  which  she  now 
lives  is  in  the  background.  Like  many  people  in  the  impoverished  black  community  on 
South  Carolina’s  coastal  plain,  Mrs.  Scott  cannot  secure  financing  to  finish  the  house. 
Whenever  she  gets  a little  extra  cash,  she  puts  it  into  building  supplies.  It  may  take 
I years  to  complete  her  new  home  but  as  she  says,  “If  you  help  yourself,  the  Lord  ll 
I look  out  for  you.” 


All  the  niggers  of  the  society — that  is, 
persons  who  are  looked  down  upon  by 
other  people  and  who  accept  other  peo- 
ple’s definition  of  themselves — are  getting 
uppity  these  days.  And  the  only  way  to 
stop  being  a nigger  is  to  stand  up  and 
begin  to  define  yourself  as  God  intends 
you  to  be  defined,  and  not  on  the  basis 
of  other  people’s  definition  of  you. 

When  nothing  else  works 

The  world  out  there,  crying  out  for 
power,  is  epitomized  in  the  words  of  the 
apostle  Paul  in  Romans  7:  “The  will  to 
do  is  present  with  me.  In  my  mind  I 
know  what  I’m  supposed  to  do.  I know 
I’m  supposed  to  do  the  will  of  God.  In 
my  mind  I want  to  be  what  God  in- 
tends me  to  be,  but  every  time  I attempt 
to  be  that,  there  is  something  that  drags 
me  down  so  that  which  I don’t  want  to 
do,  I do  it.  And  that  which  I do  want 
to  do,  I don’t  do.  I find  another  law  that 
when  I would  do  good,  evil  is  present 
with  me.” 

Then  he  cries  out,  “What  a messed  up 
man  I am.  Who  will  deliver  me  from  the 
body  of  this  death?  I find  that  I am 
powerless.  Who  will  deliver  me?”  And  he 
adds,  “I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ.” 

Of  course  the  question  is:  Why  Jesus? 
Because  nothing  else  works.  Look  at  the 
society  we  live  in.  It  has  tried  several 
alternatives  to  restructuring  itself.  One 
alternative  has  been  education.  If  we 
could  produce  a more  informed  society, 
if  we  could  just  educate  people,  that 
would  wipe  out  poverty,  hunger,  racism, 
and  war,  we  thought.  Well,  we  are  the 
most  informed  society  in  the  history  of 
man.  Information  in  our  country  dou- 
bles every  six  years,  and  ten  years  from 
now  it  will  double  every  three  years. 
Look  at  the  people  who  are  making  the 
decisions  in  our  society,  who  are  drop- 
ping bombs  on  people,  who  are  pollut- 
ing our  air  and  water.  They  are  educat- 
ed. 

We  thought  economics  was  the  an- 
swer. So  we  said  if  we  could  just  pro- 
duce a more  affluent  society,  that  would 
solve  our  problems.  The  reason  a kid 
throws  a brick  in  the  store  window,  the 
reason  he  starts  riots  in  the  ghetto  is 
that  he  doesn’t  have  enough  of  the  world’s 
goods.  I used  to  believe  that.  But  now  it 
is  almost  as  if  the  rich  kid  and  the  poor 
kid  were  passing  each  other  on  the  road: 
the  rich  one  leaving  the  system  and  the 
poor  one  trying  to  get  into  it.  And  the 
rich  kid  says  to  the  poor  kid,  “Where 
are  you  going,  kid?”  The  poor  kid  says, 
“I’m  heading  toward  the  system.  You 
dudes  locked  me  out  for  400  years  and 


Herb  Wiebe  ( facing  camera ) of  the  Mountainview  Mennonite  Church,  Vancouver,  visits  with 
a man  in  a B.C.  jail  as  part  of  a man-to-mcm  program,  which  seeks  to  match  up  concerned 
Christian  laymen  with  people  serving  prison  sentences. 


I’m  on  my  way  to  get  a piece  of  the 
action.”  The  rich  kid  says,  “I  just  left 
the  system.  My  old  man  owns  it.” 

The  final  solution  that  we  offered  was 
religious.  We  said  if  we  could  just  give 
people  a flag  to  wave,  a song  to  sing,  and 
a creed  to  believe,  that  would  solve  our 


problem.  So  we  came  up  with  good  old 
Americanized  religion:  God,  country, 

motherhood,  the  girl  back  home,  and 
apple  pie.  We  put  bumper  stickers  on 
our  car  saying,  “Support  God  and  coun- 
try,” as  if  they  go  together.  One  nation, 
under  God.  We  even  stuck  his  name  on 


our  money:  “In  God  we  trust.”  And  we 
created  a certain  kind  of  Americanistic 
religion,  a certain  kind  of  spiritual  super- 
patriotism, and  we  convinced  ourselves 
that  America  was  run  by  God,  that  God 
is  on  our  side,  a vote  for  God  is  a vote 
for  America. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christitiln  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6,00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmasters  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


52 


JANUARY  23,  1973 


And  I’m  suggesting  to  you  that  maybe 
the  sign  ought  to  read  the  cross  or  the 
flag,  God  or  country — not  God  and  coun- 
try. My  allegiance  is  not  to  America;  my 
allegiance  is  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Period.  Now  if  you  want  to  call  me  a 
communist,  that’s  just  your  shrewd  way 
of  ducking  the  issue.  But  that  is  not  the 
issue.  The  issue  is  that  we’ve  produced 
an  Americanized  religion  that  doesn’t 
have  enough  oomph  to  turn  the  inside 
of  a garbage  pail.  It  is  devoid  of  power. 
It  is  not  speaking.  It  is  not  transforming. 
It  is  not  making  a radical  difference  in 
the  nation.  Religion  has  not  worked  in 
America.  That  is  why  Paul  now  brings 
us  back  to  “I  thank  God  through  Jesus 
Christ.” 

Jesus  Christ  made  an  emphatic  state- 
ment when  he  asked  his  disciples,  “Who 
do  men  say  that  I am?”  And  you  re- 
member the  reply,  that  you  are  the 
Christ,  the  son  of  the  living  God,  and 
on  that  testimony  Jesus  said,  “I  will 
rebuild  my  church,  I will  build  the  ec- 
clesia,  the  called-out  people.  I will 
build  the  new  community.  And  the  gates 
of  hell  will  not  prevail  against  it.”  And 
it  is  in  this  new  community  that  Jesus 
Christ  has  decided  to  build  the  alterna- 
tive to  the  messed  up  world,  the  church, 
a people  who  would  be  live  models  on 
earth  of  what  is  happening  in  heaven. 

Orthodox  but  not  Christian 
What  we  are  faced  with  today  is  a 
group  of  people  who  are  conservative  in 
their  theology,  conservative  in  their  com- 
mitment to  the  Bible  as  the  word  of 
God,  conservative  in  the  sense  that  they 
are  biblicists  and  they  believe  the  Scrip- 
tures, but  they  are  not  Christians.  We 
have  produced  a generation  of  people 
who  are  like  the  Pharisees — we  know  all 
the  right  things  to  say,  we  know  what 
worldly  things  to  be  against,  we  believe 
the  Bible  is  the  inherent,  inspired,  in- 
fallible word  of  God,  we  are  funda- 
mental, orthodox,  conservative,  evangel- 
ical, but  we’re  not  Christians,  some  of 
us.  Because  even  with  all  of  that  con- 
servative theology,  there  is  a large  num- 
ber of  us  who  have  never  had  a rela- 
tionship with  Jesus  Christ.  People  with 
the  right  vocabulary  and  the  right  phras- 
es have  never  met  Jesus.  There  must 
come  a point  in  your  life  in  which  you 
j confess  that  you’ve  been  running  your 
! own  life  and  that  Jesus  is  Lord  and  you 
allow  him  to  be  Lord  in  your  life.  That’s 
I what  the  church  is. 

But  what  does  this  new  community 
do?  I want  to  suggest  these  things: 

Number  one,  it  worships.  And  worship 


is  very  simple.  Worship  is  making  love 
to  God.  Worship  is  looking  at  God  and 
saying,  Wow!  It  is,  as  with  the  psalmists, 
pleasing  God,  adoring  him.  It  is,  as  with 
the  early  disciples,  speaking  to  the  peo- 
ple who  did  not  know  Christ,  but  also 
speaking  to  God. 

If  that  is  what  worship  is,  the  ques- 
tion we  must  ask  ourselves  is,  what  goes 
on  in  our  churches  on  Sunday  morning? 

I hear  some  preaching  and  I hear  some 
singing,  and  I have  to  ask  myself,  is  it 
worship?  Some  churches  I enter  hand 
me  a program  that  tells  me  what  God  is 
going  to  do  for  the  next  fifty-nine  min- 
utes. It  is  all  clocked  out.  We  will  make 
love  to  God  by  script.  But  I want  you 
to  understand  something,  that  making 
love  ought  to  be  a spontaneous  thing. 
My  wife  would  have  some  difficulty  if 
some  evening  I walked  into  the  room 
with  a script  and  said,  “Honey,  this  is 
how  it’s  going  to  happen  tonight,  and 
this  is  how  long  it  will  happen.”  It  is 
that  ridiculous,  it  is  that  ludicrous,  be- 
cause love  ought  to  be  spontaneousi. 

The  second  thing  about  this  church  is 
that  it  is  a community.  God’s  people 
are  people  who  are  together,  committed 
to  each  other,  in  communion  with  each 
other.  It  is  interesting  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  only  operated  in  the  corporate 
body  of  God’s  church  as  its  people  were 
in  singleness  of  purpose. 

Jesus  said  to  the  new  community,  “A 
new  set  of  rules  I give  you  to  play  by, 
and  that  is  that  you  love  each  other  the 
way  I love  you.”  The  world  will  not 
know  that  you  are  the  disciples  of  Jesus 
because  you  preach  on  the  corner  or 
because  you  pass  out  tracts  or  because 
you  knock  on  people’s  doors  in  visita- 
tion programs,  as  good  as  those  things 
may  be.  The  world  will  know  that  you 
and  I are  his  disciples  by  how  we  love 
each  other.  And  we  must  understand 
what  that  love  is  all  about.  Love  is  dem- 
onstrated, Jesus  says:  “Greater  love  no 
man  has  than  this,  when  a person  lays 
down  his  life  for  another.” 

The  tragedy  with  most  of  our  congre- 
gations is  that  we  don’t  even  know  each 
other,  much  less  can  we  talk  about  dying 
for  each  other.  Fellowship  is  people  who 
get  under  each  other’s  skin,  who  are  hon- 
est with  each  other,  who  remove  the 
walls  from  each  other. 

The  reason  that  I need  fellowship  is 
because  I have  clay  feet  right  up  to  my 
navel.  Sometimes  I get  lonely.  Some- 
times my  mind  gets  messed  up.  I fall 
down  occasionally.  I need  some  brothers 
and  sisters  who  will  throw  their  arms 
around  me  when  I get  frustrated.  But 


it’s  so  hard  to  get  next  to  God’s  people 
today  because  we’ve  built  such  walls. 

A witnessing  community 
The  new  community  is  a witnessing 
community.  It  confronts  people  with  one 
witness,  and  that  witness  is  that  Jesus  is 
alive.  That  is  our  message.  The  new 
community,  by  its  life  style,  not  just 
by  its  verbal  preaching,  is  one  great  big 
witness.  And  we  ought  always  to  be 
experiencing  people  in  our  midst  who 
are  coming  to  know  Jesus.  It  is  the  will 
of  God  that  the  new  community  be  one 
great  big  maternity  ward.  People  are 
always  being  born  into  the  kingdom. 
That  is  why  there’s  got  to  be  this  big 
push  toward  evangelism. 

Actually,  though,  there  should  never 
have  to  be  a push.  Do  you  know  that 
one  denomination  in  a recent  convention 
actually  had  to  pass  a resolution  that 
the  church  become  involved  in  evan- 
gelism? But  don’t  you  understand  that 
there  should  not  be  the  need  to  pass 
resolutions  on  evangelism?  That  is  the 
heart  of  the  church.  If  it  is  not  evan- 
gelizing, it  is  not  functioning.  It  is  not 
reproducing.  The  reason  we  are  not  re- 
producing is  because  of  our  misunder- 
standing of  the  gifts  in  the  body  of  the 
church. 

Most  of  us  don’t  reproduce  because 
we’ve  hired  a guy  called  the  pastor  to  do 
that.  But  the  function  of  a pastor,  ac- 
cording to  the  Scriptures,  is  to  equip  the 
saints  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  The 
Bible  says  that  the  pastor  is  the  shepherd 
of  the  flock.  And  it  isn’t  shepherds  who 
produce  sheep;  sheep  reproduce  sheep. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  clergy  and 
laity.  Everyone  in  the  church  is  called 
to  some  role;  everyone  is  to  find  out 
what  the  role  is  and  be  ordained  in  it. 

Finally,  we  must  put  our  energy  to 
raising  healthy  people  in  the  church.  All 
of  a sudden  a guy  becomes  a Christian 
and  just  like  that,  he’s  supposed  to  be 
superspiritual,  full  grown.  And  it  never 
occurs  to  us  that  he  needs  somebody  to 
feed  him,  to  help  him  to  learn  how  to 
walk,  to  stay  with  him  and  nurse  him. 

It  is  not  enough  just  to  talk  about  your 
traditions  and  to  talk  about  your  beliefs. 
Can  you  say  that  (1)  you’re  making  love 
to  God,  (2)  you  are  truly  a community 
of  people  committed  to  each  other  unto 
death,  (3)  you  are  involved  in  seeing 
people  won  into  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  (4)  you  are  involved  in  disciplining 
and  developing  those  people?  That  is  the 
function  of  the  new  community. 

I challenge  you,  my  brothers  and  sis- 
ters: For  God’s  sake,  become  the  church. 


THE  MENNONITE 


53 


\ VMS 

Goals  set  in  Taiwan  and  Japan 


Following  the  pattern  of  the  Goals- 
Priorities-Strategy  study  of  the  Commis- 
sion on  Overseas  Mission  last  June  in 
Chicago,  Mennonites  in  Taiwan  recently 
held  a “mini-GPS”  conference. 

The  conference  for  Taiwanese  pastors, 
lay  church  leaders,  and  missionaries  was 
held  November  20-22  at  Yaming-shan 
near  Taipei  during  the  visit  of  Howard 
Habegger,  com  executive  secretary,  and 
Verney  Unruh,  com  secretary  for  Asia. 

The  two  com  staff  members  spent  six 
weeks  in  November  and  December  visit- 
ing churches  and  missionaries  in  Japan 
and  Taiwan. 

Mr.  Unruh  said  the  three-day  confer- 
ence in  Taiwan,  attended  by  ten  pastors 
and  twenty-two  other  Taiwanese  church 
leaders,  followed  a format  similar  to  the 
Chicago  GPS  meeting. 

The  following  ten-year  goals  were  set: 

1.  Increase  membership  to  1,500.  Pres- 
ent membership  is  600. 

2.  Establish  five  new  churches. 

3.  Have  every  member  tithe. 

4.  Have  all  churches  financially  inde- 
pendent of  North  America.  Six  now  are. 

5.  Hold  a Sunday  school  teachers’ 
training  workshop  every  year. 

6.  Have  300  totally  Christian  house- 
holds, compared  to  120  now. 

7.  Purchase  a building  for  the  Mana 
Bookstore  in  Hwalien. 

8.  Find  lost  members  and  bring  them 


back  into  the  fellowship  of  the  church. 

9.  Emphasize  lay  leadership  training. 

10.  Send  at  least  one  new  ministerial 
student  to  seminary  each  year. 

The  pastors  reported  that  this  was  the 
first  time  they  had  been  able  to  devote  a 
meeting  to  discuss  issues,  without  taking 
up  business  matters. 

“I  think  the  goals  are  realistic,”  said 
Mr.  Unruh.  “I  was  impressed  with  the 
quality  of  leadership  in  the  Taiwanese 
church.” 

Japanese  church  leaders  did  not  hold 
a mini-GPS,  but  met  December  10-12 
with  Mr.  Habegger  and  Mr.  Unruh  for 
a seminar  in  the  city  of  Aoshima. 

“The  most  important  thing  we  did  in 
Japan,”  said  Mr.  Unruh,  “was  to  estab- 
lish good  relationships  with  the  pastors 
and  church  leaders.  We  found  that  we 
had  given  the  impression  that  Newton 
was  the  headquarters  of  the  Kyushu 
Church  Conference.  But  we  told  them 
that  this  was  not  so  and  that  we  want 
to  respect  their  autonomy  and  maintain 
a brotherhood  relationship.” 

Evangelism  in  Japan  is  difficult  and 
slow  for  all  Christian  groups,  Mr.  Un- 
ruh said.  Evangelism  is  still  “by  ones 
and  twos.” 

However,  he  noted  a greater  aware- 
ness of  the  Christian  church.  A recent 
survey  among  university  students  showed 
that  most  professed  no  religion.  But 


if  they  had  to  choose  a religion,  70  per- 
cent said  they  would  become  Christians. 

“This  is  an  openness  that  was  not 
evident  before,”  said  Mr.  Unruh,  a 
former  missionary  in  Japan. 

In  Japan,  English  is  still  one  of  the 
missionaries’  best  methods  of  contacting 
people,  Mr.  Unruh  said.  Missionaries 
now  charge  for  teaching  English  to  get 
the  students  who  are  really  serious.  Even 
when  they  charge,  classes  are  in  demand. 

Some  Japanese,  however,  have  become 
concerned  about  the  corruption  of  Jap- 
anese culture  by  English  words  inserted 
into  Japanese  writing  and  conversation. 

Mr.  Unruh  was  amazed  at  the  rapid 
economic  and  technical  progress  in  the 
last  few  years.  But  he  noted  that  voices 
within  Japan  are  raising  questions  about 
the  emphasis  on  material  progress  and 
saying,  “What  is  this  doing  to  the  soul 
of  Japan?” 

Prime  Minister  Tanaka  has  been  en- 
couraging factories  and  other  businesses 
to  move  to  rural  areas  to  reverse  the 
flow  of  people  to  the  cities,  where  they 
are  uprooted  from  strong  family  and 
community  ties. 

Taiwan,  too,  seems  economically  pros- 
perous, he  said,  in  spite  of  the  uncertain- 
ty over  the  U.S.’s  and  Japan’s  new  over- 
tures to  mainland  China. 

Disaster  service 
set  record  in  1972 

Mennonite  Disaster  Service  had  its 
busiest  year  ever  in  1972.  Heavy  natural 
disasters,  primarily  floods,  caused  swol- 
len streams  and  creeks,  rushing  rivers, 
overflowing  lakes  and  broken  dams  and 
dikes. 

Flood  disasters  were  scattered  from 
Maine  to  California  and  from  Washing- 
ton state  to  Florida.  In  Canada,  local 
floods  caused  personal  losses  and  com- 
munity chaos  from  Richmond,  Quebec, 
to  British  Columbia  in  the  west. 

The  mds  program  recorded  large  in- 
creases in  volunteer  work  days  this  year. 
In  1968,  an  average  year,  mds  units  re- 
ported about  5,000  volunteer  days,  But 
in  1969,  the  year  Hurricane  Camille 
struck,  11,000  days  were  given.  Activity 
in  1970  totalled  10,000  volunteer  days 
in  long-term  reconstruction. 

But  1972  set  records  never  before 
achieved  nor  anticipated  for  mds  action. 
Over  4,000  days  of  service  were  given  at 
Buffalo  Creek,  West  Virginia;  7,000  at 
Rapid  City,  South  Dakota;  and  37,000 
for  cleanup  operations  in  the  eastern 
U.S.  flood  projects.  Together  they  add  up 
to  48,000  volunteer  days. 


Missionaries , pastors,  and  lay  leaders  attend  a goals  setting  conference  in  Taiwan 
during  the  visit  of  com  staff  members  Howard  Habegger  and  Verney  Unruh. 


- 


54 


JANUARY  23,  1973 


Boschman  congregation 

Paul  Boschman  of  Rosthern,  Saskatche- 
wan, former  missionary  in  Japan  has 
accepted  an  assignment  beginning  Jan- 
uary 1 as  full-time  missions  and  evan- 
gelism consultant  to  Canadian  congre- 
gations. 

He  is  jointly  supported  by  the  Com- 
mission on  Overseas  Mission,  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries,  and  the 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada. 

Mr.  Boschman’s  experience  in  rural 
evangelism  in  Japan  has  prepared  him 
for  his  new  assignment  to  help  congre- 
gations set  goals  and  develop  an  “evan- 
gelism that  cares,”  said  Palmer  Becker, 
executive  secretary  of  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries. 

In  Japan,  Mr.  Boschman  and  Pastor 
Takashi  Yamada  of  Kobayashi  experi- 
mented with  various  methods  of  training 
and  mobilizing  lay  people  for  witnessing. 
Their  failures  and  successes  in  this  have 
been  published  in  Experiments  in  church 
growth:  Japan. 

Mr.  Boschman  has  also  served  as  pas- 
tor of  the  Menno  Mennonite  Church, 
Ritzville,  Washington. 

He  has  also  been  trained  as  a congre- 
gational consultant  by  the  office  of 
Worldwide  Evangelism-in-Depth  to  assist 
a congregation  in  understanding  the 
needs  of  its  community  and  setting  goals 
for  its  ministry. 

As  representative  of  the  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission,  Mr.  Boschman 
will  be  available  to  churches,  schools, 
retreats,  and  groups  wanting  to  sponsor 
mission  conferences  or  festivals,  semi- 
nars, or  workshops. 

Mr.  Boschman  is  aware  of  the  new 
era  of  missions  and  its  continuing  chal- 
lenge overseas.  National  churches  are 
assuming  responsibility  for  evangelism 
and  outreach,  and  the  missionary  role 
has  changed  from  that  of  a pioneer  and 
stationmaster  to  servant  of  the  church. 

Persons  wanting  evangelism  consulta- 
tive services  or  mission  conferences 
should  write  to  Mr.  Boschman  at  Box 
370,  Rosthern,  Saskatchewan. 


Paul  Boschman 


mission  consultant 

Mr.  Boschman,  a native  of  Saskatche- 
wan, has  studied  at  Rosthern  Junior  Col- 
lege, Bethel  College,  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary,  and  the  Institute  of  Church 
Growth. 

After  serving  in  Japan,  Mr.  Boschman 
returned  to  Canada  in  June  1971  be- 
cause of  the  illness  of  his  wife,  LaVeme 
Linscheid  Boschman  of  Aberdeen,  Idaho. 
She  died  in  February  1972.  Two  chil- 
dren, Beverly  and  Lawrence,  are  still 
at  home. 

Busenitzes  to  begin  work 
for  AIMM  in  southern  Africa 

Allen  and  Marabeth  Loewens  Busenitz 
of  Newton,  Kansas,  will  be  the  first  mis- 
sionaries to  go  to  the  southern  African 
country  of  Lesotho  under  Africa  Inter- 
Mennonite  Mission,  according  to  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 

They  will  work  with  the  Lesotho  Evan- 
gelical Church,  organizing  youth  activ- 
ities, planning  seminars  for  lay  people 
and  evangelists,  and  coordinating  a youth 
camp.  They  will  also  be  responsible  to 
determine  the  need  and  opportunity  for 
independent  work  by  aimm  in  Lesotho. 


A.  Busenitz  M.  Busenitz 


Commissioning  service  for  the  Bus- 
enitzes has  been  planned  for  January  7, 
at  the  Emmaus  Mennonite  Church, 
Whitewater,  Kansas.  Participating  in  the 
service  are  L.  R.  Amstutz,  pastor;  How- 
ard Habegger,  Newton,  Kansas,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission;  Reuben  Short,  Elk- 
hart, Indiana,  executive  secretary  of 
aimm;  and  Vernon  Wiebe,  Hillsboro, 
Kansas,  executive  secretary  of  Menno- 
nite Brethren  Missions/Services. 

Allen  is  a member  of  the  Emmaus 
Mennonite  Church.  Marabeth  is  a mem- 
ber of  the  Hillsboro  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren Church. 

The  Busenitzes  plan  to  leave  Newton 
January  8 and  leave  New  York  January 
14  for  Johannesburg,  South  Africa. 


Door  to  China  still  dosed  for  missionaries 


Prospects  of  Christians’  going  to  China 
as  missionaries  are  still  slim,  according 
to  reports  from  Howard  Habegger  and 
Verney  Unruh,  staff  members  of  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission,  who 
visited  Christians  in  Hong  Kong  early 
this  winter. 

Mr.  Unruh  said  he  and  Mr.  Habegger 
had  interviewed  a staff  member  of  Asian 
Outreach,  who  had  recently  visited 
Christian  groups  in  China. 

The  institutional  church  in  China  is 
gone,  the  Asian  Outreach  worker  told 
them.  But  he  had  met  with  several 
groups  of  Christians,  especially  young 
people. 

The  Chinese  Government  is  so  con- 
fident of  its  indoctrination  that  it  as- 
sumes when  young  people  get  together, 
they  are  talking  about  politics.  He  said 
groups  of  Christians  met  in  train  sta- 
tions, restaurants,  or  on  picnics. 

A native  of  China,  he  spoke  with  ap- 
preciation of  what  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment has  done  in  improving  the  social 
situation,  but  he  also  realized  that  Chi- 
nese Christians  have  suffered  much. 

When  western  Christians  go  to  China, 
they  must  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  Chinese 


Christians  and  learn  from  them  what  it 
means  to  suffer  for  Christ,  he  told  Mr. 
Habegger  and  Mr.  Unruh. 

The  com  staff  members  also  talked 
with  Ray  and  Rhea  Whitehead,  on  loan 
from  the  United  Church  of  Christ  mis- 
sion board  to  the  U.S.  National  Council 
of  Churches  China  program  office  in 
Hong  Kong. 

The  Whiteheads  visited  China  in  1971 
as  part  of  the  Committee  of  Concerned 
Asian  Scholars,  the  first  U.  S.  group 
invited  to  China  after  President  Nixon 
announced  his  visit  to  China. 

The  Whiteheads  said  their  contacts 
in  China  were  limited,  and  they  did  not 
see  any  possibility  of  contact  with  Chris- 
tians in  China.  Religion  is  still  looked 
down  on,  they  said,  and  known  Chris- 
tians are  subject  to  harassment. 

They  felt  it  was  not  advisable  for 
western  Christians  to  contact  Christians 
in  China,  although  the  situation  could 
change. 

Mr.  Unruh  and  Mr.  Habegger  also 
visited  Everett  Metzler  and  Ira  Kurtz, 
workers  under  the  Eastern  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions  and  Charities,  Salun- 
ga,  Pennsylvania. 


THE  MENNONITE 


55 


Help  for  the  mentally  retarded  is  spotty 

Jack  J.  Fransen  and  Vernon  H.  Neufeld 


It  seems  clear  that  Mennonite  churches 
are  doing  far  too  little  for  the  mentally 
retarded.  It  is  also  true  that  there  has 
been  considerable  activity  within  the 
churches  on  behalf  of  the  mentally  hand- 
icapped. 

What  is  being  done  in  Mennonite  cir- 
cles to  help  the  retarded? 

1.  Churches  have  established  a num- 
ber of  residential  facilities  to  care  for 
retardates.  It  should  not  be  surprising 
that  the  earliest  and  most  frequent 
efforts  have  been  to  provide  homes  for 
the  mentally  disabled.  If  a handicapped 
child  cannot  be  cared  for  in  his  own 
home  or  is  neglected,  if  a mentally  re- 
tarded person  loses  his  parents,  then 
clearly  the  pressing  need  is  to  provide 
a place  for  such  a person  to  live. 

The  Bethesda  Home  in  Ontario  is 
probably  the  first  Mennonite  facility  in 
North  America  to  be  established  for  such 
handicapped  persons.  Bethesda  has  cared 
for  the  mentally  retarded,  emotionally 
disturbed,  and  other  handicapped  per- 
sons since  its  beginning  in  1923  in  the 
private  home  of  Henry  P.  Wiebe.  The 
facility  has  expanded  several  times  and 
now  has  room  for  110  persons.  While  it 
started  as  a private  program,  responsi- 


A summer  seminar  for  Mennonite  grad- 
uate students  is  being  planned  again  for 
August  18-28  at  Youth  Village  in  south- 
ern Michigan. 

Intended  for  graduate  students  and 
college  seniors  anticipating  graduate 
study,  the  seminar  provides  leadership 
training  and  theological,  biblical,  and 
Anabaptist  studies,  relating  these  to  con- 
temporary issues. 

Directed  by  Helmut  Harder,  Winni- 
peg, Manitoba,  the  seminar  will  include 
as  resource  persons  Walter  Klaassen, 
Waterloo,  Ontario;  Willard  Swartley, 
Harrisonburg,  Virginia;  and  John  Lapp, 
Goshen,  Indiana. 

Frank  Ward,  executive  secretary  of 
the  General  Conference’s  Commission 
on  Education,  said  that  the  inter-Menno- 
nite  seminar  was  one  of  the  conference’s 
few  programs  for  students  in  non-Men- 
nonite  institutions. 

“It  is  an  important  program,  and  I 
feel  good  about  the  response  it  gets,” 
he  said. 

At  the  last  Mennonite  graduate  semi- 


bility  for  Bethesda  was  accepted  first 
by  the  Ontario  conference  and  then  by 
the  Canadian  Conference  of  Mennonite 
Brethren  Churches.  About  seventy-five 
mentally  retarded  adults  are  now  cared 
for  in  the  home. 

Menno  Home  of  Saskatchewan  in 
Waldheim  is  another  facility  in  Canada 
serving  mentally  ill  or  retarded  adults  of 
sixteen  years  and  older.  Menno  Home, 
established  in  1962,  is  sponsored  by  the 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  (Sas- 
katchewan) in  which  seven  Mennonite 
and  Brethren  in  Christ  groups  cooperate. 
It  has  space  for  forty-four  residents. 

There  are  other  residential  care  homes 
in  the  United  States.  Sunshine  Children’s 
Home  in  Maumee,  Ohio,  serves  104 
severely  retarded  (below  50  IQ)  chil- 
dren from  infancy  to  age  twenty-one. 
Sunshine  was  started  in  1949  by  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Roy  Engler,  a couple  with  four 
retarded  children  of  their  own,  to  help 
others  with  similar  problems,  The  Men- 
nonite Board  of  Missions  and  Charities, 
Elkhart,  Indiana,  assumed  responsibility 
for  this  program  in  1950.  The  residents 
are  divided  between  nonambulatory  and 
ambulatory  children. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  the  United 


nar  in  1971,  some  Mennonite  students, 
for  the  first  time,  recognized  Mennonite 
and  Brethren  churches  as  part  of  the 
free  church  tradition.  Participants  also 
considered  the  implications  of  being  a 
community  of  faith  for  facing  the  chal- 
lenges in  a country  or  countries  tortured 
by  a crisis  of  the  human  spirit. 

The  1971  seminar  was  characterized 
by  an  examination  of  the  Scriptures  and 
history  for  an  understanding  of  what  it 
means  to  be  the  new  community  of  faith. 

Scholarships  for  accommodations  and 
travel  are  available  according  to  need. 
Thirty  participants,  besides  staff,  are  an- 
ticipated. More  information  will  be  avail- 
able from  the  Department  of  Higher 
Education,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas 
67114. 


States  there  are  five  other  residential 
care  homes,  one  still  being  built.  Faith 
Mission  Home  in  Mission  Home,  Virgin- 
ia, sponsored  by  the  Amish  Mennonite 
Church,  is  for  forty  trainable  retarded 
children  (25-55  IQ). 

Indian  Creek  Haven,  Harleysville, 
Pennsylvania,  was  recently  established  in 
a rural  setting  and  provides  residential 
care,  a workshop,  and  other  services  for 
the  retarded.  The  Franconia  Mennonite 
Mission  Board  sponsors  the  program. 

Pleasant  View  Home,  Broadway,  Vir- 
ginia, developed  from  a private  interest 
into  a church-sponsored  program  of  the 
Virginia  Conference  of  the  Mennonite 
Church.  It  opened  in  1971  with  room 
for  nine  adults.  Another  building  is  now 
being  renovated  for  sixteen  more  resi- 
dents. 

Sunny  Haven  Children’s  Home,  Plain 
City,  Ohio,  in  existence  only  a few  years, 
was  started  by  a concerned  family.  The 
home  has  thirty-eight  trainable  children 
and  is  administered  by  Alvin  Helmuth, 
who  initiated  the  program. 

Landis  Homes,  Lititz,  Pennsylvania, 
a retirement  community  sponsored  by 
the  Eastern  Mennonite  Board  of  Mis-  | 
sions  and  Charities,  is  the  setting  for  a I 
new  residential  care  home  now  being 
built.  Known  as  Landis  Homes  Friend-  , 
ship  Community,  the  home  for  retarded  i 
adults  is  sponsored  by  the  same  mission  ' 
board. 

In  calling  such  facilities  “residential  . 
care  homes,”  one  should  not  conclude 
that  they  are  for  only  the  basic  needs  of 
the  residents.  The  homes  do  provide  the 
basic  necessities  of  shelter,  food,  and 
health  in  a setting  of  Christian  love  and 
care,  but  they  also  provide  more. 

The  homes  for  children  who  are  se- 1 
verely  handicapped,  such  as  Sunny  Hav- 
en and  Faith  Mission,  offer  a number  of 
training  services.  Often  children  need 
to  learn  the  simple  functions  of  walking,  ' 
talking,  and  toilet  training.  Others  can 
profit  from  more  advanced  training  in 
arts  and  crafts,  recreation,  and  vocation- 
al and  academic  activities. 

In  most  homes,  able  residents  are 
given  chores  to  do.  Housekeeping  and 
maintenance  responsibilities,  lawn  and  > 
garden  care,  are  often  assumed  by  the 
mentally  retarded.  Occasionally,  as  at 
Menno  Home,  there  are  job  opportuni- 
ties in  the  community. 

In  some,  especially  the  homes  for 


Summer  graduate  seminar  will  be  in  Michigan 


56 


JANUARY  23,  1973 


Achievement  Day  in  Taiwan 

Villagers  in  Taroko,  Taiwan,  bring  their  agricultural  products  for  judging  at  the 
second  annual  Achievement  Day  in  December.  With  the  help  of  money  from  the 
Poverty  Fund,  the  Taroko  Community  Development  Program  has  initiated  projects 
in  agriculture,  cottage  industries,  and  health. 


adults,  workshops  have  been  developed 
so  the  mentally  retarded  might  learn  vo- 
cation skills.  Indian  Creek  has  developed 
a sheltered  workshop  where  the  retarded 
can  work  and  earn  according  to  their 
ability.  The  work  is  under  contract  with 
various  manufacturing  firms,  and  the 
workers  produce  on  a piece  rate.  Thus 
the  handicapped,  who  are  unable  to 
compete  for  jobs  in  the  open  market, 
are  able  to  lead  productive  and  useful 
lives.  Bethesda,  too,  has  an  active  work- 
shop program. 

2.  Mennonite  churches  are  involved 
also  in  several  programs  that  classify 
I as  schools.  Adriel  School,  West  Liberty, 
Ohio,  is  one  of  these.  Under  the  Menno- 
nite Board  of  Missions  and  Charities, 
the  school  was  established  in  1957  as  a 
learning  center  for  forty-five  slow-learn- 
ing teen-agers  in  the  55-80  IQ  range. 

The  boarding  school  provides  not  only 
I academic  and  work  programs,  but  also 
| learning  activities  such  as  arts  and  crafts, 

1 industrial  arts,  home  economics,  physi- 
cal education,  and  intramural  touma- 
: ments.  Group  living  is  emphasized  in 
■ each  of  four  units. 

Glenhaven,  Inc.,  is  a new  program  in 
Glendale,  Arizona,  started  by  the  Trin- 
j ity  Mennonite  Church  in  cooperation 
with  the  State  Department  of  Mental  Re- 
. tardation.  The  first  program  of  Glenha- 
ven is  a preschool  for  three-  to  seven- 
year-old  retarded  children.  The  class  was 
first  held  in  the  church  facilities  but  re- 
cently has  moved  into  a new  building 
designed  around  the  special  needs  of  re- 
tarded children.  The  school  provides  day 
care  in  a setting  where  the  child  “can 
1 grow  in  areas  including  self-care,  coor- 
dination, communication,  and  emotional 
; and  social  growth.”  Glenhaven  plans  to 
develop  or  cooperate  in  developing  a 
residential  facility  for  children  and  a 
j sheltered  workshop  for  teen-agers  and 
adults. 

3.  The  Mennonite  church  provides 
some  noninstitution al  services  for  the 
retarded  and  their  families.  There  is  a 
shortage  of  such  services,  however,  and 
it  is  perhaps  in  this  area  that  the  church 
should  become  more  active. 

While  there  have  been  workshops  and 
retreats  planned  elsewhere,  the  annual 
retreat  and  seminar  at  Laurelville,  Penn- 
sylvania, is  the  best  example  of  how  con- 
cerned individuals  can  provide  needed 
services. 

The  retreats  give  the  mentally  handi- 
capped rich  experience  in  group  living 
• in  an  outdoor  setting.  This  kind  of  living 
experience  may  later  help  the  handicap- 
r ped  adjust  to  life  in  a new  home.  At  the 


same  time,  parents  of  retarded  children 
gain  strength  and  encouragement  through 
fellowship  with  other  parents  of  re- 
tarded children.  Resource  persons  who 
participate  in  a seminary  with  parents 
at  the  concluding  weekend  of  the  retreat 
provide  counsel  and  support  in  the  par- 
ticular problems  parents  face. 

The  church  has  made  many  efforts  to 
help  the  retarded  through  residential  care 
homes,  training  programs,  seminars,  and 
workshops. 

Is  this  enough?  No.  In  looking  over 
the  existing  programs,  one  can  note  gaps 
in  services  to  retarded  people  of  various 
ages  and  mental  capacities.  But  even 
more  noticeable,  what  the  church  is 
doing  is  geographically  spotty.  What  is 
done  is  good,  sometimes  outstanding, 
but  much  more  needs  to  be  done. 

With  few  exceptions,  the  church  at 
the  congregational  or  conference  level 
has  not  been  responsible  for  conceiving 
and  bringing  into  existence  programs  for 
the  retarded.  The  spark  has  come  from 
parents,  albeit  church  members,  who 
were  personally  affected  by  retardation 
within  their  own  families.  The  churches 
have  been  supportive  rather  than  creative 
in  the  formation  of  the  Mennonite  pro- 
grams now  available  to  the  mentally  re- 
tarded. 

The  church  cannot  yet  rest  on  its 
laurels. 


This  is  the  second  of  three  articles  on 
mental  retardation. 

Mass  communications  council 
will  discuss  church  and  radio 

Radio  and  the  small  radio  producer  will 
be  the  focus  on  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  Mennonite  Council  on  Mass  Com- 
munications on  the  campus  of  Eastern 
Mennonite  College  January  25-27,  ac- 
cording to  a planning  committee  spokes- 
man. 

The  mcmc  program  will  “examine  a 
wide  spectrum  of  subjects,  such  as 
where  today’s  audience  is,  issues  in  the 
1970s,  hints  for  local  broadcasts  produc- 
tions, and  the  use  of  media  for  church 
school  education,”  the  spokesman  said. 

The  program  will  feature  a keynote 
address,  a symposium,  a show-and-tell 
period  for  producers,  seminars,  work- 
shops, and  films. 

The  Mennonite  Council  on  Mass  Com- 
munications is  an  inter-Mennonite  con- 
sultation on  the  use  of  the  mass  media 
for  Christian  communication.  Participat- 
ing groups  include  the  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren (Canada  and  the  U.S.),  the  Evan- 
gelical Mennonite  Church,  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church,  the  Menno- 
nite Church,  and  related  colleges  and 
mission  boards. 


1 


THE  MENNONITE 


57 


Haitians  take  more  initiative  in  development 


Mennonite  Central  Committee  has  com- 
pleted thirteen  years  of  service  in  Haiti, 
the  world’s  oldest  black  republic  and  one 
of  the  most  densely  populated  countries 
in  the  world. 

An  old  Haitian  proverb,  “Beyond  the 
mountains  are  more  mountains,”  re- 
flects the  geography  of  the  country. 
Although  85^  percent  of  the  people  make 
their  living  by  farming  small  plots  of 
land,  about  two-thirds  of  the  country  is 
rough  and  mountainous  and  cannot  be 
cultivated.  Haiti  is  only  as  large  as  New 
Jersey  but  must  support  4.5  million  peo- 
ple. It  is  the  poorest  country  in  this  hem- 
isphere. 

In  the  face  of  poverty,  illiteracy,  and 
medical  needs,  mcc  tries  to  provide 
human,  material,  and  financial  resources 
to  help  Haitians  help  themselves.  Edgar 
Stoesz,  mcc  Latin  American  director, 
feels  that  one  of  the  most  exciting  aspects 
of  the  program  in  Haiti  is  that  various 
projects  are  increasingly  started  and  car- 
ried out  with  Haitian  initiative. 

“We  used  to  say  that  the  Haitians  had 
something  to  teach  us — but  we  didn’t 
really  mean  it,”  Mr.  Stoesz  confessed. 
“They  had  all  the  needs  and  we  had  all 
the  answers.  We  brought  the  agenda 
from  the  outside,  certainly  with  sensi- 
tivity to  what  we  thought  they  needed, 
but  it  was  nevertheless  a superimposed 
strategy.” 

One  example  of  how  mcc  works  in 
Haiti  is  the  three  Haitian  “animators” 
who  travel  to  communities  which  request 
their  help,  They  help  the  communities 
find  the  resources  they  have  at  their  fin- 
gertips. Outside  assistance  is  only  con- 
sidered for  things  clearly  beyond  their 
own  capabilities.  One  community  decid- 
ed it  wanted  to  build  a new  school.  The 
people  came  to  mcc,  explained  what  they 
wanted  to  do  and  what  they  felt  they 
could  do  about  it.  The  people  of  the 
community  agreed  to  carry  sand  from 
a riverbed  to  their  village  up  in  the 
mountains.  One  trip  took  three  hours. 
All  that  MCC  provided  for  the  school 
was  technical  supervision,  and  money 
for  the  roof  and  concrete  floor.  Mcc  as- 
istance  made  the  difference  between  hav- 
ing or  not  having  a school  but  the  ini- 
tiative came  from  the  people. 

“The  most  important  element  was  the 
community  spirit  of  pride  and  self-con- 
fidence that  helped  the  community  ac- 
complish what  they  wanted,”  Mr.  Stoesz 
said. 

The  increasing  awareness  that  initia- 


tive for  projects  should  come  from  the 
Haitian  people  is  related  to  Mr.  Stoesz’s 
concept  of  development.  He  feels  there 
is  a distinction  between  helping  create 
community  institutions  and  performing 
services.  “A  service  like  a medical  pro- 
gram is  much  needed  in  Haiti,  but  it 
seldom  has  a terminal  point.  Medical 
service  is  as  much  needed  today  as  it 
was  thirteen  years  ago.  But  when  we 
bring  into  being  a community  institution 
like  a school  at  the  request  of  a village, 
there  is  an  indigenous  center  of  energy 
which  begins  to  produce  results  on  its 
own  initiative.  Mcc  is  still  performing 
some  services  in  Haiti  but  our  increasing 
emphasis  will  be  to  give  rise  to  commu- 
nity institutions  capable  of  functioning 
without  us. 

Mcc  programs  in  Haiti  include  public 
health  and  medical  work,  rural  develop- 


John  Kauffman,  a volunteer  from  Mis- 
souri, helped  Haitians  build  feed  storage 
bins  at  Pugnon,  Haiti. 


ment,  agricultural  assistance  including 
trying  to  identify  and  control  a cashew 
tree  blight,  educational  assistance,  in-  1 
volvement  with  a pineapple  and  mango 
cooperative  canning  project,  and  a mush- 
rooming self-help  crafts  program.  Nine- 
teen mcc  workers  are  now  in  Haiti. 

“One  thing  that  plagues  mcc  admin- 
istrators,” Mr.  Stoesz  explained,  “is  how 
to  achieve  the  most  in  every  opportunity. 
We  know  that  by  saying  yes  to  one  need  ! 
that  surfaces,  we  are  automatically  say- 
ing no  to  ten  other  needs.  What  criteria 
do  we  use  for  deciding  what  we  are 
going  to  support?” 

A second  problem  is  how  to  program 
mcc  efforts  so  that  the  limited  available 
resources  will  reach  as  far  as  possible. 
“For  years  mcc  Haiti  put  most  of  its 
emphasis  on  medical  services.  Today 
there  are  hundreds  of  people  living  who 
otherwise  would  have  died.  Those  peo- 
ple need  food.  Now  we  have  not  only 
a practical  but  a moral  obligation  to  do 
more  in  the  area  of  food  production,” 
said  Mr.  Stoesz. 

“Mcc  workers  also  struggle  with  how 
one  is  really  the  church.  From  decades 
of  experience,  our  conference  missions 
have  learned  that  preaching  to  captive 
audiences  of  sick  people  is  not  the  way 
the  gospel  should  be  presented.  In  Haiti 
it  is  hard  to  find  places  where  the  church 
is  not  already  represented  in  some  way.  j 
Mcc  workers  are  short  term  and  are  ; 
not  trained  theologically.  How  do  they 
share  their  faith  in  a new  culture  and 
in  this  context?” 

Sharing  one’s  faith  is  even  more  diffi- 
cult if  a worker  believes  that  living  the 
gospel  means  responding  to  the  needs  of 
others.  The  needs  are  inexhaustible  and 
the  resources  are  limited.  “Sometimes 
this  situation  can  temporarily  get  the 
best  of  mcc  workers.”  Mr.  Stoesz  con- 
tinued. “After  a bone-breaking  day, 
workers  should  go  home  to  relax.  But 
in  the  process  they  must  walk  past  a 
whole  row  of  people  whom  they  aren’t 
able  to  help.  The  knowledge  of  that 
gnaws  at  their  recreation  time.” 

Happily  there  are  also  moments  of 
gratification  when  a volunteer  can  really 
feel  that  he  or  she  has  been  of  some 
practical  good  to  other  people.  “Satis- 
faction for  an  mcc  worker  doesn’t  come 
from  warm  showers  or  semiluxuries,”  j 
Mr.  Stoesz  concluded,  “but  from  having 
been  part  of  something  constructive,  and 
living  in  the  awareness  of  God’s  grace 
and  goodness.” 


JANUARY  23,  1973  | 


58 


Words  & deeds 


Mennonite  Community  Association,  pub- 
lishers of  the  best-selling  Mennonite 
community  cookbook,  will  use  the  prof- 
its which  have  accumulated  from  the  sale 
of  this  book  to  sponsor  a four-day  con- 
ference on  Christian  community  in  El- 
mira, Ontario,  May  3-6.  The  program 
will  focus  on  the  biblical  basis,  tempta- 
tions, and  barriers  in  the  way  of  com- 
munity, minority  and  Mennonite  ethni- 
cism  vis-a-vis  Christian  community,  in- 
tentional community,  and  the  congrega- 
tion as  nucleus  of  the  true  Christian 
community.  Rodney  Sawatzky,  a gradu- 
ate student  at  Princeton  University,  is 
the  General  Conference  representative 
on  the  conference’s  planning  committee. 
The  chairman  is  Guy  F.  Hershberger. 
Inquiries  should  be  sent  to  the  associa- 
tion’s executive  secretary,  Theron  Schla- 
bach,  1700  South  Main,  Goshen,  Indiana 
46526. 


To  the  amazement  and  astonishment 
of  his  freshman  students  at  Goshen  Col- 
lege, Jack  Dueck  was  handcuffed  and 
arrested  midway  through  his  lecture  on 
Alexander  Solzhenitzyn’s  novel,  A day 
in  the  life  of  Ivan  Denisovich  recently. 
Mr.  Dueck,  associate  professor  of  En- 
glish at  Goshen  College,  was  discussing 
the  book’s  portrayal  of  life  in  a Russian 
prison  camp  and  how  a person  main- 
tains a sense  of  freedom  and  liberty, 
even  though  he  is  imprisoned.  Although 
a few  students  smirked  when  Goshen  city 
police  officers  boldly  interrupted  the  lec- 
ture and  marched  Mr.  Dueck  to  the  wall, 
their  disbelief  changed  to  surprise  when 
he  paled,  looked  guilty,  was  led  outside 
to  the  waiting  squad  car,  and  was  driven 
away.  The  event  was,  in  fact,  staged  to 
stimulate  learning  and  creative  thinking 
in  Mr.  Dueck’s  composition  and  world 
literature  course.  Mr.  Dueck,  who  has 
deep  personal  commitment  to  innovative 
teaching  of  literature,  was  pleased  with 
the  upsurge  of  student  interest  in  the 
novel  and  its  meaning  and  relevance, 
as  a result  of  his  “arrest.” 


A $400,000  building  program  was  ap- 
proved by  the  Rosthem  (Saskatchewan) 
Junior  College  Corporation  at  its  annual 
meeting  earlier  this  winter.  Construction 
on  a new  three-story  student  residence 
could  begin  as  early  as  autumn  1973  if 
plans  can  be  drawn  up  and  finances  ar- 
ranged by  that  time. 


THE  MENNONITE  59 


RECORD 

Workers 


Alan  Mark  Dietchman,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  has  begun  voluntary  service  under 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  in  Kansas  City,  Kans.  As  of 
Dec.  9,  he  was  serving  as  coordinator 
of  the  Rosedale  Boys  Club,  part  of  an 
interdenominational  ministry  in  which 
the  Rainbow  Boulevard  Mennonite 
Church  participates.  He  will  serve 
for  a minimum  of  one  year.  Mr.  Dietch- 
man holds  a BA  degree  in  anthropology 
from  Temple  University  in  Philadelphia. 

Dennis  and  Norma  Duerksen,  Hills- 
boro, Kans.,  began  a three-year  term  of 
service  with  mcc  in  Swaziland,  Africa. 
They  will  be  teaching  in  the  Teachers 
Abroad  Program.  Dennis  received  his 
BS  in  industrial  arts  from  Bethel  College 
in  North  Newton,  and  an  MS  in  trade 
and  industrial  education  from  Kansas 
State  College,  Pittsburg,  Kans.  Norma 
received  a BS  in  elementary  education 
from  Bethel  College  and  an  MA  in  re- 
medial reading  from  the  University  of 
Northern  Colorado.  Dennis  is  the  son 
of  Albert  and  Irma  Duerksen,  Hillsboro, 
Kans.  Norma  is  the  daughter  of  David 
and  Katie  Nickel,  Newton.  The  Duerk- 
sens  are  members  of  the  Alexander- 
wohl  Church,  Goessel,  Kans. 


D.  Duerksen 


N.  Duerksen 


Bill  and  Ann  Hoosen,  Morgantown, 
W.  Va.,  will  begin  two  years  of  volun- 
tary service  in  Elkhart,  Ind.,  Jan.  8. 
Ann,  a member  of  the  United  Metho- 
dist Church,  will  be  a bus  driver  at  Aux 
Chandelles  school  for  the  retarded.  She 
has  attended  Emory  and  Henry  College 
and  West  Virginia  University.  Her  par- 
ents are  S.  R.  and  Patricia  Alger.  Bill,  a 
member  of  the  United  Church  of  Christ, 
will  work  in  a day  care  center.  He  has 
attended  West  Virginia  University. 


Bernie  and  Delores  Martens,  Sardis, 
B.C.,  have  begun  a two-year  term  of 
service  with  mcc  in  Atlanta,  Ga.  Bernie 
will  be  developing  a tutoring  program 
with  the  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Society  and 
Delores  will  be  helping  in  a special  read- 
ing program  at  Moreland  School.  Bernie 
received  a BA  in  sociology  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  British  Columbia.  Delores  re- 
ceived an  RN  degree  from  the  Regina 
General  Hospital  School  of  Nursing,  Re- 
gina, Sask.  Bernie  is  the  son  of  John 
and  Katherine  Martens,  Sardis,  B.C.,  and 
Delores  is  the  daughter  of  Bernhard  and 
Mary  Friesen,  Rosthern,  Sask.  The  Mar- 
tenses  are  members  of  the  Olivet  Church, 
Clearbrook,  B.C. 


B.  Martens  D.  Martens 


David  Thiel,  Edon,  Ohio,  began  one 
to  two  years  of  voluntary  service  on 
Jan.  2.  He  will  serve  as  a bus  driver 
at  a rehabilitation  center  in  Elkhart, 
Ind.  Mr.  Thiel  has  attended  the  Uni- 
versity of  Toledo  and  the  University  of 
Detroit. 

Calendar 

Feb.  7-9 — Council  of  commissions, 
Newton,  Kans. 

Feb.  12-14 — Urban  pastors’  seminar, 
Camp  Mennoscah,  Kans. 

May  3-6 — Mennonite  conference  on 
Christian  community,  sponsored  by  the 
Mennonite  Community  Association,  in 
Elmira,  Ontario. 

Canadian 

Jan.  25-27 — Annual  council  of  boards 
of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Can- 
ada, Winnipeg. 

Feb.  10 — British  Columbia  conference, 
Vancouver. 

Feb.  23-24  — Manitoba  conference, 
Alton  a. 

Central 

Feb.  23-24 — Seminar  on  the  offender, 
Bluffton,  Ohio. 

April  26-29 — Central  District  confer- 
ence, Goshen,  Ind. 

Eastern 

May  4-5  — Eastern  District  confer- 
ence, Bally,  Pa. 


The 

capacity 

for 

outrage 

Katie  Funk  Wiebe 

For  years  I have  listened  to  discussions 
of  the  incident  in  Acts  15:39  in  which 
Paul  and  Barnabas  have  a “sharp  con- 
tention” whether  John  Mark  shall  ac- 
company them.  Their  opinions  clash  so 
harshly  they  part  company. 

Some  contemporary  friends  of  Paul 
attempt  to  explain  the  disagreement  away 
as  a mild  argument  which  author  Luke 
overstated.  To  others,  it  becomes  a 
vague  embarrassment,  for  surely  a man 
of  Paul’s  stature  wouldn’t  stoop  to  con- 
troversy or  to  letting  his  feelings  show; 
far  better  if  these  verses  were  struck 
from  the  Holy  Writ. 

Why  are  some  Bible  readers  reluctant 
to  accept  that  Paul  was  a human  being 
with  feelings,  sometimes  negative  ones? 
Probably  because  they  have  been  taught 
that  the  Christian  is  slow  to  anger,  never 
gets  upset  by  circumstances,  and  never 
causes  trouble  through  disagreement. 
Praise  is  heaped  upon  those  who  are 
even-tempered,  passive,  and  calm,  or 
who  at  least  never  show  they  are  upset. 

As  a result  of  this  emphasis,  some 
Christians  believe  that  confrontation  of 
any  kind  is  bad,  and  that  to  let  one’s 
feelings  show  is  out  of  place.  Who  has 
not  sensed  in  a church  business  meeting 
or  small  group  meeting  the  fear  those 
present  have  of  opening  up  to  one  an- 
other, or,  if  someone  does,  the  reluctance 
to  let  him  continue?  The  main  goal 
seems  to  be  to  avoid  a show  of  strong 
feeling,  either  negative  or  positive. 

As  Bruce  Larson  suggests  in  his  re- 
cent book  discussing  the  church  as  a 
celebrating  community,  Ask  me  to  dance , 
the  insecurity  of  the  members  in  the  face 
of  hostility  forces  them  to  quench  any 
sign  of  confrontation  rather  than  to  let 
it  out  where  they  can  deal  with  it. 

Yet,  here’s  the  problem.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  church  seems  to  encourage 
meekness,  subordination,  and  passivity, 
yet  at  the  same  time,  I find  the  church 
perplexed  by  the  widespread  apathy  of 
its  members  to  the  serious  spiritual  and 


social  issues  confronting  church  and 
society.  Christians,  like  anyone  else,  have 
little  capacity  for  outrage.  Drug  addic- 
tion, violence,  rape,  murder,  racial  preju- 
dice, war,  poverty,  pornography,  cor- 
ruption at  many  levels  of  government, 
an  overabundance  of  X-rated  movies, 
growing  alcoholism,  highway  slaughter, 
epidemic  proportions  of  venereal  disease 
all  get  a shrug  of  the  shoulder:  let  the 
authorities  take  care  of  it. 

Harvey  Cox,  in  On  not  leaving  it  to 
the  snake,  points  out  that  apathy  is  the 
key  form  of  sin  in  today’s  world,  and 
that  it  never  was  pride  and  rebellion  as 
the  church  has  been  taught.  He  states 
that  the  church  has  come  to  believe  that 
anger,  insubordination,  and  protest  are 
never  expressions  of  the  gospel.  The  key 
qualities  of  a saint  are  accepted  as  being 
deference,  submission,  and  passivity,  and 
pride  and  rebellion  as  belonging  to  the 
sinner. 

But  it  is  the  other  way  around,  he 
says.  Man  is  not  a Prometheus  who  re- 
bels against  God,  but  a person  who, 
from  the  fall,  has  let  someone  else  make 
his  decisions — the  snake.  Before  Eve 
reached  for  the  fruit,  she  had  “already 
surrendered  her  position  of  power  and 


Keeping  our  hands  free 

Dear  Editor:  Several  people  whom  I 
highly  respect  have  written  letters  criti- 
cal of  Key  73,  the  evangelism  emphasis 
of  our  conference  promoted  by  the  com- 
mission I chair.  Their  criticisms  are  of 
things  that  might  happen  (emphasis 
on  techniques,  mass  manipulation  using 
big-name  people,  coordinated  from  the 
top  down,  playing  chaplain  to  a mili- 
taristic society  by  toning  down  the  New 
Testament  so  it  will  confirm  what  society 
already  believes  rather  than  calling  us 
to  be  made  new  creatures).  Their  letters 
are  good  and  could  be  rerun  quarterly. 

But  we  do  need  an  evangelism  em- 
phasis to  make  sure  that  we  can  state 
what  the  good  news  is  in  1973  in  words 
others  can  understand.  Can  we  do  it? 
Can  we  test  it  on  our  fellow  church 
members  to  see  if  they  see  any  power  in 
it?  We  need  to  be  more  clear  that  there 
is  a difference  now  that  Christ  has  come 
and  we  no  longer  have  to  wait  to  turn 
the  other  cheek,  to  share  with  those  in 
need,  to  treat  criminals  as  human  beings, 


responsibility  over  one  of  the  animals, 
the  serpent,  and  let  it  tell  her  what  to 
do.”  When  apathy  controls  a person’s 
life,  he  refuses  to  accept  the  full  measure 
of  pain  and  the  temptation  that  goes 
with  the  wielding  of  the  power  necessary 
to  help  care  for  and  love  one’s  fellow- 
man. 

Has  the  church  become  so  well-condi- 
tioned to  be  nice  that  its  capacity  for 
outrage  has  been  reduced  to  weak  whim- 
per, limited  to  griping  about  the  loud 
music  of  the  organist,  the  long  hair  of 
the  minister’s  son,  or  a TV  show  that 
was  changed  at  the  last  minute? 

When  Paul  contended  with  Barnabas, 
I believe  he  experienced  the  pain  and 
also  the  temptation  that  accompanies 
positions  of  responsibility  and  decision 
of  which  Cox  writes.  He  was  disturbed 
about  young  John  Mark  and  he  said  so. 
Perhaps  his  outrage  was  unfounded.  I 
don’t  know.  But  he  took  the  risk  of  tak- 
ing a stand  as  he  had  at  other  occasions 
such  as  his  opposition  to  the  immorality 
in  the  Corinthian  church  or  his  support 
of  Christian  liberty  for  the  Galatians. 

Can  the  church  help  people  to  break 
out  of  their  apathy — to  be  angry  and 
sin  not? 


and  that  we  can  live  his  new  way  now. 
We  can  go  another  way  than  using  our 
nation  and  social  customs  as  a substitute 
church. 

Also,  Key  73  may  keep  reminding  us 
to  take  time  for  people.  Ten  times  as 
much  sharing  of  the  faith  would  get 
done,  not  by  artificially  “working  the 
conversation  around  to  spiritual  things” 
but  by  allowing  enough  time  in  our  own 
lives  for  other  people.  Key  73  may  help 
push  that  kind  of  concern  on  our  own 
calendars. 

God  has  given  us  a lot  of  good  things, 
and  I hope  in  1973  we  pay  attention  to 
passing  it  around.  Key  73  is  a confession 
we  are  weak  in  this  area  and  want  to  go 
a new  direction.  Key  73  could  remind 
us  not  to  be  the  Menno  with  a large 
copy  of  Martyrs’  mirror  under  each  arm 
but  the  Menno  who  has  it  microfilmed 
in  his  pocket,  and  his  hands  free  to  reach 
out  and  encourage  others  in  the  good 
directions  the  anti-Key  73  letters  call  us. 
Stanley  Bohn,  chairman,  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817. 

Dec.  28 


LETTERS 


60 


JANUARY  23,  1973 


REVIEW 


The  Jesus  people 


The  Jesus  people:  Old-time  religion  in 
the  Age  of  Aquarius,  by  Ronald  Enroth, 
Edward  E.  Ericson,  Jr.,  and  C.  Breckin- 
ridge Peters  (Wm.  B.  Eerdmans,  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan,  1972,  249  pp.,  $2.95) 
is  reviewed  by  Erwin  H.  Rempel,  pas- 
tor, Indian  Valley  Mennonite  Church, 
Harleysville,  Pennsylvania. 

The  Jesus  movement,  a youth-oriented 
phenomenon  blossoming  on  the  West 
Coast  and  rapidly  spreading  across  the 
nation,  has  prompted  numerous  literary 
reports  and  analyses  from  both  the  secu- 
lar and  religious  press.  While  the  secu- 
lar press  has  been  long  on  description, 
it  has  been  short  on  an  understanding 
of  “Christian  doctrine  and  a personal 
experience  of  the  life-transforming  pow- 


er of  redemption  in  Christ”  (p.  10).  Re- 
ligious reporters,  on  the  other  hand, 
have  tended  to  view  the  movement  either 
through  rose-colored  glasses  or  in  criti- 
cal contempt,  depending  on  their  theo- 
logical commitment. 

This  book,  The  Jesus  people,  attempts 
to  combine  the  best  of  both  the  secular 
and  religious  approaches.  Two  West- 
mont College  professors,  Enroth  and 
Ericson,  and  a Westmont  graduate,  Pet- 
ers, have  successfully  presented  “a  more 
or  less  comprehensive  overview  of  the 
movement  that  provides  factual  infor- 
mation with  which  readers  can  make 
their  own  independent  evaluations”  (p. 
16).  An  impressive  amount  of  research 
involving  extensive  interviews  gives  depth 
to  the  book  and  helps  paint  a total  pic- 


ture of  the  Jesus  movement  as  of  the  fall 
of  1971.  While  the  authors  are  gener- 
ally sympathetic,  they  warn  against  mak- 
ing monolithic  judgments  of  the  move- 
ment in  good  and  bad  terms.  The  move- 
ment is  too  diverse  to  make  blanket 
judgments.  Some  groups  are  better  than 
others,  which  leave  much  to  be  desired. 

The  book  is  divided  into  three  sec- 
tions. The  first  part,  chapters  two 
through  seven,  gives  an  overview  of  the 
historical  development  of  the  major 
groups  and  many  of  the  “hangers  on.” 
The  authors  contend  that  the  Jesus  peo- 
ple cannot  be  generalized  as  a unified 
front  with  clear  distinctives.  There  are 
widely  diverse  groups  including  the  rig- 
idly legalistic  and  authoritarian  Chil- 
dren of  God  and  the  more  church-cen- 
tered groups  such  as  the  Hollywood 
Presbyterian  Church  and  the  Peninsula 
Bible  Church.  In  between  these  ex- 
tremes are  a host  of  groups  with  their 
well-known  leaders:  Arthur  Blessitt, 

Duane  Pederson,  and  Larry  Norman. 

Part  two,  chapters  eight  through  elev- 
en, describes  the  major  beliefs  of  the 
Jesus  people.  This  section  moves  from 
a strictly  objective  description  to  a more 
evaluative  stance  delineating  the  central 
theological  teachings  of  the  movement. 
The  Jesus  people  are  criticized  for  their 
fundamentalists  insistence  on  a simple 
gospel  anchored  not  so  much  in  well- 
thought-out  principles  of  biblical  inter- 
pretation as  a personal  experience.  This 
simplicity  evidences  itself  in  their  anti- 
intellectual, anti  cultural,  antichurch,  anti- 
social, and  antihistorical  stance.  The  au- 
thors believe  the  movement  has  recov- 
ered a simplicity  in  Christ  long  overdue 
in  our  sophisticated  culture.  But  this 
simplicity  is  seen,  on  the  other  hand, 
as  “one  of  the  great  weaknesses  of  the 
Jesus  movement.  . (p.  165).  A ra- 

tional apologetic  is  needed  to  sustain 
their  faith. 

Another  belief  of  this  movement  is 
its  imminent  eschatological  expectations. 
The  Jesus  people  believe  they  are  living 
in  the  last  days.  “Many  believe  that  they 
will  not  die  at  all.  Others  believe  they 
will  die  as  martyrs  for  Christ”  (p.  179). 
While  a fresh  awareness  of  Christ’s  sec- 
ond coming  is  welcomed,  the  radical 
nature  of  their  expectations  tends  to  be 


The  Children  of  God  bring  their  testimony  of  “born-again  Christianity”  through  song 
and  message  to  the  leaders  of  Protestant  and  Orthodox  churches  attending  the  cen- 
tral committee  meeting  of  the  World  Council  of  Churches  in  Utrecht,  The  Nether- 
lands. Invited  by  the  council’s  subunit  on  renewal  to  conduct  a noonday  worship 
service,  the  young  men  and  women  came  from  Amsterdam  and  Utrecht,  centers  of 
the  U .S. -originated  movement.  Although  there  were  Europeans,  Latin  Americans, 
and  Asians  among  them,  the  Children  of  God  at  the  wcc  meeting  were  predomi- 
nantly from  California  and  Texas. 


THE  MENNONITE 


61 


MEDITATION 


Until  the  Lord  comes 

They  say  we  need  do  nothing  now.  When  the  Lord  comes  ...  he  will  bring  it.  The 
kingdom,  the  society  of  peace,  the  perfect  world. 

But  what  shall  we  do  until  then?  How  shall  we  spend  our  time?  And  how  shall  we  ^ 
spend  the  world?  We  have  earth,  knowledge,  people,  art  . . . so  much.  All  of  his 
giving.  What  shall  we  make  of  it?  Can  we  let  it  go  its  own  way,  becoming  what  it  J 
will  become?  We  are  servants.  We  are  given  materials,  tools,  and  talents.  And  love. 
What  shall  we  do  until  the  Lord  comes? 

“Well  done,  my  good  and  trusty  servant!  I gave  you  a prairie,  you  made  it  a field,  j 
I gave  you  a forest,  you  made  it  a park.  I gave  you  a society,  you  made  it  a commu-  ' 
nity.  I gave  you  an  earth,  you  made  it  more  like  heaven.  Come  and  share  your  ^ 
Master’s  delight.” 

Until  the  Lord  comes.  . . . We  are  bound  to  do  something.  To  delay  is  to  act.  Not 
to  preserve  is  to  destroy.  To  let  be  is  to  let  die.  We  are  servants;  we  wait.  Are  we 
stewards  as  well?  David  Rensberger  < 

Outline  for  church  renewal 

i 

The  Fifty-first  Psalm,  that  perfect  outline  of  the  Christian  life,  contains  a sermon 
on  church  renewal  as  well.  It  depicts  the  Christian  church  as  faithfully  as  the  indi- 
vidual believer. 

“Thou  hast  no  delight  in  sacrifice;/  if  I brought  thee  an  offering,  thou  wouldst 
not  accept  it./  My  sacrifice,  O God,  is  a broken  spirit;/  a wounded  heart,  O God, 
thou  wilt  not  despise”  (Vss.  16-17  neb). 

No  liturgy,  no  tithes  are  acceptable  to  God  without  that  element  of  true  submis-  J 
sion,  humility,  a wounded  heart.  The  church  today  is  recalling  this  truth. 

“Let  it  be  thy  pleasure  to  do  good  to  Zion,/  to  build  anew  the  walls  of  Jerusalem./ 
Then  only  shalt  thou  delight  in  the  appointed  sacrifices;/  then  shall  young  bulls  be 
offered  on  thy  altar”  (Vss.  18-19). 

We  are  Zion,  in  need  of  repair.  We  see  the  prayer  being  answered:  men  in  humble 
searching  find  freshness  for  their  inner  lives;  a new  knowledge  (which  is  very  old)  of  i 
God’s  reality  and  nearness  to  daily  life — both  theirs  and  that  of  all  the  world — and 
of  God’s  demand  on  them  to  live  and  witness  to  the  truth. 

Jerusalem,  city  set  on  a hill!  Are  we  guilty  of  hiding  her?  Have  we  placed  our  I 
lamps  under  the  bushel  of  fatness,  in  the  cellar  of  sloth?  Uncover,  uncover  the  word  j 
of  the  Lord!  More  yet:  let  shine  the  Spirit,  who  dwells  in  Christ’s  body,  the  church.  I 
These  are  the  words  of  God:  I have  made  you  a light:  you  must  shine.  You  are  all 
prophets,  if  you  yield  to  me:  recall  my  wandering  sheep  to  the  truth. 

Oh  God,  do  good  to  Zion.  Build  up,  build  up  her  holy  walls,  and  found  them  in 
righteousness;  then  only  shall  our  worship  be  in  truth. 

Lord,  grant  renewal  to  your  church!  David  Rensberger  ^ 


a potential  source  of  future  disillusion- 
ment. Christ  may  return  shortly  or  he 
may  delay  his  coming  for  some  years 
or  decades.  The  authors  crystallize  the 
potential  problem:  “If  fulfilled  proph- 
ecies can  serve  as  an  index  to  the  relia- 
bility of  the  Bible,  unfulfilled  propheices 
can  serve  as  an  index  to  the  unreliability 
of  the  Bible.  And  if  the  Bible  seems 
to  them  to  have  been  proved  unreliable 
at  this  point,  there  is  no  reason  for  them 
to  accept  its  veracity  at  all  other  points” 
(p.  192). 

A third  major  belief  of  the  movement 
involves  the  resurgence  in  charismatic 
expression:  “One  of  the  most  distinctive 
hallmarks  of  the  Jesus  movement  is  its 
involvement  in  the  pentecostal  scene” 
(p.  195).  The  authors  note  three  groups 
involved  with  the  gift  of  tongues:  ( 1 ) 
those  who  stress  a kind  of  uncontrolled 
speaking  in  tongues  and  ecstatic  utter- 
ances, (2)  those  who  feel  a private  use 
of  tongues  is  preferred  over  public  dem- 
onstration, and  (3)  those  who  have  been 
burned  by  it  (p.  197). 

A final  major  belief  as  appraised  by 
the  authors  is  the  communal  life  style. 
The  authors  feel  some  of  the  fascination 
in  the  commune  is  undesirable  but  that 
these  family-like  settings  have  developed 
a sense  of  spiritual  belonging,  a family 
togetherness  lacking  in  many  of  the  Je- 
sus people’s  former  lives,  and  an  econ- 
omy in  living  expenses. 

Part  three  attempts  to  give  a sociolog- 
ical and  cultural  appraisal  of  the  move- 
ment. The  authors  admit  this  section 
is  limited  to  impressionistic  information 
rather  than  statistical  analysis  and  sur- 
veys. They  summarize  the  Jesus  people 
sociologically  as  “a  highly  diverse  group 
of  individuals  found  throughout  the  na- 
tion but  predominately  in  California  and 
the  Pacific  Northwest,  coming  from  vir- 
tually all  social  and  economic  levels  but 
including  very  few  blacks  or  other  mi- 
nority group  members”  (p.  238). 

This  book  is  a valuable  assessment  of 
the  Jesus  people.  It  deserves  wide  circu- 
lation and  reading  by  interested  persons. 
It  is  particularly  helpful  to  the  pastor 
who  is  constantly  being  asked  his  opin- 
ion of  the  movement.  Part  of  the  strength 
of  the  book  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  au- 
thors attempted  to  be  as  objective  as 
possible  in  presenting  the  historical  de- 
velopment and  central  features  of  the 
individual  groups.  This  allows  the  reader 
to  form  his  personal  judgments.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  authors  are  solidly  com- 
mitted to  the  Christian  faith  and  this  has 
strengthened  their  assessment  of  the  be- 
liefs of  the  movement. 


A bibliography  and  footnotes  are  lack- 
ing which  could  have  added  an  impor- 
tant dimension  to  the  quality  of  the  book. 

In  the  concluding  chapter  the  authors 
offer  three  paradigms  of  the  likely  direc- 
tions the  movement  will  take.  The  first 
is  toward  a rigidly  legalistic  and  author- 
itarian approach  evident  in  the  Children 
of  God.  A second  is  a mellowing  of 
bizarre  doctrinal  eccentricities  and  a 
close  relationship  within  the  structure  of 
the  local  church  to  bring  about  reform 


and  purity.  This  is  evident  in  Ted  Wise 
and  the  relationship  with  the  Peninsula 
Bible  Church.  Finally,  the  movement  . 
may  run  its  course  and  fade  out  of  sight  : 
because  its  undergirding  faith  was  tod 
shallow. 

The  authors  are  correct  in  suggesting 
that  the  Jesus  people  had  better  go  the 
way  of  Ted  Wise  and  the  Peninsula  Bible 
Church,  thus  developing  a strong  biblical 
theology  and  an  integral  link  with  the  . 
total  body  of  Christ. 


62 


JANUARY  23,  1973 


Some  families  are  creative. 

Family  worship  happens  at  appro- 
priate times  and  meaningful  ways 
without  a guide  to  follow. 

Some  families  need  a guide. 

New  insight  and  fresh  stimulation 
come  as  some  type  of  family  wor- 
ship guide  is  used. 

Some  families . . . HAVE  NO  FAMILY  WORSHIP. 


the  new  family  worship  guide,  can 

help  your  family. 

Worship  guidelines  for  families  with  children. 

(Lower  Junior  and  Junior  Sunday  school  outlines  are  followed) 

Worship  guidelines  for  youth/adult. 

(Uniform  Sunday  school  outlines  are  followed) 

Prayer  requests  that  focus  on  specific  persons  and  needs  that  will 
add  new  dimensions  to  your  understanding  of  the  work  of  the 
Mennonite  Church.  Several  feature  articles  each  quarter. 

REJOICE  is  produced  cooperatively  by  the  Conference  of  Mennonites 
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Contents 


Christ  is  the  answer.  What 

is  the  question?  50 

News  54 

The  capacity  for  outrage  60 

Letters  60 

The  Jesus  people  61 

Until  the  Lord  comes  62 

Outline  for  church  renewal  62 


Redeeming  the  maimed  and  brutalized  64 
COVER 

A Haitian  girl  who  is  receiving  an  educa- 
tion through  MCC's  educational  assistance 
program.  MCC  has  completed  thirteen 
years  of  service  in  Haiti  last  year.  It  has 
learned,  says  Latin  America  director  Ed- 
gar Stoesz,  to  listen  more  closely  to  the 
people  before  launching  development 
projects.  See  the  story  on  page  58. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Tom  Skinner  is  well-known  both  as  an 
evangelist  and  as  an  author.  Two  of  his 
best-known  books  are  Black  and  Free 
and  My  Friend,  the  Enemy.  The  lead  ar- 
ticle in  this  week's  issue  is  an  edited 
version  of  a speech  he  gave  at  last 
summer’s  Church  of  the  Brethren  national 
convention. 

Katie  Funk  Wiebe’s  articles  appear  fre- 
quently in  Mennonite  periodicals.  Her 
address  is  208  North  Jefferson,  Hillsboro, 
Kans.  67063. 

David  Rensberger,  a student  at  the 
University  of  Wisconsin,  lives  at  1483 
Carver  St.,  Apt.  9B,  Madison,  Wis.  53713. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Burton  Buller;  51,  RNS;  52,  Henry 
Wiebe,  Clearbrook,  B.C.;  54,  Verney  Un- 
ruh;  57,  Taroko  Community  Development 
Program;  58,  Cecil  Graber;  61,  RNS. 


Meimonite 


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HE  MENNONITE 


63 


Redeeming  the  maimed  and  brutalized 


In  1967  Luis  Jose  Monge  died  of  cyanide  poi- 
soning in  Colorado.  Several  observers  saw  him 
piteously  gasp  for  air  for  at  least  five  minutes  after 
he  inhaled  the  gas,  but  no  one  moved  to  help  him. 

Five  years  earlier,  in  December  1962,  two  men 
— Ronald  Turpin  and  Arthur  Lucas — died  of 
broken  necks  on  the  same  wintry  day  in  Toronto. 
Their  hearts  continued  to  beat  for  over  half  an 
hour  after  their  spinal  columns  snapped,  but  no 
one — not  even  a doctor  who  was  nearby — sprang 
to  their  sides  to  save  them. 

Messrs.  Mongo,  Turpin,  and  Lucas  were  the 
last  men  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  to  be 
officially  and  deliberately  killed  by  the  state.  Dur- 
ing the  last  ten  years  there  have  been  no  execu- 
tions in  Canada,  and  for  five  years  there  have 
been  none  in  the  United  States.  We  pray  that 
they  will  have  no  successors. 

A loud  public  outcry  has  arisen  in  recent 
months,  however,  for  a return  of  the  death  pen- 
alty. Those  who  favor  retention  have  been  joined 
by  strong  forces  in  both  countries.  The  U.S. 
Attorney  General,  for  example,  has  announced  that 
Congress  will  be  asked  to  enact  legislation  mak- 
ing the  death  penalty  mandatory  for  convicted 
skyjackers,  kidnappers,  and  bombers  of  public 
buildings.  Police  chiefs,  magistrates,  and  others 
have  been  lobbying  in  Ottawa  in  recent  months 
for  a return  of  the  hangman’s  noose.  Canadian 
politicians  are  bracing  themselves  for  a tough 
nonpartisan  debate  on  the  issue  early  this  year 
because  the  five-year  moratorium  on  the  death 
penalty  passed  by  Parliament  in  1967  expired 
last  month. 

A disquieting  feature  of  the  hard  line  taken  by 
some  Canadians  and  Americans  on  this  question 
is  that  church  people  are  among  the  loudest  ad- 
vocates for  the  return  of  capital  punishment.  It  is 
difficult  to  square  this  attitude  with  the  simul- 
taneous concern  for  evangelism  and  revival  which 
is  occupying  the  churches’  attention  in  both  coun- 
tries. 

Evangelism,  as  D.  T.  Niles,  an  Asian  theolo- 


gian, aptly  described  it,  is  one  beggar  showing 
another  beggar  where  there’s  bread  to  be  had. 
We  are  all  offenders  in  need  of  Jesus,  the  bread 
of  life.  Few,  if  any,  of  our  readers  have  killed 
anyone,  but  who  among  us  has  not  at  some  time 
in  a frenzy  of  anger  or  frustration  demolished 
another  person’s  spirit  with  a scathing  put-down 
or  a discreetly  dropped  rumor?  There  is  a good 
bit  of  the  killer  instinct  hidden  in  all  of  us,  but 
our  victims  continue  to  walk  around,  even  though 
their  psyches  are  mortally  hurt.  We  have  been 
forgiven  much.  The  question  now  is:  How  willing 
are  we  going  to  be  to  forgive? 

Our  task  is  not  to  ask  what  this  or  that  verse 
in  the  Bible  says  on  this  question,  but  to  discover 
the  thrust  of  Scripture’s  total  message.  According 
to  my  reading  of  the  Bible,  the  death  penalty  is 
entirely  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  teaching  of 
Jesus. 

Not  only  is  it  contrary  to  the  biblical  teaching, 
but  it  fails  even  as  an  effective  way  of  discourag- 
ing would-be  murderers.  A study  released  by  the 
Canadian  Solicitor  General’s  office  a month  ago 
concludes,  “Reintroduction  (of  capital  punish- 
ment) cannot  be  justified  on  the  argument  that 
it  is  a more  effective  deterrent  to  potential  killers 
than  the  alternative  of  protracted  imprisonment.” 
The  thirty  nations  which  have  outlawed  the  death 
penalty  since  1822  have  not  experienced  an  in- 
crease in  crime. 

“Without  minimizing  justice,”  writes  U.S.  theo- 
logian Charles  S.  Milligan,  “the  distinctive  witness 
of  the  Christian  is  found  in  compassionate  con- 
cern. This  is  not  a sentimental  romanticizing  over 
the  criminal  but  a recognition  that  he  is  a human 
being.  It  means  that  the  Christian  asks:  What 
can  be  done,  if  anything,  to  redeem  this  man  and 
to  restore  his  maimed  and  brutalized  humanity? 
It  means  that  Cain  as  well  as  Abel  is  made  in 
the  image  of  God.  ...  It  does  not  mean  . . . any 
lack  of  feeling  for  the  family  of  a murdered 
person,  but  quite  the  contrary.” 

Capital  punishment:  think  about  it.  lk 


Second-class  postage  paid  in  North  Newton,  Kansas  67117 


Our  church  bulletin  had  all  the  ex- 
citing details  about  summer  camp.  The 
announcement  was  made  that  anyone 
could  go.  The  church  was  paying  for  all 
fees,  trusting  contributions  would  be 
made  to  cover  them.  Our  son  quickly 
packed  his  suitcase  when  he  received  the 
published  list  of  things  needed. 

Before  camp  we  heard  how  some 
minority  children  were  saying  “no”  to 
camp.  Did  they  say  “no”  because  life 
there  was  too  unlike  their  own?  Even 
though  requests  are  modest,  perhaps 
they  know  their  family  can’t  buy  the 
things  they  don’t  now  have.  If  we  buy 
things  for  them,  what  will  this  do  to 
their  self-respect?  How  will  the  children 
feel  on  Sunday  when  they  are  the  only 
ones  in  Sunday  school  in  their  age  group? 
Or  will  they  come  back? 

We,  as  whites  must  recognize  that  no 
matter  what  our  intentions,  our  skin 
color  is  a reminder  of  oppression  to 
minority  people.  Historical  oppression 
was  overt — raping  slaves,  killing  for  land, 
and  we  can  legitimately  ask,  “Am  I re- 
sponsible for  that?”  But  our  relationships 
with  minorities  are  still  influenced  by  the 
past  and,  furthermore,  we  are  part  of  a 
system  today  which  still  benefits  whites 
and  causes  the  economic  disparity  dis- 
cussed above.  It  is  a system  that  still 
frequently  implies  that  white  is  right 
even  in  the  religious  realm.  Let’s  take  a 
brief  historical  look. 

Lyn  Hershey  puts  it  well:  “When  we 
went  out  in  missions,  we  were  superior 
in  education  (and)  economic  advantages 
. . . to  those  we  ministered  to.  We  mis- 
takenly took  them  to  be  inferior  persons 
rather  than  equals  with  inferior  oppor- 
tunities.” A parent-child  relationship  de- 
veloped and  missions  became  paternal- 
istic. A common  feeling  among  people 


that  their  way  is  the  right  way  tended  to 
prevail  in  attempts  to  share  Christ  with 
others.  Culture  and  Christianity  were 
sometimes  thought  to  be  inseparable. 

In  No  turning  back,  Polingaysi  Qoya- 
wayma  illustrates,  “She  did  not  know  the 
missionaries  were  on  the  mesa  to  teach 
the  Hopis  the  sinfulness  of  their  ways, 
to  lead  them  from  their  ancient  beliefs 
into  the  white  man’s  way  of  worship.  . . . 
For  centuries,  religion  had  determined 
the  entire  structure  of  Hopi  life.  To  them, 
life  was  a constant  prayer  to  the  Creator, 
the  Great  Spirit.  Not  just  one  day  a 
week,  but  every  day,  was  a day  of  prayer 
to  the  Hopi.  They  could  not  be  changed 
overnight.” 

Vine  Deloria,  Jr.,  in  Custer  died  for 
your  sins  illustrates  this  more  pointedly 
in  his  chapter,  “Missionaries  and  the 
religious  vacuum.” 

Today,  far  too  often  the  church  takes 
North  American  values  to  be  Christian 
values.  With  one-third  of  the  Mennonites 
in  the  world  nonwhite  what  does  this 
attitude  say  to  them?  How  does  it  af- 
fect our  ability  to  share  Christ  with  other 
nonwhites?  As  Don  Schierling  says,  “In 
our  culture  (Mennonite-evangelical)  there 
is  basically  a prescribed  form  through 
which  one  is  requested  to  go  to  find 
salvation,  and  we  are  much  more  inter- 
ested in  this  tradition  than  we  are  in 
affirming  the  other  person  as  he  comes 
to  truth.” 

We  even  talk  about  “Mennonite 
names.”  Do  we  realize  how  this  sounds 
to  people  with  black  and  brown  skin 
and  non-German  names?  Is  it  not  im- 
plied they  are  second-class  Mennonites? 
True,  we  have  a right  to  have  a pride  in 
our  cultural  heritage,  but  then  let’s  talk 
about  German  names — not  Mennonite 
names.  De  Leon,  Walks-Along,  and  Low- 


ry are  definitely  Mennonite  names — 
names  of  Mennonites. 

Today  self-identity  and  self-realization 
are  developing  among  our  ethnic  broth- 
ers after  centuries  of  oppression.  The 
old  time  ways  of  relating  aren’t  working. 
Minority  people  take  pride  in  their  her- 
itages and  do  not  want  to  become  ex- 
actly like  white  Christians.  The  desire  to 
share  Christ’s  message  with  all  people 
is  a valid  one.  Christ’s  command  is  as 
real  today  as  nineteen  centuries  ago. 
However,  we  must  realize  the  “bag- 
gage,” the  liability  we  as  whites  carry 
with  us  as  we  relate  to  ethnic  minorities. 

Happily,  like  Paul  centuries  ago,  I 
have  complete  confidence  in  the  gospel. 
Christ’s  message  of  love  and  reconcilia- 
tion is  the  way  to  brotherhood.  His  gos- 
pel will  fit  any  culture.  The  emerging 
self-love  and  self-acceptance  opens  the 
way  to  God’s  love  and  acceptance.  A 
careful  study  of  Christ’s  message  shows 
his  life  was  one  of  acceptance.  God  is 
far  more  vast  than  we  can  imagine.  The 
Holy  Spirit  relates  in  many  ways  to 
many  people.  Thus,  as  a follower  of 
Christ  we  want  to  be  open  to  ways  God 
speaks  that  are  not  part  of  our  current 
experiences  or  beliefs.  Learning  to  know 
people  is  an  ideal  way  of  developing 
understanding.  Reading  the  many  avail- 
able books  by  and  about  ethnic  minori- 
ties promotes  understanding. 

Don  Schierling  highlights  the  command 
to  love  and  accept:  “One  does  not  have 
to  wait  until  another  person  in  another 
ethnic  group  is  saved,  thinks  like  us, 
and  accepts  our  life  style,  before  we  re- 
late to  that  person.  This  basically  as- 
sumes that  we  take  the  other  individual 
where  he  is  and  love  him  for  what  he  is, 
not  necessarily  seeing  the  necessity  to 
change  him  into  our  mold.  This  also 


Lois  Franz  Bartel 


Lois  Franz  Bartel  struggles  with  the  question : How  can  we  share  Christ  across  cultural  lines? 
“Evangelism  is  a two-way  street,”  she  writes.  “At  no  time  do  I only  minister  to  an  individual. 
In  some  way  he  ministers  to  me  too.  Relationships  are  winning  more  people  to  Christ  than 
programs.  . . . We  can’t  make  disciples  of  people  we  don’t  know.  Win  him  as  a friend 
and  brother.  Live  so  you  will  be  asked!” 


66 


JANUARY  30,  1973 


| allows  the  other  person  to  come  to  truth 
(salvation)  via  his  own  culture  although 
that  may  seem  quite  different  from  ours.” 

Accepting  another  means  loving  him 
even  though  self-centeredness  makes  it 
difficult  for  us  to  see  things  from  his 
point  of  view.  When  one  can  accept  an- 
other unreservedly,  as  Christ  has  accept- 
ed us,  the  way  is  open  for  a relationship. 

A Peace  Corps  ad  illustrated  this  ap- 
proach vividly,  “He  taught  me  how  to 
write  my  name,”  says  a lad  about  his 
teacher,  “and  I taught  him  how  to  say  it.” 
Evangelism  is  a two-way  street.  At  no 
time  do  I only  minister  to  an  individual. 
In  some  way  he  too  ministers  to  me. 
Relationships  are  winning  more  people 
to  Christ  than  programs  in  our  day. 

A German  saying  was  shared  at  Probe 
72  by  Larry  Christianson:  “Don’t  speak 
to  others  about  Jesus  and  the  Spirit  until 
you  are  asked.  But  live  so  that  you  will 
be  asked.”  A minority  brother  feels 
deeply  that  we  can’t  make  disciples  of 
people  we  don’t  know.  Rather,  win  him 
as  a friend  and  brother.  Live  so  you  will 
be  asked! 

The  Anabaptist  vision  and  experience 
have  a lot  in  common  with  ethnic  minor- 
ities’ experiences  today.  They  were  the 
first  religious  group  to  speak  out  against 
slavery  in  the  United  States.  Anabaptists 
were  a minority  and  were  persecuted 
historically.  Today’s  ethnic  minorities  can 
identify  easily  with  much  of  this  heritage 
of  love  and  nonresistance.  The  Hopis 
had  the  tenet  of  nonresistance:  “Don’t 
fight.  Don’t  think  spiteful  things  about 
others.  Don’t  try  to  get  even  when  they 
hurt  you.  To  seek  revenge  is  to  hurt  your- 
self more  than  you  hurt  them.  . .”  writes 
Qoyawayma. 

Hilda  Janzen  of  Newton,  Kansas,  re- 
views how  General  Conference  Women’s 


Missionary  Association  women  had  been 
doing  “things  for  the  Indian  American — 
cut  quilt  blocks  and  sent  missionaries.  A 
few  leaders  were  beginning  to  question 
this  procedure.  When  should  we  start 
calling  the  Indian  American  women  our 
equals?”  She  was  the  first  district  ad- 
visor asked  to  visit  an  American  Indian 
church  women’s  group  in  the  capacity  of 
an  equal  in  1965. 

What  should  she  say?  She  recalled 
Chief  Lawrence  Hart’s  talk  to  a group 
of  women  in  Kansas,  giving  a review  of 
his  people — the  Cheyennes.  Because  of 
the  persecutions  in  the  north,  rather 
than  fight,  they  fled  south  to  Oklahoma. 
The  parallel  between  Indian  American 
Mennonites  and  German  and  Russian 
Mennonites  was  striking  and  in  her  talk 
she  shared  the  similar  moves  to  avoid 
killing. 

After  her  talk,  a mother,  with  a child 
on  her  arm,  lingered.  After  most  people 
left  they  met.  “Our  beliefs  are  so  sim- 
ilar,” the  mother  said.  “Could  it  be  that 
long  ago  the  Cheyennes  worshiped  your 
God  and  somehow  they  lost  him  in  the 
meantime — because  we  are  a peace-lov- 
ing people  just  like  you  talked  about  this 
afternoon!”  Mrs.  Janzen  concludes,  “She 
was  happy  to  be  a Christian  and  a be- 
liever in  the  living  God.” 

Like  Zwingli  and  Menno  Simons,  mi- 
norities are  saying  we  must  stand  up  and 
be  counted.  People  want  more  than  lip 
service.  If  we  truly  care  about  sharing 
Christ  with  others,  the  imperative  is  to 
share  their  burdens,  not  just  preach  Christ 
to  them.  Do  our  white,  blue-eyed  pic- 
tures of  Christ  communicate  what  we 
want  to?  Does  an  ear  chewed  by  a rat 
hurt  less  if  one  accepts  Christ’s  way  of 
life?  We  must  share  Christ  by  doing 
something  about  structural  and  institu- 


tional injustices.  We  must  recognize  and 
work  toward  eliminating  white  racism. 
The  Minorities  Ministries  Council,  Men- 
nonite  Disaster  Service,  poverty  pro- 
grams, government  programs,  and  legis- 
lation are  beginnings. 

We  must  be  willing  to  step  aside.  An 
older  Indian  leader  slowly  communicat- 
ed his  beliefs  about  evangelism.  An  In- 
dian communicates  better  with  a fellow 
Indian.  The  white  Mennonite  church 
can  help  train  leaders  and  then  step 
aside,  he  said.  Can  we,  who  have  been 
so  fatherly  in  the  past,  actually  step 
back  and  let  leadership  become  stronger 
among  minorities?  Are  we  willing  to  trust 
minority  brethren,  helping  them  finan- 
cially but  allowing  them  leadership  roles? 
Chief  and  Pastor  Lawrence  Hart  reminds 
us,  “Self-determination  does  not  mean 
rejection  of  whites.”  Rather  it  is  an  af- 
firmation that  Christ’s  message  can  be  a 
valid  experience  in  a truly  Indian,  black, 
chicano,  Puerto  Rican — any — culture! 

Complete  confidence  in  the  gospel 
means  being  able  to  accept  customs  un- 
like ours,  being  open  to  new  forms 
Christianity  takes  in  various  cultures,  and 
learning  what  we  can  from  one  another. 
It  means  participating  in  a brotherhood 
in  which  we  learn  and  share  from  one 
another  and  fully  accept  our  oneness 
as  Christ’s  children.  Qoyawayma  asks 
herself  as  she  walks  on  the  land  near  her 
childhood  home,  “Could  she  perhaps, 
help  to  blend  the  best  of  the  white  cul- 
ture, retaining  the  essence  of  good  from 
both?”  Through  the  acceptance  of  this 
cultural  pluralism,  Christ’s  message  will 
come  through  as  relevant  and  desirable. 
The  motto  of  some  early  North  Amer- 
ican Mennonites  can  still  guide  us: 
“Unity  in  essentials,  understanding  in 
differences,  and  love  in  all  things.” 


Can  the  Mennonite  churches,  which  have 
been  so  fatherly  in  the  past,  step  aside 
to  let  leadership  become  stronger  among 
minorities?  It  was  tried  at  Cross  Lake, 
Manitoba,  with  good  success.  Jeremiah 
Ross,  a recognized  leader  of  the  commu- 
nity and  an  active  member  of  the  Men- 
nonite group,  became  pastor  of  this  north- 
ern congregation  several  years  ago  and 
has  served  with  great  effectiveness.  Sev- 
eral similar  examples  could  be  cited  in 
the  General  Conference. 


In  the  past  several  weeks  racism  has 
again  raised  its  ugly  violent  head  in  this 
inner-city  community.  I am  the  pastor 
of  a church  located  on  the  borderline 
of  a black,  Puerto  Rican,  and  Italian 
community  in  New  York. 

One  night  our  living  room  window 
was  broken  by  stray  stones  thrown  while 
white  and  black  gangs  were  clashing. 
Fire  bombs  were  thrown  and  shots  were 
fired  at  us.  White  and  black  innocent 
children  and  youth,  including  my  own 
son,  have  been  threatened  by  gangs. 
Racism  has  not  been  eliminated  from 
our  society. 

Racism  is  both  conscious  and  uncon- 
scious. It  comes  out  in  all  kinds  of 
strange  rationalizations,  such  as  thinking 
blacks  are  inferior  because  of  the  curse 
of  Ham.  Using  the  Bible  to  justify  one’s 
attitude  is  the  most  destructive  kind  of 
repressed  racism. 

Racism  must  become  conscious  be- 
fore you  can  deal  with  it  individually. 
To  discover  it  within  yourself  is  to  find 
sin  and  it  must  be  repented  of,  as  well 
as  cleansed  and  forgiven  by  God.  Jesus 
said,  “Him  who  comes  to  me  I will  not 
cast  out”  (John  6:37).  There  were  no 
ethnic  distinctions  in  Jesus’  invitation 
to  men. 

Peter  was  confronted  with  his  own 
racism  in  Acts  10.  God  gave  him  a 
vision  while  he  was  praying  that  he 
must  not  call  unclean  what  God  has 
called  clean.  Later  while  Peter  was 
preaching  to  Gentiles  in  Cornelius’  house, 
the  Holy  Spirit  fell  on  them  and  they 
began  to  speak  in  tongues  and  extol  God 
as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 

Only  through  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  Peter  able  to  deal  with  his 
own  racism. 

Paul  said  in  Acts  17:26  that  God  has 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men 
to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Paul 
was  very  clear  in  his  denunciation  of 
racism  in  the  early  church  when  Jewish 
Christians  discriminated  against  the  Gen- 
tiles. See  Ephesians  2:13-18. 

It  is  not  so  difficult  to  repent  of  racism 
once  you  see  it.  The  difficulty  lies  in 


making  it  conscious  and  recognizing  it 
as  racism. 

Racism  is  not  a part  of  our  Christian 
theology,  but  it  is  a part  of  our  white 
culture  in  America.  Christians  must  ex- 
amine themselves  to  see  if  they  have 
imbibed  white  racism  into  themselves 
along  with  their  accommodation  to  the 
white  middle  class  culture. 

In  my  own  denomination,  Mennonites 
were  themselves  a minority  group  in 
most  of  their  North  American  experi- 
ence. They,  along  with  Quakers,  were 
the  first  to  condemn  slavery  and  never 
owned  slaves.  Mennonites  produced  one 
of  the  clearest  statements  against  racism 
in  the  middle  1950s,  condemning  it  as 
sin. 

Why  then  have  the  Mennonite  church 
and  other  Christian  churches  been  so 
silent  during  the  black  and  civil  rights 
revolution?  Our  theology  seems  to  be 
clear  in  its  written  statements,  but  our 
practice  reveals  startling  similarities  to 
the  main  racist  white  culure. 

We  must  work  hard  at  opening  our 
churches  and  communities  to  other  eth- 
nic groups  and  allowing  people  to  be- 
come a full  part  of  us.  In  the  present 
mobility  of  Christians  moving  out  of  the 
small  town  and  rural  communities  into 
universities,  overseas  service,  urban  areas, 
perhaps  an  equal  dialog  can  take  place 
and  we  can  obey  Jesus’  commands  to 
love  others  as  he  loved  us.  There  is  also 


hope  in  the  minority  and  interracial 
churches  across  America  to  practice  New  : 
Testament  integration. 

It  is  important  that  we  authentically 
interact  with  other  ethnic  groups  wher-  J 
ever  we  live,  so  as  to  remove  the  com-  j 
munication  blocks  of  interethnic  tension  j 
between  us  and  others. 

But  white  racism  is  basically  an  indi- 
vidual  sickness,  even  though  it  is  ex- 
pressed and  nurtured  in  groups  of  in- 
dividuals and  institutions.  We  must  deal 
with  our  own  individual  racism  person- 
ally, and  allow  Jesus  Christ  to  purge 
us  from  it  as  we  repent. 

As  I reflect  on  my  fifteen  years  in 
New  York  City  as  the  pastor  of  an  in- 
terracial church,  I can  see  steps  of  purg-  '' 
ing  of  racism  within  my  own  self.  It  is 
painful  to  discover  your  own  racism. 

When  we  arrived  in  the  East  Tremont 
community  of  the  Bronx,  there  were  two  ; 
major  ethnic  groups  in  the  neighborhood,  ; 
Italians  and  Jews.  We  were  assigned  to 
witness  primarily  to  Jews.  I enjoyed  in-  ; 
teracting  with  the  Jewish  people  be- 
cause they  were  cultured,  educated,  and 
middle  class. 

But  when  I was  confronted  with  the  j 
gospel  mandate  of  witnessing  to  all  and 
the  need  to  witness  to  Puerto  Ricans, 
blacks,  and  Italians  in  our  community, 

I discovered  traces  of  white  racism  with- 
in myself. 

I remember  one  white  neighbor  telling 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  \ 

It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  y. 


■L 


68 


JANUARY  30,  1973  * 


!"me  soon  after  we  arrived,  “I  hope  you 
don’t  have  Negroes  come  to  your 
church.”  I remember  struggling  and  re- 
penting of  my  own  feelings  of  racism  as 
I rather  hoped  that  this  church  would 
be  a nice  middle  class  church  with  Jews 
and  other  middle  class  people. 

The  second  step  in  my  own  purging 
was  my  confrontation  with  an  increasing 
migration  of  Puerto  Ricans  into  our  com- 
munity as  Jewish  people  moved  out.  The 
i first  Puerto  Rican  families  who  came  to 
i our  church  could  speak  English  and  were 
1 among  the  rising  middle  class.  It  was 
] when  the  next  migration  of  lower  socio- 
economic Puerto  Ricans  came  into  the 
community  that  I was  again  faced  with 
my  own  feelings  of  racism. 

I tried  hard  to  get  new  Puerto  Rican 


members  into  leadership  positions  and 
felt  that  my  fellow  ethnic-Mennonite 
members  tended  not  to  trust  them.  Re- 
flecting on  this  now,  I believe  I was  par- 
tially fighting  myself,  my  unconscious 
racism  within,  as  I accused  my  ethnic- 
Mennonite  brother  of  prejudice  against 
Puerto  Ricans.  To  discover  that  the  preju- 
dice was  not  just  in  my  ethnic-Menno- 
nite brothers,  but  also  within  me  brought 
a release  and  a more  constructive  rela- 
tionship with  all  concerned. 

My  third  encounter  was  in  the  late 
1960s  when  riots  and  disorders  were 
breaking  out  all  over  America.  Blacks 
now  made  up  one-third  of  our  commu- 
nity, and  a few  were  members  and  came 
to  our  services. 

It  was  the  Sunday  after  Martin  Luther 


! Racism  is  part  of  our  white  culture  in  North  America  says  the  author  of  the  accom- 
panying article.  We  must  confess  this  sin  to  God  and  our  brothers.  “Let  Christ  make 
you  more  compassionate  for  others  and  an  aggressive  witness  for  him  in  our  society,” 
Mr.  Smucker  writes.  Then  people  whom  we  have  stereotyped  and  called  names  will, 
indeed,  become  our  brothers. 


King  was  assassinated  that  I was  walking 
through  the  streets  of  Harlem  to  a mass 
rally  in  Central  Park  in  memory  of  Dr. 
King.  Most  of  the  people  around  me 
were  black.  I felt  uneasy. 

Why  was  I feeling  so  uncomfortable? 
This  led  me  to  a deeper  search  of  my 
heart,  allowing  Christ  to  weed  out  more 
racism. 

I enrolled  in  several  courses  in  black 
history  and  religion  under  black  pro- 
fessors. I took  clinical  and  sensitivity 
training  courses  and  became  a member 
of  a Christian  encounter  group. 

I learned  to  know  a whole  new  set  of 
black  Christian  leaders  who  were  evan- 
gelical militants  for  Christ.  They  were 
calm.  They  knew  and  understood  the 
black  revolution.  For  the  first  time  in 
my  life,  I received  training  and  spiritual 
and  theological  insights  from  black 
Christians. 

The  Lord  cleansed  me  and  filled  me 
anew  with  his  Holy  Spirit  power  and 
presence  as  I reflected  on  the  needs  of 
my  life  and  my  ministry  and  the  needs 
of  the  city.  I felt  a new  depth  of  purg- 
ing and  a release  from  Christ  as  I rec- 
ognized my  sins  of  racism  buried  deep 
within  me. 

I will  not  be  surprised  if  I discover 
more  traces  of  racism  within  myself  be- 
cause I was  reared  in  a white  middle 
class  American  culture.  But  having  been 
purged  before,  I know  Christ  can  do 
it  again. 

Praise  God!  Christ  died  for  our  sins, 
even  the  sins  of  racism  in  a white  racist 
culture  in  America.  Confess  your  sin  of 
racism  to  God  and  to  your  brothers.  Let 
Christ  make  you  more  compassionate 
for  others  and  an  aggressive  witness  for 
him  in  our  society. 

Communicate  with  minority  people 
and  learn  to  know  them.  Live  with 
them  or  let  them  live  in  your  commu- 
nity. There  is  no  greater  time  than  now 
for  Christians  in  North  America  to  dem- 
onstrate the  full  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
by  acting  out  Jesus’  love  and  acceptance 
of  all  people,  in  contrast  to  our  past 
failures. 

Let  Jesus  be  fully  Lord  of  your  life 
and  your  church  and  your  community. 
Commit  yourself  to  him  now  for  re- 
examination and  cleansing. 


THE  MENNONITE  69 


mm 

Aid  to  Managua  will  include  skilled  volunteers 


“The  Managua  quake  affected  a very 
small  area.  The  tragedy  was  that  it  oc- 
curred under  a heavily  populated  area,” 
reported  Edgar  Stoesz,  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  Latin  America  director, 
who  spent  three  days  in  Nicaragua  fol- 
lowing the  quake. 

Mr.  Stoesz  and  Arthur  Driedger,  mcc 
(Manitoba)  director,  went  to  Nicaragua 
to  assess  needs  in  the  area.  They  trav- 
eled with  representatives  of  other  agen- 
cies, including  mds  and  the  Conservative 
Mennonite  Mission  Board. 

The  ad  hoc  team  said  that  short-term 
emergency  needs  such  as  food,  clothing, 
housing,  and  medical  care  are  presently 
under  control.  About  half  of  the  thirty 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  mis- 


sionaries in  Nicaragua  were  in  the  Man- 
agua area.  None  was  killed  or  injured. 

Mcc  did  not  have  a program  in  Nica- 
ragua before  the  disaster. 

Accordmg  to  a United  States  Embassy 
source,  the  Nicaraguan  Government,  with 
the  help  of  foreign  agencies,  will  be  able 
to  meet  anticipated  food  needs  through 
the  month  of  January,  although  there 
are  some  problems  with  adequate  food 
distribution.  The  need  for  food  seems 
more  related  to  a drought  resulting  in 
crop  failure  before  the  earthquake  than 
to  damage  done  by  the  quake. 

“It  was  impossible  to  assess  the  food 
need  beyond  January  or  the  context 
within  which  voluntary  agencies  will  be 
permitted  to  work,”  said  Mr.  Stoesz. 


“Hopefully  this  picture  will  become  clear 
in  time  for  agencies  like  mcc  to  respond 
through  normal  shipping  channels.” 

It  appears  that  4,000  to  8,000  persons 
were  killed  in  the  disaster  and  about 
20,000  injured.  The  team  reported  that 
medical  needs  related  to  the  earthquake 
have  been  met.  However  medical  help 
may  be  needed  later  when  present  short- 
term emergency  personnel  leave. 

There  is  no  unusual  need  for  clothing 
since  apparently  many  people  were  able 
to  take  clothing  with  them.  Light  bedding 
may  be  needed  later. 

Housing  needs  were  especially  difficult 
to  assess  after  the  disaster.  The  down- 
town Managua  area  was  80  to  95  per- 
cent destroyed  in  the  quake.  The  300,000 
people  left  homeless  by  the  quake  ap- 
pear to  have  found  temporary  shelter 
with  relatives  and  friends  in  surrounding 
areas.  Masaya,  a town  forty  miles  from 
Managua,  where  alternative  banking  is 
available,  has  reportedly  doubled  in  size. 
Long-term  housing  is  a definite  need. 
Short-term  housing  is  not  as  urgent  as 
anticipated  partly  because  the  Nicarag- 
uan social  structure  is  adaptable  to  an 
extended  family  situation. 

Numerous  foreign  agencies  are  anx- 
ious to  assist  the  Nicaraguans.  The  Men- 
nonite team  found  that  many  Protestant 
groups  are  sending  aid  but  that  there  is 
little  central  coordination  of  effort.  Lo- 
cally about  twenty  Protestant  groups 
formed  an  evangelical  relief  committee. 
Dr.  Gus  Parajon,  a Baptist  medical  doc- 
tor, heads  the  committee. 

The  Mennonite  team,  with  a local 
committee  of  Fred  Friesen,  Evangelical 
Mennonite  Church  (Canada);  Jonas 
Bontrager,  Conservative  Mennonite  Mis- 
sion; Walter  Kelly,  Brethren  in  Christ 
pastor;  and  Bruce  Glick,  Goshen  Col- 
lege study  service  director  for  Nicaragua, 
agreed  that  every  effort  would  be  made 
to  channel  the  mcc  contribution  through 
the  evangelical  relief  committee. 

“When  we  asked  Dr.  Parajon  what 
his  greatest  need  was  he  said  he  needed 
someone  to  coordinate  information  and 
resources,”  explained  Mr.  Stoesz.  “Mcc 
volunteered  the  services  of  Arthur  Driedg- 
er for  one  month  as  well  as  a small 
amount  of  cash  for  emergency  needs.” 


A church  stands  intact  amid  the  devastation  caused  by  a series  of  earthquakes  which 
hit  Managua , Nicaragua,  destroying  75  percent  of  the  city  and  killing  thousands. 
Relief  agencies  rushed  emergency  supplies  to  aid  the  300,000  homeless  survivors, 
most  of  whom  were  evacuated  from  the  city  due  to  the  fear  of  an  epidemic. 


70 


JANUARY  30,  1973 


COM  will  publish 
book  for  prayer 

A book  to  encourage  prayer  for  mis- 
sionaries and  national  church  workers 
will  be  published  in  February  by  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 

The  135-page  booklet  will  replace 
prayer  cards  for  individual  missionaries 
and  families  and  “Serve  and  bear  wit- 
ness,” a discontinued  yearly  publication 
which  listed  missionaries  beginning  new 
terms  that  year. 

The  new  booklet  will  include  pictures 
nf  the  approximately  180  missionaries 
working  under  com  as  of  January  1, 
1973,  descriptions  of  their  work,  their 
borne  churches,  and  the  year  in  which 
they  began  com  work. 

Also  included  will  be  a list  of  retired 
missionaries  and  information  about  each 
area  of  work. 

The  booklet  will  be  available  free  of 
charge  near  the  end  of  February  from 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


Mr.  Driedger  is  also  in  a position  to 
recognize  needs  which  call  for  Menno- 
nite  participation  and  will  be  able  to 
give  directives  to  mcc  administrators  in 
North  America  for  future  action. 

The  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
representatives  decided  that  mcc  should 
administer  the  disaster  effort  for  the  mcc 
constituent  groups  with  an  April  1,  1973, 
review  date. 

“Mcc  will  respond  to  the  emergency 
in  Nicaragua  at  least  in  a modest  way,” 
Mr.  Stoesz  emphasized.  “But  we  want 
I to  coordinate  our  efforts  with  those  of 
other  agencies.  Although  further  recom- 
mendations will  come  from  our  person- 
nel in  Nicaragua,  in  the  next  three  to 
six  months  mcc  will  likely  be  called 
upon  for  personnel  to  succeed  Arthur 
Driedger,  some  material  aid  and  house 
rebuilding  projects.  At  some  point  we 
; may  be  able  to  use  a number  of  Men- 
nonite Disaster  Service  personnel  to  work 
. with  Nicaraguans  in  reconstruction.  We 
would  need  skilled  volunteers  who  speak 
Spanish  and  who  could  serve  for  at  least 
' sixty  days.  We  also  want  to  be  sensitive 
’ to  local  needs  and  available  labor  in  our 
planning.” 

Bulldozers  were  reportedly  clearing 
! away  rubble  in  downtown  Managua  when 
1 the  team  left.  “With  proper  equipment,” 
. Mr.  Stoesz  commented,  “the  clearing 
should  not  be  too  difficult.  Practically 
jl  everything  is  leveled.  It’s  almost  like 
« removing  snow.” 


Workathon 

Students  at  Columbia  Bible  Institute,  Clearbrook,  B.C.,  raised  $11,000  toward  the 
purchase  of  a school  bus  in  a one-day  workathon  early  this  winter.  Before  the  work- 
day they  made  a communitywide  canvas  for  funds  and  pledges.  The  amounts  collect- 
ed ranged  from  a few  cents  to  $40.  On  the  day  of  the  workathon,  the  students  pro- 
vided various  types  of  services.  Some  worked  at  a home  for  the  aged,  others  helped 
at  Twin  Firs,  an  mcc  group  foster  home  which  is  under  construction;  several  washed 
cars,  a few  cleared  brush  on  a nearby  mountain,  and  many  were  involved  in  a variety 
of  other  tasks.  Ed  Redekop  (above),  a student  from  Winnipeg,  was  pressed  into  a 
sidewalk  construction  job.  The  bus  is  expected  to  arrive  within  a few  weeks. 


THE  MENNONITE 


71 


Sudan  survives  seventeen  years  of  civil  war 


The  report  below  was  prepared  by  Ray 
Brubacher,  MCC  A frica  director. 

The  story  of  Sudan  is  intriguing  but 
largely  unknown.  Sudan,  the  largest 
country  in  Africa,  has  a population  of 
15  million.  It  was  part  of  one  of  the 
great  ancient  civilizations;  for  a period, 
the  Egyptian  pharaohs  reigned  from 
Khartoum,  the  modern-day  capital.  This 
country  has  known  the  humiliation  of 
colonial  domination  longer  than  most  Af- 
rican countries.  Egypt  and  England  sep- 
arately or  together,  ruled  Sudan  from 
1821  to  1956.  Sudan  has  suffered  some 
of  the  longest  civil  wars  in  this  century. 

The  role  the  church  played  in  recon- 
ciling the  two  sides  is  a glorious  switch 
from  the  traditional  approach  of  simply 
binding  up  the  wounds.  In  this  case  the 
church  helped  heal  the  cause. 

The  Sudan  is  inhabited  by  two  dif- 
ferent types  of  people.  The  majority, 
Arab  and  Muslim,  live  in  the  north  and 
have  always  dominated  the  south,  which 
is  black  and  Christian  or  animist.  The 
Arabs  have  natural  links  to  North  Af- 
rica and  the  blacks  are  closely  attached 
by  race,  religion,  and  culture  to  the  rest 
of  black  Africa.  The  British  ruled  Sudan 
as  one  nation  but  applied  different  pol- 
icies to  the  two  regions.  The  govern- 
ment formed  at  the  time  of  independence 
in  1956  heavily  favored  the  Arab  north. 
Southern  soldiers  rebelled,  and  the  long 
war  began. 

The  South  Sudan  Liberation  Move- 
ment (sslm  ) , commonly  called  the  Anya- 
nya,  received  little  help  from  abroad. 
Yet  they  effectively  ruled  the  country- 
side, while  the  government  forces  con- 
trolled the  towns  and  main  highways. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  southerners 
were  killed  or  maimed  by  Arab  soldiers. 
About  a million  people  were  displaced. 
Of  these,  200,000  fled  to  neighboring 
countries.  After  seventeen  years  of  con- 
tinuous war,  the  south  lay  in  ruins. 

For  many  years,  various  church  agen- 
cies administered  relief  programs  for  the 
refugees  outside  of  Sudan  and  to  a lesser 
extent  within  the  country  itself.  In  1971, 
representatives  of  the  north  and  south 
met  in  Ethiopia  along  with  several  church 
leaders  who  acted  as  intermediaries. 
Among  these  churchmen  was  Kwodo 
Ankrah,  a Ghanaian  who  studied  at  Go- 
shen College  and  who  is  now  a staff 
member  of  the  World  Council  of  Church- 
es. A final  agreement  was  signed  in  Feb- 
ruary 1972  and  ratified  the  following 


month.  Mr.  Ankrah  reported  that  enemy 
leaders  excitedly  hugged  and  embraced 
each  other. 

The  peace  agreement  demanded  con- 
cessions from  both  sides.  The  govern- 
ment agreed  that  Sudan  should  not  be 
an  Islamic  republic,  and  the  south  gave 
up  the  idea  of  secession.  The  south  was 
granted  a large  degree  of  autonomy 
with  its  own  assembly  and  executive  and 
police  force  but  remained  unified  with 
the  federal  government  which  controls 
all  foreign  affairs  and  external  defense. 
The  new  government,  now  having  a larg- 
er representation  of  southerners,  also 
made  provision  for  a massive  reconstruc- 
tion and  development  program  and  in- 
vited government  and  church  agencies 
to  help. 

Many  of  the  larger  church  agencies 
moved  in  quickly  with  emergency  relief 
supplies  such  as  food,  clothing,  blankets, 
seeds,  and  tools.  Transportation  was  ex- 
tremely difficult  because  of  poor  roads, 
destroyed  bridges,  and  virtually  non- 
existent communications.  These  problems 
were  further  complicated  by  the  insta- 
bility in  neighboring  Uganda,  thus  cut- 
ting off  a major  supply  route  to  the 
south. 

Most  of  the  church  agencies  worked 
through  the  Commission  for  Relief  and 
Rehabilitation  (crr)  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Sudan  Christian  Council.  A group 
of  evangelical  missions  formed  a sepa- 
rate group  and  called  itself  the  Africa 
Committee  for  Relief  of  Southern  Sudan 
(across). 

The  crr  sent  out  an  appeal  for  an 
experienced  person  who  could  help  co- 
ordinate activities.  The  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  and  the  Eastern  Men- 
nonite Board  of  Missions  offered  to  spon- 
sor Harold  F.  Miller,  a veteran  of  relief 
and  development  in  Tanzania,  and  his 
family  for  a period  of  six  months  before 
returning  to  his  work  in  Tanzania.  This 
offer  was  eagerly  accepted.  Upon  ar- 
rival in  Khartoum,  Mr.  Miller  was  desig- 
nated “projects  officer”  and  is  expected 
to  coordinate  and  publicize  projects  in 
the  south  which  need  funds  from  donor 
agencies. 

He  reports  that  there  has  been  con- 
siderable debate  as  to  whether  the  situa- 
tion is  an  “emergency”  or  merely  “ur- 
gent.” Importing  food  is  not  a high  pri- 
ority since  the  refugees  are  harvesting 
their  crops,  though  meager,  about  this 
time  of  year.  They  will  thus  return  to 
Sudan  with  some  food  which  can  be 


supplemented  by  U.S.  “surplus”  com- 
modities already  coming  into  the  coun- 
try. 

The  current  order  of  priorities  is: 
( 1 ) the  building  of  some  fifteen  recep- 
tion centers  for  returnees  which  will 
eventually  be  converted  to  school  build- 
ings, (2)  building  and  rebuilding  of 
schools  and  hospitals,  (3)  establishment 
of  “nucleus”  villages.  There  is  also  strong 
interest  in  rebuilding  churches  in  the 
south  since  such  buildings  are  a power- 


A Sudanese  workman  notches  timbers 
for  the  construction  of  a church-sup- 
ported reception  center  in  Yei,  in  the 
Sudan’s  southern  region.  One  of  the 
major  problems  facing  relief  agencies  in 
the  Sudan  is  finding  housing  for  the  thou- 
sands who  were  forced  to  flee  during  the 
civil  war  and  are  now  returning  to  their 
home  villages.  It  is  estimated  that  some 
two  hundred  thousand  Sudanese  fled  to 
neighboring  countries,  with  an  additional 
five  hundred  thousand  taking  refuge  in 
the  bush  and  in  the  shantytowns  of 
South  Sudan. 


72 


JANUARY  30,  1973 


The  Sudanese  Christians  composed  hymns  of  praise  even  during  the  darkest 
' periods  of  the  country’s  civil  war.  Now  that  the  fighting  is  over,  they  are 
thanking  God  for  the  solution  that  has  finally  come  to  the  everlasting  war. 


|j  ful  symbol  of  hope  and  strength  for  re- 
|j  turning  southerners. 

Mcc  expects  to  continue  involvement 
i in  the  rehabilitation  of  southern  Sudan. 
At  present,  the  crr  is  actively  interested 
in  a Dutch  civil  engineer  and  a Canadian 
' pharmacist  that  mcc  is  offering.  The 
need  is  great  for  personnel  qualified  in 
j medicine  and  in  the  various  aspects  of 
| community  development.  The  demand 
Ij  for  teachers  will  undoubtedly  develop 
f sometime  in  the  future  when  communi- 
i ties  are  more  stable. 

One  naturally  wonders  how  the  church 
survived  through  seventeen  years  of  war 
that  not  only  caused  much  suffering,  but 
also  isolated  most  of  the  south  from  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Once  again  the  church 
has  proven  to  be  a pillar  of  strength  in 
time  of  suffering.  An  Anglican  bishop 


recently  returned  from  a trip  in  the 
southern  countryside  where  he  visited 
the  uprooted  members  of  his  diocese. 
“There  is  a spirit  of  unity  prevailing 
among  people  living  in  the  bush.  Diffi- 
culties have  welded  them  into  oneness,” 
he  reported.  “I  was  moved  by  the  zeal 
our  people  have  toward  God.  Their 
hymns  are  all  in  praise  of  him.  Most 
of  the  songs  were  composed  during  the 
war  and  they  call  on  God  to  deliver  them 
from  the  dangers  of  war  as  he  did  the 
children  of  Israel.  But  those  which  have 
been  composed  after  the  agreement  praise 
God  for  finding  a solution  to  what 
seemed  to  be  an  everlasting  war.” 
Optimism  is  high.  Reconciliation 
seems  to  be  real.  With  the  continuing 
support  of  the  church,  Sudan  can  an- 
ticipate a future  of  peace  and  progress. 


Illinois  youth  convene  to  discuss  "being  real" 


About  200  youth  from  Illinois  attended 
the  third  annual  Illinois  Youth  Institute 
December  27-29  in  Metamora,  Illinois. 

The  institute  was  jointly  sponsored  by 
the  Illinois  Conference  of  the  Menno- 
nite  Church  and  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  churches  of  Illinois. 

The  youth  had  Bible  studies  on  “What 
does  it  mean  to  be  real?”  Seminars  cov- 
ered such  topics  as  higher  education, 
parents,  entertainment,  the  church  and 


! 


;• 


l 

0 

n 


the  arts,  government,  devotional  growth, 
witnessing,  minority  cultures,  vocations, 
service,  and  “Things  and  me.” 

Also  available  for  adults  working  with 
youth  was  a Christian  youth  leader  skills 
seminar,  based  on  the  concepts  of  Par- 
ent effectiveness  training,  a book  by 
Thomas  Gordon. 

Resource  persons  for  the  institute  in- 
cluded Jake  Pauls,  director  of  youth  min- 
istries, General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church;  Irene  Pauls,  Newton,  Kansas; 
Walter  Dyck,  copastor  of  Carlock  and 
North  Danvers  (Illinois)  Mennonite 
churches;  Ed  Springer,  pastor  of  the 
Boynton  Mennonite  Church,  Hopedale, 
Illinois;  Mark  Lehman,  pastor  of  Reho- 
both  Mennonite  Church,  St.  Anne,  Illi- 
nois; Lynn  McClure,  Danvers,  Illinois; 
Elmer  Neufeld,  professor  at  Bluffton  Col- 
lege, Bluffton,  Ohio;  and  Deanna  Ed- 
wards, Bloomington,  Illinois. 

The  institute  ended  with  an  evening 
of  celebration  and  commitment. 

Mr.  Pauls  said  the  institute  had  not 


produced  the  emotional  high  that  some 
young  people  had  felt  last  year,  but 
there  were  many  testimonials,  good  shar- 
ing, and  excitement. 

Bookrack  service  begins 
in  Calgary  hospital 

Servicing  religious  bookracks  in  minus 
ten  degree  temperature?  Why  not? — 
with  a message  to  warm  men’s  hearts. 

Mary  Goerzen  of  Calgary,  Alberta, 
reported  that  permission  has  been  grant- 
ed for  religious  paperbacks  to  be  placed 
in  a city  hospital. 

Over  the  last  few  months  Ms.  Goerzen 
had  attempted  to  place  religious  books 
in  Calgary  hospitals,  but  without  success. 
During  a visit  to  coworkers  in  Edmonton 
in  July,  she  learned  that  the  contact  man 
for  the  Canadian  Institute  for  the  Blind, 
through  whom  they  had  gained  entrance 
to  a hospital  in  Edmonton,  was  being 
transferred  to  Calgary. 

After  his  transfer  Ms.  Goerzen  con- 
tacted him.  His  answer  was  “yes,”  she 
noted,  adding,  “He  does  not  allow  room 
for  a rack,  but  allows  us  to  place  books 
on  their  racks.  And  if  this  works  out,  we 
may  gain  entrance  to  three  more  hos- 
pitals in  Calgary. 

“With  the  onset  of  winter  it  will  be 
more  difficult  for  me  to  travel  and  visit 
racks.  This  is  one  of  the  things  we  must 
cope  with.  The  temperature  today  (De- 
cember 6)  is  minus  forty  degrees.” 


| THE  MENNONITE  73 


“Getting  religious  paperbacks  off  their 
individual  racks  and  into  the  store’s  book 
display  is  desirable,”  commented  Ron 
Yoder,  bookrack  evangelism  coordinator 
for  Mennonite  Broadcasts,  Harrisonburg, 
Virginia. 

“Placing  religious  books  on  display 
with  secular  ones  makes  the  gospel  a 
natural  part  of  all  the  literature  avail- 
able to  individuals,”  Mr.  Yoder  added. 

New  poverty  project 
in  Taiwan  to  be  started 

A poverty  project  in  Taiwan  will  be 
continued  after  the  end  of  the  present 
project  in  the  village  of  Taroko,  accord- 
ing to  recent  decisions  of  the  Taiwan 
Mennonite  church  and  missionaries. 

The  present  project  will  terminate  at 
the  end  of  1973.  Director  Bill  Siemens 
feels  that  one  of  its  strengths  has  been 
that  the  village  people  know  that  the 
program  will  end  after  three  years  and 
they  must  then  take  responsibility  for  the 
community  development  projects  started 
through  the  program. 

The  missionaries  and  the  church  will 
cooperate  in  finding  another  village  or 
villages  for  beginning  agricultural  proj- 
ects, cottage  industries,  a credit  union, 
educational  projects,  health  care,  and 
other  community  projects. 

Verney  Unruh,  secretary  for  Asia  for 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
said  com  will  be  budgeting  an  extra 
amount  for  poverty  projects  during  the 
next  year.  The  Poverty  Fund,  which  be- 
gan the  Taroko  project,  went  out  of 
existence  at  the  end  of  1972,  Poverty 
projects  will  now  be  handled  through 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  and 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

We  re  telling 
44  million  prisoners 
in  the  United  States 
how  to  escape. 


For  a tree  booklet  on  how  to  stop  smoking, 
call  cr  write  your  local  unit  of  the  American  Cancer  Society  J 


Guidelines  for  serving  the  mentally  retarded 

Jack  J.  Fransen  and  Vernon  H.  Neufeld 


Juan  Rodriguiz,  seven  years  old,  was 
diagnosed  as  severely  retarded.  His  par- 
ents were  frustrated,  not  knowing  what 
to  do  about  Juan.  He  was  not  toilet 
trained.  He  was  hyperactive  and  difficult 
to  control.  Finally  they  took  him  to  a 
doctor  who  recommended  state  hospitali- 
zation and  referred  him  to  the  regional 
center  for  the  retarded. 

When  the  team  of  experts  at  the  cen- 
ter reviewed  Juan’s  case,  they  decided 
that  rather  than  hospitalize  Juan  he 
should  stay  at  home  and  attend  a spe- 
cial day  care  program  in  a local  school. 
Juan’s  parents  hadn’t  even  known  the 
program  existed.  Now  a bus  picks  up 
Juan  each  morning  and  takes  him  home 
in  the  afternoon.  His  parents  are  happy 
with  the  change  and  the  help  provided 
by  the  day  care  program.  Juan  is  more 
content,  less  active,  and  becoming  toilet 
trained.  The  future  looks  promising. 

The  story  about  Juan  illustrates  what 
the  Central  Valley  regional  center  in 
Fresno,  California,  is  often  able  to  do 
for  the  mentally  retarded  and  their  fam- 
ilies. Operated  by  Kings  View,  Reedley, 
California,  under  contract  with  the  State 
Department  of  Public  Health,  the  center 
has  responsibility  for  services  to  the 
retarded  and  their  families  in  six  counties 
of  central  California  with  more  than 
950,000  inhabitants. 

The  center,  one  of  thirteen  in  the  state, 
was  designed  to  keep  the  mentally  handi- 
capped in  their  own  communities  instead 
of  sending  them  to  state  hospitals.  The 
center  is  not  an  institution  in  the  usual 
sense  with  beds,  doctors,  therapists,  and 
teachers.  It  is  a referral,  coordinating, 
and  counseling  agency  which  utilizes  lo- 
cal institutional  and  professional  re- 
sources. The  staff  is  kept  to  a minimum 
and  needed  services  are  contracted  and 
purchased  in  the  community. 

The  center  provides  counselors  who 
advise  the  family  how  to  cope  with  vari- 
ous behavioral  problems  of  the  retarded. 
The  counselors  often  recommend  medical 
and  allied  services  such  as  physical,  occu- 
pational, or  recreational  therapy.  In  some 
instances,  as  with  Juan,  referrals  to  ap- 
propriate school  programs  unknown  to 
parents  have  made  it  possible  to  keep 
the  retardate  home. 

Respite  care  is  another  important  serv- 
ice the  center  provides.  It  arranges  tem- 
porary care  for  retarded  children  freeing 
the  family  from  constant  responsibilities. 


During  respite  care,  the  retardate  usual- 
ly stays  in  another  family’s  home.  At 
times  a housekeeper  or  nurse  looks  after 
the  retardate  in  his  own  home  during  the 
parents’  absence.  After  vacation,  the 
parents,  refreshed,  return  to  look  after 
their  dependent  child  again. 

If  the  mentally  retarded  person  is  un- 
able to  remain  in  his  own  home  because 
of  his  parents’  inability  to  cope  with 
him,  or  for  other  reasons,  the  center 
arranges  for  “out  of  home  placement 
facilities.”  These  facilities  include  foster 
family  care  homes,  residential  facilities, 
boarding  homes,  convalescent  hospitals, 
and  as  a last  resort  the  state  hospital. 
Since  the  center  opened  in  September 
1969,  it  has  processed  1,400  requests. 
Only  seventeen  persons  have  been  hos- 
pitalized in  state  institutions  and  in  those 
cases  because  of  the  patient’s  need  for  a 
specific  hospital  program. 


A volunteer  at  a church-operated  center 
for  children  with  emotional,  physical,  and 
mental  problems  helps  a young  boy  to 
write  “man."  The  center  in  Huntsville, 
Alabama,  helps  not  only  the  youngsters 
but  also  their  parents,  who  are  often  at 
a loss  as  to  how  they  can  most  adequate- 
ly assist  their  handicapped  children.  The 
First  Baptist  Church,  which  operates  the 
center,  has  found  itself  with  a vital  min- 
istry to  retarded  and  other  handicapped 
children,  a group  that  is  often  overlooked. 


The  counselor,  usually  a professional 
social  worker,  becomes  the  advocate  for 
the  retardate  and  his  family.  After  get- 
ting a request,  the  counselor  completes 
a social  history  and  secures  medical  and 
psychological  reports  on  the  retardate.  A 
multidiscipline  team  evaluates  the  case 
and  provides  a total  treatment  plan  to 
meet  the  physical,  mental,  and  social 
needs  of  the  patient  and  of  his  family. 
A variety  of  professional  people  such  as 
a medical  doctor,  psychologist,  nursing 
consultant,  an  educational  specialist,  and, 
when  needed,  a psychiatrist,  judge,  or 
probation  officer,  may  be  involved  in  the 
planning.  Thereafter  the  case  manage- 
ment rests  with  the  counselor  and  the 
client  family. 

For  families  in  which  parents  are  get- 
ting old  and  there  are  no  siblings  to 
look  after  a retarded  family  member, 
arrangements  can  now  be  made  for  the 
center  social  worker  to  become  the  re- 
tarded person’s  guardian.  As  guardian, 
the  social  worker  has  responsibility  for 
the  retardate’s  care  as  long  as  the  re- 
tardate is  living.  This  service  has  of- 
fered relief  to  aged  parents. 

The  regional  center  program  is  a state 
funded  program,  comprehensive  in  scope, 
and  one  which  hardly  could  be  dupli- 
cated in  other  states  without  similar  pro- 
visions. How,  one  might  ask,  can  this 
broadly  based  program  offer  any  guide- 
lines or  suggestions  to  communities  and 
churches  in  other  states?  It  seems  to  us 
that  the  center  can  offer  some  hints  and 
guidance  for  concerned  people. 

The  parents  of  retarded  children  need 
help.  They  may  need  money  for  ex- 
pensive care  treatment  or  specific  kinds 
of  services  for  their  child.  But  above  all, 
they  need  understanding  and  acceptance. 
The  center  through  its  counselors  has 
provided  this  kind  of  support  and  under- 
standing, but  it  is  the  kind  of  help  per- 
sons in  any  church  and  community  can 
and  should  provide. 

The  center  experience  illustrates  that 
there  are  resources  in  the  community 
which  parents  often  do  not  know  about. 
These  may  be  specific  services,  like  a 
workshop  or  school,  or  there  may  be 
public  funds  that  are  intended  to  help 
the  disadvantaged.  It  doesn’t  take  a re- 
gional center  to  find  these  resources. 
The  local  public  health  nurse,  the  wel- 
fare department,  the  mental  retarda- 
tion association,  and  other  agencies  know 


74 


JANUARY  30,  1973 


T about  the  sources.  In  rural  areas  par- 
I ticularly,  the  function  of  the  center  as 
ij  an  information  and  referral  agency  could 
|l  be  performed  by  a volunteer  group,  a 
| church  association,  a group  of  parents, 
||  or  a mental  retardation  association. 

One  simple  but  extremely  helpful  serv- 
lj  ice  that  church  members  can  provide  is 
| respite  care.  Families  in  the  community 
u can  volunteer  to  take  care  of  a retardate 
f for  an  evening,  a weekend,  or  perhaps 
I one  or  more  weeks.  More  permanent 
r foster  home  care  may  be  needed;  this, 
.1  too,  families  in  churches  can  provide. 

I In  many  regions  of  the  country  funds 
Vare  available  to  subsidize  such  care. 

The  local  church  can  and  should  take 
I some  responsibility  in  situations  where 
[ parents  are  aging  and  the  retardate  may 
( become  a survivor  without  a home.  A 
| congregation  or  individual  members  can 
j stand  with  the  family  so  the  retardate 
V can  be  cared  for  as  long  as  he  lives.  It 
may  be  that  a congregation  or  group  of 
congregations  will  also  find  a specific 
[ need  in  the  community  such  as  a work- 
| shop,  day  care  program,  or  home  for 
I survivors,  which  they  should  provide. 

The  Juan  Rodriguizes  do  not  need  to 
be  sent  away  to  large  state  institutions. 
If  the  church  and  community  care,  al- 
most every  retarded  person  can  be  cared 
for  within  the  home  community. 

This  is  the  last  of  a series  of  three 
articles. 

Words  & deeds 


Fifteen  mcc  workers  illegally  ordered  by 
Selective  Service  to  perform  alternative 
service  have  chosen  to  continue  their  mcc 
work.  The  United  States  District  Court 
for  the  District  of  Columbia  has  ruled 
that  Selective  Service  illegally  ordered 
many  conscientious  objectors  to  civilian 
service.  Seventeen  mcc  workers  in  as- 
signments in  Nigeria,  Sierra  Leone,  Ja- 
maica, Bolivia,  Poland  and  the  U.S. 
and  Canada  were  affected.  The  seventeen 
men  who  were  in  the  first  priority  selec- 
tion group  in  1970  or  1971  had  been 
sent  work  orders  after  November  9, 
1971.  In  the  D.C.  district  court’s  view, 
ordering  these  men  to  civilian  work  at 
a time  when  no  one  was  being  ordered 
to  report  for  military  service  was  illegal. 

“Court  decisions,  along  with  the  ca- 
pitulation of  Selective  Service,  estab- 
lished clearly  for  the  first  time  the  prin- 
ciple that  conscientious  objectors  can  be 
ordered  to  civilian  work  only  in  the 
same  order  of  call  as  other  registrants 


are  ordered  for  induction,”  said  Conrad 
Brunk  of  the  National  Interreligious  Serv- 
ice Board  for  Conscientious  Objectors 
when  Selective  Service  issued  in  July  a 
release  statement  for  the  illegally  called 
CO’s.  By  October,  fifteen  of  the  seven- 
teen men  in  mcc  assignments  had  decid- 
ed to  complete  their  terms.  In  response 
to  his  letter  of  release  Dale  Hofer,  mcc 
Nigeria,  wrote  the  director  of  Selective 
Service:  “In  regard  to  your  letter  of 
August  9,  1972,  I elect  to  complete  my 
alternate  service  pursuant  to  the  SSS 
Form  153  issued  to  me  last  year.  My 
wife  and  I plan  to  participate  in  Chris- 
tian service  here  in  Nigeria.  Our  plans 
are  in  no  way  altered  by  your  SSS  Form 
153  or  your  current  requirements.  We 
are  in  the  service  of  the  Ruler  of  the 
Universe  and  coincidentally  representing 
the  United  States  here  in  Africa  by  iden- 
tifying with  the  ways  of  love  and  peace 
rather  than  an  organization  of  violence 
and  hate.” 


The  chairman  of  the  Key  73  organiza- 
tion in  the  Chicago  area,  Henry  W.  An- 
derson, wired  Billy  Graham  during  the 
time  when  U.S.  bombing  of  Hanoi  and 
Haiphong  was  at  its  height  urging  the 
evangelist  to  do  something  to  stop  the 
bombardment. 


About  two-thirds  of  the  arrests  made  by 
the  Federal  Bureau  of  Investigation  dur- 
ing fiscal  year  1972  were  of  deserters 
and  draft  law  violators,  according  to  the 
fbi’s  annual  report.  The  report  said  a 
record  high  21,211  military  deserters 
were  arrested  and  2,550  draft  law  vio- 
lators. Total  arrests  for  all  charges  were 
36,287.  The  report  predicted  that  such 
arrests,  as  well  as  the  fbi’s  surveillance 
of  antiwar  groups,  will  decline  sharply 
at  the  end  of  the  war.  The  report  iden- 
tified the  National  Peace  Action  Coali- 
tion, the  People’s  Coalition  for  Peace 
and  Justice,  and  the  Vietnam  Veterans 
Against  the  War  as  groups  under  investi- 
gation by  the  fbi.  The  fbi  says  there  are 
4,448  draft  law  violators  at  large,  and 
the  Pentagon  estimates  that  30,000  de- 
serters are  at  large.  National  Catholic 
reporter 


A pastoral  letter,  signed  by  forty-one 
U.S.  religious  leaders,  including  John  E. 
Lapp,  a Mennonite  bishop  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  John  H.  Yoder  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries 
staff,  accused  the  Nixon  administration 
“of  aborting  the  possibility  and  betraying 
the  duty  of  peace.”  The  letter,  which 
was  released  during  the  Christmas  sea- 


son, went  on  to  say,  “Promised  a gen- 
eration of  peace,  we  have  experienced 
not  even  one  day  of  peace.  . . . We  need 
no  more  brilliantly  contrived  explana- 
tions of  diplomatic  failures.  The  bomb- 
ing must  be  stopped.  The  war  must  be 
ended.”  Pastoral  letters,  circulated  by 
some  denominations  as  a means  of  in- 
terpretation and  guidance  to  the  faithful, 
are  reserved  for  only  the  most  important 
messages. 


Zaire  filmstrip  produced 

A filmstrip,  “Where  is  the  church  in 
Zaire?”  complete  with  sound,  has  been 
produced  by  Africa  Inter-Mennonite 
Mission. 

The  twenty-five-minute  filmstrip  shows 
old  and  new  methods  of  missionary  ac- 
tivities and  deals  with  some  of  the  prob- 
lems which  the  national  church  is  facing. 

The  filmstrip  may  be  rented  for  $2.00 
from  the  Audiovisual  Library,  Box  347, 
Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


THE  OLD 

WORLD 

and  to  imaginative 
North  American 
vacationers  it  is 

The  New  World 

SEE  IT  MTS 
STYLE! 

July  11-16, 1973 

Hosted  by  Martin 
Durksen 


MTS  style  ...  a total 


experience 


MENNO 

TRAVEL  SERVICE 

2 offices  to  serve  you 

851  Henderson  Hwy. 
Winnipeg  15,  Man. 

32060  S.  Fraser  Way 
Clearbrook,  B.C. 


THE  MENNONITE 


75 


RECORD 


Workers 


Susan  K.  Goering,  First  Church,  Mc- 
Pherson, Kans.,  has  begun  two  and  one- 
half  months  of  voluntary  service  in  Elk- 
hart, Ind.  She  is  serving  as  a child 
therapy  assistant  at  Oaklawn  Psychiatric 
Center  in  Elkhart  from  Nov.  11  to 
Feb.  1.  Ms.  Goering  has  attended  the 
University  of  Kansas  in  Lawrence  and 
is  the  daughter  of  Milton  and  Marge 
Goering,  McPherson. 

Edna  Catherine  Knackstedt,  Menno- 
nite  Brethren  Church,  Buhler,  Kans., 
was  to  begin  six  months  of  voluntary 
service  with  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church  on  January  15.  She 
will  serve  in  Gulfport,  Miss.,  tutor- 
ing and  doing  office  work.  Ms.  Knack- 
stedt received  a BS  in  education  at  Em- 
poria State  Teachers  College,  Emporia, 
Kans.,  in  1932  and  an  MA  in  English 
literature  at  Colorado  University  in  1940. 

Robert  Voth,  Alexanderwohl  Church, 
Goessel,  Kans.,  began  service  Nov.  7 in 
an  inter-Mennonite  voluntary  service 
unit  in  Champaign-Urbana,  111.  He  will 


serve  one  or  two  years  as  a community 
worker  in  the  Carroll  Addition.  Robert 
is  a 1972  graduate  of  Bethel  College, 
North  Newton,  Kans. 

Ruth  D.  Wiebe,  Plum  Coulee,  Man., 
has  begun  a two-year  term  of  service 
with  mcc  in  Akron,  Pa.  Ruth  is  working 
as  a receptionist  at  the  mcc  headquarters 
in  Akron.  She  is  a graduate  of  the  Gar- 
den Valley  Collegiate  Institute,  Winkler, 
Man.,  and  received  her  high  school  di- 
ploma for  business  education.  Ruth  is 
the  daughter  of  David  F.  and  Dorothy 
Wiebe,  Plum  Coulee,  Man.,  and  a mem- 
ber of  the  Plum  Coulee  Bergthaler  Men- 
nonite Church. 


Voth  Wiebe 


Conference  budget  December 


Every  commission  and  the  seminary  made  its  budget  in  1972.  This  is  the  first  time 
in  recent  history  that  all  went  over  the  top.  In  1971  the  over-all  budget  was  met, 
but  two  program  commissions  were  short  of  100  percent.  The  accompanying  chart 
gives  details.  In  behalf  of  your  elected  officials,  I want  to  thank  all  of  you  heartily 
for  putting  this  kind  of  confidence  in  the  General  Conference  and  its  program. 
Wm.  Friesen,  conference  treasurer 


Calendar 


Feb.  7-9 — Council  of  commissions, 
Newton,  Kans. 

March  12-15 — Mennonite  health  as- 
sembly, Atlanta,  Ga. 

July  7-11 — Annual  sessions  of  the 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada, 
Edmonton,  Alta. 

Canadian 

Feb.  23-24 — Annual  session  of  the 
Conference  of  Mennonites  of  Saskatche- 
wan, Eigenheim  Church,  Rosthem. 

Feb.  23-24 — Annual  session  of  the 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Manitoba, 
Bergthaler  Church,  Altona. 

March  2 — Joint  presentation  of  Bach’s 
“St.  Matthew  passion”  by  the  Canadian 
Mennonite  and  Mennonite  Brethren  Bi- 
ble colleges,  Centennial  Concert  Hall, 
Winnipeg. 

Central 

Feb.  22-23 — Regional  offender  semi- 
nar, Bluffton,  Ohio. 

Northern 

Feb.  11-12 — “Berlin  exodus”  lecture, 
Bethesda  Church,  Henderson,  Neb.,  Peter 
J.  Dyck,  speaker. 

\ 

■V 

KERRY 
Dorothy 
Hamilton 


KERRY  is  the  story  of  a young  girl  who 
is  going  through  the  years  when  growing 
up  seems  especially  difficult. 

Kerry  wants  to  do  new  things  by  herself, 
to  make  decisions  about  things  of  interest 
to  her.  Kerry  soon  discovers  after  talking 
with  her  parents  that  they  also  have  hard 
decisions  to  make. 

Here  is  a realistic  and  sensitive  treat- 
ment of  that  special  time  of  life  when 
teenage  girls  grow  into  adulthood. 
112  pages.  'Softcover.  $1.95. 

A Herald  Press  Book. 


Order  from 

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76 


JANUARY  30,  1973 


REVIEW 

August  1914:  an  important  new  Russian  novel 


August  1914,  by  Alexander  Solzhenitsyn, 
translated  into  English  by  Michael  Glen- 
ny  ( Farrar , Straus,  and  Giroux,  New 
York,  1972,  622  pp„  $10.00)  is  reviewed 
by  Gerhard  Lohrenz,  retired  pastor  of 
fhe  Sargent  Mennonite  Church,  Winni- 
peg, and  frequent  leaders  of  tour  groups 
to  the  Soviet  Union.  In  December  1972 
Mr.  Lohrenz  accompanied  Manitoba’s 
premier,  Ed  Schreyer,  on  an  official 
visit  to  Russia. 

July  19  (August  1)  1914  Germany  de- 
clared war  on  Russia.  Russia  immediate- 
ly mobilized  its  immense  manpower  and 
put  5.3  million  men  under  arms,  of 
(which  more  than  two  million  served  in 
battle  units.  In  accordance  with  its  agree- 
ment with  France,  Russia  had  to  attack 
Germany  within  fifteen  days  after  the 
declaration  of  war.  But  its  army,  al- 
though large,  was  ill  prepared  for  war. 
Many  of  its  leaders  were  poor  and  un- 
able to  handle  large  contingents  of  men. 

On  August  4 the  first  Russian  army 
under  Rennenkamp  crossed  the  German 
frontier  and  began  military  action,  and 
on  August  7 the  second  army  under  Gen- 
eral Samsonov  entered  East  Prussia. 
Successful  at  first,  this  second  army  was 
(surrounded  and  defeated  at  the  battle 
of  Tannenberg,  driven  into  the  morasses 
of  the  Masurian  Lake  region,  and  prac- 
tically destroyed.  Ninety  thousand  men 
were  taken  prisoners  by  the  Germans 
and  200  guns  fell  into  their  hands.  This 
(is  said  to  be  the  most  decisive  victory 
of  the  war.  General  Samsono  shot  him- 
self. 

At  the  beginning  of  September  the 
Germans  attacked  the  First  Russian 
army  and  forced  it  to  retreat  behind  the 
Russian  frontier.  Both  armies  together 
lost  over  200,000  men  and  450  guns. 

The  Russian  press  at  the  time  said  as 
little  as  possible  about  all  of  this,  but  in 
spite  of  the  press  blackout,  people  knew 
of  the  defeats.  Even  I,  a boy  of  four- 
teen, heard  some  details  of  this  tragedy 
and  was  tremendously  impressed,  espe- 
cially since  a man  I knew  served  in  the 
Russian  army  and  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Germans. 

This  national  tragedy  normally  would 
have  stirred  the  imagination  of  Russian 


Alexander  Solzhenitsyn 


writers  and  poets,  but  because  of  the 
horrible  bloody  years  that  followed,  no 
one  seemed  to  have  time  for  it.  It  was 
a more  or  less  forgotten  incident  in  an 
endless  chain  of  tragic  events. 

But  in  1971,  fifty-seven  years  after 
the  event,  the  first  Russian  book  dealing 
with  the  drama  at  Tannenberg  was  pub- 
lished. It  is  Alexander  Solzhenitsyn’s 
August  1914.  This  novel  by  the  well- 
known  Soviet  writer  explores  the  respon- 
sibility for  the  Russian  defeat  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Tannenberg.  Significantly  it  could 
not  appear  in  the  writer’s  native  coun- 
try, but  was  printed  in  Russian  by  the 
ymca  Press  in  Paris.  Soon  translations 
in  German  and  in  other  languages  ap- 
peared, and  now  Farrar,  Straus,  and 
Giroux  have  published  an  English  trans- 
lation available  in  practically  any  book- 
store. 

I read  the  book  though  in  the  original, 
the  Russian  language. 

Certain  features  of  Solzhenitsyn’s  book 
remind  the  reader  of  Tolstoi  and  others 
of  Dostoevski,  but  there  are  significant 
differences  too.  Solzsenitsyn  does  not 
probe  into  the  working  of  the  mind  of 
his  characters  as  deeply  as  the  others 


do,  and  he  does  not  seem  to  believe  as 
they  do  that  man  is  a victim  of  his  fate 
or  at  least  of  events,  but  rather  it  is 
man’s  response  to  a challenge  that  deter- 
mines the  outcome  of  his  own  life  and 
often  of  others,  too. 

As  the  writer  sees  it,  the  old  order  is 
doomed;  the  czar  and  those  immediately 
under  him  are  either  incapable  or  cal- 
lous. Most  of  the  generals  are  unequal 
to  their  task,  although  there  are  glowing 
exceptions,  such  as  the  staff  captain  Vor- 
otyntsev  and  others.  The  common  sol- 
dier is  poorly  equipped  and  often  badly 
led  yet  persistent  and  courageous  in  the 
face  of  superior  arms.  Thousands  of  fine 
men  are  lost  to  no  purpose  because  of 
poor  leadership.  The  author  feels  deep 
pity  for  these  men,  as  well  as  for  Russia. 
The  leitmotif  of  this  book  is  the  sentence: 
“I  am  sorry  for  Russia.” 

Samsonov,  the  commander,  is  really 
a man  who  has  the  best  of  intentions, 
but  he  is  in  no  way  able  to  do  justice 
to  his  position.  Those  above  and  around 
him  do  not  make  his  task  easier.  To 
the  contrary,  they  help  to  push  him 
into  the  abyss.  Samsonov  realizes  his 
failure;  he  develops  a feeling  of  guilt 
toward  the  common  soldier  and  the 
only  way  out  of  this  dilemma  for  him 
is  death.  He  kneels  in  an  isolated  place 
and  prays:  “O  Lord  if  you  can — forgive 
me  . . .”  and  then  he  shoots  himself. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Solzhenit- 
syn, an  army  officer  in  the  second  World 
War,  seems  to  nourish  no  hatred  for  the 
Germans.  Their  army  is  better  trained, 
better  led,  and  better  supplied.  Individ- 
ually the  German  soldier  is  no  better 
than  the  Russian.  He  does  not  appear  to 
be  brutal  and  evil,  just  a well  trained 
and  disciplined  individual. 

The  general  staff  and  many  of  the 
generals  are  bitterly  satirized.  When 
Vorotyntsev  gives  a factual  report  of  the 
situation  in  which  the  doomed  second 
army  found  itself,  the  commander  in 
chief,  the  Grand  Duke  Nikolai  Niko- 
laievich,  has  nothing  better  to  suggest 
than  to  set  his  hopes  in  an  old  icon  to 
be  brought  to  the  front  and  to  quote  the 
verse:  “He  that  endureth  to  the  end 
shall  be  saved.”  The  generals  are  dis- 
missed with  a single  sentence:  “Plan! 


THE  MENNONITE 


77 


MEDITATION 


The  porcupine  debate 

Two  porcupine  friends  named  Willie  and  Bill, 

Were  talking  one  day  of  porcupine  ills. 

Said  Willie  to  Bill  with  a sorrowful  moan, 

“Isn’t  it  sad  that  we  live  all  alone?” 

“The  animals  shun  us;  I have  not  one  friend. 

Please  tell  me,  Bill — Oh,  what  is  our  sin?” 

“Don’t  sweat  it,  my  friend,”  said  porcupine  Bill. 

It  isn’t  your  sin,  it’s  just  your  sharp  quills. 

“We  live  all  alone — that’s  just  how  it  goes, 

’Cause  no  one  wants  quills  in  the  end  of  his  nose.” 

“I’ve  got  it,”  said  Willie,  “The  answer  I know, 

I’d  rather  have  friends,  so  my  quills  have  to  go.” 

But  Bill  exclaimed,  “It  doesn’t  make  sense. 

Without  your  sharp  quills  you’ll  have  no  defense.” 

Willie  thought  and  he  thought— he  couldn’t  decide. 

Should  he  give  up  his  quills  or  save  his  own  hide? 

And  then  in  a flash  he  decided  with  glee, 

I’ll  pull  out  my  quills  in  the  trunk  of  a tree. 

With  all  of  his  might  he  ran  at  the  trunk, 

And  into  the  bark  went  his  quills  with  a thunkl 

His  quills  all  came  out  in  the  trunk  of  the  tree, 

And  Willie  exclaimed — “At  last,  I am  free!” 

“Free  to  be  eaten,”  said  Bill  in  disgust. 

“You’ll  find  out  real  soon  there’s  no  one  you  can  trust.” 

But  Willie  said  firmly,  “I  must  leave  my  cage. 

I’d  rather  risk  friendship  than  die  of  old  age.” 

Far  into  night  they  debated  the  matter, 

Live  safely  alone  or  make  someone  fatter. 

The  Porcupine  Question  remains  to  this  day. 

Is  it  outreach  or  safety — which  one  do  you  say?  Wes  Seeliger 


There  was  something  so  un-Russian  about 
the  word.” 

The  soldiers,  on  the  other  hand,  earn 
the  writer’s  undivided  praise:  “.  . . the 
vigorous,  inexhaustible  spiritual  strength 
of  Russia  that  lay  hidden  under  these 
soldiers’  tunics  and  made  them  so  fear- 
less.” Throughout  the  book  there  is  the 
hint  of  an  inevitable  change  to  come. 
Not  for  long  will  the  noble  spirit  of 
Russia  continue  to  be  subdued  and  dis- 
honored by  a decayed  layer  of  society 
and  an  incompetent  government. 

Like  many  Russian  writers,  Solzhenit- 
syn is  a lover  of  nature.  The  pine  for- 
ests, the  stars,  the  mist,  the  light  and 
the  darkness  all  find  a response  in  his 
soul. 

The  scenes  of  trench  bombardment, 
panic,  and  rout  are  obviously  written  by 
a man  who  has  lived  through  such  hor- 
ror. The  reader  is  strongly  impressed 
with  the  futility  of  war.  The  Russians 
shell  their  own  troops  and  move  them 
around  to  no  useful  purpose.  Orders  are 
no  sooner  given  than  they  are  counter- 
manded again.  They  send  their  orders 
and  plans  uncoded  over  the  radio,  thus 
betraying  themselves  to  the  enemy.  They 
retire  when  on  the  verge  of  victory.  It 
is  a picture  of  hopeless  incompetence 
and  perfect  chaos. 

The  writer  brings  into  his  novel  peo- 
ple from  the  various  walks  of  life,  but 
often  after  having  introduced  them  to 
the  reader  he  seemingly  has  no  further 
use  for  them.  They  do  not  appear  again. 
Does  he  aim  by  this  to  give  a flash  pic- 
ture of  Russian  life?  Possibly,  but  it  does 
complicate  the  flow  of  the  story  and 
distracts  from  the  main  theme.  News 
items  and  documents  interrupt  the  nar- 
rative. Although  they  add  to  the  read- 
er’s understanding  of  the  situation,  the 
average  reader  will  see  them  as  a stum- 
bling block. 

This  novel  likely  will  be  praised  but 
also  sharply  criticized.  At  times,  the 
slow  movement  of  the  narrative,  the  in- 
troduction of  so  many  individuals  seem- 
ingly not  directly  necessary  and  the  bur- 
dening of  the  novel  with  so  many  news 
items  will  be  criticized  by  some,  but  the 
grand  theme,  the  passionate  search  for 
the  truth,  the  great  pity  and  love  for 
Russia,  and  the  many  excellent  word- 
pictures  to  be  found  in  the  novel  will 
give  it  a place  among  the  great  master- 
pieces of  Russian  literature,  such  as 
Tolstoi’s  War  and  peace. 

August  1914,  a song  of  praise  of  the 
common  people  of  Russia,  cannot  ap- 
pear in  its  native  country  because  the 
writer’s  view  of  history  runs  counter  to 


the  official  version.  The  novel  is  definite- 
ly not  anti-Soviet,  nor  anti-Russian,  but 
the  sin  of  the  writer  is  that  he  dares  to 
hold  a view  contrary  to  the  Marxist  ver- 
sion which  teaches  that  the  revolution 
was  the  culmination  of  a long  and  in- 
evitable historical  process. 

This  individualism  is  Solzhenitsyn’s 
strength  and  eventually  will  gain  for  his 
novel  a place  of  honor  even  in  his  native 
land. 

Asia  conference  report 
ready  for  distribution 

The  official  report  of  the  First  Asia  Men- 
nonite  Conference,  October  12-18,  1971, 
in  Dhamtari,  India,  has  been  published 
recently  in  Calcutta,  India. 

In  North  America,  copies  are  avail- 


able for  $3.00  each  from  the  Council 
of  Mission  Board  Secretaries,  10600  W. 
Higgins  Road,  Room  104,  Rosemont, 
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Film  on  Mennonite  World 
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Newton,  Kansas  67114. 

Rental  fee  is  $30  or  a freewill  offering 
of  at  least  that  amount.  All  profits  will 
go  to  the  1977  Mennonite  World  Con- 
ference. 


78 


JANUARY  30,  1973 


LETTERS 


<ey  73  objectives 

Dear  Editor:  In  response  to  the  letter 
Idolatrous  civil  religion”  by  Ron  Hun- 
icker  (December  19  issue),  may  I sug- 
gest that  he  read  the  objectives  of  Key 
'3.  Objective  Number  3 is  “to  apply  the 
nessage  and  meaning  of  Jesus  Christ 
o the  issues  shaping  man  and  his  so- 
:iety  in  order  that  they  may  be  re- 
olved.” 

The  important  part  of  Key  73  is  that 
:ach  denomination  and  each  congrega- 
ion  are  encouraged  to  “do  their  own 
hing.”  The  program  itself  cannot  spell 
>ut  all  the  directions  but  I think  we  have 
he  resources  to  present  the  full  gospel 
nessage  for  the  whole  of  man.  Ward  W. 
Shelly,  pastor,  Calvary  Mennonite 
Church,  Washington,  III.  61571.  Dec.  29 

3alaver  finished? 

Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  The  following  para- 
graphs relate  an  experience  I had  after 
about  six  months  of  my  tap  assignment. 

Working  out  a mutually  satisfying  re- 
ationship  with  one’s  cook  or  steward 
;an  be  one  of  the  most  difficult  prob- 
ems  a tap  teacher  faces.  In  a previous 
tap  experience  I didn’t  really  find  this 
aut  because  I was  living  with  senior 
|nissionaries  who  set  the  tone  in  the 
lousehold.  But  when  I came  to  Jos  and 
| earned  that  I was  to  have  a large  house 

(af  my  own  and  would  need  my  own 
'ull-time  steward  to  run  it,  I welcomed 
he  opportunity  to  put  my  own  ideas 
o the  test. 

After  some  months  had  passed,  I felt 
hat  progress  had  been  made  and  that 
Tamza  and  I had  a fairly  nice  rapport 
astablished.  He  is  a conscientious  Mus- 
im  and  had  impressed  me  from  the  start 
ay  his  scrupulous  honesty.  Then  came 
he  moment  of  disillusionment.  One 
norning  I entered  the  kitchen  earlier 
han  usual  because  I had  heard  him  ar- 
rive particularly  early  and  I wished  to 
enow  why.  I found  him  in  the  process 
af  frying  meat  (his  own)  on  the  gas 
aooker.  He  explained  it  was  for  his 
arother  who  was  setting  off  on  a long 
oumey  that  day.  I scolded  him  more 
.trongly  than  I had  ever  had  occasion 
o do  before  and  said  that  if  he  used  the 
?as  again,  I would  charge  him  five 
•hillings. 

I was  quite  annoyed  because  gas  is 


generally  difficult  to  obtain,  and  there  is 
no  guarantee  of  a replacement  when  you 
run  out.  If  it  had  been  an  electric  range 
where  the  supply  of  electricity  is  more 
or  less  assured,  I would  have  been  much 
less  disturbed.  But  how  to  explain  all  this 
in  my  meager  Hausa!  So  I contented 
myself  by  repeating  the  warning  about 
the  money. 

That  was  the  end  of  the  incident  and 
things  settled  back  to  normal.  The  sec- 
ond confrontation  occurred  when  I went 
on  holiday  and  left  Hamza  in  charge 
of  the  house — cat,  plants,  security  lights, 
etc.  One  of  the  last  things  I said  to  him 
before  leaving  was,  “Don’t  use  the  gas.” 
He  answered  in  his  pidgin  English,  “No 
cook-a  gas.  Make-a  tea  electric  kettle, 
finished.”  (We  had  the  system  estab- 
lished whereby  he  could  make  one  pot  of 
tea  per  day  using  my  electric  kettle.) 

I came  back  to  the  compound  late 
Saturday  evening.  The  next  morning  I 
heard  the  cook  in  the  kitchen,  so  de- 
cided to  go  out  and  greet  him  because  I 
didn’t  think  he  knew  I was  back.  I found 
him  bent  over  lighting  the  oven — a part 
of  the  stove  that  he  certainly  never  uses 
for  preparing  my  breakfast.  He  straight- 
ened up  quickly  and  greeted  me,  but  the 
exchange  of  pleasantries  wasn’t  quite  as 
prolonged  as  usual  because  I immediate- 
ly reproached  him  for  using  the  gas.  His 
reply:  “I  no  cook-a  gas  all  week.  Now  I 
see  you  come,  I cook-a  gas,”  implying 
that  it  was  all  right  to  use  it  since  I was 
in  the  house.  What  do  you  say  to  logic 
like  that?  I felt  betrayed.  As  I quickly 
turned  to  leave  the  kitchen,  he  called 
after  me,  “Palava  finished?”  To  which 
I said,  “Ban  sani  ba”  (I  don’t  know). 

A little  later  his  wife  and  child  came 
over.  I met  them  in  the  kitchen  but 
again  wasn’t  too  profuse  in  my  greeting. 
Hamza  told  me  they  had  come  to  say 
they  were  sorry  for  the  palaver.  Later 
that  day  when  I paid  him,  I deducted 
five  shillings  for  the  gas.  To  his  objec- 
tions, I replied,  “Shi  ke  nan”  (The  affair 
is  settled). 

Several  days  later,  I was  about  to 
leave  again.  This  time  he  said,  “Madam, 
it  is  not  good  when  you  go  away.”  So  I 
answered,  “This  time  I shall  lock  the 
gas  in  the  store.”  He  agreed  right  off, 
saying,  “Me  no  want-a  palava;  me  come- 
a,  work-a,  finished.”  As  he  said  good-bye, 
his  last  words  were,  “Put-a  gas  in  store.” 

I went  away,  thinking  about  the  way 
this  particular  encounter  of  different 
value  systems  had  been  resolved.  I’m 
still  thinking  about  it.  Mary  E.  Burk- 
holder, St.  Louis  College,  Box  655,  Jos, 
Nigeria.  Nov.  26 


Contents 


Live  so  you  will  be  asked  66 

Can  Christians  purge  themselves 

of  their  racism?  68 

News  70 

Record  76 

Review:  August  1914  77 

The  porcupine  debate  78 

Letters  79 

Equilibrium  and  the  new  creation  . 80 


COVER 

February  1 1 is  Race  Relations  Sunday. 
Would  that  we  could  all  be  as  blind  to 
skin  color  and  as  deaf  to  regional  and 
national  accents  as  children  are. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Lois  Franz  Bartel  is  a free-lance  writer 
and  homemaker  from  La  Junta,  Colo. 
81050  (910  Belleview).  She  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Women's  Missionary  As- 
sociation's executive  council. 

John  I.  Smucker  has  been  pastor  of 
the  Mennonite  House  of  Friendship  in 
the  Bronx,  New  York,  for  sixteen  years. 
His  article  in  this  week's  issue  was  first 
presented  as  a guest  sermon  on  The 
Mennonite  Hour,  Harrisonburg,  Virginia. 

Wes  Seeliger’s  article  is  taken  from 
The  Adventurer. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  David  Nager,  283  E.  234  St., 
New  York,  N.Y.  10470;  67,  Ernie  Sa- 

watsky,  Rosemary,  Alta.;  69,  Hi-Time 
Publishers,  Inc.,  Box  7337,  Milwaukee, 
Wise.  53213;  70,  72,  74,  77,  Religious 
News  Service;  71,  Lloyd  Mackey. 

CORRECTION 

The  cover  photo  of  the  January  9 issue 
was  upside  down.  The  Chinese  Bible 
should  open  from  the  left. 


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: 'HE  MENNONITE 

' 


79 


Equilibrium  and  the  new  creation 


Equilibrium  often  seems  to  be  the  guiding  force 
of  nature.  We  value  a balance  of  protein  and 
carbohydrates,  sleeping  and  waking,  exercise  and 
rest,  rain  and  sunshine,  chatter  and  silence,  medi- 
tation and  action,  tradition  and  experiment.  Ex- 
cesses of  any  kind  throw  things  out  of  balance 
and  disorient  us. 

But  such  a balancing  act  can  present  some 
dangers. 

For  example,  how  does  one  balance  love  and 
murder?  What  level  of  oppression  balances  jus- 
tice? What  portion  belongs  to  God  and  what  to 
Caesar?  What  is  the  optimum  balance  of  racism 
and  brother/sisterhood? 

Another  problem  is  that  it  is  hard  to  grab  the 
future  to  place  it  in  the  balance,  and  it  is  all  too 
easy  to  be  satisfied  with  placing  the  status  quo  on 


the  scales.  Negotiating  a balance  between  those 
things  which  already  are,  excludes  the  possibility 
of  the  radically  new  entering  our  lives. 

Those  who  balance,  sit  on  a seesaw — anxiously 
teetering  from  side  to  side,  weighing  the  conse- 
quences without  the  benefit  of  a standard  weight 
or  measure.  The  seesaw  is  incapable  of  new  di- 
rections. 

The  people  of  God  play  tag.  They  are  always 
running — knowing  what  they  are  trying  to  catch, 
yet  not  knowing  when  or  how  they  will  catch  it, 
or  how  many  times  they  will  have  to  change  di- 
rection. All  energy  goes  into  the  chase — into 
jumping  over  broken  bottles,  into  crawling  under 
hedges,  into  running  headlong  toward  the  future 
which  God  is  creating,  lj 


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both  the  Newton  and  Winnipeg  offices. 


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Mennonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:06  FEBRUARY  6,  1973 


I don’t  know  how  to  start  this. 

“My  favorite  Sunday  school  teacher 
was  . . Good  grief!  And  our  nine 
regular  readers  turn  to  the  Letters  to 
the  Editor.  Or  back  to  them. 

What  I don’t  want  to  do  is  lecture. 
I’m  trying  to  grab  you  by  your  senses 
so  you’ll  feel  what  I feel  instead  of  just 
hearing  what  I say.  If  you  have  love, 
and  if  it  has  a handle,  I’d  like  to  grab 
you  by  that. 

Let  me  start  in  the  middle.  We  were 
a bunch  of  guys  in  the  early  forties. 
No,  not  age.  The  nineteen  forties.  And 
by  bunch  I mean  we  resembled  a Sunday 
school  class.  On  occasion. 

We  were  at  this  city  mission  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  the  leader — in  a bright  red 
wig  that  made  me  sure  he’d  been  a 
circus  clown,  really — was  saying,  “If  any 
of  you  bums  (that’s  what  he  said),  if 
any  of  you  bums  need  a place  to  sleep 
tonight,  just  let  us  know.  We  got  soup 
and  a bed  for  you  if  you  want.” 

I played  this  banjo  you  wouldn’t  be- 
lieve and  Harry  Spaeth  played  an  ac- 
cordion. And  maybe  the  rest  sang — I 
don’t  remember. 

And  then  there  was  Pop  Hunsberger. 

Yea,  good  old  Irving  “Pop”  Huns- 
berger. We  were  standing  around  Pop, 
getting  ready  to  go  back  to  the  church 
when  the  leader  of  the  mission  stormed 
up,  threw  his  arm  around  Pop  and  thun- 
dered, “Buddy,  you  got  a place  for  the 
night?” 


We  laughed  about  that  all  the  way 
back  to  the  church.  So  did  Pop. 

I started  this  in  the  middle,  remem- 
ber? When  I first  met  Pop,  I was  maybe 
fourteen.  Somehow  I got  conned  into 
going  to  Sunday  school  at  this  First 
Mennonite  Church.  I didn’t  know  a 
Mennonite  from  a mushroom. 

Pop  taught  the  class.  Big,  tall,  gangly. 
And  old.  Man,  I thought  he  was  an- 
cient. A forty-year  generation  gap  he 
had  on  us.  He  wasn’t  very  neat.  Later 
I found  out  his  wife  had  died  shortly 
before  we  met.  I remember  swearing  he 
tied  his  tie  with  a sheepshank  knot. 

But,  God,  he  was  one  beautiful  man! 

Let  me  try  to  explain.  I don’t  think 
Pop  ever  got  to  junior  high.  I don’t 
remember  many  of  the  facts  that  he 
taught  us  in  the  five  or  so  years  I was 
in  his  Sunday  school  class.  (Every  time 
they  told  us  we  were  getting  a new 
teacher,  we  told  them  that  we  weren’t 
going  to  come  to  Sunday  school  any- 
more. ) The  facts  I do  remember  are 
mostly  those  I’ve  long  since  passed  by 
in  my  struggle  for  a faith  that  can  stand 
investigation. 


Frank  Ward 


Pop  used  to  say,  “This  is  what  I think, 
but  you  fellows  shouldn’t  take  my  word 
for  it.” 

We  didn’t.  Sometimes  we  argued  till 
we  were  blue  over  a point  that  made 
little  sense.  I remember  defending  points 
I didn’t  believe  and  ripping  to  shreds 
those  I couldn’t  disbelieve.  And  he  knew. 
He  never  got  uptight.  (We  had  the 
symptom  but  not  the  word,  back  then.) 
We  were  finding  out  what  it  was  like  to 
become  men;  what  it  was  like  to  dis- 
agree with  people,  challenge  them,  charge 
them  with  error  and  not  get  slapped 
down  like  kids.  That  power  was  kind  of 
frightening,  but  Pop  was  a safe  guy  to 
use  it  on. 

When  the  arguments  got  too  loud, 
he  cut  them  off.  He  had  huge  hands 
with  broad  fingers  (I  can  still  see  them.) 
that  would  close  like  vises  on  our 
shoulders.  The  Claw,  we  called  him 
then.  “Help,  the  Claw’s  got  me!”  But 
we  shut  up.  Usually. 

One  of  Pop’s  attractions  for  us  boys 
was  his  ownership  of  an  old  (even  then) 
De  Soto  coupe  with,  yes,  a Glorious 
Rumble  Seat.  Ah,  the  cultural  impov- 
erishment of  today’s  swinging  youth! 
Pop  kept  a little  book  in  which  he  wrote 
the  names  of  the  three  guys  who  got 
to  ride  in  that  Glorious  Rumble  Seat 
whenever  there  was  some  function  to  be 


82 


FEBRUARY  6,  1973 


Pop  Hunsberger  had  few  pat  answers. 
But  he  knew  how  to  listen.  Wonder  of  wonders, 
he  even  asked  questions  that  showed  he  had  listened. 


attended  in  the  Eastern  District.  As  soon 
as  the  announcement  was  made  in 
church,  we  looked  for  Pop  so  we  could 
get  our  names  in  ahead  of  the  rest.  So 
it  snowed,  or  rained,  or  dropped  below 
freezing.  A guy  has  priorities,  man! 

When  we  reached  the  later  teens,  Pop’s 
Glorious  Rumble  Seat  was  still  in  de- 
mand. But  for  two.  One  fellow  and  one 
girl.  And  if  you  got  to  the  car  before 
he  did,  you  readjusted  the  rear-view 
mirror  so  that  it  gave  him  a fine  view 
of  the  sky  out  the  back  window.  One 
day,  beaten  out  in  the  rush,  I had  to 
ride  up  front  with  Pop. 

He  climbed  in,  looked  at  the  altered 
mirror,  sighed,  and  said,  “For  as  bad  a 
driver  as  I am,  I really  should  use  that 
mirror.” 

But  he  left  it  where  it  was. 

Riding  up  front  with  Pop  wasn’t  bad, 
though.  Then  we  could  talk  about  things 
that  were  important,  at  least  to  us. 
I couldn’t  begin  to  list  the  topics.  Pop 
had  few  pat  answers.  That  was  okay. 
There  wasn’t  any  shortage  of  them 
around.  But  Pop,  untrained  in  the  fine 
skills  of  teaching,  listened.  He  listened! 
Wonder  of  wonders,  he  even  asked  ques- 
tions that  showed  he  had  listened. 

He  was  slow  to  judge.  When  you 
told  him  about  trying  the  cigarettes,  the 
booze,  or  whatever,  he  listened.  Then  he 
might  nod  his  head  in  agreement  to 
indicate  that  he  knew  the  dilemma. 

“Yes,”  he  would  say  slowly,  “I  know 
what  you  mean.  What  do  you  think 
you’re  going  to  do?” 

I don’t  mean  that  Pop  didn’t  express 
his  own  ideas.  He  did.  But  he  always 
made  sure  we  knew  they  were  his  and 
that  we  had  to  make  our  own  decisions. 

“Here’s  how  I feel,”  he’d  say,  “but 
you’ll  have  to  make  up  your  own  mind.” 

A lot  of  hard  facts  I didn’t  learn  from 
Pop  Hunsberger.  Did  I learn  anything? 
I remember  the  time  Jack  Bret cher’s  fa- 
ther died.  I dreaded  his  return  to  our 
class  because  I didn’t  know  what  to  say 
or  do.  But  I can  still  see  Pop  when  he 
first  met  Jack  after  his  father’s  death. 
I don’t  know  if  he  said  anything  at  all, 
but  I do  know  his  face  kind  of  crum- 
bled and  he  threw  one  of  those  big  arms 
around  Jack’s  shoulders  and  squeezed. 
It  was  years  later  when  I finally  ver- 
balized the  experience:  if  you  don’t  know 
the  words,  hum  the  tune. 

Did  I mention  that  Pop  had  no  chil- 
dren? Maybe  he  was  lonely  and  we 
provided  some  companionship  that  he 


THE  MENNONITE 


83 


needed.  Maybe  it’s  more  complicated 
than  that.  At  any  rate,  I don’t  think  the 
exchange — if  there  was  one — was  un- 
fair. 

Pop  knew  us  guys.  And  that  couldn’t 
possibly  happen  in  an  hour  or  less  on 
Sunday  morning.  It  happened  at  ball 
games  (the  Phillies  were  as  bad  then 
as  they  are  now)  when  the  score  got 
lopsided  ...  in  favor  of  the  visitors. 
It  happened  on  the  way  to  some  dis- 
trict meeting.  We  didn’t  go  to  the 
meetings  because  we  considered  them 
that  important.  We  went  because  the 
going  and  coming  were  fun.  That  De 
Soto  was  fun,  even  if  you  rode  up  front. 

We  had  a thing  going  at  Christmas. 
For  a while,  as  things  sometimes  go  in 
youth  groups,  we  had  quite  a crowd  of 
young  people,  at  least  for  the  size  of  the 
First  Church.  So  we  used  to  go  caroling 
on  Christmas  Eve — and  right  on  through 
until  the  early  morning  service  at  the 
church.  Five  in  the  Glorious  Rumble 
Seat  those  nights.  Because  Pop  went. 
We  assumed  he  would,  even  though  we 
knew  he  was  ancient.  When  we  got  back 
to  the  church  early,  he  sprawled  with 
us  on  the  floor  of  the  study,  waiting 
for  the  coffee  and  rolls  that  lured  peo- 
ple out  of  warm  beds  for  a church  serv- 
ice. 

I’m  not  sure.  Maybe  it  was  a kind  of 
agony  he  endured.  But  I really  think 
that  he  enjoyed  the  Christmas  Eve  bit. 
Maybe  I could  never  have  put  into  words 
that  Pop  was  pushing  himself,  but  I 
would  have  felt  it.  I know  I would.  I’m 
sure  part  of  the  reason  we  felt  com- 
fortable with  him  (that,  too,  I couldn’t 
have  verbalized)  was  that  he  was  com- 
fortable with  us.  Feeling,  again. 

Do  you  see  what  I’m  getting  at?  1 
remember  one  time  Pop  drove  me  home 
after  church  at  night.  (I  had  to  go. 
I played  this  stupid  banjo  I told  you 
about.)  We  sat  in  the  car  and  talked 
until  midnight.  The  next  day  my  mother 
(poor  Mom)  was  teed  off  in  her  mother- 
ly way. 

“How  come,”  she  asked,  “you  can 
talk  with  Pop  Hunsberger,  but  around 
here  we  never  know  what  you’re  doing 
or  thinking?” 

She  had  a point.  And  I’m  not  sure 
that  I can  answer  her  even  now.  Maybe 
— but  only  maybe — the  difference  was 
that  I felt  my  parents  were  under  a kind 
of  obligation  to  care  for  me.  Pop  Huns- 
berger wasn’t.  I mean,  I wasn’t  his  kid. 


He  didn’t  have  to  like  me.  But  he  did. 

Don’t  take  offense,  Mom.  I’m  only 
saying  that  it  was  good  to  know  that 
somebody,  in  addition  to  my  parents, 
felt  I was  okay. 

Years  later,  when  Pop  had  remarried 
and  I had  gone  from  a pastorate  to  an 
assignment  in  Christian  education  in 
Newton,  he  continued  to  visit  me  almost 
every  year. 

Why  are  we  such  unthinking  pro- 
crastinators sometimes?  I don’t  believe 
I ever  really  thanked  Pop  for  what  he 
was  to  me  and  (is  there  a line  between?) 
what  he  did  for  me? 

Last  spring  I learned  he  was  sick  and 
not  expected  to  recover.  I got  his  tele- 
phone number  (Miami  Beach,  Florida), 
put  it  on  my  desk,  and  told  myself 
that  I had  to  call  and  talk  to  him  again. 

Why  didn’t  I?  Maybe  because  with 
all  our  talk,  both  Pop  and  I were  just  a 
little  uptight  about  putting  feelings  into 
words.  Maybe  if,  by  telephone,  you  could 
put  an  arm  around  a guy’s  shoulders  and 
squeeze  ...  I don’t  know.  Anyway,  I 
never  called.  The  number  still  lies  on 
my  desk  although  sometimes,  it  gets  lost 
under  a lot  of  correspondence  from  peo- 
ple who  write  and  ask  if  I can  conduct 
a workshop  to  help  train  their  Sunday 
school  teachers. 

When  Pop  was  teaching  us  kids,  I 
think  he  earned  his  living  candling  eggs. 
The  first  time  he  told  us,  I thought  he 
said  he  candied  eggs.  I still  don’t  know 
for  sure  what  it  meant.  I remember  that 
he  had  a thumbnail,  long,  broad,  and 
thick,  that  he  said  was  good  for  picking 
up  eggs.  There  were  a lot  of  other  things 
he’d  rather  be,  he  told  me.  But  now  I 
can’t  remember  what. 

When  he  was  eighty  or  more  and  liv- 
ing in  Miami  Beach,  Pop  was  operating 
a freight  elevator  in  the  Eden  Roc  (I 
think)  Hotel.  I remember  the  sparkle  in 
his  voice  when  he  told  me  that  there 
was  always  something  going  on  and 
that  he  met  a lot  of  people  and  that 
they  seemed  to  like  him.  And  I thought, 
sure,  and  you  liked  them,  I’ll  bet. 

If  Pop  had  been  well-educated  and 
trained  (notice  I didn’t  use  “intelligent” 
in  that  phrase),  I wonder  what  kind  of 
teacher  he  would  have  made.  Would  he 
have  become  so  sure  of  himself  that  he 
would  have  offered  the  pat  answers? 
Would  he  have  forgotten  that  the  de- 
cisions were,  indeed,  ours  to  make  and 
not  his?  I really  don’t  know.  I prefer  to 


hope,  at  any  rate,  that  the  education 
and  the  training  would  have  increased 
Pop’s  effectiveness  rather  than  dimin- 
ished it. 

As  I look  back  now,  I have  to  admit 
that  Pop  Hunsberger  was  responsible 
for  my  presence — for  good  or  evil — 
in  the  Christian  church  and,  more  par- 
ticularly, the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite  Church.  And  I’m  sure  that  our 
conversations  and  experiences  together 
have  done  more  to  shape  my  faith  than 
I know.  But  I can’t  remember  words. 
I don’t  know  what  he  said  to  me — if  he 
said  anything  at  all. 

Unless,  of  course,  it  was,  “It’s  your 
decision  to  make,  you  know.” 

What  a crummy  way  to  treat  a guy 
looking  for  help. 

I suppose  I’ve  been  trying  to  make 
you  feel  Pop  Hunsberger  as  the  beautiful 
man  I knew.  But  don’t  get  me  wrong. 
He  wasn’t  perfect.  He  knew  it.  And  we 
kids  knew  it.  That’s  part  of  what  made 
him  beautiful. 

The  other  part  I couldn’t  verbalize  as 
a kid,  either.  Not  too  long  ago  I read 
some  far-out  suggestions  for  improving 
public  education.  One  was  that  if  a 
teacher  wanted  to  return  to  his  or  her 
school  for  another  year  of  teaching, 
said  teacher  was  to  bring  evidence  he 
or  she  had  a loving  relationship  with  at 
least  one  other  human  being.  With  two, 
you  were  entitled  to  a raise. 

Pop  would  have  made  a fortune. 

Last  summer  Irving  “Pop”  Hunsber- 
ger died.  As  Kurt  Vonnegut  says:  so  it 
goes. 

The  telephone  number  was  lost  again 
somewhere  under  my  correspondence 
when  I got  the  news.  I cried  a little 
and  couldn’t  figure  out  if  it  was  for 
Pop  or  for  me.  I didn’t  see  that  it  could 
help  either  one  of  us. 

I didn’t  bother  looking  for  pat  an- 
swers. Instead  I spent  some  time  feeling 
some  of  the  things  I remembered  about 
Pop.  I finally  found  the  telephone  num- 
ber and  tore  it  up  and  dropped  it  in  the 
wastebasket. 

I went  out  and  had  a coke  by  myself. 
And  I thought,  Pop  might  have  liked 
that  little  touch  because  we  always  used 
to  stop  at  Margolis’  drugstore  after 
church  Sunday  evenings.  I was  afraid  it 
might  be  too  schmaltzy  when  a couple 
of  kids  came  in  and  sat  at  the  next  table. 
And  then  I thought,  no,  it’s  okay. 

And  it  was. 


THE  MENNON1TE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  ICans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
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84 


FEBRUARY  6,  1973 


\E\VS 

Individualized  approach  used  in  education 


Learning  centers  and  an  individualized 
approach  are  being  used  with  third-  and 
fourth-graders  in  Sunday  school  at  the 
Fairfield  Mennonite  Church,  Fairfield, 
Pennsylvania. 

Norma  Wood,  teacher  of  the  class,  re- 
ported putting  activities  suggested  in  the 
i curriculum  on  three-by-five-inch  cards. 
Each  child  worked  through  a pack  of 
cards,  sometimes  by  himself,  but  more 
often  he  or  she  would  choose  another 
person  to  work  with.  The  children,  study- 
ing the  theme,  “Who  am  I?”  explored 
taste,  smell,  sight,  hearing,  and  feeling, 
through  the  use  of  guessing  games  and 
reading  related  Bible  stories. 


“The  highlight  of  this  time  was  the 
production  of  a play  written  by  several 
of  the  class  members  and  acted  by  the 
class  as  a whole  for  the  rest  of  the 
Sunday  school,”  said  Ms.  Wood. 

“They  also  enjoy  using  the  tape  re- 
corder to  chant  Psalms  antiphonally.  One 
of  the  other  classes  is  working  on  a 
videotape  production.  Another  is  doing 
a ‘You  were  there’  journalistic  project 
from  their  work  with  the  Gospel  of 
Mark.” 

The  curriculum  in  use  is  part  of  the 
“Readiness  for  religion”  series,  edited 
by  Ronald  J.  Goldman  and  published 
in  Great  Britain.  Ms.  Wood  said  Mr. 


Goldman  argues,  in  relation  to  the  Brit- 
ish schools,  that  presenting  religious- 
theological  concepts  and  biblical  mate- 
rials can  be  detrimental  to  a child’s  reli- 
gious growth  if  it  is  not  done  carefully 
and  with  some  degree  of  consideration 
for  the  intellectual  development  proc- 
esses. 

Mr.  Goldman  has  tried  to  develop  a 
curriculum  with  religious  themes  and 
related  experiences  which  the  teacher 
can  provide  and  which  can  serve  as  a 
basis  on  which  to  build. 

Ms.  Wood  said  the  series  geared  for 
seven-  and  eight-year-olds  deals  with 
the  themes  “bread”  and  “sheep”  and 
includes  experiences  with  yeast  and 
dough,  field  trips  to  sheep  farms,  study, 
and  stories  about  shepherds  and  their 
life  styles.  These  experiences  lead  to  a 
growing  understanding  of  these  two 
metaphors  as  they  are  important  in  the 
Christian  faith. 

Ms.  Wood  said  students  had  had  a 
high  degree  of  interest  and  involvement, 
and  most  parents  have  been  enthusiastic. 
However,  the  short  span  of  time — fifty 
minutes — and  the  individual  approach 
present  limitations  in  keeping  up  with 
the  progress  of  each  child. 

Beginning  in  December,  four  chil- 
dren’s classes  were  experimenting  with 
this  approach  to  Sunday  school. 

Church  leaders  see  trends 
away  from  liberalism 

A four-day  conference  in  Chicago  for 
leaders  of  all  faiths,  titled  “Insearch,” 
ended  with  its  participants  concluding 
that  the  theological  and  social  liberalism 
that  dominated  the  decade  of  the  sixties 
has  run  its  course  and  is  giving  way  to 
an  emphasis  on  providing  meaning  for 
the  lives  of  individual  believers. 

The  conference  drew  100  registrants 
ranging  from  leaders  of  Jesus  People 
communes  to  top  executives  of  Method- 
ist, Catholic,  and  other  major  churches. 

Harvey  Cox  of  Harvard  University 
declared,  “The  traditional  liberal  ap- 
proach is  to  look  at  human  needs  and 
try  to  figure  out  how  to  meet  them.  Now 
we  must  ask  which  are  the  legitimate 
human  needs.” 


Gathering  up  his  flock 

Lesilie  Wooten,  pastor  of  the  Oak  Grove  Church  of  the  Nazarene  in  Decatur,  Illinois, 
uses  a horse-drawn  wagon  to  gather  children  for  Bible  school.  The  wagon  was  a gift 
to  the  pastor,  and  he  restored  it  with  the  aid  of  his  congregation.  Every  evening  the 
clergyman  rides  through  his  neighborhood  gathering  his  flock. 


THE  MENNONITE  85 


MCC  (Canada)  has  big  agenda,  lively  debate 


The  leaders  of  ten  national  and  provincial  Mennonite  conferences  and  the  mcc 
( Canada ) board  of  directors  met  in  Saskatoon’s  First  Mennonite  Church  in  January 
to  discuss  new  areas  in  which  they  might  be  able  to  cooperate.  Voluntary  service, 
native  ministries,  and  publications  headed  the  list  of  possibilities.  The  participants 
decided  that  they  wanted  to  meet  again  within  two  years. 


The  mcc  (Canada)  board  had  discus- 
sions on  capital  punishment,  amnesty 
for  United  States  war  resisters,  and  ecu- 
menical relations  on  its  annual  meeting 
agenda  this  year. 

In  a 1 Vi -day  meeting  that  most  board 
members  agreed  was  the  liveliest  in  the 
organization’s  eight-year  history,  they 
tackled  these  issues  with  vigor  and  yet 
usually  with  a keen  sensitivity  for  the 
people  who  held  other  points  of  view. 
The  intensive  discussions  and  the  en- 
suing decisions  did  not  seem  to  threaten 
the  organization’s  unity,  although  there 
were  some  moments  when  feelings  ran 
high. 

To  enliven  the  January  12-13  meeting 
in  Saskatoon  even  further,  they  threw 
in  decisions  to  reopen  the  Ottawa  office 
question  at  next  year’s  meeting,  to  send 
the  Canadian  Parliament  a letter  of 
gratitude  for  having  opposed  the  United 
States’s  bombings  in  Indochina,  to  sub- 
stantially enlarge  mcc’s  requests  for 
Canadian  Government  grants  through 
the  Canadian  International  Developmen- 
tal Agency,  and  to  become  the  affinity 
group  for  selected  Menno  Travel  Serv- 
ice tours. 

Another  concern  which  surfaced  sev- 
eral times  during  the  meeting  was  the 
feeling  that  the  executive  committee 
seemed  to  be  assuming  too  much  power. 
Although  the  board  gave  the  executive 
committee  and  the  staff  a vote  of  thanks 
early  in  the  meeting,  after  several  mem- 
bers had  suggested  that  some  of  the 
board’s  powers  had  been  usurped,  the 
discussion  turned  back  to  this  problem 
a number  of  times  later. 

In  his  closing  observations  and  medi- 
tation, Robert  S.  Kreider,  who  repre- 
sented the  international  mcc  board  at 
the  meeting,  said  with  tongue  in  cheek, 
“I  like  the  way  you  give  your  executive 
committee  authorization.  . . .You  have 
a unique  way  of  keeping  leadership  hum- 
ble, and  just  a little  bit  uneasy.” 

Through  the  adoption  of  several  rec- 
ommendations, the  board  reaffirmed  its 
intention  to  maintain  a strong  peace 
orientation.  The  members  were  reminded 
that  it  was  the  peace  issue  which  origin- 
ally drew  the  Mennonites  and  Brethren 
in  Christ  together  into  the  Historic  Peace 
Churches  of  Canada,  a national  organ- 
ization which  was  one  of  mcc  (Cana- 
da )’s  precursors. 

One  of  the  resolutions  approved  by 
the  board  urges  the  inclusion  of  broad 
conscientious  objector  provisions  in  the 


new  Canadian  constitution  on  which 
drafting  has  already  begun. 

It  was  also  agreed  that  Canadian  Par- 
liament should  be  sent  a letter  of  thanks 
for  its  recent  opposition  to  the  United 
States’  bombing  policy  in  Indochina. 
Some  members  had  misgivings,  however, 
about  the  Government’s  long  delay  in 
voicing  its  objections,  but  “better  late 
than  never,”  they  said. 

A resolution  on  amnesty  for  U.S. 
war  resisters,  drafted  specifically  for 
presentation  to  the  international  mcc’s 
annual  meeting  in  Leamington,  Ontario, 
the  following  week,  was  presented  to 
mcc  (Canada)  for  endorsement.  The  am- 
nesty statement  commends  the  Canadian 
Government  “for  its  open  policy  which 
permitted  young  men  of  conscience  to 
immigrate  and  to  pursue  their  lives  in 
freedom  and  peace.”  It  then  goes  on  to 
encourage  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment to  grant  universal  amnesty  to  non- 
cooperators with  the  Selective  Service 
System,  convicted  draft  offenders,  mili- 
tary deserters,  and  men  who  received 
less  than  honorable  discharges. 

The  statement  on  capital  punishment, 
approved  by  a vote  of  19  to  5,  will  be 
sent  to  all  members  of  Parliament  on  be- 
half of  the  members  of  the  board.  A 
debate  on  the  death  penalty  is  scheduled 
in  Parliament  this  winter. 

“Mennonites  have  a history,  from  our 
beginning,  of  objection  to  capital  pun- 
ishment,” says  the  five-page  document. 
“As  such  we  have  attempted  to  remain 


consistent  and  faithful  to  the  principles 
we  hold  as  correct.” 

The  board,  however,  recognized  the 
limitations  of  their  position  paper.  “Any 
statement  on  capital  punishment,”  they 
added,  “can  only  be  the  beginning  of 
the  church’s  concern  in  the  whole  area 
of  crime,  its  prevention,  the  treatment 
of  offenders,  the  police,  the  protection 
of  people,  and  peace  and  order  in  so- 
ciety, generally.” 

One  of  the  first  items  of  business  en- 
acted by  the  board  at  this  year’s  sessions 
was  the  decision  to  reopen  the  question 
of  establishing  an  office  in  Ottawa.  This 
recommendation  occurred  when  several 
board  members  suggested  that  the  exec- 
utive committee  had  erred  in  approving 
a research  project  on  the  Canadian  arms 
industry  and  national  defense  policy. 
Other  board  members  felt  that  the  de- 
cision, although  it  would  possibly  have 
benefited  from  a board  discussion,  was 
in  keeping  with  the  board’s  1972  deci- 
sion not  to  open  an  Ottawa  office  but  to 
engage  appropriate  individuals  in  Ottawa 
from  time  to  time  to  undertake  special 
assignments. 

In  view  of  the  efforts  to  curtail  even 
this  abbreviated  “listening  post”  ven- 
ture in  Ottawa,  some  board  members 
suggested  that  last  year’s  decision  con- 
cerning the  Ottawa  office  had  not  satis- 
factorily resolved  the  issue,  and  that 
the  whole  question  should  be  reopened. 

After  a motion  to  table  the  proposal 
was  narrowly  defeated,  the  board  voted 


86  FEBRUARY  6,  1973 


in  favor  of  the  following  resolution: 

“Moved  that  the  question  of  an  Otta- 
wa office  be  reopened  in  mcc  (Canada), 
and  that,  for  this  purpose,  the  pros  and 
cons  of  opening  an  office  be  heard  once 
again  at  the  next  annual  meeting  in  the 
form  of  short  papers  to  be  solicited  or 
volunteered  for  that  purpose,  and  that 
in  the  meantime  we  stand  by  the  deci- 
sion made  on  this  matter  at  the  last  an- 
nual meeting.” 

Another  issue  related  to  the  Canadian 
Government  was  the  decision  to  apply 
for  larger  grants  from  the  Canadian 
International  Development  Agency.  In 
1971  mcc  (Canada)  received  $129,000 
and  in  1972  it  got  $113,000  from  this 
source  for  projects  in  Paraguay,  Bots- 
wana, and  Bangladesh. 

After  a discussion  on  the  implications 
of  receiving  such  monies,  the  board  ap- 
proved acceptance  of  nonconstituency 
contributions  for  its  programming,  pro- 
vided that  they  meet  mcc’s  guidelines. 
These  guidelines,  among  other  things, 
stipulate  that  mcc  must  be  able  to  re- 
tain its  prerogatives  and  control,  that 
the  monies  have  no  strings  attached, 

I that  they  cover  a period  of  at  least  two 
years,  and  that  the  projects  for  which 
| they  are  used  be  designed  to  be  self- 
supporting  by  the  time  the  grants  are 
terminated. 

No  limits  were  established  for  the 
amounts  of  the  grants,  but  since  most 
of  the  funds  have  to  be  matched  by  con- 
tributions from  within  the  organization, 
the  arrangement  has  a built-in  ceiling. 
It  was  mentioned  during  the  discussion 
that  mcc  could  handle  as  much  as 
$1,000,000  a year  from  this  source.  This 
is  nine  times  more  than  it  has  received 
during  either  of  the  past  two  years. 

To  handle  the  extra  duties  that  the 
1 contacts  with  cida  and  the  overseas  proj- 
j ects  will  entail,  it  was  understood  that 
a member  would  soon  have  to  be  added 
to  the  mcc  (Canada)  staff. 

Menno  Travel  Service,  of  which  mcc 
i (Canada)  is  a stockholder,  during  the 
' past  year  asked  mcc  to  serve  as  an 
I affinity  group  for  a chartered  flight  they 
I were  planning  for  South  America.  The 
i executive  committee  agreed  on  a pro- 
visional basis,  but  asked  the  annual  meet- 
j ing  to  establish  a policy  for  this  type 
of  request.  Its  motion  on  this  subject 
I reads  as  follows : 

| “Mcc  (Canada)  recognizes  the  affinity 
group  service  as  a desirable  one,  but 
' the  approval  of  individual  affinity  groups 
. shall  be  quite  selective,  and  the  execu- 
• tive  committee  should  take  the  necessary 
| j steps  to  avoid  questionable  travel  activ- 


ity and  publicity  as  well  as  financial 
liability.  . . 

Some  of  the  members’  unhappiness 
with  mcc  (Canada) ’s  practice  of  sending 
observers  to  interchurch  meetings,  such 
as  the  Evangelical  Fellowship  of  Can- 
ada and  the  Canadian  Council  of 
Churches,  led  to  a discussion  on  the  is- 
sue of  mcc’s  relationship  to  other  agen- 
cies and  church  groups.  Because  the 
agenda  was  already  overcrowded,  the 
question  was  left  for  fuller  discussion  at 


Canadian  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in 
Christ  leaders  met  in  Saskatoon  with 
the  mcc  (Canada)  board  in  January. 
Their  biggest  decision  was  to  meet  again. 
Small  step?  Perhaps.  But  considering  that 
the  first  meeting  received  only  a luke- 
warm reception  from  many  conference 
leaders,  the  agreement  to  get  together 
again  can  be  viewed  as  a significant  step. 

The  meeting  with  the  leaders  was  the 
culmination  of  several  years  of  efforts 
by  mcc  (Canada)  to  get  broader  feed- 
back from  its  constituents  and  to  ex- 
plore further  ways  in  which  Mennonites 
could  cooperate,  even  if  not  through 
the  Mennonite  Central  Committee. 

The  initial  idea  of  a national  dele- 
gate conference  was  voted  down  by 
the  member  conferences  in  1971.  Mcc 
(Canada)  then  proposed  a meeting  with 
conference  leaders  as  an  alternative.  The 
leadership  consultation  was  held  January 
11-12,  immediately  preceding  mcc  (Can- 
ada)’s  annual  meeting  in  Saskatoon’s 
First  Mennonite  Church. 

Some  of  the  seventy  participants,  rep- 
resenting mcc  and  a dozen  national  and 
provincial  conferences,  fretted  at  first 
about  the  absence  of  a clear-cut  agenda 
for  the  meeting.  A few  wondered  pri- 
vately if  mcc  might  not  have  a hidden 
agenda  which  they  would  table  once 
the  meeting  began.  But  there  was  no 
hidden  agenda. 

Newton  Gingrich,  mcc  (Canada) 
chairman  and  the  moderator  of  the 
meeting  pointed  out  that  the  exploratory 
process  was  an  important  element  of 
the  consultation,  and  that  an  agenda 
which  was  too  detailed  would  hinder 
this  objective. 

The  participating  groups  had  each 
prepared  written  reports  in  advance  de- 
scribing briefly  the  programs  in  which 
they  are  involved.  A summary  of  these 
reports  showed  that  four  or  more  groups 
are  involved  in  home  and  overseas  mis- 
sions, radio  broadcasting,  voluntary  serv- 


a future  meeting.  But  for  the  time  being, 
the  executive  committee  was  authorized 
to  appoint  observers  to  various  inter- 
church bodies  which  invite  such  partici- 
pation. 

Mcc  (Canada)’s  income  in  1972  far 
exceeded  its  budget.  Program  expendi- 
tures totalled  $1,460,000.  Of  this  amount, 
$662,000  was  covered  by  cash  contribu- 
tions from  the  member  churches.  Larry 
Kehler 


ice,  native  ministries,  community  devel- 
opment services,  and  in  the  operation 
of  educational  institutions. 

Inter-Mennonite  cooperation,  although 
spotty  beyond  the  groups’  involvement 
in  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee,  is 
happening  in  the  following  fields:  men- 
tal health,  radio  and  television  broad- 
casting, student  services,  education,  pub- 
lications, evangelism,  and  missions. 

Activities  which  were  highlighted  as 
seeming  to  be  ripe  for  greater  inter- 
Mennonite  cooperation  at  this  time  were 
voluntary  service,  the  ministry  to  Can- 
ada’s native  peoples,  and  the  publica- 
tion of  a paper. 

Several  participants  noted  the  appar- 
ent poor  stewardship  of  each  group’s 
having  its  own  voluntary  service  pro- 
gram. The  duplication  in  administration, 
travel,  and  recruitment  was  cited  as  an 
example  of  the  misuse  of  funds  and 
energies.  Other  participants,  however, 
felt  that  the  variety  of  VS  programs 
which  are  available  enhances  recruit- 
ment. 

On  another  matter,  one  of  the  small 
discussion  groups  at  the  consultation 
called  on  mcc  (Canada)  to  provide 
opportunities  for  the  various  confer- 
ences involved  in  ministries  to  Canada’s 
native  peoples  to  get  together  to  share 
the  insights  which  each  of  them  has 
gained  through  its  experiences. 

Another  of  the  small  groups  presented 
a resolution  asking  mcc  (Canada)  to 
convene  a meeting  of  editors  and  re- 
lated administrators  “to  consider  ways 
and  means  of  realizing  greater  economy, 
efficiency,  and  effectiveness”  in  the  con- 
ferences’ various  publications. 

Mcc  (Canada)  was  also  asked  by  the 
people  at  the  consultation  to  convene 
a meeting  with  conference  representa- 
tives to  plan  a second  meeting  of  con- 
ference leaders.  Larry  Kehler 


Conference  leaders  consult 


THE  MENNONITE 


87 


Congressmen  urged  to  end  Vietnam  war 


About  forty-five  Mennonites  and  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  gathered  with  2,300  peace 
advocates  in  Washington,  D.C.,  January 
3 and  4,  to  petition  congressmen  to  ter- 
minate funds  for  military  operations  in 
Vietnam  unless  a negotiated  peace  settle- 
ment is  reached  by  the  end  of  January. 

Motivated  by  the  failure  of  peace  ne- 
gotiations and  the  sudden  heavy  bomb- 
ing of  Hanoi  in  December,  the  Menno- 
nites responded  to  an  invitation  to  at- 
tend a “Religious  convocation  and  con- 
gressional visitation  for  peace”  in  Wash- 
ington for  people  who  felt  they  could  no 
longer  be  silent  about  the  war. 

A pastoral  letter  to  the  religious  com- 
munities of  America,  signed  by  fifty- 
eight  religious  leaders  from  many  de- 
nominations including  John  H.  Yoder, 
president  of  Goshen  Biblical  Seminary, 
and  John  E.  Lapp,  pastor  of  the  Lans- 
dale  (Pa.)  Mennonite  Church,  explained 
the  basis  for  the  Washington  gathering. 
“As  Americans  who  earnestly  desire  the 
renewal  of  the  land  we  love,  we  must 
reluctantly  accuse  our  government  of 
aborting  the  possibility  and  betraying 
the  duty  of  peace.  . . . The  war  must  be 
ended.  As  the  historic  peace  groups  have 
tirelessly  proclaimed,  ‘There  is  no  way 
to  peace.  Peace  is  the  way.’  ” 

The  convocation  participants,  over- 
flowing the  pews  and  packed  into  the 
balconies  of  the  New  York  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church,  were  an  unusual 
group.  Forty-five  percent  of  the  regis- 


trants had  never  before  participated  in 
peace  actions.  Sixty  percent  of  the  par- 
ticipants were  over  thirty  years  old. 
Gray-haired  and  long-haired  people  stood 
side  by  side.  In  the  Mennonite  delega- 
tion were  pastors,  church  members,  for- 
mer mcc  volunteers  who  had  served  in 
Vietnam,  and  students  active  in  college 
peace  groups.  Among  them  were  Gordon 
Dyck  from  Elkhart,  Gordon  and  Doro- 
thy Kaufman  and  Merlin  Schwartz  from 
Boston,  Stan  Pankratz  from  Mountain 
Lake,  Minnesota,  Alvin  Beachy  and  Har- 
old Regier  from  Newton,  and  Ted  and 
Gayle  Koontz  and  Robert  Miller  from 
Akron,  Pennsylvania. 

The  firmest  applause  of  the  evening 
was  given  to  Ramsey  Clark,  former 
United  States  Attorney  General,  who 
emphasized  that  any  peace  based  on  vio- 
lence and  segregation  will  fail.  “Peace 
with  honor  is  redundant,”  he  said.  “Peace 
is  honor.”  Philip  Berrigan,  William 
Sloane  Coffin,  Representative  Paul  Mc- 
Closky,  Jr.,  and  Michael  Allen  of  Yale 
Divinity  School  also  participated  in  the 
service. 

The  convocation  was  briefly  interrupt- 
ed when  Carl  Mclntire,  speaker  on  the 
Twentieth  Century  Reformation  Hour, 
took  over  the  podium.  William  Coffin 
placed  his  arm  over  Mr.  Mclntire’s 
shoulders  and  allowed  him  to  speak  for 
several  minutes.  Mclntire  stated  that  the 
United  States  should  continue  to  fight 
in  Vietnam.  He  asked  the  group  to  join 


him  in  singing  “God  bless  America.” 
The  audience  spontaneously  responded 
by  singing,  “We  shall  overcome.” 

In  spite  of  rain,  the  service  concluded 
with  a candlelight  march  to  the  White 
House. 

January  4 was  set  aside  for  congres- 
sional visitation.  Mennonite  participants 
met  with  Delton  Franz  from  the  Wash- 
ington office  of  mcc  Peace  Section,  who 
helped  to  set  up  appointments  and  co- 
ordinate visits  especially  with  congress- 
men who  are  wavering  on  the  war  issue. 
Some  Mennonites  joined  with  other  peo- 
ple from  their  home  states  for  group 
appointments. 

Although  the  group  was  not  overly 
optimistic  that  its  action  would  be  in- 
fluential, there  was  feeling  that  the  re- 
cent increased  bombing  of  North  Viet- 
nam will  move  more  congressmen  to 
press  for  an  end  to  the  war.  The  most 
appropriate  vehicle  for  a fund  cutoff 
amendment  appears  to  be  the  foreign 
aid  legislation.  Since  Congress  dead- 
locked in  1972  on  authorization  of  mil- 
itary aid,  programs  were  funded  on  an 
emergency  basis  until  February  28,  1973. 
By  that  date  Congress  must  approve 
some  sort  of  legislation  to  keep  the  for- 
eign aid  program  functioning.  If  the 
Congress  adds  a fund  cutoff  to  such 
legislation  and  the  President  vetoes  it, 
he  will  lose  one  billion  dollars  for  for- 
eign aid. 

Robert  Miller,  MCC  Asia  and  Middle 
East  director,  prepared  a written  expres- 
sion of  concern  appealing  to  members 
of  the  United  States  Congress  to  take 
the  initiative  in  bringing  the  Vietnam 
war  to  an  end. 

Several  congregations  and  Mennonite 
groups  sent  letters  that  were  distributed 
to  senators  and  representatives  during 
the  interviews.  A Mennonite  administra- 
tor suggested  that  the  Mennonites  pre- 
sent might  best  spend  their  efforts  at 
home  encouraging  community  leaders 
who  have  so  far  been  silent  to  register 
concern  to  their  representatives. 

Whether  or  not  such  actions  will  actu- 
ally help  to  bring  an  end  to  the  Vietnam 
war  is  unclear.  In  spite  of  uncertainty 
about  the  effectiveness  of  antiwar  efforts, 
the  pastoral  letter  inviting  people  to 
attend  the  Washington  convocation  called 
for  peace  action.  “To  those  who  say 
such  efforts  are  futile,  we  have  no  easy 
answer,  except  to  say  that  such  despair 
can  only  invite  and  confirm  the  national 
fate  we  fear.” 


Ted  Koontz  of  the  Peace  Section  office  in  Akron,  Pa.,  Robert  Miller,  mcc  director 
for  Asia  and  the  Middle  East,  Harold  Regier,  General  Conference  secretary  for 
peace  and  social  concerns,  and  Alvin  Beachy,  Western  District  representative,  were 
among  the  forty-five  Mennonites  and  Brethren  in  Christ  who  visited  congressmen 
on  January  4 to  urge  peace  in  Indochina. 


88 


FEBRUARY  6,  1973 


Offender  seminar  discusses  one 


Of  the  thirty  men  killed  at  the  Attica 
prison  in  New  York  in  1971,  five  of  the 
bodies  were  never  claimed  by  anyone. 

The  loneliness  of  many  people  in 
prisons,  said  Richard  Simmons,  execu- 
tive director  of  Job  Therapy,  Seattle, 
Washington,  is  one  of  the  reasons  for 
his  program  of  visitation  in  prisons  and 
follow-up  after  the  prisoners’  release. 

Mr.  Simmons  was  principal  speaker 
January  12-13  in  Newton,  Kansas,  at 
a regional  seminar  on  the  church  and 
the  offender,  jointly  sponsored  by  the 
Mennonite  Church,  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church,  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren Church,  and  Church  of  God  in 
Christ,  Mennonite. 

Partially  as  a result  of  the  seminar, 
the  committee  which  planned  the  semi- 
nar was  asked  by  participants  to  look 
into  starting  a Job  Therapy  program 
at  Kansas  State  Industrial  Reformatory 
in  Hutchinson. 

Mr.  Simmons  told  the  seminar  that, 
under  the  Job  Therapy  program  (also 
called  Man-to-Man,  or  M-2),  a layman 
is  matched  according  to  interest  with  an 
offender  about  one  year  before  his  re- 
lease. The  layman  visits  the  prisoner 
regularly  and  remains  a friend  after  his 
release,  helping  him  find  a job  and  re- 
adjust to  the  community. 

“As  much  happens  to  the  laymen  as 
to  the  offenders,”  Mr.  Simmons  said. 
“When  you  get  the  people  rotting  behind 
stained  glass  windows  together  with  the 
guys  rotting  with  loneliness  behind  bars, 
i that’s  an  explosive  situation. 

“I’m  not  a prison  reformer;  I’m  a 
church  reformer,”  he  continued.  “If  the 
church  did  what  it  is  supposed  to  do, 
there  would  be  no  need  for  80  percent 
of  the  prisons.” 

Mr.  Simmons  said  that  the  peniten- 
! tiary  in  his  home  state  of  Washington 
. would  hopefully  be  closed  in  two  years 
• as  programs  for  corrections  are  instituted 
; in  local  communities. 

- Job  Therapy  is  now  working  out  of 
about  thirty  U.S.  cities  and  in  British 

. Columbia,  with  about  2,000  volunteers. 

Ninety-five  people  from  Kansas,  Ne- 
..  braska,  and  Oklahoma  registered  for  the 
■ seminar,  with  about  250  at  the  public 
0 meeting  Friday  evening. 

; Several  of  the  participants  volunteered 
v to  spend  Friday  night  in  McPherson 

- County  and  Sedgwick  County  jails.  On 
jj  Saturday  one  group  visited  Kansas  State 
; Industrial  Reformatory  in  Hutchinson, 

and  another  visited  correctional  facili- 


Richard Simmons 


ties  in  Wichita — a halfway  house,  a 
storefront  probation  office  for  juveniles, 
the  juvenile  court,  the  county  jail,  and 
a residential  house  for  juveniles  on  pro- 
bation. 

A third  group  participated  in  a work- 
shop on  community-based  corrections 
at  Prairie  View  Mental  Health  Center, 
Newton.  This  group  set  up  priorities 
of  presentence  evaluation,  one-to-one 
visitation,  educational  programs  for  em- 
ployers of  ex-convicts  and  the  newly 
employed  ex-convicts,  group  counseling 
for  former  offenders,  and  the  setting  up 
of  alternatives  to  incarceration. 

One  suggestion  was  the  establishment 
of  a halfway  house  in  Newton  with  vol- 
untary service  workers  for  leadership 
and  a base  of  financial  support.  Half- 
way houses,  such  as  Stratford  House  in 
Wichita,  can  be  an  alternative  to  prisons 
as  well  as  a place  for  the  ex-prisoner  to 
reenter  society. 

The  seminar  agreed  to  a resolution 
asking  for  the  formation  or  support  of 
community  task  forces  to  develop  alter- 
natives to  incarceration  and  to  educate 
the  public  about  the  needs  of  offenders. 

Another  resolution  said:  We  have 
heard  the  call  to  accept  responsibility 
for  a system  of  corrections  that  destroys 
instead  of  redeems,  and  we  repent  of 
our  lack  of  concern  for  offenders;  we, 
too,  have  been  offenders.  We  seek  rec- 
onciliation with  the  men  and  women 
in  prison.  We  seek  alternatives  to  incar- 
ceration, taking  responsibility  for  offend- 
ers in  our  communities. 

Also  speaking  at  the  public  meeting 
was  Garry  Porter,  Wichita  city  com- 
missioner and  member  of  the  Kansas 
Council  on  Crime  and  Delinquency.  He 


i THE  MENNONITE  89 


-to-one  visiting 

outlined  the  provisions  of  new  Kansas 
legislation  which  will  sort  inmates  and 
make  better  use  of  volunteers. 

In  Wichita,  he  said,  work  release 
programs  are  being  expanded  to  include 
women,  halfway  houses  can  now  be  es- 
tablished in  residential  areas  without 
a change  in  zoning,  and  police  are  tak- 
ing human  relations  training  to  help 
them  solve  problems  rather  than  simply 
make  an  arrest. 

Pennsylvania  youth  give, 
receive  in  flood  area 

The  fifth  day  of  Christmas — December 
29 — became  a time  of  giving  and  re- 
ceiving for  the  youth  group  of  the  Church 
of  the  Good  Samaritans,  Holland,  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Church  member  Bob  Bonham  reported 
that  a busload  of  twenty  teen-agers  and 
six  adults  took  children’s  gifts  and  cook- 
books to  Nanticoke,  Pennsylvania,  in 
Pennsylvania’s  Wyoming  Valley,  where 
thousands  left  homeless  by  floods  last 
summer  are  living  in  government-estab- 
lished trailer  parks. 

The  Eastern  Pennsylvania  Mennonite 
Disaster  Service  Center  had  earlier  as- 
signed a specific  area  of  a trailer  park 
to  the  church.  But  the  youth  requested 
another  assignment  for  Christmas  gift 
distribution  as  well. 

Toys,  clothing,  food,  and  cookbooks 
were  given  in  this  area;  then  the  youth 
proceeded  to  the  church’s  assigned  sec- 
tion where  they  had  made  friends  on 
previous  visits.  There  they  distributed 
more  cookbooks  and  sang  carols. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  day,  as  the 
youth  were  getting  cold,  tired,  and  mud- 
dy, one  of  the  residents  brought  a gift 
to  the  youth  group — hot  chocolate  and 
cookies. 

“As  this  concludes  the  planned  proj- 
ects for  relief  programs  of  our  youth  to 
the  people  in  the  valley,  we  think  it  just 
might  be  that  some  lasting  contacts  have 
been  made  there,”  said  Mr.  Bonham. 


Conference  president  will  teach  in  Asia 


Henry  Poettcker  of  Winnipeg,  president 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  and  president  of  Canadian  Men- 
nonite Bible  College,  will  take  a year’s 
leave  of  absence  to  teach  Mennonite 
doctrine  and  peace  principles  in  Taiwan 
and  Japan. 

Mr.  Poettcker’s  acceptance  of  the 
assignment  was  announced  jointly  by  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  and 
the  college. 

During  his  year’s  sabbatical  from  the 
college,  Mr.  Poettcker  will  serve  under 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
teaching  at  both  of  the  Presbyterian 
seminaries  in  Taiwan  during  their  regu- 
lar school  year,  October  1973  to  June 
1974. 

From  July  1973  to  October  1973,  he 
will  conduct  seminars  and  workshops 
for  pastors  in  Japan. 

“The  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
is  pleased  to  have  a man  of  Dr.  Poet- 
tcker’s stature  to  go  to  Japan  and  Taiwan 
to  give  high  priority  to  Anabaptist  stud- 
ies and  concerns,”  said  Howard  Habeg- 
ger,  com  executive  secretary.  “This  is 


in  line  with  priority  four  of  our  Goals- 
Priorities-Strategy  study  last  June.” 

Mr.  Habegger  said  the  mission  and 
church  leaders  in  Taiwan  have  been 
asking  com  for  many  years  to  send 
someone  to  teach  at  the  Presbyterian 
seminaries,  which  most  Mennonite  young 
people  studying  for  church  service  at- 
tend. 

Mr.  Poettcker  will  be  a regular  mem- 
ber of  the  faculty  at  Taipei  and  Tai- 
nan, teaching  church  history  and  doc- 
trine and  possibly  a New  Testament 
course.  Some  of  his  classes  will  be  avail- 
able to  all  students;  a few  will  be  struc- 
tured primarily  for  Mennonite  students. 

Both  seminaries  are  under  national 
direction  and  are  enthusiastic  about  Mr. 
Poettcker’s  coming.  Mr.  Habegger  said. 

Mr.  Poettcker  will  teach  in  English, 
since  few  theological  books  are  avail- 
able in  Chinese. 

The  seminars  in  Japan  will  be  less 
structured,  and  further  details  will  be 
worked  out  with  the  church  in  Japan. 
Mr.  Poettcker  may  also  be  a resource 
person  for  camps  and  retreats. 


Mr.  Poettcker  will  be  accompanied 
to  Asia  by  his  wife,  Aganetha  Baergen 
Poettcker. 

Mr.  Poettcker,  born  in  Russia,  grad- 
uated from  high  school  in  Coaldale, 
Alberta.  He  attended  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren Bible  College  in  Winnipeg  for  one 
year  and  studied  two  summers  at  Gar- 
rett Biblical  Institute,  Evanston,  Illinois. 
He  holds  the  AB  degree  from  Bethel 
College,  North  Newton,  Kansas;  the  BD 
degree  from  Mennonite  Biblical  Semi- 
nary, then  in  Chicago;  and  the  ThD 
from  Princeton  Theological  Seminary, 
Princeton,  New  Jersey. 

He  has  taught  New  Testament  at 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College  since 
1954  and  became  president  of  the  college 
in  1959.  He  was  acting  dean  of  Bluffton 
College,  Ohio,  1965-66. 

Mr.  Poettcker  became  president  of 
the  General  Conference  in  1968,  after 
serving  for  six  years  as  vice-president. 
He  has  also  been  a member  of  the  con- 
ference’s Board  of  Education  and  Publi- 
cation and  vice-president  of  the  Confer- 
ence of  Mennonites  in  Canada. 


Students  wrestle  with  life-death  issues 


“Issues  of  life  and  death”  were  dis- 
cussed by  thirty  participants  from  Can- 
ada and  the  United  States  at  the  Men- 
nonite Graduate  Fellowship  December 
28-30  in  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 

Graduate  students  in  the  fields  of 
medicine,  biology,  theology,  sociology, 
and  other  disciplines  lived  the  three  days 
in  the  Southwest  Community  Center, 
preparing  their  own  meals,  sleeping  on 
hard  floors,  listening  to  four  major  pres- 
entations, and  debating  the  issues  in 
discussion  groups. 

Ted  and  Gayle  Koontz  opened  the 
conference  by  providing  ethical  tools  for 
particular  issues.  They  clarified  levels 
on  which  moral  issues  could  be  dis- 
cussed, ranging  from  the  gut  emotional 
level  to  highly  sophisticated  theological 
levels.  Various  ethical  theories  were  ex- 
plained and  key  questions  arising  from 
Anabaptist-Mennonite  ways  of  doing  eth- 
ics were  focused,  such  as  implications 
from  the  role  of  the  Bible,  the  pacifist 
logic  on  war,  the  relation  of  church  and 
state,  and  the  role  of  Christian  commu- 
nity in  ethical  decisions. 

Ted  Koontz  is  a graduate  of  Harvard 
Divinity  School  and  associate  executive 
secretary  of  mcc  Peace  Section.  Gayle 


Koontz  attends  Lancaster  Theological 
Seminary  and  serves  as  news  editor  for 
mcc  Information  Services. 

“Population  control”  was  examined 
by  Calvin  Redekop,  professor  of  sociol- 
ogy at  Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Indiana. 
Quoting  Paul  Ehrlich  (“Whatever  your 
cause,  it  is  a lost  cause  without  popula- 
tion control”),  Mr.  Redekop  tied  many 
social  problems  to  an  increasing  popula- 
tion size.  A solution  to  overpopulation 
requires  a global  perspective  and  a glo- 
bal solution.  Because  individuals  and 
nations  are  primarily  guided  by  a prin- 
ciple of  self-interest,  a solution  will  come 
only  when  world  conditions  get  so  des- 
perate that  individuals  and  nations  see 
it  in  their  self-interest  to  change  their 
level  of  consumption  and  their  rate  of 
population  growth. 

Vern  Ratzlaff,  in  his  presentation  on 
“Abortion,”  took  exception  to  the  in- 
creasing justification  of  abortion  as  an 
acceptable  method  of  birth  control. 
Examining  the  arguments  frequently 
used  to  support  the  “abortion  on  de- 
mand position,”  Mr.  Ratzlaff  argued  that 
they  ignored  many  important  points.  In 
the  abortion  discussion,  many  partici- 
pants argued  for  greater  acceptance  of 


abortion.  Mr.  Ratzlaff  teaches  in  the 
Bible  department  at  Mennonite  Brethren 
Bible  College,  Winnipeg. 

The  final  presentation,  “Euthanasia 
and  prolonged  life”  was  given  by  Mari- 
lynn  Strayer,  a psychiatrist  working  part- 
time  at  a free  clinic  and  teaching  part- 
time  at  Ohio  State  University.  The  posi- 
tions both  of  those  advocating  “the 
right  to  die”  unmolested  with  meddle- 
some therapy  and  costly  medical  bills 
and  of  those  urging  the  use  of  every 
available  resource  to  keep  an  individual 
alive  at  all  costs  were  summarized  by 
Ms.  Strayer.  Eighty-seven  percent  of 
leading  American  physicians  reportedly 
favor  a negative  euthanasia  policy  in 
which  available  therapies  that  could  pro- 
long life  are  omitted  in  certain  circum- 
stances. About  15  percent  favor  a posi- 
tive euthanasia  policy  that  would  permit 
procedures  that  would  promote  death 
sooner  than  without  such  procedures. 

Mennonite  Graduate  Fellowship  was 
organized  to  enable  Mennonite  graduate 
students  representing  different  disciplines 
to  get  together  and  discuss  various  issues. 

Participants  at  Lincoln  selected  a 
steering  committee  and  next  year’s  ses- 
sion tentatively  will  be  held  in  Winnipeg. 


90 


FEBRUARY  6,  1973 


RECORD 


Workers 


LaVernae  Dick  of  Dallas,  Ore.,  will 
become  the  new  editor  of  the  Pacific 
District  messenger,  effective  with  the 
March  27  issue.  She  replaces  Minnie 
Franz  of  Ritzville,  Wash.,  who  offered 
her  resignation  last  June.  Mrs.  Dick 
has  written  Sunday  school  quarterlies 
iand  book  reviews  and  has  published  ar- 
ticles in  such  magazines  a s The  Menno- 
nite, Gospel  herald,  Christian  living,  and 
On  the  line. 

LaVerne  Klassen,  Holfnungsfelder 
Church,  Glenbush,  Sask.,  began  volun- 
tary service  with  the  General  Conference 
Jan.  8 in  Phoenix,  Ariz.  He  will  work 
for  six  months  to  one  year  as  a construc- 
tion worker  for  the  Friendship  Retire- 
ment Center.  LaVerne  has  attended 
Swift  Current  Bible  Institute,  Swift  Cur- 
rent, Sask.,  and  is  the  son  of  Edgar  and 
Helen  Klassen. 

Daniel  N.  and  Kathryn  J.  Pauls  have 
begun  a two-year  term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Sahiwal,  Pakistan.  Daniel  will  be 
working  as  a physician  and  Kathryn  as 
a nurse.  Daniel  received  a BA  in  chem- 
istry from  Sterling  College  and  an  MD 
degree  from  the  University  of  Kansas. 
Kathryn  attended  Sterling  College  and 
received  an  RN  from  the  University 
of  Kansas  School  of  Nursing.  Daniel  is 
the  son  of  Jacob  T.  and  Helena  Pauls, 
Inman,  Kans.  Kathryn  is  the  daughter 
of  Orval  and  Lucille  Hamm,  Sahiwal, 
Pakistan.  Kathryn  is  a member  of  the 
Sterling  United  Presbyterian  Church  and 
Daniel  is  a member  of  the  Bethel  Church, 
Inman. 

Doris  Penner,  Wheatley,  Ont.,  has  be- 
gun a one-year  term  of  service  with  mcc 
in  Hopedale,  Labrador.  She  is  teaching. 
Doris  attended  the  University  of  Water- 


Klassen 


loo  and  the  University  of  Windsor  and 
received  a teaching  certificate.  She  is  the 
daughter  of  Edward  and  Mary  Penner 
and  a member  of  the  Leamington  Unit- 
ed Mennonite  Church,  Leamington,  Ont. 

Helena  Peters,  Swift  Current,  Sask., 
has  begun  a two-year  term  of  service 
with  mcc  in  Appalachia.  She  will  likely 
be  involved  with  medical  care  near  Har- 
lan, Ky.  Helena  received  a nursing  de- 
gree from  the  Regina  General  Hospital 
School  of  Nursing,  Regina,  Sask.  She 
also  attended  Swift  Current  Bible  In- 
stitute. Helena  is  the  daughter  of  David 
H.  and  Helena  Peters,  Swift  Current, 
and  a member  of  the  Zion  Mennonite 
Church,  Swift  Current. 

Kristine  Sue  Thiessen,  First  Church, 
Hutchinson,  Kans.,  began  a year  of  vol- 
untary service  Jan.  4 in  Phoenix,  Ariz., 
with  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  She  is  working  as  a Head  Start 
teacher’s  helper.  Kristine  has  attended 
Hutchinson  Community  Junior  College 
and  is  the  daughter  of  Allen  and  Sophie 
Thiessen. 

Carl  Wacker,  Mendota,  111.,  joined  the 
Hutchinson,  Kans.,  voluntary  service  unit 
Jan.  13.  He  will  serve  part-time  as  an 
ambulance  driver  and  part-time  as  a day 
care  worker  at  Friendship  Day  Care 
Center,  sponsored  by  the  First  Church, 
Hutchinson.  Mr.  Wacker’s  term  of  serv- 
ice will  end  in  September  1974.  He  has 
attended  Grinnell  College,  Grinnell, 
Iowa,  and  is  a member  of  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  Mendota.  His  parents  are 
John  and  Joanne  Wacker. 

Philip  Yost,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  has  begun 
a two-year  term  of  service  with  mcc 
in  Cincinnati.  He  will  be  tutoring  in  an 
adult  education  program.  Phil  received 
a BA  in  philosophy  from  Earlham  Col- 
lege, Richmond,  Ind.  He  is  the  son  of 
Burton  and  Elnore  Yost,  Bluffton,  and 
a member  of  the  First  Church,  Bluffton. 


Wacker  Yost 


Calendar 


March  18-20  — Intercollegiate  Peace 
Fellowship  conference,  United  Nations; 
“Third  world  development  and  exploita- 
tion.” 

Northern 

March  22-24 — Schmeckfest,  Freeman, 
Junior  College,  Freeman,  S.D. 

Western 

Feb.  11-13  — Bible  Week  lectures, 
Bethel  College;  Krister  Stendahl,  speaker. 

Feb.  25-26 — “Human  conflict  and  the 
quest  for  peace”  lectures.  Bethel  Col- 
lege; John  Swomley,  speaker. 

March  26-30  — “Project:  Teach” 

workshop  for  church  school  teachers, 
Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kans. 


1 

UJ 

THE  OLD 

53 

WORLD 

and  to  imaginative 
North  American 
vacationers  it  is 

E 

The  New  World 

SEE  IT  MTS 

u 

STYLE! 

QE 

UJ 

July  11-16, 1973 

s 

gag 

Hosted  by  Martin 

Durksen 

5 

Q 

MTS  style  ...  a total 

C/D 

experience! 

MENNO 

TRAVEL  SERVICE 

2 offices  to  serve  you 
851  Henderson  Hwy. 
Winnipeg  15,  Man. 

32060  S.  Fraser  Way 
Clearbrook,  B.C. 

■ THE  MENNONITE  91 


REVIEW 

The  Christian  and  warfare 


The  Christian  and  warfare,  by  Jacob  J. 
Enz  ( Herald  Press,  Scottdale,  Pennsyl- 
vania, 1972,  93  pp.,  $1.95)  is  reviewed 
by  Waldemar  Janzen,  professor  of  Old 
Testament  at  the  Canadian  Mennonite 
Bible  College. 

I first  turned  to  this  slender  volume 
during  a sleepless  night  immediately  af- 
ter the  disaster  at  the  Olympics  in  Mu- 
nich. Troubled  in  spirit  and  torn  between 
feelings  of  hate  and  futility,  I started 
to  read,  and  as  I continued,  my  feelings 
subsided  and  the  Christian  road  seemed 
clear  once  more.  How  does  one  live 
with  oneself  and  with  others  in  a world 
of  enmity  and  hate?  The  answer  which 
Jacob  J.  Enz  gives  to  this  question  is 
not  his  own,  of  course;  he  dips  deeply 
into  the  Scriptures  and  finds  there  what 
we  need.  But  he  does  this  with  heart  and 
mind  at  the  same  time,  thinking  and 
feeling  his  way  through  the  Old  Testa- 
ment towards  its  completion  and  ful- 
fillment in  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

In  seven  short  chapters  with  headings 
drawn  from  “converted”  military  termi- 
nology (e.g.,  Ch.  4:  “Caught  in  the  dead- 
ly cross  fire”),  Enz  traces  “The  roots  of 
pacifism  in  the  Old  Testament”  (sub- 
title of  the  book).  Without  making  that 
Testament  a pacifist  book,  he  shows  how 
it  prepares  the  way  for  the  peaceful 
messiahship  of  Jesus  in  almost  every  one 
of  its  major  themes.  The  book  title, 
therefore,  seems  restrictive;  what  we 
have  here  is  not  a specialized  treatise 
on  pacifism,  but  a comprehensive,  if 
brief,  reading  of  the  whole  Old  Testa- 
ment by  one  who  has  embraced  the 
peace  of  Jesus  Christ  and  has  a clear 
eye  to  see  how  this  peace  was  prepared 
in  God’s  leading  of  Israel. 

The  book  is  simple  and  speaks  im- 
mediately to  every  Christian,  and  yet 
the  scholar  in  the  field  will  recognize  a 
great  breadth  of  learning  and  a pro- 
found scholarly  integrity  behind  almost 
every  apparently  simple  statement.  That 
the  content  of  the  book  was  first  de- 
livered as  the  Menno  Simons  Lectures 
in  1957  does  not  at  all  detract  from  its 
relevance;  one  regrets  only  that  it  has 
been  withheld  from  a wider  public  for 
so  long!  Though  sound  scholarship  per- 
vades the  pages,  there  is  nothing  tech- 


nical that  could  detract  from  its  im- 
pact. Similarly,  no  structure  attracts  at- 
tention to  itself,  even  though  the  mate- 
rial is  presented  in  a subtly  rigorous 
order. 

The  high  points  of  the  book  are  those 
brief  sentences  and  metaphors — found 
on  almost  every  page — where  the  general 
argumentation  reaches  a shorthand-like 
density  of  remarkable  literary  power. 
The  “word-deed  of  love”  forms  a re- 
curring motif.  . . The  great  defeat  of 
Egypt  which  reverberates  through  the 
Bible  was  a weaponless  victory!”  “The 
very  name  of  New  Testament  (New 
Covenant)  is  drawn  from  the  book  of 
that  ‘traitor’  who  suggested  capitulation 
without  resistance — Jeremiah!”  That  is 
the  supposedly  so  warlike  Old  Testament! 

Of  the  New,  Enz  says:  “This  (espe- 
cially Mark  1:15-17)  was  indeed  a 
strange  call  to  arms,  but  make  no  mis- 
take; it  was  a call  to  arms!”  Not  that 
Enz  wants  to  separate  the  Testaments 
unduly,  and  thus  fall  into  “the  heresy 
of  testamental  Christianity.”  “The  first 
page  of  the  New  Testament  is  a perfect 
illustration  of  how  we  are  to  think  of 
Christ.  . . . Seventeen  verses  of  gene- 
alogy show  his  deep  roots  in  humanity” 
(and  in  the  Old  Testament).  Enz  speaks 
of  “our  various  national  lonelinesses,” 
of  the  “sin-neutralized  incarnation  of 
God  in  everyone,”  of  “the  God  of  the 
second  mile,”  of  “carrying  about  in  our 
very  body  churches,  meeting  places  be- 
tween man  and  God.” 

Particularly  impressive  is  his  treat- 
ment of  a generally  neglected  theme: 
“Every  great  cause  must  have  in  addi- 
tion to  its  psychological,  sociological, 
historical,  and  personal  awareness  a real- 
ly penetrating  poetic  awareness.”  He  pro- 
ceeds to  demonstrate  the  “conversion” 
of  Old  Testament  poetry  in  the  New 
Testament.  And  he  exhorts  the  Chris- 
tian to  that  “self-sacrificing  service  that 
throws  itself  upon  destructive  evil.” 

The  book  is  not  above  criticism,  of 
course.  I cannot  quite  accept  the  sig- 
nificance which  Enz  (with  Cullmann, 
whom  he  cites)  attributes  to  the — after 
all,  somewhat  accidental?  — acceptance 
of  the  Christian  time  division  into  b.c./ 
a.d.  by  society  in  general. 

I feel,  further,  that  certain  more  na- 


tion-centered themes  and  institutions  in 
the  Old  Testament — such  as  the  wars 
commanded  by  God,  or  the  Davidic 
monarch — are  more  central  to  the  Old 
Testament  than  to  allow  one  to  leave 
them  aside  or  treat  them  peripherally 
as  that  in  the  Old  Covenant  which  sim- 
ply has  to  be  left  behind. 

And  that  brings  me  to  my  main  criti- 
cism: in  spite  of  the  author’s  repeated 
rejection  of  the  “testamental  heresy,” 
a certain  “dispensationalism”  (in  the 
nontechnical  sense  of  the  word)  per- 
vades the  book,  i.e.,  a characterization 
of  the  Old  Testament  as  a book  that 
meets  man  on  the  lower  level  of  his  own 
“double-mindedness”  and  acts  as  a 
schoolmaster  that  leads  him  to  a higher 
level  of  revelation  in  Christ.  I would 
prefer  to  characterize  the  relationship 
between  the  Testaments  in  terms  of 
“limited”  and  “comprehensive,”  rather 
than  of  “lower”  and  “higher”  (my 
terms),  though  I do  agree  with  Enz’s 
summarizing  statement  that  “the  victory 
of  implicit  theological  pacifism  in  the 
Old  Testament  prepares  for  the  incon- 
trovertibly  explicit  pacifism  in  the  New 
Testament.” 

The  many  former  students  of  Profes- 
sor Enz — of  whom  I am  one — will  rec- 
ognize in  this  little  but  weighty  volume 
many  of  the  personal  qualities  admired 
in  one  of  our  church’s  outstanding  Bible 
teachers.  Enz  writes  and  publishes  spar- 
ingly, just  as  he  speaks  sparingly,  but 
his  words,  whether  spoken  or  written, 
have  not  suffered  the  inflation  of  lan- 
guage so  characteristic  of  our  time. 
The  authority  of  the  weighty  word  will 
be  felt  by  every  reader  who  turns  to  this 
book.  May  there  be  many  who  do! 


Published 


J.  Wilhelm  Dyck,  a faculty  member  of 
the  University  of  Waterloo,  in  Ontario, 
is  the  author  of  a book  on  the  famous 
Russian  writer  Boris  Pasternak,  the  au- 
thor of  Doctor  Zhivago.  The  book,  Boris 
Pasternak,  appeared  in  Twayne’s  World 
Author  Series  by  Twayne  Publishers, 
New  York. 


92 


FEBRUARY  6,  1973 


LETTERS 


The  Christmas  issue 

Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  The  cover  by  the 
Jgandan  artist  (December  19  issue) 
s a sensitive  and  strong  expression  of 
he  meaning,  universal,  of  the  Nativity, 
rhe  feature,  “Christmas  encounters,”  is 
Emulating  and  provocative.  I confess 
o only  now  having  time  and  serenity 
o sit  down  and  enjoy  this  issue — but 
Christmas  is  a spirit  as  well  as  a time, 
sn’t  it,  and  much  you  have  put  into 
his  issue  of  your  magazine  seems  to  me 
o be  of  lasting,  timeless  value.  Elizabeth 
dearie  Lamb,  4 Washington  Square  Vil- 
age,  New  York,  N.Y.  10012.  Jan.  6 

Ashamed  of  innkeeper’s  talk 

Dear  Editor:  After  reading  the  opening 
lages  of  your  version  of  Christmas  (De- 
:ember  19  issue)  I was  sure  that  I didn’t 
vant  your  paper  anymore.  The  wording 
/ou  use  in  the  part  of  the  innkeeper  I 
vould  be  ashamed  to  have  a non-Chris- 
ian  read,  and  coming  from  a paper 
idited  by  Mennonites. 

I never  have  been  thrilled  over  your 
japer,  so  please  cancel  my  subscription. 

. . Wilmer  Nickel,  RR2,  Lennox,  S.D. 
57039.  Dec.  19 

Strip  mine  legislation 

i Dear  Editor:  I have  more  than  a pass- 
ing interest  in  the  article,  “The  death 
af  a mountain”  (December  12  issue). 
That  mountain  had  to  die  for  the  same 
reason  that  women  and  children  are  con- 
tinuing to  die  in  Vietnam;  for  the  same 
reason  that  the  President  was  given 
‘four  more  years.”  It  is  perhaps  best 
expressed  in  a recent  cartoon  in  our  dai- 
ly paper  where  one  character  says  to 
another,  “Doesn’t  it  bother  you  that 
nothing  bothers  you?” 

I was  the  first  witness  to  testify  in 
:avor  of  effective  strip  mine  legislation 
, more  than  two  decades  ago.  There  was 
aractically  no  one  in  the  room,  includ- 
f mg  only  a few  of  the  government  com- 
. mittee.  I was  told  by  the  legal  counsel 
s af  a large  mining  company  to  “go  home 
y and  stick  to  the  gospel,  and  mind  your 
j own business.” 

<j  In  1965  I was  on  hand  for  a repeat 
performance  with  only  a little  more  in- 
terest. The  opposition  was  working 


around  the  clock.  Little  was  accom- 
plished. Governor  Rhoades  couldn’t  be 
bothered. 

When  the  present  law  was  enacted  it 
was  different.  Fifteen  minutes  before  the 
hearing  began  in  which  I appeared  there 
was  hardly  standing  room.  A good  new 
law  was  passed  because  the  public  seemed 
to  care. 

The  real  test  is  still  ahead — enforcing 
the  law.  So  far  it  hasn’t  gone  too  well. 
The  mining  interests  still  are  working 
around  the  clock  to  sabotage  enforce- 
ment. They  have  money  to  no  end. 

Unfortunately  many  of  the  environmen- 
talists create  more  heat  than  light.  Those 
who  are  trying  to  enforce  the  law  do 
not  command  the  respect  of  the  opera- 
tors, and  not  entirely  without  cause. 

We  still  have  a long  way  to  go  in 
trying  to  understand  what  it  really  means 
“to  dress  and  to  keep”  this  spaceship 
Earth.  William  H.  Stauffer,  R.D.  1, 
Stonecreek,  Ohio  43840.  Jan.  8 

Nationwide  prayer 

Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  Recently  on  the 
news  we  heard  that  some  religious  lead- 
ers had  gathered  in  Washington,  D.C., 
to  protest  for  peace.  Yet  we  have  never 
heard  that  these  leaders  have  called  for 
a nationwide  prayer  season  for  our  Pres- 
ident and  success  in  the  negotiations. 

If  all  the  Christians  who  believe  in 
the  power  of  prayer  were  to  join  in  seri- 
ous prayers  for  peace  without  ceasing, 
it  would  come  to  pass  in  God’s  time. 
And  I believe  it  would  be  now.  If  our 
President  knew  that  all  Christians  and 
Jews  were  praying  for  him  and  peace, 
it  would  certainly  have  a better  effect 
on  his  peace  efforts  than  demonstrations. 
Besides,  a nationwide  prayer  season  for 
both  the  President  and  the  North  Viet- 
namese could  not  be  taken  by  them  as 
an  expression  of  support  for  their  cause. 

Why  should  the  North  Vietnamese 
seriously  negotiate  if  the  Christian  lead- 
ers, 2,000  strong,  are  protesting  for  the 
U.S.  to  withdraw  without  any  strings 
attached.  Another  reason  that  the  nego- 
tiations cannot  be  on  an  equal  basis  is 
that  the  senators  have  promised  to  cut 
funds,  thus  forcing  the  U.S.  to  get  out 
regardless  of  any  negotiations. 

I am  sure  many  Christians  are  praying 
for  the  end  of  the  useless  war,  but  now 


during  the  negotiations  would  be  a good 
time  for  all  Christians  and  Jews  to  unite 
nationally  in  prayer  for  an  end  to  the 
war. 

In  Mark  11:24  we  read,  “Listen  to 
me!  You  can  pray  for  anything,  and  if 
you  believe,  you  have  it,  it’s  yours.” 
Samuel  Baergen,  121  South  Charles, 
Wichita,  Kans.  67123.  Jan.  8 

As  for  my  house 

Dear  People:  The  disruption  and  de- 
struction of  human  life  going  on  in  Viet- 
nam is  beyond  my  comprehension.  But 
what  little  I do  understand  is  overwhelm- 
ingly depressing  to  me.  I can  hardly 
stomach  the  fact  that  even  now,  more 
and  more  bombers  are  being  sent  to 
disrupt  and  kill  more  lives.  I mourn.  I 
mourn  because  more  orphans,  more  pris- 
oners of  war,  more  dead,  more  missing 
in  action  are  being  created  each  hour. 

What  can  a God-fearing  American 
do?  I cry  out  in  frustration.  Send  tele- 
grams? Letters  to  government  officials? 
Demonstrate?  I’ve  done  that,  and  won- 
dered if  anyone  is  listening.  But  I sup- 
pose I must  continue — even  if  nothing 
comes  of  my  protest — for  I simply  can- 
not allow  myself  to  commit  the  crime 
of  silence. 

That  is  why  I address  this  letter  to  the 
people  of  God.  For  if  historians  look 
back  on  the  America  of  the  Vietnam  war 
years,  and  find  that  the  churches  and 
synagogues  were  silent — if  they  find  that 
God’s  people  did  not  speak  out — they 
will  have  uncovered  a great  sin.  (Histo- 
rians have  asked  why  the  church  was  so 
silent  in  Germany,  and  many  are  asking 
that  now  in  America.)  To  paraphrase 
a quote  I heard,  “The  great  scandal  of 
the  Vietnam  war  is  not  that  the  Ameri- 
can president  is  carrying  on  such  an 
immoral  war  (although  I consider  that 
a crime  of  the  highest  order)  but  that 
the  churches  and  people  who  stand  for 
life  and  peace  are  so  silent.” 

So  I,  for  one,  won’t  be  silent.  I hereby 
declare  that  I am  a citizen  of  the  world, 
residing  in  America.  I also  declare  to  the 
Vietnamese  people  that  they  are  my  sis- 
ters and  brothers  and  that  President 
Nixon  and  his  bombers  do  not  repre- 
sent me. 

I would  like  to  suggest  one  further 
action  to  people  who  follow  Christ  and 


'3  THE  MENNONITE  93? 


to  people  who  believe  in  God.  Income 
tax  money  is  due  soon.  Most  of  that 
money  will  go  to  disrupt  and  destroy 
lives.  Perhaps  church  people  would  serve 
God  best  by  sending  this  money  to 
nonmilitary  government  agencies  or  to 
local  charities  or  the  church.  I,  for  one, 
pledge  my  support  to  you — and  I know 
others  who  do,  too.  Let  me  know  if  we 
can  help  you  in  any  way,  for  it  takes 
courage  to  follow  conscience. 

As  Joshua  put  it  (24:15),  “Choose  ye 
this  day  whom  you  will  serve  ...  as  for 
me  and  my  house,  we  shall  serve  the 
Lord.”  We  at  our  house  have  come  to 
believe  that  putting  the  money  that 
would  have  gone  to  irs  into  life-giving 
investments  is  serving  the  Lord.  Steven 
G.  Schmidt,  417  West  11th,  Newton, 
Kans.  67114.  Dec.  31 

Outlook  broadened 

Dear  Editor:  I wholeheartedly  approve 
of  your  policy  on  giving  us  more  news 
on  Canada.  To  read  about  other  people 
and  countries  helps  to  broaden  our  out- 
look on  life.  “The  reign  of  terror”  arti- 
cle (December  19  issue)  was  also  inter- 
esting. Keep  up  the  good  work!  Harold 
W.  Shelly,  229  North  Scenic  St.,  Allen- 
town, Pa.  18104.  Dec.  19 

National  priests 

Dear  Editor:  In  a recent  attempt  to 
explain  his  not  taking  a stand  against 
the  Vietnam  war,  Billy  Graham  said, 
“God  has  called  me  to  be  a New  Testa- 
ment evangelist,  not  an  Old  Testament 
prophet.” 

That  Billy  Graham  does  not  stand  in 
the  tradition  of  the  Old  Testament 
prophets  is  very  clear.  What  is  not  so 
clear  is  whether  he  is,  indeed,  a New 
Testament  evangelist. 

I rejoice  in  the  realization  that  Billy 
Graham  has  been  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing many  people  into  a Christian  com- 
mitment. That  realization  makes  even 
more  painful  the  perception  that  in  his 
conspicuous  silence  on  the  most  impor- 
tant moral  issue  of  our  day,  the  morality 
of  war,  he  is  not  following  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  New  Testament  evangelists, 
or  of  the  Christ  who  is  himself  the  Evan- 
gel; rather  he  is  following  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  false  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament — those  national  priests  who 
were  honored  by  corrupt  kings  and  laud- 
ed by  the  masses  for  saying  what  they 
wanted  to  hear. 

Billy  Graham  is  not  speaking  the  word 
of  the  Lord  on  the  war  question.  It  is 


MEDITATION 


The  word  became  flesh 

John,  in  his  gospel,  talks  about  the  greatest  event  in  the  annals  of  time — the  Christ 
event.  As  John  put  it,  “The  word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us.”  He  dwells  on 
the  glory  of  this  visitation;  ever  after  those  who  were  privileged  to  live  in  that  historic 
time  spoke  of  the  event  as  experience  involving  their  whole  being — all  their  senses. 
They  heard  about  it;  they  saw  it  with  their  own  eyes;  they  touched  him  with  their 
hands.  Scripture  even  talks  about  tasting  the  good  news  and  of  the  pleasant  aroma 
of  this  visitation!  The  word  became  flesh  and  those  who  responded  to  this  truth 
responded  with  all  their  senses  and  with  all  their  minds. 

The  birth  of  an  infant  and  the  growth  in  mind  and  body  that  follows  is  an  inter- 
esting phenomenon.  Instead  of  the  message  becoming  flesh,  the  flesh  begins  to  take 
on  words,  first  in  gutteral  utterance  and  slowly  developing  into  words,  then  sentences, 
and  then  into  the  words  that  symbolize  and  enunciate  will,  desire,  ability,  and  all  that 
God  has  graciously  bestowed  upon  mankind  in  the  gifts  of  that  child. 

Words,  words,  words — the  plethora  of  words  in  our  time  is  astounding  and  con- 
founding. This  is  the  era  of  the  assault  of  sound  and  picture  upon  our  minds.  Gradu- 
ally we  are  shaped  into  the  persons  we  are — for  good  or  for  ill. 

We  all  engage  in  and  are  shaped  by  Christian  education  efforts.  This  is  true  if  we 
call  ourselves  by  the  Christ-name,  Christians.  We  educate  as  we  live,  as  we  speak,  as 
we  act.  We  try  to  add  the  plus  of  Christian  value  by  living  in  the  hope  that  the  words 
of  our  lives  in  all  that  we  do  may  somehow  once  more  become  flesh  in  us  and  in 
those  around  us. 

The  truth  of  our  “education  efforts”  is  clearly  displayed  in  working  at  our  various 
retreat  efforts  in  summer.  To  have  known  parents  of  one’s  own  generation  and  then 
to  observe  features,  actions,  and  reflections  in  their  children  reveals  the  education 
that  has  taken  place.  There  is  no  question  about  the  real  force  of  education.  God 
knew  it  and  we  know  it. 

People  in  our  churches  and  the  ways  in  which  we  educate  each  other  in  our  con- 
gregations are  important.  The  Commission  on  Education  is  very  aware  of  this.  Our 
meditative  stance  is  grounded  in  the  ever-recurring  phenomenon  that  “words  become 
flesh” — in  ways  beyond  our  ability  to  comprehend,  in  places  where  we  failed  to  look, 
but  also  and  perhaps  more  often  in  places  where  concrete  efforts  toward  established 
goals  are  occurring.  When  the  word  becomes  flesh  so  that  our  words  become  flesh  in 
Christ,  Christian  education  will  have  come  its  full  round.  It’s  a little  like  the  person 
who  said,  “To  will  God’s  will  brings  peace.”  Loris  Habegger 


time  we  understand  that  clearly  and 
say  it  courageously.  Peter  J.  Ediger, 
5927  Miller  St.,  Arvada,  Colo.  80002. 

Jan.  7 

“Sounder" 

Dear  Editor:  Thank  you  for  the  review 
of  Sounder  (January  9 issue).  This  film 
receives  rave  reviews  everywhere.  Mr. 
Arnold  forgot  one  important  item,  how- 
ever. The  movie  is  based  on  a children’s 
book.  Written  by  William  H.  Arm- 
strong, Sounder  won  the  1970  Newbery 
Award,  the  highest  award  given  to  a 
children’s  book.  If  your  church  library 
does  not  own  this  Harper  & Row  publi- 
cation, I urge  you  to  purchase  it  im- 
mediately. Adults  will  benefit  from 


Sounder,  too.  Sondra  B.  Koontz,  Film 
Librarian,  Wichita  Public  Library,  Wich- 
ita, Kans.  67202.  Jan.  11 


m 


s m 

$$  ' 


94 


FEBRUARY  6,  1973 


Some  families  are  creative. 


Family  worship  happens  at  appro- 
priate times  and  meaningful  ways 
without  a guide  to  follow. 


Some  families  need  a guide. 


New  insight  and  fresh  stimulation 
come  as  some  type  of  family  wor- 
ship guide  is  used. 


Some  families . . . 


HAVE  NO  FAMILY  WORSHIP. 


the  new  family  worship  guide,  can 

help  your  family. 

Worship  guidelines  for  families  with  children. 

(Lower  Junior  and  Junior  Sunday  school  outlines  are  followed) 

Worship  guidelines  for  youth/adult. 

(Uniform  Sunday  school  outlines  are  followed) 

Prayer  requests  that  focus  on  specific  persons  and  needs  that  will 
add  new  dimensions  to  your  understanding  of  the  work  of  the 
Mennonite  Church.  Several  feature  articles  each  quarter. 

REJOICE  is  produced  cooperatively  by  the  Conference  of  Mennonites 
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Contents 


Pop  Hunsberger  and  the  Glorious 

Rumble  Seat  

News  

Record  

The  Christian  and  warfare 

Letters  

The  word  became  flesh  

Lighting  the  curriculum  candle  .. 


82 

85 

91 

92 
.93 
.94 
.96 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Most  of  this  week's  contributors  are 
connected  with  the  Commission  on  Educa- 
tion, which  helped  us  prepare  a large 
part  of  the  issue.  Harold  Buller  is  the 
COE  chairman,  Frank  Ward  is  its  execu- 
tive secretary,  and  Loris  Habegger  is 
general  editor  for  the  commission. 


CREDITS 

Cover,  Rohn  Engh,  Pine  Lake  Farm,  Star 
Prairie,  Wise.  54026;  83,  Paul  M.  Schrock, 
Box  200,  Scottdale,  Pa.  15683;  85,  RNS; 
86,  Henry  H.  Epp,  600  Shaftesbury,  Win- 
nipeg, Canada;  88,  Gayle  Koontz,  Akron, 
Pa. 


lf  The., 
Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


HE  MENNONITE 


95 


Lighting  the  curriculum  candle 

Harold  W.  B idler 

It’s  a Sunday  school  class  of  first  graders.  The 
teacher  is  conscientious.  She  even  sat  in  front  of  a 
mirror  to  practice  her  story.  And  that  is  somewhat 
unusual.  Now  she  is  coming  to  its  climax.  A dozen 
children  sit  in  rapt  attention.  But  there  are  thir- 
teen in  the  class.  And  that’s  where  a film  producer 
would  start  to  inject  some  weird  music.  Not  be- 
cause thirteen  is  an  unlucky  number.  But  because 
children  are  human. 

Suddenly  Jenifer  lurches  sideways  in  abject  sur- 
prise! She  tumbles  off  her  chair  with  a quick 
scream.  Take  note  that  she  was  sitting  beside  the 
thirteenth  class  member.  He’s  always  been  num- 
ber thirteen.  As  the  frustrated  storyteller  looks 
at  him  she  sees  a sharp  pencil  disappear  behind 
his  back. 

And  that’s  the  end  of  her  story. 

Or  is  it? 

Let’s  pull  the  curtain  on  that  scene  and  try  to 
figure  out  what  happens  next.  Everyone  knows, 
of  course,  that  Tubs  is  the  culprit.  Tubs.  Fat  and 
ornery.  We  know  how  the  children  will  react  to 
this  child  with  his  nickname.  So  Tubs  has  his 
attention. 

The  next  question  we  normally  ask  is  what  the 
flush-faced  teacher  does  when  she  loses  hers.  But 
is  that  the  right  one?  Shouldn’t  we  rather  ask 
whether  she  thinks  of  her  pupil  as  Tubs  or  as 
John?  That,  in  the  final  end,  will  determine  the 
real  end  of  her  story. 

Do  you  see  what  I mean?  The  teacher  is  the 
real  story  that  the  children  listen  to.  The  story 
that  her  lips  tell,  even  if  it’s  right  out  of  the  Bible, 
will  always  be  interpreted  by  the  way  she  lives. 
And  her  life  is  as  real  in  the  classroom  and  in  her 
round-the-clock  relationships  with  her  children  as 
it  is  in  her  secretarial  job  or  in  the  marketplace. 
In  other  words,  is  her  own  relationship  with  God 
the  kind  that  permits  her  to  think  of  each  child, 
including  John,  as  a human  being?  Do  the  chil- 
dren, in  her  sight,  have  individual  feelings  and 
important  needs?  Or  are  they  simply  a bunch  of 
recorders  she  hopes  will  be  switched  on  so  they 
can  some  day  properly  play  things  back? 

It  doesn’t  really  make  any  difference  whether 
the  pupils  are  six,  thirteen,  thirty-six,  sixty-six,  or 


one  hundred  six.  The  principle  is  the  same.  Peo- 
ple are  human  at  all  ages.  And  people  learn  about 
God’s  redeeming  love  not  so  much  through  the 
words  that  someone  quotes  to  them  correct  to  the 
last  jot  and  tittle.  Rather,  people  learn  through 
the  language  of  the  surrounding  arm  of  love  that 
cares  for  their  sakes  whether  or  not  they  under- 
stand. 

Why  did  God  send  Jesus  to  this  earth?  The 
Scriptures  written  in  the  most  beautiful  char- 
acters on  the  most  expensive  parchment  were  not 
enough  to  save  us.  God  had  to  do  it  in  person. 
Only  when  we  saw  Christ  live  and  die  for  us  did 
we  really  understand  that  God  forgives  and  re- 
stores. Only  then  could  we  let  down  our  defenses, 
give  up  our  fears,  and  permit  our  lives  to  be 
changed. 

The  Commission  on  Education  has  spent  many 
years  writing  new  curriculum,  improving  on  each 
edition  and  finally  revising  it,  till  the  entire  cur- 
riculum has  to  be  completely  replaced  with  a 
brand  new  set.  As  a matter  of  fact,  that’s  one  of 
the  Commission  on  Education’s  next  big  tasks, 
just  getting  under  way. 

Curriculum  has  been,  is  now,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  important.  It  needs  to  present  the 
living  gospel  proclaimed  by  the  Scriptures.  It 
needs  to  help  the  student,  young  or  old,  relate 
the  Good  News  to  the  world  in  his  own  life.  It 
needs  to  give  teachers  all  kinds  of  handles  to 
communicate  this  wonderful  message  of  divine 
love,  using  the  various  media  that  speak  to  to- 
day’s generations. 

But  our  teachers  are  becoming  acutely  aware 
of  a new  dimension  in  teaching.  One  is  as  old  as 
the  caring  voice  of  God  calling  out  to  Adam  and 
Eve.  They  were  hiding  behind  an  ancient  version 
of  Johnny’s  sharp  pencil  of  disregard  for  others. 
God  zeroed  in  on  the  key  question  in  interper- 
sonal relationships.  God  asked,  “Where  are  you?” 

That’s  why  you  will  continue  to  see  a strong 
Commission  on  Education  emphasis  on  leadership 
training  that  helps  people  to  understand  each  other 
in  caring  love.  You  see,  curriculum  is  like  a can- 
dle. It’s  beautiful  but  sterile  as  long  as  it  isn’t 
lit.  And  it  can  only  be  lit  with  a human  match. 


OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:07  FEBRUARY  13,  1973 


THE  FADED  HU/H  PUPPIE / 


Esther  L.  Vogt 


Allen  Schmidt  wore  his  favorite  hush  puppies  on  that  fateful  autumn 
afternoon  in  Omaha.  . . . Later,  when  his  mother  was  asked  to  identify  the 
shapeless  shoes  in  court,  the  horror  of  that  tragic  day  brought 
all  the  heartache  back  again,  and  she  began  to  cry. 


Hush  puppies  . . . comfortable,  shape- 
less, faded  . . . when  Donna  Schmidt 
saw  them,  the  horror  of  that  tragic  event 
flashed  vividly  before  her  eyes,  and  she 
began  to  cry.  The  circumstances  which 
led  up  to  it  were  so  natural  and  com- 
monplace that  they  might  have  happened 
to  anyone.  Yet  they  were  destined  to 
happen  to  a Mennonite  family,  living  in 
Omaha,  Nebraska. 

The  lazy  autumn  afternoon  of  Octo- 
ber 17,  1971,  ran  slowly,  heavy  like 
honey,  sweet  and  golden  and  not  op- 
pressive. A breeze  stirred  the  dull  gold 
living  room  drapes,  dallied  a moment, 
and  vanished. 

Leslie  and  Allen,  two  sons  of  Loyal 
and  Donna  Schmidt,  who  now  pastor  the 
the  Evangelical  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church  of  Langham,  Saskatchewan, 
trooped  into  the  kitchen  after  a rousing 
football  game  that  day.  Donna  recalls 
she  felt  no  foreboding,  or  the  fabled 
“women’s  intuition”  when  the  boys 
begged  for  permission  to  sell  candy  for 
a pta  project  for  Bancroft  Junior  High 
where  Allen  was  a student.  Allen  wore 
his  favorite  misshapen  hush  puppies,  and 
Les  his  casuals.  Donna  told  them  they 
could  go,  but  to  be  sure  to  be  back  by 


suppertime  for  they  were  having  guests. 

More  than  twenty  hours  later,  Allen’s 
nude  body  was  discovered  on  the  banks 
of  the  Missouri  River  near  the  Omaha 
bridge,  with  twenty-nine  stab  wounds  in 
his  chest  and  abdomen,  and  his  throat 
slashed.  He  had  also  been  sexually  as- 
saulted. Ten-year-old  Les  suffered  severe 
stab  wounds  about  his  face  and  head, 
and  a concussion. 

Donna  shudders  when  she  recalls  the 
grim  events  leading  up  to  the  soul-shaking 
event.  The  Schmidts  had  grown  alarmed 
when  the  two  boys  hadn’t  returned  at 
eight,  and  Loyal,  together  with  Doug, 
one  of  the  supper  guests,  began  to  search 
the  neighborhood. 

When  there  was  no  trace  of  the  boys, 
Donna  phoned  the  police  and  reported 
the  missing  youngsters.  After  the  two 
patrolmen  came  out  and  heard  Donna’s 
story,  they  shrugged  it  off  as  routine. 

“Kids  that  age  run  away  from  home 
all  the  time,”  one  said  bluntly.  “Your 
boys  will  show  up  by  morning.  It’s  a 
common  occurrence.  But  we’ll  pass  the 
report  on  to  the  next  shift.  Just  don’t 
worry.” 

Donna  refused  to  accept  this  indiffer- 
ence. “Our  boys  aren’t  like  that,  officer! 


When  they  say  they’ll  be  home  at  six 
o’clock,  they’ll  be  home,  or  let  us  know 
the  reason  why!” 

The  patrolmen  left  then,  and  the  hours 
passed  without  a word  of  the  missing 
boys.  The  Schmidts’  apprehension  turned 
to  chilling  concern. 

At  midnight  Frank  Ferro  came  on 
duty.  He  was  the  neighbor  of  the  Don 
Tchetters,  Mennonite  friends  of  the 
Schmidts,  and  he  knew  both  Allen  and 
Les.  Realizing  that  something  was  seri- 
ously wrong,  he  alerted  the  police,  the 
county  sheriffs,  and  later  called  in  the 
FBI.  Searching  until  three  o’clock,  the 
law  officers  could  find  no  trace  of  the 
boys,  and  it  was  decided  to  resume  the 
hunt  at  daybreak. 

Donna  and  Loyal  spent  the  night  in 
prayer  and  Bible  study.  They  found  com- 
fort in  the  verse  from  Jeremiah,  “There 
is  nothing  too  hard  for  God.” 

Donna  told  the  Lord,  “I  know  there’s 
nothing  too  hard  for  you,  and  you  can 
protect  our  boys  and  keep  them  safe. 
But  you’ve  loaned  the  boys  to  us  and 
we’ve  given  them  back  to  you,  so  I thank 
you  for  the  years  we’ve  had  with  them. 
Whatever’s  your  will,  help  me  to  accept 
it.”  Then  she  slept  for  almost  an  hour. 


In  the  morning  the  search  for  the 
boys  was  continued.  Frank  Ferro,  who 
had  gone  off  duty  at  eight,  came  back 
and  stayed  with  the  Schmidts  instead  of 
going  home  to  bed.  There  was  nothing 
to  do  but  wait  for  word. 

Donna  and  Loyal  had  spent  years 
waiting  upon  the  Lord  while  still  in 
the  mission  field  where  Loyal  was  a 
construction  missionary  and  Donna  Wil- 
liams a registered  nurse.  They  met  while 
working  in  the  Congo  Inland  Mission 
and  were  married  in  1957.  Allen  was 
bom  in  Nyanga,  Republic  of  Congo,  on 
May  12,  1959.  The  Schmidts  were  forced 
to  evacuate  their  field  of  service  in  July 
1960  because  of  political  unrest,  and 
returned  to  the  United  States.  Leslie  was 
bom  in  North  Dakota  in  1961,  and  in 
1962  the  whole  family  returned  to  the 
Congo.  Loyal  was  among  several  mis- 
sionaries captured  by  the  Congolese  reb- 
els while  on  a mission  to  Kandala,  but 
after  sixty-nine  hours,  they  were  rescued 
by  U.N.  helicopters. 

Allen  accepted  the  Lord  Jesus  as  his 
Savior  when  he  was  five,  and  three  years 
later  he  led  his  brother  Leslie  to  the 
Lord.  In  1964  the  Schmidts  returned  to 
the  United  States  because  of  Allen’s  ill 


health  and  moved  to  Omaha  in  1966 
where  Loyal  began  his  duties  as  super- 
intendent of  maintenance  at  Grace  Bible 
Institute. 

And  here  they  were  on  that  tragic 
Sunday,  their  faith  in  God’s  leading  and 
guidance  still  unshaken. 

When,  shortly  before  1 pm  the  police 
responded  to  an  anonymous  phone  tip, 
they  discovered  Allen’s  body  near  the 
bridge.  Two  five-inch  strands  of  dark 
hair  were  clutched  in  his  hand.  Frank 
Ferro  drove  Loyal  to  the  bridge  to  iden- 
tify the  body.  But  before  they  reached 
the  river,  Les  had  stumbled  out  of  the 
weeds  and  Loyal,  able  to  identify  Les 
by  his  clothes,  was  spared  the  ordeal 
of  seeing  Allen’s  horribly  mutilated  body. 

Les  was  rushed  to  the  hospital  by  am- 
bulance and  Loyal  came  back  to  the 
house.  He  embraced  Donna,  his  voice 
breaking: 

“Donna — Allen’s  with  the  Lord;  and 
Les  is — in  the  hospital.  We  don’t  know 
whether  he’ll  live  or  not.  But  ‘the  Lord 
giveth  and  the  Lord  taketh  away.  Blessed 
be  the  name  of  the  Lord.’  ” 

When  the  two  younger  boys  were 
told,  Steve  took  it  hard,  but  Mike  didn’t 
fully  comprehend  what  had  happened. 


Les,  in  St.  Joseph’s  Hospital  where 
his  mother  often  worked  as  a nurse,  was 
being  sutured  and  patched,  and  some 
necessary  plastic  surgery  was  performed. 
The  plastic  surgeon,  Dr.  Carl  Dahl,  is 
also  a Mennonite.  He  told  the  Schmidts 
that  by  the  grace  of  God  one  puncture 
on  Les’  face  had  barely  missed  a vital 
nerve.  Had  it  been  hit,  Les  would  never 
have  grown  another  inch! 

Later,  when  he  was  able  to  talk,  Les 
told  the  whole  morbid  story  to  the 
police.  It  seemed  that  their  assailant  had 
stopped  his  car  when  he  saw  the  boys 
at  Sixth  and  Bancroft  that  afternoon  and 
asked  them  to  help  him  find  a valuable 
show  dog  which  he  said  had  been  lost 
while  he  was  fishing. 

“There’s  five  bucks  in  it  for  you  if 
you  find  him,”  the  man  added  as  an  in- 
ducement. 

“Allen  and  I talked  about  it  first,” 
Les  told  police,  “because  we  know  it’s 
risky  to  get  into  a stranger’s  car.  I 
thought  we  shouldn’t,  but  Allen  said 
we  ought  to  help  people.  And  we  both 
liked  dogs  . . . ,”  his  voice  trailed  off. 

After  the  boys  entered  the  shabby  tan 
car,  the  man  angled  through  the  hilly 
side  streets  and  drove  to  the  secluded 
wooded  area  near  the  bridge.  When  he 
tried  to  swerve  the  car  past  the  gate  it 
hit  a post.  As  the  rearview  mirror  splin- 
tered the  man  swore  and  stopped  the 
car  at  a point  beyond  the  gate.  He  or- 
dered the  boys  to  cross  the  river  on  a 
log.  Les  refused.  Then  he  told  Les  to 
open  the  trunk  and  get  the  dog  leash. 
When  Les  stooped  to  look  for  the  leash 
the  man  shoved  him  in  and  locked  the 
trunk.  Les  screamed.  A few  minutes 
later  the  trunk  lid  flew  open  and  the 
man  pulled  Les  onto  the  ground.  Allen 
was  standing  on  the  river  bank,  his 
clothes  dripping. 

Les  hurried  toward  his  brother.  “How 
come  your  clothes  are  wet?”  he  asked 
anxiously. 

“When  I heard  you  scream  I wanted 
to  run  away,  but  decided  to  come  back 
and  help  you.  That’s  when  I fell  in,”  Al- 
len said. 

The  man  left  the  two  boys  for  a few 
minutes.  “That’s  when  Allen  and  me 
prayed,”  Les  added  hesitantly. 

Their  assailant  returned  shortly  and 
told  the  boys  with  a thin,  queer  laugh 
that  there  really  wasn’t  a dog.  It  was  all 
a joke.  “And  now  you’ve  got  something 
to  talk  about.  I guess  your  folks  are 
worried  so  I’d  better  take  you  back.” 


Relieved,  the  boys  climbed  back  into 
the  shabby  car — Les  in  the  middle  and 
Allen  on  the  right  side.  Instead  of  crawl- 
ing in  beside  them,  the  man  suddenly 
planted  himself  beside  Allen  and  whipped 
a cheap,  serrated  knife  from  his  pocket. 

“You!”  he  yelled  at  Allen.  “You’re 
coming  with  me,  and  you,”  he  whirled 
on  Les,  “are  going  back  into  the  trunk!” 
With  the  knife-point  in  his  back,  the 
frightened  Les  clambered  back  into  the 
car’s  trunk.  The  lid  slammed  down  hard 
and  momentarily  knocked  Les  out,  and 
he  lost  track  of  the  time. 

When  the  man  returned  and  opened 
the  trunk,  his  hands  were  bloody.  He 
brandished  what  looked  like  Allen’s 
blood-stained  shirt.  Jerking  Les  out  of 
the  trunk,  he  twisted  the  shirt  around 
Les’  throat — and  squeezed.  . . . Les  sag- 
ged to  the  ground.  Fortunately  he  was 
unaware  that  the  knife  slashed  across 
his  face  again  and  again — and  yet  again 
— eight  ruthless  times.  . . . 

Les  never  saw  Allen  after  that. 

He  couldn’t  remember  anything  un- 
til he  awoke  and  it  was  dark.  His  folks 
must  be  worried,  he  figured,  and  he 
wanted  desperately  to  get  home.  Falling 
and  stumbling,  he  dragged  himself 
through  the  trees  in  the  inky  blackness, 
passing  out  from  time  to  time.  Then  he 
crawled  into  depressions  in  the  ground 
to  rest  and  to  sleep,  crawled  and  stum- 
bled again,  until  the  sun  soared  high 
overhead  and  it  was  early  afternoon.  He 
tried  once  more  to  crawl  out  of  the 
weeds. 

This  is  when  the  searchers  found  him, 
and  Loyal  identified  him  in  spite  of  his 
badly  mutilated  face. 

Because  of  Les’  clear  description  and 
lucid  recital  of  events,  the  police  ap- 
prehended Robert  Julian  Jacobs  on  Octo- 
ber 19  at  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  and 
brought  him  to  Omaha  where  he  was 
charged  with  murder  of  Allen  Dale 
Schmidt,  and  kidnapping  Leslie  and  stab- 
bing him  with  intent  to  kill,  wound,  or 
maim.  He  has  since  been  sentenced  to 
life  imprisonment  at  the  State  Peniten- 
tiary at  Lincoln. 

Upon  receiving  the  news  of  the  killer’s 
capture,  Loyal  said,  “We  have  forgiven 
him.  He  needs  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
If  he  has  any  confession  to  make  before 
the  Lord,  the  Lord  will  hear  and  answer 
him.” 

The  Schmidts  have  received  more  than 
700  letters.  One  ex-convict  wrote: 

“I  can’t  commend  you  too  strongly 


on  your  fortitude  as  well  as  confidence 
you’ve  demonstrated  in.  God  by  forgiving 
this  person.  It  wouldn’t  have  been  possi- 
ble for  most  of  us,  believers  or  not. 
And  such  faith  on  your  part  is  enough 
to  shake  even  the  most  ardent  atheist’s 
convictions.” 

In  speaking  to  reporters  one  evening. 
Loyal  repeatedly  turned  to  his  well- 
thumbed  Bible.  “Trust  in  the  Lord  with 
all  thine  heart,”  he  read  aloud,  “and  lean 
not  unto  thine  own  understanding.  In 
all  thy  ways  acknowledge  him,  and  he 
shall  direct  thy  path.”  He  closed  the  Bible 
and  sat  silently  for  a moment.  Then: 
“We  feel  that  Allen  has  gone  to  be 
with  the  Lord.” 

Allen,  like  his  parents,  had  surrendered 
his  life  to  missionary  service  in  Africa. 
Several  weeks  before  his  death  he  had 
rededicated  his  life  to  the  Lord. 

His  desire  was  to  lead  others  to  Christ. 
Even  in  his  death,  God  has  fulfilled  this 
desire.  For,  as  a result  of  Allen  Schmidt’s 
death,  a number  of  people  have  directly 
accepted  Christ  as  Lord  and  Savior,  and) 
many  others  have  reaffirmed  their  faith 
in  him. 

When  Donna  came  to  court  for  Robert 
Jacobs’  trial,  she  was  forced  to  look  at 
a picture  of  Allen  which  the  police  had 
taken  when  they  found  him  by  the  river, 
and  she  had  a struggle  that  night  for 
she  couldn’t  forget  the  gaping  hole  in 
his  throat  and  the  look  of  torture  on  his 
usually  radiant  face.  But  the  Lord  re- 
minded her  that  Allen  was  in  his  world; 
now,  and  that  all  of  this  horror  is 
erased. 

She  had  peace  when  she  saw  the  picj 
ture,  for  that  wasn’t  really  Allen.  But, 
when  she  was  forced  to  identify  thosei 
hush  puppies — the  comfortable  shapeless 
shoes  he’d  worn  so  much  and  which 
he  would  wear  to  church  and  school  it 
they  didn’t  watch  him!  That  was  sc 
much  more  a part  of  him  than  the 
picture.  j 

“Seeing  them  again  brought  all  th< 
heartache  back  to  me,”  she  said. 

Perhaps  the  most  far-reaching  tribute 
to  Allen’s  remembrance  will  be  a biggei 
radio  tower  for  KGBI-FM,  a radio  statior 
serving  eastern  Nebraska,  for  which  the 
Schmidt  family  established  a fund  in  hi 
memory. 

The  concept  of  love  and  forgivenes; 
has  long  been  a basic  Mennonite  trait! 
And  this  perhaps  has  been  the  real  identi 
ty  of  this  harrowing  experience! 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 

It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennom  e 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  6/114.  I 


100 


FEBRUARY  13,  197 


MEWS 


Latin  Americans  organize  seminary  extension 


A new  international  association  of  semi- 
nary extension  programs  has  been  es- 
tablished by  the  International  Consulta- 
tion on  the  Extension  Seminary  Ap- 
proach, meeting  January  8-13  in  Medel- 
lin, Colombia. 

Margaret  Ediger,  General  Conference 
.Mennonite  missionary  in  Cachipay,  Co- 
lombia, was  one  of  fifty-three  delegates 
and  observers  from  more  than  twenty 
denominations,  missions,  and  national 
churches. 

The  participants  represented  all  the 
ISpanish-speaking  countries  of  Central  and 
'South  America,  with  the  exception  of 
| Nicaragua,  whose  representation  was 
canceled  because  of  the  recent  earth- 
quakes in  Managua.  Brazil  and  the  Unit- 
ed States  were  also  represented. 

The  consultation  was  called  by  cata 
an  international  consulting  committee  on 


extension  study  materials.  The  commit- 
tee was  created  five  years  ago-  by  rep- 
resentatives of  a few  schools  in  Central 
and  South  America  that  were  beginning 
to  emphasize  theological  training  by  ex- 
tension. 

More  than  9,000  extension  students 
are  now  enrolled  in  about  forty  reporting 
programs  throughout  Latin  America. 

The  new  organization  formed  at  the 
consultation  will  be  known  as  aliste 
(Latin  American  Association  of  Exten- 
sion Theological  Institute  and  Seminar- 
ies) and  will  provide  a structure  for 
continuing  international  and  interdenom- 
inational cooperation.  Plans  call  for  na- 
tional and  regional  coordinators  and  for 
general  consultations  every  three  years. 

At  the  consultations,  delegates  dis- 
cussed the  future  of  the  theological  ex- 
tension movement  in  Spanish  America. 


Work  groups  met  and  reported  to  plen- 
ary sessions.  Various  extension  programs 
brought  displays  of  materials  they  have 
developed. 

Other  agenda  items  included  a study 
of  the  functions  of  church  leaders,  the 
educational  process,  and  production  and 
distribution  of  materials. 

Jose  Carrera  of  Guatemala  was  elected 
international  coordinator.  Representa- 
tives from  Chile,  Ecuador,  Colombia, 
and  Guatemala  were  named  to  round 
out  the  five-member  executive  council 
of  the  new  organization. 

Other  Mennonites  at  the  consultation, 
in  addition  to  Ms.  Ediger,  included  John 
Driver,  president  of  the  Inter-Mennonite 
Theological  Seminary  in  Montevideo,  Ur- 
uguay; Vernon  Reimer;  Joe  Walter; 
James  Sauder;  Gil  Reimer;  Juan  Ferre- 
ras;  and  Jared  Burkholder. 


Conrad  Grebe!  appoints  new  president 


Frank  H.  Epp  has  been  appointed  presi- 
dent of  Conrad  Grebel  College  in  Water- 
loo, Ontario.  The  appointment  becomes 
effective  August  1 . 

Dr.  Epp,  who  is  forty-three,  will  suc- 
ceed J.  Winfield  Fretz,  who  served  in 
that  capacity  since  the  college  was  found- 
ed at  the  University  of  Waterloo  ten 
years  ago.  Dr.  Fretz  will  remain  with 
the  college  as  a full-time  professor  in 
mciology. 

Established  as  a residential  college  for 
110  students,  Conrad  Grebel  now  also 
has  a faculty  of  seven  full-time  and  three 
part-time  professors.  More  than  one  thou- 


17 rank  H.  Epp 


sand  students  are  enrolled  annually  in 
college-taught  courses,  all  of  which  carry 
university  credit.  The  college’s  adult 
studies  program  involves  additional  hun- 
dreds from  the  community. 

Mr.  Epp  came  to  the  campus  in  1971 
as  associate  professor  in  history  and 
communications.  Since  that  time  he  has 
also  served  as  founding  editor  of  the 
Mennonite  reporter,  a position  he  said 
he  would  need  to  resign  to  accept  the 
presidency.  He  was  previously  editor  of 
The  Canadian  Mennonite,  the  Report- 
er’s predecessor,  from  1953  to  1967. 

Currently  engaged  in  the  writing  of 
the  history  of  Mennonites  in  Canada 
with  the  help  of  a Canada  Council  grant, 
Mr.  Epp  has  previously  written  books  in- 
cluding Mennonite  exodus  (1962),  The 
glory  and  the  shame  (1968),  and  Whose 
land  is  Palestine  ( 1970). 

His  doctoral  dissertation,  completed 
at  the  University  of  Minnesota  in  1965, 
is  entitled  “An  analysis  of  Germanism 
and  National  Socialism  in  the  immigrant 
press  of  a Canadian  minority  group.” 

Before  coming  to  Waterloo,  Mr.  Epp 
lived  in  Ottawa  for  four  years  serving  a 
church,  lecturing  at  the  University  of 
Ottawa,  and  writing  for  the  Mennonite 
Central  Committee  Peace  Section.  He 


serves  on  several  national  and  interna- 
tional boards.  They  include  the  Federal 
Government’s  Advisory  Board  on  the 
Adjustment  of  Immigrants,  the  Menno- 
nite Central  Committee  (Canada),  and 
the  presidium  of  the  Mennonite  World 
Conference. 

Mr.  Epp  is  married  to  Helen  Dick, 
formerly  of  Leamington,  Ontario,  who 
assists  him  in  research  and  writing.  Both 
their  families  came  to  Canada  from 
Russia  in  the  1920s.  They  have  three 
daughters. 

In  announcing  the  appointment,  John 
W.  Snyder,  chairman  of  the  Conrad 
Grebel  board,  expressed  satisfaction  that 
a man  with  academic  qualifications  and 
proven  ability  to  provide  leadership  had 
become  available.  “His  unanimous  nom- 
ination by  the  faculty  was  supported  by 
the  students  and  he  represents  a broad 
consensus  also  in  the  Mennonite  con- 
stituency in  Ontario.” 


'HE  MENNONITE  101 


i 


Leamington  good  choice  for  MCC  meeting 


One  of  the  most  significant  things  about 
this  year’s  annual  meeting  of  the  Men- 
nonite  Central  Committee  was  the  loca- 
tion chosen  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  conducted. 

For  the  first  time  the  annual  policy- 
making and  budget-setting  body  moved 
to  a local  congregation  of  the  support- 
ing constituency  and  thereby  opened  its 
doors  wider  than  ever  for  anyone  to 
sit  in  and  observe.  And  several  hundred 
members  of  the  Leamington  area  church- 
es did  just  that.  The  200  chairs  set  out 
around  the  board  tables  in  the  United 
Mennonite  Educational  Institute  audito- 
rium for  the  January  19-20  session  were 
usually  nearly  all  filled. 

It  wasn’t  that  the  former  meetings 
of  the  committee  in  the  hotels  of  Chi- 
cago were  closed  to  the  public.  But  the 
location  precluded  many  “ordinary”  peo- 
ple from  coming. 

From  this  observer’s  viewpoint  it  ap- 
peared the  organization  may  have  hit 
upon  one  of  its  best  public  relations  as- 
sets in  this  move  from  a hotel  conven- 
tion room  into  the  constituency.  The 
spirit  of  fellowship  and  goodwill  was 


electrifying.  The  interaction  took  no 
heed  of  denominational  lines. 

A highlight  of  the  sessions  was  the 
recognition  of  four  Canadian  leaders 
who  together  represent  one  of  the  most 
enviable  records  of  service  to  the  church. 
They  were  cited  for  exemplary  dedica- 
tion to  the  causes  of  inter-Mennonite 
and  international  concerns  in  relief  and 
peace. 

A Friday  evening  banquet  paid  tribute 
to  C.  A.  DeFehr,  Winnipeg;  J.  J.  Thies- 
sen,  Saskatoon;  E.  J.  Swalm,  Duntroon, 
Ontario;  and  J.  B.  Martin,  Kitchener, 
Ontario. 

Together,  these  four  are  320  years  of 
age.  Mr.  DeFehr  will  be  ninety-two  in 
March,  Mr.  Thiessen  is  seventy-nine, 
Mr.  Martin  seventy-five,  and  Mr.  Swalm 
turned  seventy-six  a few  weeks  ago. 

In  a brief  speech  each  was  asked  to 
make  before  a special  plaque  was  pre- 
sented by  William  T.  Snyder,  C.  A.  De- 
Fehr told  of  his  work  on  behalf  of  con- 
scientious objection  in  Russia  and  of  the 
great  satisfaction  he  and  his  wife  expe- 
rienced in  South  America  in  1947-48 
in  receiving  refugees. 


Four  veteran  Canadian  church  leaders  were  honored  at  this  year’s  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  annual  meeting  in  Leamington,  Ontario,  for  their  significant  contribution 
to  relief,  peace,  and  inter-Mennonite  cooperation.  Among  them  was  J.  J.  Thiessen  of 
Saskatoon  (right)  who  is  shown  receiving  a citation  from  William  T.  Snyder,  the  MCC 
executive  secretary. 


He  said,  “My  hope  is  that  all  Menno- 
nite groups  will  continue  working  to- 
gether in  a united  witness  for  Christ.” 

J.  J.  Thiessen  spoke  of  his  great  faith 
in  youth  as  he  related  discussions  with 
Clayton  Kratz,  the  young  U.S.  visionary 
who  became  mcc’s  first  martyr  in  Russia. 

Said  Mr.  Thiessen,  “We  begged  him 
to  leave  Russia  because  we  knew  what 
might  happen  to  him.  But  he  felt  the 
sense  of  duty  to  stay.” 

Mr.  Kratz,  who  was  sent  to  Russia  in 
1920  to  determine  relief  needs  of  the 
Mennonites  following  the  world  war  and 
the  1917  revolution,  disappeared  never 
to  be  heard  from  again. 

E.  J.  Swalm,  the  eternal  optimist  and 
deep  believer  in  the  peace  position,  said 
“I’ve  had  a wonderful  time  serving  the 
church  and  serving  Christ.” 

He  urged  mcc  to  “keep  a compassion 
for  needy  people  in  our  society”  and  to 
continue  with  a strong  voice  in  its  wit- 
ness for  peace. 

J.  B.  Martin,  introduced  by  host  Dan 
Zehr  as  “the  man  with  the  warm  inter- 
Mennonite  heart,”  has  also  been  a long- 
time leader  in  mcc  programs  and  in  the 
peace  movement  before  mcc  took  that 
under  its  concern. 

Specific  actions  dealt  with  by  the  thirty- 
three-member  board  included  the  mcc 
self-study,  amnesty,  use  of  government 
funds  for  overseas  programs,  reconstruc- 
tion in  Indochina,  relation  to  Vietnam 
Christian  Service,  population  control 
budget,  and  elections. 

Robert  S.  Kreider,  vice-chairman,  re 
ported  that  mcc’s  self-study  is  proceed 
ing  well  and  should  be  ready  soon. 

The  board  decided  that  the  May  exec 
utive  committee  meeting  would  devoU 
major  time  to  the  study  to  identify  ma 
jor  issues.  A fall  meeting,  with  repre 
sentation  from  both  grassroots  and  inter 
ested  agencies,  will  be  called  for  the 
purpose  of  drafting  recommendations  fo 
the  1974  annual  meeting. 

The  use  of  government  funds  for  over 
seas  programs  became  a touchy  issu< 
when  some  warned  that  it  could  spel 
major  trouble  for  mcc.  The  debate  wa 
sparked  by  several  recent  grants  am 
future  availability  of  grants  from  th 
Canadian  International  Developmen 
Agency  (cida),  “without  any  strings  at 
tached.” 

The  go-ahead  to  accept  such  grant 
was  finally  given  with  the  following  pre 
viso  added  to  the  guidelines  alread 
set:  “That  we  remain  sensitive  to  pc 


102 


FEBRUARY  13,  197 


Brazilians  start 

General  Conference  congregations  in 
Brazil  have  set  up  a relief  and  service 
organization  similar  to  the  Mennonite 
Central  Committee,  according  to  reports 
:'rom  Bib  el  und  Pflug. 

The  district  conference  of  congrega- 
tions from  Witmarsum  and  Curitiba  met 
in  November  and  appointed  a three- 
member  temporary  committee  for  the 
service  organization,  called  “Associacae' 
Menonita  de  Assistendia  Social.” 

The  conference  said  that  the  founding 
of  a service  organization  in  Brazil  had 
become  a necessity  in  connection  with 
the  conference’s  mission  work  among  the 
Brazilian  people. 

Heinrich  Ens  said,  because  of  the  good 
preliminary  work  done  by  several  breth- 
ren, the  conference  was  able  to  bring 
[the  matter  to  a final  vote,  adopt  a consti- 


I litical  implications  and  conflict  of  philoso- 
phy and  that  the  association  be  reviewed 
annually  with  freedom  to  cancel  the  ar- 
rangement at  any  time.” 

By  means  of  a resolution,  the  mem- 
bers also  committed  mcc  “to  assist  in 
reconstruction  of  war-tom  areas  in  In- 
dochina, including  those  areas  now  con- 
trolled by  the  Provisional  Revolutionary 
Government  and  the  Democratic  Re- 
public of  Vietnam,  as  well  as  Cambodia 
and  Laos,  if  the  conditions  of  the  political 
settlement  make  it  possible.” 

Resolution  of  appreciation  for  “seven 
.years  of  association”  with  Church  World 
Service  and  Lutheran  World  Relief  in 
'Vietnam  Christian  Service  was  also 
passed.  The  partnership  ended  on  De- 
cember 31,  1972. 

A plea  by  Leonard  Siemens,  Winni- 
■peg,  that  mcc  develop  strong  assistance 
programs  for  population  control,  met 
with  mixed  reaction.  He  said,  “If  we  are 
not  doing  anything  in  this  area,  we  are 
doing  only  half  a job  in  our  relief  and 
development  efforts.” 

Several  staff  persons  explained  that 
some  of  this  was  occurring,  especially 
in  Indonesia  and  Latin  America,  where 
Edgar  Stoesz  said,  “We  are  pushing  as 
hard  as  we  can.” 

Some  members  felt  the  public  relations 
image  at  home  would  be  damaged  to  the 
detriment  of  fund-gathering  and  that  no 
action  was  necessary  at  this  point. 

A motion  from  the  floor  was  passed, 
however,  asking  the  executive  to  study 
the  matter  and  come  to  the  next  annual 
neeting  with  concrete  proposals. 


relief-service  organization 


tution  for  the  new  organization,  and 
ask  that  it  be  registered  legally. 

Mr.  Ens  said,  “Although  the  procla- 
mation of  the  Word  through  evangelism 
and  congregational  work  must  always 
remain  central,  the  whole  man  also  must 
feel  something  of  the  meaning  of  broth- 
erly love  if  he  has  such  basic  needs  as 
food,  clothing,  and  shelter.” 

The  Brazilian  District  Conference  also 
acted  to  continue  publication  of 

Bibel  und  Pflug  and  pay  the  full  price 
of  its  publication  in  1973.  The  South 
American  Mennonite  periodical  was  sub- 
sidized by  the  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission  and  the  Commission  on  Educa- 
tion until  last  December. 

The  conference  is  also  seeking  new 
ways  to-  encourage  young  people  to  at- 
tend the  Mennonite  seminary  in  Monte- 


It  seemed  that  income  last  year  was 
better  than  for  many  years  and  that  this 
caused  a bit  of  embarrassment.  Execu- 
tive secretary  William  T.  Snyder’s  con- 
clusion in  his  “projections  for  1973” 
stated  in  part: 

“With  the  strengthening  of  giving  to 
mcc  and  our  beginning  the  year  in  a 
stronger  position  than  we  have  had  for 
many  years,  we  should  discuss  with  our 
constituent  bodies  the  possibility  of  more 
general  encouragement  to  the  constitu- 
ency that  giving  to  mission  boards  not 
be  neglected.  Mcc  must  be  concerned 
that  its  programs  not  run  too  far  ahead 
of  the  conference  programs  because  each 
is  important.” 

Constituency  contributions  in  1971  in- 
creased 27  percent  over  1970,  and  in 
1972  another  12  percent  over  1971.  The 
available  funds  balance  stands  at  $723,- 
461  and  designated  funds  at  $746,000. 
Investments  total  $1,356,353.  For  1973 
the  organization  is  budgeting  for  an  in- 
come of  $3,362,810. 

Newly  elected  as  member-at-large  was 
Helen  Alderfer,  replacing  Mrs.  Aaron 
Epp.  Reelected  members-at-large  were 
Richard  Schowalter,  Robert  Kreider,  and 
Lawrence  Hart. 

The  new  executive  committee  con- 
sists of  H.  Ernest  Bennett,  chairman; 
C.  J.  Dyck,  vice-chairman;  Roy  Sider, 
secretary;  Atlee  Beechy;  H.  H.  Dick; 
Newton  Gingrich;  Lawrence  Hart;  and 
Robert  Kreider.  William  T.  Snyder  was 
reappointed  executive  secretary  for  one 
year. 


video,  Uruguay,  and  the  Mennonite 
Brethren  Bible  school  in  Curitiba. 

The  Brazilian  District  Conference  has 
one  congregation  in  Curitiba  and  two 
in  Witmarsum. 

Peace  film  is 
in  planning  stage 

Pastors,  theologians,  media  specialists, 
and  leaders  from  several  Mennonite 
groups  will  meet  February  15-16  in 
Chicago  to-  discuss  the  possibility  of  pro- 
ducing a peace  film  in  1974. 

Harold  Regier,  General  Conference 
secretary  for  peace  and  social  concerns, 
said  the  meeting  would  determine  the 
feasibility  of  a peace  film,  choose  a gen- 
eral theme,  determine  the  process  for 
development  of  the  film,  explore  finan- 
cial resources,  and  choose  a target  audi- 
ence. 

Some  funds  for  planning  of  the  film 
come  from  a $2,500  joint  grant  from  the 
Schowalter  Foundation  to  the  Mennonite 
Church  and  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church. 

Mr.  Regier  said  that,  as  the  military 
draft  and  the  Indochina  war  are  wind- 
ing down,  Mennonites  need  to  present 
the  peace  message  in  its  broader  context. 

“Peace  no  longer  can  be  seen  as  pe- 
ripheral to  the  Christian  message;  it  lies 
at  the  heart  of  the  story  of  God’s  love 
and  reconciling  acts,”  Mr.  Regier  said. 
“To  become  followers  of  the  God  we 
most  clearly  see  in  lesus  Christ  means 
that  we  follow  him  in  his  kingdom  of 
love  and  peace.  This  is  a new  frontier 
which  we  as  Mennonites  need  to  articu- 
late as  best  we  can  both  to  our  consti- 
tuency and  to  those  outside  our  fellow- 
ship. We  feel  that  a well-done  film  can 
help  to  communicate  this  good  news.” 

Barbara  Gaylord  will  help 
Northern  District  teachers 

Barbara  Gaylord,  Swan  Lake  Christian 
Camp,  Viborg,  South  Dakota,  is  serving 
as  educational  resource  person  for  nurs- 
ery through  junior  high  Sunday  school 
teachers  in  the  Northern  District  Con- 
ference. 

She  will  work  primarily  on  an  invi- 
tational basis  with  individuals  or  small 
groups  of  teachers,  discussing  methods 
of  teaching  and  interpretation  of  the 
Faith  and  Life  Press  curriculum. 

Ms.  Gaylord  is  a 1971  graduate  of 
Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kansas. 


THE  MENNONITE 


103 


Uncertainty  is  written  on  the  face  of  a woman  as  she  waits  with  her 
child  for  food  supplies  in  Managua,  Nicaragua.  The  earthquake 
which  struck  the  Nicaraguan  capital  December  23  left  thousands 
homeless. 

Team  recruited  for  Nicaragua 


Key  73 — participate 
with  discrimination 

From  January  8 to  12,  thirty-four  min- 
isters and  their  wives  met  in  Elkhart  for 
concentrated  sessions  of  Bible  study,  the- 
ological discernment,  and  sharing  of 
concerns  around  the  theme  “Toward  an 
Anabaptist-Mennonite  theology  of  evan- 
gelism.” 

The  Inter-Mennonite  school  for  min- 
isters was  sponsored  by  the  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  and  was 
planned  jointly  by  seminary  personnel 
and  area  conference  ministers. 

Speaking  to  the  issue  of  Mennonite 
participation  in  Key  73,  the  consensus 
of  the  group  was  that  Mennonite  con- 
gregations should  participate  with  dis- 
crimination. Evangelism  which  ignores 
the  New  Testament  concern  for  Chris- 
tian community,  which  does  not  “care’ 
about  the  whole  person,  or  which  may 
even  become  a vehicle  of  nationalism 
must  be  lifted  to  a higher  level.  Myron 
Augsburger  and  George  Brunk,  two  of 
the  resource  people,  both  emphasized 
the  particular  challenge  and  opportunity 
which  Mennonites  have  in  the  area  of 
evangelism  if  they  will  be  faithful  to  the 
living  elements  of  their  own  heritage. 

Mennonite  Indian 
leaders  confer 

The  Mennonite  Indian  Leaders  Council 
met  January  9-12  in  Oraibi  and  Bacabi, 
Arizona,  to  share  their  experiences  in 
predominantly  Indian  Mennonite  congre- 
gations and  to  review  the  Indian  minis- 
tries program  of  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries. 

Malcolm  Wenger,  secretary  for  Indian 
ministries,  said  the  council  was  recom- 
mending to  the  commissions  a 1973  bud- 
get of  $91,500.  The  increase  over  last 
year’s  budget  of  $79,000  has  come  about 
because  of  new  workers  at  Hammon, 
Oklahoma,  and  Moencopi,  Arizona,  and 
more  allowance  for  building  upkeep. 

The  council  also  discussed  an  inter- 
Mennonite  Indian  gathering,  being 
planned  for  next  summer,  and  a pro- 
posed enlargement  of  the  Bethany  Men- 
nonite Church  at  Busby,  Montana.  The 
group  asked  chm  to  explore  the  possi- 
bility that  Hopi  children  who  attend 
school  off  reservation  might  live  in  white 
Christian  homes. 

Willis  Busenitz,  pastor  of  the  Bethany 
Church,  Busby,  Montana,  was  elected 
chairman  of  the  council.  Angie  Old  Bear, 
Koinonia  Church,  Clinton,  Oklahoma, 
was  reelected  secretary. 


As  television  and  news  coverage  of 
Nicaragua  dwindles,  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  involvement  in  the  earth- 
quake-damaged country  is  growing.  In 
late  January,  Roman  Gingerich,  profes- 
sor of  physical  education  at  Goshen 
College,  Goshen,  Indiana,  replaced  Ar- 
thur Driedger,  who  had  represented  mcc 
in  Nicaragua  since  the  quake. 

Stephen  Schrock,  a builder  and  plan- 
ner from  Middlebury,  Indiana,  arrived 
in  Nicaragua  February  1 as  the  lead 
man  for  an  mcc  building  team  recruit- 
ed by  Mennonite  Disaster  Service.  The 
Evangelical  Committee  has  appointed  a 
Nicaraguan  civil  engineer  to  work  as  a 
counterpart  to  Mr.  Schrock. 

By  the  end  of  February,  mds  plans  to 
recruit  four  additional  skilled  carpenters 
for  sixty-day  terms.  Spanish-speaking 
people  with  experience  in  concrete  work- 
ing and  electrical  or  plumbing  work  are 
needed. 


Priorities  for  long-term  reconstruction 
projects  have  been  set,  but  are  subject 
to  changing  needs.  The  building  team 
will  concentrate  on  personal  housing 
and  family  dwellings  for  the  poor,  schools, 
clinics,  and  other  vital  community  build- 
ings, mission  board  homes  and  facilities, 
and  churches. 

Mr.  Gingerich,  who  has  building  skills, 
has  had  experience  in  Nicaragua  as  di- 
rector of  the  Goshen  College  Study-Serv- 
ice Trimester  Abroad  Program.  It  is 
hoped  that  the  Goshen  sst  program  will 
become  involved  at  a later  date. 

Although  major  food  needs  in  Nic- 
aragua are  being  met  at  the  present 
time,  the  Evangelical  Committee  is  plan- 
ning to  open  child  feeding  centers  ir 
fifteen  or  twenty  districts.  The  committee 
hopes  to  receive  milk  contributions  fron 
the  Canadian  Government  for  this  pro- 
gram, since  milk  is  not  readily  available 
from  other  aid  sources. 


104  FEBRUARY  13,  197: 


Western  District  pastors, 
wives  share  experiences 

The  following  is  a report  on  a regional 
seminar  for  pastors  and  their  wives  Janu- 
ary 8-11  at  Rock  Springs  4-H  camp  near 
I Junction  City,  Kansas.  The  seminar 
j was  sponsored  by  the  General  Confer- 
i ence  committee  on  the  ministry.  A sim- 
I ilar  gathering  was  held  recently  in  the 
' Central  District.  Ann  Neufeld  Rupp, 

I writer  of  this  article,  is  a pastor’s  wife 
: in  Kansas  City,  Kansas. 

, The  seminar  itself  was  loosely  structured, 

1 leaving  ample  opportunity  for  partici- 
' pants  to  guide  the  discussion  in  the  di- 
rections they  felt  it  should  go.  Sometimes 
this  created  a sense  of  tension  in  re- 
source leaders  who  felt  the  responsibil- 
i ity,  who  had  some  preconceived  ideas 
! as  to  what  should  be  happening,  and 
who  themselves  had  come  through  a dy- 
! namic  experience  in  an  earlier  seminar. 

Our  group  felt  that,  at  times,  that  ex- 
[ perience  was  unconsciously  being  used 
as  a criterion  to  measure  our  own  ac- 
t tions.  Yet,  despite  the  uneasiness  and 
frustrations  of  the  unknown,  we  did 
I learn,  we  did  encounter,  we  did  expe- 
! rience  healing,  love,  and  acceptance. 

For  me,  the  first  evening  was  filled 
with  apprehension.  I had  come  to  learn 
and  share,  yet  the  faces  around  me  in 
the  circle  were  not  the  faces  of  those 
| with  whom  I had  shared  earlier.  How 
I were  we  ever  to  become  a community 
of  love  in  three  short  days?  Slowly  my 
question  was  resolved.  In  a group  game 
that  evening,  assurance  of  caring  was 
given  to  each  member  three  times  in 
1 answer  to  the  question,  “Do  you  love 
me?” 

This  feeling  was  continued  in  the  Bi- 
ble studies  each  morning,  as  we  were 
divided  into  small  groups  for  intense 
sharing,  self-expression,  and  encounter. 

This  feeling  was  continued  in  other 
[ sessions  as  we  Wrote  out  self-evalua- 
j tions  as  well  as  evaluations  of  our  mar- 
riage, and  then  discussed  our  thoughts 
j and  concerns  not  only  with  a group 
: member  but  also  with  our  respective 
j husbands  and  wives. 

The  feeling  was  evident  in  the  long, 
intense  sessions  every  evening,  culminat- 
| ing  in  the  “hot  seat”  on  the  last  eve- 
ning, when  each  couple  was  exposed  to 
the  praise  and  blame  of  the  group.  An 
I experience  such  as  this  could  cut  deep 
wounds  unless  one  is  assured  that  the 
j fellowship  is  a bearing,  caring,  and  trust- 
worthy  group.  I believe  the  latter  to  be 
! true. 


My  own  highlight  experiences  came 
through  these  personal  encounters  which 
have  resulted  in  new,  loving  relation- 
ships, in  understanding  friendships,  and 
a warm  sense  of  oneness  with  other  min- 
isters and  wives  of  the  Western  District 
Conference.  But  it  also  came  through 
other  experiences  where  we  dealt  with 
live  issues  in  the  church.  We  met  with 
another  couple  involved  in  urban  min- 
istry, and  instead  of  discussing  all  as- 
pects of  the  morning’s  theme,  we  shared 
the  struggles  and  joys  of  urban  life  and 
received  new  insights  from  a couple  who 
could  evaluate  and  discuss  their  past 
ministry. 

On  another  day  the  group  was  divid- 
ed in  two,  each  group  being  given  a list 
of  five  priorities  for  the  Mennonite 
church.  They  were  to  be  arranged  through 
consensus  in  an  order  acceptable  to  the 
whole  group,  and  then  group  process 
and  emotion  discussed.  Again,  the  group 
relationships  proved  interesting,  but  I 
found  my  own  interests  turning  to  the 
issues  themselves,  especially  that  of  wom- 
en’s leadership,  liberation,  and  ordination 
in  the  church,  because  I felt  here  was  a 
group  of  leaders  who  would  listen,  think, 
and  discuss  openly. 

I believe  a seminary  professor  was 
right  when  he  said  one  can  do  only  so 
much  navel-gazing  and  then  one  needs 
some  input.  By  the  second  day  I felt 
this  way.  As  I look  over  the  objectives 
sent  to  us  before  the  seminar  began,  I 
feel  that  as  a group  we  failed  to  discuss 
some  of  the  issues  which  could  have 
helped  us  in  our  ministry,  personal 
growth,  and  an  understanding  of  today’s 
changing  world.  As  I look  over  the  sem- 
inar, I feel  that  we  failed  to  bring  heal- 
ing in  a few  situations  where  hurt  oc- 
curred; as  feelings  became  more  intense, 
we  stood  by  helpless.  I felt  this  during 
the  last  session  when  women  discussed 
their  roles  and  tried  to  discover  who 
they  were,  only  to  be  interrupted  by  the 
last  meal. 

“How  can  I find  my  gifts,”  a woman 
asked  on  the  way  to  the  tables,  “unless 
someone  helps  me?  I believe  this  can 
only  occur  in  the  context  of  the  group.” 

As  I look  over  our  schedule,  I still 
feel  we  were  too  bound  to  the  clock, 
the  dining  room  hours,  and  “what 
should  happen  next.”  Perhaps  sand- 
wiches in  group  encounter  might  have 
been  more  healthy  in  some  situations 
than  potatoes  and  gravy  eaten  over  a 
menu  called  “unfinished  business.” 

However  something  did  happen  at 
Rock  Springs  4-H  camp.  An  earlier 
letter  to  us  read:  “Come  to  be  your  real 


self.  God  may  use  you  to  minister  to 
someone  else  through  your  own  hurt, 
failure,  or  defeat.”  I did  come.  So  did 
more  than  twenty  others.  I was  helped, 
reassured,  and  healed.  I feel  like  a new 
person.  What  more  could  one  want? 

Our  thanks  to  the  leaders  who  made 
this  seminar  possible.  We  hope  it  can 
happen  again  . . . soon. 

“Project:  Teach”  designed 
for  church  school  teachers 

Five  days  of  training  for  church  school 
teachers  are  being  planned  for  March 
26-30  at  Bethel  College,  North  Newton, 
Kansas. 

The  week,  designed  to  provide  expe- 
rience-based learning  for  teachers,  is 
called  “Project:  Teach”  and  is  jointly 
sponsored  by  Bethel  College,  Hesston 
College,  the  Commission  on  Education 
(General  Conference  Mennonite  Church), 
and  Mennonite  Publishing  House  (Men- 
nonite Church). 

Cornelia  Lehn,  children’s  education 
director  for  coe,  said  the  project  would 
stress  learning  by  doing  and  would  in- 
volve teachers  in.  the  creative  teaching 
process. 

Most  of  the  sessions  will  be  divided 
according  to  age  groups,  with  kindergar- 
ten, primary,  lower  junior,  junior,  and 
junior  high  teachers  in  their  own  home 
rooms. 

In  these  groups,  courses  will  be  taught 
in  “Understanding  the  child,”  by  Ver- 
non Kliewer;  “Understanding  ourselves 
as  teachers,”  by  Melva  Kaufman;  “The 
child’s  response  to  the  Bible,”  by  Frank 
Ward;  drama  by  Donna  Beth  Held 
Schroeder;  art  by  Miguel  Almanza;  and 
audiovisuals. 

Joint  sessions  will  include  “How  to 
study  the  Bible”  by  Clayton  Beyler, 
the  Anabaptist  view  by  Alvin  Beachy, 
and  worship  experiences  led  by  John 
Lederach. 

Board  and  room  at  the  college  and 
tuition  will  cost  $75  per  teacher.  Ms. 
Lehn  said  that  congregations  are  being 
encouraged  to  pay  this  fee  for  teachers, 
since  proper  training  for  church  school 
teachers  is  a fundamental  task  of  Chris- 
tian education. 

Those  participating  in  “Project:  Teach” 
should  send  applications  by  March  1 
to  Alvin  Beachy  at  Bethel  College. 


THE  MENNONITE 


105 


Local  outreach  both  traditional,  innovative 


In  local  outreach,  most  General  Con- 
ference congregations  in  North  America 
are  sticking  to>  the  traditional  areas  of 
ministry  to  the  aged,  ministry  to  the  ill, 
and  home  visitation,  according  to  a re- 
cent survey  compiled  by  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries. 

Of  the  269  congregations  surveyed, 
more  than  one  hundred  congregations 
checked  “yes”  in  these  three  categories, 
plus  evangelistic  crusades,  ministry  to 
children,  and  ministry  through  music. 

Areas  of  medium  emphasis  were  liter- 
ature ministry,  youth  center  ministry, 
radio  program  sponsorship,  prison  min- 
istry, interracial  ministry,  and  peace 
ministry. 

Toward  the  bottom  of  the  list  were 
housing  rehabilitation  (thirty  - three 
churches),  ministry  to  leaders  and  gov- 
ernment (thirty-five  churches),  and  day 
care  centers  (thirty-six  churches). 

Although  there  is  some  variation 
among  the  district  and  provincial  con- 
ferences, smaller  churches  tended  to  em- 
phasize the  traditional  role  of  the  church 
in  evangelism  and  visitation.  Large  con- 
gregations, although  having  traditional 
programs,  placed  more  emphasis  on  proj- 
ects outside  the  church  membership, 
such  as  prison  and  interracial  ministries 
and  involvement  with  government  leaders. 

In  the  Central  District,  the  highest 
priority  checked  was  ministry  to  the 
aged,  with  twenty-one  churches  partici- 
pating. Second  was  the  category,  “other,” 


Words  & deeds 

A second  festival  of  the  Holy  Spirit — 
continuing  the  work  of  last  year’s  fes- 
tival at  Goshen  College  but  exploring 
further  the  life  of  the  congregation  and 
the  problems  congregations  are  wrestling 
with — is  set  for  May  11-13.  It  will  have 
the  theme,  “Led  by  the  Spirit,”  and 
will  seek  a balance  between  singing  and 
spontaneous,  informal  sharing  on  the  one 
hand,  and  solid  substance  and  content 
in  the  presentations  on  the  other. 

On  the  committee  planning  the  fes- 
tival are  representatives  of  the  cooperat- 
ing groups:  Central  District  Conference 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonites, 
and  the  Illinois,  Indiana-Michigan,  and 
Ohio  and  Eastern  conferences  of  the 
Mennonites.  The  festival  is  a cooperative 
project  with  the  Associated  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminaries  and  Goshen  College. 


which  included  such  items  as  small-group 
Bible  studies  and  volunteering  services 
for  nonprofit  social  service  organizations. 
Nine  congregations  were  involved  in  day 
care. 

Eastern  District  churches  gave  priority 
to  home  visitation  and  ministry  to  the 
aged.  None  checked  peace  ministry  or 
ministry  to  leadersi  and  government. 

Ministry  to  the  aged  and  the  ill  also 
topped  the  list  in  the  Northern  District. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  list  were  peace 
ministry,  day  care  centers,  and  ministry 
to  leaders  and  government. 

Three  areas  of  emphasis  emerged  in 
the  Pacific  District:  home  visitation, 

ministry  to  children,  and  ministry  to  the 
aged.  At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  were 
ministry  to'  leaders  and  government, 
housing  rehabilitation,  and  day  care  cen- 
ters. 

In  the  Western  District  Conference, 
ministry  to  the  aged  and  home  visitation 
were  the  main  areas  of  involvement.  Few 
congregations  checked  housing  rehabili- 
tation or  ministry  to-  leaders  and  govern- 
ment. 

In  Alberta,  priorities  were  ministry  to 
the  aged,  then  ministry  to  children. 

Ministry  to  children  topped  the  list 
only  in  British  Columbia.  Second  was 
ministry  to  the  ill.  Other  areas  included 
family  counseling. 


In  Manitoba,  the  categories  most  often 
checked  were  home  visitation,  ministry 
to  the  ill,  ministry  through  music,  evan- 
gelistic crusades,  and  ministry  to'  the 
aged. 

Of  the  fifteen  Ontario  churches  re- 
sponding, six  sponsor  radio  programs  and 
six  hold  evangelistic  crusades.  Top  pri- 
orities were  home  visitation  and  minis- 
try to  the  ill.  Some  congregations  are  in- 
volved in  telephone  counseling  and  min- 
istry to  the  retarded. 

Most  frequently  checked  in  the  Sas- 
katchewan Conference  was  evangelistic 
crusades,  followed  by  ministry  to  chil- 
dren and  ministry  to  the  aged.  Four  cate- 
gories were  not  checked:  ministry  to 
leaders  and  government,  housing  rehabil- 
itation, prison  ministry,  and  day  care. 
One  congregation  mentioned  a baby 
health  clinic;  another,  a halfway  house 
for  native  people. 

Palmer  Becker,  executive  secretary  of 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries,  re- 
lated these  figures  to  the  goal-centered 
program  of  Key  73. 

He  said,  “Most  congregations  are  pro- 
gram-centered rather  than  goal-centered. 
Congregations  that  set  goals  will  consid- 
er their  resources  and  the  needs  of  per- 
sons in  the  community.  Then  they  will 
decide  whether  a particular  program  or 
emphasis  is  the  most  needed.” 


"A  Festival  of  Action  Resources" 


STRATEGY 

SEMINARS 

For  pastors  and  church 
or  community  Key  73  Committees. 


Sponsored  by  Key  73  Continental  Central  Committee 
and  hosted  by  cooperating  area  Key  73  committees 

Thirty-six  one-day  seminars  will  be  held  during  March  in  strategic 
locations. 

Ted  Raedeke,  Key  73  executive  director,  John  DeVries,  Phase  2 
chairman,  and  Robert  Hart,  Phase  5 chairman  will  be  seminar 
leaders.  Cost  of  $10  includes  lunch. 

See  your  pastor  for  place  and  time,  or  contact  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


106 


FEBRUARY  13,  1973 


RECORD 


Ministers 

■ ■ 

Harris  Waltner  has  resigned  as  pastor 
I of  the  Menno  Church,  Ritzville,  Wash., 
i effective  in  early  summer.  He  has  been 
f pastor  in  Ritzville  for  ten  years.  He  will 
begin  work  with  Bethel  Church,  Moun- 
! tain  Lake,  Minn. 

Workers 


De  D.  Honn,  Champaign,  111.,  joined  the 
Champaign  - Urbana  voluntary  service 
unit  Nov.  15  for  an  indefinite  term  of 
service.  He  is  working  as  administrative 
assistant  to  James  Dunn,  pastor  of  the 
First  Church,  Urbana,  111.  The  Cham- 
paign-Urbana  voluntary  service  unit  is 
a joint  effort  of  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church,  Newton,  Kans.,  and 
the  Mennonite  Board  of  Missions,  Elk- 
hart, Ind.  Mr.  Honn  graduated  from 
Bluffton  College  in  1972  with  a BA  in 
social  work. 


Klassen 

Anita  Beth  Klassen,  Hively  Ave. 
Church,  Elkhart,  Ind.,  began  voluntary 
service  Jan.  27  in  Hutchinson,  Kans.  She 
i will  serve  in  the  day  care  center  spon- 
! sored  by  the  First  Church,  Hutchinson, 
until  Sept.  1.  Ms.  Klassen  is  a January 
graduate  of  Concord  High  School,  Elk- 
hart, and  the  daughter  of  Otto  Klassen. 


C.  G.  Rempel,  formerly  pastor  of  the 
Charleswood  Mennonite  Church,  has 
been  appointed  the  first  Protestant  chap- 


lain of  the  St.  Boniface  General  Hos- 
pital, a Catholic-operated  institution  in 
Winnipeg,  was  a chaplain  resident  at  the 
Rochester  (Minn.)  Methodist  Hospital 
during  1971-72.  He  is  a graduate  of 
four  Mennonite  institutions:  Swift  Cur- 
rent Bible  Institute,  Canadian  Mennonite 
Bible  College,  Bethel  College,  and  Men- 
nonite Biblical  Seminary. 


Unger 

aBSSgSL  — _5 

Eric  Unger,  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peter 
Unger  of  Chilliwack,  B.C.,  has  begun  a 
one-year  term  of  voluntary  service  with 
the  Eastern  Mennonite  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, Salunga,  Pa.  Mr.  Unger  is  serving 
his  term  in  community  development  at 
Washington,  D.C.  Mr.  Unger,  a 1971 
graduate  of  Brandon  University,  Bran- 
don, Man.,  is  a member  of  the  Grace 
Church  in  Brandon. 


Waltner 

Cynthia  Wedel,  Alexandria,  Va.,  past 
president  of  the  National  Council  of 
Churches,  social  psychologist,  and  asso- 
ciate director  of  the  Center  for  a Volun- 
tary Society,  and  Erland  Waltner,  for- 
mer Bethel  faculty  member  and  now 
president  of  Mennonite  Biblical  Semi- 
nary, Elkhart,  Ind.,  have  been  named  to 
Bethel  College’s  newly  formed  Presi- 
dent’s Council  of  Advisors. 

Ken  Zehr,  Bath,  N.Y.,  has  joined 
the  Mennonite  Disaster  Service  staff  as 
its  first  full-time  social  worker  for  a one- 
year  term.  He  will  be  screening  appli- 
cants and  working  with  various  agencies 
to  get  available  benefits  for  flood  vic- 
tims in  the  Elmira-Coming,  N.Y.,  area. 


Calendar 


March  12-15 — Mennonite  health  as- 
sembly, Atlanta,  Ga. 

April  26-29  — Central  District  Con- 
ference, Goshen,  Ind. 

May  4-5  — Eastern  District  Confer- 
ence, Bally,  Pa. 

Canadian 

Feb.  23-24  — Conference  of  Menno- 
nonites  in  Manitoba,  Bergthaler  Church, 
Altona. 

Feb.  23-24 — Conference  of  Menno- 
nites  in  Saskatchewan,  Eigenheim 
Church,  Rosthem. 

April  8 — Second  annual  Mennonite 
festival  of  art  and  music,  sponsored  by 
the  women’s  auxiliary  of  Westgate  Men- 
nonite Collegiate,  Polo  Park  Mall,  Win- 
nipeg. 

Central 

Feb.  23-24 — Offender  seminar,  Bluff- 
ton,  Ohio. 

Western 

March  20 — Women’s  Missionary  Or- 
ganization spring  meeting,  Pretty  Prairie, 
Kans. 

Published 


Evangelism — good  news  or  bad  news?, 
an  adaptation  of  three  addresses  pre- 
sented at  Probe  72  have  been  published 
by  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
Peace  Section.  The  three  essays,  “Which 
call?”,  “Which  gospel?”,  and  “Which 
kingdom?”,  were  published  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  Probe  72  executive  com- 
mittee, which  felt  that  one  contribution 
Mennonites  can  make  to  Key  73  is  to 
raise  the  issue  of  the  relationship  of 
evangelism,  peace,  and  discipleship.  Au- 
thors of  the  essays  are  Frank  H.  Epp, 
associate  professor  of  history  and  com- 
munications at  Conrad  Grebel  College, 
University  of  Waterloo,  Ont.;  John 
K.  Stoner,  pastor  of  the  Bellevue  Park 
Brethren  in  Christ  Church,  Harrisburg, 
Pa.;  and  John  E.  Toews,  assistant  pro- 
fessor of  religious  studies  at  Conrad 
Grebel  College.  The  twenty-two-page 
booklet  is  available  for  ten  cents  from 
the  Peace  Section,  mcc,  21  South  12th 
St.,  Akron,  Pa.  17501,  or  from  mcc 
(Canada),  201-1483  Pembina  Highway, 
Winnipeg,  Man. 


THE  MENNONITE 


107 


Lyle  E.  Sehaller 


Nearly  everyone  who  works  extensively  with  churches  of  several  denom- 
inations and  in  various  sections  of  the  country  is  asked  the  question,  “What 
do  you  see  happening  in  the  churches  today?”  Obviously  the  response  of 
any  one  individual  will  be  highly  subjective  and  he  colored  by  the  combina- 
tion of  his  experiences. 


In  1971  I had  occasion  to  visit,  work 
with,  or  be  involved  in  consultations 
with  171  congregations  representing  six- 
teen denominations.  In  addition,  I spent 
108  days  in  workshops,  training  pro- 
grams, and  seminars  for  laymen  and/or 
clergymen.  Out  of  this  assortment  of 
experiences  in  1972  and  from  the  con- 
text of  a dozen  years  as  a church  plan- 
ner, this  is  my  response  to  the  question 
about  what  is  happening  in  the  churches 
today. 

1.  Increasingly  disruptive  tensions  are 
visible  between  those  people  in  the 
churches  who  place  the  higher  priority 
on  the  vertical  relationship  (God-man 
and  man-God)  and  those  who  place  the 
higher  priority  on  the  horizontal  (man- 
man  and  man-society)  relationship. 

2.  There  is  a strong  negative  reac- 
tion by  many  members  today  to  what 
were  the  popular  and  more  widely  ac- 
cepted special  thrusts  in  ministry  dur- 
ing the  1960s. 

3.  More  laymen  and  (especially  per- 
sons in  the  fifteen-to-thirty-five  age 
group)  appear  to  be  placing  a greater 
emphasis  on  the  importance  of  “good” 
preaching.  Usually  “good”  is  defined  as 
“speaking  to  me  and  to  my  needs.” 

4.  There  appears  to  be  an  increase  in 
the  number  of  ministers  emphasizing 
biblical  preaching — as  contrasted  with  a 
greater  emphasis  on  topical  preaching  a 
few  years  ago. 

5.  There  is  a decline  in  the  influence 
of  behavior  patterns  of  church  members 
of  old,  established,  and  traditional  values. 

6.  There  is  a growing  and  increasingly 
influential  longing  by  many  members 
(and  ex-members)  for  the  church  to 
affirm  and  actively  support  traditional 
values  concerning  behavior  patterns.  This 
is  especially  pronounced  among  persons 
in  the  twenty-five-to-forty-five  age  group. 

7.  A sharp  increase  can  be  seen  in 
what  can  be  described  in  traditional 
terminology  as  “personal  pietism.” 

8.  Guilt  is  of  decreasing  influence  as 
a motivating  factor  in  the  typical  main- 
line Protestant  congregation. 

9.  A growing  “freedom”  is  being  ex- 


pressed by  an  increasing  number  of 
church  members  to  ignore  or  to  boycott 
the  church  unless  it  is  responsive  to 
their  needs. 

10.  Most  of  the  increase  in  benevo- 
lence giving  by  congregations  is  in  the 
form  of  (a)  designated  giving  and/or 
(b)  local  (community,  metropolitan,  or 
neighborhood)  projects  in  ministries. 

11.  On  the  one  hand,  the  traditional 
Sunday  school  is  continuing  to  show  a 
decline  in  most  congregations  when 
measured  in  terms  of  average  attendance. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  most 
significant,  meaningful,  and  attractive 
changes  taking  place  in  the  churches 
are  in  the  area  of  Christian  education. 

12.  An  increasing  number  of  congre- 
gations are  choosing  to  have  two  or  three 
worship  services  on  Sunday  morning, 
although  not  forced  to  because  of  space 
limitations. 

13.  Many  congregations  are  finding 
the  physical  facilities  that  were  construct- 
ed during  the  1920s,  1950s,  or  early 
1960s  to  be  excessively  large  in  terms 
of  space,  and  these  often  limit  the  alter- 
natives in  program  planning  because  of 
size  or  design. 

14.  In  a growing  number  of  congre- 
gations, the  indebtedness  incurred  by  a 
previous  “generation”  of  members  ex- 
ceeds the  capability  and/or  willingness 
of  present  members  to  meet  the  debt 
service  charges  and  also  to  provide  an 
adequate  financial  base  for  current  pro- 
gram. 

15.  A rapidly  increasing  number  of 
members  of  Roman  Catholic,  Episcopal, 
Presbyterian,  Lutheran,  and  United 
Methodist  (and  approximately  in  that 
order  of  frequency)  are  actively  in- 
volved in  charismatic  renewal  movements 
and/or  neopentecostalism.  Many  of 
these  persons  have  postgraduate  training 
in  the  physical  and  biological  sciences, 
the  healing  acts,  engineering,  education, 
and  business  administration. 

16.  There  appears  to  be  a decrease  in 
interest  in  social  activism  among  the 
churches  in  the  “historical  mainstream 
of  cooperative  Protestant  denomina- 


tions” and  an  increase  in  interest  in  so- 
cial activism  among  young  adults  of  the 
rapidly  growing  “evangelical”  denomina- 
tions. 

17.  While  there  is  an  increasing  em- 
phasis on  “pluralism”  and  “diversity”  in 
congregational  life,  the  rhetoric  often 
exceeds  the  performance. 

18.  There  is  a major  increase  in  the 
time  and  energy  allocated  by  laymen  to 
specialized  ministries  to  people  from  the 
base  of  a worshiping  congregation. 

19.  Increasingly  the  deficits  in  resources 
being  felt  by  congregations  are  (in  this 
order)  (a)  the  energy  of  people,  (b) 
commitment  of  people,  (c)  time,  and  (d) 
money. 

20.  The  implementation  of  a ministry 
to  persons  in  colleges  and  universities  is 
revealing  a growing  gap  between  the 
definition  of  those  who  are  providing  the 
financial  support  and  the  definition  of 
what  is  appropriate  by  the  professional 
ministers  who  have  been  called  to  carry 
out  this  ministry. 

21.  A characteristic  common  to  many 
growing  congregations  today  is  the  abil- 
ity to  identify  the  needs  of  a potential 
constituency  and  to  be  responsive  to 
those  needs. 

22.  It  is  increasingly  difficult  to  find 
lay  volunteers  for  systematic  calling  pro- 
grams in  either  visitation  evangelism  or 
membership  recruitment.  The  two  ma- 
jor exceptions  to  this  generalization  are 
(a)  those  congregations  where  morale, 
enthusiasm,  and  expectations  are  high, 
and  (b)  those  congregations  which  have 
training  programs  for  callers  that  pro- 
vide for  both  an  improvement  in  the 
skills  of  the  callers  and  an  increase  in 
the  level  of  self-confidence  of  the  caller. 

23.  There  is  an  increasing  awareness 
that  it  no  longer  is  possible  to  manage 
people  in  the  manner  that  appeared  to 
be  both  possible  and  acceptable  fifteen 
or  twenty  years  ago. 

24.  Since  the  original  reason  for  their 
existence  has  disappeared,  many  congre- 
gations are  being  forced  by  institutional, 
economic,  and  cultural  pressures  to  re- 
define their  purpose. 


108 


FEBRUARY  13,  1973 


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THE  MENNONITE 


109 


LETTERS  MEDITATION 


Dingdong 

Dingdong.  Jehovah’s  Witness  calling. 

“Hello,  ma’am.  . . .” 

Come  now.  I may  not  be  a teeny-bopper,  but  I certainly  don’t  look  like  a 
“ma’am.” 

“I  have  here  two  pamphlets  I’d  like  to  give  you.  . . .” 

The  three-minute  super-sell  that’s  been  recited  at  oh-so-many  houses  . . . 
my  quiet,  polite  attention.  . . . 

Thanks,  but  I’m  not  interested. 

“All  right.  Thank  you  for  your  time.” 

Back  to  the  Bach.  Which  measure  was  I playing  when  that  dingdong.  . . ? 

Jehovah’s  Witnesses.  See  one,  you’ve  seen  them  all.  Lord,  even  you’d  have  trouble 
changing  their  minds. 

Dingdong. 

Singsong. 

You’re  wrong. 

So  long. 

Jehovah’s  Witness.  At  least  he  didn’t  interrupt  me  yesterday — when  I was  finishing 
the  overdue  Christian  faith  paper.  “Reflections  concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  last 
things” — hope  for  tomorrow.  Today?  God  calls  men  to  his  kingdom.  “Work  while 
it  is  day.”  Be  about  the  Father’s  business.  Pretty  good  theology — pretty  good  paper — 
deserves  at  least  a “B.” 

God  calls  men  to  his  kingdom. 

Key  73  . . . evangelism  that  cares  . . . listening  . . . loving  . . . sharing  the  good 
news  with  all  men  ...  all  men? 

My  Christian  faith  professor  talks  with  Jehovah’s  Witnesses.  . . . 

Knock  knock. 

Who’s  there? 

Jehovah. 

Lord! 

Jehovah’s  Witnesses,  “Inasmuch  as  you  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these,  you 
did  it  not  to  me.”  Mary  Sprunger 


Setback  for  evangelicalism 

Dear  Editor:  I just  finished  the  article 
on  the  back  page  (January  9 issue).  It 
should  awaken  the  evangelical  Chris- 
tians. How  any  evangelical  Christian  can 
sweep  the  bombing  of  Vietnam  under  the 
rug  and  go  about  business  as  usual  is 
more  than  I can  understand.  What  has 
gone  wrong  with  enlightened  human  be- 
ings? 

I wrote  Mr.  Graham  about  his  apathy 
concerning  the  bombing.  I asked  him  to 
explain  why  we  should  have  a right  to 
bomb  Vietnam  but  they  have  no  right 
to  bomb  us.  He  answered  my  letter  but 
not  my  question.  . . . 

I believe  he  is  a victim  of  his  own  ego. 
I think  it  is  time  for  evangelical  leaders 
to  confront  Mr.  Graham  with  his  fault 
privately,  and  then,  if  they  can’t  change 
him,  openly.  His  stand  could  set  the 
evangelical  movement  back  many  years. 
The  only  honorable  way  to  settle  this 
war  is  to  take  our  troops  and  go  home. 
David  J.  Akenson,  1200  West  41st  St., 
Sioux  Falls,  S.D.  57105.  Jan.  8 

Peace  efforts  hampered 

Dear  Larry:  I love  the  name  “Fuller.” 
It  was  while  listening  to  Charles  Fuller 
over  the  network  of  the  “Old-fashioned 
revival  hour”  that  I passed  from  death 
unto  life.  It  was  because  of  his  faithful- 
ness to  the  ministry  of  the  Word  that  I 
am  a believer  and  also  a minister  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ.  It  was  my  privilege  to 
meet  Dr.  Fuller  and  rejoice  with  him 
over  the  “new  life”  I had  found  in  Christ. 

Now  about  that  article  written  by 
Lewis  B.  Smedes,  who  is  on  the  faculty 
of  the  Fuller  Seminary:  Why  is  it,  of 
late,  that  so  many  evangelicals,  so  called, 
are  suddenly  taking  their  frustrations  out 
on  Billy  Graham?  The  way  some  of  your 
writers  are  sounding  off,  one  would  think 
that  a word  from  Brother  Graham  would 
solve  the  Asian  problem.  I don’t  know 
much  about  Middle  America,  the  evan- 
gelical community,  or  Mr.  Graham’s 
control  over  a segment  of  Christianity, 
but  I do  know  that  a man  must  be  very 
frail  and  inept,  if  he  looks  to  one  man 
for  the  solutions  to  the  problems  of  Asia, 
or,  for  that  matter,  any  other  country’s 
problems. 

May  I say,  without  defending  Mr. 
Graham,  because  he  doesn’t  need  to  be 


defended,  believers  have  a right  to  dis- 
agree, but  I don’t  think  it’s  fair  or  hon- 
est, for  one  believer  to  infer  that  an- 
other is  “immoral”  because  of  silence  on 
the  policy-making  of  our  country.  How 
can  one  imply  that  Mr.  Graham,  or  any 
other  man,  is  immoral  because  they  do 
not  go  about  denouncing  America,  its 
government,  its  President,  and  anybody 
else  who  perhaps  disagrees  with  them 
on  the  issues  of  Vietnam? 

I am  appalled  at  the  attacks  made 
against  Billy  Graham.  One  would  think, 
according  to  articles  in  The  Mennonite, 
anyone  voicing  dissent  to  those  opinion- 
ated writers  simply  cannot  have  a spirit 
of  empathy;  but  may  I point  out  to  you 
that  the  so-called  “peace  churches”  are 
not  the  only  ones  that  possess  the  gift  of 
mercy. 

Personally,  I believe  that  the  peace 


efforts  in  Vietnam  have  been  hampered 
by  the  muddled  confusion  and  the  med- 
dling into  the  affairs  of  those  who  are 
attempting  to  bring  about  a settlement. 
(I  use  that  word  settlement,  because  peace 
will  never  be  realized  until  the  Prince  of 
Peace  is  ushered  in.)  Only  last  night  I 
watched  “Meet  the  press”  and  I heard 
one  of  our  senators  say  that  the  Presi- 
dent had  agreed  with  the  North  not  to 
discuss  the  issues  that  are  being  consid- 
ered. But  to  read  some  of  your  articles 
and  listen  to  the  news  media,  you  would 
think  that  our  President  is  an  evil  beast 
for  not  revealing  to  the  world  the  details 
of  the  peace  talks. 

What  right  do  the  Canadians,  the 
church,  or  any  other  group  have  to  con- 
stantly demean  our  policy  and  harass 
our  government?  The  Bible  says  that 
Christians  will  be  held  liable  and  ac- 


110 


FEBRUARY  13,  1973 


countable  for  their  actions  toward  and 
reactions  against  authorities  whom  God 
has  set  over  us.  I believe  when  the 
church  begins  to  digress  from  the  true 
course  of  its  calling  and  allows  its  mem- 
bers, yes,  even  teaches  them  to  become 
reactionaries,  then  the  church  becomes 
subject  to  the  chastening  hand  of  God; 
and  that  chastening  may  come  from  the 
very  government  that  it’s  deriding. 

1 Larry,  I feel  sorry  for  men  who  have 
the  ability  and  capacity  to  unfold  the  rich- 
es of  God’s  marvelous  word  and  yet  they 
allow  themselves  “to  become  entangled 
into  the  affairs  of  this  life.”  Instead  of 
I faithfully  ministering  the  words  of  life 
to  the  sheep  of  the  flock,  they  seem  con- 
tent to  align  themselves  with  the  ele- 
ments of  this  present  life.  They  are  for- 
ever criticizing  governments,  institutions, 
and  they  even  condemn  the  church  of 
the  living  Christ.  May  I say  that  the 
Christ  of  the  church  was  once  falsely 
accused,  tried,  pronounced  guilty,  and 
willingly  took  upon  himself  the  guilt  and 
sin  of  the  whole  world;  but  he,  Christ, 
will  never  be  on  trial  again.  Someday 
the  sins  of  God-rejecting  men  will  be 
tested  against  the  righteousness  of  Christ, 
and  they  will  be  found  “wanting.” 

What  I would  like  to  see  in  The  Men- 
nonite  is  some  fresh  ministry  of  the  pre- 
cious word  of  God,  and  a lot  less  of 
politicking.  Riley  Rinks,  pastor,  Monroe 
Community  Chapel,  Monroe,  Wash. 
98272.  Jan.  15 


Omar  Eby's  First  Full-Length  Novel 
A COVENANT  OF  DESPAIR 

Ashley  Crofton  taught  in  an  East  African 
school,  "a  little  European  institutional 
island.”  Tradition.  culture,  and  re- 
ligion in  the  island  and  the  "real  Africa" 
frustrated  Ashley.  Ash,  torn  between  the 
two  cultures,  despaired  deeply. 

Trapped  among  superiors,  students,  and 
his  African  friends.  Ash  attempts  a path  of 
honesty  and  true  values.  In  the  end  it  be- 
comes a decision  between  a covenant  of 
despair  or  a covenant  of  hope.  308  pages. 
Cloth.  $5.95 

Order  from 

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Millions  of  letters 

Dear  Editor:  Whenever  I judge  an  edi- 
torial to  be  exceptionally  brilliant  I find 
it  is  very  often  because  the  writer  has 
put  my  own  thoughts  into  words  with  an 
eloquence  which  I do  not  possess.  Such 
was  my  appraisal  of  the  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  Lewis  B.  Smedes  (January  9 
issue). 

It  has  long  troubled  me  that  there  has 
been  no  concerted  reaction  to  our  foreign 
policy  from  our  American  churches.  I 
know  there  are  those  who  believe  the 
church  should  not  become  involved  in 
anything  controversial,  and  if  there  is 
one  issue  today  that  evokes  emotion  and 
controversy  it  is  our  nation’s  venture  in 
Indochina.  But  I believe  that  throughout 
history  the  church  was  often  at  its  best 
when  it  was  involved  in  controversy.  To- 
day, if  the  church  has  nothing  to  say  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  then 
in  my  opinion,  it  has  nothing  to  say  to 
me. 

I know  that  in  the  end  each  of  us 
must  make  his  own  judgment,  but  I often 
wonder  if  we  are  greatly  concerned,  or 
if  we  are  living  too  comfortably  to  really 
care  much.  After  all,  most  of  the  killing 
is  done  with  bombs  now,  and  most  of 
those  getting  killed  are  neither  American, 
white,  nor  Christian. 

I wish  I could  honestly  say,  “Well, 
God,  I’ve  done  all  I can,  the  rest  is  up 
to  you.”  I know  I could  have  done  more. 
We  all  could.  We  still  live  in  a free  so- 
ciety where  we  can  vote,  speak  out, 
write  letters. 

I dream  of  100  million  letters  converg- 
ing on  Mr.  Nixon  all  at  one  time.  Just 
one  letter  from  every  church  member 
would  create  an  avalanche  of  1,500  tons 
of  mail.  I visualize  Pennsylvania  Avenue 
being  clogged  with  hundreds  of  mail 
trucks.  They  might  carry  this  message: 
“.  . . inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of 
the  least  of  these,  my  brethren.  . . .” 
Edgar  Stevanus,  350  Third  St.,  Sugar- 
creek,  Ohio  44681.  Jan.  14 


Contents 


The  faded  hush  puppies 

News  

Record  

What  is  happening  in  the  churches? 

Letters  

Dingdong  

An  opportunity  for  new  relationships 
A somber  rejoicing  


98 

101 

107 

108 
110 
no 
112 
112 


COVER 

God’s  own  handiwork  provides  the  back- 
drop for  this  modern  cross  behind  the 
altar  of  an  Episcopal  chapel  in  Estes 
Park,  Colorado.  The  chapel  serves  vis- 
itors to  Rocky  Mountain  National  Park. 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Esther  L.  Vogt,  who  resides  at  502  East 
First,  Hillsboro,  Kans.  67063,  is  a pro- 
lific Mennonite  free-lance  writer. 

Dave  Kroeker  is  managing  editor  of 
the  Mennonite  Reporter,  Waterloo,  On- 
tario. 

Lyle  E.  Schaller  is  parish  consultant  of 
Yokefellow  Institute,  Richmond,  Ind. 
47374. 

Mary  Sprunger  was  a sophomore  at 
Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Ind.  46526, 
last  year  when  she  wrote  the  Meditation. 


CREDITS 

Cover,  Bev  Cunningham,  RNS;  98-99, 
Gerald  Loewen,  Box  86,  Fort  Whyte,  Man. 
ROG  ORO;  102,  Dave  Kroeker;  104,  RNS. 


The 

Mennonite 


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Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
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chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
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R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  221  1 - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


'HE  MENNONITE 


111 


An  opportunity  for  new  relationships 


Key  73  offers  us  some  exciting  new  opportunities 
for  dialog  and  caring  relationships.  The  long- 
range  success  of  the  one-year  effort  to  “call  the 
continent  to  Christ”  may  well  hinge  on  how  effec- 
tively these  opportunities  are  utilized. 

One  example  of  the  openings  that  are  available 
this  year  is  the  Roman  Catholic  participation  in 
Key  73.  Some  denominations  have  seen  their 
involvement  as  sufficient  reason  to  withdraw 
from  the  venture.  Others  are  ignoring  the  Catho- 
lic presence,  pretending  that  they  aren’t  there. 

It  appears  to  us  that  Key  73  offers  an  excep- 
tionally good  opportunity  for  Protestant  and  Cath- 
olic Christians  to  get  together  at  the  local  level 
to  become  acquainted  with  each  other  and  to 
discuss  evangelism  and  other  subjects  of  mutual 
interest.  Many  Protestants  will  likely  be  surprised 
at  the  changes  which  have  occurred  in  the  Cath- 
olic church  since  Vatican  II  washed  over  it  a 
decade  ago. 

Not  all  communities  will  be  ready  for  such 
dialog,  but  when  the  time  seems  ripe  for  some 
interaction  across  the  Protestant-Catholic  back 
fence,  local  Mennonites  who  are  interested  in 
bridge  building  could  be  helpful  in  convening  such 
meetings. 

The  Christians’  relationship  to  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple is  another  issue  that  merits  special  attention 
this  year.  George  Cornell,  the  religion  writer  for 
Associated  Press,  reported  earlier  this  year  that 
“numerous  Jewish  leaders  have  voiced  anxieties 
that  Key  73  . . . might  whip  up  heightened  efforts 
to  convert  Jews  to  Christianity.” 

“At  the  same  time,”  reports  Mr.  Cornell,  “vari- 
ous church  leaders  active  in  Key  73  have  empha- 
sized that  religiously  committed  Jews  are  not  the 
target  of  the  drive.” 


Bearing  in  mind  both  Christianity’s  roots  in 
Judaism  and  the  Western  world’s  tragic  history 
of  anti-Semitism,  how  do  we  go  about  sharing  the 
gospel  with  them  in  a meaningful  way?  What  are 
we  doing  as  indivduals  and  as  congregations  to 
build  trusting  relationships  with  Jewish  people? 

A third  area  that  needs  scrutiny  this  year  is  the 
church’s  relationship  to  cultural  minorities,  in- 
cluding North  American  Indians,  blacks,  Chica- 
nos,  Asians,  and  various  European  nationality 
groups. 

Charles  H.  Kraft,  a missionary  anthropologist, 
wrote  helpfully  on  this  subject  in  a recent  issue 
of  Christianity  today.  He  points  out  how  much 
difficulty  mainstream  North  Americans  are  having 
in  recognizing  the  heterogeneity  among  their 
neighbors.  “It  upsets  us  to  discover,”  he  writes, 
“that  although  we  have  set  up  many  well-meant 
and  expensive  programs  to  bring  about  integra- 
tion, increasing  numbers  of  blacks,  youth,  Chi- 
canos,  American  Indians,  and  others  don’t  want 
to  be  assimilated.  They  don’t  want  to  become  like 
us!  Or,  often,  they  see  the  possibility  of  true 
assimilation  as  so  remote  that  they  have  given 
up  trying.” 

Mr.  Kraft  then  goes  on  to  plead  for  a diversity 
of  approaches  in  evangelism  and  for  a tolerance 
of  a diversity  of  responses..  He  urges  the  bringers 
of  the  gospel  to  become  more  hearer-oriented 
in  their  efforts  to  communicate  with  a particular 
audience.  “A  fitting  goal  for  Key  73  might  be: 
that  every  group  may  hear  and  respond  to  the 
gospel  message  in  a culturally  appropriate  way." 

Key  73  can  become  an  adventure  in  faith  if 
we  seek  to  open  some  new  doors  to  new  rela- 
tionships with  our  neighbors,  lk 


A somber  rejoicing 

We  rejoice  that  a truce  has  finally  been  de-  In  addition  to  our  prayers,  we  should  also 
dared  in  Vietnam.  But  our  joy  is  tempered  by  declare  ourselves  ready  to  help  with  the  restora- 
the  thought  of  the  thousands  who  were  killed,  tion  of  the  people  and  the  land  in  both  North 
maimed,  and  orphaned,  the  beautiful  land  which  and  South  Vietnam  through  our  personnel  and 
has  been  devastated,  and  the  possibility  that  the  our  financial  and  material  resources.  Opportuni- 
fighting among  the  Vietnamese  people  may  not  ties  will  undoubtedly  be  coming  for  all  of  us 
yet  be  over.  to  become  involved  in  the  rebuilding  process 

It  is  a time  for  prayer.  We  must  pray  for  all  through  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee  and 
the  leaders  and  nations  who  have  a part  in  at-  other  church-related  agencies,  lk 
tempting  to  work  out  arrangements  for  a genuine 
peace  in  Indochina. 


Meimonite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:08  FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


Coping  in  crisis 


The  mass  media  confront  us  today  as 
never  before  with  the  reality  and  effects 
of  tragedy  and  suffering  throughout  the 
world,  from  international  conflict  in  such 
places  as  Vietnam  and  the  civil  war  in 
Ireland,  to  the  automobile  accident  on 
Highway  75  and  a death  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. We  rub  shoulders  daily  with  people 
who  have  experienced  a significant  loss. 

From  time  to  time  we  wonder,  “How 
will  I cope  in  a crisis?” 

Dr.  Kuebler-Ross  in  her  book  On 
death  and  dying  says  that  we  are  a 


death-denying  culture,  believing  that 
death  comes  “to  thee  and  to  thee  but 
never  to  me.”  But  she  also  says  that  the 
denial  system  is  at  work  within  us  as  a 
coping  mechanism.  It  helps  us  to  deal 
with  tragedy  in  doses  which  we  can 
handle. 

How  then  can  we  avoid  dwelling  on 
possible  tragedy  but  at  the  same  time 
be  more  fully  prepared  for  it  when  it 
comes? 

An  important  way,  I believe,  is  to 
develop  a deep  trusting  relationship  with 


God,  with  others,  and  with  ourselves. 

Trust  in  God.  Trust  is  often  falsely 
seen  as  a commitment  to  always  be  pleas- 
ant and  nice  and  never  to  hurt.  We  hear 
it  in  such  phrases  as,  “I  trust  you  never 
to  hurt  me”;  “Love  is  never  having  to 
say  I’m  sorry.” 

We  may  think  of  trust  in  God  in  this 
way  too.  “As  long  as  I trust  him,”  so 
our  line  of  thinking  goes,  “he  will  always 
be  good  to  me  and  keep  me  from  harm.” 
We  reciprocate  by  never  “talking  back” 
or  “questioning”  God. 


Two  common  feelings  that  people  have  in 
crisis  are  feelings  of  loneliness  (cover  photo) 
and  fear.  Persotis  who  could  bring  help 
often  fail  to  do  so  because  they  are  afraid 
of  antagonizing  people  who  have  isolated 
themselves  because  of  a crisis. 


Such  a relationship  is  actually  not  a 
deeply  trusting  one  but  a sort  of  mutual 
protection  agreement.  Trust  is  not  an 
agreement  but  a commitment.  John  Pow- 
ell, in  his  book  Why  am  l afraid  to  tell 
you  who  / am?,  has  said,  “I  am  afraid 
to  tell  you  who  I am  because  you  might 
not  like  what  you  see,  and  that  is  all  I 
have  to  offer.” 

To  develop  a trusting  relationship  is 
to  commit  yourself  to  another  as  you  are 
and  believe  that  neither  one  will  be  de- 
stroyed by  your  open  and  honest  pre- 
sentation of  yourself. 

The  motion  picture  Fiddler  on  the 
roof  is  refreshing  for  the  openness  and 
honesty  with  which  the  father,  Tevye,  is 
able  to  express  his  frustration  and  anger 
to  God  rather  than  timidly  saying,  “I 
know  you  do  everything  right.  I am 
happy  to  submit  to  your  will.” 

Job’s  experience  was  striking  enough 
to  be  an  example  and  inspiration  for  all 
time,  not  because  he  simply  submitted 
to  an  authority  greater  than  himself  but 
because  he  struggled  through  his  crisis 
by  asking  questions,  expressing  puzzle- 
ment, and  working  through  the  crisis 
to  a point  of  acceptance. 

Our  religious  systems  are  sometimes 
a barrier  to  effective  coping.  Gordon 
Allport  makes  a helpful  distinction  be- 
tween extrinsic  and  intrinsic  faith. 

Extrinsic  faith  is  when  all  the  right 
words  are  used  but  when  they  don’t 
match  the  feeling  inside.  A person  may 
have  experienced  a serious  loss  but,  with- 
out show  of  regret  or  sadness,  he  says, 
“I  believe  that  God  does  all  things  well. 
He  has  a purpose  in  this  and  I am  hap- 
py to  be  used  of  him.  I know  some  good 
will  come  out  of  it.” 

Such  an  approach  gives  me  an  uneasy 
feeling  because  it  suppresses  a string  of 
feelings  which  are  also  a part  of  reality. 
Here  faith  is  used  as  a defense  mecha- 
nism to  protect  from  reality.  All  the 
words  might  be  true  but  they  deny  the 
feeling  inside  and  may  actually  hinder 
the  coping  process. 

Intrinsic  faith  is  a trust  reality  which 
helps  us  to  deal  with  all  of  our  feelings 
without  fear  and  to  come  to  accept  them 
in  a life-affirming  way.  A mark  of  in- 
trinsic faith  is  when  our  words  and  our 
feelings  are  congruent. 

Even  Jesus  cried  out,  “My  God,  my 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?”  He 
was  able  to  express  his  anguish  as  he 
felt  it  because  of  the  trusting  relation- 
ship which  existed. 

In  crisis  the  exact  formulation  of  our 
faith  does  not  matter  as  much  as  wheth- 
er or  not  it  grows  out  of  trust. 


Intrinsic  faith  is  not  based  on  fear  and 
guilt  or  on  our  need  to  protect  God. 
Rather,  it  involves  a relationship  in 
which  we  feel  understood  and  cared  for 
by  him. 

This  is  why  in  crisis  pastoral  care  we 
don’t  bring  a “package  of  religious  truth” 
to  the  person  but  we  bring  ourselves  in 
relationship. 

Trust  in  others.  Two  common  feelings 
that  people  have  in  crisis  are  feelings  of 
loneliness  and  fear.  They  feel  lonely  be- 
cause they  are  confronted  with  a sudden 
new  experience  which  no  one  else  can 
fully  experience  with  them.  And  they  are 
fearful  because  of  the  unknown  that  lies 
ahead.  This  is  why  we  need  the  support 
and  care  of  others  in  crisis. 

If,  however,  we  have  isolated  and  in- 
sulated ourselves  from  others  as  a pat- 
tern of  life,  then  the  feelings  of  loneli- 
ness and  emptiness  are  magnified  in  a 
crisis.  People,  though  well-meaning,  don’t 
want  to  take  the  risks  of  antagonizing 
persons  who  have  isolated  themselves.  So 
they  are  left  without  support. 

Crisis  can  bring  out  the  best  and/or 
worst  in  us.  Often  we  see  suppressed 
feelings  of  hurt  and  hostility  erupt  within 
a family  during  a crisis.  Perhaps  it’s  be- 
cause the  crisis  forces  them  together  and 
pushes  them  into  making  decisions  which 
they  would  otherwise  avoid.  And  per- 
haps it’s  because  in  crisis  they  don’t  have 
the  energy  it  takes  to  suppress  the  feel- 
ings they  have  been  keeping  the  lid  on 
for  such  a long  time. 

In  Ephesians  4:26  Paul  says,  “Be 
angry  but  do  not  sin;  do  not  let  the  sun 
go  down  on  your  anger.” 

Paul  is  not  saying  that  we  should  sup- 
press our  anger,  but  that  we  should  deal 
with  it  honestly  so  that  it  doesn’t  inter- 
fere with  our  open  relationship  with 
others. 

Living  in  open  and  honest  relation- 
ships with  each  other  now  opens  the 
door  for  a supportive  ministry  to  each 
other  in  crisis  later. 

A crisis  does  not  leave  a person  the 
same.  He  will  function  at  either  a higher 
or  a lower  level  after  the  experience. 
Whether  it  is  one  or  the  other  some- 
times depends  on  the  help  we  get  or  do 
not  get  from  others  during  the  crisis. 

The  most  important  part  of  that  min- 
istry to  each  other  is  the  ministry  of 
listening:  listening  not  only  to  words,  but 
to  meanings  and  feelings — listening  to 
understand,  not  to  pass  judgment. 

Often  we  are  afraid  to  listen  deeply 
because  of  the  feelings  it  evokes  in  us. 
So  we  find  ways  of  avoiding  a deep  in-j 
volvement.  In  the  hospital,  the  nurse  uses 


1 14 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


! the  thermometer.  The  doctor  uses  tech- 
nical language.  And  the  minister  prays. 
But  part  of  what  it  means  to  “bear  one 
another’s  burdens”  is  to  be  an  empa- 
thetic  listener. 

Believing  in  ourselves.  A third  aspect 
of  coping  in  crisis  is  to  believe  in  our- 
j selves.  When  God  created  man  he  said, 
“It  is  good!”  But  a surprising  number  of 
people  don’t  believe  that  in  reference  to 
' themselves. 


We  confuse  self-esteem  with  pride,  and 
we  have  been  taught  to  shun  pride.  So 
we  live  at  half-throttle,  denying  our  full 
self-worth. 

When  Jesus  healed  the  paralytic,  he 
said,  “Rise  up  and  walk.”  There  are  two 
ways  of  understanding  what  Jesus  did. 
On  the  one  hand,  it  has  reference  to  his 
authority.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  an 
appeal  to  the  young  man’s  self-assertive- 
ness. Jesus  was  saying,  “Trust  your  legs. 


Musings  late  in  the  day 


Late  one  afternoon  I slumped  into  the 
desk  chair  in  my  office  and  collected  my 
thoughts  regarding  the  diverse  involve- 
; ments  of  an  active  day  as  a chaplain  at 
Bethel  Deaconess  Hospital  and  Bethel 
Home  for  the  Aged  in  Newton,  Kansas. 
Appropriately  the  words  of  the  hymn, 
Joyful,  joyful,  we  adore  thee,  came  to 
mind. 

Repetitiously,  the  words,  “In  the  tri- 
iumph  song  of  life,”  echoed  what  had 
I unfolded  during  that  day.  A family 
anxiously  awaited  reassuring  news  about 
the  surgery  of  their  family  member,  the 
I third  surgery  in  a few  months.  A pa- 
tient tested  aloud  some  of  her  inner 
(thoughts  about  her  malignant  condition. 
A father  of  a newborn  infant  joyously 
celebrated  the  birth  of  a son,  different 
from  most  other  birth  situations,  be- 
cause conditions  threatened  even  this 
birth  and  precluded  any  future  births. 
A nurse  issued  a plea  for  integrity  in 
her  interprofessional  relationships,  a de- 
sire to  be  respected  and  to  respect  oth- 
ers. An  aide  painfully  related  her  re- 
sponse to  the  death  of  a resident,  peculiar 
j only  because  it  was  the  first  death  she  had 
I experienced  as  an  aide  in  the  home,  but 
.significant  because  she  recalled  the  death 
I of  a family  member  that  night  as  she 
[attempted  to  sleep.  A physician  asked 
* for  a seminar  with  other  members  of  the 
| health  care  team  to  relate  the  psycho- 
logical aspects  of  dying,  special  because 
of  the  death  of  four  patients  within 
[twenty-four  hours. 

A portion  of  the  daily  meditation 
which  is  heard  throughout  the  hospital 
land  home  setting  over  the  communica- 
tions system  that  day  included  a poem 
r written  by  George  L.  Banks,  “What  I 


live  for.”  The  concluding  lines  of  that 
poem  came  rebounding  into  my  conscious 
reassessment  of  the  day. 

I live  for  those  who  love  me, 

For  those  who  know  me  true, 

For  the  Heaven  that  smiles  above  me, 

And  awaits  my  spirit  too; 

For  the  cause  that  lacks  assistance, 

For  the  wrong  that  needs  resistance, 

For  the  future  in  the  distance, 

And  the  good  I can  do. 

Those  words  drove  me  to  a different 
perspective.  I thought  not  of  what  I had 
done  with  the  patients  and  residents  but 
of  what  they  had  triggered  in  me.  I was 
tired  but  it  was  a celebrative  tiredness. 
I had  been  filled  with  the  privilege  of 
sharing  the  lives  of  persons  who  were 
aching  and  rejoicing  and  wondering  and 
praying  and  grieving.  No  longer  did  I 
recount  what  I had  done.  The  challenge 
to  consider  God  came  at  me  from  all 
sectors.  “What  is  man  that  thou  art  mind- 
ful of  him?”  (Psalm  8:4).  “Rejoice  and 
be  glad.  . .”  (Matthew  5:12).  “This  is 
my  beloved  son,  with  whom  I am  well 
pleased”  (Matthew  3:17). 

The  painful  reality  of  sharing  fife 
caught  me  off  guard.  I would  rather 
have  patted  myself  on  the  back  for 
being  an  effective  minister  that  day.  I 
would  rather  have  accepted  praise  for 
allowing  the  cancer  patient  to  express 
her  agonizing  feelings  of  seeing  her  sister 
die  a few  years  back  from  the  same 
disease,  wondering  how  she  would  make 
it,  were  she  ever  to  get  it. 

I would  rather  have  been  responsible 
for  the  father’s  rejoicing  over  a son,  a 
son  born  to  cast  off  what  seemed  to 


Take  the  risk  of  believing  both  in  me  and 
in  yourself.” 

We  need  to  affirm  the  good  in  each 
other  but  also  in  ourselves.  Low  self- 
esteem leads  to  despair.  High  self-esteem 
contributes  to  meaning  and  hope. 

Jesus  said,  “I  have  come  that  they 
might  have  life  and  have  it  more  abun- 
dantly.” That  abundant  life  comes 
through  a trusting  relationship  with  God 
and  with  each  other,  and  in  ourselves. 


Jerry  J.  Griffin 

have  been  unheard  prayers  and  appar- 
ently doomed  dreams  of  parenthood.  I 
would  like  to  have  taken  the  credit  for 
encouraging  the  aide  to  share  her  feel- 
ings about  death,  but  she  burst  forth 
with  an  overwhelming  need  to  tell  some- 
one. The  physician’s  request  for  some 
sort  of  seminar  to  investigate  the  inner 
reaches  of  death  was  a real  boost  to  my 
own  feelings  of  acceptance  as  a part  of 
the  health  care  team,  but  it  was  his  de- 
sire to  work  through  his  own  feelings, 
not  any  overture  to  my  personhood. 

It  was  not  I who  deserved  the  praise 
for  the  events  of  that  day.  It  was  not  I 
who  deserved  to  be  thanked  for  shared 
feelings  or  expressed  emotions. 

“Thank  you,  Lord,  for  allowing  me 
to  be  at  the  right  places  at  the  right 
time.  It  is  you  who  ministered  to  these 
people  today.  I know  you  have  heard 
and  felt  the  anxiety  of  the  Brown*  fam- 
ily, as  they  awaited  the  completion  of 
surgery,  and  you  have  sensed  the  joy  of 
the  Black  family,  at  the  birth  of  their 
son,  and  you  have  ached  with  Mrs. 
Green  as  she  strives  to  accept  her  con- 
dition, and  you  have  heard  Mrs.  White’s 
plea  for  the  respect  of  her  professional 
ethic,  and  you  understood  Mrs.  Blue’s 
grief  at  the  death  of  a resident  because 
you  suffered  the  death  of  your  own  Son, 
and  you  sense  Dr.  Gray’s  agony  over  the 
successive  deaths  of  patients.  Yes,  Lord, 
it  has  been  you  who  stood  and  sat  and 
walked  today.  Your  spirit  is  so  real  here 
in  this  hospital  and  home  for  aged. 
Joyful  music  leads  us  sunward  in  the 
triumph  song  of  life.  Amen.” 


*The  names  of  the  families  are  fictitious,  of  course. 


IHE  MENNONITE 


115 


Keeping  a cfieerful  spirit  in  trying  days 

! 


The  author,  her  husband,  and  their  six 
children  have  been  through  some  diffi- 
cult personal  struggles  that  involved 
serious  mental  illness  and  a reduction 
of  their  income  to  just  over  $1,000  for 
the  past  two  years.  Yet,  in  meeting  her, 
one  senses  a kind  of  quiet  joy,  an  inner 
strength,  an  acceptance  of  life  that  be- 
speaks not  resignation  but  confident 
faith.  The  following  article  was  her  re- 
sponse to  questions  about  how  she  could 
maintain  her  cheerful  spirit  in  the  face 
of  continuing  struggles  and  uncertainties. 
Her  first  comment  was  that  she  doesn’t 
always  maintain  a cheerful  spirit,  but 
that  the  following  things  have  been  help- 
ful to  her. 

I keep  in  mind  that  God  has  a divine 
plan  for  my  life  which  he  wants  to  see 
realized.  Since  I cannot  see  the  plan  in 
its  entirety,  it  is  sometimes  difficult  to 
see  that  he  is  actually  at  work  at  all. 
But  it  is  enough  for  me  to  know  that 
God  has  a purpose  in  my  being  in  this 
place  at  this  time. 

With  God,  no  situation  is  hopeless.  It 
may  seem  that  way  to  us,  but  God  knows 
the  ultimate.  I try  to  be  expectant  that 
God  will  do  great  things  for  me.  I seek 
each  day  to  expect  that  God  will  be 
working  in  my  life. 

Faith  is  optimistic! 

I find  I must  discipline  myself,  espe- 
cially my  mind.  I must  not  let  my  emo- 
tions be  the  master  of  my  mind.  Feel- 
ings are  transitory — faith  is  everlasting. 

I discovered  I must  not  allow  bitter- 
ness to  come  into  my  life,  but  rather  to 
think  positively  about  myself  and  others. 
The  Bible  has  answers  for  mental  health 
and  Philippians  4:8  is  excellent: 

“Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatso- 
ever things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  what- 
soever things  are  of  good  report;  if  there 
be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise, 
think  on  these  things.” 


I try  to  apply  this  type  of  thinking  to 
my  husband  and  family.  I think  of  their 
good  points.  I remember  what  attracted 
me  to  my  husband  when  I first  met  him. 
I realize  that  he  still  has  the  qualities 
that  made  me  like  him  then.  I still  love 
him  for  those  qualities.  If  bitterness 
comes,  I must  squash  it.  If  criticism  can 
be  constructive,  it  must  be  aired  in  love. 

I have  learned  to  be  thankful  for  the 
little  things,  to  count  my  blessings  when 
I am  down  in  the  dumps.  God  has  given 
us  so  much  in  spiritual  and  material 
blessings.  It  is  better  to  concentrate  on 
this  rather  than  on  what  I don’t  have. 

Love,  love,  love.  Others  must  be 
shown  love  even  when  I feel  they  don’t 
deserve  it.  None  of  us  ever  deserved 
God’s  love,  but  he  gave  it  freely.  He 
wants  us  to  share  it  with  others.  The  most 
unlovely  person  is  the  one  who  needs  the 
most  love.  Can  I be  used  to  show  that 
love  to  someone?  We  Christians  are  to 
be  servants  to  others  (Philippians  2:5- 
15). 

Of  course,  discipline  is  a part  of  rear- 
ing children  and  it  is  an  integral  part  of 
love.  God  disciplines  us.  But  we  should 
be  sure  children  know  that  we  love  them. 
If  all  they  hear  is  criticism,  they  can’t 
know  that  we  love  them.  We  have  to 
show  it.  We  parents  sometimes  have  to 
be  reminded  to  be  friendly  with  our 
children.  We  are  so  wrapped  up  in  the 
serious  responsibilities  of  life  that  we 
sometimes  forget  to  have  fun.  I have  to 
remind  myself  of  this  often. 

One  of  the  sins  of  my  early  married 
life  was  comparing  my  present  family 
with  my  former  one.  This  brought  a 
great  deal  of  unhappiness.  Where  I once 
compared  my  husband  unfavorably  with 
my  brothers,  I now  am  happy  that  I am 
married  to  a man  who  is  interesting  and 
inspiring.  I see  my  husband’s  charming 
side  more  than  others  because  he  doesn’t 
show  this  side  of  himself  to  others  very 
often. 


I still  find  it  difficult  to  control  my:. 
complaining,  but  I have  come  to  realize;, 
that  my  children  complain  because  if 
complain,  so  I’d  better  stop.  When  I com-; 
plain,  I am  often  reminded  that  I am 
like  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wilder- 
ness and  that  they  weren’t  allowed  into 
the  Promised  Land  because  of  their  com- 1 
plaining.  When  we  complain  we  are  ac- 
tually telling  God  that  we  don’t  like  the 
place  in  which  he  has  put  us.  Such  com- 
plaining is  sin,  but  not  liking  our  situa- 
tion may  not  be,  I’m  not  sure. 

I need  to  keep  busy.  Temptations  have 
greater  power  over  an  idle  person. 

I need  to  be  patient  with  others,  my- 
self, and  God.  Sometimes  God  takes 
years  to  work  out  things  in  our  lives. 
Impatience  does  not  improve  our  lot  in; 
life.  Yet  there  are  times  to  be  impa-, 
tient,  as  with  deliberately  dawdling  chil- 
dren. 

I have  learned  to  forgive.  Bearing  a 
grudge  sometimes  actually  hurts  one’s 
physical  body  and  certainly  hurts  the; 
spiritual  life.  I have  also  had  to  learn 
to  forgive  myself! 

Getting  enough  rest,  I have  discovered,! 
is  important  for  wives  and  mothers  so 
that  they  can  cope  with  things  and  re- 
main reasonably  sweet.  A half-hour  rest 
at  noon  will  help  get  the  ironing  done! 
much  more  quickly  and  efficiently.  When 
rest  is  impossible,  I try  to  expect  less  of 
myself  as  far  as  work  is  concerned. 

I must  not  expect  perfection  of  my- 
self or  others.  It  has  been  a great  com- 
fort to  me  that  God  remembers  that  we! 
are  human,  “For  he  knoweth  our  frame; 
he  remembereth  that  we  are  dust”  (Psalm 
103:14). 

I have  learned  to  say,  “I’m  sorry,”  to 
my  husband  and  children,  to  laugh  at  my 
own  mistakes,  to  be  open  to  new  things. 

It  has  been  helpful  to  me  to  read  at 
least  one  verse  of  the  Bible  each  day 
and  meditate  on  it.  A chapter  is  more 
desirable,  but  sometimes  we  mothers  just 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
■office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


116 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


don’t  have  time.  I read  the  love  chapter, 
1 Corinthians  13,  once  in  awhile.  I try 
to  be  obedient  to  God’s  word.  Reading 
and  believing  God’s  promises  is  an  en- 
couragement to  me  on  dark  days. 

I believe  in  having  conversations  with 
the  Lord.  Before  I get  out  of  bed  in  the 
morning,  I ask  the  Lord  for  help  during 
the  day  because  I don’t  feel  that  I can 
go  it  alone.  As  problems  come  up  during 
the  day,  I pray  like  this,  “Lord,  I don’t 
know  what  to  do  about  this  problem. 
Will  you  please  help  me?”  As  I work, 
I pray  for  my  own  needs  and  the  needs 
of  others. 

I also  feel  that  a woman  needs  some 
time  for  herself  each  day.  She  should  do 
something  which  she  genuinely  enjoys 
doing.  I enjoy  reading  and  try  to  spend 
a half  hour  each  day  reading  the  daily 
newspaper  or  something  else.  People 
who  are  employed  spend  eight  hours  on 
the  job  and  then  have  time  for  relaxation. 
A mother  spends  sixteen  hours  on  the  job 
and  thinks  she  has  no  time  for  relaxa- 
tion. This  isn’t  fair  to  herself,  her  hus- 
band, or  her  family.  She  is  overtaxing 
her  strength.  If  she  has  company  on 
Sunday,  she  should  spend  a greater  share 
of  another  day  doing  something  more 
restful.  She  needs  her  day  of  rest,  too. 

I feel  that  I waited  too  long  to  share 
my  burden  with  someone  else.  I finally 
shared  with  a brother  and  then  wrote  to 
'friends  who  I felt  would  be  concerned 
enough  to  pray.  I do  feel  that  it  was  the 
prayers  of  our  friends  and  family  mem- 
bers which  helped  see  us  through  our 
very  difficult  days.  We  also  sought  coun- 
seling which  was  necessary,  but  I do  not 
underestimate  the  value  of  concerned 
prayers.  A woman  who  has  problems 
with  herself  or  within  her  family  should 
find  a prayer  partner,  who  will  remem- 
ber her  daily  in  prayer. 

I know  that  God  loves  me — even  when 
1 don’t  feel  that  he  does.  I am  not  per- 
:ect  and  I need  to  keep  trying  to  do  bet- 
ter than  I’ve  done  before.  God  is  willing 
:o  help  us  if  we  are  willing  to  try. 


Ballad  of  an 
aging  mother 

What  do  I say  to  my  child — my  son? 
What  can  I say  to  my  child? 


You  I birthed  first,  Son,  forty  years  gone. 

Rocked  you  with  pride,  Son,  whispered  and  calmed 
when  you  cried,  you  cried. 

Man  you  are  now,  Son,  and  father  of  sons, 
Burdened  with  fears.  But  words  I spoke  once 
are  now  muffled  by  years. 


What  can  I say  to  my  child — my  son? 
What  can  I say  to  my  child? 


I’m  silent,  Son,  tired,  but  I wish  you  could  know 
that  I know,  that  I touch  you,  and  love  you  right  now 
so  much,  so  much. 


What  can  I say  to  my  child — my  son? 
What  can  I say  to  my  child? 


Muriel  Stackley 


‘HE  MENNONITE 


117 


NEWS 


Lights  green  at  Canadian  council  of  boards 


All  three  of  the  boards  of  the  Con- 
ference of  Mennonites  in  Canada,  and 
some  of  its  standing  committees,  meet 
in  Winnipeg  for  three  days  each  winter. 
When  they  invade  the  Canadian  Men- 
nonite  Bible  College  campus  in  late  Jan- 
uary, the  school’s  hallways,  meeting 
rooms,  and  dining  hall  echo  with  the 
warm  pulsation  of  greetings  delivered  to 
the  student  from  back  home;  debates, 
sometimes  scintillating,  sometimes  not, 
on  issues  both  on  the  agenda  and  off; 
reports  and  again  some  more  reports; 
and  the  laughter  and  the  tears  of  peo- 
ple who  enjoy  working  and  being  to- 
gether. 

It  hasn’t  always  been  so.  Two  years 
ago,  when  the  conference  was  facing 
crippling  financial  and  morale  problems, 
the  council  of  boards,  as  this  meeting 
is  called,  seemed  more  like  a deathwatch. 

This  year  it  Was  a much  more  joyous 
occasion.  One  of  the  tangible  ways  in 
which  the  conference’s  recovery  has  be- 
come evident  is  its  financial  status.  The 
1972  budget,  calling  for  cash  contribu- 
tion totaling  $360,000,  was  met.  The 
light  is  green,  the  contributors  seemed  to 
say. 

The  problem  the  conference  now  faces 
is  to  avoid  charging  forward  too  exuber- 
antly. Its  budget  for  1973  calls  for  an 
income  of  $391,000,  which  is  approxi- 
mately 9 percent  more  than  it  received 
last  year.  The  increase  will  cover  an 
enlarged  ministry  among  Canada’s  na- 
tive peoples  and  larger  salary  adjust- 
ments for  the  conference’s  mission  and 
clerical  staffs. 

The  boards  and  committees  met  sepa- 
rately for  most  of  the  three  days,  but 
they  spent  some  time  together  in  council 
sessions  to  make  several  joint  decisions. 

One  of  the  decisions  they  made  jointly 
was  to  send  a wire  to  Prime  Minister 
Trudeau  and  External  Affairs  Minister 
Sharp  expressing  the  council’s  sentiments 
concerning  the  truce  in  Vietnam.  The 
wire,  in  part,  read  as  follows: 

“We  commit  ourselves  to  pray  for  you 
and  for  the  leaders  of  the  other  nations 
which  will  be  participating  in  the  inter- 
national observer  team  and  in  other  ef- 
forts to  bring  about  a genuine  peace  in 
Indochina.  We  also  commit  ourselves  to 


helping  with  the  restoration  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  land  in  both  North  and  South 
Vietnam  through  personnel,  and  financial 
and  material  resources  which  we  will 
make  available  through  the  Mennonite 
Central  Committee,  our  international  re- 
lief and  peace  agency.” 

The  council  also  approved  a resolution 
concerning  the  incorporation  of  Menno- 
nite Foundation.  The  recommendation 
will  go  to  the  conference’s  annual  con- 
vention in  Edmonton  this  summer  for 
ratification. 

The  foundation  had  come  under  some 
fire  in  recent  months  from  people  who 
thought  it  might  have  “empire-building” 
aspirations.  The  council  was  assured  that 
the  foundation  had  no  inclinations  in 
that  direction. 

The  resolution  will  permit  the  founda- 
tion to  seek  a charter  which  will  enable 
it  to  procure  legal  expertise,  print  edu- 
cational literature,  and  sponsor  educa- 
tional and  stewardship  drives.  At  least 
90  percent  of  the  money  which  it  re- 
ceives under  this  type  of  incorporation 
must  be  passed  on  to  the  designated 
charities  within  a year.  The  foundation 
under  this  charter  cannot  participate  in 
any  dealings  which  are  debt-incurring. 


If  it  wishes  to  hold  and  invest  monies  it 
must  obtain  a second  charter,  but  before 
it  applies  for  such  incorporation  it  will 
seek  the  conference’s  go-ahead. 

The  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  Col- 
lege board  took  a preliminary  look  at  a 
series  of  building  plans.  One  set  dealt 
with  a $160,000  library-archives  building,; 
which  a private  donor  has  offered  to  erect 
on  the  campus.  The  second  set  dealt  with 
an  office-bookstore-lounge-chapel  com-t 
plex,  which  is  a refinement  of  the  plans 
which  were  presented  to  the  1972  con- 
ference sessions  but  turned  down.  The 
latter  complex  is  expected  to  cost  ap- 
proximately $200,000  to  $250,000.  Since 
the  building  will  also  house  the  confer- 
ence’s offices,  the  cmbc  board  will  meet 
with  the  conference  executive  committee) 
in  April  to  prepare  a recommendation 
for  this  summer’s  delegate  convention. 

To  strengthen  the  college’s  offerings 
in  Anabaptist  history,  the  board  approved 
plans  to  seek  a sponsor  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a chair  in  this  field  of 
studies.  The  person  appointed  to  this  po- 
sition would  be  connected  with  the  ar- 
chives. 

The  faculty  was  given  the  go-ahead  to 
expand  its  educational  efforts  to  include! 


Among  the  twenty -nine  workers  who  attended  the  annual  Mennonite  Pioneer  Missio , 
staff  conference  in  Winnipeg  January  23-24  were  Neill  von  Gunten,  Manigotogan 
Henry  and  Elna  Neufeld,  Springstein;  and  Margaret  and  John  Klassen,  Matheso, 
Island.  The  workers  discussed  both  community  development  work  and  outreac. 
during  the  two-day  meeting.  The  Henry  Neufelds,  who  have  combined  pastoral  wor. 
at  the  Springstein  Mennonite  Church  with  part-time  mpm  responsibilities  during  the\ 
past  two  years,  have  been  invited  to  return  to  full-time  employment  with  mpm.  Mr. j 
Neufeld,  who  speaks  Saulteaux  fluently,  is  in  constant  demand  to  lead  Bible  stud 
meetings  and  evangelistic  services  in  Indian  communities. 


118 


FEBRUARY  20,  1970 


Health  assembly  will  meet 
in  Atlanta  in  March 

Examining  the  church’s  health  and  wel- 
fare involvements  in  light  of  the  biblical 
Ibasis  for  health  care  will  be  the  major 
emphasis  on  this  year’s  annual  meeting 
i of  the  Mennonite  Health  Assembly.  To 
be  held  March  12-15  in  Atlanta,  Georgia, 
the  Mennonite  Health  Assembly  will 
'meet  concurrently  with  other  member 
organizations  of  the  Protestant  Health 
and  Welfare  Assembly. 

The  Mennonite  assembly  in  its  first 
: sessions  will  hear  an  address  by  Ralph 
F.  Waddell,  of  the  Seventh-Day  Adven- 
tist Church,  Washington,  D.C.,  on  “Our 
commitment  to  health  care.”  Other  ad- 


more  opportunities  for  combining  theory 
with  practice.  It  is  envisioned  that  this 
“expanded  ministries”  concept  will  in- 
Ivolve  students  in  some  of  the  practical 
aspects  of  the  pastoral  ministry,  Chris- 
tian education,  congregational  outreach, 
service,  and  historical  research. 

The  board  granted  a sabbatical  leave 
to  Henry  Poettcker,  the  president,  for 
:he  1973-74  school  year.  During  this  pe- 
idod  Mr.  Poettcker  will  be  teaching  cours- 
es in  Anabaptist  history  and  related 
themes  in  Taiwan  and  Japan.  David 
Schroeder  will  be  the  acting  president 
luring  Mr.  Poettcker’s  absence. 

The  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission  board 
nvolved  almost  its  entire  staff  of  work- 
ers in  its  deliberations  this  year.  The 
)nly  absentee  was  Jeremiah  Ross  from 
Gross  Lake,  Manitoba,  who  was  ill. 

Participants  described  the  sessions  as 
lelpful  in  building  staff  morale  and  giv- 
ing board  members  the  opportunity  to 
hear  from  each  of  the  workers  first- 
hand. 

I;!  The  mpm  staff  had  come  to  Winnipeg 
or  its  annual  two-day  conference  Janu- 
iry  23-24,  immediately  prior  to  the  coun- 
cil of  boards.  They  were  invited  to  re- 
main for  the  mpm  board’s  sessions. 

One  of  the  major  decisions  taken  was 
o extend  mpm’s  ministry  to  the  Hollow 
Vater  Reserve,  which  is  located  on  the 
outheast  shores  of  Lake  Winnipeg.  It  is 
Iso  known  as  Hole  River. 

The  decision  to  work  in  this  commu- 
dty  of  450  people  was  made  in  response 
o a request  which  came  from  Chief 
Norman  Moneyas  and  the  band  council- 
ors. The  letter  of  invitation,  dated  No- 
ember 15,  1972,  reads  as  follows: 

“I,  Chief  Norman  Moneyas,  and  we, 
be  councillors  of  the  Hollow  Water  Re- 
erve,  invite  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission 
o place  a resident  minister  on  our  re- 


dresses include  “Personnel  relations  and 
message  systems,”  by  J.  Daniel  Hess, 
professor  of  communication  at  Goshen 
College;  “The  healing  dimension  of  our 
Christian  witness, “ by  John  R.  Mumaw, 
Harrisonburg,  Virginia. 

A panel  discussion  on  “Mental  re- 
tardation and  the  churches”  will  be  in- 
troduced and  led  by  Aldred  Neufeldt, 
psychiatric  research  unit,  University  Hos- 
pital, Saskatoon,  Saskatchewan. 

In  sectional  meetings  participants  will 
be  able  to  choose  among  interest  areas 
in  hospitals,  homes,  child  disabilities, 
child  delinquency,  nurses,  trustees,  and 
chaplains. 

The  Mennonite  Health  Assembly  at- 
tempts to  provide  a forum  for  sharing 

serve.  We  feel  a resident  minister  would 
provide  some  of  the  spiritual  and  social 
leadership  we  now  lack. 

“We  are  prepared  to  assist  such  a per- 
son in  several  ways.  We  will  support  the 
role  of  the  minister  in  our  community. 
We  will  provide  opportunity  and  as- 
sistance in  language  study.  We  will  pro- 
vide a plot  of  land  for  a residence.  We 
will  seek  the  cooperation  of  the  Angli- 
can church  for  the  use  of  their  church 
building.” 

Mpm  has  extended  a call  to  Roland 
Fisch,  an  anthropologist  at  Eastern  Men- 
nonite College,  Harrisonburg,  Virginia, 
who  is  well  acquainted  with  the  Ojibwa 
Indian  people,  to  become  the  resident 
minister  on  the  Hollow  Water  Reserve. 

The  board  noted  with  much  apprecia- 
tion the  Bloodvein  reserve’s  request 
that  the  mpm  worker  there,  Abe  Hoepp- 
ner,  be  ordained.  The  ordination  was  at 
Bloodvein  on  Sunday,  February  4. 

One  of  the  questions  with  which  mpm 
has  been  struggling  deals  with  native  re- 
ligions: Where  and  how  extensive  is  the 
meeting  ground  between  the  native  re- 
ligions and  the  Christian  faith?  The 
workers  will  all  be  observing  their  own 
communities  with  this  question  in  mind 
during  the  coming  months,  and  in  sum- 
mer they  will  get  together  again  with  an 
anthropologist  and  a theologian. 

The  Congregational  Resources  Board’s 
duties  and  activities  became  almost  as 
diverse  as  those  of  a local  congregation 
when  the  conference  temporarily  waived 
its  constitution  in  1971  and  eliminated 
the  service  and  education  boards.  This 
board  now  has  responsibilities  in  the 
following  areas:  education,  publications, 
church  subsidies,  church  building  fund, 
and  peace  and  social  concerns. 

Der  Bote  will  remain  under  the  Gen- 
eral Conference.  For  over  a year  the 


and  education,  and  opportunities  for  wor- 
ship and  fellowship  for  individuals  and 
institutions  involved  in  Mennonite-relat- 
ed  health  and  welfare  services.  The  mha 
includes  more  than  150  health  and  wel- 
fare institutions  in  Canada,  the  United 
States,  and  Puerto  Rico. 

The  Protestant  Health  and  Welfare 
Assembly  is  a cooperative  concern  in 
planning  and  sharing  of  more  than  a 
dozen  Protestant  health  and  welfare  as- 
sociations and  agencies. 

Marvin  H.  Ewert,  administrator  of 
Bethel  Deaconess  Hospital,  Newton,  Kan- 
sas, is  chairman  of  the  coordinating 
council  of  phwa  and  also  immediate  past 
president  of  the  American  Protestant 
Hospital  Association. 

question  of  who  should  administer  this 
German-language  publication  was  debat- 
ed back  and  forth.  The  General  Con- 
ference at  one  point  was  urging  the 
Canadian  Conference  to  take  it  under 
its  wing,  but  such  a move  frightened 
many  of  Der  Bote’s  readers,  who  sus- 
pected that  this  would  spell  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end  for  their  beloved  weekly 
paper.  It  was  also  noted  that  a Canadian 
take-over  of  the  paper  would  weaken 
the  General  Conference’s  ties  to  its 
South  American  churches.  The  board’s 
recommendation  that  Der  Bote  remain 
the  General  Conference’s  responsibility 
will  be  brought  to  the  conference  for 
ratification  in  summer,  but  there  is  little 
doubt  among  board  members  that  the 
decision  will  be  strongly  endorsed. 

The  board  gave  its  approval  to  the 
initiation  of  a multiphased  “Christian 
holistic  approach  to  education”  study 
conference.  It  will  begin  this  summer 
with  a two-week  study  session  to  which 
young  people,  camp  directors,  Bible  in- 
stitute personnel,  church  high  school 
teachers,  public  school  and  university 
teachers,  and  pastors  will  be  invited  to 
dream  and  brainstorm. 

The  conference’s  church  building  fund 
has  been  drawing  more  interest  in  re- 
cent years  than  it  needed  to  cover  the 
costs  of  operating  the  fund.  Conference 
churches  have  been  contributing  $1.00 
per  member  per  year  to  the  fund,  build- 
ing it  up  to  $127,000. 

In  view  of  the  healthy  status  of  the 
fund,  the  council  of  boards  agreed  to 
recommend  to  the  conference  that  fur- 
ther contributions  to  the  fund  be  sus- 
pended, and  that  the  interest  which  the 
fund  draws  henceforth  be  plowed  back 
into  conference  program,  including  sub- 
sidies to  smaller  congregations  which 
need  assistance.  Larry  Kehler 


HE  MENNONITE 


119 


Art  and  worship:  related  or  unrelated? 


Can  the  arts  be  a force  for  kingdom- 
building? 

The  answer  was  not  clear  to  all  ninety 
participants  in  the  workshop  on  worship 
and  the  arts,  sponsored  by  the  Western 
District  Conference  and  Bethel  College 
January  18-20  in  Newton,  Kansas. 

Mennonites  have  traditionally  been 
leery  of  most  of  the  arts,  except  vocal 
music.  This  workshop  gave  particular 
attention  to  drama  as  it  relates  to  wor- 
ship. 

Orlando  Schmidt,  Associated  Menno- 
nite  Biblical  Seminaries,  told  the  group 
Thursday  night  that  forms  of  worship 
have  not  changed  as  fast  as  culture.  How- 
ever, some  changes  are  going  on.  There 
are  shifts  among  Mennonites  from  the 
other-worldly  to  this-worldly,  from  the 
cognitive  to  the  sensory,  toward  small 
groups,  toward  worship  as  celebration, 
toward  more  creativity  and  spontaneity. 

John  Lederach,  Hesston  College,  re- 
sponded that  perhaps  a more  recent 
trend  among  some  Mennonites  is  toward 
other-worldliness. 

Friday  morning  and  afternoon  a group 
of  twelve  struggled  to  create  a worship 
experience,  writing  their  own  drama  and 
music,  under  the  leadership  of  Lyle  Pre- 
heim  and  Darnell  Laut.  In  the  evening  a 
group  from  First  Mennonite  Church, 
Hutchinson,  Kansas,  presented  a musical- 
dramatic  service  The  prodigal  son,  which 
they  had  written  last  year  and  presented 
in  their  own  congregation. 

The  prodigal  son  sparked  a discussion 
on  what  is  appropriate  in  Sunday  morn- 

State  court  in  India 
voids  anticonversion  law 

A state  government  law  barring  involun- 
tary conversions  to  Christianity  has  been 
declared  null  and  void  by  the  Orissa 
high  court  in  India. 

The  court  held,  however,  that  church- 
es have  no  constitutional  right  to  make 
conversions  through  force  or  fraud. 
“Threat  of  divine  displeasure  numbs  the 
mental  faculty,  more  so  of  an  unde- 
veloped mind,  and  the  actions  of  such 
persons  are  not  free  and  according  to 
conscience,”  the  ruling  stated. 

The  court  held  the  act  as  a whole  to 
be  invalid  on  the  ground  that  it  infringed 
upon  the  Indian  Constitution.  Article  25 
(1)  guarantees  a right  of  propagation  of 
religion  and  this,  according  to  the  court, 
includes  a right  to  make  conversions  as 
the  Christian  church  is  doing. 


ing  services.  Is  the  same  thing  appropri- 
ate for  Sunday  morning  as  for  some 
other  time  of  the  week?  Is  the  same  thing 
appropriate  for  the  sanctuary  as  for  some 
other  location?  Can  people  accept  chang- 
es in  worship  patterns? 

The  Hutchinson  group  responded  that 
the  Sunday  morning  presentation  had 
been  well  accepted  by  most  people  in  the 
congregation — probably  because  the  mu- 
sic and  drama  had  been  written  by  people 
within  the  congregation  and  because  the 
subject  material  was  biblical. 

Saturday  morning’s  sessions  included 
a speech  by  David  Suderman,  Bethel 
College,  on  “Defining  tension  areas  be- 
tween the  church  and  the  arts”  and  a 
play  The  rotten  fish  by  the  Bethel  Col- 
lege Drama  Players. 

Both  presentations  raised  the  question 
of  the  nature  of  art  and  how  it  functions. 
What  is  a religious  play?  Is  all  art  re- 
ligious? Is  Christian  art  that  which  is 
looked  at  through  the  eyes  of  a Christian? 


One  of  the  problems,  said  Mr.  Suder- 
man, is  that  artists  and  theologians  do 
not  have  a common  vocabulary.  In  ad- 
dition, Mennonites  have  difficulty  view- 
ing art  as  prophetic  or  proclaiming  the 
word.  The  ethical  takes  precedence  over 
the  esthetic.  Time,  according  to  the  work 
ethic,  is  too  precious  to  spend  in  art  • 
activity. 

The  closing  session  Saturday  after- 
noon offered  a variety  of  ways  of  ex- 
pressing the  Scriptures  in  worship — 
through  interpretive  movement  and 
demonstrations  of  how  to  read  the  Scrip- 
ture. 

“There  is  an  art  explosion  in  our  cul- 
ture, more  so  than  at  any  other  time  in 
the  twentieth  century,”  said  Mr.  Suder- 
man. “This  makes  the  question  of  the 
arts  more  important  for  the  church.  How 
can  the  church  use  arts  for  kingdom- 
building?” 

Director  of  the  workshop  was  Harold 
Moyer,  Bethel  College. 


Hopi  New  Testament  dedicated 

Richard  West,  secretary  for  special  ministries  of  the  American  Bible  Society  (right), 
presents  Elsie  Polacca  with  a copy  of  the  newly  published  Hopi  New  Testament. 
Mrs.  Polacca,  a Hopi  Christian,  assisted  Jonathan  Ekstrom  (left)  of  Wycliffe  Bible 
Translators,  in  preparing  the  new  translation.  The  translation  was  begun  by  Menno- 
nite missionaries  before  1930.  The  volume  includes  the  Hopi  translation  and  the 
English  translation  (King  James  Version). 


120 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


February  20,  1 973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 


HAPPENINGS 


Evangelism  task  force  holds 
four  “sharing  gatherings” 

Four  evangelism  sharing  and  inspiration- 
al gatherings  were  sponsored  by  the  evan- 
gelism task  force  appointed  by  the  Cen- 
tral District  missions  committee.  Sites 
for  the  area  gatherings  were  Kidron, 
Ohio;  Bluffton,  Ohio;  Fort  Wayne,  In- 
diana; and  Bloomington,  Illinois. 

David  Whitermore,  visiting  churches 
of  the  General  Conference  for  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries  and  evan- 
gelism-that-cares  Key  73,  was  the  pri- 
mary resource.  He  shared  what  God  was 
doing  in  the  Churches  of  our  Conference. 

■ Mennonite  agencies  to  consult 
on  offender  ministries 

A consultation  on  offender  ministries 
designed  especially  for  Mennonite  agen- 
cies working  with  offenders  will  be  held 
in  Bluffton,  Ohio,  on  February  24-25. 
The  conference  will  be  sponsored  by  mcc 
Peace  Section  and  Mennonite  Mental 
Health  Services. 

The  consultation  will  consider  the 
church’s  responsibility  in  offender  min- 
istries and  attempt  to  open  channels  of 
communication  to  facilitate  the  most 
efficient  use  of  Mennonite  resources. 
The  offender  has  been  a concern  of 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  con- 
ferences for  many  years.  Numerous  local 
and  regional  programs  exist.  This  con- 
sultation will  help  to  coordinate  the 
efforts  of  broader  church  agencies. 


Central  District 
Conference 

April  26-29 — Goshen  College  campus, 
Goshen,  Indiana;  Eighth  Street  Ave- 
, nue  Church,  Host 

I 


Standing  left  to  right  are:  Stanley  Bohn,  J.  Fredrick  Erb,  Dan  Slabaugh,  Paul  Diller, 
Leonard  Wiebe,  Mrs.  Paul  Diller,  Gordon  Neuenschw under,  and  Ward  Shelly. 
George  Leppert  is  not  pictured. 


Evangelism  studied  by  pastors 


The  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Sem- 
inaries school  for  ministers  focused  on 
the  theme  “Evangelism  for  the  70s,”  lan- 
uary  9-12.  Bible  studies  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  discussion  of  pastoral  concerns 
were  much  appreciated.  Messages  on 
evangelism  by  George  Brurik  and  Myron 
Augsburger  provided  helpful  input  and 
inspiration. 

J.  Frederick  Erb,  pastor  of  the  United 
Mennonite  Church  of  Peoria  found  “the 
ministers’  week  was  a refreshing  and 
stimulating  experience.  I thoroughly  en- 
joyed the  fellowship  and  sharing  of  fel- 
low ministers,  but  I appreciated  most 
the  biblical  studies  and  the  insights  in 
the  morning  and  afternoon  sessions.  I’m 
grateful  to  the  seminaries  for  their  plan- 
ning and  to  my  congregation  for  an 
opportunity  to  attend.  I trust  I will  be 
a more  effective  Evangel  of  the  Gospel.” 

George  Leppert,  pastor  of  the  First 
Church,  Lima,  Ohio,  states  “I  found  the 
Bible  courses  to  be  the  most  exciting 
for  me,  particularly  Millard  Lind’s  on 
the  Old  Testament  and  evangelism.  It 


gave  me  a new  perspective  on  the  Old 
Testament,  a helpful  perspective.  I also 
found  it  good  to  meet  with  the  O.M. 
pastors,  to  renew  acquaintances  and 
make  new  ones.” 

J.  Leon  Martin,  pastor  of  the  Conger- 
ville  (Illinois)  Church  reports  “The  work- 
shop on  evangelism  caught  my  eye  when 
I saw  the  emphasis  that  was  to  be  placed 
on  the  Scriptures  as  a basis  for  Key  73. 
And  I was  not  disappointed.  The  way 
the  speakers  used  both  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  the  New  Testament  as  a source 
of  authority  and  foundation  for  a pro- 
gram such  as  Key  73  was  very  impres- 
sive. One  speaker  stressed  the  urgency 
of  evangelism  by  stating  that  the  popu- 
lation of  the  world  is  growing  ten  times 
faster  than  that  of  the  church. 

I want  to  express  my  appreciation  to 
the  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary  for  pro- 
viding the  leadership  and  the  facilities 
for  such  a profitable  program.  I also 
want  to  thank  the  Women’s  Missionary 
Association  for  taking  care  of  our  ex- 
penses at  the  meeting.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


A- 1 


Bluffton  corrections  seminar 
to  be  held  at  Marbeck  Center 

The  second  part  of  a two  part  seminar 
on  offenders  will  be  held  at  Marbeck 
Center,  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio, 
February  23-24.  It  is  sponsored  by  the 
Central  District  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church  and  Region  IV 
of  the  Mennonite  Church.  The  first  sem- 
inar in  Goshen  in  October  dealt  with 
the  offender  and  his  needs;  this  seminar 
focuses  on  changing  the  correction’s  sys- 
tem. 

There  is  no  registration  fee  but  min- 
imal charges  will  be  made  for  meals  and 
lodging.  Registration  in  advance  is  re- 
quested to  help  with  meals  and  lodging 
plans. 

Friday  p.m.- — - 
7:00  Registration 

7 : 30  “Alternatives  to  present  correction 
methods,”  Edgar  Epp,  Ontario 
Department  of  Corrections,  key- 
note speaker. 

Bennett  Cooper,  Director  of  Ohio 
Department  of  Corrections 
Movie  preview 

Saturday  a.m. — 

8:30  “Community-based  corrections” 
10:15  Legislative  and  other  change 
methods 

Panel-Delton  Franz,  Edgar  Epp, 
Bennett  Cooper 
Lunch  hour 


P.M. 

1:00  Workshops 

A.  Relating  to  persons  in  prison 

B.  Volunteers  in  probation  and 

parole  programs 

C.  Methods  of  changing  the  sys- 

tem 

D.  New  possibilities  (brainstorm- 

ing session) 

Submitted  by  the  planning  committee 

Bluffton  College  Swiss  Farm 
appoints  director 

Don  Ernst,  a December  graduate  of 
Bluffton  College,  has  been  named  di- 
rector of  Swiss  farm,  the  outdoor  educa- 
tion center,  according  to  Ben  Sprunger, 
president. 

A sociology  major  and  biology  minor 
from  Delphos,  Ernst  has  been  associated 
with  the  center  three  years. 

The  directorship  will  combine  man- 
agement of  both  the  nature  center  and 
the  conference  center.  The  conference 
center  is  a century-old  Swiss  homestead. 

The  Swiss  farm  was  established  in 
1965  on  130  acres  of  land  located  one- 
half  mile  north,  and  one-fourth  mile 
west  of  the  college  campus.  Facilities 
include:  two  education  buildings  where 
films  are  shown,  nature  exhibits  dis- 
played and  lectures  given;  an  eight-acre 
pond  with  marshes  and  an  island;  twenty 
acres  of  woodland  and  nature  trails,  and 
thirty  acres  of  cropland  on  which  con- 
servation techniques  are  practiced. 


The  new  director  plans  to  make  the 
center  a self-sustaining  operation.  He 
intends  to  concentrate  on  three  major 
areas,  the  outdoor  education  program, 
memberships  and  securing  of  federal, 
state,  and  private  funds. 

“More  people  need  to  become  aware 
of  the  natural  world  around  us,”  Ernst 
said.  “The  nature  center  can  be  a valu- 
able source  of  information  for  local  edu- 
cational institutions  as  well  as  the  gen- 
eral public.” 

Initial  proposals  for  the  center,  accord- 
ing to  Ernst,  include  acquiring  farm  an- 
imals to  be  housed  in  the  barn;  display- 
ing of  antiques  in  the  conference  center, 
expanding  acreage  of  the  farm,  and  con- 
struction of  an  observation  tower. 

95  CD  Goshen  students 
spend  trimester  overseas 

On  January  4,  the  ninety-five  Goshen 
College  students  in  the  study-service  tri- 
mester flew  to  countries  in  Central  Amer- 
ica and  the  Caribbean  for  fourteen  weeks 
of  study  and  field  work.  Central  District 
students  include: 

Byron  K.  Miller,  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Owen  O.  Miller,  Route  1,  is  in  Costa 
Rica  for  winter  trimester;  Mary  M. 
Sprunger,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Gordon  T.  Sprunger,  1076  West  Water 
St.,  is  in  Honduras;  John  D.  Harder, 
son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leland  D.  Harder, 
3703  Prairie  St.,  is  in  Jamaica;  Nancy 
R.  Kauffman,  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jay  L.  Kauffman,  920  E.  Hively,  is 
in  El  Salvador;  Rose  E.  Waltner,  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Erland  Waltner, 
2806  Benham  Avenue,  is  in  Jamaica; 
Lowell  D.  Graber,  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Glen  D.  Graber,  Route  2,  is  in  Jamaica; 
Joan  E.  Kreider,  daughter  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Robert  S.  Kreider,  Route  2,  is  in 
El  Salvador;  Joanna  K.  Suter,  daughter 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dwight  L.  Suter,  Route 
1,  is  in  Haiti;  Ann  L.  Croyle,  daughter 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Denton  E.  Croyle,  140 
Westgate  Ave.,  is  in  Costa  Rica. 

Dart  concerned  with  racism 

“Dart”  stands  for  “Development  of  anti- 
racial  training.”  It’s  an  attempt  to  do 
something  concrete  about  the  basic  con- 
cerns of  racism  in  Indiana.  The  whole 
committee  is  tired  of  religious  rhetoric 
and  wants  to  develop  something  that 
can  help  the  religious  community  come 
to  grips  with  its  priorities  and  responsi- 
bilities concerning  racism. 

The  present  proposal  is  for  a mini- 
mum eight-hour  workshop  with  dart  ar- 


Marbeck  Center,  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  will  be  the  site  for  the  second 
offender  seminar. 


A-2 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


Course  helps  teachers  analyze 
their  feelings  in  classroom 

1 As  a teacher  of  children  in  your  church 
school  are  you  sometimes  awed  by  the 
immensity  of  your  task  and  by  the  ac- 
tions of  some  children  you  are  asked  to 
! teach?  Does  their  behavior  sometimes 
| defeat  your  planning  and  frustrate  you 

I their  teacher? 

The  above  course  for  teachers  in- 
[ eludes  four  cassette  tapes  and  a work- 
book to  help  teachers  look  “inside”  chil- 
dren’s actions  and  also  see  their  own 
feelings  about  disruptive  behavior  in  their 
classrooms. 

Some  of  the  hard  questions  of  the 
faith  are  introduced  to  give  teachers  an 
■ opportunity  to  analyze  their  faith.  These 
limited  theological  presentations  might 
be  viewed  as  “discussion  starters”  and 
not  as  complete  statements  of  faith. 

One  of  the  aims  of  the  course  is  to 
help  teachers  help  children,  through  bet- 
ter  classroom  relationships,  to  better  un- 
| derstand  and  grow  in  the  faith. 

The  course  is  available  through  the 
j Commission  on  Education  at  Newton, 
although  it  was  produced  by  the  Board 
of  Education  of  the  United  Methodist 
' Church.  The  cost  is  $24.95  for  the  series 
I and  50  cents  for  additionanl  workbooks. 
Kathleen  Kindle,  C.D.  education  and 
publication. 

| 

— 

ranging  format  and  assembling  person- 
nel. The  specific  input  of  material  would 
I be  decided  upon  only  after  discussion 
! with  representatives  from  the  sponsoring 
body.  The  size  of  the  workshop  should 
! be  limited  to  a maximum  of  twenty  to 
j twenty-five  persons.  A workshop  could 
be  sponsored  by  a congregation,  area 
ministers’  association,  district  conference, 
and  religious  institutions. 

Lowell  Nissley,  Mennonite  represent- 
ative will  be  happy  to  meet  with  anyone 
I to  discuss  the  possibility  of  planning  a 
, workshop  anyplace  in  our  constituency. 


Illinois  youth  convene 

About  200  youth  from  Illinois  attended 
the  third  annual  Illinois  Youth  Institute 
December  27-29  in  Metamora,  Illinois. 

The  institute  was  jointly  sponsored  by 
the  Illinois  Conference  of  the  Menno- 
nite Church  and  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  churches  of  Illinois. 

The  youth  had  Bible  studies  on  “What 
does  it  mean  to  be  real?  Seminars  cov- 
ered such  topics  as  higher  education, 
parents,  entertainment,  the  church  and 
the  arts,  government,  devotional  growth, 
witnessing,  minority  cultures,  vocations, 
service,  and  “Things  and  me.” 

Also  available  for  adults  working  with 
youth  was  a Christian  youth  leader  skills 
seminar,  based  on  the  concepts  of  Par- 
ent effectiveness  training,  a book  by 
Thomas  Gordon. 

Resource  persons  for  the  institute  in- 
cluded Jake  Pauls,  director  of  youth  min- 
istries, General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church;  Irene  Pauls,  Newton,  Kansas; 
Walter  Dyck,  copastor  of  Carlock  and 
North  Danvers  (Illinois)  churches;  Ed 
Springer,  pastor  of  the  Boynton  Church, 
Hopedale,  Illinois;  Mark  Lehman,  pastor 
of  Rehoboth  Mennonite  Church,  St. 
Anne,  Illinois;  Lynn  McClure,  Danvers, 
Illinois;  Elmer  Neufeld,  professor  at 
Bluff  ton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio;  and 
Deanna  Edwards,  Bloomington,  Illinois. 

The  institute  ended  with  an  evening 
of  celebration  and  commitment. 

Mr.  Pauls  said  the  institute  had  not 
produced  the  emotional  high  that  some 
young  people  had  felt  last  year,  but 
there  were  many  testimonials,  good  shar- 
ing, and  excitement. 


Service  assignments 

Joyce  Ackerman,  Meadows  Church,  Che- 
noa,  111.,  began  one  year  of  voluntary 
service  on  Dec.  18.  She  will  serve  for 
one  year  as  a teacher’s  aide  in  a neigh- 
borhood elementary  school  in  Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

De  D.  Honn,  Champaign,  111.,  joined 
the  Champaign-Urbana  voluntary  serv- 
ice unit  No.  15  for  an  indefinite  term  of 
service.  He  is  working  as  administrative 
assistant  to  James  Dunn,  pastor  of  the 
First  Church,  Urbana,  111.  The  Cham- 
paign-Urbana voluntary  service  unit  is  a 
joint  effort  of  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church,  Newton,  Kans.,  and 
the  Mennonite  Board  of  Missions,  Elk- 
hart, Ind.  Mr.  Honn  graduated  from 
Bluffton  College  in  1972  with  a BA  in 
social  work. 


Your 

Answer 

Why  they  put  it  off? 

Recently  in  these  columns  (October-No- 
vember)  two  actual  cases  were  present- 
ed in  which  persons  waited  too  long  to 
set  out  in  due  and  final  form  what  dis- 
position they  wanted  made  of  their  es- 
tates. These  were  by  no  means  special 
or  isolated  cases.  In  fact,  the  number  of 
those  who  do  likewise  is  indeed  legion, 
for  they  are  many.  But  why?  Knowing 
that  all  “those  things”  must  at  some  un- 
known time  be  left  behind,  why  not  take 
care  of  this  matter  now? 

Several  reasons  may  enter  in:  (1)  It 
is  not  an  exhilarating  thought,  and  so 
prone  to  be  shunted  aside,  until  “a  more 
convenient  season.”  (2)  The  question  of 
how  the  considerations  of  inheritance 
and  benevolence  should  be  set  off  against 
each  other  in  one’s  own  case.  (3)  “There 
are  so  many  worthy  causes,  how  can  one 
determine  whether  to  ' allocate  lesser 
amounts  to  many,  or  larger  amounts  to 
a few?”  (4)  “How  can  one  set  out  this 
bequest  or  that  so  as  to  best  serve  the 
cause  in  question?”  (5)  “Should  one 
allow  leeway  for  use  of  the  amount  now 
in  the  ongoing  of  the  enterprise,  or 
stipulate  that  it  only  be  used  for  capital 
purposes  (building)  or  held  as  perma- 
nent earning  fund?” 

Plenty  of  pegs  on  which  to  hang  one’s 
procrastination,  but  the  good  word  is 
today,  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  . . . ! 

Bill  and  Ann  Hoosen,  Morgantown, 
W.  Va.,  will  begin  two  years  of  volun- 
tary service  in  Elkhart,  Ind.,  Jan.  8.  Ann, 
a member  of  the  United  Methodist 
Church,  will  be  a bus  driver  at  Aux 
Chandelles  school  for  the  retarded.  Bill, 
a member  of  the  United  Church  of 
Christ,  will  work  in  a day  care  center. 

Anita  Beth  Klassen,  Hively  Ave. 
Church,  Elkhart,  Ind.,  began  voluntary 
service  Jan.  27  in  Hutchinson,  Kans. 
She  will  serve  in  the  day  care  center 
sponsored  by  the  First  Church,  Hutch- 
inson, until  Sept.  1.  Ms.  Klassen  is  the 
daughter  of  Otto  Klassen. 

David  Thiel,  Edon,  Ohio,  will  begin 
one  to  two  years  of  voluntary  service 
under  the  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite Church  on  Jan.  2.  He  will  serve  as 
a bus  driver  at  a rehabilitation  center 
in  Elkhart,  Ind. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-3 


Among  those  on  the  counsel  and  reference  group  for  the  1973  Festival  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  be  on  the  Goshen  College  campus,  May  11-13,  are:  ( left  to  right,  seated ) 
Patty  Ebersole,  Archbold,  Ohio;  Kay  Thut,  Orrville,  Ohio;  J.  Lawrence  Burkholder, 
Goshen  College  president  and  festival  chairman;  Jacob  Friesen,  Central  District 
conference  minister,  Elkhart,  Indiana;  Floyd  Quenzer,  Pleasant  Oaks  minister,  Mid- 
dlebury,  Indiana;  Doris  Lehman,  of  Belmont  congregation,  Elkhart,  Indiana;  Darrel 
Miller,  Danvers,  Illinois;  Richard  Lehman,  Elkhart,  Indiana;  ( standing ) Harold  Bau- 
man, Goshen  campus  pastor;  Luke  and  Marilyn  Yoder,  of  West  Clinton  congrega- 
tion, Pettisville,  Ohio;  Robert  Guth,  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  stu- 
dent; Tony  Brown,  Goshen  College  faculty;  Mildred  Mumaw,  of  Benton  congrega- 
tion, Goshen,  Indiana;  Larry  Gautsche,  Archbold,  Ohio;  Elwood  and  Joyce  Graber, 
of  Lockport  congregation,  Stryker,  Ohio;  and  Roy  Koch,  Indiana-Michigan  Menno- 
nite conference  minister,  Goshen,  Indiana. 

A number  of  others,  including  representatives  of  sponsoring  conferences,  the 
Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  faculty,  and  Goshen  College  faculty  and 
students,  are  also  members  of  the  group. 


Audiovisuals 

Zaire  filmstrip  produced 

A filmstrip,  “Where  is  the  church  in 
Zaire?”  complete  with  sound,  has  been 
produced  by  Africa  Inter-Mennonite 
Mission. 

The  twenty-five-minute  filmstrip  shows 
old  and  new  methods  of  missionary  ac- 
tivities and  deals  with  some  of  the  prob- 
lems which  the  national  church  is  fac- 
ing. Missionary  Levi  Keidel  wrote  the 
script,  and  Henry  Dirks,  former  mis- 
sionary, took  the  pictures. 

The  filmstrip  may  be  rented  for  $2.00 
from  the  Audiovisual  Library,  Box  347, 
Newton,  Kansas.  67114. 


World  Conference  film 
available  in  Newton 

“The  Ninth  Mennonite  World  Confer- 
ence,” a thirty-eight-minute,  full-color 
movie  on  the  world  conference  last  sum- 
mer in  Curitiba,  Brazil,  is  now  available 
from  the  Audiovisual  Library,  Box  347, 
Newton,  Kansas  67114. 

The  film  was  produced  by  Frank  Ward, 
Carlyle  Groves,  and  Gary  Franz  of  Vis- 
ual Communications,  Newton,  Kansas. 

Rental  fee  is  $30  or  a freewill  offering 
of  at  least  that  amount.  All  profits  will 
go  to  the  1977  Mennonite  World  Con- 
ference. 


Second  Holy  Spirit 
Festival  is  planned 

A second  Festival  of  the  Holy  Spirit — 
continuing  the  work  of  last  year’s  fes- 
tival but  exploring  further  the  life  of  the 
congregation  and  the  problems  congre- 
gations are  wrestling  with — is  set  for 
May  11-13. 

The  weekend  celebration  and  study 
will  again  be  on  the  Goshen  College 
campus.  It  will  have  the  theme,  “Led  by 
the  Spirit,”  and  will  comprise  seven  ses- 
sions like  the  May  1972  event.  And  it 
will  seek  a similar  balance  between  sing- 
ing and  spontaneous,  informal  sharing 
on  the  one  hand,  and  solid  substance 
and  content  in  the  presentations  on  the 
other. 

Planning  began  in  November  after  a 
pastors’  poll  showed  crucial  needs  in 
areas  like:  How  does  a congregation  dis- 
cern and  cultivate  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit?, 
make  ethical  decisions?,  and  discern  the 
spirit  of  the  times? 

One  topic  area  will  likely  be  the  do- 


minion of  the  Spirit,  a discussion  of  what 
God  is  doing  in  the  world  today,  par- 
ticularly the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Father  and  the  Son.  A sec- 
ond topic  is  discernment  of  the  spirit 
of  the  times,  with  focus  on  the  powers 
of  darkness. 

Other  discussions  will  center  in  (1) 
the  Spirit’s  leading  believers  in  ethical 
decision-making,  (2)  the  Spirit’s  leading 
congregations  in  discerning  gifts,  (3)  the 
leading  of  the  Spirit  for  one’s  personal 
life  style,  and  (4)  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
in  personal  witness. 

Thirty-one  persons  are  on  the  festival 
counsel  and  reference  committee,  which 
met  for  the  first  time  in  December  and 
is  chaired  by  J.  Lawrence  Burkholder, 
president  of  Goshen  College. 

On  the  committee  are  representatives 
of  the  cooperating  groups:  Central  Dis- 
trict Conference  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonites,  and  the  Illinois,  Indi- 
ana-Michigan, and  Ohio  and  Eastern 
conferences  of  the  Mennonites.  The  fes- 
tival is  a cooperative  project  with  the 


Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries 
and  Goshen  College,  with  representatives 
of  both  faculty  and  students  on  the  com- 
mittee of  the  sponsoring  bodies. 

Earlier  meetings  included  an  evening 
with  area  ministers  plus  discussions  with 
Goshen  student  groups,  which  pointed 
up  the  need  for  “presence,  guidance, 
unity,  and  confidence  of  the  Spirit  for 
these  times.” 

Changes  from  last  year  will  be  in  two 
areas.  (1)  Special  workshops  for  min- 
isters and  congregation  lay  leaders  will 
be  added  this  year.  (2)  In  the  work- 
shops, celebration  will  receive  less  focus, 
with  greater  emphasis  on  the  content  and 
study  of  the  topics. 

Again  in  1973  there  will  be  no  regis- 
tration fee,  with  expenses  to  be  met  from 
offerings.  An  atmosphere  in  which  per- 
sons will  feel  free  to  express  themselves 
through  art,  music,  testimony,  preaching, 
prayer,  and  witness  will  also  be  a goal 
for  the  festival.  Reprinting  and  updat- 
ing of  last  year’s  Songbook  is  under  con- 
sideration. 


A-4 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


| Partly  Dave  has  new  home 

1 Elkhart  Coffeehouse  Inn  has  completed 
a contract  to  purchase  the  building  at 
201  South  Main  as  the  new  headquar- 
ters for  Partly  Dave  Coffeehouse. 

Dave  Habegger,  president  of  the 
board,  said  the  board  and  coffeehouse 
staff  believe  the  building  “will  help  us 
expand  our  ministry.” 

The  group  will  purchase  the  building, 
formerly  the  Guild  of  Hands,  on  a land 
contract. 

“We’ve  had  a lot  of  support  from  the 
community  in  doing  this,”  Mr.  Ha- 
begger said,  “and  we  are  grateful  for 
that.” 

Partly  Dave  staff  have  been  looking 
for  a new  location  since  early  in  January 
when  they  were  notified  to  vacate  their 
current  residence  by  February  1.  The 
present  location  at  114  South  Main  will 
be  tom  down  to  make  room  for  the  pro- 
posed Citizen’s  Northern  Bank  of  Elk- 
hart. 

The  official  move  to  the  new  location 
was  dramatically  portrayed  in  an  im- 
pressive candle-lighted  ceremony  on  Sat- 
urday evening,  January  20. 


Coffeehouse’s  flexibility 
brings  longevity 

Partly  Dave  is  a phenomenon  among 
coffeehouses. 

The  average  life  span  of  a coffeehouse 
is  probably  only  a few  months.  But 
Partly  Dave  in  Elkhart,  Indiana,  has 
been  going  for  almost  six  years. 

Its  secret,  according  to  Peter  Stucky, 
coffeehouse  manager  until  June,  has  been 
a strong  organizational  base. 

The  coffeehouse  grew  in  1966  out  of 
an  evangelism  and  church  outreach  class 
taught  by  Leland  Harder  at  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries.  A group 
of  people  interested  in  starting  a coffee- 
house then  met  from  February  to  Sep- 
tember, organizing,  incorporating,  set- 
ting up  a board  of  directors,  setting 
goals. 

That  fall  the  coffeehouse  began  open- 
ing on  weekend  nights,  as  a place  to  go 
for  young  people  over  sixteen.  The  cof- 
feehouse has  changed  since  then,  and 
that  flexibility  is  one  of  its  strengths, 
said  Dale  Suderman,  new  coffeehouse 
manager. 

“Partly  Dave  responds  uniquely  to 


Elkhart,”  Mr.  Suderman  explained.  “The 
coffeehouses  that  failed,  tried  to  model 
somebody  else.  Partly  Dave  has  evolved 
through  the  debate  between  the  board 
people,  the  managers,  and  the  patrons 
with  needs  and  creative  ideas.  This  has 
always  made  the  coffeehouse  kind  of  in- 
teresting. Everybody’s  got  to  give.” 

One  of  the  first  changes  was  in  staff. 
It  became  apparent  that  the  coffeehouse 
partons  were  relating  primarily  to  the 
manager  who  was  there  every  night 
more  than  to  the  volunteers  who  came 
in  once  a week.  The  function  of  the 
manager  became  more  like  that  of  a 
minister.  Both  Mr.  Stucky  and  Mr.  Su- 
derman have  attended  the  seminary,  and 
others  at  the  seminary  have  been  in- 
volved in  the  coffeehouse  throughout  its 
history. 

Another  factor  that  changed  the  cof- 
feehouse was  the  kinds  of  people  who 
came  in.  When  the  coffeehouse  moved 
from  a house  soon  to  be  demolished  to 
a building  uptown,  blacks  quit  coming 
as  often.  Then  the  drug  culture  hit  Elk- 
hart, and  those  who  came  to  the  coffee- 
house had  different  needs  and  problems. 

The  new  location  provided  a place 


\’±4 


Candlelight  heralds  the  official  move  of  the  Partly  Dave  Dale  Suderman,  coffeehouse  manager,  center,  listens  to  young 
coffeehouse.  adults  at  Partly  Dave  coffeehouse  in  Elkhart,  Indiana. 


THE  MENNONITE  A-5 


for  staff  to  live  upstairs,  and  people  be- 
gan dropping  in  other  times  of  day.  A 
poster  shop  was  started  for  teens  too 
young  for  the  coffeehouse.  Now  there 
are  also  a boutique,  a record  coop,  can- 
dle making,  a Bible  study-fellowship 
group  on  Monday  nights,  Wednesday 
noon  Lent  meditations  for  downtown 
workers,  a lending  library,  a film  series 
on  Thursday  nights,  an  employment  op- 
portunities hotline,  tutoring,  car  lending, 
and  counseling  on  vocations,  drugs,  sui- 
cide, marriage,  or  the  draft. 

But  Partly  Dave  is  not  just  a place 
for  people  with  problems,  Mr.  Suderman 
emphasized,  although  staff  devotes  more 
time  to  people  with  problems. 

“Here  people  are  growing,  searching 
for  direction,”  said  Mr.  Stucky. 

That  includes  the  live-in  staff  of  four, 
the  board  members,  and  the  thirty  vol- 
unteers. 

“I’ve  seen  staff  and  board  members 
grow  from  their  involvement  at  Partly 
Dave,”  said  Mr.  Suderman.  “The  cof- 
feehouse educates  people  about  the  re- 
alities of  the  younger  community.  Some- 
thing happens  to  people  when  they  come 
in  regularly  and  get  to  know  people 
whose  life  styles  are  very  different.  They 
grow  in  ability  to  respond.” 

Partly  Dave  is  more  than  just  an 
entertainment  center  for  young  perform- 
ers or  a place  to  drink  coffee,  the  staff 
members  said.  It’s  a place  for  self-ex- 
pression, a place  for  friendship,  a Chris- 
tian witness,  a place  for  dealing  with 
the  unexpected,  a place  where  people 
are  loved  simply  for  what  they  are. 

“There’s  a period  in  people’s  lives 
when  the  coffeehouse  fulfills  a need,” 
said  Mr.  Stucky. 


CONSIDERATION 

A forum  for  the  sharing  of  Christian  insight  and  concern  among  laymen  and  lay- 
women  of  the  Central  District.  The  ideas  expressed  do  not  necessarily  reflect  the 
position  of  the  Central  District  Reporter,  because  we  stand  for  full  discussion  of 
anyone’s  sincere  Christian  concern. 


SHARE  YOUR  RESPONSE  TO  THE  FOLLOWING  DISCUSSION  OF 
SPIRITUAL  HEALING.  SEND  YOUR  COMMENTS  TO  EDITOR  OF 
REPORTER,  2625  PLEASANT  PLAIN,  ELKHART,  INDIANA  46514. 


What  is  spiritual  healing? 

This  is  a whole  nevy  area  that  has  opened  up  in  the  pastor’s  ministry.  Actually,  it 
should  be  considered  a part  of  a congregation’s  total  ministry.  No  doubt,  many  of 
you,  as  I did,  have  a lot  of  questions  as  to  what  it  is,  what  does  it  mean  and  involve. 
Certainly  it  is  not  new,  although  the  church  is  rediscovering  it.  The  healing  ministry 
is  as  old  as  Christ  himself.  One  way  to  find  out  about  it,  is  to  do  as  I did — read  all 
the  gospels,  with  a view  toward  noting  all  the  incidents  and  teachings  on  healing  by 
the  Lord.  It’s  quite  revealing. 

The  pastor  has  been  participating  in  healing  services  in  Canton — usually  on  Wed- 
nesday or  Thursday  evenings.  There  are  also  healing  services  on  Wednesday  evenings 
at  the  Episcopal  Church  in  New  Philadelphia.  Hopefully,  before  long,  there  will  also 
be  regular  healing  services  in  Sugarcreek. 

Following  are  “Fourteen  tenets  of  the  spiritual  healing  ministry.” 

1.  We  believe  that  all  healing  is  of  God. 

2.  We  believe  that  God  desires  for  us  wholeness  and  health.  Jesus  spent  much  of 
his  time  here  on  earth  healing  the  sick  and  he  came  always  to  do  the  Father’s  will. 

3.  We  believe  that  God  uses  many  agencies  for  healing.  These  include  medicine, 
surgery,  psychology,  and  prayer. 

4.  We  believe  that  God  works  almost  invariably  through  human  channels  to  do 
his  healing.  We  are  to  be  willing  channels  to  do  his  healing. 

5.  We  believe  that  spiritual  healing  is  not  magic,  hocus-pocus  or  sleight  of  hand. 
It  is  simply  taking  God  at  his  word.  In  faith,  believing,  you  make  intercession  for 
healing  and  thank  him  for  what  is  already  taking  place. 

6.  We  believe  that  God’s  healing  power  operates  within  the  church  which  is  the 
body  of  Christ  here  on  earth,  but  it  is  not  limited  to  his  church. 

7.  We  believe  that  physical  health  does  not  necessarily  indicate  righteousness,  nor 
does  illness  necessarily  indicate  sin. 

8.  We  believe  that  Christian  witness  and  fellowship  promote  health  and  in  many 
ways  prevent  illness  by  providing  positive  living  and  wholesome  companionship, 
resulting  in  proper  stewardship  of  strength  and  health. 

9.  We  believe  that  healing  was  an  important  part  of  Christ’s  ministry  here  on 
earth  and  is  intended  to  be  a part  of  his  disciples’  work  in  every  generation. 

10.  We  believe  that  there  are  no  failures  in  spiritual  healing.  No  on  can  be 
brought  into  the  presence  of  the  healing  Christ  without  being  changed  spiritually, 
emotionally,  physically,  or  all  three. 

11.  We  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  lives  today  in  his  risen  power. 

12.  We  believe  that  the  word,  “salvation”  means  not  only  deliverance  from  sin 
and  death,  but  also  deliverance  from  physical  and  mental  ills. 

13.  We  believe  that  the  revival  of  spiritual  healing  in  the  church  today  may  be 
the  means  of  the  greatest  advance  in  Christianity  in  this  century. 

14.  We  believe  that  what  we  believe  is  vital  for  both  our  present  and  our  future! 

Claude  Boyer,  pastor 


A-6 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


An  interview  with  Eudene 


WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


CDWMA  ballot 

| President — term:  two  years.  Mrs.  Rob- 
j ert  Kreider,  First  Mennonite  Church, 

! Bluffton,  Ohio;  Mrs.  Ralph  Sommers, 

| Grace  Mennonite  Church,  Pandora,  Ohio. 

Treasurer — Term:  two  years.  Mrs. 

| Merlin  Stuckey,  First  Mennonite  Church, 

| Berne,  Indiana;  Mrs.  Dale  Yoder,  Silver 
| Street  Mennonite  Church,  Goshen,  Ind. 

Bluffton  College  auxiliary  — Term: 

! three  years.  Mrs.  Alden  Bohn,  Hively 
I Avenue  Mennonite  Church,  Elkhart,  In- 
, diana;  Mrs.  Stanley  Clemens,  First  Men- 
| nonite  Church,  Normal,  Illinois;  Mrs. 
Harley  Himes,  Salem  Mennonite  Church, 
Kidron,  Ohio;  Mrs.  Warren  Schlatter, 
Eicher  Mennonite  Church,  Wayland,  la. 

Nominating  committee:  Mrs.  Stan 

i Hostetter,  First  Mennonite  Church, 
Wadsworth,  Ohio:  Mrs.  Peter  Neufeld, 
j First  Mennonite  Church,  Berne,  Indi- 
ana; Mrs.  Donald  Nester,  First  Menno- 
j nite  Church,  Normal,  Illinois. 

Did  you  know? 

That  the  total  General  Conference 
wma  has  a budget  of  $130,000  for  1973. 

That  this  includes  support  of  all  the 
Conference  commissions,  Mennonite  Bib- 
lical Seminary,  and  American  Bible  So- 
ciety. 

That  our  Central  District  wma  as- 
sumes one-sixth  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence wma  budget — $21,750. 

That  divided  among  the  1,400  Central 
District  members,  this  amounts  to  about 
$15.50  per  member. 

That  the  Central  District  wma  has 
its  own  budget  of  $4,200. 

That  this  includes  support  of  Central 
District  missions,  Bluffton  College,  Camp 
Friedenswald,  Mennonite  Hospital  School 
of  Nursing,  and  Continued  education  for 
ministers. 


Eudene  Keidel,  along  with  her  husband 
Levi,  is  serving  at  the  Kalonda  station 
in  the  Republic  of  Zaire.  Eudene  is  a 
nurse  and  serves  in  the  Kalonda  hos- 
pital. During  this  term  she  is  also  in- 
volved in  a ministry  to  the  women  of 
the  villages.  Eudene  shares  some  of  her 
experiences  in  the  village  of  Mbau  in  an 
article  published  in  the  lanuary  issue  of 
Missions  today. 

Eudene  returned  to  the  States  in  De- 
cember for  the  wedding  of  her  son,  Paul, 
to  Marian  Enders.  She  stayed  to  visit 
with  friends  and  family  until  lanuary 
22nd,  when  she  returned  to  Zaire.  It 
was  during  this  time  that  your  editor  had 
an  opportunity  to  visit  with  her.  Let  me 
share  with  you  part  of  our  conversation. 

Marge : “Eudene,  what  did  you  find 
was  the  biggest  change  in  Zaire  since 
your  last  term?” 

Eudene : “It  had  been  five  years  since 
we  had  been  there,  so  there  were  quite 
a few  changes.  Probably  the  biggest 
change  was  that  the  missionaries  are  no 
longer  the  administrators.  We  are  now 
in  more  of  a ‘helper  role’  to  the  Zairians. 
This  took  some  adjustment  on  our  part, 
but  it  has  been  a joy  to  see  how  well 
some  are  carrying  out  their  responsibili- 
ties. There  are  many  who  really  want  to 
see  the  church  move  forward.  Our  re- 
sponsibility, in  a real  sense,  is  to  work 
ourselves  out  of  a job.” 

Marge : “What  do  you  see  as  your 
greatest  difficulty  during  this  term?” 

Eudene : “My  difficulties  often  come 
because  of  my  change  in  roles.  Even 
though  I am  glad  to  see  others  taking 
new  responsibilities,  there  are  times 
when  I see  things  that  should  be  done, 
but  it  is  no  longer  in  my  place  to  go 
ahead  and  do  it.” 

Marge:  “What,  then,  do  you  feel  is 
the  greatest  joy  you  experience  in  your 
work?” 

Eudene : “My  greatest  personal  joy 
came  during  my  week  of  teaching  the 
Bible  and  practical  health  lessons  in  the 
village  of  Mbau.  It’s  a great  joy  to  feel 


That  divided  among  its  members,  this 
amounts  to  about  $3.25  per  member. 

That  total  wma  support  (both  Gen- 
eral Conference  and  Central  District)  is 
about  $18.75  per  member. 

That  support  of  wma  work  is  more 
than  financial — but  is  also  awareness, 
concern  and  prayer.  Evelyn  Bertsche,  dis- 
trict adviser. 


you  are  doing  something  that  is  impor- 
tant and  desired.” 

Marge:  “What  are  the  medical  con- 
ditions like  in  Zaire?” 

Eudene:  “There  is  a great  need  for 
trained  Zairians.  We  have  some  excellent 
nurses,  but  there  are  so  few  Zairian 
doctors.  Missionary  doctors  are  the  only 
doctors  for  miles  around.  There  is  also 
a great  need  to  upgrade  the  health  habits 
of  the  people.  What  I present  in  my 
health  lessons  in  the  villages  would  seem 
very  elementary  to  you,  but  for  the 
Zairian  women  much  of  what  I say  is 
new  and  different  from  the  way  they’ve 
been  doing  things.” 

Marge:  “Much  of  your  work  is  in 
the  Kalonda  hospital.  Who  makes  up  the 
hospital  staff?” 

Eudene:  “The  administrator  of  the 
hospital  is  a Zairian  nurse.  He  is  a very 
capable  person  who  often  averages  twelve 
hours  a day  in  his  roles  of  administrator 
and  nurse.  Our  two  missionary  doctors 
are  Dr.  Richard  Hirschler,  and  Dr.  El- 
vina Martens.  They  make  regular  visits 
to  rural  dispensaries,  along  with  their 
work  in  the  hospital.  There  are  two 
American  nurses,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  staff  is  Zairian.” 

Marge:  “Are  the  layettes  which  we 
make  in  the  United  States  helpful  or 
would  it  be  better  for  us  to  send  some- 
thing else?” 

Eudene:  “The  layettes  are  very  help- 
ful and  it  seems  as  if  we  could  always 
use  more.  Each  mother  who  delivers  in 
our  hospital  is  given  one  layette  and 
has  the  opportunity  to  buy  two  more  at 
40  cents  apiece.  At  present  our  supply 
is  low  and  we  may  have  to  limit  their 
purchase  to  one  layette.  I would  say  the 
layettes,  bandages,  and  hospital  supplies 


Eudene  Keidel 


Material  for  this  page  may  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Donald  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, III.  61701. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-7 


are  probably  the  most  helpful  material 
gifts  we  receive  from  the  women  in  the 
United  States.” 

Marge : “What  do  you  think  we  could 
learn  from  our  Zairian  sisters?” 

Eudene:  “The  Zairian  women  accept 
things  as  they  are  and  as  they  come. 
They  seem  to  be  able  to  say  more  willing- 
ly than  their  American  sisters,  ‘I  have 
learned,  in  whatsoever  state  I am,  there- 
with to  be  content.’  This  may  be  be- 
cause their  horizons  are  more  limited 
than  those  of  their  American  sisters,  but 
we  could  learn  from  their  example  of 
complete  trust.” 

Prison  ministry  will  enlarge 
with  Path  Foundation 

Max  Bontrager  of  Topeka,  Indiana,  and 
Abe  Peters,  former  pastor  of  Topeka 
Mennonite  Church  are  in  the  process 
of  creating  a vehicle  to  enlarge  a prison 
ministry  and  coordinate  efforts  to  assist 
the  offender. 

This  will  be  a “not  for  profit”  cor- 
poration with  contributions  being  tax  de- 
ductible. It  is  not  church-sponsored  but 
invites  cooperation  and  contributions 
from  churches. 

Abe  Peters  is  the  staff  person  of  the 
Path  Foundation  beginning  January  1. 
The  address  of  Path  Foundation  is  Box 
250,  LaGrange,  Indiana  46761. 

Hopi  Christians  dedicate  new 
hymnal,  Lomatuawhtatawi 

A new  hymanl  in  the  Hopi  language  was 
dedicated  at  special  song  festivals  held 
at  Oraibi,  Arizona,  November  5-6,  and 
at  Flagstaff,  Arizona,  on  November  12. 
The  new  songbook  entitled  Lomatua- 
whtatawi (Hopi  gospel  songs)  incorpo- 
rates an  earlier  book  published  in  1931 
with  the  assistance  of  missionary  J.  R. 
Duerksen.  Three  thousand  copies  of  the 
new  book  were  printed. 

John  P.  Suderman,  missionary  to  the 
Hopis  1930-47,  spent  the  past  four  years 
collecting  new  Hopi  songs,  adding  the 
musical  notation,  and  preparing  them 
for  the  printer. 

Of  the  128  songs  in  the  1931  edition, 
about  half  are  original  texts  by  Hopi 
Christians  and  the  remainder  translations 
of  songs  familiar  to  English-speaking 
Christians.  Most  of  the  146  new  songs 
are  also  translations. 


Material  for  the  Central  District  Reporter  should 
be  sent  to:  Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant 

Plain,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


Audiovisuals 

“Games  of  peace” 

Is  peacekeeping  a priority  concern  in 
North  America?  What  are  the  alterna- 
tives to  violence  for  international  peace- 
keeping? 

These  questions  are  asked  by  “Games 
of  peace,”  a fourteen-minute,  color  mo- 
vie recently  purchased  by  the  Commis- 
sion on  Home  Ministries. 

The  film  is  available  from  the  Audio- 
visual Library,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kan- 
sas, for  a rental  fee  of  $7.00. 


It  was  written,  directed,  and  produced 
by  Emmy  Award  winner  Lew  Sayre 
Schwartz  and  stars  Art  Carney,  Godfrey 
Cambridge,  Ron  Carey,  and  Bob  Dryden. 

Latin  America 

“Latin  America:  The  church  alive,”  a 
film  produced  by  Mennonites  for  the 
1972  mission  study  program,  has  been 
named  as  the  missionary  film  of  the  year 
by  the  National  Evangelical  Film  Foun- 
dation, Glenside,  Pennsylvania,  a non- 
denominational  group  which  distributes 
and  exhibits  Christian  films. 


VITAL  STATISTICS 


DEATHS 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Walter  Gar- 
matter,  Dec.  17;  Roy  Lehman,  Dec.  11; 
Maynard  L.  Luginbuhl,  Dec.  14. 

Eicher,  Wayland,  Iowa:  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Wider,  Dec.  23. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Elouse  Hoffman, 
Jan.;  Mrs.  Lena  Lehman,  Jan.  2;  Mrs. 
Lillian  Mailer,  Dec.;  Prudentia  E.  Mos- 
ser,  Dec.;  Reuban  Schwartz,  Dec.;  Al- 
bert Sorg,  Jan.;  Aldo  Sprunger,  Dec.; 
Raymond  H.  Sprunger,  Dec.;  Carl 
Swartz,  Dec.;  Chris  Zuercher,  Jan. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  John  Reichen- 
bach,  Dec.  24. 

Meadows  Home,  Meadows,  111.:  Elsie 
Birkey,  Dec.  19;  Ed  Denier,  Dec.  8; 
LeRoy  Reany,  Dec.  8. 

Meadow’s,  Meadows,  111.:  Anna  M. 

Roszhart,  Jan.  13. 

Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio:  Mrs. 

Mary  Ramseyer,  Dec.  20. 

BIRTHS 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Jim 
Dillers,  Paul  Joshua,  Dec.  29. 

Eighth  Street,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  the 
Randel  Reichenbachs,  Lisen  Margaret, 
Nov.  10. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  the  Neill  Von 
Guntens,  Karen  Louise,  Dec.  28;  to  the 
Stanley  Von  Guntens,  Todd  Christopher, 
Dec.  11. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Terry 
Chappells,  Jennifer  Marie,  Jan.  3. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  the  Dan 

Pingles,  Jerrod  Eugene,  Dec.  5;  to  the 
Keith  Sommers,  Heide  Ann,  Dec.  5. 

Silver  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  the  Ralph 
Haneys,  Bradley  Ray,  Dec.  10. 

Topeka,  Ind.:  to  the  Loanna  Ginger- 
ichs,  Carrie  Ann,  Nov.  27. 


MARRIAGES 

Eighth  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  Richard 

Gerig  and  Marcia  Schertz,  Dec.  27; 
Stefan  Miller  and  Nancy  Bechtel,  Dec. 
16;  Don  Stoffel  and  Rossi  Ulich,  Nov.  18. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Steven  Balsinger 
and  Sars  McClintock,  Dec.  28;  James  E. 
Lehman,  Dec.  30. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Raelene  K.  Ha- 
begger  and  Timothy  Rhodes,  Dec.  24. 

First,  Champaign,  Urbana,  111.:  Mike 
Noe  and  Kathy  Streid,  Dec.  23. 

First,  Wadsworth,  Ohio:  David  Tay- 
lor, Dec.  16. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Tim  Lugin- 
buhl and  Cindy  Basinger,  Dec. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  Mi- 
chael Moore  and  Nancy  Delagrange, 
Dec.  9. 

Silver  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  Charles  and 
Brenda  Yoder,  Nov.  27. 

Wayland,  Iowa:  James  Henss  and 

Janice  Carlson,  Dec.  23;  Gene  and  Mon- 
ica Krogmeyer,  Dec.  30. 

NEW  MEMBERS 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

Mike  Goings;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert 
Core. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  Cecil 
and  Doris  Albrecht,  Martin  and  Lor- 
raine Brandenberger,  Marvin  and  Mary 
J.  Brandenberger,  Christine  Swartzen- 
truber. 

ANNIVERSARIES 

First,  Wadsworth,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ralph  Miller,  Dec.  24,  53rd. 

North  Danvers,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cecil  Todd;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Miller. 


A- 8 FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


Asian  Catholics,  Protestants  discuss  health 


The  doctor  population  ratio  in  rural  areas 
in  Asia  ranges  from  1/17,000  to  1/ 
225,000.  Yet  there  are  more  Filipino 
than  black  American  doctors  in  the  U.S.; 
the  majority  of  doctors  in  the  British  Na- 
tional Health  Service  are  Asians;  at  least 
3,000  South  Korean  nurses  are  employed 
in  West  Germany. 

These  figures  were  given  by  Bunsom 
Martin,  rector  of  Chieng  Mai  University 
in  north  Thailand,  at  the  First  Asian 
Ecumenical  Conference  on  the  Role  of 
Health  in  the  Development  of  Nations, 
December  7-13  in  Bangkok,  Thailand. 

A1  Friesen,  physician  at  the  Menno- 
nite  Christian  Hospital,  Hw alien,  Tai- 
wan, was  one  of  150  participants  from 
eighteen  Asian  countries  attending  the 
meeting,  the  first  joint  conference  of 
Catholic  and  Protestant  health  workers 
in  Asia. 

Mr.  Friesen  reported  that  the  confer- 
ence was  divided  into  four  main  work- 
ing groups. 

Group  I recommended  greater  involve- 
ment of  the  church  in  family  planning 
programs;  at  the  same  time,  the  group 
stressed  that  abortion  was  not  acceptable 


to  all  Christians  and  that  family  planning 
programs  should  not  violate  the  convic- 
tions of  parents  or  medical  personnel. 

“Perhaps  the  best  mark  of  progress  in 
this  group  was  that  the  Catholic  part  of 
it  recognized  the  problem — the  necessity 
for  doing  something  active  to  control 
population  growth,”  Mr.  Friesen  said. 

Group  II  on  “The  church’s  role  in 
health”  was  concerned  that  past  and  pres- 
ent patterns  of  allocation  of  funds  and 
personnel  have  often  resulted  in  con- 
centration of  services  in  urban  areas, 
in  institutional  medicine,  and  in  the  train- 
ing of  specialized  medical  personnel. 
Thus,  unwittingly,  the  mandate  of  Christ 
to  be  especially  concerned  for  the  ne- 
glected poor  and  needy  has  gone  un- 
heeded in  many  cases. 

The  group  also  recommended  that  the 
church  assist  in  minimizing  the  “brain 
drain”  to  more  developed  countries. 

Group  III  on  “Health  and  education” 
recommended  that,  in  countries  with  an 
acute  shortage  of  medical  personnel  in 
rural  areas,  the  church  consider  training 
auxiliary  health  workers,  such  as  the 
“barefoot  doctors”  on  mainland  China. 


Group  IV  on  “Health  issues  for  the 
rising  generation”  looked  at  urbaniza- 
tion and  such  problems  as  juvenile  de- 
linquency and  drug  addiction.  The  group 
suggested  that  churches  and  schools  up- 
grade their  counseling  services;  that  the 
church  be  presented  to  young  people 
more  as  a community  and  less  as  an 
organization;  that  the  church  exert  pres- 
sure on  governments  to  deal  with  the 
problem  of  availability  of  drugs  and  be- 
come more  involved  itself  in  drug  educa- 
tion and  rehabilitation. 

Mr.  Friesen  said  the  conference  would 
affect  the  Taiwan  health  scene,  first,  by 
improving  Catholic-Protestant  coopera- 
tion and  liaison  between  those  religious 
bodies  and  local  government  health  min- 
istries and  commissions. 

Giovanni  Moretti,  Catholic  apostolic 
pronuncio  to  Thailand,  told  the  confer- 
ence, “This  is  a conference  which,  for 
the  first  time,  sees  the  various  Christian 
denominations  formally  united  in  the 
same  spirit  of  love  and  of  service,  elicit- 
ed under  the  inspiration  of  Christ  who, 
as  Matthew  says,  ‘took  our  sickness 
away  and  carried  our  diseases  for  us.’  ” 


es  tate'  plan  ning,  noun  or  verb. 

1.  To  devise  a method  or  plan  or  course  of  action 
intended  to  make  the  best  and  most  worthwhile 
use  of  one’s  resources,  both  while  living  and  after 
one  dies.  2.  Action  including  the  making  if  wills, 
trusts,  annuities,  and  bequests  so  as  to  use  01 
assets  responsibly.  ■ ■ 


Bethel  College  provides 

the  service  of  “estate  planning”  for  its 
friends  and  alumni. 

MAY  WE  HELP  YOU? 


Bethel  College 

North  Newton,  Kansas  67117 


Dear  Bethel  College, 

I'd  like  to  know  how  Bethel  can  help  me  plan  my  will  or  estate- 
program. 

□ Send  information  □ Call  me 


Name. 


Address. 


City. 


State. 


. Zip. 


THE 


MENNONITE 


121 


Green  revolution  fades 
Threat  of  famine  grows 

The  specter  of  famine,  considered  by 
some  to  have  faded  in  the  light  of  the 
heralded  green  revolution , appeared  once 
again  at  year’s  end,  according  to  the 
Population  Reference  Bureau. 

The  famine  threat  underscored  the 
significance  of  mounting  concern  over 
population  growth  reported  by  the  bu- 
reau in  its  annual  survey  of  develop- 
ments. 

“Developing  countries  have  increased 
their  food  output  by  only  1 or  2 percent 
during  1971  and  1972,  not  enough  to 
cover  increases  in  population,”  accord- 
ing to  A.  H.  Boerman,  director  of  the 
U.N.  Food  and  Agriculture  Organiza- 
tion. 

The  situation  was  especially  threaten- 
ing in  India,  the  bureau  said,  where  the 
promise  of  the  green  revolution  was  re- 
portedly the  brightest.  Drought  in  Maha- 
rashtra State,  west  central  India,  severe- 
ly reduced  crops  there;  lack  of  rain  has 
also  plagued  other  large  Indian  states 
for  the  last  two  years. 

Population  Bureau  president  Michael 
Brewer  said  the  explosive  population 
growth  in  the  underdeveloped  world  con- 
tinues, while  slackening  off  in  the  de- 
veloped world. 

Former  India 
missionary  dies 

Loretta  Lehman  Blackwood,  General 
Conference  missionary  in  India  from 
1921  to  1937,  died  January  18,  in  Berne, 
Indiana. 

In  India  she  had  worked  as  a nurse 
at  Champa.  She  was  a member  of  First 
Mennonite  Church,  Berne,  Indiana,  and 
was  instrumental  in  starting  Swiss  Vil- 
lage, a home  for  senior  citizens. 

Nine  Bible  institute 
students  serve  as  interns 

Four  students  from  the  Swift  Current 
Bible  Institute  in  Saskatchewan  are  in- 
volved in  a four-week  internship  expe- 
rience with  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission 
this  winter. 

Three  of  them  are  in  Pauingassi,  Man- 
itoba, an  Indian  community  of  200, 
where  the  Victor  Funks  are  working  on 
behalf  of  mpm.  The  fourth  student  has 
been  assigned  to  work  with  the  Jake 
Wiebes  in  Selkirk,  Manitoba. 

Five  other  students  are  working  with 
local  churches  in  Coaldale  and  Grande 
Prairie,  Alberta,  and  in  Saskatoon  and 


Regina,  Saskatchewan.  They  will  visit 
old  people,  work  with  young  people,  con- 
duct surveys,  participate  in  small  groups, 
and  assist  with  worship  and  Christian 
education  in  the  congregation. 

Walter  Franz,  principal  of  Swift  Cur- 
rent Bible  Institute,  describes  the  intent 
of  the  internship  program  as  follows:  “It 
is  an  effort  to  combine  a classroom  ap- 
proach to  Christian  education  with  a 
type  of  inservice  training.  . . . This  pro- 
gram is  intended  to  draw  the  student 
more  directly  into  the  stream  of  our 
Conference  and  congregational  life.  . . . 
The  students  who  are  considering  accept- 
ing longer  term  voluntary  service  assign- 
ments see  this  as  an  orientation  for  such 
an  experience.” 

Food  shortage  seen 
coming  in  Bangladesh 

Arthur  DeFehr,  mcc  Bangladesh  direc- 
tor, reported  that  some  people  fear  food 
shortage  in  Bangladesh  in  six  to  nine 
months  as  international  sympathy  for  the 
country  diminishes.  In  future  months, 
food  from  the  United  States,  Canada, 
and  other  countries  will  be  cut  from 
700,000  to  200,000  tons  per  quarter  year. 

Mr.  DeFehr  feels  that  mcc’s  commit- 
ment to  a five-year  program  in  Bangla- 
desh is  significant.  “The  Bengali  people 
are  beginning  to  separate  those  agencies 
who  are  only  there  for  one  year  from 
those  who  are  there  for  the  long  haul. 
Now  community  leaders  are  beginning  to 
call  on  us  instead  of  the  other  way 
around.” 

Volunteers  requested 
in  Oklahoma 

Volunteers  are  needed  in  Clinton,  Okla- 
homa, according  to  George  Lehman,  di- 
rector of  the  voluntary  service  program 
of  the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

Mr.  Lehman  said  that  Lawrence  Hart, 
Cheyenne  chief  and  pastor  of  the  Koi- 
nonia  Mennonite  Church  in  Clinton,  had 
requested  replacements  for  a couple  who 
will  serve  until  May  as  houseparents  in 
a residence  for  juvenile  offenders.  The 
replacements  might  be  a married  couple 
or  two  single  girls,  one  of  whom  would 
have  an  earning  position  as  houseparent. 
The  other  would  have  a job  in  the  com- 
munity. 

A new  position  which  must  be  filled  is 
director  of  a program  in  the  area  of 
corrections,  serving  eighteen-  to  twenty- 
five-year-old  misdemeanant  offenders. 
The  person  would  work  with  people  in 
nine  municipal  jails  and  four  county  jails 


and  supervise  three  other  workers.  Ap- 
plicants should  have  a master’s  degree  in 
sociology,  social  work,  psychology,  coun- 
seling, or  criminology. 

Congregations  participate 
in  Key  73,  Phase  II 

Beginning  in  February,  congregations 
participating  in  the  Key  73  evangelism 
emphasis  are  “Calling  our  continent  to 
the  Word  of  God”  through  Scripture  dis- 
tribution. 

Among  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite congregations  distributing  Scrip- 
ture portions  is  Bethel  Mennonite  Church, 
Inman,  Kansas,  which  plans  to  distribute 
Good  news  for  modern  man  in  connec- 
tion with  a religious  survey. 

Glendale  Mennonite  Church,  Linden, 
Washington,  is  also  giving  out  the  Good 
news  for  modern  man.  Scripture  portions 
are  also  being  distributed  by  Bethany 
Mennonite  Church,  Virgil,  Ontario,  and 
First  Mennonite  Church,  Aberdeen, 
Idaho. 

The  American  Bible  Society,  which  is 
publishing  Scripture  portions  for  Key  73, 
reported  that  25,000  portions  are  mailed 
daily  for  Key  73  distribution. 

This  phase  of  Key  73  lasts  until  Easter. 

Spring  retreat  planned 
for  Zaire  missionaries 

Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission  is  plan- 
ning a retreat  for  missionaries  on  fur- 
lough and  aimm  board  members  April 
5-9  at  Miracle  Camp,  an  Evangelical 
Mennonite  Church  campgrounds  near 
Lawton,  Michigan. 

The  aimm  executive  committee  ap- 
proved the  retreat  at  its  January  meet- 
ing. 

Howard  Habegger,  secretary  of  the 
aimm  board,  said  the  retreat  would  give 
missionaries  the  opportunity  to  reflect 
on  their  service  in  Zaire,  discuss  mutual 
concerns,  and  think  together  about  the 
future  of  missions  in  Zaire. 

Major  speakers  will  be  Mr.  Habegger 
on  “Reentry  to  North  America,”  Earl 
Roth  on  “Fusion  and  the  servant  role,” 
and  Elmer  Neufeld  on  “The  future  of 
aimm  in  Zaire.”  Milo  Nussbaum  will 
lead  Bible  study. 

The  retreat  proper  will  be  April  5-8, 
with  the  aimm  board’s  regular  spring 
meeting  April  9. 


122 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


MCC  self-study  progresses 
Special  meetings  planned 

The  Mennonite  Central  Committee  self- 
study,  set  in  motion  in  1972  and  project- 
ed to  continue  into  1974,  has  already 
produced  a wealth  of  personal  opinion 
responses  about  the  mission,  role,  pri- 
orities, resources,  and  programs  of  mcc. 

Robert  S.  Kreider,  study  director,  re- 
ported to  the  January  mcc  annual  meet- 
ing in  Leamington,  Ontario,  that  indi- 
viduals and  groups  have  been  helpful 
in  the  first  round  of  contacts  designed  to 
gather  as  broad  a range  as  possible  of 
| constituent  concerns. 

Building  on  a nine-page  compilation 
of  major  questions  which  have  emerged 
1 out  of  the  self-study  process,  Mr.  Krei- 
f der  intends  in  the  next  four  months  to 
| “cast  a broad  net  to  be  certain  no  sig- 
nificant issues  have  been  missed.  A May 
meeting  involving  the  mcc  executive 
committee  and  conference  representa- 
tives will  then  seek  to  identify  the  high 
priority  issues.” 

Some  of  the  questions  emerging  deal 
with  the  mission  of  mcc  in  the  1970s  and 
1980s;  what  constituency  resources  are 
appropriate  to  mcc;  what  mcc’s  appro- 


priate role  is  in  relation  to  constituent 
bodies,  mission  boards,  and  other  church- 
es; and  how  mcc  evaluates  its  programs 
and  structures. 

The  method  of  the  self-study  is  proc- 
ess oriented.  It  is  not  done  by  an  ex- 
ternal agency,  but  by  everyone  involved 
in  mcc,  from  the  grass  roots  up.  The 
process  involves  hundreds  of  small  group 
meetings,  interviews,  questionnaires,  and 
larger  meetings.  The  focus  in  this  first 
phase  is  on  North  America.  The  study 
is  future  oriented. 

“We  want  to  make  the  study  as  open 
as  possible  to  everyone  concerned,”  said 
Mr.  Kreider.  “Anyone  who  wishes  can 
have  a voice  in  it.” 

The  mcc  members  at  Leamington  ac- 
cepted a recommendation  from  the  exec- 
utive committee  to  meet  in  special  ses- 
sions for  two  days  in  early  fall  to  prepare 
recommendations  based  on  the  findings 
of  the  self-study  for  the  January  1974 
annual  meeting. 

This  is  the  first  such  extraordinary 
meeting  of  the  committee  since  1964 
when  it  met  between  annual  meetings 
to  redefine  the  role  of  mmhs. 

The  committee  held  another  special 
meeting  in  1946  to  formulate  a general 


policy  on  servicing  and  financial  aid  to 
Mennonite  immigrants  in  Europe.  Other 
special  meetings  have  also  been  held  to 
deal  with  high  priority  issues  or  emer- 
gencies. 

The  fall  meeting  will  include  a num- 
ber of  conference  representatives  equal 
to  the  number  of  mcc  members.  Con- 
ference represntatives  are  to  be  chosen 
by  the  conferences. 

Before  the  fall  meeting,  the  focusing 
of  issues  will  take  place  in  two  meetings 
of  the  mcc  executive  committee  with  the 
help  of  conference  representatives. 

The  first  of  these  two  executive  com- 
mittee meetings  will  review  plans  March 
7-8.  Paul  Kraybill,  chairman  of  the  mod- 
erators and  secretaries  continuing  com- 
mittee, will  be  present  for  this  session. 

The  nine-member  executive  committee 
will  meet  again  May  22  with  nine  con- 
ference representatives  to  narrow  the 
field  of  study  and  identify  issues  in  need 
of  immediate  study.  This  body  will  also 
plan  the  larger  fall  meeting. 

Any  concerns  or  questions  regarding 
the  mcc  self-study  should  be  addressed 
to  Robert  S.  Kreider,  Route  2,  Bluffton, 
Ohio  45817. 


What  do  you  want 
your  family 
reading  in  1911) 


Consider  Christian  Living* 


Christian  Living— a monthly  magazine  for  home  and 
family,  relating  the  needs  of  the  family  within  the 
context  of  the  Mennonite  community. 

Christian  Living  focuses  on  people— people  who  want  to 
live  as  disciples  of  Christ,  brothers,  peacemakers  and 
evangelists  and  who  want  to  raise  a family  in  this 
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Stories,  articles,  columns  and  poetry  are  presented 
monthly  giving  a practical  Christian  viewpoint  on  con- 
cerns facing  Christians  every  day.  Christian  Living  is  your 
alternate  voice  speaking  clearly  with  concern. 

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THE  MENNONITE 


123 


Work 


Katie  Funk  Wiebe 


“Who  are  you?”  How  often  that  ques- 
tion is  asked.  We  answer  usually  with 
our  name  and  what  we  do  for  a living: 
“I  am  a teacher,  a farmer,  or  a business- 
man,” and  so  forth. 

Most  people  tend  to  identify  them- 
selves in  terms  of  what  they  spend  most 
of  their  time  at,  and  usually  this  is  their 
job.  A person’s  vocation  has  generally 
been  considered  the  most  significant  part 
of  his  life — his  calling  from  God — that 
which  gives  meaning  to  life  as  well  as 
provides  bacon  and  eggs  for  breakfast. 

Some  sociologists  are  suggesting  that 
some  strange  things  are  happening  to 
our  traditional  attitudes  to  work.  With 
the  rapid  progress  of  technology,  not 
everyone  always  finds  himself  working 
at  a job  which  adds  immeasurably  to 
the  quality  of  his  life.  Working  on  an 
assembly  line,  punching  a keyboard,  may 
not  be  the  kind  of  a task  he  feels  in- 
clined to  write  home  about.  Not  every 
man  wants  to  be  identified  by  his  work, 
because  it  doesn’t  mean  that  much  to 
him. 

Furthermore,  the  number  of  hours  a 
person  works  each  week  is  shrinking 
each  decade.  In  the  post-Civil  War  pe- 
riod the  average  workweek  was  about 
seventy  hours  or  a twelve-hour  day,  six- 
day  week.  This  was  reduced  to  a sixty- 
hour  week  at  the  turn  of  the  century 
and  further  reduced  to  fifty  hours  be- 
fore the  Depression.  Since  1900  there 
has  been  an  average  reduction  of  four 
hours  each  decade.  Recently  a furniture 
factory  in  a neighboring  community 
switched  to  a four-day  week  with  about 
thirty-nine  hours  of  work. 

So  when  you  spend  less  and  less  time 
at  your  job,  what  do  you  write  home 
about  or  talk  about  to  your  friends? 
What  then  becomes  the  center  of  life? 
It  shifts  to  what  one  does  in  the  off- 
work  hours. 

Judging  from  my  own  small  commu- 
nity, which  in  the  basketball  season  fields 
a team  for  every  age-group  from  junior 
high  through  college,  attending  organized 
sports  activities  becomes  a meaningful 
activity  and  provides  value  for  existence 
night  after  night  for  numerous  people. 

Leisure-time  activities  are  moving  into 
the  center  of  life,  says  Robert  Lee  in  Re- 


ligion and  leisure  in  America,  and  threat- 
ening to  replace  work  as  the  basis  of  cul- 
ture. America  is  becoming  leisure-orient- 
ed rather  than  work-oriented. 

Several  decades  ago  many  American 
housewives  were  encouraged  to  hope  that 
when  they  had  a fully  automated  kitchen 
and  laundry,  they  would  have  free  time 
on  their  hands.  It  hasn’t  happened  that 
way.  Housewives  are  as  busy,  if  not 
busier,  than  when  they  washed  clothes 
on  a scrubboard.  Better  facilities  mean 
that  more  laundry  is  done,  more  dishes 
used,  more  cleaning  attempted. 

Yet  the  prime  reason  people  have  less 
free  time  is  probably  that  with  our  in- 
creasing technology,  our  economy  has 
shifted  from  a producer  or  work-orient- 
ed society  to  a consumer-oriented  so- 
ciety. Spending  money  and  using  goods 
is  as  important  and  takes  as  much  time 
as  earning  the  money.  Furthermore, 
most  consumer  goods,  with  their  built- 
in  obsolescence,  require  much  time  for 
upkeep.  A horse  and  buggy  and  a well 
for  water  required  a certain  amount  of 
care,  but  a car,  plumbing,  and  a lawn 
can  gobble  up  time. 

One  of  the  goals  of  many  Americans 
is  to  own  leisure-time  goods  because 
they  seem  to  provide  meaning  for  liv- 
ing. Yet  the  more  such  goods  a person 
acquires,  says  Gordon  J.  Dahl  in  Chris- 
tian century  (February  10,  1971),  the 
more  time  and  energy  he  will  commit 
to  using  them. 

In  our  area  a large  reservoir  was 
opened  last  year  with  excellent  boating 
and  fishing  facilities.  Any  person  who 
has  been  able  to  purchase  a boat  and 
other  equipment  will  want  to  get  his 
money’s  worth  out  of  them.  He  feels 
obligated  to  use  them.  And  he  will  have 
less  time  for  other  activities. 

Eric  Hoffer  makes  that  point  in  Lei- 
sure, automation,  and  the  masses  that 
greater  leisure  such  as  we  are  experienc- 
ing should  produce  greater  creativity.  In 
the  church,  we  would  expect  more  free 
time  for  people  to  devote  to  visiting  the 
sick,  the  poor,  to  fellowship,  and  so 
forth.  But  it  isn’t  working  out  that  way. 

Our  society  is  simply  moving  faster  in 
the  direction  of  materialistic  progress, 
convinced  that  leisure  is  time  that  be- 


longs wholly  to  the  individual  and  that 
the  best  leisure  activity  must  be  bought. 
And  what  is  getting  lost,  according  to 
Mr.  Dahl,  are  the  fine  arts,  religion, 
and  family  life.  The  issue  is  not  the 
material  goods  owned  and  used,  but 
that  these  are  substituted  for  spiritual 
and  social  values. 

How  can  the  church  encourage  goals 
and  values  in  a society  in  which  work 
isn’t  the  main  part  of  life?  Both  leisure 
and  work  should  give  meaning  to  life, 
says  Lee,  because  both  involve  time 
which  is  a portion  of  eternity. 

As  summer  approaches  and  families 
look  for  significant  experiences  through 
recreation,  can  the  church  help  them 
find  worship  and  fellowship  in  Christ  in 
ways  other  than  an  annual  church  fam- 
ily camp?  Can  the  church  use  leisure  to 
strengthen  its  purposes? 

Psalm  for 
the  seventies 

In  the  middle  of  hustle  I walk 
To  a quiet  center 

Away  from  the  world  where  I’m  not 
Really  at  home, 

There  to  recapture 
Peace. 

The  rush  and  the  hustle 
Tug  at  my  mind 
Making  it  hard  to  leave 
Worry  behind. 

I lift  my  eyes  to  the  hills 
And  return  to  the  street 
Refreshed. 

Ruth  Naylor 


Material  for  this  page  provided  by 
Women’s  Missionary  Association. 


124 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


Two-year  Career  Programs  at 

Hesston  College 

A four-year  liberal  arts  education  is  not  for  everyone.  Maybe  it's  a question 
of  not  having  the  time,  the  money,  or  you  just  aren't  sure  a college  education 
is  for  you.  Hesston  is  for  those  who  want  a two-year  Christian  campus.  You 
can  select  a two-year  transfer  plan  or  choose  one  of  1 3 two-year  career  programs. 

In  the  last  ten  years  Hesston’s  enrollment  has  doubled.  That  says  something 
about  the  kind  of  college  it  is.  Listed  below  are  13  two-year  career  options: 


ytmi,  -0 


Production  Agriculture 

For  the  person  who  will  return  to 
the  farm  as  an  operator.  An  agri- 
business option  is  available  for  the 
person  who  will  be  involved  in  an 
agricultural  business.  A two-year 
transfer  program  is  another  agricul- 
tural option. 

Automotive  Power-Technology 

For  the  young  man  heading  for  a 
career  in  the  automotive  servicing 
fields  as  a service  manager,  service 
technician,  sales  representative,  or  re- 
lated vocation. 

Aviation 

Ground  school  and  flight  training 
prepare  the  student  to  take  the  FAA’s 
examinations  leading  to  the  following 
ratings:  private  pilot,  commercial  pi- 
lot, instrument  rating,  and  flight  in- 
structor. 

Bible  and  Christian  Service 

A combination  of  courses  including 
psychology,  sociology,  history,  speech, 
writing,  church  ministries  and  a heavy 
emphasis  on  Bible.  This  can  be  trans- 
ferred to  other  colleges  if  one  wants' 
to  continue  schooling  in  this  area. 

Business-Middle  Management 

Intended  for  those  interested  in  re- 
tailing, operating  a franchise,  manag- 
ing a small  business,  or  working  in 
middle  management  in  a larger  firm. 

Business-Middle  Management  with 
Computer  Emphasis 

Similar  to  above,  but  includes  more 
computer  courses  done  on  the  IBM 
System  3.  For  the  person  moving  into 
the  in-service  training  program  of  the 
data  processing  department  of  the 
hiring  institution. 

Building  Technology 

For  persons  pursuing  a career  in 
the  building  trade,  mobile  home,  and 
modular  construction  fields.  Offers 
well  balanced  combination  of  build- 
ing trades,  electrical,  business,  and 
related  courses. 

Child  Care 

Open  to  men  and  women  with  em- 
phasis on  child  development,  child 
rearing,  and  learning  for  the  preschool 
child.  Graduates  will  be  ready  to  work 
in  most  states  in  day  care  centers  and 


nursery  schools,  and  when  under  the 
supervision  of  qualified  teachers,  in 
kindergartens.  Also  a stepping-stone 
to  a four-year  degree. 

Electronics 

Program  gives  the  student  a bal- 
anced education  with  general  educa- 
tion courses,  electronics  courses,  and 
on  the  job  learning  and  earning  expe- 
rience. Leads  to  an  FCC  license. 

Homemaking 

Here  is  a serious  approach  to  creat- 
ing strong  homes.  A package  of  home 
economics,  child  care,  and  other  cours- 
es to  prepare  a young  lady  for  a ca- 
reer as  a mother,  homemaker,  and 
useful  Christian  citizen. 

Nursing  Program 

Open  to  both  men  and  women.  At 
end  of  two  years  graduate  is  qualified 
to  take  state  board  examinations  to 
become  a registered  nurse. 

Professional  Secretary 

For  the  person  who  wants  to  excel 
in  the  office.  There  is  enough  actual 
work  experience  to  prepare  the  stu- 
dent for  a responsible  personal  secre- 
tary's position. 

Social  Work 

The  social  work  technician  is  trained 
for  specific  tasks  such  as  interviewing, 
group  work,  and  community  develop- 
ment. He  will  function  as  part  of  a 
team  supervised  by  a master  of  social 
work.  If  at  some  point  a student 
should  decide  to  advance  on  the  so- 
cial work  career  ladder,  he  will  be 
accepted  at  most  colleges  or  univer- 
sities at  the  junior  level  with  full  credit. 


MAIL  THIS  COUPON  FOR  INFORMATION 


Year  H.S.  grad 

HESSTON  COLLEGE 
HESSTON,  KANSAS  67062 


LETTERS  MEDITATION 


Back  to  the  Bible 

How  many  times  have  you  heard  the  comment  and  usually  uttered  with  profound 
passion:  “What  this  church  needs  is  to  turn  back  to  the  Bible!” 

Trite  as  it  may  seem,  the  comment  has  validity  which  churches  and  their  members 
can  ill  afford  to  ignore.  Despite  occasional  charges  on  one  side  that  the  Bible  has 
been  exalted  at  the  expense  of  Jesus  Christ  and  on  the  other  side  that  the  Scriptures 
have  been  distorted  or  disregarded — despite  all  differences  in  interpretation,  the 
Bible’s  impact  in  the  lives  of  Christians  and  its  essential  function  in  strengthening 
personal  faith  cannot  be  questioned  by  either  traditional  or  contemporary  churchmen. 

Even  a most  abrasive  radical  theologian  conceded  recently:  “Return  to  the  Bible? 
Why  not?  People  would  benefit  from  it  more  than  Erich  Segal’s  vanilla-flavored  non- 
book Love  story  V’ 

But  how  does  a church,  a local  congregation,  or  a denomination,  “turn  back  to 
the  Bible”?  Our  busy,  busy  lives,  beset  with  an  endless  array  of  problems — pollution, 
war,  race,  crime,  and  other  threats  to  survival — may  have  dulled  our  interest  in  this 
source  of  power  and  strength.  To  get  new  perspective  then  requires  discipline,  per- 
haps artificial  devices  such  as  keeping  your  Bible  handier  or  scheduling  regular  read- 
ing on  your  daily  calendar. 

Next,  some  dos  and  don’ts  to  help  keep  us  on  track:  Don’t  be  disappointed  if  you 
find  it  dull  at  first.  Skip  around  till  something  sparks  your  interest.  Use  a new  trans- 
lation. (American  Bible  Society’s  Good  news  for  modern  man  has  probably  done 
more  than  any  recent  translation  to  help  the  average  man  understand  and  appreciate 
the  message  of  the  Scriptures.)  Talk  to  people  about  what  you’ve  read,  informally 
and  in  structured  groups  if  possible.  With  your  interest  renewed,  you  may  be  able 
to  help  organize  Bible  study  groups  on  Sundays  or  Tuesday  mornings  or  Thursday 
nights  or  anytime. 

Try  the  Bible  if  you  haven’t  recently.  You  may  even  get  to  really  using  it! 

Ben  Hartley 


Bible  smuggling 

Dear  Editor:  I am  sure  that  on  the 
basis  of  Gerald  Studer’s  “Bibles  for 
smuggling”  (January  9 issue)  many  read- 
ers will  have  second  thoughts  about  finan- 
cially supporting  organizations  which 
smuggle  Bibles  to  communist  countries. 

I would  suggest  to  readers  to  peruse 
Tortured  for  Christ  by  Richard  Wurm- 
brand,  God’s  smugglers  by  Brother 
Andrew,  and  Tortured  for  his  faith  by 
Haralan  Popov,  who  is  now  or  has  been 
with  Underground  Evangelism. 

In  a recent  interview  by  Christianity 
today  (January  5,  1973),  with  B.  P. 
Dotsenko,  who  was  one  of  Russia’s  top 
nuclear  scientists,  Dr.  Dotsenko  describes 
his  conversion  from  communism  to 
Christianity.  Dr.  Dotsenko  currently 
teaches  at  a university  in  Waterloo, 
Ontario.  He  belongs  to  a Mennonite 
Brethren  church.  He  relates  in  the  inter- 
view that  a prime  factor  in  his  spiritual 
turn  was  the  accidentally  finding  of  a 
book,  The  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  some  old  magazines  under 
some  hay  in  an  old  bam  in  the  Ukraine. 
When  he  was  asked  in  the  interview 
what  he  thought  about  smuggling  Bibles 
into  communist  countries  he  replied,  “Do 
everything  that  your  conscience,  your 
courage,  and  your  trust  in  God  allows 
you  to  do.  Shall  we  submit  ourselves 
to  godless  forces  or  shall  we  follow  the 
commandments  of  our  Lord,  ‘Feed  my 
sheep’?  I must  confess  that  I admire 
Brother  Andrew  and  his  coworkers.  I 
pray  for  them,  that  the  Lord  will  con- 
tinue to  keep  them  under  his  protection 
and  inspire  them  to  further  service.  This 
is  the  true  spiritual  battle.  ...” 

So,  if  we  are  praying  for  the  enemies 
of  God  and  the  unbelievers  that  the  Lord 
in  his  mercy  will  open  their  eyes  and 
soften  their  hearts  so  that  they  will  re- 
pent, they  must  have  his  Word  for  spir- 
itual change  and  growth. 

Dr.  Dotsenko’s  testimony  should  en- 
courage those  who  believe  and  claim 
God’s  promise  in  Isaiah  55:11,  “So  also 
is  my  Word.  I send  it  out  and  it  always 
produces  fruit.  It  shall  accomplish  all  I 
want  it  to  do  and  prosper  everywhere 
I send  it”  ( Living  Bible). 

There  might  even  be  evidence  that 
Bible  smuggling  is  an  answer  after  all! 
Melvin  Buller,  4855  Eagle  Rock  Circle, 
Colorado  Springs,  Colo.  80907.  Jan.  26 


Don’t  judge  the  majority 

Dear  Editor:  I have  waited  a few  weeks 
to  answer  W.  F.  Unruh’s  letter  (Decem- 
ber 19  issue),  long  enough  to  write  in  a 
different  tone  than  I might  have  four 
weeks  ago. 

Because  I was  one  of  the  “majority 
of  Americans”  who  voted  against  a man 
running  for  President  of  the  United 
States  whom  I couldn’t  trust  at  all,  I 
was  particularly  interested  in  all  your 
“instead  of”  paragraphs. 

I was  amused  as  I read  these  quali- 
fications of  some  mythical  opponent  of 
President  Nixon.  Who,  my  dear  Mr. 
Unruh,  did  you  have  in  mind?  There 
certainly  was  no  one  on  the  ballot  op- 
posing President  Nixon  who  stood  for 
your  “instead  ofs”  if  what  I heard  on 
TV  for  months  before  the  election  was 
any  criterion  of  those  “crying  their 
wares.” 

One  opponent  was  incapacitated  by  a 
horrible  shooting.  One  opponent  didn’t 
know  the  difference  between  1,000  per- 
cent and  zero  support — between  much 
support  for  needy  people  and  not  quite 


so  much — couldn’t  control  his  temper  in 
the  heat  of  campaigning  and  so  resorted 
to  gutter  language  — so  I’m  sure  that 
man’s  principles  weren’t  attractive  to 
you.  You  must  have  had  a different 
ballot! 

But  to  be  serious,  my  one  really 
thought-provoking  reaction  to  your  let- 
ter was  my  instant  denial  of  your  judg- 
ment of  my  “low  way  of  life,”  to  quote 
your  letter.  My  husband,  Leland  Neuen, 
is  a dedicated,  honest,  responsible  Re- 
publican and  neither  his  vote  nor  mine 
would  have  gone  for  the  unstable  con- 
tradictory nominee  who  opposed  Presi- 
dent Nixon.  We  are,  moreover,  devout 
Christians,  who  have  accepted  Christ’s 
sacrifice  on  Calvary  as  our  way  of  sal- 
vation. We  feel  that  neither  you  nor 
anyone  else  has  the  right  to  judge  our 
moral  way  of  life  because  of  our  po- 
litical preference. 

Do  you  feel  you  are  obeying  Jesus 
Christ  by  judging  the  majority  of  Amer- 
icans? “Consistency — thou  art  a jewel!” 
Erma  I.  Neuen,  405  Colombia  St.,  Berne, 
Ind.  46711.  Jan.  19 


126 


FEBRUARY  20,  1973 


Sounder:  unbelievable 

Dear  Editor:  I am  happy  to  send  in 
money  for  a subscription.  I am  allowing 
subscriptions  to  Christianity  today  and 
Inside /Outside  to  lapse  as  they  seem  to 
duplicate  The  Mennonite  coverage  and 
The  Mennonite  does  a better  job,  . . . 

The  magazine’s  scope  of  coverage  suits 
me  just  fine  as  I tend  to  be  a Christian 
caught  up  with  world  issues  and  find  the 
magazine  presents  a point  of  view  of 
above  topics  that  I can  identify  with.  . . . 

I am  taking  this  opportunity  to  dis- 
agree with  James  Arnold’s  review  of 
Sounder  (January  9 issue).  I agree  with 
the  caption:  “So  good  it’s  hard  to  be- 
lieve,” and  I don’t  believe  it.  Several 
weeks  ago  I became  aware,  through  the 
| news  media,  newspaper,  and  magazines 
that  there  had  arrived  on  the  scene  a 
daring  departure  from  the  slick,  super- 
stud, fast  money-making  black  films  that 
depict  the  negative  values  of  black  life 
as  something  to  be  admired.  The  movie, 
Sounder,  is  being  publicized  as  a new 
breed  of  black  film  depicting  strong 
family  ties.  Groups  are  encouraged  to 
come  to  the  Mike  Todd  Theater  for  a 
special  rate  ...  by  taking  time  from 
regular  classroom  work  to  catch  the 
10:30  a.m.  showing. 

The  day  care  center  that  my  daughter, 
Catherine,  attends  planned  to  go.  Since 
the  schools  were  closed  due  to  the  strike, 
and  I had  been  excited  by  the  advertise- 
ment regarding  this  new  type  of  black 
I film — -black  family  film — I decided  to 
! go  with  the  group  as  a parent  helper. 

I After  getting  fifteen  children,  aged 
four  to  six,  seated  in  the  movie,  which 
f had  been  on  about  thirty  minutes,  it 
i didn’t  take  me  long  to  smell  a rat.  But 
I couldn’t  figure  out  where  the  rat  was. 
The  photography  was  excellent.  The  black 
people  were  truly  representative;  that  is, 
they  looked  “natural.” 

Yes,  I can  give  credit  to  the  produc- 
ers. They  went  further  than  most  pro- 
ducers had  done  in  the  past  to  recreate 
the  reality  of  black  existence  in  America. 
But  they  failed  to  show  the  true  spirit 
of  the  oppressed — the  spirit  that  led  to 
the  New  Orleans  rebellion  two  weeks 
ago,  the  spirit  that  led  to  the  formation 
of  sncc  and  sclc  and  push,  the  spirit 
] that  says  I know  that  I’m  being  exploit- 
ed and  I will  not  go  down  without  let- 
ting you  know  about  it. 

The  spirit  of  docility  permeated  that 
movie  and  I do  not  believe  it  reflected 
the  feelings  of  black  people,  not  even  in 
1938.  I had  relatives  in  the  South  at 
that  time  and  whenever  visiting  them  or 


in  having  conversations  with  my  parents 
who  grew  up  in  the  South,  it  was  quite 
evident  that  the  “Negroes”  down  there 
were  not  docile  (at  least  a representative 
group  of  them).  My  uncle  lived  on  a 
Sounder  type  farm  between  two  white 
famihes.  Whenever  he  went  into  town  he 
always  put  his  pistol  inside  his  coat,  his 
idea  being,  if  there  was  trouble  he  would 
be  ready.  I’m  not  passing  approval  on 
his  actions,  I’m  trying  to  say  that  he 
represented  a large  group  of  blacks  who 
were  able  to  and  did  articulate  an  aware- 
ness of  this  situation! 

Such  patience  and  tolerance  toward 
maltreatment  as  appear  in  Sounder  I’ve 
never  seen  or  heard  in  all  my  black 
days!  Miss  Tyson  was  the  only  person 
who  showed  an  awareness  that  there  was 
something  “unnatural”  about  having  to 
give  all  (except  a fraction)  of  your  la- 
bor’s work  to  a white  man  in  payment 
for  little  or  nothing.  She  grimaced  once 
or  twice  and  turned  her  nose  up  on  the 
white  owner.  I cheered  then. 

This  is  the  way  the  movie  pays  its 
homage  to  the  establishment.  We’re  still 
being  stereotyped,  not  as  superfly  studs 
and  hot  mamas,  but  as  spineless  cowed- 
down  people  who,  even  though  the  man 
is  standing  full  weight  on  our  toes,  won’t 
even  say  “Ouch.” 

For  those  of  us  who  support  a phi- 
losophy of  nonviolence,  it  is  important 
to  stand  up  for  what  we  believe  to  be 
the  truth.  One’s  witness  is  in  statement 
not  violent  action.  I believe  I could 
substantiate  from  other  blacks  who  expe- 
rienced life  in  the  South  in  1938  that 
there  were  many  martyrs  who  spoke  out 
against  the  social  economic  injustices 
that  Sounder  depicts. 

It  would  have  been  great  if  the  pub- 
licity for  Sounder  could  have  included 
“oppressed  blacks  stand  up  with  integ- 
rity and  outrage  against  white  injustice” 
as  well  as  “first  film  to  portray  strong 
family  ties”  — as  if  we  didn’t  know  that 
our  fathers  and  mothers  loved  us.  . . . 

I knew  I had  to  say  something  when 
after  the  movie  my  six-year-old  daughter 
asked  me,  “Mommy,  why  did  that  man 
shoot  the  dog?”  The  film  never  answered 
that  question.  Nor  did  it  allow  the  char- 
acters to  protest  the  shooting.  Must  be 
a superhuman  boy  not  to  show  any 
slight  tinge  of  bitterness  or  sadness.  He 
was  sad  because  the  dog  ran  off.  I heard 
from  others  that  the  dog  died.  That 
scene  was  not  in  my  viewing.  Perhaps  a 
dying  dog  would  be  offensive  to  school- 
children  and  thus  cut  down  on  financial 
returns.  June  Kirk  1143  E.  50  St.,  Chi- 
cago, III.  60615.  Jan.  21 


Contents 


Coping  in  crisis  113 

Musings  late  in  the  day  115 

Keeping  a cheerful  spirit 

in  trying  days  116 

Ballad  of  an  aging  mother  117 

News  118 

Record  1 23 

Work  and  leisure  124 

Psalm  for  the  seventies  124 

Letters  126 

Back  to  the  Bible  126 

Give  thanks  and  listen  to  the 

whispered  question  123 


CONTRIBUTORS 

C.  G.  Rempel,  651  Haney  St.,  Winnipeg, 
Man.,  is  Protestant  chaplain  at  the  St. 
Boniface  General  Hospital. 

J.  J.  Griffin  serves  as  chaplain  at  the 
Bethel  Deaconess  Hospital  and  the  Bethel 
Home  for  the  Aged,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14. 

Muriel  Thiessen  Stackley's  address  is 
Box  339,  Francistown,  Botswana. 

Katie  Funk  Wiebe  lives  at  208  North 
Jefferson,  Hillsboro,  Kans.  67063. 

Ruth  Naylor,  an  Ohio  resident,  can  be 
reached  at  Route  2,  Box  151,  Bluffton 
45817. 

Ben  Hartley,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  is  the  for- 
mer editor  of  Presbyterian  Survey. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Gerry  Davis,  RNS;  114,  RNS;  118, 
Henry  H.  Epp;  1 20,  American  Bible  So- 
ciety. 

Tho 

Mennonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager.-  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  221  1 - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


127 


Give  thanks  and  listen  to  the  whispered  question 


The  General  Conference  story  for  1972  is  al- 
most too  good  to  believe.  Although  we’ll  leave  this 
to  the  judgment  of  future  church  historians,  the 
past  year  may  well  be  remembered  as  one  of  the 
most  significant  years  in  the  conference’s  history. 
Perhaps,  however,  1972  looks  so  bright  because 
we  see  it  against  the  somber  backdrop  of  the 
churches’  widespread  discontent  during  the  late 
1960s. 

This  article  is  being  written  during  the  furious 
activity  of  the  annual  council  of  commissions  in 
Newton,  Kansas.  All  three  commissions,  the  Gen- 
eral Board,  the  seminary  board,  and  a number  of 
other  committees  are  meeting  simultaneously  in 
First  Church  to  review  the  conference’s  achieve- 
ments in  1972  and,  of  course,  to  map  out  the 
programs  and  strategies  which  will  be  given  pri- 
ority during  1973  and  beyond. 

The  financial  report  for  last  year  shows  that 
for  only  the  fourth  time  in  the  last  two  decades — 
and  for  the  second  year  in  a row — the  confer- 
ence’s budget  was  oversubscribed.  Receipts  ex- 
ceeded the  budget  by  3.2  percent.  And,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  conference’s  history,  the  annual 
income  surpassed  $2,000,000. 

Financial  support  is  only  one  of  several  indices 
for  gauging  a good  year.  But  it  is  an  important 
indicator  when  churches  increase  their  giving  as 
substantially  as  they  did  during  1971  and  1972. 
Part  of  the  increase  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the 
recent  upswing  in  the  Canadian  and  U.S.  econo- 
mies, but  this,  in  our  opinion,  is  only  part  of 
the  reason.  Another  factor,  we  believe,  is  the 
determined  effort  by  a growing  number  of  indi- 
viduals and  congregations  to  take  the  church  more 
seriously  than  they  have  in  the  past  few  years.  All 
levels  of  the  church — congregations,  district  con- 
ferences, General  Conference,  Mennonite  Central 
Committee,  etc.  — appear  to  be  benefiting  from 
this  new  resolve. 

Other  instances  of  hope  and  growth  in  the  con- 
ference during  1972  that  should  be  noted  here 
briefly  are  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission’s 
creative  grappling  with  goals,  priorities,  and  strate- 
gies; the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries’  work 
in  evangelism-that-cares,  native  ministries,  and 
radio  and  television;  and  the  Commission  on  Edu- 
cation’s decision  to  become  a full  publishing  part- 
ner with  several  other  groups  in  the  development 
of  an  Anabaptist  church  school  curriculum. 

The  seminary,  likewise,  had  many  good  things 


happen  to  it  during  the  past  year.  Its  budget  was 
more  than  met  and  its  enrollment  went  up.  Fur- 
thermore, the  seminary  community  struggled  with 
issues  which  are  important  far  beyond  its  own 
walls.  One  of  the  concerns  which  it  is  discussing 
is  the  role  of  women  in  the  church,  a question  on 
which  many  congregations  would  like  help.  An- 
other issue  with  which  they  are  dealing  is  the 
nature  and  the  means  of  spirituality. 

Since  people  are  our  most  valuable  resource, 
we  must  also  highlight  last  year’s  increase  in  the 
number  of  General  Conference  volunteers  serving 
under  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee  and  in 
the  conference’s  voluntary  service  arm.  The  Gen- 
eral Conference’s  corps  of  workers  in  mcc  jumped 
from  205  to  223  in  1972,  and  the  conference’s 
own  VS  program  had  a roster  of  136  volunteers, 
the  highest  number  ever.  Now  that  draft  calls  in 
the  United  States  have  been  suspended,  the  num- 
ber of  volunteers  will  likely  diminish,  but  VS  ad- 
ministrators are  optimistic  that  the  drop  will  not 
exceed  10  percent. 

The  past  year  was  thus  an  exceptional  year  for 
many  of  the  congregations  and  institutions  related 
to  the  General  Conference.  We  have  much  reason 
to  rejoice  and  to-  give  thanks  to  God  for  what  he 
has  chosen  to  do  for  us  and  through  us. 

Lest  this  success  make  us  too  comfortable,  let 
us  pray  seriously  for  a new  vision  to  embrace  our 
growing  capabilities. 

Peter  J.  Ediger,  in  a brief  presentation  which 
he  made  to  the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries, 
the  board  of  which  he  is  a member,  etched  the 
outlines  of  the  dilemma  which  North  American 
Christians  face: 

“And  in  reviewing  the  work  of  the  Lord, 
through  the  commission  . . . there  was  much 
affirmation  of  all  that  had  been  accomplished, 
with  thanksgiving  to  the  Lord  and  his  faithful 
servants  for  all  that  had  been  done  in  the  name 
of  Christ.  . . . 

“And  in  the  course  of  the  celebration  and  the 
planning,  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  to  the  com- 
mission . . . first  in  soft  whispering  questions  and 
then  in  persistent  thunde rings.  . . . 

“I  wonder,  Mennonites  in  (North)  America, 
will  your  preoccupation  with  doing  many  good 
things  in  the  name  of  Jesus  blind  you  to  the  can- 
cerous captivity  of  a comfortable  civil  religion, 
or  will  the  gentle  winds  of  the  radical  Jesus  move 
you  into  his  kingdom?”  lk 


TIia 

Meimonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:09  FEBRUARY  27,  1973 


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The  empire  of  mammon  and  A&y  ■#£?&' 
the  joyous  fellowship  y&CC 

Spoiled  children  in  the  consumerism  cycle 

A portrait  of  the  involuntary  poor 

Advertising:  a threat  to  human  identity? 

A closer  look  at  shelter,  food,  and  funerals 


\ * 


meetinghouse  o 

a joint  issue  with  GOSPEL  HERALD 


David  H.  Janzen 

The  empire  of 

mammon 
and  the  joyous 


fellowship 


There  he  stands  at  the  assembly  line, 
patiently  loading  powder  and  ball  bear- 
ings into  steel  globes  about  the  size  of 
a grapefruit.  All  day  long.  It  can’t  be 
an  exciting  job.  But  he’s  probably  got 
a family  to  feed.  Honeywell  pays  better 
than  his  last  employer,  and  he  hopes  to 
buy  a newer  car  before  the  year  is  out. 
Like  his  neighbors,  he  expects  a rising 
standard  of  living.  But  in  the  empire  of 
mammon,  one  man’s  living  means  an- 
other man’s  death. 

Perhaps  you  have  seen  the  narmic 
slide  show  on  “The  automated  air  war” 
and  have,  like  me,  been  appalled  at  the 
technological  monsters  our  scientists, 
corporations,  and  tax  dollars  have  pro- 
duced. Winged  grapefruit-sized  bomblets, 
spreading  out  from  one  big  canister 
bomb,  will  explode  over  an  area  of  sev- 
eral football  fields  and  freeze  in  an  in- 
stant all  that  moves  and  breathes  there. 

Although  there  is  now  a cease-fire 
in  Indochina,  there  is  no  repentance  in 
Washington.  The  Department  of  De- 
fense is  already  planning  a $4  billion 
increase  in  spending  for  1973,  and  the 
manufacturers  of  bombs  have  contracts 
to  fulfill.  Peaceful  Canadians  also  have 
cause  to  mourn.  Their  government,  in 
1971,  was  the  world’s  fourth  largest 
salesman  of  weapons. 

But  what  else  can  we  expect  in  a so- 
ciety of  mass  consumption  and  ecomomic 
competition?  When  social  progress  is 
measured  in  terms  of  our  gross  national 
product,  then  we  will  have  prosperity  at 
any  price.  We  have  to  invest  and  sell 
overseas,  and  must  build  military  bases 
to  protect  this  wealth.  Last  year  U.S. 
people  taxed  themselves  $400  per  person 
for  “defense” — more  than  the  average 
person  in  the  third  world  earns  all  year. 
The  United  Nations  tells  us  “that  at  the 
end  of  the  1960s  there  are  more  sick, 
more  undernourished,  and  more  unedu- 
cated children  in  the  world  than  there 


were  ten  years  ago.”  In  the  empire  of 
mammon,  one  man’s  living  means  an- 
other man’s  death. 

Mammon,  as  Jesus  taught  us,  is  mon- 
ey and  property  ruling  over  people. 
Mammon  has  the  power  of  deluding 
slaves  into  thinking  they  are  free.  We  are 
kings  of  the  supermarket;  we  can  choose 
among  ten  brands  all  leading  to  the 
same  affluent  life  style.  We  are  king- 
puppets  manipulated  by  advertising  and 
built-in  obsolesence  to  consume  and  pro- 
duce more  and  more  for  corporations’ 
rising  profits.  We  ravage  and  pollute  the 
earth,  believing  that  mammon’s  arch- 
angel “technology”  will  save  us. 

We  seek  our  own  security,  amusement, 
careers,  and  sexual  gratification,  and 
have  to  live  on  guard  to  make  sure  we 
get  our  fair  share  out  of  all  our  rela- 
tionships. Our  labor  and  creativity  are 
paid  for  and  consumed  by  men  we  never 
meet.  As  professionals  we  serve  those 
with  wealth  more  than  those  with  needs, 
for  only  money  can  express  a demand. 
Who  in  our  society  knows,  without  ra- 
tionalizations, what  she  or  he  really 
needs  to  live  on?  Who  of  us  is  in  touch 
with  others’  needs  so  we  can  love  our 
neighbor  as  ourselves?  True  communion 
between  hearts  escapes  our  lifelong 
grasping  for  it.  In  the  empire  of  mam- 
mon, each  one  dies  alone  in  a crowd. 

The  unending  year  of  Jubilee.  Because 
we  are  everywhere  surrounded  by  the 
empire  of  mammon,  it  molds  our  con- 
sciousness and  confuses  us  about  what 
age  we  are  living  in,  of  what  land  we 
are  citizens.  We  think,  perhaps,  that  we 
are  living  in  an  age  of  corporate  capital- 
ism or  that  we  are  citizens  of  the  state 
of  United  States  or  Canada.  But  these 
things  will  pass  away- — hopefully  in  our 
lifetime.  Followers  of  Christ  have  chosen 
to  live  as  citizens  of  the  age  to  come, 
witnessing  by  all  our  relations  to  the 
good  news  of  God’s  kingdom. 

This  kingdom  is  not  just  a heavenly 
vision  at  the  end  of  time.  It  had  its  be- 
ginnings way  back  in  the  Old  Testament. 
In  Leviticus  25,  for  example,  the  He- 
brews are  commanded  to  celebrate  the 
year  of  Jubilee.  Every  fiftieth  year  all 
that  grew  in  the  fields  was  free  for  the 
poor  and  strangers  to  gather  as  needed. 
Slaves  were  released,  debts  were  can- 
celed, wealth  was  redistributed,  and  cel- 
ebrations echoed  across  the  land.  But 
for  reasons  necessary  to  those  with 
power,  the  practice  of  Jubilee  had  fallen 
into  disuse. 

When  Jesus  launched  his  ministry  in 
the  synagogue  at  Nazareth,  he  pro- 
claimed an  unending  year  of  Jubilee  that 


130 


FEBRUARY  27,  1973 


none  of  his  hearers  could  misunderstand: 

“The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me. 
He  has  anointed  me  to  preach  the 
Good  News  to  the  poor,  He  has  sent  me 
to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  And 
recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind,  To  set  free 
the  oppressed,  To  announce  the  year 
when  the  Lord  will  save  his  people!” 
(Luke  4:18-19). 

Jesus  declared  war  on  mammon,  on 
everything  the  present  age  holds  dear. 
He  came  in  God’s  power,  the  power  that 
gives  everything  away,  and  to  follow 
him  we  must  overthrow  all  our  percep- 
tions. Jesus  gathered  his  disciples,  calling 
them  to  leave  possessions,  families,  and 
careers  in  order  to  form  a new  society 
living  out  the  good  news  of  God’s  king- 
dom in  their  fellowship  and  service. 

Modem  man  has  tried  to  make  Christ’s 
teachings  on  possessions  complicated  to 
understand  and  easy  to  do.  In  truth, 
these  sayings  are  simple  to  understand 
and  hard  to  do.  Who  can  follow  them 
on  his  own? 

Blessed  are  the  spiritually  poor  (Matt. 
5:3). 

Blessed  are  the  poor  (Luke  6:20). 

When  someone  asks  you  for  some- 
thing, give  it  to  him  . . . (Matt.  5:42). 

Do  not  save  up  riches  here  on  earth.  . . 
(Matt.  6:19). 

Do  not  worry  about  the  food  and 
drink  you  need  to  stay  alive.  . . (Matt. 
6:25). 

Give  first  place  to  his  kingdom  and  to 
what  he  requires,  and  he  will  provide 
you  with  all  these  other  things  (Matt. 
6:33). 

We  want  to  believe  that  we  can  go 
on  living  as  we  do,  and  by  some  change 
of  attitude  serve  God  as  well.  That’s 
what  the  rich  young  man  believed  when 
he  asked  Jesus  the  secret  to  eternal  life. 
He  claimed  he  had  always  kept  the  law, 
that  he  honored  his  father  and  mother, 
that  he  loved  his  neighbor  as  himself. 
But  Jesus  put  his  claim  to  the  test,  for 
he  had  not  loved  his  neighbor  as  him- 
self. Jesus  said  to  him,  “If  you  want  to 
be  perfect,  go  and  sell  all  you  have  and 
give  the  money  to  the  poor,  and  you  will 
have  riches  in  heaven;  then  come  and 
follow  me  (Matt.  19:21).  As  the  old 
Hutterite  saying  goes,  “You  can’t  boil 
two  soups  in  one  pot”;  it’s  God  or 
mammon. 

Voluntary  poverty  and  community  of 
goods  are  clear  emphases  of  Christ’s 
message  and  life.  When  his  spirit  of 
love  and  freedom  was  let  loose  on  his 
followers  at  Pentecost,  the  war  on  mam- 
mon was  taken  up  again,  and  in  the 
liberated  zone  where  mammon  was  rout- 


ed, we  see  the  fellowship  of  believers  . . . 
“one  in  mind  and  heart.  No  one  said 
that  any  of  his  belongings  was  his  own, 
but  they  all  shared  with  one  another  ev- 
erything they  had.  . . . Those  who  owned 
fields  or  houses  would  sell  them,  bring 
the  money  received  from  the  sale,  and 
turn  it  over  to  the  apostles;  and  the 
money  was  distributed  to  each  one  ac- 
cording to  his  need”  (Acts  4:32-35). 

Some  say  the  church  eventually  aban- 
doned communism  of  consumption  be- 
cause “it  didn’t  work.”  That  is  like  say- 
ing, “It  doesn’t  always  pay  to  tell  the 
truth.”  We  live  Christ’s  way  because  it 
reveals  the  nature  of  the  Father,  because 
it  is  the  only  way  peace  will  come  on 
earth.  To  say  “it  doesn’t  work”  ignores 
the  fact  that  in  every  age  there  have 
been  communities  and  individuals  who 
have  followed  Christ’s  teachings  of  vol- 
untary poverty  and  radical  sharing. 

The  Bible  does  not  teach  the  cramped 
ascetic  view  that  the  material  world  is 
inferior  and  that  we  should  withdraw 
from  it.  Jesus  came  to  bring  us  the  abun- 
dant life.  But  the  secret  of  the  abundant 
life  is  not  in  the  accumulation  of  per- 
sonal possessions,  which  are  the  sacra- 
ments of  mammon  worshipers:  Jesus 

teaches  us  that  sharing  makes  things  holy 
and  creates  the  joyous  fellowship,  while 
private  possession  makes  things  demonic 
and  separates  us  from  our  brothers. 
Wherever  Christ’s  spirit  liberates  people 
we  see  the  practice  and  celebration  of 
Jubilee. 

Poverty,  persecution,  and  the  joyous 
fellowship.  “So  therefore,  whoever  of 
you  does  not  renounce  all  that  he  has 
cannot  be  my  disciple”  (Luke  14:33). 

O Christ,  your  words  hang  like  a 
heavy  stone  on  our  hearts,  for  we  know 
that  mammon  is  in  possession  of  our 
lives. 

“What  I earn  and  own  is  my  own 
business.” 

“Who’ll  take  care  of  me  in  my  old 
age?” 

“Giving  up  my  things  would  make  me 
so  unhappy,  and  God,  You  surely  don’t 
want  us  to  be  miserable.” 

Oh  how  guilty  we  feel,  and  angry  at 
those  who  make  us  feel  guilty.  But  feel- 
ings of  guilt,  like  most  feelings,  don’t 
last  long  and  have  little  power  to  change 
our  lives.  Surrender  is  not  a new  moral- 
istic assignment,  but  a way  to  reorder 
our  lives  so  that  light  and  warmth  and 
clarity  may  break  in  and  grasp  our  whole 
being.  God  doesn’t  just  want  to  save  our 
possessions,  but  he  has  a much  more 
joyful  alternative  for  us. 

“Peter  spoke  up:  ‘Look,  we  have  left 


everything  and  followed  you.’  ‘Yes,’  Je- 
sus said  to  them,  ‘and  I tell  you  this: 
anyone  who  leaves  home  or  brothers  or 
sisters  or  mother  or  father  or  children 
or  fields  for  me,  and  for  the  gospel,  will 
receive  a hundred  times  more  houses, 
brothers,  sisters,  mothers,  children,  and 
fields — and  persecutions  as  well;  and  in 
the  age  to  come  he  will  receive  eternal 
life’  ’’(Mark  10:28-31). 

Those  who  have,  in  our  day,  given  up 
their  possessions  and  joined  in  Christian 
community  are  finding  new  meaning  in 
these  verses.  In  community  they  find 
brothers  and  sisters,  fathers  and  mothers. 
They  find  that,  though  they  call  nothing 
their  own,  yet  everything  is  theirs  as 
they  have  need.  This  is  the  joyous  fel- 
lowship where  work  belongs  to  us  and 
care  belongs  to  God.  The  nuclear  family 
is  no  longer  a millstone  that  burdens 
us  with  its  demands  for  security,  but  it  is 
part  of  a larger  support  group  that  en- 
courages and  liberates  us  to  take  risks 
for  the  kingdom.  Here  God  is  calling 
his  people  out  of  the  Egypt  of  enslave- 
ment to  possessions  and  is  leading  us 
through  the  wilderness  of  simplicity 
where  there  is  manna  for  all. 

If  you  would  like  to  take  up  with 
Christ  the  battle  against  mammon,  then 
reach  out  to  others  of  like  mind  and 
covenant  to  meet  regularly.  A first  step 
together  might  be  to  share  honestly  in- 
formation about  your  income,  property, 
and  debts.  Struggle  together  to  learn 
your  real  needs — perhaps  the  county 
welfare  standard  may  be  a guide  to  lov- 
ing your  neighbor  as  yourself.  Then  use 
all  your  resources  to  bear  each  other’s 
burden,  for  the  work  of  God’s  kingdom. 

A word  of  caution:  once  you  move 
to  trust  each  other  and  God,  rather  than 
in  mammon,  you  will  find  that  many 
suppressed  personal  conflicts  will  boil 
to  the  surface.  These  seeds  of  mistrust 
must  be  faced  openly  and  worked  out 
in  truth  and  love,  for  this  is  the  business 
of  the  church.  Love  alone  can  win  the 
victory  over  mammon. 

You  will  need  each  other,  since  perse- 
cution is  sure  to  follow  if  you  continue 
in  Christ’s  way.  Men  are  either  violently 
threatened  or  attracted  when  they  see 
the  kingdom;  they  cannot  ignore  it.  The 
empire  of  mammon  will  not  allow  its 
idols  to  be  ridiculed.  States  cannot  rule 
men  and  women  who  fear  God  alone. 

You  will  find  that  the  oppressed  and 
alienated  will  come  to  your  door,  for 
mammon  does  not  take  care  of  them. 
It  is  with  the  least  of  these  that  you  will 
have  fellowship  and  show  the  nature  of 
God  to  the  world. 


THE  MENNONITE 


131 


/polled  children 
in  the  con/umeri/m  cycle 


In  many  ways  North  Americans  are 
like  spoiled  children.  We  get  what  we 
want  at  the  expense  of  others.  We  waste 
and  destroy,  manipulate  and  hoard.  And 
Mennonites,  who  have  consciously  tried 
to  be  separate  from  the  world,  are  strik- 
ingly like  the  rest  of  American  society 
in  this  respect.  Most  of  us  are  caught 
in  a cycle  of  consumerism  which  so  con- 
fuses our  needs  and  wants  that  we,  like 
spoiled  children,  become  irresponsible 
consumers. 

Consumerism  is  not  merely  buying  and 
using  things.  Consumerism  is  a state  of 
mind.  A consumer  values  people  and 
things  for  the  pleasure  and  use  they  give. 
Consumers  begin  to  see  people  as  sex 
objects,  potential  labor,  or  sources  of 
status  and  wealth.  Family  relationships 
are  particularly  open  to  such  exploitation 
because  of  their  intensity  and  length. 
Parents  use  children  and  children  manip- 
ulate parents  for  their  own  ends. 

Consumerism  is  based  on  a world 
view  that  is  individualistic;  individual 
profit  and  comfort  are  its  goals.  Those 
of  us  who  consume  in  excess  lack  a real 
sense  of  the  interrelatedness  of  all  life. 
We  act  as  if  the  universe  revolves  around 
us,  and  our  needs  are  more  important 
than  the  needs  of  the  poor  in  North 
America,  people  in  other  nations  and 
other  forms  of  life.  We  give  little  thought 
to  the  limits  of  our  planet.  We  assume 
that  middle  and  upper  class  North  Amer- 
icans can  strive  for  yet  a higher  stan- 
dard of  living  (certainly  no  less)  and 
still  there  will  be  enough  for  all. 

A state  of  mind  and  an  economy 
that  seeks  individual  profit  and  ignores 
the  possibility  that  the  world’s  resources 
are  limited,  easily  leads  to  excess,  waste, 
exploitation,  and  destruction.  As  con- 
sumers, we,  perhaps  unwittingly,  support 
these  tendencies. 

Excess  and  waste  characterize  the 
North  American  way  of  life. 

• Today  there  is  one  car  for  every 
second  citizen  in  the  United  States.  Many 
commuters  drive  alone  to  work,  which 
undersubscribes  the  public  transporta- 
tion system  necessary  to  the  young,  the 
old  and  the  poor.1 


© There  are  about  7 million  cars 
junked  in  the  United  .States  each  year, 
70,000  of  them  abandoned  on  the  streets 
of  New  York.2 

® Dr.  Bruce  Hannon  of  the  Center 
for  Advanced  Computation,  University 
of  Illinois,  figures  that  to  package  the 
eight  billion  hamburgers  McDonald’s  has 
claimed  to  have  sold,  each  accompanied 
by  one  large  drink  (paper  napkins  not 
included),  890  square  miles  of  forest 
and  3 billion  kilowatt  hours  of  energy 
are  required.3 

Excess  leads  to  destructiveness.  Hunt- 
ing whales  almost  to  extinction  for  main 
use  as  feed  for  western  man’s  pets  shows 
a kind  of  consumer  madness.  Such  ex- 
cess is  illustrated  most  blatantly  and  trag- 
ically in  war.  In  Vietnam  each  side 
has  chosen  to  destroy  people  and  land 
before  allowing  its  will  to  be  frustrated. 

Such  destructive  conflict  is  often  root- 
ed in  economic  interests.  Those  who 
have  wealth  want  to  keep  it.  In  America 
where  the  have-nots  are  continually  ex- 
posed to  the  wealth  of  others,  some  of 
the  bottled  frustration  of  the  poor  has 
broken  through  in  violent  riots.  As  mass 
communication  becomes  even  more  wide- 
spread, the  have-nots  of  the  world  will 
similarly  become  frustrated  by  the  great 
gap  between  the  rich  and  the  poor. 

It  is  striking  to  see  how  our  consump- 
tion as  North  Americans  compares  to 
that  of  other  countries.  The  United  Na- 
tions Department  of  Economic  and  So- 
cial Affairs  Statistical  yearbook  reports 
that  in  1970  the  underdeveloped  coun- 
tries with  a population  more  than  twice 
as  large  as  the  developed  countries,  con- 
sumed only  a little  more  than  one-seventh 
of  total  energy  produced.  Daily  intake 
of  calories  was  3,290  in  the  United 
States  compared  to  1,890  in  Algeria, 
1,760  in  Bolivia,  and  1,750  in  Indonesia. 

North  Americans,  who  make  up  only 
6.7  percent  of  the  world’s  population, 
consume  far  more  than  their  share  of 
the  world’s  resources.  The  North  Ameri- 
can economy  is  based  on  growth  and 
growth  depends  on  an  ever-increasing  de- 
mand for  products  and  services.  If  the 
demand  doesn’t  exist,  money  is  spent  to 


create  demands  which  are  not  real  needs. 
And  in  a world  of  limited  resources,  the 
more  we  consume,  the  less  poorer  na- 
tions consume. 

Lester  R.  Brown  in  The  interdepen- 
dence of  nations  estimates  that  by  the 
year  2000  the  United  States  will  likely 
be  dependent  on  foreign  supplies  for 
twelve  of  the  thirteen  basic  raw  mate- 
rials needed  in  modern  industrial  society. 
Many  of  these  materials  are  imported 
from  underdeveloped  countries  where 
Americans  and  Canadians  have  foreign 
investments.  Raw  materials  needed  for 
development  in  the  poorer  country  are 
exported  to  North  America  by  businesses 
which  make  large  profits.  Poor  countries, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  at  the  mercy  of 
the  rich.  Prices  they  get  for  raw  materials 
stay  relatively  static  or  rise  slowly  but 
prices  they  pay  for  needed  manufactured 
imports  rise  rapidly. 

“I  sit  on  a man’s  back  choking  him 
and  making  him  carry  me  and  yet  as- 
sure myself  and  others  that  I am  sorry 
for  him  and  wish  to  lighten  his  load  by 
all  possible  means — except  by  getting  off 
his  back,”  wrote  Leo  Tolstoy.  In  order 
for  other  nations  to  have  more,  North 
Americans  must  face  the  fact  that  we 
must  be  content  with  less. 

The  suggestion  that  middle  and  upper 
class  North  Americans  must  deliberately 
consume  less  is  a direct  challenge  to  the 
economic  theory  that  we  lived  with  for 
a long  time.  Our  economy  fosters  the 
myth  that  opportunities  for  wealth  are 
open  to  all — all  those  willing  to  work. 
Unlimited  economic  growth  is  assumed. 
The  fact  that  unlimited  growth  for  a 
minority  of  Americans  means  that  others 
must  have  less  than  they  need  for  a 
decent  standard  of  living  is  overlooked. 

Others  assert  that  the  problems  that 
consumption  and  growth  have  raised  in 
the  past  have  been  solved  by  science  and 
technology.  Why  not  again?  Some  of  us 
have  little  faith  that  technology  can  pro- 
vide the  total  answer.  Technological  solu- 
tions to  some  problems  have  resulted 
in  other  problems — pollution  is  one  ex- 
ample. In  addition,  it  is  not  scientists 
calculating  the  results  of  various  techno- 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
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132 


FEBRUARY  27,  1973 


Gayle  Gerber  Koontz 


logical  options  who  supervise  industrial 
society.  We  consumers,  our  wants  shaped 
in  part  by  advertising,  are  largely  re- 
sponsible for  how  technology  is  used  in 
industry.  Technology,  wrongly  applied, 
feeds  on  our  confusion  and  greed  and 
creates  millions  of  unnecessary  gadgets 
as  well  as  the  monstrous  weapons  we 
think  we  need  to  defend  our  extravagant 
standard  of  living. 

To  limit  North  American  consumption 
while  helping  poor  nations  increase  their 
wealth  involves  a profound  change  of 
public  opinion.  Christians  who  see  the 
injustice,  waste,  and  destruction  that  ex- 
cessive consumerism  fosters  may  facili- 
tate change  by  prophetic  political  pres- 
sure, public  education,  and  by  living 


their  lives  in  ways  that  challenge  the  ex- 
cesses of  consumer  society. 

Responsible  consumption  requires  a 
new  state  of  mind.  We  can  no  longer 
accept  material  things  and  our  own 
profit  and  comfort  as  ultimate  values. 
We  must  value  the  well-being  of  the 
community  and  environment  more  than 
our  own  comfort.  We  must  take  respon- 
sibility for  the  waste  we  cause  and  pay 
for  its  recycling.  We  must  take  respon- 
sibility for  other  people  and  strive  for 
relationships  characterized  by  lack  of 
exploitation  and  by  mutual  love,  respect 
and  dignity.  We  must  live  more  simply 
in  order  to  redistribute  our  wealth  to 
those  trapped  in  inhuman  poverty.  We 
must  ask  ourselves  what  are  our  genuine 


needs  and  values.  What  makes  life 
worthwhile? 

Perhaps  some  of  us  who  like  to  pride 
ourselves  in  our  Mennonite  simplicity 
can  look  to  the  Amish  and  the  plain 
people  for  a truth  that  many  of  us  have 
lost.  Meaning  in  life  is  not  directly  pro- 
portional to  telephones,  cars,  electric 
typewriters,  and  stereos. 

It  is  important  to  remember,  however, 
that  simplicity  for  simplicity’s  sake  or 
material  sacrifice  motivated  by  guilt  is 
joyless  giving  and  is  usually  shortlived. 
The  Christian  God  does  not  call  us  to 
be  poor  for  poverty’s  sake  but  to  love 
our  neighbors  as  ourselves  because  we 
were  first  loved.  It  is  our  relatedness  to 
our  God  and  to  others  that  provides 
meaning.  As  we  experience  the  love  of 
God  through  a community  of  God’s  peo- 
ple and  find  profound  meaning  in  such 
relatedness  we  can  be  freed  from  some 
of  the  compulsions  of  consumerism.  Peo- 
ple become  more  important  than  things. 
By  fostering  such  a change,  a commu- 
nity can  help  each  person  see  the  needs 
of  people  outside  the  immediate  group 
and  share  themselves  and  their  resources. 
Such  a community  is  the  real  church. 

It  isn’t  easy  to  challenge  the  theology 
of  ownership  that  American  society  cher- 
ishes. We  learn  early  which  property, 
which  territory,  which  benefits  and  re- 
sponsibilities belong  to  “me.”  But  the 
theology  of  ownership  outlined  in  the 
Bible  is  clear.  All  belongs  to  God.  Pos- 
sessions are  gifts  to  be  responsibly  used 
in  the  process  of  loving  others.  We  must 
ask  ourselves  time  and  time  again,  “How 
much  is  enough?”  Will  this  purchase  or 
these  plans  make  our  relationship  in  the 
whole  human  family  more  fully  human? 
Does  this  attitude  help  to  affirm  the 
worth  of  other  people?  Will  this  item  or 
this  act  clarify  or  confuse  our  under- 
standing of  ourselves  as  people  of  God? 
How  much  is  enough? 


1.  John  V.  Taylor,  “Enough  is  enough,”  CMS 
Newsletter,  September  1972. 

2.  Ibid. 

3.  Bruce  Hannon,  “The  big  McDonald  rip-off,” 
reproduced  and  distributed  by  Housewives  Involved 
in  Polution  Solutions,  2108  Rainbow  View,  Urbana, 
Illinois. 


By  a.d.  2000  the  United  States  will  likely  be  dependent  on  foreign  supplies 
for  twelve  of  the  thirteen  raw  materials  needed  in  a modern  industrial 
society. 


THE  MENNONITE 


133 


During  a call  in  an  inner  city  home, 
I discovered  on  display  a model  of  the 
scars  that  a society  gone  mad  with  mate- 
rialism inflicts  on  a large  segment  of  its 
members. 

The  mother’s  income  was  a small 
welfare  check.  There  were  children  of 
almost  every  age  scattered  from  the  crib 
in  the  comer  beside  the  overworked  oil 
heater  to  school-age  children,  pulling  to- 
gether their  buttonless  coats  as  they  tried 
to  hide  on  the  back  porch,  as  well  as 
several  teen-age  daughters  nursing  small 
babies  and  starting  the  cycle  of  poverty 
all  over  again. 

I soon  discovered  that  the  mother 
was  the  master  of  a certain  language 
which  expressed  her  hopelessness.  I be- 
came aware  immediately  of  the  ability 
she  had  developed  over  the  years  to  mis- 
represent the  truth.  It  was  evident  that 
in  her  reaching  out  for  meaningful  rela- 
tionship, she  could  develop  none  that 
had  any  permanency. 

She  moved  from  one  broken-down 
tenement  to  another.  The  fathers  of 
her  children  were  strangers  to  her.  The 
most  sacred  experiences  of  human  love 
were  prostituted  into  degrading  acts 
which  further  destroyed  her  feeling  about 
herself.  The  quality  of  humanness  in  life 
and  surroundings  which  distinguishes 
man  from  animals  was  obviously  absent 
from  hers.  She  was  hungry,  cold,  inse- 
cure, and  frustrated — all  because  in  our 
society  a few  people  have  found  ways 
to  make  money  by  keeping  many  in 
poverty,  and  a large  segment  of  our 
society  has  lost  the  gift  of  caring. 

Until  we  look  down  the  throat  of  in- 
justice and  see  the  swollen  tonsils  of 
hate  and  the  cavities  in  the  teeth  of 
racism,  and  observe  the  obscene  move- 
ment of  the  jaws  of  an  unjust  society  as 
well  as  the  wagging  of  the  tongues  of 
ignorance,  and  smell  the  regurgitation  of 
broken  promises,  one  cannot  begin  to 
become  aware  of  the  crippling  cancer 
of  poverty  in  our  society. 

Most  of  us  give  priority  to  the  things 
that  give  us  security  and  guarantee  to 
aid  us  in  development  of  the  life  style 
of  our  choosing.  We  refuse  to  be  made 
into  something  we  do  not  want  to  be. 
We  choose  our  neighborhood  because  it 
lends  itself  to  the  achievement  of  our 


goals.  We  seek  the  education  we  need 
in  order  to  secure  the  most  fulfilling  job. 
In  our  zeal  for  the  “good  life”  for  our- 
selves, we  become  partners  of  taking 
away  from  others. 

In  order  to  protect  our  economic 
climb,  we  cry  out  against  those  who 
are  receiving  welfare,  insisting  that  these 
people  are  too  lazy  to  work.  We  never 
seek  out  the  real  facts  that  only  0.9  per- 
cent of  the  U.S.  welfare  dollar  goes  for 
able-bodied  fathers,  in  most  cases  only 
while  he  is  seeking  a new  job  because 
of  automation  or  while  enrolled  in  a 
job  training  program.  The  blind  and 
disabled  get  11.7  percent  of  the  welfare 
monies,  the  aged  get  14.9  percent,  moth- 
ers with  responsibility  to  care  for  small 
children  get  16.7  percent,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  55.8  percent  goes  for  chil- 
dren who  have  no  other  means  of  sur- 
vival. We  do  not  wish  to  admit  that  the 
welfare  rolls  are  not  full  of  able-bodied 
loafers. 

A history  professor  once  told  me, 
“We  see  things,  not  as  they  are,  but  as 
we  are.”  We  have  been  so  long  climbing 
the  ladder  of  success,  we  have  not  heard 
the  voice  of  Menno  Simons  who  said 
in  1593,  “True  evangelical  faith  cannot 
be  dormant,  it  clothes  the  naked,  it 
feeds  the  hungry,  it  comforts  the  sorrow- 
ful, it  shelters  the  destitute,  it  serves 
those  who  harm  it,  it  binds  up  that  which 
is  wounded,  it  has  become  all  things  to 
all  men.” 

It  is  already  too  late  to  educate  the 
church  concerning  poverty.  Writing 
books  or  planning  study  courses  on  pov- 
erty only  serves  to  immunize  us  from 
responsibility.  We  at  least  feel  good  be- 
cause we  have  studied  the  problem.  Nor 
am  I optimistic  enough  to  believe  that 
we  will  mobilize  our  resources  so  that 
we  could  share  adequately  with  the  op- 
pressed. We  continue  to  elect  into  office 
in  high  levels  of  government  those  who 
will  oppress  the  poor  some  more.  The 
average  North  American  Christian  would 
sooner  invest  his  dollars  in  a church 
building  or  a new  steeple  and  bell  for 
the  church,  than  to  do  something  about 
the  poor. 

I do  see  some  hope,  however,  in  our 
brotherhood.  A little  cloud  of  a few  com- 
mitted people  is  beginning  to  form.  How- 


A portrait 
off  fie 

involuntary 

poor 

Hubert  Schwartzentruber 


A family  portrait  in  New  York’s  Harlem.  Their  living  room  furnishings  consist  of 
a few  chairs,  an  ironing  board,  and  a TV  set.  When  there  is  no  heat,  one  wears  a 
coat  inside  as  well  as  out. 


Poverty  does  not  necessarily  ac- 
company old  age.  In  the  cases  of 
the  elderly  poor  who  are  living 
wretched  lives  in  high-crime  areas, 
it  is  likely  that  a large  number  of 
them  were  always  poor,  always 
lived  in  ugly  ghettos,  and  struggled 
to  make  ends  meet.  It  is  for  this 
group  — some  20  percent  of  the 
twenty-one  million  North  Ameri- 
cans over  sixty-five — that  special 
programs  are  needed. 


ever,  we  will  likely  only  respond  to  a 
live  and  vital  demonstration  of  what  God 
is  doing  through  his  people.  Can  we  as 
a brotherhood  be  a model  of  caring 
Christians  in  a hurting  society?  Someone 
must  develop  a model  to  accomplish 
such  a goal.  Perhaps  the  following  would 
bring  about  the  change  we  need. 

1.  Select  a heavily  concentrated  Men- 
nonite  community  of  approximately 
twenty  congregations. 

2.  Plan  a mass  monthly  meeting  in 
rented  facilities  for  all  the  congregations 
for  a time  of  celebration. 

3.  Form  neighborhood  fellowships  of 
eight  to  ten  families  which  meet  on  a 
regular  basis  in  homes. 

4.  Proceed  to  develop  the  “priest- 
hood of  believers”  theology. 

5.  Reduce  the  paid  clergy  staff  by  hav- 
ing each  member  serve  as  a priest  before 
God. 

6.  Center  Christian  nurture  and  wor- 
ship around  the  family  gatherings  and 
quietly  dispose  of  all  church  buildings 
and  property. 

7.  Rechannel  the  resources  which  were 
formerly  used  for  physical  plants  to  aid 
in  development  of  domestic  development 
programs  such  as  renewal  of  an  inner- 
city  ghetto  from  a slum  to  a garden  in 
the  sun. 

8.  As  the  need  decreases  for  trained 
men  as  clergymen  (if  we  continue  to 
demoralize  them  as  we  have  in  the  past, 
we  won’t  have  them  anyhow),  we  can 
free  gifted  persons  to  be  redemptive 
agents  for  our  hurting  society. 

9.  Make  our  Christian  commitment  a 
life-or-death  matter. 

10.  Leave  room  in  our  hearts  to  love 
those  who  would  rather  play  church  on 
Sunday  morning  and  on  Monday  go 
about  the  business  of  benefiting  from  the 
system  which  crushes  our  brothers  and 
sisters  in  the  ghettos  of  our  large  cities 
across  America. 

Poverty  is  always  involuntary,  and 
any  solution  that  binds  up  the  wounds 
must  flow  voluntarily  from  the  commit- 
ment of  love  on  the  part  of  all  of  God’s 
people. 


ADVERTU IflC:  A THREAT  TO  HUfTlAA  IDEflTITY? 


J . Daniel  Hess 

In  1970,  advertisers  spent  $20,800,000,000  huckstering  their 
wares.  We  received  those  sales  messages  sometimes  from 
people  we  knew — the  friendly  clerk  who  gave  us  the  painter 
cap  with  his  lumber  mill’s  name  on  it.  But  usually  the  mes- 
sages came  to  us  from  giant  companies  headed  by  unknown 
executives  who  hired  advertising  agents  who  bought  time 
or  space  from  television,  newspapers,  magazines,  radios, 
billboards,  or  direct  mailings. 

Business  was  good  in  1970  and  still  is.  It’s  hard  for  us, 
who  were  born  after  the  depression,  to  imagine  economic 
hardship. 

For  this  attractive  economic  climate,  we  can  give  much 
credit  to  advertising.  Advertisers  have  informed  the  populace 
of  new  products,  stimulated  thousands  of  people  to  desire 
the  products,  then  directed  them  to  purchase  them.  Adver- 
tising, it  can  be  argued,  has  played  a primary  role  in  pushing 
our  country  into  so  rapid  a development  from  a gross  national 
product  of  $227.2  billion  in  1940  to  a gross  national  product 
today  of  $974.1  billion. 

There  seems  to  be  something  right  about  our  country’s 
developing  its  resources  to  the  fullest  potential.  I have  trav- 
eled in  countries  where  economies  were  stunted  in  growth, 
where  inconvenience  was  not  as  well  known  as  deprivation, 
where  people  labored  under  conditions  we  know  don’t  have 
to  exist  on  this  earth,  and  where  people  did  not  have  the 
money  nor  stores  the  products  that  make  our  country  so 
luxurious. 

My  family  has  benefited  from  this  affluence.  For  example, 
we  enjoy  classical  music,  so  we  began  dreaming  of  owning 
a good  stereophonic  sound  component  system.  In  six  years 
we  saved  a sufficient  number  of  hundreds  of  dollars;  we  went 
to  a dealer  who  answered  our  questions  and  offered  us  folders 
of  advertising  on  which  basis  we  purchased  a receiver/ 
amplifier,  a record  changer,  two  speakers,  and  an  FM  an- 
tenna. We  love  the  system.  Our  living  room  has  now  become 
the  setting  for  many  of  our  more  meaningful  family  activities. 

But  economic  prosperity  and  advertising  raise  questions. 
There  seems  to  be  something  potentially  wrong  about  one 
nation  spending  $20  billion  for  advertising.  That  figure, 
despite  all  of  its  zeros,  amounts  to  only  $100  per  person, 
but  the  trouble  is:  I am  hit  with  not  only  my  $100  portion, 
but  also  the  portions  for  my  neighbors  across  the  United 
States.  The  typical  U.S.  resident  comes  in  contact  with 
more  than  1,500  ads  each  day. 

Surely  the  human  nervous  system  has  defense  mechanisms 
to  resist  that  kind  of  onslaught.  There  are  screens  we  sub- 
consciously raise,  that  keep  out  some  messages  and  admit 
others.  But  whether  that  defense  system  will  withstand  what 
our  economy  plans  to  throw  against  it  is  open  to  question 

Behind  the  wild  escalation  of  advertising  is  a kind  of 
economic  maelstrom  that  is  threatening  all  of  us.  At  a 
certain  point,  advertising  ceases  to  be  the  buyer’s  guide  and 
becomes  instead  a monster-manipulator  who  fuels  an  already 
fevered  economic  system. 

Let  us  return  to  stereos.  Our  dealer,  a family  friend  and 
conscientious  Christian,  invited  me  to  a national  convention 
for  dealers.  A huge  assembly  it  was.  The  most  aggressive 
participants,  however,  were  not  the  dealers  but  the  manu- 
facturers and  distributors  who  came  with  charts  showing 


the  hyperactivity  of  their  automated  factories  and  other 
charts  plotting  the  purchasing  power  of  families.  In  a dis- 
play area  the  size  of  a city  block  they  spread  out  their  latest 
products.  The  refrain  of  the  convention  was  not  a relaxed 
melody  of  goodwill,  but  an  anxious  staccato  of  urgent 
pleadings,  “We  beg  of  you,  save  our  company,  save  our 
industry,  save  our  nation — sell,  sell,  sell.  . . 

I pitied  some  of  the  dealers.  They  were  coaxed  through 
cocktails  and  jokes  and  Chicago  bunnies  to  increase  their 
inventories,  yet  I personally  heard  some  of  the  same  dealers 
muttering  about  the  new  lines  of  “trash”  and  describing  the 
new  four-channel  receivers  as  “just  a gimmick.”  Nonetheless, 
I imagine  most  of  the  dealers  returned  to  their  stores,  re- 
signed to  use  a more  persuasive  sales  pitch. 

That  pitch  came.  In  a national  weekly  news  magazine 
I read  an  ad  showing  a four-channel  speaker  system.  “Buy 
stereo  equipment  and  get  the  good  life — you  sophisticated 
lover  ...  of  music.”  More  prominent  than  the  four  speakers 
were  four  sensuous  women.  The  ad  read,  “You  can  get  more 
from  four.” 

The  ad,  by  sexual  implication,  was  trying  to  make  us  dis- 
satisfied with  our  conventional  set.  The  ad  suggested  not 
only  sexual  involvement,  but  also  sexual  gluttony. 

Of  course,  I was  angered  by  the  Immoral  ad,  yet  I had  to 
realize  that  probably  no  one  person  could  be  given  all  the 
blame  for  the  ad.  The  assembly  line  employees  want  work, 
the  warehouses  are  too  full,  the  distributors  need  to  reduce 
inventory,  the  advertising  agent  wants  to  get  his  job  done. 
But  alas,  that  company  and  a thousand  others  ply  us  with 
the  most  subtle  and  suspect  persuasions.  Have  we  come 
to  the  point  where  the  only  thing  that  will  prop  up  a bloated 
economy  is  consumer  gluttony? 

Gluttony  is  a distasteful  notion.  To  eat,  to  overeat,  to 
eat  more.  The  image  we  gradually  gain  of  ourselves  be- 
comes something  akin  to  a garbage  disposal. 

Recently  John  A.  Lapp,  churchman,  social  critic,  and 
academic  dean,  was  asked  what  was  most  needed  to  insure 
the  survival  of  the  New  Testament  church.  He  replied,  “We 
must  again  learn  to  define  the  world  that  stands  pitted 
against  faith  and  commitment.”  If  I may  share  in  the  task 
of  definition,  I would  define  one  aspect  of  world  as  the 
attitude  that  “the  enjoyment  of  life  depends  upon  how  much 
one  consumes.” 

As  we  scrutinize  that  definition,  surely  we  will  realize 
how  near  to  being  worldly  we  are.  We,  of  the  Mennonite 
denomination,  are  producers  and  merchandisers.  We  families 
are  the  consumers. 

If  the  conformed-to-God  family  insists  upon  not  giving 
over  to  the  advertiser  the  control  of  its  buying  habits,  culti- 
vates the  ability  to  evaluate  products  and  the  advertisements 
of  those  products,  and  shares  wisdom  on  what  provides 
genuine  satisfactions,  that  family  will  be  at  odds  with  the 
consumer-mad  world.  And  if  the  conformed-to-God  business- 
man sees  in  his  customers  human  beings  whom  he  can 
conscientiously  serve  rather  than  robots  whom  he  might 
manipulate,  that  businessman  will  be  different  from  his  col- 
leagues. 

This  has  been  a public  service  announcement  you  are  not 
likely  to  hear  on  your  favorite  television  station. 


136 


FEBRUARY  27,  1973 


Ways  of  implementing  a simpler  life  style 


Food 


LaVerna  Klippenstein 


We  have  not  always  recognized  the 
possibilities  of  a distinctly  Christian  life 
style  where  it  concerns  food  purchasing 
and  eating  habits.  There  is  nothing  par- 
ticularly Christian  about  omitting  des- 
serts to  lose  weight  or  cutting  food  costs 
to  pay  olf  the  mortgage.  The  one  is 
good  sense,  the  other,  good  economy. 

Economy  is  furthered  through  bulk 
purchases,  comparing  prices,  substituting 
cheaper  foods,  buying  seasonal  foods, 
finding  uses  for  all  left-overs,  avoiding 
impulse  buying,  and  cultivating  a taste 
for  simple  foods  and  contentment  with 
simple  menus.  Careful  practice  of  these 
suggestions  can  release  many  dollars  for 
poverty  funds. 

Food  is  the  only  commodity  on  which 
we  regularly  ask  God’s  blessing,  so  it 
should  not  be  difficult  to  implement  a 
simple  life  style  in  the  kitchen.  To  the 
suggestions  on  economy,  I would  add 
some  which  reflect  more  clearly  a dis- 
tinctly Christian  way  of  life. 

1.  Completely  eliminate  alcoholic  bev- 
erages. With  medical,  nutritional,  and 
practical  advice  to  the  contrary,  an  in- 
creasing number  of  Mennonites  are  using 
them,  ostensibly  to  add  elegance  to  cele- 
brations. 

2.  Deescalate  the  trend  toward  catered 
luncheons  and  committee  meetings  held 
in  restaurant  dining  rooms.  Take  sack 
lunches  instead. 

3.  Substitute  “fellowship  and  fasting” 
for  “fellowship  and  feasting”  occasion- 
ally. 

4.  Adapt  menus  to  current  food  sav- 
ings. Invest  in  high-protein,  low-cost 
foods.  Paul  Hellyer  tells  Canadians  that 
if  the  present  rate  of  inflation  continues, 
milk  by  the  year  2000  will  cost  $1.65  a 
quart.  Our  response  to  that  is  to  use 
dry  milk.  Buy  peanuts  instead  of  pickles, 
eggs  instead  of  olives. 

Increasing  interest  in  health  foods  and 
natural  nutrients  may  not  be  peculiarly 
Christian,  but,  like  the  entire  focus  on 
ecology,  there  is  a wholesomeness  about 
boycotting  cokes  and  drinking  water  in- 
stead. 

We  coffee-break  addicts  must  be  re- 
minded that  personal  sacrifice  is  essen- 


tial to  effective  witness.  “It  is  obvious,” 
says  C.  J.  Dyck  in  his  lessons  on  Chris- 
tian stewardship,  “that  we  cannot  buy 
and  enjoy  all  the  things  our  culture 
wants  us  to  buy,  and  at  the  same  time 
be  good  stewards  putting  Christ  first.” 
“Every  woman  must  come  to  a per- 
sonal definition  of  stewardship  for  her- 
self,” writes  Helen  Alderfer  in  A farthing 
in  her  hand.  “If  she  sees  it  only  as 
responsibility,  she  will  be  tempted  to 
wrap  it  in  a napkin  for  safekeeping.  But 
if  she  sees  it  also  as  opportunity,  she 
will  open  her  life  to  a singleness  of  pur- 
pose that  becomes  the  dedication  of  a 
life,  a new  way  of  life.” 

Vernon  Reimer,  soon  after  his  return 
from  ten  years  with  mcc  in  India,  asked 
the  blessing  at  a family  picnic  last  sum- 
mer. “Thank  you,  Father,  for  this  ‘too 
much’  food,”  he  prayed.  “Help  us  not 
to  misuse  it.” 


Shelter 


Lois  Barrett  Janzen 


Books  on  household  management  and 
housing  usually  assume  that  a family 
will  want  the  nicest  housing  it  can  afford. 
Advertisements  offer  more  and  more 
appliances. 

In  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  the  average  number  of  persons 
per  room  is  0.6.  In  South  Korea,  it  is 
2.5.  In  the  Central  African  Republic 
there  are  3.4  persons  per  room.  The  gap 
between  rich  and  poor  nations  in  ade- 
quacy of  housing  is  steadily  widening, 
says  the  United  Nations  Department  of 
Economic  and  Social  Affairs. 

Most  city  building  codes  or  climate 
would  prevent  living  in  the  kind  of 
housing  common  in  the  Central  African 
Republic.  However,  there  are  some  steps 
toward  simpler  shelter  which  North 
American  Christians  can  take. 

If  one  decides  to  build  a new  house, 
the  house  can  be  built  according  to  real 
needs  rather  than  social  custom.  Per- 
haps the  size  of  the  family  does  not  de- 
mand a living  room  and  a family  room. 
Or  how  many  bedrooms  are  really  need- 
ed? What  is  the  most  efficient  way  of 
heating  the  house?  What  are  the  best, 
simplest  materials? 

There  is  a growing  list  of  building 
materials  made  from  industrial  byprod- 
incinerated. Particleboard  is  made  out 


incinerated.  Particleborad  is  made  out 
of  wood  chips  and  sawdust.  Calcium 
sulfate  from  spent  pickling  liquor  in  the 
steel  industry  and  from  inorganic  sludges 
in  the  pulp,  paper,  and  fertilizer  indus- 
tries can  be  made  into  gypsum  wall- 
board.  Fly  ash  from  power  industry 
furnaces  has  found  markets  in  precast 
and  structural  concrete  and  building 
blocks. 

Newer,  less  traditional  designs  may 
also  be  more  economical.  The  Last 
whole  earth  catalog  lists  several  resources 
in  this  area,  including  Shelter  and  soci- 
ety by  Paul  Oliver,  which  describes  build- 
ings constructed  of  local  materials  and 
in  simple  harmony  with  the  surrounding 
landscape;  Domebook  two  (Random 
House)  on  geodesic  domes;  and  The 
owner-built  home  by  Ken  Kern,  dealing 
with  “low-cost  building  techniques  from 
around  the  world — Africa,  India,  Israel, 
countries  that  cannot  afford  U.S.-style 
waste.”  A recently  published  book,  which 
supplements  the  Whole  earth  catalogs,  is 
called  Source  No.  2:  communities /hous- 
ing (Swallow). 

Another  option  — usually  cheaper, 
probably  more  ecological — is  to  remodel 
an  existing  house  to  fit  one’s  needs. 
Those  who  buck  the  exodus  from  the 
center  city  can  help  save  inner-city 
neighborhoods  from  physical  deteriora- 
tion often  allowed  by  absentee  land- 
lords and  can  save  farm  lands  from 
spreading  suburbs. 

A growing  option  is  some  form  of 
cooperative  living.  Some  families  are 
banding  together  to  buy  land  coopera- 
tively and  build  houses  around  a com- 
mon green  area.  Instead  of  a dozen  sep- 
arate small  yards,  each  family  has  ac- 
cess to  a larger  area — with  less  waste  of 
land.  Such  an  arrangement  also  facili- 
tates sharing  of  lawn  mowers,  freezers, 
and  recreational  equipment. 

Another  idea  in  operation  is  coopera- 
tive apartment  living — each  family  shares 
in  the  ownership  of  an  apartment  build- 
ing. In  New  York  City,  low-income  ten- 
ants are  cooperatively  buying  apartment 
buildings  from  the  landlord  as  an  alter- 
native to  public  housing.  The  idea  is 
not  limited  to  the  poor,  but  a savings  is 
possible. 

Other  families  share  a common  house. 
In  this  situation,  not  only  can  one  share 
lawn  mowers  and  freezers,  but  kitchen 
appliances,  furniture,  living  rooms,  house 
insurance,  etc.  Utility  bills  are  lower  per 
family. 

Those  who  rent  have  less  control  over 


THE  MENNONITE 


145 


their  environment,  but  they  still  have 
the  choice  of  occupying  no  more  space 
than  they  need  and  sharing  costly  items. 

These  are  certainly  not  the  only  op- 
tions for  simple  living;  in  fact,  some 
could  argue  with  good  reason  that  not 
all  these  forms  of  housing  are  indeed 
simple.  However,  these  options  are  pos- 
sible in  cities  as  well  as  rural  areas  and 
are  small  steps  toward  simple  shelter. 


Funerals 

Melvin  D.  Schmidt 


At  the  Lorraine  Avenue  Mennonite 
Church  in  Wichita,  Kansas,  several  at- 
tempts have  been  made  to  cut  through 
the  typical  mortuary  etiquette  and  funer- 
al commercialism. 

It  all  began  when  Louise  died.  She 
had  suffered  for  thirteen  years  from 
incurable  cancer  and  had  been  given  am- 
ple time  for  deep  reflection  on  the  issues 
of  life  and  death.  She  decided  that  her 
memorial  services  should  reflect  her  life 
commitment.  She  requested  cremation 
and  a simple  family  burial  service,  fol- 
lowed by  a memorial  service  for  the  en- 
tire church  community.  Louise  was  wide- 
ly known  and  loved.  The  Wednesday 
evening  memorial  service  found  the 
church  packed;  hundreds  joined  in  sing- 
ing, “Joyful,  joyful  we  adore  thee.”  All 
who  knew  Louise  were  absolutely  sure 
that  the  memorial  service  gave  witness 
to  what  her  life  had  stood  for. 

Not  long  after  that,  A1  died.  A1  was 
a man  of  simple  tastes,  who  had  often 
said,  “When  I go,  all  I want  is  a dozen 
red  roses  on  my  box.” 

The  idea  took  shape.  Why  not  make 
the  box  ourselves  as  an  expression  of 
love  and  care  for  Al?  Al’s  wife,  Ruth, 
knew  that  he  would  appreciate  the  sim- 
plicity of  a plain  wooden  box,  and  the 
children  enthusiastically  agreed  to  help 
make  the  box.  Several  people  from  the 
Lorraine  Avenue  congregation  helped 
get  the  coffin  ready.  The  pallbearers 
suddenly  became  functional,  for  it  was 
their  task  to  help  place  the  body  in  the 
box  and  nail  it  shut  before  taking  it  out 
to  the  cemetery  for  the  simple  family 
burial. 

A dozen  red  roses  on  the  stained 
wood  coffin  seemed  to  reflect  Al’s  sim- 
plicity. At  the  burial  service  during  a 
time  of  sharing,  one  family  member  who 
had  flown  in  from  New  York  said,  “I 
have  never  seen  anything  so  lovingly 
done  as  the  way  Al’s  box  was  made  by 


people  from  the  church.” 

When  Mary  died,  her  children  decided 
that  helping  make  the  coffin  would  be  a 
fitting  memorial  to  her  life.  The  time 
spent  sanding  the  wood  and  applying  the 
stain  provided  good  opportunity  for  shar- 
ing. One  son  decided,  however,  that  he 
could  not  participate  in  making  his 
mother’s  coffin.  The  matter  was  discussed 
with  great  sensitivity,  and  the  family 
decided  to  abandon  the  already  finished 
coffin  rather  than  cause  a rift  in  the  fam- 
ily because  of  unresolved  emotions.  A 
commercial  casket  was  purchased. 

The  whole  process  of  decision-making 
and  working  together  on  the  coffin  had 
the  result  of  bringing  new  bonds  of 
closeness  to  the  family.  As  one  family 
member  expressed  it,  “We  didn’t  use 
the  box,  but  the  purposes  for  making  it 
were  already  accomplished  just  by  the 
process  we  went  through  in  working  on 
it  together.” 

Marj  died  suddenly  and  unexpectedly. 
The  shock  of  her  sudden  passing  left  the 
family  in  bewilderment.  As  the  family 
gathered,  they  found  that  the  task  of 
finishing  the  coffin  gave  them  something 
to  do  together.  A sense  of  participation 
in  the  event  occurred  for  her  children 
who  came  from  some  distances.  Her 
son  Dave  said,  “I  wouldn’t  have  missed 
this  experience  for  anything.  I didn’t 
realize  an  occasion  like  this  could  be  so 
powerful  and  positive.  I had  already 
signed  off  the  church,  but  now  I will 
have  to  take  another  look  at  it.” 

The  memorial  services  have  given  the 
congregation  a priceless  opportunity  to 
make  affirmations  about  life  and  share 


them  evangelically  with  people  who  do 
not  frequent  the  church  very  often  or 
who  have  no  Christian  commitment.  The 
private  burial  service  is  held  as  quickly 
as  feasible,  and  the  memorial  service  in 
the  church  follows  when  convenient. 

Church  choirs  have  participated  in  all 
memorial  services,  and  since  they  are 
held  in  the  evenings,  there  is  better 
chance  for  more  people  to  attend.  A 
worship  atmosphere  instead  of  a funeral 
one  pervades  the  sanctuary  as  the  great 
hymns  of  the  faith  are  shared  by  the 
congregation  and  choir.  The  family  finds 
a memorial  service  less  traumatizing 
than  a funeral  service  which  typically 
involves  the  solemn  procession  behind 
the  casket.  Since  the  burial  has  already 
taken  place,  there  is  greater  freedom  to 
participate  in  the  act  of  memorializing 
and  commemorating  the  life  of  the  loved 
one. 

Gone  also  is  the  ordeal  of  “choosing” 
the  casket  and  the  attendant  pressures, 
however  subtle  or  blatant  they  may  be. 
The  minister  does  all  the  negotiating  with 
the  funeral  director.  The  family  is  spared 
the  trauma  of  discussing  “prices.” 

Perhaps  one  of  the  best  witnesses 
to  the  redemptive  possibilities  available 
to  us  is  the  funeral  director  himself, 
Mr.  Cochran.  He  has  seen  the  positive, 
creative  ways  in  which  the  family  and 
the  people  from  the  congregation  partic- 
ipate in  the  event.  After  Marj’s  memorial 
service,  Mr.  Cochran  stopped  by  for  a 
chat.  “I  have  directed  thousands  of  funer- 
als,” he  said,  “but  I don’t  ever  remember 
working  with  a congregation  that  cares 
for  its  people  like  yours  does.” 


Mar]’s  family  found  meaning  in  staining  the  plywood  coffin  built  by  members  of 
the  congregation. 


146 


FEBRUARY  27,  1973 


NEWS 


General  Board 

Beginning  with  the  singing  of  the  doxol- 
ogy  for  a good  year  financially  in  1972, 
the  General  Board  of  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church  adopted  a 
1973  budget  of  more  than  $2  million  at 
its  annual  sessions  February  5-9  in 
| Newton,  Kansas. 

The  General  Conference  programs 
■ met  103  percent  of  budget  in  1972,  the 
I second  year  in  a row  in  which  budget 
askings  have  been  matched  by  receipts. 
Income  from  Canadian  churches  was  18 
percent  higher  than  last  year. 

This  year  the  General  Board  okayed 
a budget  of  $2,155,945 — 5 percent  over 
last  year  plus  $60,000  for  poverty  proj- 
ects, since  the  Poverty  Fund  is  no  longer 
in  existence. 

The  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
is  asking  for  $1,470,645  this  year,  the 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries  for 
$369,300,  the  Commission  on  Education 
for  $143,000,  and  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary  for  $173,000.  From  these  bud- 
gets will  come  $99,800  for  Division  of 
Administration  services  and  $68,900  for 
General  Board  services.  Funds  for  pov- 
erty projects  are  divided  among  the  three 
commissions,  with  $27,500  each  for  com 
and  chm  and  $5,000  for  coe. 

In  addition,  the  seminary  is  planning 
to  expand  its  library  and  has  set  a 
$100,000  capital  improvement  goal  for 
1973.  This  will  be  matched  by  Goshen 
Biblical  Seminary,  which  shares  the  same 
campus  in  Elkhart,  Indiana.  Total  goal 
for  the  next  two  years  is  $400,000. 

The  General  Board  also  looked  at  its 
relationship  to  the  seminary,  which  does 
not  have  a voting  representative  on  the 
General  Board.  Both  the  General  Board 
and  the  seminary  board  seemed  to  be 
moving  in  the  direction  of  closer  ties. 
Conference  president  Henry  Poettcker 
was  asked  to  appoint  a committee  to  de- 
velop a memorandum  on  seminary- 
General  Board  relationships. 

In  other  action,  the  General  Board 
declined  to  accept  the  resignation  of  con- 
ference president  Henry  Poettcker  of 
Winnipeg,  who  will  be  teaching  under 
com  in  seminaries  and  workshops  in  Tai- 
wan and  Japan  during  the  next  school 
year. 

Conference  vice-president  Jacob  T. 


sets  record  budget  for  1973 


Friesen  of  Elkhart,  Indiana,  will  assume 
Mr.  Poettcker’s  responsibilities  in  his  ab- 
sence, and  both  will  probably  share  in 
moderating  the  1974  General  Conference 
sessions,  a few  weeks  after  Mr.  Poet- 
tcker’s return  from  Asia. 

The  General  Board  gave  some  direc- 
tion to  the  program  committee  for  the 
1974  triennial  General  Conference  ses- 
sions. Plans  now  are  for  the  conference 
to  be  August  3-9,  1974,  at  Brock  Uni- 
versity in  St.  Catharines,  Ontario. 

Although  some  pleaded  that  the  cen- 
tennial of  the  coming  of  the  Mennonites 
to  the  plains  states  and  provinces  should 
be  the  theme  of  the  conference  and  that 
the  conference  should  be  moved  to  Mani- 
toba, the  General  Board  indicated  to  the 
program  committee  that  the  committee’s 
theme  suggestion,  “Christian  disciple- 
ship,”  might  be  integrated  with  a cen- 
tennial celebration  and  that  the  faith  di- 
mension of  the  centennial  should  not  be 
neglected.  Lois  Janzen 


Leland  Harder  deliberates  at  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries  meeting. 

Home  Ministries  considers 
Key  73,  church  planting 

Evangelism,  church  extension,  women’s 
role  in  the  church,  civil  religion,  Project 
Equality,  and  the  General  Conference’s 
relation  to  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
were  among  the  items  on  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries’  agenda  at  its  annu- 
al meeting  in  Newton,  Kansas,  earlier 
this  month. 


Although  some  commission  members 
expressed  uneasiness  about  the  General 
Conference’s  relationship  to  Key  73, 
the  commission  agreed  to  continue  its 
evangelism  efforts  under  the  Key  73 
banner,  but  at  the  same  time  it  affirmed 
that  it  would  feel  free  to  share  its  own 
theological  position  without  hesitation 
with  other  participating  denominations 
in  the  year-long  outreach  venture. 

The  commission’s  contract  with  the 
Office  of  Worldwide  Evangelism-in-Depth 
also  came  under  question,  especially  the 
questionnaire  which  it  uses  for  its  con- 
gregational survey.  The  questionnaire 
which  will  be  used  in  General  Confer- 
ence congregations  is  in  the  process  of 
being  redrafted  to  conform  more  nearly 
to  Anabaptist  theology.  Some  commis- 
sion members  felt  the  present  question- 
naire was  based  on  theological  premises 
which  are  incompatible  with  the  Ana- 
baptist view. 

Church  planting,  which  has  been  given 
only  minimal  attention  by  the  General 
Conference  in  recent  years,  was  moved 
several  notches  higher  on  the  priority 
ladder  this  year.  A staff  person  will  be 
hired  to  work  in  the  area  of  church  ex- 
tension. The  approach  he  will  use  still 
needs  to  be  decided.  One  alternative 
would  be  to  place  him  in  a community 
with  the  task  of  establishing  one  or  more 
fellowships  there.  Another  approach 
would  be  to  have  him  serve  as  a con- 
sultant to  emerging  groups  in  a number 
of  communities. 

Intentional  communities  were  affirmed 
by  the  commission  as  a viable  mission 
strategy.  Two  such  communities,  both 
in  Kansas,  are  now  related  to  chm 
through  its  voluntary  service  department. 
The  commission  agreed  that  groups 
which  are  in  general  harmony  with  Ana- 
baptist theology  and  practice  should  con- 
tinue to  be  eligible  for  chm  relationship. 
However,  it  went  on  to  say  that  it  does 
not  see  these  relationships  as  permanent 
and  that  it  hopes  “that  the  intentional 
community  VS  units  will  explore  more 
permanent  patterns  of  relationship  with 
each  other  and  other  conference  bodies 

JJ 

The  Division  of  Administration  also 
took  a look  at  the  matter  of  handling 


THE  MENNONITE 


147 


intentional  community  finances  through 
the  VS  office.  It  expressed  some  concern 
that  the  voluntary  service  department’s 
present  tax  status  might  be  jeopardized 
by  the  inclusion  of  intentional  commu- 
nities under  its  umbrella.  It  decided  not 
to  call  for  a change  in  the  present  ar- 
rangement. Its  mood,  however,  was  cau- 
tious. 

The  biggest  share  of  chm’s  budget  in 
1973  will  continue  to  go  toward  Indian 
ministries  in  Arizona,  Montana,  and  Ok- 
lahoma. Over  $91,000  has  been  ear- 
marked for  this  work  this  year. 

The  commission  expressed  concern 
about  plans  to  begin  a huge  strip  mining 
operation  on  tribal  lands  in  eastern  Mon- 
tana. It  approved  the  following  resolu- 
tion on  this  issue: 

“Chm  encourages  the  four  Mennonite 
churches  of  the  Northern  Cheyenne  res- 
ervation to  acquire  a full  understanding 
of  the  tribal  council’s  position  on  the 
coal  strip  mining  negotiations.  Chm  de- 
clares itself  ready  to  stand  with  the 
native  proponents  who  refute  attempts  to 
further  erode  native  rights  of  land  and 
natural  resources.  On  behalf  of  chm, 
the  Indian  ministries  reference  council 
is  prepared  to  take  action  in  response  to 
problems  of  Indian  rights  should  the 
current  development  become  crucial.  . . 

On  another  matter  pertaining  to  mi- 
nority rights,  chm  recommended  to  the 
conference’s  Division  of  Administration 
that  each  of  them  should  provide  $750 
toward  membership  in  Project  Equality, 
an  organization  which  is  actively  promot- 
ing equal  employment  opportunities,  and 
toward  a review  of  the  employment  prac- 
tices of  the  conference’s  suppliers  and 
conference-related  institutions. 

Chm  approved  its  share  of  the  amount, 
but  the  Division  of  Administration  (doa) 
approved  only  the  $250  membership  por- 
tion of  the  fee.  Doa  explained  that  it 
does  not  have  the  authority  to  call  for 
the  examination  of  its  suppliers  and  con- 
ference-related organizations. 

A concern  about  the  growing  dangers 
of  civil  religion  was  a recurring  theme 
at  the  commission’s  sessions,  but  chm 
made  no  decisions  on  how  it  might 
grapple  more  seriously  with  this  question. 

A further  concern  was  the  United 
States  Government’s  aggressive  promo- 
tion of  the  country’s  military  establish- 
ment at  a time  when  churches  are  slip- 
ping into  apathy  following  the  winding 
down  of  the  Indochina  war.  Examples 
were  cited  of  high-pressure  public  rela- 
tions programs  aimed  at  high  school  au- 
diences by  the  Defense  Department. 
Commission  members  encouraged  a re- 


sumption of  regular  peace  mailings  to 
young  people. 

The  suspension  of  draft  calls  is  ex- 
pected to  have  a serious  effect  on  volun- 
tary service  recruitment  in  1973.  The 
chm  staff  is  hoping  that  the  decrease  in 
its  total  program,  which  in  1972  stood 
at  an  all-time  high  of  136  volunteers, 
will  be  less  than  10  percent  during  the 
current  year. 

In  response  to  a concern  raised  by 
Martha  Nickel,  Saskatoon,  one  of  two 
women  on  the  commission,  chm  agreed 
to  take  the  initiative  in  setting  up  a 
meeting  of  members  of  the  conference’s 
three  commissions,  the  seminary,  and 
the  Women’s  Missionary  Association  to 
explore  the  role  of  the  Christian  woman 
in  the  church  today.  The  meeting  will 
likely  be  held  in  fall. 

The  commission  also  set  up  a task 
force  of  three  persons  to  study  issues 
relating  to  marriage  and  family  relation- 
ships. 

Chm  approved  a recommendation  to 
use  part  of  its  poverty  monies  to  appoint 
a consultant  whose  task,  among  other 
things,  would  be  to  seek  ways  of  mo- 
bilizing local  congregations  in  poverty 
projects,  getting  governmental  and  foun- 
dation grants,  and  developing  models  for 
fighting  poverty  in  various  settings.  The 
commission  will  also  set  some  funds 
aside  to  serve  as  seed  money  for  local 
initiative  ventures.  Larry  Kehler 

Overseas  commission  deals 
with  church-mission  issues 

Church  - mission  relationships,  mission 
board  - missionary  relationships,  and 
church-government  relationships  came 
under  scrutiny  by  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission  at  its  annual  sessions 
in  February. 

National  churches  in  almost  every 
country  are  assuming  more  responsibili- 
ty. Missionaries,  too,  are  being  heard.  On 
the  final  day  of  the  sessions,  commission 
members  took  the  back  seat  for  an  hour 
while  missionaries  gathered  around  the 
table  to  voice  their  concerns.  Yet  in 
the  midst  of  the  causes  for  rejoicing, 
there  were  sobering  notes:  governments 
in  at  last  three  countries  in  which  com 
is  working  are  placing  some  new  restric- 
tions on  the  work  of  the  church. 

In  Japan,  the  missionaries  have  adopt- 
ed a new  memo  of  understanding,  re- 
stricting their  responsibility  as  a mission 
conference  primarily  to  children’s  edu- 
cation, missionary  housing,  transporta- 
tion, fellowship,  language  study,  and  per- 
sonnel needs  outside  the  island  of  Kyu- 


shu, where  most  COM-related  churches 
are. 

This  is  a step  toward  fusion  of  church 
and  mission,  the  commission  was  told. 
However,  the  fusion  is  not  as  complete 
as  in  Zaire.  The  final  details  of  the  new 
structure  were  to  be  available  after 
the  Kyushu  Church  Conference  met  the 
weekend  of  February  9-11. 

Howard  Habegger,  com  executive 
secretary,  reported  that  the  Japan  Men- 
nonite churches  had  gone  through  an 
anti-missionary  phase,  but  that  phase  is 
over  now. 

Pastor  Takashi  Yamada  had  said, 
“That  phase  was  probably  important  for 
the  church.  It  helped  them  gain  identity, 
self-respect,  and  a deep  feeling  of  inde- 
pendence from  mission,  western,  and 
com  control.  . . . The  Kyushu  Church 
Conference  is  again  calling  for  new 
missionaries  to  assist  in  a team  approach 
to  evangelism  and  church  planting.” 

In  Paraguay,  the  commission  is  setting 
high  priority  on  fraternal  rather  than 
paternal  ties  with  the  Paraguayan  mis- 
sions committee.  The  commission  passed 
recommendations  that  com  give  high 
priority  to  increase  financial  assistance  to 
the  missions  committee  in  1973,  and 
affirmed  that  com’s  primary  relationship 
in  Paraguay  was  with  the  missions  com- 
mittee. Church  conference  communica- 
tions should  be  directly  with  the  general 
secretary  or  president  of  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church,  and  lit- 
erature matters  should  be  discussed  with 
the  Commission  on  Education. 

In  India,  the  General  Conference- 
related  Mennonite  Church  is  presently  a 
separate  structure  from  the  “mission  con- 
ference,” whose  boards  control  the 
schools  and  hospitals.  Missionaries  play 
a large  role  in  the  institutions;  however, 
nationals  now  constitute  about  50  per- 
cent of  the  mission  conference  boards 
and  are  assuming  more  responsibility  as 
administrators  of  the  institutions. 

The  commission  has  gone  on  record 
favoring  the  “transfer  (of)  administra- 
tive authority,  responsibility,  and  ac- 
countability to  national  leadership.” 

Yet  Indian  legislation  restricts  new 
missionaries  to  those  filling  positions 
which  could  not  be  filled  by  Indians. 

A special  delegation  from  com  will  be 
going  to  India  next  fall  to  work  on  the 
question  further  with  missionaries  and 
national  church  leaders. 

An  urgent  issue  in  India  is  the  transfer 
of  some  North  American-owned  property 
to  a trust  association  administered  by 
Indian  nationals.  The  transfer  has  been 
made  necessary  by  the  passage  of  a 


148 


FEBRUARY  27,  1973 


1 new  law  in  India  restricting  the  owner- 
I ship  of  real  estate  by  foreigners  or  for- 
I eign  societies. 

It  is  still  uncertain  how  long  com 
| staff  member  Lubin  Jantzen,  a former 
| missionary  in  India,  will  be  needed  there 
i to  help  with  the  transfer  of  property. 

In  Zaire,  church-state  conflicts  are  of 
i a different  nature.  President  Mobutu’s 
government  is  continuing  its  drive  for 
Zairian  authenticity  and  unification  of 
the  country  under  the  one  party,  the 
| Popular  Movement  of  the  Revolution. 

Religious  radio  programs  have  been 
1 prohibited,  as  have  youth  meetings,  in- 
cluding the  Youth  for  Christ  program 
i of  the  church. 

All  Protestant  churches  must  cooper- 
ate in  the  Church  of  Christ  of  Zaire, 
whose  general  secretary,  Itofo  B.  Boke- 
leale,  has  identified  the  church  as  part 
of  Mobutu’s  drive  for  authenticity  and, 
in  the  opinion  of  some,  has  said  that  the 
aims  of  the  church  and  the  party  are  one. 

In  Uruguay,  Miguel  Brun,  professor 
! at  the  Mennonite  seminary  in  Monte- 
video, and  his  wife  Katja  have  been 
in  prison  since  May  1972  for  allegedly 
giving  lodging  to  members  of  the  Tu- 
pamaro  guerrillas. 

The  commission  officially  adopted  the 
j Goals-Priorities-Strategy  statement  ham- 
mered out  last  June  by  commission  mem- 
bers, missionaries,  and  national  church 
leaders.  But  these  priorities,  said  some 
commission  members,  do  not  mean  that 
the  commission  ignores  other  areas  of 
work. 

In  Taiwan,  expansion  of  Mennonite 
Christian  Hospital  in  Hwalien  has  been 
discouraged,  with  the  emphasis  to  be  on 
village  clinics  and  public  health,  and 
in  the  country  as  a whole,  on  the  gps 
priorities  of  evangelism  and  church  plant- 
ing. 

The  commission  took  another  major 
step  in  the  termination  of  the  field  pa- 
pers, the  periodic  publications  produced 
by  missionaries.  In  their  stead,  com  will 
start  a new  overseas  mission  publication 
to  be  inserted  in  The  Mennonite  and 


Der  Bote.  The  new  publication,  which 
would  probably  not  begin  until  late  1973, 
will  be  mailed  separately  to  General 
Conference  church  members  and  others 
who  receive  neither  magazine.  Lois  Janzen 

Commission  on  Education 
looks  at  higher  education 

Higher  education  received  top  priority 
from  the  Commission  on  Education  at  its 
annual  sessions  in  February. 

The  major  impetus  to  the  higher  edu- 
cation discussion  was  Robert  Kreider, 
hired  by  the  commission  last  September 
to  spend  one  year  at  one-fourth-time  as 
staff  member  for  the  commission’s  De- 
partment of  Higher  Education. 

The  commission  spent  more  than  four 
hours  on  one  of  the  most  urgent  issues — 
the  future  of  Freeman  (South  Dakota) 
Junior  College  and  Academy.  Both  the 
college  and  the  academy  have  been 
plagued  by  declining  enrollments  in  the 
last  ten  years.  The  college  has  only  twen- 
ty-nine full-time  students  this  semester 
and,  in  addition,  has  received  notice  of 
the  loss  of  official  accreditation.  (Stu- 
dents can  still  transfer  credits  to  other 
institutions.) 

The  commission  was  not  interested  in 
telling  the  Freeman  school’s  board  of  di- 
rectors what  to  do  or  in  offering  un- 
solicited advice,  but  in  offering  the  re- 
sources of  the  Department  of  Higher 
Education  and  Mr.  Kreider  in  the 
school’s  search  for  direction. 

While  most  discussions  of  the  future 
of  the  school  have  centered  on  two  op- 
tions (discontinue  the  academy  or  dis- 
continue the  junior  college),  Mr.  Krei- 
der presented  ten  options,  all  of  which 
would  continue  Mennonite  educational 
facilities  in  the  Freeman  area  in  some 
way. 

Commission  member  Virgil  Gerig 
commented,  “This  is  the  first  time  the 
options  have  been  spelled  out  to  this  de- 
gree.” 

The  evening  before  the  commission 
meetings  started,  Mr.  Kreider  had  also 


met  with  the  presidents  of  General  Con- 
ference-related colleges  to  discuss  such 
common  concerns  as  enrollment  and 
services  which  might  be  offered  to  the 
colleges  by  the  Department  of  Higher 
Education. 

It  was  suggested  that  the  college  pres- 
idents meet  twice  a year — once  in  fall 
and  once  with  the  council  of  commis- 
sions— and  that  the  Department  of  High- 
er Education  not  meet  in  isolation  from 
the  college  presidents. 

The  commission  also  discussed  the 
possibility  of  broadening  the  membership 
of  the  department. 

In  other  action,  the  commission: 

• asked  Helmut  Harder  of  Winnipeg 
to  write  an  experimental  quarterly  for 
grades  nine  and  ten.  The  new  curriculum 
would  be  flexible  and  able  to  be  pro- 
duced quickly.  The  present  graded  cur- 
riculum series  does  not  go  beyond  grade 
eight. 

• asked  Bertha  Harder  to  write  a 
teacher’s  manual  for  Twelve  becoming, 
a book  of  biographies  of  Mennonites, 
which  will  be  published  by  Faith  and 
Life  Press,  Newton,  this  year. 

• recommended  to  the  General  Board 
that  a regular  publication  for  pastors  sim- 
ilar to  the  former  Conference  visitor 
be  reinstated.  The  General  Board  accept- 
ed the  recommendation  and  asked  gen- 
eral secretary  Heinz  Janzen  to  draw  up 
a recommendation  for  implementation. 

Funds  were  included  in  the  budget  for 
district  and  provincial  historical  com- 
mittees to  consult  with  each  other  once 
a year.  The  former  historical  committee 
of  the  commission  and  of  the  former 
Board  of  Education  and  Publication  has 
been  defunct  for  two  years. 

In  conjunction  with  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries,  the  Commission 
on  Education  will  make  available  to 
churches  a resource  tank — descriptive 
listings  of  materials  with  which  churches 
could  construct  their  own  curricula  for 
Sunday  school,  camps,  the  home,  or 
other  blocks  of  study.  The  first  mailing 
is  planned  in  August. 

Frank  Ward,  executive  secretary  of 
the  commission,  reported  that  so  far 
three  of  the  participating  denominations 
in  the  Anabaptist  Curriculum  Explora- 
tion have  indicated  the  desire  for  full 
cooperation:  Mennonite  Church,  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church,  and 
Brethren  in  Christ  Church.  The  Church 
of  the  Brethren  will  become  a purchaser 
of  the  new  graded  curriculum,  but  will 
not  be  a participating  publisher.  The 
Friends  have  said  no  to  the  curriculum. 
Lois  Janzen 


At  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  sessions,  missionaries  on  furlough  speak 
about  concerns  in  identity  and  fundraising  while  commission  members  take  the 
back  seats  and  listen. 


Communication  involves 
moral  decision,  says  speaker 

In  the  opening  session  of  a three-day 
seminar  sponsored  by  the  Mennonite 
Council  on  Mass  Communications  in  Jan- 
uary, Don  Brewer,  executive  producer 
for  kyw  Radio  in  Philadelphia,  noted 
that  issues  in  the  1970s  will  center  around 
the  restoration  of  common  sense  about 
the  human  condition. 

He  cited  loneliness,  disaffection,  dis- 
engagement, suspicion,  and  the  break- 
down of  the  family  as  major  problems 
of  the  1960s. 

“Now  we’ve  got  to  help  each  other  in 
our  terribly  common  loneliness  to  re- 
group as  families  and  friends  again,”  he 
said. 

He  defined  common  sense  about  the 
human  condition  as  the  need  to  learn  how 
to  relate  meaningfully  to  our  children, 
to  learn  how  to  show  affection,  and 
to  operate  without  labels. 

In  the  mass  media  common  sense,  he 
said,  means  “coming  to  grips  with  the 
fact  that  we  are  making  a moral  decision 
when  we  open  communication  with  our 
audience.” 

In  a keynote  address  Friday  morning 
on  the  theme,  “The  medium  of  radio,” 


Mr.  Brewer  said,  “The  heart  and  soul 
of  radio  is  its  immediacy  and  cohesive- 
ness.” 

But  he  noted  that  listeners  have  de- 
veloped a don’t-care  attitude  because  of 
today’s  distractions  and  noise. 

Mr.  Brewer  said  that  radio  can  best 
serve  as  a trigger  or  stimulus  to  move 
people  to  action,  but  warned  against 
trying  to  use  radio  as  the  only  means 
of  informing  or  educating  people. 

In  referring  to  religious  broadcasting 
he  said,  “Unless  religion  disturbs,  it  has 
very  little  value.” 

He  challenged  the  seventy  religious 
communicators  at  the  seminar  to  keep 
their  message  believable  and  to  develop 
techniques  that  move  listeners  to  action. 

Other  sessions  Friday  included  a show 
and  tell  period  in  the  morning  of  the 
kinds  of  things  local  churches  and  inter- 
est groups  are  doing  with  the  media. 
Slide  presentations,  religious  newspaper 
ads,  a Super  8 sound  film,  radio  spots, 
and  a longer  radio  program  were  among 
the  items  presented. 

During  a business  session  at  the  semi- 
nar, which  was  held  in  Harrisonburg, 
Virginia,  the  history  of  mcmc  was  re- 
viewed and  outgoing  executive  officers 
elected.  David  Thompson  of  Harrison- 


burg was  reelected  to  a second  two-year 
term  as  vice-chairman,  and  Bob  Hostetter 
of  Hesston,  Kansas,  was  elected  secre- 
tary-treasurer. Bernie  Wiebe  of  Grand 
Forks,  North  Dakota,  continues  as  chair- 
man of  the  mcmc,  and  Burton  Buller 
of  Akron,  Pennsylvania,  continues  as 
the  fourth  executive  member. 

Words  & deeds 

Four  Mennonite  groups  have  cooperated 
to  produce  a new  series  of  Family  Life 
TV  spots  for  public  service  release.  The 
General  Conference,  the  Mennonite 
Church,  and  the  Mennonite  Brethren 
churches  have  pooled  resources  to  pro- 
duce two  new  television  spots  titled 
“You’re  loved”  and  “You’re  OK.”  This 
fifth  series  of  spots  encourages  viewers 
to  love,  forgive,  and  accept  others  in  the 
Jesus  way.  The  spots  will  be  released 
to  stations  in  early  May  for  exposure 
during  May  and  June  for  a Mother’s 
Day  and  Father’s  Day  tie-in.  Mennonite 
Media  Services  of  Harrisonburg,  Virgin- 
ia, will  distribute  the  new  series  to  sta- 
tions in  the  United  States.  Mennonite 
Radio  and  Television  of  Winnipeg,  Mani- 
toba, will  handle  distribution  in  Canada. 


Who  will  you  be 
reading  in  1973? 

Consider  Christian  Living* 

Christian  Living  is  a monthly  magazine  about  Christian 
living,  especially  in  the  family,  relating  the  needs  of  the 
family  to  the  context  of  the  Anabaptist-Mennonite 
community. 

One  wag  said  that  a magazine  is  known  by  the 
subscribers  it  keeps.  True.  It  is  also  known  by  the  writers 
it  keeps. 

Ernie  Regher,  Roberta  Mohr,  Phyllis  Martens,  Katie 
Wiebe,  Cornelius  Krahn,  LaVerna  Dick,  Esther  Groves, 

Delton  Franz,  Frank  Epp  and  Heinz  Janzen  are  a few 
writers  that  know  Christian  Living. 

There  are  others  in  January  1973.  Anne  Neufeld  Rupp 
tells  why  music  has  become  an  important  part  of  the 
Rupp  home  life.  She  offers  suggestions  for  you  to 
incorporate  music  into  your  family  life. 

It's  a good  feeling  knowing  these  people  are  writing  for 


you  and  that  they  are  all  committed  Anabaptist 
Christians,  who  will  provide  you  with  a Christian  slant 
on  personal  and  family  living. 

Christian  Living  is  a magazine  by  people— about  people. 


CHRISTIAN  LIVING  616  Walnut  Ave.,  Scottdale,  PA,  15683 

Please  send  me 1 year  of 

Christian  Living  @ $6.00 3 

years  at  $13.50.*  Enclose  cash, 
check  or  money  order. 

*Speciat  rate  for  new  subscribers  only. 

Name 

Address ; City 

State/Prov, Zip/Postal  Code 


150 


FEBRUARY  27,  1973 


LETTERS 


' Tax  paid  under  protest 

The  following  letter  to  the  Commissioner 
of  Internal  Revenue,  Washington,  D.C., 
was  also  submitted  to  The  Mennonite  for 
purposes  of  sharing  the  writers’  testimony 
I with  the  brotherhood. 

This  is  to  inform  you  that  the  two-thirds 
of  our  1972  federal  income  tax  which 
is  budgeted  for  military  purposes  is  be- 
ing paid  under  protest.  Since  the  money 
I is  already  in  your  hands  in  the  form  of 
! withholding  tax,  we  have  no  recourse 
but  to  pay  it,  while  stating  that  it  vio- 
j lates  our  conscience  to  do  so. 

As  Christians  we  cannot  participate 
in  war — our  allegiance  is  to  the  Prince 
of  Peace,  who  came  not  to  destroy  men’s 
lives  but  to  save  them.  We  do  not  rec- 
ognize the  wholesale  destruction  of  hu- 
man life  as  one  of  the  divinely  ordained 
functions  of  government.  The  fact  that 
peace  may  at  last  have  “broken  out”  by 
the  time  you  read  these  words  does  not 
change  the  senseless  manner  in  which 
the  military  machine  gobbles  up  the 
human  and  financial  resources  of  this 
country. 

It  is  sad  indeed  that  the  richest  nation 
on  earth  is  unable  to  meet  basic  human 
needs  because  of  its  woefully  misplaced 
I priorities.  We  would  be  willing  to  pay 
I even  slightly  higher  taxes  for  the  sake  of 
< decent  low-  and  middle-income  housing, 

| quality  education,  improved  mass  transit 
| facilities,  welfare  reform,  prison  reform, 
I an  effective  medical  care  delivery  system, 
and  nonmilitary  foreign  aid.  It  is  par- 
I ticularly  imperative  that  our  nation  un- 
l dertake  an  extensive  program  of  restora- 

■ tion  in  Southeast  Asia  where  we  have 
i caused  so  much  destruction  and  suffering. 

Our  position  regarding  war  and  war 
I tax  is  neither  lightly  nor  hastily  con- 

■ ceived.  As  members  of  the  Mennonite 
I Church,  we  stand  in  a 450-year-old  tra- 
. dition  of  resistance  to  war.  Menno  Si- 
j mons,  the  sixteenth-century  Anabaptist 
ij  leader  from  whom  we  take  our  name, 

condemned  those  who  “consider  human 
blood  and  swine’s  blood  of  well-nigh 
l equal  value.”  Peter  Riedemann  summa- 
rized our  position  well  when  he  wrote  in 
1545:  “For  war,  killing,  and  bloodshed 
we  give  nothing,  but  not  out  of  malice 
or  obstinacy,  but  in  the  fear  of  God.” 

We  believe  that  Christ  calls  us  to 
affirm,  rather  than  destroy,  the  lives 


of  our  fellowmen.  Therefore  until  such 
time  as  legislative  provision  is  made  for 
conscientious  objection  to  war  tax,  we 
shall  pay  our  tax  under  protest.  Sem 
and  Mabel  Sutter,  710  North  Lake  Shore 
Drive,  Chicago,  III.  60611.  Jan.  18 

Favors  cooperation 

Dear  Editor:  I hope  I wasn’t  too  critical 
in  my  previous  letter  (January  2 issue) 
because  I am  very  much  in  favor  of 
inter-Mennonite  cooperation,  and  also 
with  other  denominations. 

I believe  in  our  program,  and  I only 
wish  we  had  more  pushers  on  the  plow. 
. . . I hope  and  pray  with  you  and  Olin 
Krehbiel  (Letters,  January  2 issue)  for 
less  fault-finding  or  more  love. 

We  may  even  give  thought  to  trans- 
ferring our  membership  to  the  inter- 
Mennonite  church  in  Hesston — as  the 
Lord  wills — since  they  joined  the  Gen- 
eral Conference.  Joe  Eck,  Sedgwick, 
Kans.  67135.  Jan.  7 


NEW  LIFE  SERIES 
by  David  W.  Augsburger 


Four  pamphlets  in  series,  to  lead  the  read- 
er step  by  step  from  awareness  of  need 
to  definite  commitment  to  Jesus  Christ, 

Each  pamphlet  is  8 pages  with  full-color 
photographs. 

The  titles  are: 

WHAT  DO  YOU' WANT? 

WHAT  DO  YOU  FEAR? 

THE  BOOK  THAT  READS  YOU 
LIKE  FALLING  IN  LOVE 
Sold  in  packages  of  10  (unassorted)  $1.50 

Order  from 

V Faith  and  Life  Bookstore 

Newton,  Kansas,  or  Berne,  Indiana  . 


Contents 


The  empire  of  mammon  and  the 

joyous  fellowship  130 

Spoiled  children  in  the  consumerism 

cycle  132 

Portrait  of  the  involuntary  poor  134 

Advertising:  a threat  to  human 

identity?  1 36 

Ways  of  implementing  a simpler 

life  style  145 

News  1 47 

Letters  151 

Check  here  152 

Thanks,  I needed  that  152 


CONTRIBUTORS 

David  H.  Janzen,  409  W.  11th,  Newton, 
Kans.  67114,  is  editor  of  Liberty  to  the 
captives,  a prison  and  prison  alterna- 
tives newsletter  published  by  the  MCC 
Peace  Section. 

Gayle  Gerber  Koontz  is  a writer  for 
MCC  Information  Services,  Akron,  Pa., 
and  a student  at  Lancaster  Theological 
Seminary,  Lancaster,  Pa. 

Hubert  Schwartzentruber  is  associate 
secretary  of  the  Mennonite  Board  of  Con- 
gregational Ministries,  Box  513,  Goshen, 
Ind.  46526. 

J.  Daniel  Hess  is  professor  of  com- 
munication at  Goshen  College,  Goshen, 
Ind. 

LaVerna  Klippenstein's  address  is  Box 
58,  Gretna,  Man.  ROG  OVO. 

Melvin  D.  Schmidt,  1505  Fairview, 
Wichita,  Kans.  67203,  is  pastor  of  the 
Lorraine  Ave.  Mennonite  Church  in 
Wichita. 

John  Drescher  is  editor  of  the  Gospel 
herald,  Scottdale,  Pa.  15683. 

CREDITS 

133,  National  Gallery  of  Canada,  Otta- 
wa; 134-135,  RNS;  146,  Kenneth  Janzen; 
147,  149,  Lester  Janzen. 


Tlip 

Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1;  Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


151 


Check  here 

Philip  Guedella,  writer  and  biographer,  tells 
how  in  writing  biographies,  among  the  things  he 
examines  carefully,  is  the  way  a man  spends  his 
money.  In  writing  the  biography  of  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  he  found  a pack  of  receipted  bills,  “a 
fruitful  source  of  information.”  Mr.  Guedella  says, 
“Show  me  how  a man  spends  his  money  and  you 
will  show  me  what  kind  of  man  he  is.”  The  use 
of  money  is  a dead  giveaway  as  to-  what  kind  of 
people  we  are. 

Following  genuine  conversion  to>  Christ  it  is 
common  for  persons  to  become  ascetic.  Things 
are  deplored,  despised,  and  sometimes  disposed 
of.  It  is  one  effort  to  take  the  words  of  Jesus  seri- 
ously. Soon,  however,  a person  sees  that  things 
are  needed  to  exist  and  now  a severe  test  of  spir- 
itual maturity  and  spiritual  values  is  raised.  It  is 
easy  to  allow  material  things  to  become  upper- 
most. 

Anna  Mow  writes,  “Throughout  church  history 
there  has  been  a swinging  back  and  forth  from 
‘beauty’  and  ‘austerity’  in  dress  and  architecture. 
Pride  has  just  as  free  rein  in  austerity  as  it  does  in 
beauty.  Simplicity  is  the  balanced  virtue.  In  sim- 
plicity there  is  no  room  for  ostentation  or  ugliness; 
in  fact,  simplicity  is  beauty.” 

Thanks , / needed  that 

Our  family  has  been  chuckling  at  a recent  series 
of  television  commercials  for  a skin  bracer  (the 
ad  agency  won’t  like  this,  but  I can’t  recall  the 
product’s  name)  in  which  the  subject,  after  hav- 
ing the  skin  bracer  applied  resoundingly  to  his 
cheek,  resolutely  bounces  back  and  intones, 
“Thanks,  I needed  that!” 

I would  propose  that  most  of  us  don’t  need 
an  invigorating  slap  on  the  cheek  nearly  as  much 
as  we  need  a pat  on  the  back.  All  of  us  need  to 
be  affirmed  from  time  to  time — some  more  than 
others,  of  course.  We  need  reassurances  that  we 
matter. 

Since  it  is  not  customary  in  our  culture  for  a 
person  to  invite  this  sort  of  affirmation,  we  must 
take  the  initiative  in  seeking  appropriate  occa- 
sions to  give  an  individual  a supportive  pat  on 
the  back,  espeically  when  he  or  she  seems  to 
stand  in  need  of  it. 

Genuine  affirmation  is  not  a mechanical  mouth- 
ing of  sweet-flowing  flattery.  In  most  cases,  it  in- 
volves getting  to  know  a person  deeply  enough  so 


This  is  the  day  of  the  easy  payment,  the  credit 
card,  the  status  symbol,  the  great  drive  to  pro- 
mote the  importance  of  things  and  the  “buy  now, 
pay  later”  push.  Advertisements,  TV  programs, 
and  the  great  sweepstakes  campaigns  promote  a 
spirit  of  greediness.  And  if  we  are  not  committed 
to  a different  standard  and  if  we  are  not  careful 
we  are  caught  in  the  spirit  of  covetousness.  “The 
wicked  blesseth  the  covetous,  whom  the  Lord 
abhorreth.” 

Jesus  recognized  that  money  is  no  surface 
matter.  He  knew  that  the  deepest  convictions  and 
controls  of  our  lives  are  all  tied  up  with  material 
things.  So  he  spoke  more  about  money  than  about 
any  other  ethical  or  moral  question. 

This  covetous  spirit  fastens  itself  upon  the  old 
rather  than  the  young.  And  the  most  dangerous 
thing  about  it  is  that  it  is  not  thought  of  as  the 
heinous  thing  it  is.  The  only  way  to  overcome 
covetousness  is  to  strangle  it,  put  it  to  death, 
mortify  it.  We  do  this  by  giving  away. 

This  issue,  which  is  a combined  issue  of  The 
Mennonite  and  Gospel  herald,  seeks  to  give  some 
help  in  this  important  area  of  using  the  things  of 
this  world.  If  we  do  not  solve  the  problem  of 
affluence,  we  are  doomed.  John  M.  Drescher 


that  the  words  of  support  and  encouragement 
communicate  an  authentic  concern.  But  there  are 
also  frequent  occasions  when  even  relative  stran- 
gers can  be  affirmed  in  small  but  helpful  ways. 

People  working  in  the  service  industries  and  in 
the  professions,  for  example,  have  the  potential 
for  “making  the  day”  for  many  of  their  customers 
and  clients  by  treating  them  as  individuals  with 
feelings  and  needs.  The  sad  trend  in  our  society, 
however,  seems  to  be  to  treat  this  category  of 
people  with  growing  suspicion  and  disdain.  They 
become  faceless,  soul-less  consumers  of  goods. 
This  attitude  tends  to  feed  on  itself.  The  less  we 
affirm  each  other’s  personhood  at  this  level  of 
interaction,  the  more  we  tend  to  turn  toward  de- 
humanizing ways  of  seeking  gratification  for  our 
hungers.  For  one  thing,  we  often  become  ir- 
responsible consumers  of  goods  and  services  to 
fill  the  void. 

Reverse  the  trend.  Make  someone’s  day  today. 
Give  him  a pat  on  the  back.  Larry  Kehler 


Erland  Waltner 


To  be  back  in  the  Associated  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminaries  community,  after  a 
sabbatical  year  away,  is  an  exhilarating 
and  challenging  experience.  My  mood  is 
characterized  essentially  by  praise  and 
prayer. 

Praise  be  to  God! 

Registrar  Weybum  W.  Groff  has  just 
informed  us  that  the  spring  semester 
enrollment  rose  to  110,  compared  with 
103  during  the  fall  semester,  which  was 
already  an  increase  over  the  96  enrolled 
a year  before.  Approximately  half  of 
these  students  are  in  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary. 

Admissions  counselor  Erick  Sawatzky 
reports  that  enrollment  prospects  for 
1973-74  are  encouraging.  Interest  in 
seminary  studies,  contrary  to  a common 
opinion,  is  increasing  rather  than  decreas- 
ing. 

Seniors  hoping  to  graduate  in  May  are 
being  sought  out,  one  after  another,  by 
congregations  needing  pastoral  leader- 
ship. The  percentage  of  graduates  going 
into  congregational  ministries  is  up  this 
year. 

Business  manager  Marlyn  Fast  and 
church  relations  director  J.  H.  Fretz  re- 
port that  the  seminary  in  1972  received 
107  percent  of  its  conference-approved 
unrestricted  gifts  budget.  This  is  the  best 
response  in  recent  years,  accounted  for, 
in  part,  by  several  substantial  estate  gifts. 

Old  Testament  professor  Jacob  J.  Enz 
recently  returned  with  enthusiasm  from 
the  Freeman,  South  Dakota,  area,  where 
during  the  January  interterm  he  served 
in  eighty  separate  class,  church,  or  small 
group  contacts,  bringing  his  thoughtful 
Bible  teaching  ministry  to  that  commu- 
nity. 

The  Church  Membership  Profile  data, 
gathered  by  Professor  Leland  Harder  as 
coresearcher  with  Professor  Howard 
Kauffman  of  Goshen  College,  indicates 
that  the  Associated  Seminaries  have  a 
strong  base  of  acceptance  and  support  in 


their  respective  constituencies  and  that 
the  movement  toward  more  inter-Men- 
nonite  cooperation  continues. 

Several  new  students  have  joined  the 
Overseas  Mission  Training  Center  which 
opened  on  a full-time  basis  last  Septem- 
ber under  the  direction  of  professor  of 
missions  Robert  L.  Ramseyer. 

The  serious  searching  and  finding  by 
seminarians  in  classrooms,  in  koinonia 
groups,  in  “supervised  experience  in  min- 
istry,” and  in  personal  study,  all  adding 
up  to  significant  growth,  yields,  however, 
the  greatest  promise  and  satisfaction. 

For  these  and  for  many  other  ways 
that  God  is  working  in  the  Associated 
Seminaries,  we  join  heartily  with  Profes- 
sor Orlando  Schmidt  as  he  leads  us,  in 
chapel  and  otherwise,  in  singing  praise 
to  God. 


Praying  without  ceasing 

Identifying  items  for  which  we  are 
grateful  moves  on,  however,  to  another 
form  of  worship,  namely,  prayer,  in  the 
sense  of  quiet  trustful  asking,  waiting 
on  God  to  continue  his  own  good  work. 

Since  Goshen  Biblical  Seminary  has 
relocated  to  Elkhart  in  1969  and  since 
the  two  schools  now  with  integrated  pro- 
grams continue  to  grow,  it  becomes  nec- 
essary to  expand  library  facilities.  Li- 
brarian Paul  Roten  has  increasing  diffi- 
culties finding  space  for  new  accessions 
being  added  to  the  nearly  60,000  vol- 
umes already  shelved.  This  will  call  for 
the  first  major  expansion  of  plant  since 
the  completion  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  in  1965.  The  target 
date  for  completion  of  the  new  library 
is  1975,  the  thirtieth  anniversary  of  the 
founding  of  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary 
in  Chicago  in  1945. 

A time  of  administrative  transition,  in 
which  Goshen  Biblical  Seminary  is  cur- 
rently involved,  is  properly  a season  of 
deep  probing  and  earnest  prayer  that 
God’s  leading  may  be  discerned  and 
done.  John  H.  Yoder,  while  discontinu- 


ing as  president  of  the  Goshen  school, 
remains  with  the  Associated  Seminaries 
as  an  esteemed  and  appreciated  col- 
league. His  most  recent  book,  The  poli- 
tics of  Jesus  (Eerdmans)  is  just  off  the 
press  and  is  hailed  as  a most  significant 
restatement  of  the  New  Testament  mes- 
sage of  biblical  nonresistance. 

The  issue  of  whether  Mennonites  have 
recognized  adequately  the  potential  role 
of  women  in  the  life  and  work  of  the 
church  needs  further  study  both  at  the 
seminary  and  in  the  congregations.  Not 
a “minority  concern,”  this  involves  lit- 
erally the  majority  of  the  members  of 
our  congregations.  If  women  feel  the 
leading  of  God  in  their  lives  to  serve  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  new  ways,  will  we 
“have  space”  for  them  in  our  hearts,  in 
our  congregations,  agencies,  or  institu- 
tions? 

Most  of  all,  we  are  driven  to  prayer  in 
our  concern  for  faithfulness  to  God’s 
will  in  our  time  and  for  relevance  in 
ministering  to  genuine  human  need.  How  I 
do  we  minister  meaningfully  in  our  time  i 
to  disillusioned  peace  marchers,  to  alien-  ] 
ated  young  people,  to  their  disappointed  i 
and  guilt-ridden  parents,  to  their  neglect- 
ed and  sad  grandparents?  How  do  we  i 
minister  best  to  hurting  individuals,  c 
whether  married  or  unmarried,  to  fami-  i 
lies  in  tension  or  at  the  breaking  point?  c 
How  do  we,  at  the  same  time,  witness  to  I 
the  oppressive  structures  of  society  whose  ? 
“systems”  bring  violence  and  death  rath-  1 
er  than  peace  and  life?  How  do  we  most  il 
effectively  share  the  redeeming  love  of 
Christ  and  the  creating  power  of  the  u 
Holy  Spirit  with  the  many  helpless  and  li 
hopeless  people  we  meet  all  around  us?  j( 

As  a seminary  we  are  committed  to  c 
a biblically  grounded,  Christ-centered,  I 
community-building  ministry  of  reconcili-  t 
ation.  Helping  men  and  women  become  i 
contagious  carriers  of  the  good  news  of  | 
Christ’s  liberation  and  reconciliation  is  c 
a task  which  keeps  us  “praying  without  f 
ceasing.”  i 


154 


MARCH  6,  1973 


MdUlx 


Leland  Harder 


When  I took  my  scientifically  oriented 
i university  training,  I would  have  insisted 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a Menno- 
nite  sociology  any  more  than  there  is  a 
Mennonite  chemistry.  Now  after  nearly 
fifteen  years  of  seminary  teaching,  I see 
more  clearly  that  the  values  I have  im- 
bibed as  a Mennonite  have  deeply  affect- 
! ed  not  only  my  choice  of  problems  to 
investigate  as  a sociologist  of  the  church 
but  also  the  way  I think  about  those 
problems. 

There  are  intellectual  problems  to  re- 
search and  there  are  action  problems. 
An  intellectual  problem  is  what  one  fa- 
I mous  sociologist  called  a “crisis  in  a hu- 
, man  knowledge  system.”  An  intellectual 
problem  in  my  own  academic  research 
has  been  the  historical  contradiction  in 
Mennonite  churches  between  evange- 
lism and  pacifism. 

The  more  successful  we  become  in 
winning  new  members  of  non-Mennonite 
background,  the  more  we  lose  our  his- 
toric commitment  to  nonresistance.  The 
more  we  hold  to  our  traditional  peace 
position,  the  fewer  nonethnic  Mennonites 
we  are  able  to  bring  into  our  churches. 

A scientific  theory  which  I discovered 
in  an  anthropological  study  of  social 
change  in  central  Africa  provided  more 
resources  for  explaining  this  Mennonite 
dilemma  sociologically  than  anything  I 
have  found  in  theological  writings.  Still, 
while  it  helped  to  understand  the  prob- 
lem academically,  it  did  little  to  resolve 
it  practically. 

An  action  problem  is  motivated  by  the 
urge  to  do  something  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem so  that  a group  can  get  on  with  the 
job  of  achieving  its  goals,  which  in  our 
case  are  evangelism  and  peace  witness. 
As  a seminary  teacher  whose  training 
is  sociology,  I am  paid  not  just  to  work 
on  intellectual  problems  but  to  help  solve 
practical  problems  in  the  work  of  the 
church.  Church-sponsored  research  dif- 
fers from  pure  academic  research  in  that 
its  reference  group  is  a body  of  believ- 


ers who  want  to  be  faithful  rather  than 
a body  of  scholars  who  want  primarily 
to  expand  knowledge. 

Right  now  I am  having  a great  op- 
portunity to  engage  in  church-sponsored 
research  that  is  both  intellectual  and 
practical.  It  is  called  Church  Member 
Profile.  The  project  began  in  the  office 
of  the  director  of  congregational  liter- 
ature of  the  Mennonite  Publishing  House 
in  Pennsylvania.  Editors  and  writers  of 
Sunday  school  materials  face  a constant 
need  to  know  who  it  is  to  whom  they 
are  writing.  A church  member  survey 
offered  promise  of  yielding  a demograph- 
ic, religious,  and  social  profile  of  the 
people  who  sit  in  the  pews. 

Mennonite  Mutual  Aid,  Inc.,  was  ap- 
proached for  funding,  and  upon  its  en- 
couragement, an  invitation  to  participate 
was  extended  to  other  mcc  affiliated 
groups.  Five  groups  responded  affirma- 
tively: Mennonite  Church,  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church,  Mennonite 
Brethren  Church,  Brethren  in  Christ 
Church,  and  the  Evangelical  Mennonite 
Church.  Each  participating  group  ap- 
pointed one  representative  to  an  admin- 
istrative committee,  whose  task  it  was  to 
initiate  the  project  and  to  employ  the 
study  directors — J.  Howard  Kauffman  of 
Goshen  College  and  Leland  Harder  of 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary. 

Among  the  more  specific  objectives 
of  the  study  were  to  determine  the  ex- 
tent of  attendance  and  participation  of 
members  in  the  local  congregation,  the 
attitudes  of  members  toward  their  de- 
nomination, the  frequency  and  content 
of  private  and  family  religious  practices, 
the  degree  of  acceptance  of  the  doctrinal 
teachings  of  these  denominations,  the  at- 
titudes and  practices  in  relation  to  social 
and  political  issues  such  as  war,  race  re- 
lations, and  poverty,  the  position  of  mem- 
bers on  moral  issues  such  as  sex,  abor- 
tion, and  beverage  alcohol,  the  extent  of 
interest  in  and  toward  interchurch  co- 
operation. All  of  these  issues  were  to  be 


intercorrelated  with  each  other  and 
with  such  background  variables  as  age, 
sex,  education,  income,  and  rural  or  ur- 
ban place  of  residence. 

The  study  is  nearly  completed  and  the 
report  of  findings  is  being  written.  On  the 
specific  issue  of  our  historic  tension  be- 
tween evangelism  and  pacifism,  we  have 
made  an  interesting  discovery. 

We  noticed,  first,  that  evangelism  and 
pacifism  were  not  correlated  either  posi- 
tively or  negatively  in  the  attitudes  of 
our  respondents.  This  means  that  a per- 
son who  is  strong  in  evangelism  may  or 
may  not  also  be  strong  in  pacifism.  These 
two  commitments  have  worked  at  cross- 
purposes with  each  other  for  so  long 
that  it  was  interesting  to  discover  in  our 
data,  at  least,  that  they  stand  in  neutral 
relation  to  each  other  when  you  add 
up  all  our  people. 

We  noticed,  second,  that  both  com- 
mitments are  positively  related  to  active 
participation  in  the  church  and  strong 
support  for  Christian  education. 

With  this  evidence,  we  now  have  a 
practical  word  to  say  to  our  church  lead- 
ers: “Develop  some  new  curriculum  on 
the  integrated  concept  that  peace  is  part 
of  the  good  news  that  we  offer  in  evange- 
lism. Make  this  concept  a part  of  the 
discipline  that  active  church  members 
have  already  accepted.”  The  foundation 
for  this  new  curriculum  and  discipline 
was  laid  at  Fresno  in  the  adoption  of 
the  new  peace  statement  that  asserted, 
“The  way  of  peace  is  the  way  of  evan- 
gelism.” 

I once  heard  a professional  ball  player 
for  the  Chicago  White  Sox  say  that  he 
could  hardly  believe  that  he  was  doing 
exactly  what  he  liked  to  do  best,  and 
getting  paid  for  it.  That’s  about  the  way 
I feel  about  my  work  at  the  seminary. 


THE  MENNONITE 


155 


NEWS 

Seminary  without  walls:  Faculty  reports 

Joseph  Hertzler 


Teachers  from  the  Associated  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminaries  scattered  across  Can- 
ada and  the  United  States  during  the 
month  of  January.  This  experiment  now 
in  its  third  year  is  receiving  increasing 
support. 

Here’s  how  it  works. 

Invitations  are  received  from  many 
places  with  preference  given  to  inter- 
Mennonite  settings  and  areas  where  sev- 
eral congregations  agree  to  work  togeth- 
er in  sponsoring  the  program.  Each  se- 
ries of  meetings  or  workshops  is  tailored 
to  area  concerns. 

Of  course,  several  faculty  members 
remain  on  the  Elkhart  campus  to  teach 
classes  and  serve  as  resource  to  the  Inter- 
Mennonite  School  for  Ministers  as  well. 

Schedules  are  already  being  consid- 
ered for  next  January. 


The  off-campus  faculty  have  now  re- 
ported in. 

Statements  of  appreciation  from  par- 
ticipants are  numerous,  but  the  flow  is 
two-way.  The  teachers  did  not  simply 
share  their  spiritual  insights  and  under- 
standings with  the  only  flow  being  from 
teacher  to  students.  Instead  there  was 
mutual  learning.  The  faculty  have  re- 
turned to  campus  and  second  semester 
classes  have  begun  with  renewed  enthu- 
siasm. The  January  interterm  off-campus 
was  demanding  yet  refreshing. 

Which  faculty  members  scattered  this 
year? 

Jacob  Enz,  John  H.  Yoder,  Orlando 
Schmidt,  Paul  Miller,  Howard  Charles, 
Ross  Bender,  and  Ed  Stoltzfus  (alum- 
nus). 

Where  did  they  go? 


South  Dakota,  Manitoba,  Kansas,  Ne- 
braska, Minnesota,  Missouri,  Ohio,  and 
Pennsylvania. 

What  did  they  do?  Everything  cannot 
be  reported  but  the  following  reports 
should  give  some  impressions. 

Jacob  Enz  reports  that  “The  heart  of 
the  ambs  seminary-without-walls  program 
at  Freeman  College  was  an  intergenera- 
tional  college  class  in  biblical  theology: 
‘The  gospel  in  the  whole  Bible.’ 

“Adults  in  the  community  interested 
in  depth  study  of  the  Scriptures  were  in- 
vited to  two  identical  series  on  the 
Pentateuch:  ‘The  Bible’s  first  gospel’ 
at  the  college  and  at  Hutterthal  Church 
west  of  Freeman.  Registrations  for  the 
two  classes  numbered  about  fifty. 

“Open  to  the  entire  community  were 
three  lecture-messages  on  biblical  archae- 
ology dealing  with  Masada,  Dead  Sea 
Scrolls,  and  Ashdod.” 

John  H.  Yoder  reports  from  Winni- 
peg: “Since  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible 
College  does  not  have  an  interterm,  I, 
as  guest  teacher,  was  invited  to  teach 
in  the  existing  course  structures.  It  work- 
ed this  way.  Four  of  the  major  daytime 
courses  met  together. 

“Two  evening  classes,  which  meet 
weekly  and  are  attended  by  off-campus 
enrollees  as  well  as  regular  cmbc  stu- 
dents, were  combined  in  the  same  way: 
David  Schroeder’s  course  on  Jesus  based 
upon  Mark,  and  Helmut  Harder’s  course 
on  the  doctrine  of  man  which  had  fo- 
cused upon  Reinhold  Niebuhr  and  other 
contemporary  writers.  My  topics  were 
under  the  heading  of  human  nature,  sup- 
porting the  thesis  that  human  nature  is 
best  defined  not  by  natural  theology  but 
in  Jesus.” 

From  a cmbc  faculty  point  of  view, 
Mr.  Harder  comments  “John  Howard 
Yoder  was  among  us  for  ten  days,  and 
I have  the  distinct  impression  that  he  did 
not  go  unnoticed.  Attendance  at  his  lec- 
tures and  interest  in  his  ideas  grew  day 
to  day.  . . . We  listened,  I think,  be- 
cause we  were  drawn  by  the  integrity 
of  his  presentation.  . . . His  Anabaptist- 


J.  J.  Enz  illustrates  a point  during  a January  interterm  class  on  “The  Bible’s  first 
gospel’’  at  the  Hutterthal  Church,  Freeman,  South  Dakota. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


156 


MARCH  6,  1973 


Mennonite  approach  helped  us  to  sift 
out  what  is  relevant  in  our  tradition.  . . 

Orlando  Schmidt  reports,  “My  assign- 
ment included  three  workshops  in  three 
different  communities,  with  a different 
request  from  each  place.  At  Newton, 
Kansas,  the  Western  District  Confer- 
ence joined  with  Bethel  College  to  spon- 
sor a worship  and  the  arts  workshop. 
My  responsibility  was  to  present  a paper 
on  ‘Changing  concepts  and  patterns  in 
Christian  worship  — implications  for 
Mennonites  and  the  fine  arts’  and  to 
participate  in  panels  and  other  discus- 
sions. At  Beatrice,  Nebraska,  there  was 
a meeting  with  organists,  private  organ 
j lessons,  and  two  evening  meetings  on 
the  subject  of  improving  congregational 
singing  and  contemporary  church  music. 
In  the  Bethel  Church  at  Mountain  Lake, 
Minnesota,  subjects  included  an  intro- 
duction of  the  Mennonite  hymnal,  con- 
temporary church  music,  my  own  pil- 
| grimage  of  faith,  and  reporting  on  a trip 
I to  Russia. 

“This  was  quite  a variety  of  respon- 
sibilities, involving  many  different  age 
groups  and  interests.  I appreciated  very 
much  the  opportunity  to  learn  in  a new 
way  what  kinds  of  problems  congrega- 
tions are  facing  in  corporate  worship.” 

The  Minority  Leadership  Training 
Program  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  January  2- 
20  was  sponsored  jointly  by  the  Minority 
Ministries  Council  and  the  Board  of 
Congregational  Ministries  of  the  Menno- 
nite Church.  The  group  of  approximately 
fifteen  registrants  was  composed  of 
black,  Spanish,  and  a few  white  persons 
from  various  parts  of  the  U.  S.  and 
Canada.  The  seminar  dealt  with  such 
basic  topics  as  New  Testament  inter- 
pretation, counseling,  evangelistic  tech- 


niques, and  theology  from  the  perspec- 
tive of  minority  groups. 

Howard  Charles  reports,  “It  was  a 
great  experience  to  be  a part  of  this 
group  for  one  week.  In  the  process  of 
dialog  over  the  issues  with  which  the 
group  struggled,  it  is  only  natural  that 
differences  of  opinion  and  feeling  should 
emerge  both  within  the  respective  groups 
and  between  them.  I personally  became 
aware  of  how  difficult  it  is  as  a white 
person  to  understand  how  many  issues 
really  appear  to  my  black  or  Spanish 
brothers.  The  converse,  of  course,  is  also 
true.  But  there  was  an  eagerness  to  work 
at  this  problem  and  to  learn  with  one 
another.  I sensed,  too,  a genuine  reach- 
ing out  toward  one  another  in  brother- 
hood. There  were  moments  of  frank 
confession,  of  mutual  affirmation,  of 
common  rededication  that  helped  us  all 
experience  the  reality  which  the  word 
church  is  meant  to  symbolize.” 

Paul  Miller  reports  that  during  the  sec- 
ond week  of  the  Minority  Leadership 
Program,  “The  laboratory  method  of 
teaching  counseling  proved  to  be  quite 
useful  in  the  situation,  and  the  applica- 
tion of  counseling  insights  to  the  work 
of  evangelism  was  readily  made.  A 
workshop  of  this  length  could  have  re- 
fresher value  for  experienced  pastors 
but  was  too  brief  to  provide  foundation- 
al knowledge  for  some  of  the  younger 
men.  The  absence  of  most  of  the  pastors’ 
wives  was  a serious  limitation,  at  least 
in  my  opinion. 

“Minority  congregations  tend  to  be 
serving  in  the  inner  city,  in  situations 
of  acute  human  need,  with  severely  lim- 
ited resources.  Leaders  in  these  congre- 
gations are  working  with  courage  against 
almost  unbelievable  odds,  and  the  church 


at  large  owes  them  all  the  brotherly  sup- 
port and  prayers  possible.” 

From  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Miller  re- 
ported on  a leadership  seminar  which 
met  at  Bethel  Mennonite  Church  in  Lan- 
caster, and  Keystone  Bible  Institute 
which  met  at  Christopher  Dock  High 
School. 

The  lab  sessions  with  congregational 
leaders  in  Lancaster  focused  on  leader- 
ship methods  and  styles,  relations  in 
groups,  and  methods  of  decision  making. 
A time  of  sharing  and  searching  with 
members  of  “house  churches”  and  other 
prayer  groups  was  meaningful.  Vital 
group  life  within  the  congregation  was 
the  general  focus  of  the  entire  seminar. 

The  books  of  Galatians  and  Colos- 
sians  were  the  focus  at  the  Keystone 
Bible  Institute.  Learning  labs  and  “ac- 
tion-parable” were  two  approaches  used 
to  dig  into  the  biblical  content. 

Ross  Bender  reports  on  the  School  for 
Ministers,  Harrisonville,  Missouri  (Jan- 
uary 8-12).  Sixteen  pastors  and  wives 
participated  in  this  four-day  school  led 
by  Ross  Bender  and  Ed  Stoltzfus.  Dur- 
ing the  afternoon,  Mr.  Bender  led  a 
marriage  enrichment  group  experience. 
The  purpose  was  to  enable  the  pastors 
and  their  wives  to  enrich  their  communi- 
cation with  each  other  and  to  work 
through  issues  arising  out  of  their  pas- 
toral ministry  which  put  stresses  on  their 
family  life.  The  evenings  were  spent  ex- 
ploring the  subject  of  Christian  family 
living  with  families  of  the  community. 

Ed  Stoltzfus  led  the  ministers  and  their 
wives  in  a study  of  the  first  chapters  of 
the  book  of  Acts.  In  addition,  he  led 
them  in  several  exercises  in  preparing 
expository  sermons  based  on  these  pas- 
sages. 


Willis  Breckbill,  conference  minister  for  the  Ohio  Conference 
(Mennonite  Church ),  speaks  at  the  Inter-Mennonite  School  for 
Ministers  in  Elkhart.  Mr.  Breckbill  was  one  of  three  confer- 


ence ministers  discussing  practical  pastoral  concerns.  The 
basic  theme  for  the  school  was  “Toward  an  Anabaptist-Menno- 
nite  practical  theology  of  evangelism." 


New  mission  training  center  begins 

Robert  Ramseyer 


The  Overseas  Mission  Training  Center, 
in  operation  since  last  fall,  was  set  up 
by  two  Mennonite  mission  boards  (Men- 
nonite  Board  of  Missions,  Elkhart,  and 
General  Conference  Commission  on  Ov- 
erseas Mission)  and  the  Associated  Men- 
nonite Biblical  Seminaries  in  an  effort 
to  find  answers  to  the  problems  of  train- 
ing people  for  overseas  ministries  in  an 
increasingly  complex  world. 

The  design  calls  for  bringing  together 
the  resources  of  the  seminaries  and 
specialized  outside  resources  in  a per- 
sonalized training  program  with  the  stu- 
dent’s specific  assignment  as  the  ultimate 
goal.  It  is,  of  course,  much  too  early 
to  make  evaluations  of  the  new  program, 
but  the  need  for  some  modifications  in 
the  original  idea  is  already  apparent. 

Originally  it  was  felt  that  the  training 
center  would  exist  primarily  to  prepare 


new  missionaries  going  out  for  the  first 
time,  helping  them  to  learn  how  they 
can  effectively  share  the  good  news  about 
Jesus  Christ  with  people  of  another  lan- 
guage and  background  in  a different  part 
of  the  world.  While  this  is  still  an  objec- 
tive, during  these  first  months  the  center 
has  been  very  much  occupied  in  working 
with  experienced  missionaries  on  fur- 
lough, trying  to  help  them  use  their  fur- 
lough time  in  ways  that  will  make  them 
more  effective  ministers  in  their  next 
term  of  service  overseas. 

For  some,  this  has  meant  study  in 
residence  on  the  Associated  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminaries  campus  in  Elkhart. 
For  many  more,  it  has  meant  participa- 
tion in  short-term  seminars  and  con- 
ferences on  specialized  subjects  at  a va- 
riety of  places.  In  our  rapidly  changing 
world,  missionaries  are  conscious  of  their 


continuing  need  for  training  and  re- 
training in  order  to  minister  effectively. 

The  Overseas  Mission  Training  Center 
has  also  been  able  to  serve  as  a medium 
for  bringing  together  resources  to  focus 
on  a special  mission  topic.  In  February, 
missionaries,  mission  executives,  and 
seminary  personnel  came  together  to 
share  their  mission  experiences  in  India 
over  the  years  and  to  see  what  can  be 
learned  from  this  for  the  work  of  mis- 
sions in  other  places. 

During  this  first  year,  men  and  women 
who  have  been  or  will  be  ministering  in 
India,  Japan,  Ghana,  Zaire,  Colombia, 
and  Puerto  Rico  have  participated.  Based 
on  their  experience  and  evaluations, 
modifications  will  continue  to  be  made 
in  an  effort  to  make  the  center  an  agency 
which  can  help  our  workers  to  receive 
the  training  which  they  need. 


Taxes-for-peace  fund  new  channel  for  witness 


The  following  article  was  written  by  Wal- 
ton Hackman , executive  secretary  of  the 
mcc  Peace  Section: 

During  the  past  year  the  mcc  Peace 
Section  has  received  $4,000  in  contribu- 
tions made  in  lieu  of  tax  payments.  This 
was  a new  phenomenon.  In  previous 
years  only  several  hundred  dollars  were 
contributed  in  this  way.  The  contributions 
were  unsolicited;  they  were  made  by  in- 
dividuals whose  consciences  would  not 
allow  them  to  pay  taxes  which  were  used 
for  war  purposes. 

Since  a substantial  number  of  individ- 
uals from  the  mcc  constituency  are  look- 
ing for  an  alternative  way  to  use  tax 
monies  otherwise  collected  for  war  pur- 
poses, the  Peace  Section  took  action  at 
its  November  meeting  to  establish  a 
taxes-for-peace  fund  to  which  such  con- 
tributions could  be  made. 

Some  of  the  funds  contributed  last 
year  were  contributions  made  in  lieu  of 
the  10  percent  (now  9 percent)  tele- 
phone excise  tax  which,  according  to 
Wilbur  Mills,  chairman  of  the  United 
States  House  ways  and  means  committee, 
is  a tax  needed  to  pay  for  the  Vietnam 
war.  Other  funds  contributed  in  lieu 
of  tax  payments  came  from  individuals 
who  withheld  part  of  their  federal  in- 
come tax.  Contrary  to  what  many  peo- 
ple hoped,  the  end  of  United  States  mil- 
itary action  in  Vietnam  does  not  mean 
a reduction  in  military  spending.  The 


proposed  budget  increase  for  the  Penta- 
gon next  year  is  $4,200,000,000. 

Those  who  have  made  contributions 
to  the  Peace  Section  in  lieu  of  tax  pay- 
ments during  past  years  are  not,  as  some 
might  suspect,  the  young  activists,  but 
include  businessmen,  medical  doctors, 
teachers,  farmers,  and  administrators  rep- 
resenting a good  cross  section  of  the 
Mennonite  brotherhood. 

Young  people,  especially  students  who 
are  not  in  earning  situations  of  paying 
taxes,  contributed  very  little  in  lieu  of 
tax  payments.  Most  of  the  contributions 
came  from  people  over  thirty. 

The  taxes-for-peace  fund,  as  it  is  being 
called,  is  being  established  for  persons 
whose  conscience  against  war  and  kill- 
ings will  not  allow  them  to  pay  the  por- 
tion of  their  taxes  that  goes  for  war  pur- 
poses. It  should  be  clearly  understood, 
that  contributions  made  to  this  fund  will 
not  satisfy  the  Internal  Revenue  Service. 
It  will,  however,  provide  individuals  with 
a receipt  proving  that  their  intentions 
were  not  to  defraud,  but  that  their  with- 
holding some  portion  of  their  tax  monies 
was  a matter  of  conscientious  objection 
to  war  and  militarism. 

The  monies  contributed  to  the  fund 
will  be  used  for  the  work  of  the  Peace 
Section  and  will  be  a small  effort  toward 
waging  peace  rather  than  war. 

With  the  need  for  manpower  in  the 
armed  forces  greatly  reduced  and  with 
the  use  of  more  sophisticated  remote- 


controlled  technical  weapons,  it  is  in- 
creasingly difficult  to  express  one’s  con- 
scientious objection  to  war.  Mennonites 
have  traditionally  withheld  their  bodies 
as  a protest  against  war.  Now  few  bodies 
are  needed  and  many  more  dollars  are 
needed  for  the  development  and  mainte- 
nance of  expensive  war  machinery. 

Contributions  to  the  taxes-for-peace 
fund  may  be  one  tangible  way  in  which 
conscientious  objectors  can  positively  ex- 
press peace  through  their  tax  dollars. 

Lester  Janzen  will  help 
in  seminary  fund  drive 

Lester  Janzen,  director  of  stewardship 
and  communication  for  the  General 
Conference,  will  join  the  staff  of  Menno- 
nite  Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart,  Indiana, 
beginning  July  1. 

He  will  serve  half-time  as  General 
Conference  director  of  the  seminary’s 
capital  fund  drive  for  library  expansion. 
He  will  remain  half-time  in  his  present 
position  and  work  from  Newton,  Kansas. 

The  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminaries  are  asking  for  $400,000  over 
the  next  two  years  for  expansion  of  the 
present  library,  with  $200,000  to  come 
from  the  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary 
constituency  and  $200,000  from  the  Go- 
shen Biblical  Seminary  constituency. 

Mr.  Janzen  has  worked  in  the  General 
Conference  central  offices  since  Septem- 
ber 1963. 


158 


MARCH  6,  1973 


Disturbed  children  helped  at  learning  center 


The  following  report  was  given  at  the 
mcc  ( Manitoba ) annual  meeting  by  Kathy 
Janzen,  who  is  one  of  the  staff  members 
at  Alexander  Place. 

Alexander  Place  is  a learning  center  for 
emotionally  disturbed  children  jointly 
sponsored  by  mcc  and  the  Winnipeg 
School  Division.  Mcc  provides  the  build- 
ing, the  staff,  and  a working  budget, 
while  the  city  of  Winnipeg  pays  the  sal- 
aries of  one  teacher  and  two  teacher 
aides  and  furnishes  the  project  with  the 
necessary  supplies.  Our  stated  purpose 
is  to  reintegrate  our  students  into  the 
regular  school  system. 

Alexander  Place  came  to  be  because 
Clarence  Epp,  former  pastor  of  the  Berg- 
thaler  Mennonite  Church  in  Winnipeg 
and  present  director  of  Crossroads,  no- 
ticed an  unusual  number  of  school-age 
children  on  the  street  during  school 
hours.  He  became  disturbed  enough 
about  the  matter  to  contact  the  Winni- 
peg school  board,  Children’s  Aid  Soci- 
ety, and  the  Child  Guidance  Clinic  and 
finally  asked  mcc  if  it  would  consider 
developing  a project  in  this  area.  After 
long  negotiations,  Alexander  Place  was 
set  up.  It  is  located  in  an  old  house  on 
Alexander  Avenue  in  the  center  of  the 
city. 

The  reasons  for  nonattendance  at 


school  are  various,  but  most  center  about 
the  family.  Often  these  children  come 
from  homes  where  the  whole  atmosphere 
is  so  disturbing  and  unsettling  that  they 
are  unable  to  function  adequately  in  an 
impersonal  classroom  setting.  This  leads 
to  further  and  further  alienation  until 
the  child  refuses  to  attend  school  and 
the  teacher  is  thankful  he’s  not  there. 

Alexander  Place  has  been  in  opera- 
tion since  January  1972.  We  have  dealt 
with  a total  of  eighteen  children  ranging 
in  age  from  nine  to  fifteen,  of  whom 
eight  are  on  the  rolls  at  present. 

Of  the  ten  who  have  left  us,  one  has 
returned  to  regular  school,  one  has  gone 
to  Robertson  House,  two  have  been 
placed  in  foster  homes  in  rural  Mani- 
toba, two  have  been  placed  in  correction- 
al schools,  one  is  with  the  Clinic  Tutorial 
Service,  and  three  have  quit  entirely. 

All  of  our  children  have  functioned  at 
such  a low  emotional  level  that  it  is 
difficult  to  gauge  their  intellectual  ca- 
pacities. So  our  main  endeavor  is  to 
provide  them  with  an  atmosphere  of  sup- 
port and  trust  in  order  that  they  will 
be  able  to  develop  their  abilities. 

Our  daily  routine  encompasses  a great 
deal  more  than  academic  work.  We  do 
some  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic 
in  the  morning.  The  afternoons  are 
spent  in  recreational  activities — games. 


art,  handicrafts,  films,  field  trips,  swim- 
ming, skating,  etc.  We  have  an  arrange- 
ment whereby  we  have  the  use  of  the 
gym  in  a neighboring  school  two  times 
during  each  six-day  cycle.  In  addition, 
we  offer  a hot  lunch  program  which  has 
turned  out  to  be  a major  learning  expe- 
rience in  itself  as  well  as  providing 
necessary  nourishment. 

Moreover,  we  have  spent  much  time 
and  effort  treating  colds,  impetigo,  and 
lice  and  trying  to  develop  some  stan- 
dards of  health  and  cleanliness. 

Progress  is  very  gradual,  but  in  retro- 
spect it  is  also  very  marked. 

• Billy*  has  learned  to  write  and  to 
read  phonetically  and  has  developed  a 
much  higher  tolerance  of  frustration. 

• Susie  is  much  healthier  and  happier 
and  has  made  progress  in  her  social  skills. 

• Rita  smiles  and  bubbles  more  often 
than  she  sits  in  a comer  looking  at  the 
floor. 

• David  has  learned  to  work  inde- 
pendently even  if  at  an  exasperatingly 
slow  pace. 

• Dennis  has  matured  greatly  physi- 
cally, emotionally,  and  academically  so 
that  he  now  seeks  his  peers  as  friends 
rather  than  boys  three  or  four  years 
younger. 

• Ronald  is  a clever  boy  who  will  on 
occasion  withdraw  and  refuse  to  partici- 
pate in  any  activity.  We  still  need  to 
leam  how  to  stimulate  his  very  capable 
mind. 

• Arthur  and  Larry  have  only  in  the 
last  two  days  begun  to  communicate 
verbally.  They  are  so  unsocialized  that 
we  have  great  difficulty  in  coping  with 
them  and  in  discovering  just  how  we 
can  best  relate  to  them. 

An  institution  like  Alexander  Place  is 
necessary  to  surround  children  who  are 
severely  deprived  in  every  imaginable 
way  with  a loving  atmosphere  so  that 
they  will  be  able  to  grow  and  develop 
positively. 


*All  names  used  are  fictitious. 


Richard  Catlett  ( background ,)  an  mcc  volunteer  from  Florida,  is  one  of  the  three 
staff  members  at  Alexander  Place  in  Winnipeg.  The  learning  center  is  attempting  to 
help  inner-city  children  who  have  dropped  out  of  school  because  of  intense  alienation. 


THE 


MENNONITE 


159 


More  Zaire  girls  prepare  for  nursing 


The  nursing  profession,  usually  the 
province  of  women  in  North  America, 
has  been  open  primarily  to  men  in  the 
Central  African  country  of  Zaire. 

But  the  situation  is  changing  in  Zaire, 
and  nursing  schools  are  opening  their 
doors  to  women  in  larger  numbers. 

One  of  these  nursing  schools  is  the 
Christian  Medical  Institute  of  Kasai 
(imck),  directed  by  Jeanne  Zook,  mis- 
sionary under  Africa  Inter-Mennonite 
Mission,  in  which  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission  cooperates. 

Mrs.  Zook  has  reported  recently  that 
out  of  sixty-five  students  in  the  four- 
year  program,  twenty  are  girls. 

“In  previous  times,  four  or  five  (girls) 
were  quite  a few,”  she  said.  “The  school 
decided  several  years  ago  to  encourage 
and  to  recruit  more  girls,  and  we  also 
have  just  completed  building  a new 
girls’  dormitory,  all  of  which  have  in- 
creased the  number  of  young  women  in 
the  school. 

“We  hope  to  see  the  number  climb. 
It  would  be  unfortunate  to  see  a serious 
decline  of  male  nurses,  though,  and  we 
would  like  to  keep  a balance.  Both  are 
needed,  and  each  can  do  some  jobs  that 
the  other  sex  cannot.” 

The  nursing  school  was  started  in 
1954  by  Presbyterian  doctors  and  nurses 
at  Lubondai  and  moved  to  its  present 
site  eight  miles  outside  the  city  of  Ka- 
nanga  (population  about  400,000)  when 
the  government  offered  the  buildings 
of  a former  high  school. 

Mennonites  have  been  a part  of  the 
school  officially  for  four  years.  However, 
Hulda  Banman  worked  there  before  that, 
and  the  Mennonite  church  has  had  a 
member  on  the  school’s  governing  board 
for  several  years.  Mrs.  Zook  said  it  is 
hoped  that  the  Methodist  church  will 
also  join  in  the  effort,  since  many  of 
its  students  are  admitted  each  year. 

The  nursing  school  admits  students 
after  they  finish  the  equivalent  of  the 
ninth  grade.  At  the  school,  they  spend 
four  years  completing  the  three  upper 
grades  of  high  school  plus  nursing  stud- 
ies. 

“This  requires  a full  schedule  for  both 
the  students  and  the  teachers,”  Mrs. 
Zook  said. 

The  studies  lead  to  a diploma  as  a 
registered  nurse — the  highest  nursing 
program  in  the  Zairian  school  system. 
The  school  is  one  of  two  Protestant 
nursing  schools,  out  of  thirteen  such 
schools  in  the  country.  Most  students 


are  seventeen  to  twenty-five  years  old 
and  unmarried,  although  a few  younger 
students  and  married  students  are  ad- 
mitted. 

Fourteen  nurses  were  graduated  last 
year  and  all  found  positions  easily,  Mrs. 
Zook  reported.  Many  of  the  graduates 
work  in  church-related  hospitals  and  dis- 
pensaries. Mrs.  Zook  also  encourages 
some  to  go  into  government  service. 

“They  can  render  a real  service  to 
infuse  these  efforts  with  a Christian  con- 
cern,” she  said.  “They  also  can  help 
to  upgrade  the  work  and  the  techniques 
in  those  places.  ...  I feel  that  our 
graduates  can  be  missionaries  wherever 
they  work.  They  can  proclaim  the  love 
of  Christ  to  people  in  any  setting,  and 
some  of  them  do  it  better  in  an  area 
where  there  is  no  organized  witness.” 

Since  there  has  never  been  a hospital 
on  this  school  site,  the  students  have 
had  to  travel  away  to  get  their  practical 
experience  in  hospitals.  However,  this 
year  Sam  Ediger  and  others  are  building 
a 150-bed  hospital  on  the  land  adjoining 
the  school  property. 

“We  hope  that  within  a year’s  time 
we  will  be  able  to  give  our  students  their 
training  in  both  classwork  and  hospital 
work  right  here,”  Mrs.  Zook  said,  “The 
walls  are  rising  fast.” 

Putting  pounds 

Griselda  Shelly,  who  is  an  mcc  volun- 
teer in  Bangladesh,  has  written  this  report: 

Cradling  a 7 Vi -pound  baby  boy  in  one’s 
arms  is  nothing  unusual.  But  Abid  was 
one  year  and  nine  months  old.  As  I 
held  him,  his  feeble  cry  stopped.  His 
brown  eyes  searched  my  face.  I won- 
dered what  miracle  would  change  Abid 
into  an  active  healthy,  happy  child  in 
the  one  month  or  more  that  he  would 
receive  food,  medicine,  and  loving  atten- 
tion here  in  the  new  mcc  child  care  cen- 
ter in  Mirpur,  Bangladesh. 

On  January  6 at  Mirpur,  five  miles 
north  of  Dacca  city,  a child  rehabilita- 
tion center  was  opened.  The  community 
has  a concentration  of  160,000  Biharis 
and  a large  number  of  poor  Bengalis. 
The  center  is  open  to  all  needy  infants 
and  children  up  to  the  age  of  five. 

The  center  could  accommodate  thirty 
children.  During  the  first  week,  twelve 
children  attended.  For  one  month,  on 
the  recommendation  of  a doctor,  the 


Most  of  the  funds  for  the  hospital  are 
a gift  from  the  women’s  organization  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  South. 

“We  are  hoping  to  open  a leprosy 
treatment  center  as  well  as  a nutritional 
village,  where  malnourished  children’s 
parents  can  stay  and  learn  how  to  feed 
their  children  an  adequate  diet.  An  out- 
patient center  and  public  health  facility 
are  also  being  planned,”  she  said. 

One  problem  is  the  shortage  of  Zair- 
ian teachers  for  the  nursing  school.  Mrs. 
Zook  explained  that  there  is  no  program 
in  Zaire  above  the  nursing  school  itself 
for  studying  nursing,  and  it  is  difficult 
for  graduates  to  begin  teaching  without 
additional  preparation. 

“And  it  is  essential  that  we  have  Zaire 
nationals  who  begin  to  assume  the  bur- 
den of  the  school,”  she  said.  “It  is  a 
dilemma.  But  God  will  show  us  a way.” 

This  year  there  are  two  Zairian  teach- 
ers, including  a new  teacher,  Mubedi- 
Ilunga,  in  science  and  math.  The  total 
faculty  includes  four  nurse  teachers, 
four  doctors,  two  laboratory  technicians, 
one  science-math  teacher,  and  one  teach- 
er for  languages  and  humanities. 

Jeanne  Zook  and  her  husband  John, 
a physician  in  Kananga,  are  members 
of  the  Alberta  Community  Mennonite 
Church,  Portland,  Oregon. 

on  frail  bodies 

children  come  daily  from  9 a.m.  to  3:30 
p.m.  An  intensive  nutrition  program 
fortifies  children  who  are  either  mal- 
nourished or  who  have  been  seriously 
ill  and  are  unable  to  recover  on  the 
minimal  rations  that  their  homes  can 
afford. 

On  arrival  at  the  center,  each  child  is 
bathed  outside  the  building  with  water 
heated  over  an  open  fire.  Wobbling  on 
spindly  legs,  the  child  often  needs  to  be 
supported  to  stand  for  a shower  bath. 
Wrapped  in  a brightly  colored  towel, 
he  is  carried  inside  the  center  and  dressed 
in  clean  clothes  while  his  own  clothes 
are  being  laundered.  Skin  infections  are 
prevalent,  especially  in  this  humid  trop- 
ical climate.  So  medications  are  applied 
where  required.  Weighing-in  time  will 
become  a fascinating  ritual  as  ounces 
and  pounds  change  frail  bodies  into 
healthy  filled-out  children. 

Mid-morning  rations  are  cream  of 
wheat  and  a cup  of  milk,  followed  by  a 
round  of  medications  for  those  who  are 


160 


MARCH  6,  1973 


A nurse  at  the  child  nutrition  center, 
j Bangladesh,  bathes  a child.  Malnourished 
or  seriously  ill  children  also  receive  med- 
ication, a noon  meal,  and  two  snacks 
| during  the  day. 

ill.  The  noon  meal  of  rice,  dal  (lentils), 
vegetables,  and  meat  is  a typical  Bangla- 
desh menu.  After  a rest  period  comes 
a snack  of  wsb  (wheat  soya  blend), 
fruit,  biscuits,  and  tea.  Back  in  their 
own  clothes,  the  children  head  for  home 
to  spend  the  night  with  their  families. 

What  has  this  six  and  one-half  hours 
meant  for  Javed?  He  is  five  years  old, 
weighs  10%  pounds,  and  cannot  stand 
up  alone.  Javed’s  three-year-old  brother, 
Jahed,  has  a slight  edge,  weighing  14V2 
pounds.  But  their  little  brother,  Papu, 
IY2,  did  not  get  help  in  time.  He  died 
eight  days  after  the  center  opened. 

When  I sewed  layettes  for  mcc,  half 
a world  away,  I never  envisioned  two-  to 
five-year-olds  wrapped  in  a receiving 
blanket. 

The  Mirpur  project  is  a joint  effort 
of  four  voluntary  agencies.  The  building 
is  provided  by  the  American  Southern 
Baptist  Convention,  nursing  sisters  by 
the  Missionaries  of  Charity,  medical  per- 
sonnel by  the  International  Committee 
of  the  Red  Cross,  and  material  aid, 
transportation,  and  cash  expenditures  by 
Mennonite  Central  Committee. 

Groups  of  children  will  rotate  monthly 
in  this  program  of  feeding  and  medica- 
tion. Mothers  also  will  benefit  as  they 
see  hygienic  techniques  being  used  in  the 
care  of  their  children.  A similar  pro- 


gram in  Khulna,  another  Bangladesh 
town,  since  July  1972  has  shown  that 
the  results  are  almost  immediately  visi- 
ble and  so  rewarding  even  in  one  month’s 
time. 

One  of  these  days  Abid  and  the  others 
may  even  smile. 

No  firm  figures  yet 
on  CMBC  building  plans 

Cost  estimates  on  the  library-archives 
and  office-chapel  planned  for  the  Cana- 
dian Mennonite  Bible  College  campus 
are  not  yet  firm.  The  figures  quoted  in 
the  February  20  issue  (page  118)  were 
used  in  board  sessions  as  working  figures 
based  on  rough  preliminary  plans  which 
are  still  in  the  process  of  being  revised. 
Accurate  cost  estimates  will  be  made 
public  as  soon  as  the  building  plans  and 
construction  details  become  final. 

Paxman  Gerber  not  listed 
among  Vietnam  captives 

Daniel  Gerber,  an  mcc  Paxman  captured 
by  Viet  Cong  guerrillas  in  1962,  was  not 
included  on  the  first  lists  of  those  held 
captive  in  Vietnam.  It  is  possible,  how- 
ever, that  he  is  still  alive  and  will  be 
released  eventually. 

Mr.  Gerber  was  serving  at  a Christian 
and  Missionary  Alliance  leprosarium  at 
Banmethout  when  he  and  two  mission- 
aries were  abducted  by  the  Viet  Cong 
nearly  eleven  years  ago. 

No  persons  captured  before  1964  have 
appeared  on  any  list  furnished  by  North 
Vietnam  thus  far.  The  U.S.  State  De- 
partment has  confirmed,  however,  that 
two  American  missionaries  captured  by 
the  Viet  Cong  in  1968  died  in  captivity. 
They  were  Betty  Olsen  and  Henry  Blood, 
who  were  also  both  taken  captive  at 
Banmethout. 

Native  Christians 
ordain  white  minister 

The  Christians  at  Bloodvein  River,  a 
Lake  Winnipeg  Indian  community  which 
has  been  served  by  the  Mennonite  Pio- 
neer Mission  since  1959,  ordained  Abe 
Hoeppner  to  the  ministry  Sunday,  Feb- 
ruary 4. 

The  Christian  fellowship  at  Bloodvein 
River  had  expressed  the  need  for  an  or- 
dained minister  in  their  community  for 
some  years.  After  a number  of  meetings 
among  themselves  and  with  Mennonite 
Pioneer  Mission  representatives,  they 
unanimously  selected  Abe  Hoeppner  to 
be  the  man. 

Mr.  Hoeppner  has  been  the  mpm 


worker  in  Bloodvein  since  1969.  Earlier 
he  had  three  years  of  Pax  experience 
with  mcc  in  India. 

The  group  was  anxious  to  have  an 
ordained  person  in  the  community  who 
could  officiate  at  weddings,  funerals,  bap- 
tisms, communion  services,  and  child 
dedications.  Previously  they  had  to  wait 
for  an  outside  person  to  come  in  to  pro- 
vide these  services. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hoeppner  are  both  from 
southern  Manitoba.  She  is  a member  of 
the  Bergthaler  Church  in  Winnipeg  and 
he  is  a member  of  the  Bergthaler  Church 
in  Morden. 

Words  & deeds 

Another  American  Friends  Service 
Committee  shipment  of  medical  mate- 
rials to  the  Viet  Due  Hospital  in  Hanoi 
is  now  being  prepared.  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee,  has  contributed  $15,000 
for  this  shipment.  The  mcc  Peace  Sec- 
tion has  helped  raise  Mennonite  and 
Brethren  in  Christ  awareness  of  the  hu- 
man needs  of  the  Vietnamese  people,  not 
only  in  South,  but  also  in  North  Viet- 
nam. They  have  done  this  partially  by 
suggesting  Vietnam  Christmas  projects 
in  1971  and  1972.  Concerned  individuals 
contributed  $23,000  in  1972  for  the 

1971  Vietnam  Christmas  appeal.  About 
$20,000  has  already  come  in  for  the 

1972  Vietnam  Christmas  appeal,  and 
contributions  continue  strong.  Contribu- 
tions for  the  1972  appeal  are  being  used 
partially  to  order  multiple  subscriptions 
and  available  back  issues  of  medical  and 
other  scientific  publications.  These  were 
specifically  requested  by  a medical  doc- 
tor at  the  Viet  Due  Hospital,  Hanoi, 
when  an  afsc  doctor  visited  there  last 
year  with  a medical  aid  shipment. 


The  twentieth  annual  World  Leprosy 
Day  was  observed  February  18.  Oliver 
W.  Hasselblad,  president  of  American 
Leprosy  Missions,  said  the  observance 
was  a means  of  focusing  attention  on 
the  needs  of  leprosy  sufferers,  estimated 
at  10-15,000,000.  “Despite  breakthroughs 
in  research,”  he  said,  “the  leprosy  prob- 
lem is  still  far  from  a solution.  We  need 
new  and  better  drugs,  new  and  better 
methods  of  reaching  those  in  need.  The 
main  purpose  of  the  annual  observance 
is  to  offer  opportunity,  especially  for 
church  people,  to  explode  myths  and 
superstitions,  and  to  disseminate  facts 
about  the  disease  and  its  victims.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


161 


Relate  to  the  disreputable,  seminar  told 

Leona  Dyck 


“Christ,  the  Christian,  and  the  offender 
are  all  sons  of  God  together,”  said  J.  T. 
L.  James  in  an  address  to  the  100  parti- 
cipants in  a seminar  on  the  church  and 
the  offender,  sponsored  by  mcc  (Mani- 
toba) in  Winnipeg  February  9 and  10. 

Mr.  James,  an  Anglican  priest  and 
former  chaplain  in  a provincial  jail,  is 
now  a Probation  Services  staff  member. 
He  spoke  at  the  first  seminar  session. 

He  presented  the  basic  theology  of  a 
mission  to  offenders  as  the  Christian  be- 
ing priest,  prophet,  and  pastor.  In  the 
priestly  role,  according  to  Hebrews,  he 
said,  we  should  be  like  Christ,  and  are 
called  to  find  the  Christ  in  our  neighbor. 
We  need  to  ask  ourselves,  he  added, 
whether  our  neighbor  can,  in  turn,  see 
Christ  in  us. 

Though  the  goal  in  a mission  to 
offenders  should  always  be  salvation, 
he  said,  we  should  not  feel  that  we  have 
failed  if  we  don’t  get  to  “chapter  and 
verse”  right  away.  Salvation  can  be  at- 
tained through  service  and  “our  witness 
should  be  ...  to  those  whom  others 
reject.”  4 


He  pointed  out  that  Jesus  was  a friend 
to  those  whom  society  rejected.  He  felt 
at  home  with  the  sinners  as  they  did 
with  him.  In  fact,  Jesus  even  invited  him- 
self home  with  Zacchaeus.  Most  of  us, 
said  Mr.  James,  wouldn’t  be  “caught 
dead  with  the  disreputable.  But  Jesus 
was  caught  dead  between  two!”  It  is 
more  important,  however,  that  he  was 
“caught”  alive  with  them. 

By  becoming  a friend  to  the  offender 
we  do  not  necessarily  condone  his  ac- 
tions. Jesus  too  loved  the  sinners  but 
hated  their  sin,  said  Mr.  James.  He  cau- 
tioned that  we  should  not  be  overly  con- 
cerned with  success  in  this  endeavor. 
“If  you  have  seen  something  of  Christ 
in  him  and  he  in  you,  then  you  have  not 
failed.” 

He  then  pointed  to  the  prophet  role 
as  the  “sound”  role,  both  in  terms  of 
being  genuine  and  being  audible.  The 
church,  he  said,  needs  to  know  what  is 
going  on  in  the  area  of  corrections  so 
that  it  can  speak  with  a knowing  voice. 

In  the  “what  we  do”  or  pastoral  role, 
said  Mr.  James,  each  of  us  must  get 


involved.  “You  can’t  hire  someone  to 
do  your  loving  for  you.”  Leaving  it  up 
to  the  state,  the  chaplain,  or  the  Salva- 
tion Army  isn’t  enough,  he  said. 

In  the  Saturday  morning  session,  the 
emphasis  was  on  the  practical  application 
of  corrections,  with  an  intensive  look 
at  the  various  aspects  of  the  present  cor- 
rectional system  within  the  province. 

The  Saturday  afternoon  session  dealt 
with  community  involvement.  C.  N. 
Friesen,  director  of  Grosvenor  Place, 
and  Alf  Heinrichs,  who  is  on  the  staff 
of  a Job  Therapy  and  man-to-man  pro- 
gram in  British  Columbia,  spoke  on  these 
two  aspects  of  involvement. 

Mr.  Heinrichs,  in  describing  the  Job 
Therapy  program,  explained  that  it  be- 
gins with  volunteers  who  are  willing 
to  spend  time  to  establish  a relationship 
with  an  inmate.  Meanwhile  other  vol- 
unteers work  with  the  business  commu- 
nity setting  up  a job  bank  for  those 
prisoners  who  are  released. 

The  group  recommended  that  mcc 
(Manitoba)  implement  a volunteer  pro- 
gram. 


Gift  Annuities 

Investment 

Opportunities 


The  General  Conference  for  many  years  has  had  a 
Gift  Annuity  program.  At  age  eighty  the  rate  is  8.2 
percent  on  a single  life.  Most  of  this  is  also  tax  ex- 
empt income  h>  you.  Write  for  particulars,  giving  age 
(ages  of  both  man  and  wife  if  two  lives  are  included). 
There  is  no  obligation  whatsoever  on  your  part  to 
follow  through  if  our  presentation  to  you  does  not 
please  you. 

You  can  also  earn  5 percent  on  your  investment  with 
Church  Extension  Services,  Inc.  This  may  be  slightly 
lower  than  you  can  earn  at  a savings  and  loan  asso- 
ciation, but  with  Church  Extension  Services  you  will 
help  build  churches.  Any  amount  of  $100  or  more  will 
be  acceptable. 

Contact:  Wm.  L.  Friesen 
Box  347 

Newton,  Kansas  67114 


162 


MARCH  6,  1973 


RECORD 

Workers 

— 

Ann  Noel  Ewert  has  begun  a three- 
I year  term  of  service  in  Vietnam.  Ann 
! will  be  serving  as  a nurse  in  a hospital 
. in  Nhatrang.  Ann  attended  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College  and  received  a 
i RN  from  Saskatchewan  Institute  of  Ap- 
plied Arts  and  Sciences.  She  is  the 
j daughter  of  Orin  and  Tina  Ewert,  Drake, 
Sask.,  and  a member  of  the  North  Star 
Church,  Drake. 


Ewert 


Richard  Koop  has  begun  a one-year 
i term  of  service  with  mcc  in  Petersburg, 
Ont.  He  will  be  working  with  delinquent 
I boys.  Richard  attended  Columbia  Bible 
Institute,  Clearbrook,  B.  C.  Richard  is 
| the  son  of  A.B.  and  Helen  Koop,  Black 
Creek,  B.C.,  and  a member  of  the 
Black  Creek  United  Mennonite  Church, 

I Black  Creek,  B.C. 

Arthur  Martens  has  begun  a one-year 
term  of  service  with  mcc  in  British  Co- 
lumbia. He  will  be  involving  the  com- 
munity in  corrections  work.  Arthur  re- 
\ ceived  a BA  in  sociology  from  Simon 
| Fraser  University,  Burnaby,  B.C.  He  is 
I married,  and  the  father  of  a daughter, 
k He  is  a member  of  the  Olivet  Church, 
I Clearbrook,  B.C. 


THE  MENNONITE  163 


Linda  Schmidt,  Walton,  Kans.,  will 
serve  until  June  1 under  the  voluntary 
service  program  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church.  She  has  been 
assigned  to  work  in  the  Friendship  Day 
Care  Center,  Hutchinson,  Kans.  Ms. 
Schmidt,  a member  of  the  Tabor  Church, 
rural  Newton,  Kans.,  is  a recent  gradu- 
ate of  Hesston  (Kansas)  High  School. 
Her  parents  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alvin 
Schmidt. 

Stephen  Simmons,  Morrison,  111.,  will 
work  in  the  voluntary  service  program  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  until  Sept.  1.  He  is  serving  in 
Wichita,  Kans.,  as  assistant  to  Keith 
Schrag,  community  minister,  at  the  Eu- 
reka Gardens  Community  Center  on 
the  city’s  west  side.  Mr.  Simmons,  a 
member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
Morrison,  graduated  from  the  University 
of  Chicago  in  1972  with  a BA  in  En- 
glish. He  is  the  son  of  Russell  T.  Sim- 
mons. 

Deaths 


P.  K.  Regier,  executive  secretary  of  the 
central  offices  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church  from  1950  to 
1960,  died  Feb.  19  in  Newton,  Kans. 
Bom  June  4,  1891,  Mr.  Regier  graduated 
from  Bethel  College  in  1920  and  Wit- 
marsum  Seminary  and  Garrett  Biblical 
Seminary  in  1922.  He  also  attended  the 
universities  of  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Co- 
lorado. He  served  as  pastor  for  fourteen 
years  at  the  West  Zion  Church,  Mound- 
ridge,  Kans.,  and  for  seven  years  at 
First  Church,  Reedley,  Calif.  He  had 
shorter  pastorates  at  the  Buhler  (Kans.) 
Church;  Hoffnungsau  Church,  Inman, 
Kans.;  First  Church,  Mountain  Lake, 
Minn.;  First  Church,  Ransom,  Kans.; 
and  Walton  (Kans.)  Church. 


Regier 


Calendar 


March  12-15 — Mennonite  health  as- 
sembly, Atlanta,  Ga. 

March  18-20  — Intercollegiate  Peace 
Fellowship  conference,  United  Nations, 
New  York. 

April  26-29 — Central  District  Confer- 
ence, Goshen,  Ind. 

May  3-6 — Mennonite  Conference  on 
Christian  Community,  Elmira,  Ont. 

May  4-5 — Eastern  District  Confer- 
ence, Bally,  Pa. 

Canadian 

April  27-28 — Offender  seminar,  Wat- 
erloo, Ont. 

April  27-28  — Alberta  Conference, 
Coaldale. 

Central 

May  11-13 — Festival  of  the  Holy  Spir- 
it, Goshen,  Ind. 

Northern 

March  22-24 — Schmeckfest,  Freeman, 
Junior  College,  Freeman,  S.D. 

Pacific 

April  7 — MCC  West  Coast  relief  sale, 
Reedley,  Calif. 

Western 

March  26-30 — Project:  Teach,  Bethel 
College,  North  Newton,  Kans. 

April  7 — Mennonite  Men’s  mass  choir 
concert,  Hutchinson,  Kans. 

April  14 — MCC  mid-Kansas  relief 
sale,  Hutchinson,  Kans. 

Ministers 


Milton  J.  Harder  has  resigned  as  pastor 
of  the  South  Seattle  Church,  Seattle, 
Wash.,  effective  June  1.  He  has  served 
the  congregation  since  its  beginning  in 
1968.  During  this  time  Mr.  Harder  was 
instrumental  in  starting  a General  Con- 
ference voluntary  service  program  in  the 
city  and  he  has  been  active  in  prison 
and  probation  ministries.  Mr.  Harder  is 
chairman  of  the  Pacific  District  Chris- 
tian service  committee  and  a member 
of  the  General  Conference  peace  and 
social  concerns  committee.  He  and  his 
wife,  Geraldine,  are  both  writers  of 
Christian  education  materials. 

Chryston  Harms,  pastor  of  the  Wood- 
land Church,  Warroad,  Minn.,  has  re- 
signed effective  at  the  end  of  June. 
He  has  served  the  Woodland  Church  for 
the  past  ten  years. 


REVIEW 


A nation  of  strangers 


A nation  of  strangers,  by  Vance  Packard 
( David  McKay  Company,  New  York, 
1972,  335  pp.,  $7.95)  is  reviewed  by 
Stan  Bohn,  pastor  of  the  First  Mennonite 
Church,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817. 

Many  Mennonites  have  watched  coun- 
tryside-to-city  migration  in  which  Men- 
nonite communities  break  up  and  scat- 
ter. A new  factory  or  government  proj- 
ect brftigs  in  strangers;  churches  fill  with 
people  who  don’t  invite  each  other  home 
for  dinner  anymore.  Vance  Packard’s 
A nation  of  strangers  well  describes  how 
widespread  that  feeling  of  alienation  is 
in  such  places  as:  college  towns  where 
the  shallow-rooted  nomad  life  often  be- 
gins the  journey  of  one  move  after  an- 
other, in  round-the-clock  cities  like  Can- 
ton-Akron,  or  in  cities  affected  by  aero- 
space (Houston,  Seattle),  migrants,  mil- 
itary bases,  and  movement  of  inner- 
city  ethnic  groups  away  from  the  center 
of  the  city. 

When  he  describes  the  causes  of  the 
high  mobility  rate  of  North  Americans 
and  the  effects  upon  us,  most  of  us  will 
recognize  what  has  happened  to  many 
of  the  communities  in  which  we  live 
and  to  people  we  know: 

1.  Nomad  values  which  emphasize 
immediate  satisfaction  in  religious  expe- 
riences as  well  as  other  relationships,  less 
stigma  attached  to  bankruptcy,  and  less 
social  pressure  to  be  moral. 

2.  More  divisiveness  and  conflict  as 
politicians  and  union  leaders  get  pushed 
by  their  supporters  beyond  reasonable 
demands.  School  superintendents,  doc- 
tors, pastors,  and  others  are  no  longer 
seen  as  neighbors  but  are  also  pressured 
or  attacked.  Marriage  relationships  are 
broken  more  frequently. 

3.  Churches  find  that  people  join  to 
use  the  congregation  as  a social  tool. 
Needless  to  say,  a prophetic  church  is 
not  as  useful  in  finding  respectable 
friends  as  one  that  does  not  make  mem- 
bers look  like  nonconformists.  Commit- 
ment to  a group  and  the  people  in  it  as 
part  of  one’s  witness  is  not  the  approach 
of  people  looking  for  a church  in  the 
way  a consumer  looks  for  a church  which 
will  provide  social  orientation  that  he 
needs.  Churches,  and  even  such  things 
as  volunteer  fire  departments,  social  bet- 
terment movements,  and  blood  donor 


drives  have  experienced  the  crippling 
effects  of  the  loss  of  leadership  and  the 
loss  of  community  responsibility  that 
goes  with  shifting  population  . . . espe- 
cially since  people  in  management  posi- 
tions that  make  good  leaders  do  the 
most  moving. 

Mr.  Packard  has  a lot  more  useful 
things  to  say  and  the  book  is  well  worth 
buying  and  reading. 

For  Mennonite  congregations,  how- 
ever, there  would  need  to  be  another 
kind  of  description  added  to  supplement 
the  description  that  Mr.  Packard  gives 
of  a nation  of  rootless  newcomers.  He 
sees  our  society  similar  to  a model 
of  a feverish  patient,  and  he  knows  of 
antibiotics  that  can  bring  down  the  fever 
of  the  patient.  Churches  who  settle  only 
for  the  description  that  Mr.  Packard 
gives  might  also  settle  for  more  church 
suppers  to  overcome  alienation  in  the 
congregation. 

For  example,  his  solutions  to  reduce 
the  “fever”  are:  people  challenging  the 
right  of  their  employer  to  say  “move 
or  your  career  will  suffer,”  build  plants 
and  offices  closer  to  residences  to  cut 
commuting,  emphasize  local  colleges,  sal- 
vage neighborhoods  so  as  to  reduce  the 
flight  out  of  older  neighborhoods,  dis- 
courage isolated  retirement  communities 
that  separate  people  from  society,  design 
new  towns  built  to  promote  neighborli- 
ness and  stability. 

Significantly,  he  doesn’t  mention  the 
solutions  of  lower  class  groups  such  as 
the  kind  of  community  cohesiveness 
sought  by  La  Raza  Unida,  Cesar  Chavez, 
or  Jesse  Jackson  in  the  black  community 
in  Chicago,  or  Saul  Alinsky’s  community 
organizing  methods  as  a way  to  restore 
community  around  betterment  causes, 
but  recommends  mostly  middle  class 
solutions. 

But  if  the  biblical  understanding  of 
sin  (alienation  from  God  and  men)  is 
right,  the  alienation  in  a mobile  nation 
isn’t  the  kind  of  vacuum  people  will  wait 
to  fill  with  the  wholesome  solutions  that 
social  engineers  suggest.  Neither  will 
they  wait  five  or  ten  years  for  a sense 
of  community  to  jell.  Various  causes 
and  movements  will  take  advantage  of 
the  alienation  we  feel,  the  way  Hitler 
did  in  the  1930s  and  the  way  Billy  James 
Hargis  does  now.  Issues  between  rich 


and  poor,  black  and  white,  young  and 
old,  or  differences  about  peace  and  mate- 
rialism, which  also  cause  much  aliena- 
tion in  addition  to  the  kind  mobility 
causes,  must  be  repressed  because  we 
need  community.  That  politician  gets 
elected  who  promises  to  bring  us  togeth- 
er now.  Mr.  Packard  refers  to  this  prob- 
lem in  a dozen  lines  but  doesn’t  deal 
with  it. 

Other  solutions,  such  as  instant  com- 
munes that  soon  fragment  because  they 
are  based  only  on  using  others  to  end 
our  loneliness,  the  pursuit  of  spiritual 
gifts  in  some  charismatic  movements  to 
escape  alienation,  or  the  espousal  of 
sexual  freedom,  will  also  be  ways  we 
choose  when  we  see  life  as  consumers 
who  pick  things  to  use,  rather  than 
commit  ourselves  to  a way.  These  solu- 
tions are  more  destructive  than  the  list 
Mr.  Packard  gives,  but  they  also  attract 
many  people.  What  is  more,  they  even 
attract  people  in  small  towns  or  twenty- 
year-old  stable,  suburban  neighborhoods 
designed  for  a sense  of  community  made 
up  of  people  following  the  other  solu- 
tions Mr.  Packard  lists  as  ways  to  over- 
come alienation.  In  other  words,  the 
problem  seems  deeper  than  a “fever” 
with  which  some  antibiotics  can  deal. 

Although  people  operating  from  a bib- 
lical perspective  might  feel  the  need  to 
see  the  problem  as  deeper  and  leaving 
us  more  vulnerable  than  Mr.  Packard 
describes,  they  can  also  see  more  hope 
in  the  present  high  mobility  and  be  less 
nostalgic  about  the  old,  small  commu- 
nities which  sociologists  feel  we  should 
recreate.  The  community  feeling  in  a 
small  stable  town  was  often  a pseudo- 
community anyway;  it  controlled  behav- 
ior but  is  it  that  valuable  to  recover? 
Many  writers  have  been  quite  bitter 
about  the  vicious,  oppressive,  small-town 
communities  based  on  geographical  prox- 
imity or  genealogy  or  similar  jobs.  Those 
kinds  of  ties  weren’t  fulfilling,  even 
though  the  mutual  aid  and  barn  raising 
and  trust  in  Mennonite  communities 
showed  that  we  often  got  beyond  the 
community  based  solely  on  proximity 
and  kinship. 

So  from  a biblical  perspective,  Mr. 
Packard’s  analysis  doesn’t  change  the 
problem  we  have  always  had,  even  in 
small  towns,  of  trusting  God  to  empower 


164 


MARCH  6,  1973 


us  to  live  as  new  caring  people  in  the 
community.  The  alienation  is  much  more 
exposed  now  because  the  old  controls 
; are  gone  and  some  new  destructive  forc- 
i es  are  tempting  us  just  as  the  dictator- 
I ship  kind  of  controls  have  tempted  other 
nations  who  experienced  alienation  and 
the  breakdown  of  social  institutions. 

The  hope  Christians  might  have  is 
that  the  power  for  genuine  community 
might  be  more  clearly  proclaimed  as  we 
I see  that  many  of  our  community  com- 
mitments were  not  there  anyway.  If  we 
proclaim  Jesus  Christ  as  the  one  who 
breaks  down  the  barriers,  has  accom- 
plished reconciliation,  and  has  given  us 
; power  to  live  that  reconciliation,  the 
present  high  mobility  rate  might  just 
help  us  spread  the  good  news  about  a 
new  kind  of  community  that  is  coming 
and  which  we  can  live  now. 

This  seems  a better  direction  to  go 
than  Mr.  Packard’s  solutions  to  regain 


community,  which  really  seems  to  be  a 
search  for  acceptable  controls  to  replace 
ones  we  lost.  After  all,  if  it  is  true  that 
Mr.  Packard  is  looking  for  ways  to 
build  in  controls  in  an  urbanized  society, 
he  is  helping  us  to  look  for  stronger  and 
stronger  controls.  When  these  solutions 
fail,  because  they  really  haven’t  dealt 
with  the  basic  problem  of  our  wanting 
quick  community  without  commitment, 
we  will  be  led  to  look  for  stronger  and 
stronger  controls.  In  doing  this,  disillu- 
sionment may  lead  us  not  even  to  toler- 
ate the  only  real  community  there  is, 
the  healing  community  God  gives  us. 
This  is  the  community  that  won’t  con- 
form to  society’s  attempts  to  unite  by 
creating  foes  to  hate  or  by  repression 
of  nonconformist  groups.  It  is  possible 
if  we  pursue  Mr.  Packard’s  solutions 
which  seem  to  really  be  controls,  we 
could  end  up  oppressing  those  who  live 
God’s  community. 


LETTERS 


| The  church  and  the  retarded 

I Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  This  letter  is  to 
thank  you  for  the  publication  of  the 
series  of  three  articles  by  Jack  J.  Fran- 
sen  and  Dr.  Vernon  H.  Neufeld  on  the 
subject  of  retardation  (January  16,  23, 
and  30  issues).  My  wife  and  I met  Mr. 
Fransen  and  Dr.  Neufeld  at  the  Menno- 
nite  health  assembly  held  in  Chicago 

i last  spring.  The  assembly  had  four  semi- 
nars on  the  problems  of  the  retarded 
and  the  church’s  responsibility  in  this 
area.  As  the  parents  of  a retarded  daugh- 
ter, we  have  long  felt  that  the  church 
(all  churches)  should  take  a more  ac- 
tive role  in  the  problems  of  the  families 
with  retarded  children.  We  are  happy 
that  Mennonite  Mental  Health  Services 
is  once  again  recognizing  that  it  should 
take  a more  active  role  in  this  much 
neglected  area. 

We  attended  the  dedication  of  Lan- 
dis Homes  Friendship  Community  (a 
residence  for  the  retarded)  which  is  lo- 
cated at  Lititz,  Pennsylvania,  last  fall. 
John  Mumaw,  who  has  been  actively 
engaged  in  work  for  the  retarded  for 
many  years,  delivered  the  sermon  of 
dedication.  We  certainly  wish  that  his 
sermon  could  be  published  in  all  church 
publications  for  it  really  presented  scrip- 
tural reasons  for  becoming  involved  in 
this  work. 

We  met  Mr.  Mumaw  at  the  first  camp 


for  families  with  retarded  children  which 
was  held  at  Laurelville  Mennonite  Church 
Center  in  Westmoreland  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  July  of  1965.  We  have  only 
missed  one  year  of  attending  this  camp 
since  its  inception.  We  feel  that  the 
church’s  acceptance  of  the  challenge  of 
providing  homes  and  services  for  the  re- 
tarded began  with  those  camp  meetings. 
Hopefully  they  will  continue  to  expand. 

It  was  suggested  by  Dr.  Neufeld  at 
the  Chicago  meeting  that  perhaps  the 
best  way  to  handle  the  involvement 
should  be  on  a district  conference  basis 
with  mmhs  assisting  with  the  problems 
which  might  arise.  Accordingly,  the  East- 
ern District  Conference  at  its  174th 
conference  held  at  Deep  Run  Church, 
Bedminster,  Pennsylvania,  May  4-7, 
1972,  continued  the  committee  on  mental 
retardation  (which  had  been  appointed 
a year  earlier)  for  another  year.  It  also 
instructed  the  committee  by  resolution 
to  submit  letters  of  intent  to  the  proper 
authorities  for  the  establishment  of  com- 
munity homes  in  three  eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania counties. 

The  committee  submitted  letters  of 
intent  to  the  MH/MR  administrators 
of  three  Pennsylvania  counties:  Lehigh, 
Bucks,  and  Montgomery,  the  regional 
MR  office  in  Philadelphia  and  the  office 
of  Commissioner  of  Mental  Retardation 
in  Harrisburg.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holmes 
Raudenbush,  Erie,  Pa.  Feb.  1 


‘‘Bury  the  hatchet” 

Dear  Editor:  “Just  as  there  are  many 
parts  to  our  bodies,  so  it  is  with  Christ’s 
body.  We  are  all  parts  of  it,  and  it  takes 
every  one  of  us  to  make  it  complete,  for 
we  each  have  different  work  to  do.  So 
we  belong  to  each  other,  and  each  needs 
all  the  others”  (Romans  12:4-5). 

Praise  God  for  these  two  simple  vers- 
es! After  reading  the  last  issue  of  The 
Mennonite  (January  30  issue),  I was 
ready  to  pack  my  bags  and  leave  our 
voluntary  service  position  of  working 
with  one  of  our  country’s  minority 
groups.  But  God’s  mighty  word  has  giv- 
en me  strength  to  stay  even  though  it 
may  be  the  humanly  unpopular  thing 
to  do  in  our  church  right  now.  You  see, 
unlike  many  who  believe  that  we  as 
“white  Mennonites”  aren’t  needed  or 
wanted  among  our  country’s  minority 
groups,  God’s  word  says  otherwise  and 
points  out  vividly  that  we  all  need  each 
other. 

The  “hip”  idea  these  days  is  to  let 
everyone  do  his  “own  thing,”  regardless 
of  how  much  we  may  hurt  others  or  our- 
selves. And  sad  to  say,  I’m  afraid  this 
idea  is  creeping  rapidly  into  our  own 
churches.  We  feel  that  the  “white  Men- 
nonite” is  the  great  oppressor  when  he 
goes  to  work  with  a minority  group  and 
finds  sins  that  have  nothing  to  do  with 
culture  and  he  simply  tries  to  witness 
to  the  people  and  lead  them  into  a new 
and  better  life  with  Christ.  No  matter 
what  our  heritage  is,  we  are  all  individ- 
ual sinners.  We  are  all  equal  in  God’s 
eyes  and  when  Christ  enters  into  our 
lives  we  look  around  and  realize  that  no 
one,  no  matter  who  he  is,  where  he  is, 
or  what  he  is,  is  our  superior  or  inferior. 
So  why  all  this  business  about  cultural 
boundaries? 

When  we  constantly  hound  the  cul- 
ture problem  we  are  becoming  so  en- 
grossed in  something  worldly  that  we 
forget  about  the  most  important  busi- 
ness of  all — soul  saving ! If  we  go  any- 
where as  Mennonites  and  see  people 
living  in  sin  and  turning  their  backs  on 
God,  are  we  better  Christians  to  let 
this  slide  and  let  the  wrong  go  unheeded 
because  we  don’t  want  to  offend  some- 
one of  another  race? 

Don’t  we  remember  how  miserable 
it  was  to  live  outside  of  God’s  will  and 
how  much  happier  we  were  when  we 
turned  our  lives  over  completely  to  him? 
A sin  is  a sin  and  the  word  of  God  does 
not  bend  like  man’s  word  bends  just 
over  cultural  difference.  The  Bible  speaks 
the  same  message  whether  it  be  a red, 


THE  MENNONITE 


165 


white,  black,  or  yellow  man  reading  it. 
If  we  are  going  to  jump  on  the  band 
wagon  and  start  beating  our  drum  in 
favor  of  all  the  rebellious  ideas  that  are 
dreamt  up,  we  may  as  well  say  goodbye 
to  the  Bible. 

The  sooner  we  quit  harping  about  how 
much  wrong  was  done  to  one  human  be- 
ing by  another  and  begin  looking  at  the 
good  that  our  brother  (regardless  of  his 
color)  is  doing  for  us,  the  sooner  we  will 
be  able  to  live  in  the  complete  har- 
mony, which  so  many  dissension  groups 
are  hollering  for.  What  has  happened 
in  the  past  is  exactly  that- — the  past!  If 
we  want  Indian  and  white  people  to 
walk  on  an  equal  path  with  each  other, 
we  have  only  one  alternative  to  follow 
in  accomplishing  such  a task.  We  must 
quit  the  faultfinding.  We  must  quit 
pointing  out  to  one  another  what  the 
other  one  owes  us  and  start  accepting 
each  other  for  what  we  have  to  offer. 

It’s  not  hard  at  all  to  find  fault  with 
someone  and  point  out  the  bad;  neither 
is  it  satisfying  or  rewarding.  But  when 
we  start  to  look  at  the  good  and  realize 
that  the  white  man  has  something  to 
offer  the  Indian  as  well  as  the  Indian 
having  something  to  offer  to  the  white 
society  and  that  together  they  can  build 
for  peace  and  unity,  then  and  only  then 
do  we  have  a beginning  to  the  harmony 
we  all  want. 

In  Christ,  forgiveness  is  given  and 
hatred  is  something  unheard  of.  Teaching 
another  race  to  hate  the  white  man  is 
exactly  what  our  church  will  accomplish 
if  we  continue  to  point  out  the  constant 
wrongs  of  the  past.  If  we  continue  to 
support  people  who  preach  dissent  upon 
white  men,  how  can  we  expect  Indian 
children  to  live  in  white  foster  homes? 
Yes,  white  homes  who  have  children  of 
their  own,  but  out  of  a God-given  love 
for  not  just  blacks  or  Indians  or  whites, 
but  out  of  a love  for  humanity  open  up 
their  homes  to  not  just  one  or  two  but 
many  times  three  or  four  foster  children 
who  would  otherwise  be  institutionalized. 
How  can  children  of  a different  race 
feel  living  in  a white  home  if  they  go 
to  church  and  are  taught  to  hate  the 
white  men  because  of  what  he  did  and 
what  he  is  supposedly  doing  to  the  cul- 
ture they  came  from? 

Before  anyone,  and  I mean  anyone, 
starts  to  criticize  people  who  work  with 
minority  groups,  I strongly  suggest  that 
you  go  yourself  and  spend  at  least  one 
year  of  twenty-four-hour-a-day  work 
trying  to  help  someone  else.  I guess  you 
would  have  to  consider  my  husband  and 
me  among  those  terrible  white  Menno- 


nites  that  are  being  put  down  for  jump- 
ing the  cultural  lines  and  brazenly 
changing  age-old  patterns  because  we’ve 
had  the  privilege  of  watching  a beauti- 
ful seventeen-year-old  Indian  girl  grow 
from  what  used  to  be  a champion  de- 
linquent into  a Bible-thumping,  prayer- 
believing  witness  for  Christ;  and  inci- 
dentally, this  simply  happened  through 
the  interaction  that  took  place  through 
her  existence  in  our  home.  God  led  her 
to  us,  we  witnessed,  Christ  saved  her, 
and  any  cultural  changes  that  have  taken 
place  in  her  life  have  been  her  decision. 
There  was  no  knock-down,  drag-out 
demonstration  of  “you  change  or  else” 
because  when  you  put  your  trust  and 
faith  in  God  his  Holy  Spirit  takes  care 
of  the  rest.  . . . 

Let  us  build  toward  the  future  on  the 
positive.  If  we  want  Indian  people  to 
learn  to  hate  the  white  man  even  more, 
let’s  keep  right  on  talking  about  the  in- 
justices incurred  during  battles  fought  a 
hundred  years  ago.  But  if  we  really  want 
peace  and  harmony,  let’s  “bury  the 
hatchet”  and  accept  each  other  on  com- 
mon ground  like  the  Bible.  I love  my  In- 
dian friends  and  I would  love  them  no 
matter  what  color  they  would  be;  be- 
cause first  of  all  they  are  not  red,  they 
are  first  of  all  children  of  God  and  that 
does  not  include  or  exclude  any  special 
color.  So  please,  oh  please,  don’t  preach 
indifference  in  our  Mennonite  churches. 
Don’t  preach  prejudice  against  any  race 
and  that  includes  whites.  Let  my  colored 
friends  love  me  in  return — let  us  be 
brothers  and  sisters  in  Christ  and  really 
mean  it.  Mrs.  Carol  Harder,  1104  Circle 
Drive,  Clinton,  Okie,.  73601.  Feb.  3 

Obey  God,  not  men 

Dear  Editor:  A noted  preacher  and 
writer  writes,  “Bible  urges  patriotism. 
Romans  13:1  says,  ‘Let  every  person  be 
subject  to  the  governing  authorities,  for 
there  is  no  authority  except  from  God, 
and  those  that  exist  have  been  instituted 
by  God.’  So  you  see,  the  Scripture  teach- 
es love  of  country  and  respect  for  law. 
Anything  less  than  this  is  unbiblical.” 

There  are  many  biblical  references 
where  the  rulers  were  reprimanded — 
Saul  by  Samuel,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and 
Amos  all  spoke  against  their  government. 
Acts  5:29  says,  “But  Peter  and  the  apos- 
tles answered,  ‘We  must  obey  God  rather 
than  men.’  ” Many  more  references  are 
in  the  Bible  pointing  to  love  of  God 
and  his  will  rather  than  men’s  laws  and 
desires. 

All  countries  have  governments  and 


laws.  Communist  China  and  Russia  have 
governments  and  laws.  Hitler  had  a 
government  and  laws.  Was  it  God’s  de- 
sire that  their  people  be  patriotic  and 
obey  his  laws  and  carry  on  the  crema- 
tion of  the  Jews?  Romans  13:10:  “Love 
does  no  wrong  to  a neighbor:  therefore 
love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law.”  E.  R. 
Moser,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817.  Feb.  5 

Concerns  are  being  heard 

Dear  Larry:  Thanks  for  your  good  edi- 
torial on  listening  and  hearing  (January 
2 issue).  The  accusation  that  we  tend 
to  listen  but  fail  to  hear  can  scarcely  be 
questioned. 

The  response  of  the  Canadian  Menno- 
nite Bible  College  students  who  attended 
the  peace  assembly  in  Chicago  must  be 
heard.  Being  responsible  for  a large  part 
of  the  planning  for  the  peace  assembly, 

I suppose  I am  the  one  who  should  be 
listening  and  hearing. 

There  was,  I think,  a genuine  attempt  ] 
to  hear  our  Canadian  brothers  and  sis- 
ters. The  keynote  address  by  Henry  Rem-  , 
pel,  a professor  from  the  University  of  ( 
Manitoba,  reflected  on  one  of  the  major 
Canadian  concerns,  the  economic  devel-  ( 
opment  and  expansionism  of  the  U.S.  ( 
Professor  Rempel’s  lecture  was  well  re-  ( 
ceived  by  those  participating  in  the  as- 
sembly. If  the  strong  interest  in  having  j 
copies  of  that  lecture  was  any  indica- 
tion of  the  group’s  ability  to  hear,  one 
would  say  that  he  was  heard. 

The  Canadian  students’  allegation  that 
they  were  allowed  to  speak  and  then 
politely  applauded  only  to  have  the  agen-  a 
da  shifted  back  immediately  to  a U.S.  c 
focus  is  true.  However,  I would  suggest  c 
that  there  are  some  other  criteria  by  (l 
which  one  could  measure  whether  the  s 
Canadian  group’s  concerns  were  heard.  e 
One  small  indicator  might  be  the  fact  a 
that  a number  of  persons  have  ordered  j1 
copies  of  the  Canadian  Gray  Paper  on  11 
U.S.  economic  interests  in  Canada.  This,  ^ 
I think,  indicates  their  interest  in  under- 
standing more  fully  the  concerns  regard-  f 
ing  U.S.  economic  domination  which  the 
Canadian  students  ably  called  to  the  S: 
attention  of  the  peace  assembly.  ai 

My  response  is  not  intended  as  a de-  ej 
fense  for  the  peace  assembly.  I am  sure  oi 
that  the  concerns  of  the  student  group  h 
are  well  founded  and  that  they  were  not  oi 
fully  heard.  However,  I do  hope  that  se 
they  can  feel  that  there  was  some  hear-  fc 
ing  going  on  and  that  they  will  continue  v, 
to  confront  us  on  our  deafness.  Walton  S( 
Hackman,  executive  secretary,  Peace  y 
Section,  Akron,  Pa.  17501.  Jan.  31  gj 


166  MARCH  6,  1973  jj. 


The  significance  of  seminary... 

For  a first-year  student 

1 The  outstanding  characteristic  of  the  seminary  community  is  the  nature  of  brother- 
| hood.  Studying  together  and  worshiping  around  the  claims  of  Jesus  on  our  lives  as 
Christians,  and  coming  to  grips  with  the  meaning  of  being  a church  community  in  a 
j larger,  diverse  church  community  have  been  the  significant  agenda  of  this  past  year. 
The  opportunity  to  ride  in  car  pools  with  faculty  members,  to  eat  sack  lunches  to- 
gether with  students  and  faculty,  and  the  chance  to  help  other  students  and  to  re- 
ceive help  with  tuition  and  living  costs  are  all  indicative  of  a quality  of  brotherhood 
I led  by  the  Spirit.  Events  which  show  a breakdown  of  brotherhood  also  occur,  after 
1 which  the  full  meaning  of  forgiveness  comes  forth.  Bob  Guth 


Contents 


Seminary  1973  154 

What  is  a sociologist  doing  at 

seminary?  155 

News  156 

Record  163 

A nation  of  strangers  164 

Letters  165 

The  significance  of  seminary  167 

Effective  or  obedient?  168 


COVER 

The  Chapel  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
at  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Semi- 
naries, Elkhart,  Ind. 


I For  a third-year  student 

A well-rounded  seminary  education  necessitates  learning  in  various  contexts.  Few 
of  us  would  negate  the  necessity  of  acquiring  an  intellectual  understanding  of  bib- 
lical and  theological  themes  and  ministerial  functions.  Similarly  few  would  deny  that 
in  order  to  be  an  effective  servant  and  communicator  of  God’s  message  to  man, 
more  than  a trained  intellect  is  required.  We  must  know  ourselves  and  be  sensitive 
to  the  dynamics  of  interpersonal  relations.  We  must  know  how  to  communicate  and 
I how  to  use  our  gifts  meaningfully.  But  where  are  these  skills  learned?  My  experience 
' has  been  that  maturity,  a healthy  self-identity,  and  professional  competency  are  as 
much  caught  as  taught.  My  year  in  congregationally  supervised  pastoral  education 
i was  a learning  experience  outside  the  classroom  where  we  learned  not  only  what 
f the  Bible  says  but  how  to  minister  more  effectively.  It  was  this  experience  of  leam- 
. ing  to  take  people  and  God  seriously  that  I count  as  a highlight  in  my  seminary 
: experience  and  in  my  decision  to  go  into  the  pastoral  ministry.  It  was  this  program 
; that  provided  a balance  and  a channel  for  communicating  the  tremendous  truths  of 
I the  Bible.  As  I anticipate  full-time  ministry,  I expect  that  the  combination  of  classical 
' and  practical  training  will  be  of  great  value  to  me  in  helping  others  experience 
wholeness  and  meaning  in  Christ.  Erick  Sawcitzky 


CONTRIBUTORS 

This  week's  issue  focuses  special  atten- 
tion on  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary,  Elk- 
hart, Ind.  46514.  The  staff  members  who 
have  written  articles  for  this  occasion 
are  Erland  Waltner,  Leland  Harder,  Robert 
L.  Ramseyer,  and  Joe  Hertzler. 

The  four  students  who  write  on  page 
167  are  Bob  Guth,  a first-year  stu- 
dent from  Eureka,  III.;  Erick  Sawatzky,  a 
third-year  student  from  Saskatoon;  Rachel 
Hilty  Friesen,  a third-year  student  from 
Bluffton,  Ohio;  and  Barb  and  H.  A.  Pen- 
ner  from  Beatrice,  Neb.,  who  are  involved 
in  the  one-year  peace  studies  program. 

John  H.  Yoder’s  editorial  is  an  excerpt 
from  the  closing  chapter  of  his  recent 
book.  The  Politics  of  Jesus  (Eerdmans). 
Dr.  Yoder  is  professor  of  theology  at  the 
Associated  Seminaries  and  will  continue 
to  serve  as  president  of  Goshen  Seminary 
until  summer. 

Leona  Dyck,  Suite  A,  55  Cornish,  Win- 
nipeg, is  a free-lance  writer. 


For  a woman 

( While  the  number  of  women  taking  seminary  work  is  growing,  women  students 
are  still  a minority  at  ambs.  We  find  ourselves  sharing  a common  struggle  to  find 
our  place  as  women  in  theological  education.  We  are  also  aware  of  a growing  feeling 
of  commonality  with  the  nonstudent  women  at  seminary  with  whom  we  are  trying 
[ to  discover  and  understand  our  roles  in  the  seminary  and  in  the  church.  In  my 
[studies,  I have  become  aware  of  the  absence  of  women  theologians  and  church  lead- 
| ers  in  the  Mennonite  church,  and  I have  become  convinced  that  women  are  called  to 
; all  aspects  of  ministry  in  the  church.  Most  significant  in  my  seminary  experience  has 
[been  the  realization  that  we  (men  and  women)  are  to  be  one  in  Christ,  not  compet- 
I ing  with  each  other,  but  each  contributing  with  integrity  to  the  one  “body  of  Christ.” 
' Rachel  Hilty  Friesen 


For  a one-year  student 


CREDITS 

Cover,  AMBS;  156,  Waltner,  Freeman, 
S.D.;  157,  James  Schrag;  159,  161,  MCC; 
168  is  used  by  permission  of  William  B. 
Eerdman's  Publishing  Company,  Grand 
Rapids,  Mich. 


Meimonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67 1 14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


B Since  graduation  from  college  we  have  been  vocationally  involved  in  teaching  and 
I administrative  activities.  While  serving  people  in  these  ways,  each  of  us  has  at  times 
• experienced  a dearth  of  biblical  training — our  spiritual  lives  have  not  kept  pace  with 
Sour  professional  and  social  lives.  A significant  aspect  of  this  year  at  the  seminary 
Jhas  been  the  bringing  of  these  into  balance.  We  are  also  interested  in  ways  in  which 
jour  skills  and  abilities  can  be  utilized  more  completely  in  the  church.  This  year’s 
I seminary  experience  is  helping  us  to  rethink  our  priorities.  Our  year  at  seminary 
I has  also  given  us  an  opportunity  to  reflect  on  those  things  (our  marriage,  our  in- 
volvement in  the  military-industrial  complex,  etc.)  which  an  otherwise  busy  schedule 
seems  to  crowd  out.  We  are  also  meeting  new  people,  developing  new  friendships, 
and  are  being  stimulated  to  greater  service  and  ministry.  This  is  also  our  opportu- 
nity to  study  the  Bible  intensively  and  in  depth.  Barb  and  H.  A.  Penner 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


fHE  MENNONITE 


167 


Effective  or  obedient ? 

John  H.  Yoder 


The  most  appropriate  example  of  the  difficult 
choice  between  effectiveness  and  obedience,  and 
the  most  illuminating  example,  is  that  of  Jesus 
himself.  What  it  means  for  the  Lamb  to  be  slain, 
of  whom  then  we  sing  that  he  is  “worthy  to  re- 
ceive power,”  is  inseparable  from  what  it  meant 
for  Jesus  to  be  executed  under  the  superscription, 
“King  of  the  Jews.”.  . . 

The  universal  testimony  of  Scripture  is  that 
Christians  are  those  who  follow  Christ  at  just 
this  point.  . . . The  visions  of  the  book  of  Revela- 
tion go  on  from  the  heavenly  throne  room,  where 
the  Lamb  is  praised,  to  a vision  of  triumph  (eh. 
12)  where  the  multitude  of  “our  brethren”  has 
defeated  the  dragon  “by  the  blood  of  the  lamb  and 
by  the  word  of  their  testimony,  for  they  loved 
not  their  lives  even  unto-  death.”  Elsewhere,  Paul 
can  describe  the  entire  apostolic  ministry  with 
its  inner  and  outer  sufferings  as  a matter  of 
“carrying  about  in  our  bodies  the  putting  to  death 
of  Jesus,  so-  that  in  our  bodies  the  life  of  Jesus 
also  may  be  made  manifest.”  This  is  what  Jesus 
himself  meant  by  recognizing  as  a disciple  only 
him  who  is  ready  to  take  up  a cross  and  follow 
him.  . . . 

But  the  judgment  of  God  upon  . . . renuncia- 
tion and  acceptance  of  defeat  is  the  declaration 
that  this  is  victory.  “Therefore  God  has  greatly 
exalted  him  and  given  him  the  title,  which  every 
creature  will  have  to  confess,  the  Lord.”  Lord  in 
the  earliest  Christian  confessions  was  not  (as  it 
is  in  so  much  modem  piety)  a label  to  state  a 
believer’s  humility  or  affection  or  devotion;  it 
is  an  affirmation  of  his  victorious  relation  to  the 
powers  of  the  cosmos.  That  ancient  hymn,  [in 
Philippians  2]  which  since  it  could  be  incorpo- 
rated as  a block  in  the  apostolic  writings  is  one 
of  the  earliest  extended  snatches  of  Christian 
worship  on  record,  is  thus  affirming  that  the  do- 
minion of  God  over  history  has  made  use  of  the 


apparent  historical  failure  of  Jesus  as  a mover 
of  men. 

We  said  before  that  this  text  affirms  a philoso- 
phy of  history  in  which  renunciation  and  suffering 
are  meaningful.  After  the  further  ground  our 
thoughts  have  covered,  we  can  affirm  still  more 
roundly  that  for  the  apostle  this  renunciation 
must  have  been  seen  as  profoundly  linked  to  the 
human  career  of  Jesus,  who  did  concretely  re- 
nounce the  power  offered  to  him  by  the  tempter 
and  by  the  Zealots.  This  hymn  is  then  not  as 
some  would  make  it  simply  a Hellenistic  mystery- 
religion  text  about  a mythical  Christ  figure,  com- 
ing down  from  heaven  and  returning  thither; 
it  is  at  the  same  time  the  account  of  the  human 
Jesus  whose  death  was  the  very  political  death 
on  the  cross.  The  renunciation  of  the  claim  to 
govern  history  was  not  made  only  by  the  second 
person  of  the  Trinity  taking  upon  himself  the 
demand  of  an  eternal  divine  decree;  it  was  also 
made  by  a poor,  tired  rabbi  when  he  came  from 
Galilee  to  Jerusalem  to  be  rejected. 

This  Gospel  concept  of  the  cross  of  the  Chris- 
tian does  not  mean  that  suffering  is  thought  of 
as  in  itself  redemptive  or  that  martyrdom  is  a 
value  to  be  sought  after.  Nor  does  it  refer  unique- 
ly to  being  persecuted  for  “religious”  reasons 
by  an  outspokenly  pagan  government.  What  Jesus 
refers  to  in  his  call  to  cross-bearing  is  rather  the 
seeming  defeat  of  that  strategy  of  obedience  which 
is  no  strategy,  the  inevitable  suffering  of  those 
whose  only  goal  is  to  be  faithful  to  that  love  which 
puts  one  at  the  mercy  of  one’s  neighbor,  which 
abandons  claims  to  justice  for  oneself  and  for 
one’s  own  in  an  overriding  concern  for  the  rec- 
onciling of  the  adversary  and  the  estranged. 
1 Peter  2 thus  draws  direct  social  consequences 
from  the  fact  that  Christ  “when  he  suffered  did 
not  threaten  but  trusted  him  who  judges  justly.” 


Memionite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:1 1 MARCH  13,  1973 


fv  .VVT* 


Bnncn/  brother 

Maynard  Shelly 


This  land  of  rivers,  mighty  streams  that  flood 
And  drench  the  sodden  earth,  this  paradise 
Where  rich  brown  soil,  when  mixed  with  blazing  sun. 
And  gently  nudged,  disgorges  green  bright  wealth, 
Here  God  has  placed  a man — his  name  Banga. 

The  land  is  his.  He  loves  these  fields,  these  streams 
That  feed  him,  give  him  life.  Though  crushing  toil 
Has  drained  his  blood,  he  turns  again  to  plow 
And  seed.  No  storms  which  steal  his  grain  can  turn 
Him  back.  His  soul  is  wedded  to  the  soil. 

One  fourth  of  all  the  jute  for  gunny  sacks 
And  rugs  around  the  world  he  grows. 

And  ships  he  loads  with  tea.  He  feeds 
A growing  nation  with  his  rice.  And  yet 
The  profit  has  been  lost  to  him.  He’s  built 
Calcutta,  Liverpool,  Islamabad, 

Karachi,  London — all  these  thrived  on  tax 
He  paid  and  paid  for  ages  long.  He  loved 
The  land  though  merchants  white  and  brown  did  rob 
Him,  take  the  wealth  his  fields  had  given  him. 

Yet,  he  returned  as  after  flood,  typhoon, 

And  drouth  to  till  the  land  he  loved  so  much. 

A strong  man  Banga — -farmer,  fisherman, 

Earthmover,  boatman,  stevedore — he  sings 
And  speaks  an  ancient  language  musical 
And  soft.  He  humbly  bows  his  knees  to  God 
In  houses  built  as  pledge  of  loyalty 
To  land  he  calls  his  mother — land  he  loves. 

Then  holocaust,  the  fire,  the  tearing  flesh. 

And  Banga  saw  his  firstborn  killed  before 
His  eyes,  the  best  and  wisest  of  his  sons. 

His  daughters  stripped,  dishonored,  tortured,  raped. 

A nameless  panic  seized  each  village  hut 
As  Pakistan  the  cousin  brother  who 
Had  pledged  defense,  with  blazing  guns  set  out 
To  banish  hope  for  freedom  from  the  land. 

The  fury  grew.  He  ran.  He  hid  himself. 

He  left  his  home — the  land  he  called  his  mother — - 
Stained  with  children’s  blood.  But  God  did  save 
Him,  brought  him  back  and  gave  him  peace  again. 

O green,  O gold,  my  Mother  Land  so  dear; 

Your  skies  so  bright  and  streams  so  clear. 


So  now  he’s  free.  Banga’s  inherited 
His  earth.  The  night  of  terror’s  past,  his  land 
Is  rid  of  brutes  who’d  rule  with  sword  unsheathed. 
But  rising  from  the  wreckage  left  by  Pakistan 
Now  come  three  grim  and  fearsome  horsemen 
Trampling  down  the  crops  that  he  has  sown 
Devouring  fruits  of  freedom  earned  in  blood. 

The  first  comes  looking  friendly  and  with  a smile 
And  giving  gifts.  His  horse  is  brown,  his  name 
Is  Over  Birth.  His  gifts  are  children,  bronze 
Of  face  and  lively  ones.  Be  fruitful, 

Multiply,  and  fill  the  earth,  subdue  it.  Banga 
Has.  His  bed  has  been  more  fertile  than 
His  fields.  He’s  filled  the  land;  his  progeny 
Have  robbed  him,  taxed  his  harvest,  eating  all 
He  raises,  crying  then  for  more.  The  second 
Horseman  follows  close  behind.  His  steed, 

An  ancient  one,  yet  in  its  prime,  is  black. 

His  name  in  Poverty.  His  swords  are  two — 
Disease  and  Famine — cutting  all  he  meets 
More  deeply  than  did  Pakistani  troops. 

Defense  against  this  scourge  consumes  the  wealth 
That  must  be  spent  for  factories  and  mills, 

The  only  way  to  build  Gross  National  Product 
That  a country  needs  to  drive  this  horseman 
Off.  But  Banga  has  no  time  to  do 
In  five  and  twenty  years  with  small  resources 
What  America  could  take  two  hundred 
Years  to  finish  off  where  land  was  super 
Rich  and  hungry  mouths  to  feed  so  few. 

Hard  work  and  work  alone  is  all  he  ever 
Had  to  make  his  life  and  this  is  failing 
Him.  A prisoner  of  time,  he  needs 
To  learn  new  ways  to  farm  and  fish,  but  can 
He  risk  untried  and  novel  ways  as  horsemen 
Trample  sons  and  daughters?  Third  comes  Death. 
He  rides  on  gray  and  kills  the  soul  before 
He  takes  the  body.  Banga  dreams  of  building 
Brightly  lighted  cities  rimmed  in  stainless 
Steel.  A place  with  medicine  for  fevered 
Tots.  He  knows  he  needs  a miracle. 

His  hope  is  crushed  by  giants  that  bar  the  path 
And  drive  him  down.  Despair  is  death.  His  sons 
Infected  with  a dream  of  riches  ask 
To  leave  and  read  in  schools  abroad  and  never 
To  return.  Self-hate  has  settled  in. 

He  feels  a lack  of  worth.  The  telephones 
Don’t  work;  if  it’s  made  in  Bangladesh,  it’s  no 
Good.  Wounded  soul,  he  turns  upon  his  brothers 
Shedding  blood  in  anger  at  himself. 

With  days  of  death  and  hate  in  store 

Was  this  the  paradise  I waited  for? 


j 


170  MARCH  13,  1973  11 


The  wide-screen  picture  postcard’s  other  side 
Reveals  a man  who  has  been  trampled,  bruised, 

And  chained.  That’s  life;  it’s  not  so  nice  in 
Undeveloped  countries.  Banga  wants  to  sing, 

Make  poetry,  and  dance.  His  cousins  in  the  richer 
Nations  write  him  off  as  backward,  victim, 

Refugee — all  names  that  hide  his  human 
Face.  When  brothers  dwell  in  unity. 

How  good  and  pleasant.  When  our  fellow- 

Man  is  shackled,  held  for  dead,  what  must 

We  do?  Why  loose  him,  let  him  go.  We  can’t 

Be  free  until  he’s  free.  Salvation  means 

Our  lives  entwined,  our  bearing  burdens,  his 

As  ours,  and  ours  as  his,  and  being  tempted 

In  all  points  as  he.  His  freedom  makes 

Us  free.  In  finding  strength  together,  we 

All  find  the  strength  we  need.  The  name  for  that 

Is  brotherhood.  So  when  you  bring  a gift, 

Remember  first  the  brother  you  have  lost. 

Then  leave  the  gift  and  find  your  brother’s  hand. 

O sing  the  garden  green  which  God  prepared; 

O sing  the  brothers  true  who  life  have  shared. 


The  gospel 
according  to 
scrap 

brake  drums 

Levi  Keidel 


Recently  I sat  on  the  front  veranda  of 
our  Zaire  home  in  the  early  morning 
darkness,  meditating.  As  day  broke,  I 
heard  at  closely  spaced  intervals,  in  vil- 
lages across  the  river  valley  before  me, 
and  in  villages  along  the  crest  of  the 
hill  to  my  left,  the  “dink  dink  . . . dink 
dink  . . of  gongs.  I counted  them  in 
six  different  places.  Such  a gong  is  gen- 
erally a scrap  brake  drum  or  tire  rim  sus- 
pended from  a limb  and  struck  with  a 
large  bolt. 

Two  generations  ago  missionaries  com- 
ing to  this  country  taught  these  people 
to  start  out  the  day  with  God.  It  is  now 
woven  into  the  fabric  of  their  life.  I 
knew  some  of  the  gongs  were  being 
rung  by  leaders  of  split-off  religious 
groups;  but  all  of  them  were  calling 
people  to  worship.  Maybe  this  helps 
explain  what  I have  noticed  in  recent 
days  . . . evidence  that  the  spirit  of  God 
is  at  work  around  us. 

Some  weeks  ago  a pastor  who  teaches 
Bible  in  a public  school  came  to  me  with 
a problem. 

“One  day  I gathered  my  classes  to- 
gether, taught  a lesson,  and  gave  an 
invitation.  Over  sixty  children  raised  their 
hands  wanting  to  accept  Jesus  as  their 
Savior.  Can  they  know  what  they’re 
doing?  What  shall  I do  with  them?” 

Upon  learning  that  the  children  were 
from  ten  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  I 
assured  him  that  they  likely  did  know 
what  they  were  doing.  We  counseled 
together  on  how  to  evaluate  their  sincer- 
ity and  how  to  help  them  grow  in  their 
knowledge  of  Christ. 


Just  two  weeks  earlier  lightning  had 
struck  this  pastor’s  home.  It  split  door 
casements  on  two  opposite  outside  walls, 
punctured  an  inner  wall,  followed  down 
a gun  barrel  that  was  leaning  against  it 
and  split  the  gun  stock  in  the  room 
where  he,  his  wife,  and  two  children 
were  sleeping.  It  struck  his  house  the 
first  time  seven  months  ago.  People  here 
interpret  the  experiences  as  miraculous 
deliverance  from  powers  of  evil  which 
are  trying  to  destroy  him. 

Last  Sunday  a missionary  with  a pub- 
lic address  system  on  his  truck  took  a 
Zairian  evangelist  named  John  Kabamba 
to  three  open-air  markets.  It  was  driz- 
zling. John  sat  inside  the  open  cab  door 
and  preached  on  “The  two  ways.”  Peo- 
ple clustered  under  the  flimsy  stick 
booths  or  stood  in  the  rain  to  listen. 
A total  of  thirty-seven  came  to  get  right 
with  God. 

Recently  Bible  institute  students  had 
a practical  work  assignment.  They  taught 
a series  of  daily  Bible  lessons  in  the  pri- 
mary school  here  on  the  mission  station. 
Some  200  students  said  they  wanted  to 
take  Jesus  into  their  hearts. 

Tuesday  afternoon  I met  with  four 
young  men  who  teach  Bible  classes  in 
the  area  public  schools.  They  regularly 
reach  over  a thousand  students  in  some 
sixty  classes  a week.  Their  sharing  was 
animated.  “When  I started  at  this 
school,”  one  said,  “kids  were  so  undisci- 
plined they  threatened  me  bodily  harm. 
I went  home  and  prayed  about  it.  By 
now  I’ve  won  their  respect.  Every  one 
of  them  loves  me.  When  the  principal 
suggested  dividing  my  class  with  a new 
teacher,  they  said,  ‘Never.  If  another 
teacher  comes,  we’ll  drive  him  out.’  The 
principal  asked  me,  ‘What  did  you  do 
to  change  those  students  like  that?’  ” 

Evangelist  John  is  one  of  these  teach- 
ers. While  we  were  in  session,  an  elderly 
man  who  is  a subchief  came.  He  had 
repented  of  his  sins  at  John’s  Sunday 
meeting.  Now  he  had  come  to  say  that 
he  wanted  to  destroy  his  native  fetishes 
and  medicines.  He  wanted  John  to  go 
with  him  to  his  village.  They  went,  re- 
moved the  fetishes  and  medicines  from 
this  home,  had  prayer,  then  hauled  them 
to  the  river  and  threw  them  in. 

Later  that  same  afternoon  I partici- 
pated in  a local  church  council  meeting. 
An  important  item  on  the  agenda  was 
setting  up  plans  whereby  the  200  primary 
school  students  who  said  they  wanted 
to  accept  Jesus  would  have  opportunity 


Levi  Keidel  with  John  Kabamba 


for  catechism  instruction  by  a qualified 
teacher. 

A young  man  who  coordinates  evan- 
gelistic efforts  between  various  areas  of 
our  field  just  returned  from  a five-day 
trip.  In  some  twenty  meetings,  thirty- 
five  people  repented  of  their  sins  and 
accepted  Christ,  and  seventy-two  back- 
sliders returned  to  the  Lord. 

Not  long  ago  my  wife  was  main  speak- 
er at  a four-day  area  women’s  confer- 
ence. At  the  final  service  on  Sunday 
morning  the  local  pastor  preached.  He 
gave  an  invitation,  and  over  forty  came 
forward  to  be  restored.  Among  them 
was  a woman  who  had  deserted  the  way 
of  Christ  and  had  not  come  to  church 
for  ten  years.  Conference  women  had  ( 
been  praying  for  her  and  rejoiced  at  , 
her  coming. 

Some  months  ago  I received  a report 
from  church  leaders  in  the  western  part 
of  our  field,  where  visiting  evangelist 
Kabangu-Lubadi  had  just  closed  a two- 
week  effort  there.  Over  1,000  persons 
made  first-time  decisions,  and  682  back- 
sliders returned  to  the  Lord.  During 
the  turbulent  events  in  this  country 
some  years  ago,  this  man  fled  through 
the  withering  cross  fire  of  war,  escaped 
death  threats  of  hostile  tribemates,  and 
hid  for  weeks  in  the  jungle  to  survive.  ( 
God  is  using  him  now.* 

There  are  problems.  As  during  the 
first  century,  the  combined  power  struc- 
tures  of  institutional  religion,  paganism, 
and  Caesar  form  a specter  which,  hu-  ( 
manly  speaking,  could  wipe  out  the 
church.  But  the  rusty  brake  drums  con-  j. 
tinue  to  sound  out  their  “dink  dink  ... 
dink  dink  . . .”  every  morning,  and  the 
spirit  of  God  continues  to  work  around 
us.  These  dinking  brake  drums  suggest 
something  more  akin  to  the  book  of  Acts,  j 

-'This  man  is  the  central  character  in  Footsteps  to  [ 
freedom,  Moody  Press,  1967. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  ' 

It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite  | 

Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office.-  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newlon,  Kans.  67114.  C 


172 


MARCH  13,  1973 


MEWS 

Camp  report  sparks  B.C.  conference  discussion 

Lloyd  Mackey 


George  Nachtigal,  a Chilliwack  second- 
ary school  teacher,  has  been  elected  to 
his  second  term  as  chairman  of  the 
United  Mennonite  Churches  of  British 
Columbia. 

He  was  reelected  by  acclamation  Sat- 
urday, February  10,  when  300  delegates 
and  visitors  met  for  the  thirty-eighth  B.C. 
conference,  held  at  First  United  Men- 
nonite Church,  Vancouver. 

Delegates  passed  a $130,620  budget 
in  short  order  during  the  dying  moments 
, of  the  conference,  accepting  almost  pas- 
| sively  a $14,000  hike  over  last  year’s 
expenditures. 

The  only  possible  budget  hitch,  a mo- 
tion from  Eden  Church,  Chilliwack,  ask- 
ing the  conference  executive  to  study  re- 
duction of  the  number  of  conference 
employees,  was  withdrawn  by  church 
delegates.  Reason  for  the  withdrawal 
■ was  that  the  executive  committee  proved 
i to  the  church’s  satisfaction  that  some 
$7,000  in  salary  reduction  was  accom- 
plished through  more  effective  deploy- 
ment of  staff. 

Warmest  discussion  of  the  conference 
followed  Camp  Squeah  director  Peter 
Nickel’s  report  on  the  camp’s  spiritual 
influence  on  campers. 

Mr.  Nickel  quoted  from  several  coun- 
selor reports  on  campers — without  re- 
vealing identity — to  indicate  that  the 
camp’s  spiritual  influence  varied  greatly 
according  to  individual  situations. 

Siegfried  Bartel,  who  is  board  chair- 
man of  the  Agassiz  public  school  system, 
questioned  the  wisdom  of  preparing  re- 
ports without  the  consent  of  parents  and 
keeping  them  from  year  to  year. 

His  query  sparked  twenty  minutes 
of  debate  which  included  support  of  the 
reporting  idea,  suggestions  that  reports 
be  available  but  only  consulted  if  a 
camper  problem  developed,  and  outright 
opposition  to  the  idea. 

Conference  consensus  was  that  the 
camp  committee  study  its  reporting  pol- 
icy in  light  of  the  debate.  But  delegates 
passed  a unanimous  vote  of  confidence 
in  Mr.  Nickel  and  the  committee — a 
vote  designed  to  assure  camp  personnel 
that  the  objections  were  offered  in  a 
constructive  sense. 


In  other  camp-related  business,  dele- 
gates approved  a committee  recommen- 
dation to  begin  blueprint  drawings  for 
the  kitchen  and  assembly  hall  addition 
at  Camp  Squeah. 

Werner  Bartel,  chairman  of  the  camp 
committee,  said  the  drawings  and  esti- 
mates would  be  ready  for  the  1974  con- 
ference, with  the  hope  of  construction 
by  1975  if  approval  is  given. 

The  music  committee  chairman,  Jacob 
Braun,  asked  delegates  to  consider  for 
the  future,  the  idea  of  a conference- 
employed  music  director  to  provide 

Longacre  visits  South  Vietnam 
Seeks  reconstruction  ideas 

Paul  Longacre,  assistant  executive  sec- 
retary of  Mennonite  Central  Committee, 
left  for  South  Vietnam  in  February  to 
obtain  first-hand  information  on  the  Viet- 
namese political  situation  as  it  relates  to 
mcc’s  present  and  future  program  activ- 
ity. Mr.  Longacre  may  also  visit  Laos 
and  Cambodia  to  assess  possibilities  for 
mcc  assistance  there. 

During  his  ten-day  trip  to  South  Viet- 
nam, Mr.  Longacre  was  to  contact  Viet- 
namese church  leaders,  mcc  personnel, 
and  Mennonite  missionaries  for  their  sug- 
gestions about  reconstruction  programs 
in  Vietnam.  Tentative  ideas  for  action 
include  a food-for-work  program  to  help 
resettling  villagers  in  preparing  their  land 
and  irrigation  facilities  for  production, 
helping  secure  seeds  and  livestock  for  re- 
settlers, and  assistance  for  those  with 
physical  handicaps  resulting  from  the  war 
and  for  individual  prisoners  who  are  be- 
ing released  and  their  families. 

Mr.  Longacre  hopes  to  investigate  pos- 
sibilities for  assisting  Vietnamese  people 
in  areas  controlled  by  the  Provisional 
Revolutionary  Government  and  to  dis- 
cuss mcc  planning  for  North  Vietnam 
with  Mennonite  missionaries  and  work- 
ers. 

The  trip  will  also  facilitate  the  co- 
ordination of  mcc  reconstruction  work 
with  possible  governmental  programs, 
Vietnam  Christian  Service,  and  local 
church  efforts. 


backup  resources  to  lay  volunteer  music 
leaders  in  local  churches. 

The  conference  also  approved  a Chris- 
tian education  committee  recommenda- 
tion that  the  $50,000  from  the  sale  of 
the  former  Bethel  Bible  Institute  proper- 
ty at  West  Abbotsford  be  placed  in  a 
reserve  fund  for  future  Bible  institute 
needs  or  expansion. 

There  were  some  light  moments  in 
the  conference  when  representatives  of 
various  Mennonite  educational  institu- 
tions attempted  some  friendly  one-up- 
manship. It  all  began  during  Columbia 
Bible  Institute  reports,  which  showed 
glowing  statistics  about  the  growth  of  the 
school  and  community  acceptance  of  the 
Christian  service  program. 

Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College 
representatives  indicated  that  some  stu- 
dents from  Bible  institutes  go  on  to 
cmbc.  The  inference  was  that  Bible 
school  is  not  for  everybody. 

Finally  the  Elkhart  seminary  pro- 
moter took  a standing  count  of  delegates 
who  had  attended  Bible  institutes,  col- 
leges, universities,  and  seminaries.  It  was 
a fairly  even  split. 

Regionalization  of  some  conference 
committees  was  an  easily  approved  sub- 
ject. That  policy  will  be  implemented 
in  the  youth  advisors  area,  as  well  as  in 
the  area  of  annual  conference  rotation. 

The  western  region  includes  Greater 
Vancouver  and  Vancouver  Island  church- 
es. The  central  region  covers  the  Ab- 
botsford area,  and  eastern  representation 
takes  care  of  the  Chilliwack  area  and 
the  rest  of  the  province. 

Delegates  also  approved  setting  aside 
$5,000  to  assist  the  Burns  Lake  congre- 
gation in  northern  B.C.  with  the  es- 
tablishment of  a ministry  in  the  develop- 
ing mining  communities  of  Topley  and 
Grandisle. 

The  Mennonite  involvement  currently 
includes  Friday  night  adult  Bible  studies 
and  recreation-spiritual  programs  for 
children.  Several  members  of  the  Burns 
Lake  Church  make  the  seventy-mile  trip 
each  week  to  spearhead  the  activities. 

Statistics  indicated  that  B.C.  confer- 
ence membership  grew  from  3,524  to 
3,572  during  the  past  year. 


THE  MENNONITE 


173 


Chileans  try  a “second  way” 

Delton  Franz 


In  spite  of  our  nonpolitical  posture, 
Mennonites,  like  people  across  the  coun- 
try and  around  the  world,  are  attracted 
to  political  systems  which  offer  some 
assurance  that  our  economic  well-being 
may  be  advanced.  Hence,  as  a basically 
advantaged  and  affluent  people  in  Ameri- 
ca, a preponderance  of  Mennonites  iden- 
tify with  the  Republican  party — a party 
that  has  generally  shown  more  sympathy 
for  entrepreneurs  than  to  the  unemployed 
and  the  racially  disadvantaged. 

Not  surprisingly,  the  Mennonites  of 
Holland  tend  to  be  apprehensive  of 
right-wing  totalitarian  governments,  hav- 
ing endured  the  bombing  and  invasion  of 
Nazi  troops  from  Hitler’s  regime  during 
World  War  II. 

The  Mennonite  colonists  in  South 
America,  by  contrast,  experienced  hard- 
ships at  the  hands  of  the  revolutionary 
left  in  the  Communist  uprisings  in  Rus- 
sia in  the  1920s  and  consequently  they 
are  more  comfortable  with  the  elitist 
military  governments  of  Brazil  and  Para- 
guay, where  uprisings  of  the  disaffected 
are  likely  to  be  put  down. 

Admittedly,  these  are  broad  generali- 
zations. Yet  it  is  important  for  us  as 
members  of  a worldwide  brotherhood  to 
recognize  that  the  “friendly”  govern- 
ments, who  have  opened  doors  to  us  over 
the  years,  have  often  deprived  other 
racial  and  economic  groups  both  within 
and  outside  of  countries  where  Menno- 
nites have  settled. 

As  immigrants  in  search  of  new  op- 
portunities in  earlier  years,  we  were  the 
beneficiaries  — - in  Canada,  the  United 
States,  and  in  South  America  — when 
government  made  cheap  land  available 
to  us  that  rightfully  belonged  to  the 
Indians,  whether  the  Indians  in  Para- 
guay, Kansas,  or  Manitoba. 

Now  we  are  the  established,  the  land- 
ed aristocracy,  while  other  minorities 
(in  some  places  majorities)  are  knock- 
ing at  the  door  hoping  for  a fair  chance 
to  have  their  day  in  the  sun.  Will  we 
intercede  on  their  behalf? 

A part  of  our  tradition  has  always 
been  to  share  our  resources  with  the  dis- 
advantaged. Yet  when  the  impoverished 
masses  awaken  to  their  disadvantaged 
conditions  and  begin  a disruptive  clamor 
for  justice,  our  sense  of  security — peace 
and  prosperity — is  threatened.  We  wel- 
come governmental  action  that  will  keep 
the  agitating  oppressed  in  line  and  our 


own  positions  secure.  Our  instinctive  re- 
sponse to  any  agitation  for  equality  is  to 
counsel  patience. 

But  the  patience  of  impoverished 
third  world  people  is  wearing  thin,  as 
America  and  the  developed  countries 
get  richer  and  the  underdeveloped  na- 
tions fall  further  behind.  For  the  rich  to 
urge  the  poor  to  wait,  arguing  that  the 
benefits  of  economic  expansion  will 
eventually  trickle  down,  is  resented,  espe- 
cially when  our  giant  business  corpora- 
tions are  reaping  huge  profits  on  third 
world  soil. 

Because  of  the  growing  sensitivity  of 
the  oppressed  to  the  economic  exploita- 
tion by  foreign  corporations,  the  church 
must  realize  that  the  issue  is  becoming 
less  the  traditional  one  of  how  charitable 
the  rich  countries  (and  churches)  should 
be  toward  the  poor,  but  what  must  be 
done  to  end  the  injustices  of  programmed 
economic  exploitation  by  big  business 
and  government. 

For  that  reason,  the  recent  appeal 
from  American  missionaries  serving  in 
Chile,  to  their  fellow  Christians  in  the 
United  States,  merits  our  attention.  The 
fact  that  Mennonites  do  not  have  proj- 
ects in  Chile  nor  immigrants  who  have 
settled  there  may  enable  us  to  examine 
the  exploitation  of  the  Chilean  people 
by  American  business  with  greater  ob- 
jectivity. 

It  is  appropriate  to  consider  the  ap- 
peal from  Chile  at  this  time  because  par- 
liamentary elections  scheduled  for  Chile 
on  March  4 will  indicate  whether  Presi- 
dent Salvador  Allende’s  coalition  in  Par- 
liament will  have  enough  support  to 
make  feasible  the  continuation  of  his 
socialist  government.  These  elections — 
which  will  have  taken  place  by  the  time 
this  article  appears  — will  be  watched 
around  the  world  with  keen  interest  be- 
cause the  election  of  Mr.  Allende  as 
President  of  Chile  in  1970  marked  the 
first  democratically  elected  Marxist  lead- 
er of  any  country  in  the  western  world. 
To  put  it  differently,  Chile  is  the  first 
nation  to  attempt  a socialist  democracy. 

The  eighty  missionaries  from  the  Unit- 
ed States  serving  in  Chile  (Missioner’s 
Committee  on  International  Awareness) 
who  sent  a pastoral  letter  to  American 
churches,  expressed  their  distress  with 
the  effects  of  U.S.  Government  and  busi- 
ness operations  in  developing  nations  in 
general  and  in  Chile  particularly: 


“Greetings  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
We  are  writing  to  you  out  of  a common 
concern  for  the  one  gospel  we  both  pro- 
fess and  the  one  kingdom  of  justice  and 
equality  and  peace  to  which  we  are  both 
committed.  . . . 

“We  have  become  aware  of  the  con- 
tradiction between  his  gospel  and  many 
of  the  actions  of  the  nation  from  which 
we  come,  actions  which  are  harmful  to 
the  people  of  Chile  economically,  polit- 
ically, culturally,  and  spiritually.” 

Speaking  further  of  the  plight  of  de- 
humanizing poverty  of  the  vast  majority 
of  Chileans  the  missionaries’  letter  goes 
on  to  cite  U.S.  business  corporations  as 
a major  factor  that  has  perpetuated  these 
conditions. 

“Between  the  years  1911  and  1971, 
the  years  during  which  the  large  U.S. 
copper  companies  operated  in  Chile,  for- 
eign companies  removed  from  Chile  a 
total  of  $7.2  billion.  During  these  same 
years  foreign  investment  amounted  to 
just  over  $1  billion.  In  other  words, 
foreign  investors  removed  seven  times 
more  than  they  put  into  the  country. 

“The  two  giant  U.S.  copper  com- 
panies alone,  Anaconda  and  Kennecott, 
removed  $4.6  billion  from  Chile  during 
the  same  years.” 

The  control  exercised  by  big  rich  gov- 
ernments over  poor  countries  is  exempli- 
fied by  the  pressure  the  United  States 
applied  to  Chile  to  subsidize  the  cost  of 
our  war  in  Vietnam.  Chile  was  pressed  to 
sell  90,000  tons  of  copper  at  thirty-six 
cents  a pound,  even  though  the  world 
market  was  at  sixty  cents  a pound.  In  so 
doing,  Chile  lost  $43  million  and  the 
Chilean  poor  suffered  from  the  reduced 
copper  earnings  since  its  government’s 
reduced  revenue  limited  the  health  and 
educational  services  that  could  be  pro- 
vided for  its  people. 

Eight  months  after  Salvador  Allende 
became  President  of  Chile  in  1970,  the 
Anaconda  and  Kennecott  companies 
were  expropriated.  Nationalizing  the 
American  copper  mines,  like  the  agrarian 
reform  of  dividing  the  huge  rural  estates 
among  peasant  farmers,  is  all  part  of 
the  government’s  income  redistribution 
effort. 

There  are  many  indications  that  U.S. 
policy  is  trying  to  do  everything  possible 
short  of  military  intervention  to  keep 
Mr.  Allende  from  succeeding.  U.S.  re- 
actions to  Chile’s  take-over  of  U.S.  in- 


174 


MARCH  13,  1973 


dustries  were  quick  and  decisive.  Mone- 
i tary  credit  was  cut  off  by  such  agencies 
i as  the  Export  Import  Bank  and  the  U.S. 
Agency  for  International  Development. 

■ Companies  are  not  making  new  invest- 
ments. Delays  of  deliveries  and  shipping 
of  spare  parts  have  occurred.  Technical 
assistance  has  been  withdrawn.  It  is  note- 
| worthy,  however,  that  while  the  U.S. 
j Government  has  put  the  squeeze  on  Chile 
for  financial  credit  and  food  imports — in 
retaliation  for  nationalizing  the  U.S.  cop- 
per mines — U.S.  aid  to  the  Chilean  armed 
forces  has  doubled!  Some  diplomatic 
quarters  in  Washington  suggest  that  the 
| military  aid  was  designed  to  court  the 
Chilean  military  leadership  in  the  hope 
that  they  might  overthrow  the  Allende 
government. 

If  Mr.  Allende’s  economic  reforms  had 
been  instituted  by  means  of  a violent 
revolutionary  take-over,  we  might  view 
I it  as  another  example  of  “communist 
! aggression.”  But  Mr.  Allende’s  leader- 
ship came  peacefully,  being  subject  to 
the  democratic  will  of  the  people.  The 
! ousting  of  U.S.  copper  industries  from 
Chile  presumably  represents  the  wishes 
of  a substantial  proportion  of  the  people. 

A September  1972  survey  of  greater 
| Santiago,  commissioned  by  the  opposi- 
i tion-controlled  newspaper,  Ercilla,  gives 
| evidence  that  60  percent  of  Santiago’s 
| population  looks  favorably  on  the  Al- 
lende government’s  performance.  Equal- 
ly important,  this  survey  shows  that 
Santiago’s  small  privileged  upper-income 
group  overwhelmingly  opposes  Mr.  Al- 
lende’s efforts,  while  the  lower  class  is 
enthusiastic.  The  President’s  support  was 
earlier  increased  when  the  abortive  coup, 
proposed  by  the  cia  and  itt  contributed 
to  the  increase  of  leftist  support  from 
36  percent  in  September  1970  to  50 
percent  in  April  1971. 

While  Mr.  Allende  stands  out  as  the 
hemisphere’s  first  freely  elected  socialist 
president,  care  should  be  taken  not  to 
pigeonhole  the  Allende  government  in 
the  same  mold  as  Stalinist  Russia.  In 
Chile,  as  in  other  Latin  American  coun- 
tries, the  people  are  affirming  their 
nationalist  aspirations  (not  leftist  ideolo- 
gies). President  Allende  asserts  that  this 
is  Chile’s  historic  opportunity  to  open  a 
“second  way”  to  move  from  the  injus- 
tices of  capitalism  in  favor  of  socialism 
without  the  human  costs  of  revolutionary 
violence. 

Mr.  Allende  has  not  tried  for  political 
control,  as  in  Cuba,  where  opponents 
are  shot  or  jailed  and  where  dissent  is 
silenced  by  the  absence  of  a Congress,  a 
free  press,  and  political  parties.  Chile  is 


Salvador  Allende 


not  a police  state.  Mr.  Allende’s  concept 
of  socialist  government  is  not  of  the 
Fidel  Castro  school  of  Marxism  in  which 
the  government  rips  down  the  whole 
castle  in  order  to  build  another  one 
from  scratch. 

These  observations  are  made,  not  to 
suggest  that  Chile’s  present  form  of  gov- 
ernment offers  a model,  providing  the 
answers  to  the  difficult  problems  of  un- 
derdeveloped countries.  President  Al- 
lende’s government  is  in  fact  fraught 
with  headaches,  and  only  time  will  tell 
whether  it  can  overcome  the  dual  handi- 
caps of  opposition  from  the  upper  and 
middle  classes  within  the  country  and 
the  United  States’  obstructive  actions 
from  without. 

What  Chile’s  experiment  tells  us  is 
first,  that  the  old  image  of  Stalinist  com- 
munism will  not  be  applicable  to  chang- 
ing form  of  socialist  governments  in  the 
developing  countries  of  Africa  and  Latin 
America.  The  American  “anticommu- 
nist” outlook  that  persisted  through  the 
cold  war  era  does  not  provide  an  ac- 
curate perception  of  some  of  the  newer 
revisions  of  the  socialist  state. 

Rather  than  viewing  the  Chilean  Gov- 
ernment’s actions  as  sinister  ideological 
moves  engineered  by  Marxists,  their  ac- 
tions should  be  seen  as  part  of  the  re- 
gional response  to  deep-seated  national 
needs  to  direct  and  control  their  own 
resources.  What  we  are  seeing  in  Chile 
is  much  more  than  the  action  of  a single 
government;  it  is  a Latin  American  phe- 
nomenon with  both  long-  and  short- 
range  implications  for  the  industrialized 
nations  of  both  East  and  West. 


Second,  the  citizens  of  capitalist  so- 
cieties— the  U.S.  especially — must  learn 
that  third  world  nations  will  increasingly 
reject  our  economic  and  political  system 
because  of  their  bitter  experience  with 
our  profit-taking,  capitalist  business  firms 
which  have  exploited  their  people. 

Slowly  the  reality  of  these  two  factors 
is  getting  through  to  at  least  some  mem- 
bers of  U.S.  Congress.  This  month,  Sen- 
ator Frank  Church  (Idaho),  Latin  Amer- 
ica specialist  on  the  foreign  relations 
committee,  will  hold  the  first  congres- 
sional hearings  on  the  activities  of  multi- 
national corporations.  The  impact  on 
impoverished  nations  of  these  rich  in- 
dustrial giants  will  come  under  examina- 
tion. Perhaps  some  light  will  be  shed  on 
the  efforts  of  itt  (International  Tele- 
phone and  Telegraph)  to  lead  a coup  in 
an  attempt  to  prevent  Mr.  Allende  from 
becoming  president  of  Chile  in  1970. 
Clearly  itt  was  motivated  by  its  interest 
in  protecting  financial  profits. 

Though  U.S.  policymakers  have  been 
slow  to  acknowledge  the  reasons  for  the 
resentment  felt  toward  us  by  a growing 
number  of  the  disinherited  around  the 
world,  the  more  immediate  question  for 
the  readers  of  The  Mennonite  is  whether 
we  in  the  church  understand  this. 

It  seems  clear  that  our  first  priority  is 
not  to  ally  the  church  with  either  cap- 
italist or  socialist  governments,  for  nei- 
ther can  ever  be  an  adequate  expression 
of  the  Christian’s  responsibility  to  his 
neighbor.  Nor  should  the  purpose  of  our 
analysis  of  our  neighboring  Latin  Amer- 
ican countries  be  to  romanticize  “social- 
ist” models  like  Chile  or  simply  to  con- 
demn countries  like  Brazil  for  being 
“conservative.”  Moralism  becomes  a 
form  of  blindness  when  it  overempha- 
sizes the  virtues  of  one  type  of  political 
system  and  the  vices  of  another. 

As  Christians  in  North  America,  our 
inquiry  should  begin  with  the  actions 
carried  out  by  our  government  that  af- 
fect the  lives  of  our  Latin  American 
brothers,  especially  the  poor. 

If  the  determination  of  Latin  Amer- 
icans to  have  greater  dignity,  indepen- 
dence, and  justice  means  the  end  of  U.S. 
dominance  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere, 
that  should  be  recognized  by  our  church- 
es as  a legitimate  claim. 

The  efforts  to  exploit  people  of  Latin 
America  and  militarize  their  governments 
in  the  interest  of  sustaining  the  vested 
interests  of  the  U.S.  policymakers  and 
big  business  should  prompt  Christians  in 
the  U.S.  to  speak  out.  Our  charity  to  the 
oppressed  should  be  undergirded  with 
justice. 


THE  MENNONITE 


175 


Alternative  congregation  grows  in  the  city 


Ecumenikos  is  not  the  typical  young  sub- 
urban congregation. 

The  congregation  is  located  in  the 
Johnson  County,  Kansas,  suburbs  of 
Kansas  City.  But  location  is  hard  to  pin 
down.  The  church  has  no  building  of  its 
own  and  doesn’t  want  one,  for  now  at 
least.  It  meets  for  worship  in  the  social 
room  of  a large  apartment  complex. 
Smaller  group  meeings,  including  Chris- 
tian education,  are  in  homes.  The  staff 
works  out  of  a cubbyhole  borrowed  from 
a state  denominational  office. 

It’s  also  hard  to  talk  about  ministry 
in  the  usual  terms.  There  are  three  staff 
ministers,  but  the  rest  of  the  congrega- 
tion prefers  to  think  of  themselves  as 
nonsalaried  ministers.  Some  people  even 
talk  about  reducing  the  need  for  any 
paid  ministers  within  three  years. 

The  idea  of  such  a congregation  began 
about  1970.  The  Rainbow  Boulevard 
Mennonite  Church,  closer  to  downtown, 
was  wondering  whether  to  build  a new 
building  and  began  discussion  with  the 
Metropolitan  Interchurch  Agency  in 
Kansas  City  on  possible  joint  efforts 
with  other  denominations.  Both  the 
United  Methodist  Church  and  the  Disci- 
ples of  Christ  had  bought  property  for 
new  congregations,  and  they  and  other 
denominations  liked  the  idea  of  a joint 
effort. 

Finally,  five  denominations — United 
Presbyterian  Church,  United  Methodist 
Church,  United  Church  of  Christ,  Chris- 
tian Church  (Disciples  of  Christ),  and 
General  Conference  Mennonite  Church 
— decided  to  pool  their  resources  for  a 
new  congregation  in  the  Shawnee  Mis- 
sion-Overland Park  area  of  Johnson 
County,  an  area  of  highly  mobile  young 
families,  commuters,  and  apartment- 
dwellers. 

Regional  or  local  groups  within  the 
five  denominations  appointed  a ten-mem- 
ber committee  which  set  up  a minimum 
structure  and  hired  three  staff  members: 
Anne  Lee  Kreml,  experienced  in  small 
groups,  family  education,  and  pastoral 
care;  Terry  Woodbury,  practically  fresh 
from  seminary;  and  Lowell  Spencer,  for- 
merly a Methodist  pastor  in  Kansas  City. 

The  structure  of  ecumenikos  has  been 
evolving  ever  since  the  congregation  be- 
gan meeting  last  July.  A retreat  in  Sep- 
tember, which  staff  had  seen  as  organi- 
zational, focused — at  lay  insistence — on 
building  relationships  within  the  group. 
When  the  congregation  did  decide  on 
organization,  it  set  up  five  interest-orient- 


ed house  churches  and  a policy-setting 
coordinating  committee,  which  makes 
decisions  by  consensus. 

The  structure  continued  until  January, 
when  the  congregation  evaluated  and 
restructured.  The  two  family  living  and 
worship  house  churches  had  proved  such 
a good  place  for  intergenerational  Chris- 
tian education  that  the  idea  was  expand- 
ed to  include  everyone. 

Now  five  education  groups  meet  every 
other  Friday  evening  in  five  homes 
within  walking  distance  of  each  other. 
Children  are  divided  by  age,  and  a par- 
ent joins  a group  with  one  of  his  own 
children.  Teen-agers  serve  as  teachers’ 
aides. 

“We  have  tried  to  keep  the  family 
relationship  present,”  said  Ms.  Kreml. 
“But  it  also  gives  adults  without  children 
a chance  to  relate  to  children.  And  chil- 
dren have  a chance  to  relate  to  adults 
who  are  not  parents  or  teachers.” 

Ms.  Kreml  said  that  families  are 
spreading  the  word  of  the  education 
groups  among  their  friends,  and  that 
growth  is  largest  here.  The  pattern  has 
been  that  a family  finds  an  education 
group,  then  becomes  interested  in  the 
other  activities  of  the  church.  About 
seventy  adults  and  children  are  involved. 

Only  one  of  the  house  churches  which 
began  in  October — the  social  action 
house  church — has  continued  as  it  was. 
But  four  others  have  been  organized — 
personal  growth  and  human  sexuality, 


counterculture,  meditation,  and  ecumen- 
ical dialog.  The  latter  house  church  is 
in  conversation  with  Catholics  involved 
in  an  apartment  ministry  in  the  area. 

Worship  celebrations  are  usually  ev- 
ery other  Sunday  night — sometimes  week- 
ly. The  apartment  complex  where  they 
are  held  is  on  a street  of  half  a dozen 
such  apartment  complexes,  and  although 
none  of  the  present  church  members 
live  there,  the  move  is  intentional. 

“People  in  the  apartments  are  almost 
totally  unrelated  to  any  church  life,” 
said  Mr.  Woodbury.  “We  are  looking  at 
this  area  as  a kind  of  mission.” 

The  room,  with  shag  rug  and  little 
furniture,  has  allowed  many  forms  of 
worship — musical  liturgy,  small  group 
activities.  But  communion  is  the  real 
worship  focus,  said  Mr.  Woodbury. 

“Communion  is  the  point  where 
pluralism  can  find  a central  point  where 
people  feel  comfortable.  It  brings  unity 
in  diversity.” 

Dealing  with  the  pluralism  within  the 
congregation  has  been  difficult  at  times, 
members  admit.  Diversity  among  the 
house  churches  has  been  built  in,  but 
some  people  find  it  hard  to  accept  diver- 
sity in  worship  and  wish  for  more  struc- 
ture. 

Many  other  members  are  former 
church  dropouts  or  those  who  were 
never  able  to  find  a way  to  drop  into 
church  structures. 

“I  like  this  congregation  because  it 


176 


MARCH  13,  1973 


allows  for  individuality  as  well  as  com- 
munity,” said  Donna  Leutung,  a mem- 
ber of  the  congregation.  “In  the  house 
churches  people  can  express  differences 
and  people  are  allowed  to  be  what  they 
want.  But  there  is  community,  too,  and 
care  for  people  in  need.  When  the  elec- 
tricity was  out  in  parts  of  Kansas  City 
1 this  winter,  there  was  concern  for  other 
families,  and  some  moved  in  with  each 
other  temporarily.” 

The  diversity  has  also  allowed  for 
questioning. 

“When  we  examined  what  it  means  to 
be  a member,  I sensed  for  the  first  time 
' that  I had  a choice  about  being  a Chris- 
tian,” Ms.  Leutung  said.  “Before,  I 
didn’t  question  being  a Methodist  or 
being  a Christian.  Now  I’ve  found  that 
a Christian  has  the  possibility  of  ques- 
tioning.” 

“The  valuable  thing  in  the  member- 
I ship  process,”  Mr.  Woodbury  added, 
“was  to  hear  people  making  a unique 
! personal  statement.  I had  the  sense  that 
the  pluralism  was  above  board.  Usually 
it’s  not  examined.  But  this  church  de- 
mands: What  do  you  mean  by  ‘Chris- 
; tian’?” 

The  emphasis  on  personal  commit- 
| ment  relates  to  the  emphasis  from  the 
1 beginning  on  “lay  empowerment.” 

Although  it  may  seem  to  contradict 
j the  idea  of  lay  involvement,  the  hiring 
of  three  staff  members  was  intentional. 

“The  training  of  laity  is  pretty  im- 
portant,” said  Mr.  Spencer,  “and  one 
staff  person  is  not  enough.  The  usual 
model  for  a new  congregation  is  a part- 
time  man  who  spends  much  of  his  time 
doing  institutional  things.  He  doesn’t 
see  himself  as  a trainer.” 

The  pastoral  model  has  also  encour- 
I aged  diversity,  since  the  three  staff  mem- 
bers have  different  interests  and  do  not 
agree  on  everything  concerning  the  na- 
ture of  the  church. 

Both  staff  and  nonstaff  are  struggling 
to  make  the  concept  of  lay  involvement 
more  than  rhetoric. 

Ms.  Leutung  said,  “There  are  laity 
who  have  never  felt  they  had  responsi- 
bility. In  the  end  the  church  may  be 
left  to  them.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
are  ministers  who  have  to  get  used  to 
the  concept,  too.” 

“In  more  traditional  churches,  laity 
have  always  been  secretaries  and  cooked 
the  dinners,”  Helen  Yeomans,  another 
member  of  the  congregation,  added. 

“When  I think  of  all  the  dinners  I’ve 
cooked  here!”  Mr.  Spencer  groaned. 

Is  it  worth  the  struggle? 

“Yes!”  said  Ms.  Yeomans.  “People’s 


personhoods  are  being  kept  intact.  I don’t 
have  to  fit  any  role.  I feel  I am  a minis- 
ter at  a church.” 

“If  there  are  fifty  people  in  the  church, 
I have  one-fiftieth  of  that  responsibility,” 
said  Ms.  Leutung.  “Sometimes  you 
choose,  sometimes  it  is  laid  on  you.” 
“In  the  established  church,  if  I called 
and  asked  someone  to  do  something  I 
felt  apologetic,”  said  Mr.  Woodbury. 
“But  last  night  I felt  free  to  call  Donna 
to  ask  her  to  attend  the  meeting  with 
me.  I feel  different  in  the  way  I relate 
to  people  in  requests.” 

Mr.  Spencer  agreed,  “I  used  to  ex- 
pect half  the  people  I called  to  say  no 
and  give  five  reasons  why  they  couldn’t. 
The  church  was  way  down  on  their 
list  of  priorities.  Maybe  we  should  or- 
dain the  lay  people  as  ministers  in  the 
church.” 

Ms.  Leutung:  “But  we  should  get  away 
from  the  lay-clergy  titles.” 

Mr.  Woodbury:  “You  mean,  we  talk 
about  new  functions,  but  continue  to 
use  the  old  words.” 

Mr.  Spencer:  “How  about  just  using 
the  word  ‘minister’  for  everyone?” 

Ms.  Leutung:  “Okay,  you’re  staff  and 
ministers,  and  we’re  ministers  but  not 
paid.  Each  has  uniqueness,  and  we  can 
call  on  his  talent  when  needed.” 

Mr.  Woodbury:  “But  the  struggle  is: 
I spend  four  years  getting  a degree  and 
taking  all  the  courses,  and  all  that  is 
attached  to  an  ego  process.  But  what  is 
called  for  here  is  not  a title  or  ego  or 
certain  expectations,  but  the  right  per- 
son. That  is  threatening.  We  just  aren’t 
sure  anybody  in  the  world  needs  us.” 

Mr.  Spencer:  “The  reason  I got  train- 
ing was  that  I felt  ‘called.’  I feel  called 
to  do  a couple  of  things  nobody’s  ask- 
ing me  to  do.” 

Ms.  Leutung:  “Then  the  community 
is  not  dealing  with  you  as  a person.” 
Ms.  Kreml  added  later,  “Lay  empow- 
erment has  been  a struggle,  but  not  as 
much  for  me  as  for  Lowell.  My  stance  is 
different.  In  the  way  the  educational 
process  here  has  developed,  I have  tried 
to  follow  the  lead  of  people  and  let 
them  discover.  In  January,  they  came 
out  where  I would  have  come  out  three 
months  ago.  That  was  a positive  stroke. 
It  told  me  that  I’m  where  I ought  to  be.” 
The  congregation  is  already  making 
plans  to  become  a full  member  of  all 
five  denominations  to  which  it  is  related 
and  will  be  applying  for  membership  in 
the  Western  District  Conference. 

Mennonite  involvement  so  far  has 
been  primarily  financial,  although  one 
family  is  participating  in  both  the  Rain- 


bow Boulevard  Church  and  ecumenikos. 

Leo  Goertz,  a member  of  the  Rainbow 
Boulevard  Church  and  part  of  the  orig- 
inating committee,  commented,  “This  is 
how  I see  Mennonites  being  involved: 
ecumenikos  is  another  alternative  kind 
of  church  for  Mennonites  who  come  to 
the  city  who  don’t  want  a rural  church 
experience  moved  to  an  urban  setting. 
Many  educated  young  people  are  turned 
off  by  the  suburban  church  experiences 
until  they  become  parents  of  four-  or 
five-year-old  children.” 

The  ecumenical  congregation  fills  a 
need,  he  said,  since  there  would  be  lit- 
tle chance  for  Mennonites  to  do  the 
same  thing  on  their  own  with  few 
finances. 

Mr.  Goertz  also  felt  that  participation 
of  Mennonites — with  their  history  of 
lay  ministry  and  congregational  polity — 
could  be  helpful  to  ecumenikos. 

“This  kind  of  congregation  should  be 
done  fairly  seriously  on  a trial  basis  in 
a couple  of  cities,”  Mr.  Goertz  sug- 
gested. “This  congregation  was  well 
thought  out,  and  I think  the  experiment 
deserves  enough  support  to  see  if  it 
can  be  an  alternative.”  Lois  Barrett 
Janzen. 

Words  & deeds 

Nearly  eight  million  dollars  was  received 
by  the  American  Friends  Service  Com- 
mittee in  1972,  most  of  it  in  the  form 
of  individual  contributions,  foundation 
grants,  and  bequests.  Approximately  7.5 
million  was  spent  by  the  Service  Com- 
mittee on  some  200  projects  in  the 
United  States  and  seventeen  countries 
abroad.  The  work  of  afsc,  which  is  a 
nonprofit  nationwide  organization,  fo- 
cused on  five  main  objectives:  1.  allevia- 
tion of  suffering,  2.  assisting  the  poor, 
3.  finding  new  approaches  to  peace,  4. 
exposing  injustice,  and  5.  involving  young 
people  in  problem-solving. 


The  assumption  that  Christianity  appeals 
primarily  to  older  people  in  Russia  is 
evidently  false,  says  Roland  G.  Metzger 
of  the  American  Baptist  Board  of  Inter- 
national Ministries  after  a visit  to  the 
Soviet  Union.  “I  had  heard  that  only 
older  people  went  to  church,”  he  said, 
“but  in  every  church  I visited,  there  were 
young  people — younger  than  twenty-five, 
and  even  children — in  some  of  the  serv- 
ices. In  one  church  more  than  half  of 
the  congregation  were  under  twenty- 
five.”  Russia  has  the  largest  Baptist  group 
in  Europe. 


THE  MENNONITE 


177 


Conference  women’s  group 
to  start  new  publication 

A new  magazine  is  in  the  offing  for  the 
Women’s  Missionary  Association. 

The  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
acted  at  its  annual  meeting  in  February 
to  discontinue  the  field  papers  produced 
by  overseas  missionaries  and,  in  their 
place,  to  publish  one  overseas  mission 
paper,  edited  by  com  staff,  and  inserted 
periodically  in  The  Mennonite  and  Der 
Bote. 

The  wma  executive  council,  meeting 
at  the  same  time  in  Newton,  Kansas, 
felt  that  the  new  overseas  mission  paper 
would  duplicate  much  of  Missions  today, 
the  wma  publication  since  1965. 

The  council  gave  encouragement  to  a 
new  wma  publication  which  might  in- 
clude articles  on  personal  growth,  effec- 
tive witnessing,  wma  projects,  evange- 
lism at  home,  the  single  woman,  offender 
ministries,  or  book  reviews. 

Details  and  format  of  the  new  maga- 
zine have  not  been  worked  out,  and 
the  publication  would  not  begin  before 
fall  at  the  earliest. 

Naomi  Lehman,  wma  president,  told 
com  members,  “A  mission  insert  in 
The  Mennonite  would  reach  so  many 
more  people  than  Missions  today.  For  us 


to  continue  Missions  today  as  a largely 
overseas  paper  would  be  duplication,  but 
we  must  have  some  kind  of  publication 
to  keep  women  informed.  We  have  tried 
to  make  Missions  today  a family  paper. 
Now  we  would  focus  more  on  women’s 
interests.” 

Dorothea  Dyck,  wma  executive  secre- 
tary, emphasized  that  Missions  today 
would  continue  until  the  new  publication 
began  and  that  subscription  money 
should  still  be  sent  in.  Money  from  un- 
expired subscriptions  would  be  applied 
to  the  new  magazine. 

By  percentages,  the  1972  wma  budget 
fared  even  better  than  the  total  General 
Conference  budget.  Last  year  $130,000 
was  budgeted  and  $145,213  was  received. 

At  its  February  meeting,  the  council 
decided  to  give  away  more  of  the  sur- 
plus from  last  year.  Five  hundred  dollars 
went  to  ministries  to  the  offender  and 
$500  to  Faith  and  Life  Radio  and  Tele- 
vision. 

The  1973  budget  was  set  at  $135,000, 
including  $5,000  for  wma  publications. 

At  this  year’s  meeting,  the  wma  exec- 
utive council  initiated  a luncheon  with 
women  missionaries  on  furlough  who 
were  attending  the  Commission  on  Over- 
seas Mission  sessions  and  with  the  wom- 
en members  of  com. 


Seminar  on  Indian  Americans 
planned  for  early  May 

An  inter-Mennonite  seminar  on  Indian 
Americans  will  be  held  at  the  Mennonite 
Central  Committee  Peace  Section  Wash- 
ington Office  April  30-May  2.  The  sem- 
inar is  planned  for  fifty  participants  from 
Mennonite  agencies  and  conferences  who 
are  already  involved  in  or  are  seriously 
interested  in  Indian  problems.  Indian 
leaders  will  serve  as  resource  persons  for 
the  seminar. 

At  a seminar  planning  meeting  in 
Newton,  Kansas,  in  February,  Lawrence 
Hart,  Cheyenne  Indian  chief  and  pastor 
of  the  Koinonia  Mennonite  Church, 
Clinton,  Oklahoma,  emphasized  the  im- 
portance of  having  the  seminar  in  Wash- 
ington, D.C.,  so  Mennonites  can  have  a 
better  understanding  of  the  involvement 
of  the  United  States  Government  with 
Indians. 

Delton  Franz  from  the  mcc  Peace 
Section  Washington  Office  is  planning 
the  seminar.  Program  projections  for 
consideration  at  the  seminar  include 
economic  development,  cooperative  cred- 
it unions,  legal  aid,  and  the  involvement 
of  Mennonite  voluntary  service  workers 
in  long-term  teaching  in  Indian  schools. 


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178 


MARCH  13,  1973 


Mennonites  train  Flatwoods  corpsmen 


In  the  hills  of  the  Jefferson  National 
Forest  near  Coebum,  Virginia,  three 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  volunteers 
live  and  work.  Dan  Kauffman,  Kalispell, 
Montana;  Glenn  High,  Coopersburg, 
Pennsylvania;  and  Ron  Stutzman,  Louis- 
ville, Ohio,  are  part  of  life  at  Flatwoods 
Job  Corps  Center. 

Job  Corps  is  a national  program  which 
gives  disadvantaged  young  men  and 
women  a chance  to  develop  their  talents, 
self-confidence  and  the  motivation  to 
improve  themselves.  At  Flatwoods,  a 
Job  Corps  center  for  men,  an  enrollee 
can  receive  specialized  training  in  auto 
mechanics,  welding,  carpentry,  heavy 
equipment,  sewage  management,  mason- 
ry, painting,  construction,  or  cooking. 
In  addition  he  can  work  toward  com- 
pletion of  a high  school  certificate. 

Dan  Kauffman  spends  his  time  in- 
structing a crew  of  four  to  five  corpsmen 
in  the  use  of  heavy  machinery — bull- 
dozers, front-end  loaders  and  motor 
graders.  Most  of  his  students  are  public 
school  dropouts,  sixteen  or  seventeen 
years  old. 

“The  time  that  a corpsman  spends 
working  with  us  in  machinery  and  the 
time  he  spends  in  basic  education  de- 
pends on  his  background,”  explained 
Dan.  “If  he  performs  at  low  levels  in 
math  or  language  skills,  he  may  spend 
three  days  on  the  crew  and  then  seven 
days  in  education.  Another  corpsman 
may  spend  one  or  two  weeks  at  work 
before  he  returns  to  the  classroom.” 

A new  corpsman  takes  time  to  visit 
each  of  the  training  programs  before  he 
decides  which  crew  he  wants  to  join. 
He  may  spend  a day  watching  bricklay- 
ing in  the  masonry  building,  helping  re- 
pair one  of  the  center’s  seventy  vehicles 
in  the  auto  mechanics  shop  or  getting 
spattered  with  a paint  sprayer  on  a 
painting  project. 

Ron  Stutzman  participates  in  the  sec- 
ond major  thrust  of  Job  Corps  training- — - 
basic  education.  Ron  teaches  health  to 
new  corpsmen  and  assists  ten  to  fifteen 
students  in  the  math  building.  Most  of 
the  basic  education  courses  are  individu- 
alized. Ron  helps  each  student  work 
through  problems  at  the  student’s  own 
level  and  pace. 

Because  of  the  government  freeze  on 
social  welfare  funds,  no  new  permanent 
workers  can  be  hired  at  Flatwoods.  As 
a result  Ron  may  join  Glenn  High  in  the 
recreation  department  where  the  staff 
is  shorthanded. 


As  a recreation  aide  Glenn  manages 
the  center  canteen.  “There’s  never  a dull 
day — trying  to  stay  ahead  of  the  guys,” 
Glenn  said,  leaning  against  a wall  of 
shelves  stocked  with  toothpaste,  hand 
lotion,  combs,  and  candy. 

“The  corpsmen  safety  deposit  bank 
is  here  in  the  canteen  too.”  Each  corps- 
man  receives  a living  allowance  of  $30 
each  month  and  may  earn  raises  up  to 
$20  a month  more. 

“Every  now  and  then  a corpsman 
will  ask  one  of  us  if  he  can  borrow 
money.  We  tell  them  they’re  making 
more  money  than  we  are.  Most  of  them 
just  flat  won’t  believe  us,”  Dan  laughed. 
Mcc  volunteers  receive  $25  a month 
for  personal  use. 

Glenn  also  advises  the  Corpsmen 
Council,  supervises  free  gym,  and  serves 
as  a lifeguard  at  the  center  pool. 

RECORD 


Ministers 


Abe  Hiebert  will  begin  as  pastor  of  the 
Zion  Church,  Swift  Current,  Sask.,  next 
summer.  He  is  now  a student  at  Cana- 
dian Mennonite  Bible  College  and  in- 
terim pastor  at  Bethel  Gospel  Church, 
Oak  Point,  Man. 

Wilmer  Martin,  Jr.,  a layman  in  the 
Bethany  Church,  Quakertown,  Pa.,  has 
taken  over  pastoral  duties  at  the  Kemp- 
ton  (Pa.)  Church. 

Workers 


Dean  and  Sandra  Amstutz  have  begun 
a twenty-six-months  term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Belem,  Brazil.  Dean  will  work 
at  the  Wycliffe  dairy  farm  and  later  in 
agriculture  with  the  Amazon  Indians. 
Sandra  will  be  working  in  preventive 


Occasionally  one  of  the  three  mcc 
workers  will  drive  a bus  of  corpsmen 
to  neighboring  towns  or  to  a nearby 
women’s  Job  Corps  center  for  recreation 
and  social  events. 

During  the  seven  years  Flatwoods  has 
been  in  operation,  more  than  1 ,000 
young  men  have  been  in  training.  Most 
of  the  corpsmen  are  from  Virginia  and 
stay  from  six  to  ten  months.  John  Pryor, 
director  of  the  center  feels  strongly  that 
living  together  is  an  educational  experi- 
ence in  itself.  “Black  city  kids  and  white 
mountain  kids  are  two  different  ethnic 
groups,”  he  said.  “A  corpsman  can’t  be 
here  six  weeks  without  learning  some- 
thing.” 

Ron,  Dan,  and  Glenn  would  probably 
agree  that  the  same  is  true  for  mcc 
volunteers.  Gayle  Gerber  Koontz 


health  care  with  the  Amazon  Indians. 
Dean  attended  Iowa  State  University  and 
Sandra  received  a RN  from  Mennonite 
School  of  Nursing  in  Bloomington,  111. 
Dean  is  the  son  of  John  E.  and  Frances 
Amstutz,  Bloomfield,  Iowa.  Sandra  is 
the  daughter  of  Clyde  and  Jeanna  Knapp, 
Bloomfield,  Iowa.  They  are  members 
of  the  Pulaski  Church,  Pulaski,  Iowa. 

Janene  Elaine  Hostetler,  McPherson, 
Kans.,  began  at  least  one  year  under 
General  Conference  voluntary  service 
Feb.  12.  She  is  serving  as  a day-care 
worker  in  the  Markham,  111.,  voluntary 
service  unit.  Ms.  Hostetler  is  a member 
of  the  Inman  (Kans.)  Church  and  a 
graduate  of  McPherson  Senior  High 
School.  Her  parents  are  Marvin  and 
Helen  Hostetler. 

Calendar 


June  4-5  — Mennonite  Maintenance 
Association  annual  meeting,  Goshen  Col- 
lege, Goshen,  Ind.;  Kenneth  King,  chair- 
man. 

Western 

March  18  — - Peace  institute,  Eden 
Church,  Moundridge,  Kans.;  John  Lapp 
of  Goshen  College,  speaker. 

March  25  -29  — Meetings  at  Bethel 
Church,  Inman,  Kans.;  Reuben  Short 
of  Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission, 
speaker. 


D.  Amstutz 


S.  Amstutz 


THE  MENNONITE 


179 


DISCUSSION 

Canada:  Is  independence  possible? 


Ray  Hamm 

Learning  how  to  live  in  harmony  with, 
but  distinct  from,  the  greatest  power  on 
earth  is  a knotty  problem — so  said  Mitch- 
ell Sharp,  Minister  of  External  Affairs 
for  Canada. 

In  1971  Pierre  Trudeau,  Prime  Minis- 
ter of  Canada,  said,  “Are  you  (the 
Americans)  saying  that  you  must  ex- 
port long-term  American  capital  to  all 
countries  of  the  world  and  that  your 
economic  system  is  leading  you  to  buy 
up  as  much  of  the  world  as  possible?” 
Later  that  same  year  he  gibed,  “With 
friends  like  Secretary  Connally  (Treasury 
Secretary  at  that  time),  who  needs  ene- 
mies?” 

Currently  a confrontation  is  shaping 
up  on  the  international  economic  scene. 
With  the  devaluation  of  the  dollar  and 
threats  of  other  legislation,  the  United 
States  is  trying  to  make  other  countries 
pay  for  problems  it  has  created  for  itself. 

Any  time  I consider  the  subject  of 
Canada  - U.  S.  relations,  I feel  uneasy 
and  frustrated. 

Why  are  such  feelings  becoming  more 
common  in  Canada?  Is  the  economic, 
political,  and  cultural  independence  of 
a country  worth  thinking  about?  Is  there 
anything  about  Canada  that  gives  us  a 
culture  and  a society  distinct  from  that 
of  the  United  States? 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  question 
of  economic  independence  cannot  be 
separated  from  the  questions  of  political 
or  cultural  independence.  If  the  economy 
of  a country  is  controlled  by  foreigners, 
it  is  not  long  before  the  politics  and  cul- 
ture of  that  country  are  taken  over  by 
those  foreigners  as  well. 

These  are  the  questions  I wish  to  con- 
sider briefly  in  this  article. 

Canada  and  the  United  States  are  tied 
together  in  many  ways.  The  boundary 
between  them  is  almost  4,000  miles  long. 
Seventy  percent  of  Canadian  imports 
come  from  the  U.S.,  and  68  percent  of 
Canadian  exports  go  to  the  U.S.  Canada 
does  as  much  business  with  the  U.S.  as 
do  Britain,  Japan,  and  West  Germany 
combined.  Twenty-eight  percent  of  U.S. 
imports  come  from  Canada,  22  percent 
of  U.S.  exports  go  to  Canada. 

In  the  past  Canada  wanted  this.  Now, 


as  we  become  more  aware  of  the  impli- 
cations of  such  an  arrangement,  many 
Canadians  are  no  longer  happy  with  the 
situation. 

The  problem  of  Canadian-U.S.  rela- 
tions is  one  example  of  how  people  are 
losing,  or  have  lost,  the  right  of  self- 
determination  and  the  ability  to  make 
decisions  about  things  which  affect  them, 
such  as  their  own  jobs. 

Canada-U.S.  relations  are  only  one 
part  of  the  problem  caused  by  the  de- 
sire for  more  growth  and  expansion, 
more  gain  and  profit.  Multinational  cor- 
porations exert  tremendous  economic 
and  political  power. 

A multinational  enterprise  (mne)  is 
a huge  corporation  which  does  business 
in  many  countries.  Some  of  them  have 
as  many  as  500,000  employees.  There  are 
about  300  such  companies  in  the  non- 
communist world.  More  than  two-thirds 
of  them  are  U.S.  companies. 

The  size  and  power  of  these  com- 
panies can  be  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
in  a recent  year  Canada  accounted  for 
about  6 percent  of  the  Gross  National 
Product  of  the  noncommunist  world.  In 
that  same  year  these  300  companies 
made  up  for  20  percent  of  that  total. 

Thus,  a small  group  of  people  (most 
of  them  U.S.  citizens)  has  a lot  of  power 
and  control  over  the  jobs  and  living 
conditions  of  a lot  of  people.  These  cor- 
poration leaders  use  their  power  for 
their  own  mutual  benefit  and  profit,  and 
they  are  hard  to  reach  and  to  influence. 

Consider  an  example.  About  a year 
ago,  when  the  International  Nickel  Com- 
pany (inco)  decided  (in  New  York) 
to  cut  3,000  jobs  out  of  its  Sudbury, 
Ontario,  operation,  neither  the  workers, 
the  people  of  Sudbury,  nor  the  govern- 
ment of  Ontario  could  influence  their 
decision. 

Inco  is  a U.S. -owned  mne,  which  has 
headquarters  in  Canada  to  escape  U.S. 
laws  and  taxes,  but  most  of  its  offices 
are  in  New  York. 

Inco  does  most  of  its  mining  in  Can- 
ada, but  it  also  has  mines  in  New  Cale- 
donia and  Guatemala,  and  is  establishing 
a base  in  Indonesia  as  well.  In  these 
countries  labor  is  cheaper  and  there  are 


fewer  unions.  Pollution  laws  and  safety 
standards  don’t  exist  and  the  govern- 
ments may  be  friendlier  to  large  com- 
panies. In  order  to  keep  inco  in  Canada, 
the  Canadian  Government  makes  special 
deals.  In  1971  inco  paid  no  taxes  on 
profits  of  $94.2  million. 

Inco  mines  the  nickel,  refines  it,  cre- 
ates a market  for  nickel  and  markets 
the  product.  It  controls  54  percent  of 
the  world  nickel  market. 

If  a government  causes  unemployment, 
we  can  usually  defeat  it  in  an  election. 
If  these  mnes  cause  unemployment,  what 
can  we  do?  What  can  national  govern- 
ments do? 

A statement  in  a Canadian  Govern- 
ment report  says  that  national  govern- 
ments which  consider  the  welfare  of  the 
country,  and  mnes  which  consider  only 
profit  are  on  a collision  course.  Since 
most  of  the  mnes  are  U.  S.  companies, 
they  arouse  a lot  of  anti-U.S.  sentiment. 

At  present  there  are  4,000  U.  S.- 
owned  firms  in  Canada.  Fifty-eight  per- 
cent of  Canadian  manufacturing  (assets) 
is  foreign-owned.  This  is  concentrated 
in  high  technology  and  resource  extrac- 
tion fields:  coal  and  petroleum  99.7  per- 
cent, rubber  93  percent,  transport  87 
percent,  and  chemicals  81  percent.  Busi- 
nesses such  as  the  furniture  industry,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  only  18  percent 
foreign-owned. 

These  kinds  of  things  have  many  im- 
plications for  Canada  and  for  Canadians. 
They  fall  into  four  economic  categories 
— balance  of  payments,  inflation,  loss  of 
development  and  employment  opportu- 
nities, and  extraterritoriality. 

Economic  problems  arise  when  Cana- 
da tries  to  balance  the  flow  of  money 
and  goods  in  and  out  of  the  country. 
Because  of  the  high  degree  of  foreign 
ownership,  too  much  money  leaves  Can- 
ada every  year.  (For  example,  over  a 
ten-year  period,  Proctor  and  Gamble,  a 
U.S.  company,  on  an  investment  of 
$11  million  has  brought  $290  million 
back  to  the  U.S.  from  other  countries.) 

Inflation  is  another  problem  caused 
by  the  foreign  control  of  pricing  and 
marketing  in  our  country.  An  American 
company  can  force  its  Canadian  branch 


180 


MARCH  13,  1973 


plant  to  buy  its  own  goods  at  inflated 
rates  and  then  the  Canadians  have  to 
pay  inflated  prices  for  the  products.  Al- 
so, a large  part  of  Canadian  unemploy- 
ment is  caused  by  this  foreign  presence 
in  Canada. 

The  Canadian  economy  is  largely  a 
branch  plant  industry.  The  main  office 
and  the  big  factory  are  usually  in  the 
U.S.  Little  research  and  development  is 
done  in  Canada,  for  the  Canadian  situ- 
ation. Thus,  we  do  not  have  a Canadian 
car,  only  U.S.  cars  produced  in  whole  or 
in  part  in  Canada.  The  development  of 
a Canadian  information  and  computer 
industry  is  hindered  by  the  presence  of 
several  U.S.  giants  in  Canada. 

Another  major  economic  problem  is 
caused  by  the  effect  of  U.S.  laws  and 
citizens  in  Canada.  When  Canada  rec- 
ognized China,  the  Chinese  refused  to 
1 trade  with  any  U.S.  subsidiaries.  This 
made  about  half  of  the  Canadian  in- 
I dustries  ineligible  for  trade  with  this  large 
new  market.  Similarly,  Canadian  trade 
with  several  other  countries  is  severely 
restricted  by  U.S.  laws,  such  as  the  Trad- 
1 ing  with  the  Enemy  Act,  which  affect 
i U.S.  citizens  and  U.S.  technology  in 
Canada. 

Some  workers  and  unions  in  Canada 
I were  recently  told  they  couldn’t  have  a 
| pay  increase  because  of  the  wage  freeze 
. in  the  United  States.  Canadian  labor  is 
1 generally  dominated  by  U.S.  interests. 


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rounds  to  twelve  of  my  friends,  ringing 
their  doorbells  and  sitting  down  with 
them  over  a cup  of  tea?  We  can  be  grate- 
ful to  these  women  who  were  willing  to 
share  their  innermost  thoughts,  struggles, 
failures,  successes,  hopes,  and  dreams."  A 
Herald  Press  book.  200  pages.  Cloth. 
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These  economic  problems  lead  to  sub- 
tle and  dangerous  political  and  cultural 
problems. 

Think  of  the  difference  between  Euro- 
pean cars,  such  as  the  Volvo  or  the 
Volkswagen  and  the  U.S.  Ford  or  GM 
cars.  Because  of  the  U.S.  presence  in 
Canada,  not  only  do  we  not  produce  a 
Canadian  car,  but  also  when  we  buy 
U.S.  cars  we  have  to,  we  are  forced  to, 
accept  a faster  rate  of  change,  planned 
obsolescence.  Thus  many  things  about 
our  life  are  predetermined  for  us  be- 
cause of  the  U.S.  presence  in  Canada. 

Canadian  media  are  saturated  with 
U.S.  social  and  cultural  images  and  ad- 
vertising, either  directly  from  the  U.S. 
or  from  U.S.  companies  in  Canada. 

Many  Canadians  think  that  better  jobs, 
better  research,  better  advancement  op- 
portunities are  to  be  found  only  south 
of  the  border.  They  become  convinced 
that  the  U.S.  also  offers  better  cultural 
and  social  opportunities — again  the  Ca- 
nadian mentality  is  shaped  by  U.S. 
interests. 

The  U.S.  presence  in  Canada  also 
makes  itself  felt  in  the  political  process. 
This  can  be  in  the  form  of  direct  presen- 
tations to  the  government  by  U.S.  com- 
panies, or  more  indirectly,  in  the  form 
of  business  advice  to  government  com- 
mittees. When  the  Canadian  Government 
asks  the  oil  industry  for  advice  in  for- 
mulating a Canadian  oil  policy,  it  is 
in  effect  asking  U.S.  oil  companies  for 
assistance  in  determining  Canadian  pri- 
orities and  policies.  I wouldn’t  trust  that 
advice;  would  you? 

And  so  1 fear  that  the  current  U.S. 
fuel  shortage  will  have  far-reaching  ef- 
fects in  Canada.  Even  though  there  is 
much  brave  rhetoric  in  Ottawa,  the  fact 
remains  that  most  of  the  Canadian  pipe- 
lines go  south,  not  east  and  west. 

And  it  seems  like  more  than  coinci- 
dence that  the  major  fuel  companies 
announced  a price  increase  in  Canada 
just  when  the  first  indication  of  a fuel 
shortage  was  noticed  in  the  U.S.  Why 
should  we  have  to  pay  for  this  U.S. 
problem?  And  I’m  afraid  that  we  have- 
n’t heard  the  last  of  that  yet. 

Canadian  foreign  policy  is  also  largely 
manipulated  by  Washington.  When  I 
first  heard  that  Canada  was  recognizing 
the  Government  of  North  Vietnam,  my 
initial  reaction  was  to  wonder  what 
economic  restrictions  the  U.S.  would 
announce  for  Canada.  When  the  Cana- 
dian Parliament  officially  protested  the 
U.S.  bombing  of  North  Vietnam  earlier 
this  year,  Washington  happened  to  pick 
that  day,  or  the  day  after,  to  announce 


the  imposition  of  import  duties  on  some 
goods  manufactured  in  Canada  to  be 
sold  in  the  U.S. 

So  Canada  is  dominated  and  perhaps 
manipulated  by  the  U.  S.  So  what? 

If  I could,  I’d  like  to  keep  those  forces 
out  of  Canada  for  many  reasons  . . . 

— because  they  profiteered  on  the  war  in 
Vietnam. 

— because  they  polluted  most  of  the  U.S. 
water  resources. 

— because  they  are  taking  many  things 
from  the  other  countries  in  North, 
Central,  and  South  America. 

— because  I’m  beginning  to  believe  those 
who  say  that  if  the  current  trends  of 
U.S.  business  continue  we  will  soon 
have  ravaged,  polluted,  and  wasted 
our  world  completely. 

— because  there  is  something  wrong  in 
principle  when  one  person  dominates 
another,  when  one  culture  controls 
another.  That  is  not  the  way  of  peace. 
— because  I would  hope  that  Canada 
could  avoid  some  of  the  ecological, 
economic,  national,  and  international 
problems  that  the  United  States  is 
facing  now. 

I would  like  people  to  have  more  con- 
trol of  their  own  economic  and  environ- 
mental security,  and  I’d  hope  that  this 
could  lead  to  more  personal  security  for 
many. 

The  Canadian  Government  is  involved 
in  some  things  which  the  U.S.  Govern- 
ment hasn’t  touched.  By  most  Canadians 
these  activities  are  seen  as  positive  con- 
tributions, such  as  its  involvement  in 
communications  through  the  Canadian 
Broadcasting  Corporation  and  in  trans- 
portation through  Air  Canada  and  Cana- 
dian National  Railways. 

I like  the  fact  that  I live  in  a country 
which  is  making  an  official  attempt  to  be 
bilingual,  to  recognize  cultural  minorities. 

These  are  some  of  the  feelings  I have 
as  I consider  the  question  of  why  I want 
to  be  a Canadian  rather  than  a U.S. 
citizen.  It  is  for  such  reasons  that  I feel 
the  survival  of  an  economically,  political- 
ly, and  culturally  independent  Canadian 
state  is  important. 

In  writing  this  I do  not  wish  to  con- 
vince anyone  that  Canada  is  perfect. 
We  have  our  own  serious  problems, 
too — racism,  exploitation,  pollution,  and 
even  multinational  corporations. 

But  I do  wish  to  say  that  I feel  I 
have  a good  chance  to  survive  physically 
in  Canada,  a good  opportunity  to  attempt 
to  live  according  to  the  ideals  and 
traditions  of  the  New  Testament  and 
the  early  Anabaptists,  and  a good  chance 
to  develop  as  a person. 


THE  MENNONITE 


181 


Two-year  Career  Programs  at 

Hesston  College 


A four-year  liberal  arts  education  is  not  for  everyone.  Maybe  it’s  a question 
of  not  having  the  time,  the  money,  or  you  just  aren't  sure  a college  education 
is  for  you.  Hesston  is  for  those  who  want  a two-year  Christian  campus.  You 
can  select  a two-year  transfer  plan  or  choose  one  of  1 3 two-year  career  programs. 

In  the  last  ten  years  Hesston's  enrollment  has  doubled.  That  says  something 
about  the  kind  of  college  it  is.  Listed  below  are  13  two-year  career  options: 


Production  Agriculture 

For  the  person  who  will  return  to 
the  farm  as  an  operator.  An  agri- 
business option  is  available  for  the 
person  who  will  be  involved  in  an 
agricultural  business.  A two-year 
transfer  program  is  another  agricul- 
tural option. 

Automotive  Power-Technology 

For  the  young  man  heading  for  a 
career  in  the  automotive  servicing 
fields  as  a service  manager,  service 
technician,  sales  representative,  or  re- 
lated vocation. 

Aviation 

Ground  school  and  flight  training 
prepare  the  student  to  take  the  FAA’s 
examinations  leading  to  the  following 
ratings:  private  pilot,  commercial  pi- 
lot, instrument  rating,  and  flight  in- 
structor. 

Bible  and  Christian  Service 

A combination  of  courses  including 
psychology,  sociology,  history,  speech, 
writing,  church  ministries  and  a heavy 
emphasis  on  Bible.  This  can  be  trans- 
ferred to  other  colleges  if  one  wants' 
to  continue  schooling  in  this  area. 

Business-Middle  Management 

Intended  for  those  interested  in  re- 
tailing, operating  a franchise,  manag- 
ing a small  business,  or  working  in 
middle  management  in  a larger  firm. 

Business-Middle  Management  with 
Computer  Emphasis 

Similar  to  above,  but  includes  more 
computer  courses  done  on  the  IBM 
System  3.  For  the  person  moving  into 
the  in-service  training  program  of  the 
data  processing  department  of  the 
hiring  institution. 

Building  Technology 

For  persons  pursuing  a career  in 
the  building  trade,  mobile  home,  and 
modular  construction  fields.  Offers 
well  balanced  combination  of  build- 
ing trades,  electrical,  business,  and 
related  courses. 

Child  Care 

Open  to  men  and  women  with  em- 
phasis on  child  development,  child 
rearing,  and  learning  for  the  preschool 
child.  Graduates  will  be  ready  to  work 
in  most  states  in  day  care  centers  and 


nursery  schools,  and  when  under  the 
supervision  of  qualified  teachers,  in 
kindergartens.  Also  a stepping-stone 
to  a four-year  degree. 

Electronics 

Program  gives  the  student  a bal- 
anced education  with  general  educa- 
tion courses,  electronics  courses,  and 
on  the  job  learning  and  earning  expe- 
rience. Leads  to  an  FCC  license. 

Homemaking 

Here  is  a serious  approach  to  creat- 
ing strong  homes.  A package  of  home 
economics,  child  care,  and  other  cours- 
es to  prepare  a young  lady  for  a ca- 
reer as  a mother,  homemaker,  and 
useful  Christian  citizen. 

Nursing  Program 

Open  to  both  men  and  women.  At 
end  of  two  years  graduate  is  qualified 
to  take  state  board  examinations  to 
become  a registered  nurse. 

Professional  Secretary 

For  the  person  who  wants  to  excel 
in  the  office.  There  is  enough  actual 
work  experience  to  prepare  the  stu- 
dent for  a responsible  personal  secre- 
tary’s position. 

Social  Work 

The  social  work  technician  is  trained 
for  specific  tasks  such  as  interviewing, 
group  work,  and  community  develop- 
ment. He  will  function  as  part  of  a 
team  supervised  by  a master  of  social 
work.  If  at  some  point  a student 
should  decide  to  advance  on  the  so- 
cial work  career  ladder,  he  will  be 
accepted  at  most  colleges  or  univer- 
sities at  the  junior  level  with  full  credit. 


MAIL  THIS  COUPON  FOR  INFORMATION 


Name 


Address 


State 


Phone, 


Year  H.S.  grad.. 


__  HESSTON  COLLEGE 
I B|jjj  HESSTON,  KANSAS  67062 


LETTERS 


Retain  name  Mennonite 

Dear  Editor:  Although  I am  at  present 
working  with  an  organization  that  carries 
a denominational  name  different  from 
| Mennonite,  I must  reply  to  your  editorial 
“The  baggage  feels  lighter”  (November 
2 1 issue ) . I am  not  now  nor  have  I ever 
I been  frustrated  about  carrying  the  name 
Mennonite.  Nor  have  I ever  felt  it  an  ex- 
i cess  baggage  of  any  kind.  Why  should 
* one  think  it  an  excess  baggage?  I am 
, what  I am.  My  heritage  is  what  it  is, 

! and  I am  proud  to  remain  a part  of  it. 

I We  can,  of  course,  improve  the  heritage, 
j and  inter-Mennonite  cooperation  can 
■ contribute  to  that.  I am  really  opposed 
I to  dropping  the  name  Mennonite.  Chris- 
[ tianity  is  more  than  Mennonite,  but  we 
have  a most  worthwhile  contribution  to 
I make  as  part  of  the  radical  Reformation. 

!•  Helen  Rose  Tieszen,  The  Methodist  Mis- 
\sion,  Box  16,  Taejon,  Korea.  Feb.  12 

State  needs  to  be  challenged 

Dear  Editor:  Pastor  Rinks  (Letters, 

| February  13  issue)  presents  a picture, 
I believe,  of  a contemporary  “Miniver 
Cheevy,”  a man  living  in  the  wrong  age. 
In  his  letter  Mr.  Rinks  bemoaned  criti- 
cism of  presidential  war  policy  and 
criticized  the  news  media,  Canadians, 
the  church,  and  “other”  groups  who 
“have  to  constantly  demean  our  policy 
’ and  harass  our  government.”  Mr.  Rinks 
[continued  by  proclaiming  that  “Christians 
[ will  be  held  accountable  for  their  ac- 

(tions  toward  and  reactions  against  au- 
thorities whom  God  has  set  over  us.” 
i Such  a statement  is  worthy  of  the  court 
: of  Louis  XIV.  I thought  the  concept  of 
I divine-right  monarchy  had  been  extin- 
guished in  the  twentieth  century,  yet  at 

I least  with  Mr.  Rinks,  that  idea  still  per- 
meates America. 

To  equate  the  will  of  God  and  the 
will  of  Richard  Nixon  as  Mr.  Rinks  does 

I is  erroneous  and  dangerous.  Following 
Mr.  Rinks’  thinking,  criticism  of  Adolf 
Hitler’s  or  Joseph  Stalin’s  rule  is  not 
proper  thought  for  a Christian  person 
[since  they  were  established  by  God. 
Nonsense!  Those  individuals  were  es- 
tablished by  people  who  in  their  blind- 
ness and  selfishness  failed  to  perceive 
what  was  right.  How  many  wrongs  must 
people  commit  because  they  have  equat- 
ed Christianity  with  the  state? 


A Christian  must  be  a searching, 
questioning  individual  who  examines  life 
and  finds  ways  of  fulfilling  the  teachings 
of  Christ.  A Christian  does  not  passively 
accept  but  challenges.  To  believe  that  a 
true  Christian  follows  the  dictates  of 
the  state  is  both  arrogant  and  foolish 
thought.  Michael  Devine,  3019  Sherwood 
Ave.,  Markham,  111.  60426.  Feb.  14 

Honest,  accurate  reporting 

Dear  Editor:  I have  just  finished  read- 
ing Wilmer  Nickel’s  letter  (February  6 
issue)  criticizing  your  use  of  “Christmas 
encounters”  (December  19  issue).  I 
must  say  that  I can  find  nothing  but 
praise  for  your  taste.  The  innkeeper 
wouldn’t  be  using  Pharisee  Yiddish.  Inn- 
keepers were  common  people  of  that 
day  and  didn’t  use  perfect  Hebrew.  They 
were  all  common  people,  and  I like  the 
arrangement. 

I think  The  Mennonite  is  the  finest 
periodical  printed  by  any  evangelical 
group  that  I have  read.  You  tell  it  like 
it  is.  The  Mennonite  is  modest  for  color 
and  size,  and  your  reporting  is  both  hon- 
est and  accurate.  It  is  no  respecter  of 
persons.  Thanks  for  your  kind  Christian 
effort  to  tell  it  like  it  is.  David  J.  A ken- 
son,  1200  W . 41  St.,  Sioux  Falls,  South 
Dakota  57105.  Feb.  6 

Stop  references  to  Billy 

Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  If  you  cannot  say 
anything  good  about  Billy  Graham,  will 
you  please  omit  him  from  The  Mennonite 
altogether? 

The  weekly  reference  to  Billy  Graham 
is  finally  becoming  disgusting.  How  can 
we  sit  in  the  judgment  seat  and  order 
him  to  “do  something”  about  Vietnam? 
This  is  not  his  issue!  His  concern  is  for 
our  allegiance  to  Jesus.  A change  of 
heart!  Then  can  men  change  their  course 
of  action  because  Jesus  brings  peace. 

My  request  is  that  you  leave  this  man 
out  of  the  picture  and  emphasize  some- 
one far  more  basic  and  significant  than 
one  name  of  Billy  Graham.  Donna  Ar- 
dell,  550  North  Hillside,  Wichita,  Kans. 
67028.  Jan.  27 


Contents 

Bongo's  brother  170 

The  gospel  according  to  scrap 

brake  drums 172 

News  . 173 

Canada:  Is  independence  possible?  180 

Letters  183 

Accepting  defeat  and  resolving  guilt  184 

COVER 

As  a Bengali  boy  plows  his  father's  field 
in  Bangladesh  using  two  bullocks  and  a 
primitive  cultivating  tool  made  of  bam- 
boo, children  follow  a new  power  tiller 
in  the  background.  Maynard  Shelly  writes 
as  follows  about  the  Bengali  spirit  in  this 
issue:  ''He  loved/  the  land  though 

merchants  white  and  brown  did  rob/ 
him,  take  the  wealth  his  fields  had 
given  him./  Yet  he  returned  as  after  flood, 
typhoon,/  and  drought  to  till  the  land 
he  loved  so  much." 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Maynard  Shelly,  former  editor  of  The  Men- 
nonite, now  works  under  MCC  in  Bangla- 
desh. His  address  is  Box  785,  Dacca. 

Levi  Keidel  is  a missionary  in  Zaire 
under  the  Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission. 
His  articles  have  appeared  frequently  in 
The  Mennonite. 

Lloyd  Mackey,  26-10575 — 155  St., 
Surrey,  B.C.,  is  a free-lance  writer. 

Delton  Franz  is  the  MCC  Peace  Section's 
representative  in  Washington,  D.C. — 100 
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Ray  Hamm,  a member  of  The  Menno- 
nite's  editorial  committee,  resides  at  586 
Mulvey,  Winnipeg  R3L  OS1 . 

Walton  Hackman  is  the  MCC  Peace 
Section’s  executive  secretary,  Akron,  Pa. 
17501. 

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Service. 


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fHE  MENNONITE 


183 


Accepting  defeat  and  resolving  guilt 

Walton  Hackman 


“There  is  really  very  little  in  the  tradition  of 
democratic  culture  that  instructs  us  how  to  react 
to  defeat,  when  defeat  involves  moral  issues  we 
really  care  about,”  according  to  Harold  Kaplan 
in  an  article  that  appeared  in  the  American  jour- 
nal. Vietnam  for  Americans  represents  such  a de- 
feat. Few  persons  would  publicly  admit  that  the 
United  States  with  its  advanced  machines  of  war 
and  destruction  was  defeated  by  an  ancient  nation 
of  rice  farmers.  However,  privately  and  confi- 
dentially the  thought  has  run  through  the  minds 
of  most  persons.  How  to  deal  with  the  guilt  feel- 
ings produced  by  the  war — My  Lai,  napalm,  sat- 
uration bombing,  defoliation,  the  Christmas  1972 
bombings,  Hamburger  Hill,  Vietnamization,  Op- 
eration Phoenix,  etc. — and  the  psychological  im- 
pact of  defeat  are  questions  that  cannot  go  un- 
answered. . . . 

Perhaps  one  small  indicator  of  this  guilt  about 
the  war  and  our  defeat  may  be  expressed  in  the 
way  people  responded  to  the  cease-fire,  peace 
with  honor.  On  the  day  that  the  peace  settlement 
was  signed  in  Paris  there  were  no  parades,  no 
sirens  blowing,  no  fireworks  or  even  flags  flying 
along  the  streets  of  the  cities  and  small  towns 
across  the  nation.  On  VE  and  VJ  Days,  at  the 
conclusion  of  World  War  II,  people  danced  in 
the  streets,  closed  their  shops,  flew  flags,  and  ex- 
ploded fireworks.  Yet  the  war  in  Vietnam  was 
much  longer  and  far  more  costly.  The  ominous 
silence  of  January  27  was  no-  doubt  something  of 
an  index  to  the  inner  feelings  of  most  Americans. 

Another  gauge  which  one  might  use  in  measur- 
ing the  public  mood  is  the  attention  given  to 
maimed  GIs  from  Vietnam.  The  several  hundred 
prisoners  of  war  have  been  the  focus  of  most  of 
the  attention  during  the  negotiations  and  since. 
Few  Americans  if  asked  could  recall  any  of  the 
conditions  of  the  peace  settlements,  other  than 
the  return  of  the  American  prisoners.  However, 
what  is  even  more  striking  is  that  in  all  of  this 
there  is  no  mention  of  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
disabled  GIs  who  also  came  home  on  stretchers 
and  will  spend  the  rest  of  their  lives  in  VA  hos- 
pitals or,  if  they  are  lucky,  hobbling  around  on 
artificial  limbs.  On  checking  closer,  one  finds  that 
there  has  not  been  even  so  much  as  a passing 
reference  to  these  men  in  the  news  media  for 
weeks.  Who  is  praising  and  decorating  these  he- 
roes of  the  war?  No  one.  It  is  almost  as  if  there 


were  a conspiracy  to  forget  these  disabled  veter- 
ans to  put  them  out  of  mind. 

One  might  also  examine  the  reactions  of  gov- 
ernment officials  on  some  of  the  collateral  issues 
of  the  Vietnam  War.  What  has  motivated  the 
present  U.S.  administration  to  change  so  dra- 
matically its  position  on  amnesty  for  those  who 
refused  to  fight  in  the  Vietnam  War?  In  January 
1972  President  Nixon  said  in  a nationwide  tele- 
vision interview,  “We  (the  United  States)  always 
under  our  system  provide  amnesty.  ...  I for  one 
would  be  very  liberal  with  regard  to>  amnesty.  . . .” 
One  year  later  the  same  President  said,  “Amnesty 
means  forgiveness,  we  cannot  provide  forgiveness 
for  them.  . . .” 

How  the  student  of  human  psychology  would 
analyze  this  sudden  and  drastic  reversal  of  opin- 
ion by  the  President  is  open  to  question.  But  to 
the  lay  observer  there  is  some  suspicion  that  this 
response  is  one  which  suggests  a sense  of  guilt 
for  ordering  to  battle  those  who  were  killed, 
maimed,  or  captured  and  held  as  prisoners.  . . . 

In  the  history  of  the  Republic,  the  Vietnam 
War  will  look  like  a capricious  incident,  some  say 
one  of  the  great  atrocities  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. Those  who  write  about  our  generation  will 
need  to  make  that  determination.  The  question 
which  this  generation  of  Americans  must  decide 
is  how  we  purge  ourselves  of  this  guilt. 

Ending  the  war  and  bringing  the  prisoners  home 
will  not  resolve  the  deeper  problem  of  guilt.  The 
war  not  only  laid  to  waste  towns  and  cities  in 
Indochina  but  also  in  the  U.S.  However,  the 
damage  has  not  been  all  physical.  While  much 
within  our  country  has  been  neglected,  e.g.,  urban 
needs,  the  most  pressing  issue  now  is  to  find  ways 
for  the  society  to  resolve  its  guilt.  Offering  modest 
amounts  of  money  (modest  in  comparison  to  the 
costs  for  destroying  Indochina)  to  rebuild  Indo- 
china is  only  a small  beginning.  Perhaps  the  na- 
tion needs  a period  of  quiet  reflection  and  soul 
searching  in  which  it  assesses  itself  carefully. 
Through  this  experience  in  Vietnam  which  was 
no  mistake,  but  was  the  outgrowth  of  a deliberate 
and  planned  policy,  the  Republic  should  learn 
much  about  itself,  about  its  leaders,  about  the 
world,  and  about  the  meaning  and  use  of  power. 
Not  all  of  the  lesson  of  Vietnam  will  be  comfort- 
ing, but  if  the  lesson  is  to  have  any  meaning  it 
will  need  to  be  understood  and  heeded. 


Second-class  postage  paid- in  North  Newton,  Kansas  67117 


Memumite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:12  MARCH  20,  1973 


cbciRcb 

To  ask  “ male  or  female”  is  to  miss  the  whole  point,  David  Augsburger 

to  miss  out  on  the  wholeness  of  God’s  working  in  us. 


When  gifts— whether  present  in  male 
or  female  persons — are  denied,  then  the 
life  of  the  whole  community  is  stifled, 
its  growth  stunted,  its  expression  of  Jesus- 
in-our-midst  limited. 


We  who  deny  others  the  freedom  to 
be  all  that  they  are,  and  withhold  jus- 
tice, equality,  and  dignity  suffer  the  most 
stunting  ourselves.  Our  lives,  as  men,  are 
more  distorted  by  our  refusing  equality 
to  women  than  are  the  lives  of  those 
denied  such  recognition. 


All  our  relationships  are  marred  by 
evil.  “Male”  sins  of  abusive  power,  blind 
competition,  unfeeling  exercise  of  rights, 
and  “female”  sins  of  seductiveness,  ma- 
nipulative designs,  or  control  by  guilt 
are  present  in  us  all,  male  and  female,  in 
varying  degrees. 


We,  in  this  age,  are  seeing  the  end  of 
a male-dominated  social  system.  The  re- 
lationships and  roles  of  men  and  women 
in  the  church  have  been  largely  defined 
by  the  surrounding  culture’s  customs  and 
traditions.  Our  biblical  interpretations 
have  arisen  as  support  for  what  is  rather 
than  vision  for  what  can  be.  (For  ex- 
ample, Ephesians  5:21-33  is  used  to  de- 
mand woman’s  submission  but  its  com- 
mands for  man’s  even  greater  responsi- 
bility are  ignored.) 


Acting  after  the  fact,  we  have  often 
developed  a theological  rationale  for 
justifying  change  we  see  we  cannot  stop. 


“If  the  status  quo  must  go,  then  we  re- 
theologize to  regain  relevancy.” 


For  millennia,  men  willingly  accepted 
the  prerogatives  of  leadership  from  men. 
Centuries  pass  and  the  disgrace  of  wom- 
an’s subjection  to  a silent  second-ciass- 
citizen-status  goes  unchallenged.  Custom 
becomes  accepted  as  nature,  nature  be- 
comes interpreted  as  theology,  theology 
becomes  accepted  as  the  will  of  God. 


Guilt  so  ancient  that  it  is  revered  as 
universal  law  must  be  confessed.  Con- 
fession must  result  in  repentant  changes 
of  our  behaviors.  The  church  as  a for- 
giving, freeing,  repenting  community  can 
be  such  a center  of  prophetic  change, 
but  not  if  it  waits  for  men  to  lead  out 
in  change  without  the  creative  comple- 
ment of  women  in  new  functions  of 
leadership.  We  need  all  the  resources  of 
God’s  people.  To  ask  “male  or  female” 
is  to  miss  the  whole  point,  to  miss  out 
on  the  wholeness  of  God’s  working  in  us. 


The  revolutionary  strategies  of  the 
early  church  recognized  the  gifts  of  the 
Spirit  as  they  appeared.  A Priscilla  is 
free  to  exercise  the  gift  of  teaching — on 
a seminary  level  (Acts  18:26).  Phoebe 
is  a fellow  minister  with  gifts  in  admin- 
istration (Rom.  16:1).  Lydia  pastors  the 
new  fellowship  at  Philippi  (Acts  16:14, 
15,  40).  Four  virgin  daughters  with  the 
gift  of  prophecy  ministered  with  Phillip 
the  evangelist  at  Caesarea  (Acts  21:9). 
In  St.  Paul’s  notes  to  Christian  leaders 


at  Rome,  ten  out  of  twenty-seven  per- 
sons given  commendation  for  their  min- 
istries are  women.  Our  Lord  must  have 
liked  this  freedom  for  men  and  women 
to  minister  according  to  the  gifts  given 
them.  After  all,  he  appeared  first  after 
his  resurrection  to  Mary,  and  soon  after 
to  Cleophas  and  Mary  his  wife  at  their 
Emmaus  home  (Luke  24:13-35,  John 
19:25). 


The  “fullness  of  Christ”  (Eph.  4:13) 
and  “the  whole  body  working  properly” 
(Eph.  4:16)  describe  the  coordinated 
ministries  of  all  those  within  the  body 
of  Christ  whose  gifts  are  recognized  and 
released  in  clearly  designated  functions. 
The  whole  New  Testament  vocabulary 
of  gifts,  offices,  roles,  and  functions  in- 
dicates a richness  in  leadership  minis- 
tries which  are  not  centralized  in  one 
person  nor  limited  to  one  sex. 


“The  New  Testament  literature,”  John 
Howard  Yoder  has  pointed  out,  does  not 
make  the  assumption  which  we  maintain. 
That  there  is  . . . “one  particular  office, 
in  which  there  should  be  only  one  or  a 
few  individuals,  for  whom  it  provides  a 
livelihood,  unique  in  character  due  to 
ordination,  central  to  the  definition  of 
the  church,  and  the  key  to  her  function- 
ing.”1 This  is  not  the  perspective  of  the 
New  Testament  writers,  nor  was  it  their 
historical  practice  as  described  in  the 
book  of  Acts.  In  contrast  “the  most 
striking  general  trait  is  what  we  may  call 
the  multiplicity  of  the  ministry  — with 


186 


MARCH  20,  1973 


diversity  of  distinct  ministries  (there  are 
many  and  the  listings  vary),  the  plurality 
of  ministries  (in  some  roles  several  per- 
sons carry  the  same  office),  and  the 
universality  of  ministry  (everyone  has 
a gift,  1 Cor.  7:7;  12:7;  Eph.  4:7;  and 
1 Pet.  4: 10).”2 


A return  to  a biblical  recognition  of 
all  the  gifts  and  ministries  within  the 
local  family  of  God  can  release  us  to 
recognize  women  or  men  as  gifted  by 
the  Spirit  and  release  them  to  function 
in  whatever  role  may  be  appropriate  in 
that  congregation,  at  that  moment  in 
God’s  timing. 


Wholeness,  “fullness  in  Christ,”  awaits 
us.  The  richness  of  the  gifts  now  present 
in  the  church  awaits  the  release  of  the 
Spirit  through  the  whole  group’s  affirma- 
tion, encouragement,  respect,  and  earnest 
prayer  support.  The  crucial  questions 
have  no  sexual  distinctions : 

“What  are  the  tasks  before  us?” 

“What  are  the  needs?” 

“Where  are  the  gifts  the  Spirit  is  re- 
leasing now?” 

“Who  shall  we  recognize,  affirm,  sup- 
port?” 

“How  can  we  experience  the  whole- 
ness of  his  work  among  us  now?” 


1.  John  Howard  Yoder,  “The  fullness  of  Christ, ” 
Concern,  Vol.  17,  February  1967,  Scottdale,  Pa.,  p. 
45. 

2.  Ibid.,  p.  38-42. 


THE  MENNONITE 


187 


MENNONITE  WOMEN: 

three  portraits 


Lois  Barrett  J arizen 


Mennonite  women  have  often  been  rel- 
egated to  the  footnotes  of  history  books, 
and  their  gifts  have  gone  unrecognized 
by  many.  (The  1944  edition  of  Who’s 
who  among  the  Mennonites  listed  only 
forty-four  women  among  its  thousand 
entries.)  Yet  since  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, there  have  been  women  who  took 
responsibility  in  the  church,  wrote  books 
and  pamphlets,  composed  hymns,  wit- 
nessed to  the  gospel,  and  were  killed  for 
their  faith.  Modern  women  who  have 
gifts  to  be  used  in  the  church  do  have 
models  in  the  history  of  Mennonite  wom- 
en who  have  contributed  to  the  work  of 
the  church. 

Anabaptist-Mennonite  women  probab- 
ly had  their  greatest  influence  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  movement  in  the  six- 
teenth century.  Before  Anabaptism  had 
solidified  its  orthodoxy,  women  played 
a major  role  in  the  movement.  Akin  to 
the  prominence  of  the  layman  in  the 
Radical  Reformation  and  the  emphasis 
on  personal  witness  to  Christ  was  the 
corresponding  elevation  of  women  to  a 
status  of  almost  complete  equality  with 
men  in  the  fellowship  of  the  reborn. 
About  one-third  of  the  persons  listed  in 
Martyrs’  mirror  were  women.  Some  were 
listed  as  deaconesses,  teachers,  and 
prophetesses. 

Anneken  Jans  was  a martyr  about 
whom  a relatively  large  quantity  of  in- 
formation is  available.  Some  reports  call 
her  a follower  of  David  Jorist,  a leader 
of  one  of  the  Anabaptist  factions.  Other 
reports  indicate  that  she  had  a great  in- 
fluence on  his  ministry. 

Anneken  sacrificed  a large  fortune 
for  her  faith  and  was  baptized  at  the 
age  of  twenty-four  with  her  husband 
Arent  Jans.  Because  of  persecution  in 
the  Netherlands,  the  two  fled  to  England, 
where  Arent  died.  Anneken  soon  dis- 
covered that  England  was  no  safer  for 
Anabaptists.  So  she  and  her  small  son 
returned  to  Holland.  At  Rotterdam,  she 
was  arrested  on  suspicion  of  being  an 


Anabaptist  because  she  and  her  travel- 
ing companion,  Christina  Barents,  were 
singing  a hymn.  The  two  women  were 
immediately  tried  and  convicted  of  her- 
esy. 

The  Martyrs’  mirror  relates  that  on 
the  way  to  her  execution,  Anneken  ad- 
dressed the  crowd,  asking  someone  to 
adopt  her  fifteen-months-old  son  Isaiah, 
to  whose  benefactor  she  would  give  a 
substantial  purse.  A baker  who  had  six 
children  volunteered. 

Anneken  is  probably  best  remembered 
for  her  will  and  testament  addressed  to 
her  son.  It  was  printed  in  1539,  the  year 
of  her  death,  and  repeatedly  thereafter 
and  circulated  around  the  countryside. 

The  testament,  included  in  Martyrs’ 
mirror,  reads  in  part: 

“My  son,  hear  the  instructions  of  your 
mother.  . . . Behold,  I go  today  the  way 
of  the  prophets,  apostles,  and  martyrs, 
and  drink  of  the  cup  of  which  they  all 
have  drunk.  . . . 

“Therefore,  my  child,  strive  for  righ- 
teousness unto  death,  and  arm  yourself 
with  the  armor  of  God.  . . . Remember 
that  you  are  not  of  this  world,  even  as 
your  Lord  and  Master  was  not.  . . . 
Whatever  you  do,  do  it  all  to  the  praise 
of  his  name.  Honor  the  Lord  in  the 
works  of  your  hands,  and  let  the  light  of 
the  gospel  shine  through  you.  Love  your 
neighbor.  Deal  with  an  open,  warm  heart 
thy  bread  to  the  hungry,  clothe  the 
naked,  and  suffer  not  to  have  anything 
twofold;  for  there  are  always  some  who 
lack.  Whatever  the  Lord  grants  you  from 
the  sweat  of  your  face,  above  what  you 
need,  communicate  to  those  of  whom 
you  know  that  they  love  the  Lord;  and 
suffer  nothing  to  remain  in  your  posses- 
sion until  the  morrow,  and  the  Lord 
shall  bless  the  work  of  your  hands,  and 
give  you  his  blessing  for  an  inheritance. 
O my  son,  let  your  life  be  conformed  to 
the  gospel,  and  may  the  God  of  peace 
sanctify  your  soul  and  body,  to  his 
praise.” 


Anneken’s  son,  however  did  not  grow 
up  to  accept  his  mother’s  faith. 

Once  the  creative  period  of  Anabap- 
tism was  over,  the  status  of  Mennonite 
women  did  not  differ  greatly  from  that 
of  other  women  in  European  culture. 
From  the  seventeenth  to  nineteenth  cen- 
turies, Dutch  Mennonite  women  were  not 
allowed  to  vote  or  serve  on  church  boards. 
Prussian-Russian  Mennonites  who  had 
moved  into  isolated  areas  preserved 
a patriarchal  system  in  the  family  and 
the  church.  Congregational  meetings 
were  referred  to  as  the  Bruderschaft, 
implying  that  the  brethren  alone  attend- 
ed such  meetings. 

With  the  nineteenth-century  emancipa- 
tion movement,  the  influence  of  pietism, 
and  the  rise  of  Sunday  schools  and  mis- 
sion societies,  women  began  to  have  a 
larger  role  in  church  life.  Women  taught 
Sunday  school,  discussed  missionary  af- 
fairs in  sewing  circles,  and  participated 
audibly  in  prayer  meetings.  Gradually, 
congregations  decided:  If  women  can 

teach  Sunday  school,  why  can’t  they  vote 
on  matters  that  pertain  to  it? 

Mennonite  women  in  the  Netherlands 
and  northern  Germany  were  among  the 
first  to  rediscover  the  range  of  their  gifts 
in  the  church.  Women  have  been  pastors 
in  Dutch  congregations  since  1911,  and 
at  present,  about  one-fourth  of  the  pas- 
tors are  women. 

One  of  the  foremost  north  German 
Mennonite  women  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury was  Anna  Brons,  nee  Cremer  ten 
Doornkaat,  born  in  1810  in  Norden, 
East  Friesland. 

She  grew  up  in  the  Mennonite  church, 
where  she  discovered  Martyrs’  mirror 
and  a community  that  believed  in  shar- 
ing and  helping  the  needy.  But  as  she 
became  older,  she  felt  that  something  was 
lacking. 

She  said,  “I  was  brought  up  in  the 
spirit  (of  the  Mennonites)  without  expe- 
riencing much  of  their  history.  It  brings 
a whole  people — even  a single  commu- 
nity— to  shame  if  it  loses  a knowledge 
of  its  past.  The  members  lose  sight  of 
the  foundation  on  which  they  stand.” 

It  was  to  remedy  that  lack  of  knowl- 
edge that  Anna  Brons  wrote  her  Men- 
nonite history  entitled,  Ursprung,  Ent- 
wicklung  und  Schicksale  der  altevangel- 
ischen  Taufgesinnten  oder  Mennoniten, 
published  in  1884.  The  book  was  one  of 
the  first  total  surveys  of  Mennonite  his- 
tory for  Germans. 

Adele  Hege  spoke  of  Mrs.  Brons:  Her 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  fove  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
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188 


MARCH  20,  1973 


efforts  were  directed  to  lifting  our  faith- 
movement  out  of  misunderstanding  and 
falsehoods  through  which  it  had  endured 
for  centuries.  She  wanted  to  draw  the 
misunderstandings  into  the  light  and  ad- 
vocate the  gospel,  particularly  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  which  she  felt  had 
been  the  guiding  principle  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  Anabaptists. 

She  also  wanted  to  show  that  the  re- 
ligious movements  of  the  Reformation 
were  caused  not  only  by  religious  cir- 
cumstances which  offended  the  people, 
but  also  by  the  political  conditions  which 
had  oppressed  the  rights  of  the  working 
people,  especially  the  farmers. 

Mrs.  Brons  and  her  oldest  son  Bern- 
, hard  were  among  the  most  ardent  pro- 
; moters  of  a union  of  Mennonite  church- 
: es  in  Germany.  Her  ideal  was  a union 
of  all  German  Mennonite  congregations 
similar  to  the  Dutch  Algemene  Doopsge- 
zinde  Societeit. 

In  the  year  when  the  first  edition  of 
her  book  appeared,  representatives  of 
the  Mennonite  churches  in  Germany  met 
in  Berlin  and  discussed  such  a union, 
which  came  into  being  two  years  later, 
in  1886.  Until  her  death,  Anna  took  an 
active  part  in  building  up  the  inner  struc- 
ture of  the  union  and  kept  up  a cor- 


respondence with  all  the  promoters  of 
the  new  organization.  She  was  also  an 
active  worker  on  the  periodical  Menno- 
nitische  Blatter,  even  in  her  advanced 
years.  She  died  in  1902  in  Emden,  where 
she  had  spent  most  of  her  life. 

In  North  America  also,  patriarchal 
practices  in  the  church  were  beginning 
to  break  down  in  the  late  nineteenth 
and  early  twentieth  centuries.  In  the  early 
years  of  the  General  Conference,  its 
Wadsworth,  Ohio,  school,  opened  in 
1868,  met  some  opposition  to  the  prac- 
tice of  admitting  men  only. 

With  the  founders,  wrote  H.  P.  Kreh- 
biel,  it  was  a matter  of  course  that  their 
school  was  for  men  only.  They  aimed  to 
train  missionaries,  ministers,  and  teach- 
ers, and  such  work,  according  to  the  bias 
of  tradition,  only  men  could  do. 

The  question  of  the  education  of  wom- 
en was  discussed  in  articles  in  the  Fried- 
ensbote.  Most  of  the  opponents  were 
not  opposed  to  the  education  of  women 
(although  some  were).  They  felt  that 
education  of  men  and  women  in  the 
same  institution  was  improper.  The  East- 
ern Conference  favored  admitting  wom- 
en, and  the  Western  Conference  pro- 
posed that  a separate  girls’  school  be 
established — after  wiping  out  the  debt 


on  the  Wadsworth  school.  No  agreement 
was  reached,  and  no  change  was  made 
in  the  school’s  admission  policies. 

If  women  could  not  use  their  gifts  to 
the  fullest  in  their  home  congregations, 
they  were  able  to  find  new  avenues  of 
service  overseas. 

On  the  mission  fields,  married  and 
single  women  were  accepted  in  positions 
which  they  could  not  have  filled  in  North 
America  without  great  opposition. 

One  such  missionary  woman  was 
Martha  Burkhalter,  teacher  in  India  for 
more  than  forty  years. 

The  tenth  child  of  Peter  and  Mary 
Burkhalter,  Martha  was  born  near  Berne, 
Indiana,  in  1886.  After  graduation  from 
Bluffton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  she 
turned  down  the  offer  to  teach  English 
and  history  in  her  hometown  high  school 
and  instead  decided  to  go  to  India  un- 
der the  General  Conference’s  mission 
board. 

In  1917  Martha  arrived  at  Janjgir, 
India,  to  become  principal  of  a girls’ 
school. 

At  that  time,  it  was  the  exception, 
not  the  rule,  for  girls  to  attend  school. 
Martha  started  in  1917  with  twenty- 
two  girls.  When  she  left  the  school  ten 
years  later,  it  was  a full-fledged  middle 
school  with  one  hundred  students  and 
the  consistent  recipient  of  the  govern- 
ment inspector’s  highest  rating.  Interest- 
ed in  building  up  a top-notch  curriculum 
for  the  school,  Martha  visited  nearby 
mission  schools  to  gather  information 
and  take  advice. 

In  spite  of  her  administrative  posi- 
tion, Martha’s  real  gift  was  teaching. 
Dramatic  and  energetic,  she  made  an 
indelible  impression  on  her  students. 
When  a point  was  to  be  made,  she  often 
stood  on  a chair  or  the  table  to  drama- 
tize the  story  before  the  class. 

In  spite  of  her  contributions  to  edu- 
cation, Martha  was  sometimes  difficult 
to  get  along  with.  Time  had  a different 
importance  to  her  than  to  some  other 
missionaries  with  whom  she  worked.  If 
she  was  engaged  in  a project,  she  would 
finish  it,  even  if  it  meant  that  she  typed 
the  whole  night.  Her  habitual  tardiness 
was  also  a cause  for  both  consternation 
and  laughter. 

Mariam  Penner  Schmidt,  daughter  of 
early  missionaries  P.  A.  and  Elizabeth 
Penner,  remembered  how  Martha  had 
been  visiting  them  in  Champa.  It  was 
time  for  Martha  to  take  the  train  home, 
but  she  kept  on  eating  carrot  cake.  Final- 
ly, she  got  into  the  oxcart  to  race  to  the 
station.  As  she  came  to  a turn  in  the 
road,  she  saw  the  train  already  pulling 


away  from  the  station.  So  she  jumped 
onto  the  tracks,  frantically  waving  her 
umbrella  at  the  engineer.  The  train 
stopped,  and  Martha  boarded  it. 

After  a furlough  during  which  she 
studied  at  New  York  Biblical  Seminary, 
Martha  returned  to  become  teacher  and 
principal  at  the  Bible  school  in  Janjgir 
in  1936. 

Later,  when  the  General  Conference 
began  cooperating  with  several  other  de- 


nominations in  Union  Biblical  Seminary 
in  Yeotmal,  India,  Martha  became  the 
first  General  Conference  teacher  there. 

After  almost  thirty  years  in  India, 
Martha  adopted  an  orphaned  Indian 
girl,  Dilasie.  After  Martha’s  retirement 
in  North  America,  she  returned  to  India 
for  Dilasie’s  wedding  and  visited  old 
friends  and  mission  stations,  even  teach- 
ing Bible  courses  in  Janjgir,  Jagdeeshpur, 
and  Saraipali. 


In  1964,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five, 
she  died  of  amoebic  dysentery,  presum- 
ably picked  up  on  her  last  trip  to  India. 

The  foundation  she  laid  in  buildings, 
curriculum,  and  staff  at  the  Annie  C. 
Funk  Memorial  School  for  Girls  had 
been  lasting.  The  more  than  2,000  girls 
who  had  been  enrolled  in  the  school  by 
1949,  had  left  to  become  headmistresses, 
nurses,  doctors,  teachers,  Bible  women, 
and  Christian  mothers. 


&ersonfio od  and  IRe  “real  woman ” 

Lois  Kemrer  Eckman 


We  cannot  think  of  improvements  in 
marriage  unless  we  understand  the  place 
of  woman  in  a male-dominated  society. 

Is  she  a “person,”  or  a “woman”?  Let 
me  illustrate.  Recently  I heard  a radio 
talk  show  moderator  ask  the  question, 
“Are  women  persons?”  So  he  popped 
this  question  to  the  very  next  caller  to 
the  station:  “Are  you  married  to  a wom- 
an, or  would  you  say  you’re  married  to 
a person?”  With  no  hesitation  the  caller 
replied,  “Oh,  I’m  married  to  a woman. 
My  wife  is  a real  woman.  She  enjoys 
being  a woman.” 

Last  summer  my  young  son  and  I 
were  talking  about  marriage.  I said,  “If 
you  get  married,  Steve,  1 hope  you  marry 
a person,  not  a wife.”  Steve  observed 
that,  although  it  is  selfish  of  him,  he’d 
rather  marry  a wife  than  a person.  A 
wife  is  so  convenient,  he  said. 

I heard  a male  author  remark  that 
many  young  people  feel  a woman  is  not 
a whole  person  unless  she  has  been 
chosen  by  a man. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  women 
start  thinking  of  themselves,  and  of  the 
well-being  of  each  other,  for  a change. 
Think  sisterhood , and  look  men  squarely 
in  the  eye  and  expect  them  to  do  the 
same  for  you. 

Then,  out  of  necessity,  there  will  be 
earth-shaking  changes  in  marriage. 

Let  us  burst  this  granite  shell  of  con- 
ditioning, conditioning  by  a society  in 
which  the  male  is  dominant,  the  pow- 
erful, the  favored  caste.  In  fact,  the 
Bible  (man’s  “good  news”),  is  interpret- 
ed by  man  through  the  ages,  puts  God 
at  the  head,  then  man,  then  woman. 

We  can  easily  discern,  therefore,  that 
in  such  a society  a woman  cannot  be  a 
person,  an  identity,  uniquely  God-creat- 
ed. (Note:  in  our  culture  in  which  the 
male  is  final  authority,  even  his  God  is 
male.) 


How  difficult  for  woman  to  throw 
aside  centuries  of  oppression  in  which 
she  has  been  pressured  from  babyhood 
to  fit  into  a mold  which  is  unnatural. 

It  has  been  actually  proven  that,  given 
lists  of  characteristics  assumed  to  be  those 
of  emotionally  healthy  adults,  persons 
will  list  those  same  characteristics  as 
necessary  for  emotionally  healthy  males. 
In  other  words,  mature  adults  and  ma- 
ture males  exhibit  identical  attributes  of 
emotional  health.  Adult  women,  then, 
are  sick.  Sound  silly?  Certainly  it  does. 

A “real  woman”  is  expected  not  to  be 
forward  or  independent,  but  to  be  de- 
pendent. She  is  not  rewarded  for  being 
adventurous,  daring,  but  for  being  un- 
adventurous, timorous.  In  place  of  a 
freedom  of  spirit,  she  is  guided  into  a 
spirit  of  subjection  to  man.  Instead  of  an 
actively  functioning,  self-determining  per- 
sonality, she  is  trained  to  passivity,  sub- 
mission. Rather  than  a healthy  self-worth, 
she  is  robbed  of  her  ego,  expected  to 
surrender  her  will  to  man  for  his  good, 
to  his  advantage. 

Should  it  surprise  us,  then,  to  be  told 
that  characteristics  found  in  the  “well- 
adjusted,”  i.e.,  well-trained,  woman  are 
identical  to  those  perceived  in  an  emo- 
tionally immature  person? 

From  the  beginnings  of  humanity, 
patriarchial  civilizations  have  looked 
upon  woman  as  a nonperson,  as  object, 
thing,  as  property.  There  is  little  in  our 
familiar  marriage  ceremony  which  is  not 
rooted  in  the  ethic  of  woman  as  property, 
passed  from  one  man  (father)  to  an- 
other (husband). 

How  else  could  man  look  upon  wom- 
an? It  must  seem  logical  to  him  that  she 
who  (he  assumes)  enjoys  existing  solely 
for  the  benefit,  the  furtherance,  the  well- 
being of  the  human,  man,  cannot  possibly 
be  human,  a person.  Surely  no  human 
would  even  consent  to  such  loss  of  sov- 


ereignty or  selfhood.  A “real  woman” 
as  seen  by  man  is,  of  course,  his  own 
creation,  an  unnatural  creature. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  today  marriage 
as  we  know  it  is  looked  upon  by  many 
women  as  a less-than-desirable  goal.  It 
means  the  complete  abdication  of  any 
semblance  of  autonomy. 

Changes  in  the  marriage  ceremony 
alone  could  consist  of  eliminating  most 
of  the  marriage  rites  as  we  know  them. 
A deeper  look  into  each  of  our  ingrained 
customs  surrounding  the  marriage  cere- 
mony reinforces  the  idea  of  marriage  as 
property  transfer!  (Father  gives  the  bride 
away.)  Some  examples:  The  groomsmen 
helped  the  groom  capture  the  bride  from 
her  family.  Stones  and  “old  shoes”  were 
thrown  at  the  departing  groom  and  cap- 
tured bride.  The  veil  symbolizes  the  bride 
as  “new  property”  which  can  be  looked 
upon,  or  used,  by  the  new  owner,  the 
groom,  and  by  no  other.  The  ring,  of 
course,  represents  the  actual  cords  which 
bound  the  bride  upon  her  seizure  by  the 
groom  and  his  men. 

Jesus  tells  us  that  two  shall  become 
one.  His  words  have  been  corrupted  to 
include,  “and  that  one  shall  be  the  hus- 
band.” Jesus,  who  believed  in  the  worth 
of  each  individual,  would  never  have 
consented  to  this.  Ideally,  two  persons 
grow,  in  a marriage  in  which  each  rec- 
ognizes the  other’s  right  of  self  as  they 
move  as  partners  toward  their  life  goals. 

None  of  these  and  other  mind-chang- 
ing alterations  in  the  marriage  structure 
can  come  about  until  woman  takes  it 
upon  herself  to  stand  first  and  foremost 
as  a sovereign  individual  created  by  God, 
unique,  a human/person  first,  woman 
second.  Then,  and  only  then,  can  two 
persons  have  a relationship  which  can 
draw  nothing  from  the  master/vassal 
type  of  union  seen  as  normal  by  much 
of  today’s  society. 


190 


MARCH  20,  1973 


NEWS 

From  Poverty  Fund  to  poverty  projects 


The  Poverty  Fund  begun  at  the  1968 
General  Conference  was  praised  and 
blamed,  touted  as  an  answer  to  the  roots 
of  poverty  and  criticized  for  allegedly 
siphoning  off  funds  from  evangelism  pro- 
grams. 

The  Poverty  Fund  was  terminated  at 
the  end  of  1972  by  action  of  the  1971 
General  Conference.  Instead  of  a sepa- 
rate Poverty  Fund,  poverty  projects  are 
to  be  operated  by  each  of  the  three  com- 
missions of  the  General  Conference.  The 
Poverty  Fund  name,  symbol,  and  fund 
raising  are  things  of  the  past,  although 
some  projects  started  with  Poverty  Fund 
money  are  being  continued  through  com- 
mission budgets. 

The  Poverty  Fund  began  with  a reso- 
lution at  the  1968  General  Conference 
offered  by  the  Arvada  (Colorado)  Men- 
nonite  Church.  The  resolution,  which 
had  grown  out  of  an  adult  Sunday  school 
class,  called  for  informing  Mennonites 
of  the  plight  of  poor  minority  groups 
in  North  America,  encouraging  Menno- 
nites to  help  poverty  and  minority  groups 
create  their  own  organizations  and  com- 
munication channels,  supporting  pro- 
grams for  long-range  help,  and  estab- 
lishing a million-dollar  fund  over  the 
next  three  years  to  finance  new  poverty 
programs. 

The  Poverty  Fund  was  embroiled  in 
controversy  from  the  beginning.  An 
amendment  at  the  conference  that  the 
fund  include  overseas  projects  was  de- 
feated. But  overseas  projects  were  in- 
cluded, after  all,  after  a survey  in  The 
Mennonite  showed  that  60  percent  of 
the  respondents  wanted  to  include  both 
North  American  and  overseas  projects. 

Some  people  feared  that  large  giving 
to  the  Poverty  Fund  might  decrease  giv- 
ing to  the  regular  commission  budgets. 
Although  more  than  $200,000  was  raised 
for  the  Poverty  Fund,  other  General 
Conference  giving  increased  during  that 
three  years. 

Others  wondered  whether  the  Poverty 
Fund  was  duplicating  other  programs  of 
the  General  Conference  or  Mennonite 
Central  Committee. 

A crucial  point  in  the  controversy  was 
at  the  1971  General  Conference  which 
adopted  a resolution  that  discontinued 
the  Poverty  Fund  as  a separate  structure 


and  advised  the  commissions  to  incor- 
porate poverty  concerns  into  their  pro- 
gram. 

“The  biggest  problem,”  said  Kenneth 
Rupp  of  Kansas  City,  “was  in  trying  to 
interpret  how  the  fund  differed  from  the 
other  relief  agencies  of  the  conference 
as  well  as  other  branches  of  our  Menno- 
nite church.  I would  not  say  that  this 
really  hurt  our  General  Conference 
causes,  however.  . . . Our  conference 
may  well  have  needed  a special  fund  to 
get  us  to  think  about  and  contribute  to 
poverty  in  this  three-year  period.” 

Wilfred  Ulrich,  Freeman,  South  Da- 
kota, felt  some  frustration  about  how 
to  use  the  Poverty  Fund  publicity.  “Was 
the  Poverty  Fund  to  supercede  the  com 
and  chm  programs?  Some  of  my  congre- 
gational leaders  felt  we  were  already 
doing  these  same  types  of  program. 
Why  do  we  now  have  so  much  publicity 
for  a third  program?  I do  feel  we  should 
not  lose  the  specific  concern  for  which 
the  Poverty  Fund  was  set  up,  that  of 
the  poor  in  America,  and  I would  hope 
the  com  and  chm  keep  this  concern 
before  us.” 

But  just  because  the  total  goals  were 
not  met,  the  Poverty  Fund  was  not  a 
failure,  said  J.  Winfield  Fretz,  Waterloo, 
Ontario.  He  said  that  the  Poverty  Fund 
focused  attention  on  poverty,  provided 
a clear  opportunity  for  concerned  Chris- 
tians to  share,  and  indicated  that  the 
General  Conference  commissions  were 
sensitive  to  social  inequities. 

Mrs.  S.  W.  Steiner,  Pandora,  Ohio, 
commented,  “I  think  in  the  long  run  it 
was  good  to  turn  one’s  interest  in  the 
direction  of  poverty,  for  I feel  that  it 
was  a subject  not  widely  understood.  I 
do  not  believe  that  the  Poverty  Fund  has 
hurt  the  General  Conference  in  any 
way,  except  that  more  of  the  funding, 
which  might  have  been  relegated  to  gen- 
eral funding,  has  gone  in  that  direction.” 

“The  Poverty  Fund  met  a need,”  said 
Leon  Kliewer  of  Whitewater,  Kansas. 
“You  have  to  feed  the  mouth  before  you 
can  feed  the  soul.” 

Gary  Franz,  former  director  of  the 
Poverty  Fund,  said,  “One  misunder- 
standing has  been  that  the  Poverty  Fund 
failed  because  it  didn’t  raise  a million 
dollars.  That  figure  was  pulled  out  of  the 


air  without  realistic  research.” 

Instead,  the  steering  committee  focus- 
ed on  a few  model  projects  and  educa- 
tion of  Mennonites  about  poverty. 

“We  decided  not  to  raise  the  one  mil- 
lion dollars,”  he  said.  “We  didn’t  wish 
to  spend  the  time  and  effort  or  risk  the 
discord  with  the  rest  of  the  conference. 
I feel  happy  about  the  changes  in  the 
conference  budget,  with  the  commis- 
sions’ appropriating  dollars  above  the 
normal  budget  for  poverty  programs.” 

Projects  — ranging  from  agricultural 
programs  in  Zaire  to  the  Gulfport,  Mis- 
sissippi, credit  union  — • received  about 
$127,000  through  the  end  of  1972. 
About  $80,000  went  for  administration 
and  education. 

All  of  the  projects  were  high-risk, 
said  Mr.  Franz.  Of  the  eighteen  projects, 
“two  really  bombed.  Some  received  fan- 
tastic praise:  the  Taiwan  project  in  vil- 
lage development  and  the  Cincinnati 
health  centers.  The  latter  project  was 
so  successful  that  other  people  took  it 
over.” 

The  place  of  poverty  projects  now  is 
within  the  commissions.  At  its  February 
meeting,  the  General  Board  approved  a 
$60,000  budget  for  poverty  in  1973: 
$27,500  each  for  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries  and  the  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission  and  $5,000  for  the 
Commission  on  Education. 

The  Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
is  tentatively  planning  to  hire  a consul- 
tant or  consultants  to  help  local  congre- 
gations get  foundation  and  government 
grants  for  poverty  projects.  Com  will 
probably  continue  the  Taiwan  project 
in  a second  village.  Coe’s  plans  are  not 
definite  as  yet. 

Heinz  Janzen,  general  secretary,  said 
contributions  can  still  be  designated  for 
poverty  projects  and  will  be  divided 
among  the  commissions  according  to  the 
poverty  budget:  46  percent  each  to  com 
and  chm  and  8 percent  to  coe.  More 
specific  designations  will  also  be  honored. 

Part  of  the  money  given  to  the  gen- 
eral budget  of  the  conference  or  to  the 
general  budget  of  any  of  the  commis- 
sions will  also  go  toward  poverty,  since 
the  poverty  projects  are  now  a regular 
part  of  the  commissions’  budgets.  Lois 
Janzen 


THE  MENNONITE 


191 


Conference  departs  from  usual  format 


A departure  from  the  usual  business 
format  was  tried  at  the  annual  session 
of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  of  Sas- 
katchewan in  its  meeting  at  the  Eigen- 
heim  church  February  23-24.  Otto 
Driedger,  chairman,  felt  that  in  some 
years  instead  of  focusing  on  what  was 
really  bothering  the  people,  the  delegates 
argued  about  projects.  So  instead  of 
being  largely  business,  the  conference 
emphasis  was  on  four  papers  which  were 
to  wrestle  with  some  of  the  basic  issues 
that  confront  the  churches.  Each  paper 
was  followed  by  a response  and  a dis- 
cussion. 

John  Neufeld,  Winnipeg,  speaking  on, 
“A  theology  of  conversion,”  commented 
on  the  different  connotations  for  indi- 
viduals of  the  word  “conversion,”  and 
then  went  on  to  give  a biblical  and  his- 
torical overview  of  the  teachings  about 
conversion.  He  stressed  the  importance 
of  a mature,  conscious  affirmation  of 
the  faith,  that  we  are  all  Christians  un- 
derway who  have  not  yet  arrived,  and 
that  the  Christian  experience  is  more  a 
relationship  than  a result. 

A second  paper,  “Are  we  still  Ana- 
baptist?”, presented  by  Walter  Klaassen, 
Waterloo,  Ontario,  touched  on  two  main 
areas  of  Anabaptist  teaching,  “commu- 
nity” and  “nonconformity.”  Under  com- 
munity Mr.  Klaassen  pointed  out  that 
baptism  for  the  Anabaptist  was  the  rite 
in  which  the  individual  most  clearly  ex- 
pressed himself.  Baptism  indicated  an 
acceptance  of  the  rule  of  Christ,  a readi- 
ness to  suffer,  and  an  acceptance  of  the 
commission  to  be  a witness.  Today  North 
American  Mennonites  have  little  expec- 
tation of  suffering,  so  baptism  is  not  as 
significant  to  them  as  it  was  to  their  fore- 
fathers. Also,  they  tend  to  baptize  ado- 
lescents who  are  not  emotionally  ready 
for  total  commitment  to  responsibility 
(of  church  membership)  or  to  suffering. 

The  nonconformity  of  the  Anabaptist 
manifested  itself  in  the  insistence  on 
freedom  of  conscience,  its  critical  wit- 
ness to  the  state,  its  rejection  of  violence, 
and  its  criticism  of  the  emerging  cap- 
italism. More  witnessing  is  done  in  our 
time  on  the  uselessness  of  violence  than 
in  the  past,  but  in  the  other  areas,  es- 
pecially the  economic,  Mennonites  “have 
practically  sold  their  heritage.” 

The  third  major  paper,  “Working  out 
faith  in  a changing  world,”  was  present- 
ed by  Fred  Unruh,  Regina.  He  saw 
Christians’  job  in  the  world  as  “trying 
to  create  living  parables  of  what  it 


means  to  be  a disciple.”  In  order  to  do 
this,  he  said,  another  fairly  radical  kind 
of  Anabaptist  revival  is  needed.  Instead 
of  spending  all  its  time  on  self-preserva- 
tion, the  church  should  encourage  people 
to  experiment  with  different  ways  of 
making  faith  practical. 

Paul  Boschman,  Rosthern,  in  the 
fourth  paper,  dealt  with  “Assets  and  bar- 
riers in  sharing  our  faith.”  For  the  early 
Anabaptist  the  overwhelming  asset  for 
evangelism  was  the  zeal  which  grew  out 
of  his  faith  in  the  living  Christ.  The 
church  is  concerned  about  evangelism, 
but  it  has  lost  sight  of  the  world  as  the 
field.  There  is  a receptivity  to  the  good 
news  in  the  world  today  that  needs  to 
be  challenged. 

Income  from  the  conference’s  forty 
churches  last  year  was  $65,572,  and  the 
year  closed  with  a surplus  of  over  $14,- 
000.  A budget  of  $69,000  for  1973  was 
readily  accepted.  The  conference’s  major 
budget  items  are  the  camps  (Elim  and 
Pike  Fake),  Rosthern  Junior  College, 

Former  North  American 
missionary  dies 

Anna  Neufeld,  missionary  among  Indi- 
ans in  Montana  and  Oklahoma,  died 
January  27  in  Inman,  Kansas. 

She  and  her  husband  Heinrich  T.  Neu- 
feld spent  their  honeymoon  studying  the 
Cheyenne  language  and  began  work  in 
Busby,  Montana,  in  1913.  In  1916  they 
began  serving  another  Cheyenne  church 
at  Fonda,  Oklahoma,  and  later  served 
an  Arapahoe  church  at  Canton,  Okla- 
homa. 

The  Neufelds  also  taught  at  Oklahoma 
Bible  Academy,  Meno,  Oklahoma,  or- 
ganized the  Bethel  Mennonite  Church 
at  Enid,  Oklahoma,  and  served  among 
Old  Colony  Mennonites  in  Cuauhtemoc, 
Mexico. 

From  her  diary  in  Montana  come  the 
following  excerpts: 

“We  soon  began  a sewing  class  with 
three  women  to  begin.  The  first  funeral 
we  witnessed  was  a Christian  by  the 
name  of  Nora.  . . . 

“Mrs.  Neufeld  copies  the  Cheyenne 
grammer  in  her  spare  time.  . . . 

“On  August  21,  1914,  the  storm  laid 
the  Busby  log  church  flat.  The  pulpit 
in  falling  covered  the  songbooks  which 
were  unhurt.  No  benches  broken.  . . . 

“Four  were  baptized  at  Busby  on  July 
25.  Mr.  Bites  and  Mrs.  Walklast  were 
married.” 


scholarships,  conference  pastor,  radio 
work,  bookrack  evangelism,  and  a church 
building  grant.  Giving  to  the  provincial 
conference  constituted  only  about  10  per- 
cent of  what  churches  gave  to  all  causes 
throughout  the  year. 

Abe  Neufeld,  conference  pastor  for 
Saskatchewan  and  Alberta,  was  asked  to 
serve  another  three  years  in  his  post. 

The  Women’s  Missionary  Society  re- 
port presented  by  Martha  Nickel  re- 
minded the  assembly  that  women’s  or- 
ganizations are  not  trying  to  work  in 
competition  with  churches  and  confer- 
ences, but  want  to  cooperate  with  them 
to  achieve  common  goals.  A step  toward 
closer  cooperation  has  already  been  tak- 
en. The  president  of  the  wms  will  be 
invited  to  attend  future  conference  exec- 
utive meetings. 

Mission  interest  among  women  is  high. 
The  society’s  1,184  members  in  sixty- 
three  societies  contributed  almost  $75,000 
during  1972. 

The  missions  committee  hopes  to  be 
able  to  expand  its  radio  work  (which 
was  cut  back  a few  years  ago),  and  also 
plans  greater  involvement  in  vacation 
Bible  school  work  this  summer. 

The  main  effort  of  the  service  com- 
mittee during  1972  was  centered  on  a 
study  on  aging  and  how  old  people  feel 
about  retirement.  The  study  was  pre- 
pared by  Peter  Guenther,  Saskatoon. 
Some  suggestions  were  made  for  com- 
munity service  for  older  people,  such  as 
friendly  visitor  service,  hot  meals  on 
wheels,  drop  in  centers,  hobby  clubs, 
taxi  service,  and  visiting  nurse  or  home- 
maker services. 

Camp  committees  are  experimenting 
with  new  areas  as  well.  Elim  has  con- 
ducted family  camps  and  canoe  camps 
in  addition  to  regular  children’s  camps. 
Rosthern  held  a winter  camp.  Suggested 
for  the  future  are  outdoor  weekend 
camps,  trail  riding  and  cycling  camps. 
Pike  Fake  is  investigating  the  possibility 
of  a camp  for  mentally  retarded  chil- 
dren, and  Rosthern  is  planning  a senior 
citizens’  camp. 

Both  Rosthern  Junior  College  and  the 
Swift  Current  Bible  Institute  have  ex- 
pansion plans.  New  dormitory  facilities 
are  needed  at  Rosthern,  and  scbi  pre- 
sented a convincing  case  for  the  need  of 
a combination  gymnasium-auditorium. 

Reelected  to  the  conference’s  execu- 
tive committee  were  Otto  Driedger,  chair- 
man; Ernest  Baergen,  vice-chairman;  and 
Lome  Buhr,  secretary.  Margaret  Ewert 


192 


MARCH  20,  1973 


I 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 

Conference  program 

Conference  theme:  JESUS  CHRIST  IS  LORD  OF  LIFE 


j March  20,  1973 

HAPPENINGS 

"Jesus  is  Lord  of  life" 

1 concerns  District  Conference 

Anyone  who  writes  a history  of  the 
church  in  these  years  will  not  be  able 
to  help  future  generations  understand 
us  and  our  concerns  and  efforts  unless 
he  takes  considerable  time  and  pains  to 
make  clear  what  was  happening  in  the 
world  around  us.  Who  we  are,  how  we 
| have  arrived  at  an  understanding  of  who 
we  are,  what  we  do,  how  and  why  we 
have  tried  to  do  it,  none  of  this  will  be 
fully  understood  without  a study  of  our 
times. 

| Item : Why  did  church  conferences 

of  the  sixties  argue  over  and  pass  so 
many  resolutions?  Was  it  because  of  an 
| action-oriented  outlook  pervading  na- 
tional life,  the  desperate  hope  that  by 
taking  thought  (and  action)  we  could 
add  a cubit  to  our  stature?  War  on  pov- 
I erty  in  the  national  life  was  echoed  by 
! poverty  resolutions  in  the  church. 

[ Item\  Why  did  church  conferences  of 
the  seventies  turn  to  the  small-group 
movement?  Was  it  because  of  a crisis  of 
identity,  a mistrust  of  action  pervading 
national  life,  the  desperate  hope  that  by 
| taking  thought  (and  sharing  feelings) 
j we  could  add  a cubit  to  our  stature?  The 
I sensitivity  movement  in  national  life 
spawned  its  own  counterparts  in  the 
church  with  concern  for  the  expression 
of  feelings  and  the  building  of  relation- 
ships. 

Awareness  of  these  influences  will 
help  us  understand  and  know  a little 
more  about  what  to  expect  from  our 
next  Central  District  Conference  on  the 
Goshen  College  campus,  April  26-29. 

Half  of  our  time  will  be  occupied  with 
two  concerns  raised  at  Windermere: 
management  of  life  or  decision-making 
about  the  processes  of  life,  and  our  re- 
sponsibility to  the  offender  in  our  soci- 
ety. There  is  a unity  to  these  concerns 
which  we  have  suggested  by  uniting  them 
under  the  theme:  “Jesus  is  Lord  of  life.” 
The  other  half  of  our  concern  is  to  keep 

Continued  on  A-2 


Thursday,  April  26 

P.M. 

3:00  Registration 
5:30  Supper 

7 : 00  Opening  of  conference — Larry 
Voth 

Welcome — Paul  Goering,  Jacob 
Friesen 

Report  of  the  program  committee 
Donald  Steelberg 

7:45  Giving  and  receiving  counsel — 
Chester  Raber 
9:00  Worship 
9 : 45  Snack  and  share 

Friday,  April  27 

A.M. 

7:30  Breakfast 

8:45  Singing — Orlando  Schmidt 
9:00  Insight  hour — Erland  Waltner — 
“Biblical  perspectives  on  life 
management” 

9:30  Small  group  discussions  (coffee), 
resource  person:  Chester  Raber 
11:15  Summations 
12:00  Lunch 

P.M. 

1:30  Sharing  of  concerns 
3:15  Hearings:  Education  and  publi- 
cation, peace  and  service,  semi- 
nary, Bluffton  College 
4:30  Closing 

5:30  Supper — Women’s  Missionary 


Association  dinner 

7:30  Robert  and  Alice  Ruth  Ramsey- 
er — General  session  together 

with  WMA 

9:30  Snack  hour 

9-12  Youth  program — arranged  by 
special  youth  committee 

Saturday,  April  28 

A.M. 

7 : 30  Breakfast 

8:45  Hearings:  Camp  Friedenswald, 
Committee  to  encourage  estate 
planning,  historical,  ministry, 
mission,  Oaklawn 

10:00  Business  session:  Ministry  to  the 
offender  (coffee  available  before 
session  begins) 

12:00  Lunch 

P.M. 

1:30  Business  session:  Elections,  con- 
cerns 

3:30  Tours 

6:00  Supper 

7 : 30  Sharing — Larry  Voth 

8:15  Seminary  choir 

9 : 00  Closing  of  conference 

9:30  Snack  hour 

Sunday,  April  29 

A.M. 

8:00  Breakfast 

9:30  Morning  worship 

12:00  Dinner 


The  Central  District  Conference  will  convene  in  the  Goshen  College  Union,  April 
26-29,  with  Eighth  Street  Mennonite  Church  as  host.  All  our  Mennonite  churches 
will  unite  for  the  Sunday  morning  worship  and  sharing  at  the  Union. 


FHE  MENNONITE 


A- 1 


Program  committee  reflects  on  conferences 


Bluffton  1969  was  a turning  point  for  the 
Central  District  Conference.  That  year 
we  began  to  meet  in  small  groups  to  dis- 
cuss our  reactions  to  what  we  had  been 
hearing.  The  process  has  continued  and 
we  have  tried  to  perfect  our  use  of  it. 
At  Bulffton  and  East  Bay  we  discussed 
points  of  view,  either  of  a book  or  a 
speaker.  At  Berne  with  Bruce  Larson 
we  turned  to  understanding  ourselves 
better,  understanding  one  another,  and 
learning  how  to  share.  At  Windermere 
we  built  upon  this  in  discussing  particu- 
lar issues. 

At  Goshen  we  want  to  apply  what 
we  have  learned  to  grappling  with  even 
more  difficult  concerns.  Our  theme  is 
“Jesus  is  Lord  of  life.”  Two  areas  will 
engage  our  attention.  The  first  is  how 
we  confess  that  Jesus  is  Lord  of  life 
when  we  confront  the  problem  of  abor- 
tion. The  second  is  how  Jesus  is  Lord 
of  life  when  we  seek  to  minister  to  the 
offender  in  our  society.  Rather  than  re- 
acting to  presentations,  as  has  been  our 
pattern,  we  will  first  give  and  receive 


counsel.  Our  goal  is  not  to  solve  these 
problems  but  to  share  our  approaches 
to  them. 

Both  of  these  concerns  were  raised  at 
Windermere  for  our  consideration  and 
both  are  currently  of  great  interest  be- 
cause of  recent  Supreme  Court  decisions. 
We  want  to  help  one  another  in  the 
struggle  to  speak  honestly  and  with  the 
mind  of  Christ. 

This  conference  will  also  provide  more 
time  than  has  been  available  for  a num- 
ber of  years  to  consider  the  ongoing 
business  of  the  conference  and  to  share 
personal  and  church  concerns.  We  want 
to  hear  what  you  are  doing  in  your  com- 
munity and  to  think  about  our  goals  as 
a conference. 

Chester  Raber  will  be  present  to  help 
us  in  our  listening  and  talking.  Erland 
Waltner,  the  Robert  Ramseyers,  the 
members  of  the  seminary  choir  will  be 
present.  But  most  of  all  we  count  on  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  each  per- 
son to  help  us  share  our  faith.  The  pro- 
gram committee 


:D  Conference  from  A-l 

in  touch  with  business  of  conference  life 
through  committee  hearings  and  in  touch 
with  each  other  through  sharing  what 
God  is  doing  for  us. 

Since  there  would  not  be  enough  time 
to  cover  the  entire  field  of  decision- 
making about  the  processes  of  life,  we 
have  narrowed  our  concern  to  the  sub- 
ject of  abortion.  Hopefully,  learning  how 
to  decide  in  this  area  will  help  across 
the  entire  field.  We  hope  and  intend  to 
use  a “seventies”  approach.  That  is,  we 
will  be  asking  you  to  share  how  you  de- 
cide a question  which  touches  upon 
faith;  then  we  will  have  input  as  to  how 
one  decides  based  on  the  resources  of 
faith.  Because  of  this  approach,  may  we 
urge  that  you  make  a strong  effort  to 
be  present  Thursday  evening  for  the  be- 
ginning of  conference.  Our  approach  to 
the  offender  issue  is  as  yet  dependent 
upon  the  seminars  being  held  in  prepara- 
tion for  our  consideration. 

Suggesting  a “sixties”  or  “seventies” 
approach  is  not  to  commit  us  to  one  or 
the  other;  elements  of  both  are  certainly 
needed  and  the  typology  is  really  meant 
to  help  us  take  a look  at  why  we  do 
what  we  do.  We  may  have  some  resolu- 
tions. We  will  have  some  sharing.  The 
thing  to  remember  is  that  Jesus  had  a 
word  about  increasing  the  stature  of  our 
lives. 


Youth  plan  conference 
evening  of  celebration 

The  youth  representative,  Mary  Lehman, 
has  been  an  active  member  of  the  con- 
ference program  committee.  Youth  are 
invited  to  be  an  integral  part  of  the  dis- 
cussions at  all  sessions.  Churches  are 
urged  to  elect  youth  as  official  delegates. 

Of  special  interest  to  high  school  youth 
will  be  the  Friday  evening,  9-12  midnight 
“happening.”  This  is  being  planned  by 
youth,  for  youth.”  Youth  are  invited  to 
come  in  carloads  from  every  church. 

The  evening  program  for  the  entire 
conference  body  will  focus  on  the  inter- 
national scene  led  by  Robert  and  Alice 
Ruth  Ramseyer,  former  missionaries  in 
Japan.  Bob  is  now  director  of  the  Over- 
seas Mission  Training  Center  at  the  As- 
sociated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary. 
This  will  be  of  interest  to  youth. 


We  count  on  your  presence.  The  re- 
source people:  Chester  Raber,  Erland 
Waltner,  the  Robert  Ramseyers  (secured 
for  us  by  the  Women’s  Missionary  Asso- 
ciation); these  are  present  for  our  help. 
It  is  our  confidence  that  great  inspiration 
can  come  to  us  as  we  plumb  our  own 
resources  with  the  help  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Donald  Steelberg. 


DART  plans  two  workshops 
in  March 

Dart  stands  for  Development  of  Anti- 
racism Training.  This  replaces  the  former 
Project  Commitment  program  in  Indi- 
ana. Dart  is  the  direct  result  of  the  two 
workshops  on  racism,  each  of  two-day 
duration,  held  last  summer  and  fall.  It 
is  exciting  because  it  takes  us  beyond 
religious  rhetoric  to  that  which  is  specific 
and  concrete.  The  object  is  to  provide 
a staff  to  conduct  these  workshops  for 
religious  institutions’  staff,  ministeriums, 
retreats,  and  conferences. 

We  have  received  a favorable  re- 
sponse. In  fact,  two  workshops  have  al- 
ready been  scheduled:  March  10  at  Lake 
Wawasee  for  the  human  relations  com- 
mission of  the  Fort  Wayne-South  Bend 
Diocese,  and  March  24  at  Bloomington 
for  the  local  ministerium.  D.  Lowell 
Nissley. 

Key  73  evangelism  caring  - 
sharing  dinner  meetings  held 

The  district  evangelism  task  force  in- 
vited David  Whitermore  to  share  the 
“happenings”  within  the  churches  of  the 
General  Conference.  Areas  including  In- 
diana at  Fort  Wayne,  two  in  Ohio,  and 
one  in  Illinois. 

David  Bowen  of  Berne,  who  attended 
the  Fort  Wayne  gathering,  feels  “David 
Whitermore  excited  and  challenged  us 
as  laymen  to  action.  He  insisted  that  we 
learn  to  accept  ourselves  where  we  are 
and  then  go  for  Christ.  Evangelism  is 
accepting  people  where  they  are  in  love. 
Lay  people  are  the  ones  that  lead  people 
to  Christ,  Mr.  Whitermore  insisted.  Is 
there  someone  I could  love  to  Christ?” 


Leonard  Wiebe,  pastor  of  Maplewood 
Church,  is  shown  addressing  the  gather- 
ing at  Fort  Wayne  evangelism  dinner. 


A-2  MARCH  20,  1973 


Concerns  of  1972  become 
agenda  for  1973  sessions 


Life  management 

Statement  of  concern  adapted  at  last 
district  conference. 

\ It  is  apparent  that  with  the  vast  in- 
' crease  in  medical  and  technological  in- 
I sights  and  breakthroughs,  we  can  project 
. a radical  change  in  the  nature  and  defi- 
' nition  of  man’s  life  and  existence.  Does 
the  church  have  anything  to  say  about 
1 how  man  orders  that  existence  and  how 
1 he  manipulates  that  existence  through 
| the  use  of  chemicals,  human  transplants, 
artificial  devices,  and  mechanical,  biolog- 
ical, or  psychological  means?  The  accel- 
{ eration  of  these  changes  is  already  ob- 
vious, and  their  effects  are  already  mak- 
ing their  impact.  Since  “secular  forces” 

! are  the  primary  forces  affecting  much  of 
this  change,  it  would  appear  that  the 
church,  whose  t cachings  speak  to  the 
sacredness  of  life  and  the  wholeness  of 
man,  should  have  opportunity  for  signi- 
ficant impact  on  these  issues.  Further, 
it  would  seem  to  have  a responsibility  to 
its  members  to  aid  them  in  exploring 
the  issues  before  they  are  faced  with 
overwhelming  decisions. 

Most  of  the  issues  affecting  these  con- 
cerns are  of  such  a nature  that  the 
Christian  will  not  be  able  to  avoid  them. 
Some  of  the  following  issues  will  and 
have  already  begun  to  affect  the  nature 
of  our  existence: 

1.  Conditioning  and  molding  of  per- 
sonality through  drugs,  chemicals,  so- 
cial, biological,  and  psychological  condi- 
tioning. 

2.  Does  man  have  the  right  to  die? 
Who  can  help  make  such  decisions? 
When  does  death  take  place?  What  do 
we  say  to  “forcing”  life  and  suffering 
on  others?  When  does  incorporation  of 
artificial  devices  constitute  a violation 
of  one’s  humanity? 

3.  Does  man  have  the  right  to  manip- 
ulate life  factors,  i.e.,  the  manipulation 
of  genes,  transplanting  fetuses,  test  tube 
babies? 

4.  Does  man  have  the  right  to  take 
life,  i.e.,  euthanasia,  abortion?  If  so, 
when?  If  not,  are  we  willing  to  take  re- 
sponsibility for  the  consequences  we 
force  on  others? 

5.  What  effect  does  the  implantation 
of  parts  and  organs  from  other  human 
beings  have  upon  our  existence?  If  kid- 
ney or  even  heart  transplants  are  valid, 


what  shall  we  say  of  brain  transplants? 

6.  If  it  is  true  that  from  50  to  75 
percent  of  all  physical  ailments  are 
prompted  by  the  stresses  of  life  (even 
among  Christians),  do  we  have  some- 
thing more  specific  to  say  about  our  own 
life  styles? 

7.  What  does  our  faith  say  about  the 
nature  of  man’s  “existence”  in  general? 
How  are  we  to  develop  this  belief  into 
helpful  guidelines  and  specific  responses 
to  the  above-mentioned  concerns? 

It  is  already  obvious  that  there  are  no 
pat  answers  to  the  majority  of  these 
concerns  nor  can  we  hot>e  to  arrive  at 
unanimous  decisions  on  all  these  matters. 
But  it  is  hoped  that  the  conference  might 
address  itself  to  the  task  of  helping  in- 
form its  members,  if  not  give  construc- 
tive input,  to  these  issues  of  the  day, 
hoping  that  we  might  thereby  give  a 
fuller  witness  to  our  belief  in  the  sacred- 
ness of  life  and  wholeness  of  man  and 
what  this  means  in  the  light  of  modem 
technology  and  medical  advances.  We 
see  the  issues  involved  as  so  crucial  as 
to  warrant  the  consideration  of  an  entire 
conference  theme. 

We  would  therefore  ask  the  program 
committee  to  strongly  consider  these  con- 
cerns in  planning  its  theme  and  program 
for  the  1973  Central  District  Conference. 
Dr.  Ronald  Ropp,  chaplain,  Mennonite 
Hospital,  Bloomington,  Illinois 

Offender  ministry  resolution 
ready  for  conference 

Whereas,  our  churches  are  sharing  in- 
creasing interest  in  ministry  to  offenders, 
and 

Whereas,  we  have  a growing  number 
of  persons  employed  or  working  in  areas 
of  probation,  parole,  visitation,  juvenile 
detention,  and  predetention,  and 

Whereas,  prison  reform  and  problems 
of  correction  and  prevention  could  be- 
come a frontier  for  deployment  of  church 
resources  similar  to  what  was  done  and 
is  being  done  in  mental  health; 

Therefore,  be  it  resolved: 

That  we  direct  our  peace  and  service 
committee,  conference  minister,  and 
executive  committee  to  consult  with  ap- 
propriate officers  of  the  Mennonite  Gen- 
eral Assembly  (Old  Mennonite)  con- 
cerning approaches  and  appropriate  ac- 
tion for  our  churches  for  ministry  to 


THE  MENNONITE  A-3 


New  projector  and  organ 
installed  at  Grace 

During  the  month  of  December,  we  were 
able  to  purchase  a brand  new  Bell  & 
Howell  sound  projector.  So  far  we  have 
had  three  films  and  it  is  our  plan  to  show 
one  a month. 

For  the  January  21  showing,  I had 
invited  the  Brighton  Mennonite  Church 
and  quite  a few  came  to  see  the  film, 
“Through  gates  of  splendor.”  Now  our 
congregation  has  been  invited  to  their 
church  for  February  25. 

This  month  we  have  purchased  a 
Wurlitzer  organ  and  we  plan  to  have 
a dedicatory  service  Sunday  morning  at 
the  10  o’clock  service.  If  any  of  you 
can  come,  you  would  be  very  welcome. 
We  expect  a good  attendance. 

You  may  wonder  how  we  can  afford 
a new  organ,  which  is  a good  question. 
The  Angela  Belair  estate  donated  a 
$1,000  gift  for  an  organ  fund.  The  price 
of  the  organ  was  $1,800  and  we  need 
only  about  $275.  People  have  responded 
very  well  without  “stewardship”  ser- 
mons. Friends  of  the  church  have  also 
been  very  generous. 

The  School  of  the  Ozarks  again  came 
to  stay  for  a week.  About  twenty-six 
students  and  two  professors  and  their 
families  came  to  see  the  city  and 
our  church  was  their  place  of  lodging. 
Alvin  Voth,  pastor 

Key  73  plans 
Bible  distribution 

“Calling  our  continent  to  the  Word  of 
God”  is  challenging  congregations  to 
communitywide  distribution  of  Scripture 
portions.  The  American  Bible  Society 
has  produced  large  quantities  of  Gospel 
portions.  The  goal  of  Key  73  is  that 
every  person  in  North  America  shall  be 
introduced  to  Jesus  Christ  and  God’s 
redeeming  love. 

Persons  involved  in  special  Key  73 
advances  are  urged  to  report  their  expe- 
rience to  the  editor  so  that  these  can  be 
shared  with  the  larger  church. 


offenders  with  a report  brought  not  later 
than  next  year’s  conference  and  further. 
That  up  to  $2,000  of  the  current  year’s 
budget  be  made  available  for  this  ex- 
ploration and  development. 


Zion  Mennonite  and  United  Presbyterian  unite 


It  was  during  the  early  spring  of  1970 
when  the  pulpits  of  both  the  Zion  Men- 
nonite and  the  United  Presbyterian 
churches  of  Donnellson,  Iowa,  were  va- 
cated. Realizing  that  neither  church  had 
an  adequate  base  to  fulfill  its  mission, 
the  leadership  met  to  explore  the  possi- 
bility of  a united  effort.  After  consulting 
conference  and  synod  personnel,  a work- 
able plan  for  a shared  ministry  was  sub- 
mitted. The  proposal  was  approved  and 
a yoked  fellowship  came  into  being 
which,  with  minor  changes,  has  proven 
to  work  beautifully. 

Worship  during  the  first  year  was 
separate  with  the  exception  of  two  serv- 
ices: Christmas  Eve  vespers  and  Maundy 
Thursday  communion.  In  the  spring  of 
the  second  year  we  combined  worship, 
which  lasted  during  the  summer  months. 
This  year  the  summer  worship  will  again 
be  together,  with  the  Christian  education 
committees  from  both  churches  currently 
working  on  policy  and  curriculum  for 
a joint  summer  Sunday  church  school. 
Tentative  plans  include  the  possibility 
of  combined  year-round  classes  for  age 
groups  with  insufficient  numbers  from 
either  church.  The  spirit  of  God  is  ac- 
tively at  work  in  the  love  and  harmony 
with  which  the  two  congregations  co- 
operate and  minister,  leaving  a meaning- 
ful impact  upon  the  community. 

By  way  of  facilities,  the  Mennonite 
parsonage  is  occupied  by  the  pastor  and 
his  family,  while  the  manse  provides  liv- 
ing quarters  for  a family  that  renders 
custodial  services  to  the  churches  in 
return  for  the  rental  value.  Both  church 
buildings  are  made  available  to  such 
groups  as  the  Boy  and  Girl  Scouts, 
Brownies,  etc. 

The  Yoked  Fellowship  ministers  in 
many  and  varied  ways  through  its  or- 
ganizations. The  youth  group,  known  as 
the  Presmonite  Youth  Fellowship,  min- 
isters both  in  the  church  as  well  as  in 


the  larger  community.  Several  times  dur- 
ing the  year  they  are  responsible  for 
the  total  morning  service  of  worship. 
They  also  minister  to  the  residents  of 
the  Manor  Nursing  Home.  Another  area 
of  ministry  is  the  Iowa  Mental  Health 
Institute  at  Mount  Pleasant.  This  min- 
istry has  been  most  acceptable  to  the 
Department  of  Social  Services.  They 
have  also  visited  camping  areas  to  dis- 
tribute schedules  listing  times  and  places 
of  all  the  local  services  of  worship  to 
weekend  campers.  In  addition,  this 
group  has  accepted  a money  mission 
project  to  American  Indians. 

Our  younger  youth  group,  known  as 
the  Mennonite-Presbyterian  Young  Peo- 
ple, also  renders  Christian  services  at  the 
local  rest  home.  One  of  their  projects 
has  been  to  sponsor  a film  ministry  to 
which  the  other  young  people  of  the 
community  of  their  age  have  been  in- 
vited. 

The  church  renders  meaningful  serv- 
ice through  its  ladies’  mission  societies. 
Besides  the  services  of  preparing  needed 
items  for  missions  abroad,  they  minister 
to  both  the  local  and  the  Lee  County 
Home  at  Keokuk.  Our  county  has  an 
activity  center  at  Montrose  where  the 
retarded  of  Lee  County  are  employed  at 
assembling  such  items  as  pill  boxes, 
combination  window  assemblies,  etc. 
This  leaves  families  with  a retarded 
member  free  for  nine  or  so  hours  each 
day  to  carry  on  the  normal  routine  of 
the  home.  Our  ladies  have  been  helping 
prepare  food  items  and  meals  to  help 
in  this  project.  This  service  is  very  much 
appreciated.  Several  times  during  the 
year  the  ladies  have  a fellowship  gather- 
ing to  which  they  invite  the  ladies  of  the 
community. 

This  past  summer  the  pastor  offered  an 
ecumenical  community  catechism  class  in 
which  high  school  students  with  church 
backgrounds  from  the  United  Church 


of  Christ,  Baptist,  Methodist,  Presbyte- 
rian, and  Mennonite  were  enrolled.  A 
combined  catechism  class  composed  of 
students  from  both  churches,  known  as 
the  Pastor’s  Class,  was  also  offered  to 
the  seventh-  and  eighth-grade  students. 
The  membership  ministers  in  various 
ways:  exchange  and  foreign  students 
have  found  love  and  fellowship  in  a 
number  of  our  homes;  community  drives 
for  crop,  unicef  and  offerings  for  needy 
areas  such  as  Nicaragua  through  mcc 
and  Church  World  Service  are  a part 
of  our  world  mission,  along  with  con- 
ference and  General  Assembly,  district 
and  synod  missions. 

The  year  1973  appears  to  be  especial- 
ly interesting  as  we  project  into  a co- 
operative Key  73  community  endeavor. 
The  community  task  force  has  organized 
prayer  groups  and  will  this  year  have 
cooperative  Holy  Week  services,  a lay 
witness  mission,  community  daily  vaca- 
tion church  school,  and  mass  Easter  sun- 
rise service. 

Donnellson  has  been  realizing  a num- 
ber of  new  families  as  a result  of  the 
new  multibillion  dollar  Armour  Dial 
plant.  We  minister  to  these  families 
through  visitation  and  fellowship. 

A number  of  burdened  people  have 
expressed  concern  for  a ministry  to  of- 
fenders at  the  Iowa  State  Prison  lo- 
cated in  nearby  Fort  Madison.  The  exec- 
utive committee  of  the  Mid-Lee  County 
Council  of  Churches  has  appointed  Al- 
vin Kleinsasser  to  contact  the  Protestant 
chaplain  and  other  prison  personnel,  to 
explore  the  possibilities  of  a cooperative 
prison  ministry. 

In  a world  that  offers  so  many  chal- 
lenges, but  also  stands  ready  to  hinder 
the  self -giving,  we  pray:  “God,  help  us 
to  be  faithful  to  the  mission  you  have 
placed  before  us.  Motivate  and  grant  us 
sensitivity  to  the  leading  of  thy  Holy 
Spirit.  Amen.”  Alvin  Kleinsasser,  pastor 


A-4 


MARCH  20,  1973 


From  Indonesia  to  Gulfport,  VSers  report 


From  Willis  Sommers 


Dear  Friends  at  Meadows:  This  eve- 
ning I have  made  a resolution  to  write 
some  long  overdue  letters.  One  is  to  you. 
Thanks  for  the  cards,  letters,  and  gifts 
received  this  past  Christmas  season.  They 
all  were  greatly  appreciated. 

I have  been  here  eight  months  now 
and  I am  not  sure  what  has  been  ac- 
complished. Some  unusual  things  have 
happened  in  the  development  work.  For 
example,  our  purebred  boar  became  ster- 
ile, our  irrigation  pump  broke  down; 
consequently  forty-five  acres  of  rice  died. 
In  addition,  a drought  with  extreme  heat 
has  considerably  hurt  crop  production 
this  year — so  bad  that  in  a number  of 
places,  people  have  little  if  anything  to 
eat.  Mcc,  through  the  local  church,  is 
providing  some  relief  for  this.  A positive 
point  has  been  an  almost  complete  turn- 
about in  the  organizational  structure  of 
the  development  work.  It  will  become 
more  community-centered  than  before  as 
well  as  each  project  being  more  in- 
tensively developed.  I think  it  has  a good 
framework  for  future  projects. 

I have  also  spent  considerable  time — 
with  some  visible  success  — with  the 
church  and  some  of  its  institutions  in 
doing  some  program  and  financial  plan- 
ning. I am  not  sure  all  of  it  was  appre- 
ciated, but  some  of  it  did  provide  a help 
for  them. 

I am  tentatively  hoping  to  complete 
my  assignment  here  around  March  1. 
In  the  remaining  time,  I hope  to  help 
work  out  some  social-economic  surveys 
for  the  development  work.  I have  not 
had  much  experience  in  doing  one  of 
these,  but  I look  forward  with  anticipa- 
tion to  participating  in  it. 

Our  most  current  project  is  a food- 
for-work  (food  donated  by  foreign  gov- 
ernments for  salary  rather  than  money) 
project.  This  involves  cleaning  out  irri- 
gation ditches,  so  that  the  irrigation  sys- 
tem for  the  village  is  better  and  more 


water  is  available.  It  was  in  this  area  that 
our  irrigation  pump  project  failed.  We 
are,  by  the  way,  planning  to  try  again 
with  the  pump  project  this  coming  year. 

If  nothing  else  this  past  year  hap- 
pened, one  thing  was  evident — develop- 
ment work  encounters  more  failures  and 
successes,  yet  one  continues  to  see  the 
need  for  more  effort.  Fortunately,  the 
people  continue  to  work  at  it  also.  This 
is  gratifying. 

Enough  for  now.  Best  wishes  for  the 
New  Year  and  I look  forward  to  seeing 
you  in  a few  months’  time.  Bill  Som- 
mers, an  mcc  volunteer  to  Indonesia. 

From  Cindy  Lehman 


Dear  Friends  at  Salem:  I am  looking 
forward  to  my  sixth  month  of  VS  at 
Camp  Landon  in  Gulfport,  Mississippi. 
Never  has  half  a year  passed  so  rapidly. 
I am  presently  teaching  fifth  grade  at 
the  North  Gulfport  middle  school.  I 
must  admit  even  with  my  college  train- 
ing and  work  in  an  all-black  school  in 
Lima,  I was  not  prepared  for  my  teach- 
ing experience  which  began  August  24. 

I was  not  prepared  for  the  600  stu- 
dents who  stormed  the  school  that  first 
morning.  I was  not  prepared  to  see  the 
“adults”  who  couldn’t  seem  to  graduate 
from  the  eighth  grade  but  returned  year 
after  year  a little  older,  a little  bigger, 
and  a lot  more  clever!  I was  not  pre- 
pared for  the  lack  of  organization  that 
first  day.  It  seemed  even  the  administra- 
tion didn’t  know  what  was  going  on. 
However,  most  of  all,  I was  not  prepared 
to  use  the  board! 

In  other  words  I suffered  from  an 
acute  case  of  culture  shock.  Oh,  was 
that  some  shock!  I’m  still  adjusting  to 
the  constant  noise  in  the  hall  (some  days 
worse,  some  days  better),  to  the  lack  of 
supplies,  to  the  uninvolvement  of  the 
parents,  and  to  the  large  teacher  turn- 
over. 


I find  my  fifth  grade  class  a real  chal- 
lenge as  we’ve  become  closer,  the  jum- 
ble of  faces  have  become  individuals — 
children  with  unique  personalities  and 
problems.  The  problems  range  from 
learning  disabilities  and  frustrations,  to 
emotional  problems,  to  the  basic  desire 
for  just  a little  love  and  attention.  I’m 
sure  my  children  become  just  as  frus- 
trated teaching  me  the  ways  of  the  black, 
southern  culture! 

My  greatest  concern  now  is  reacting 
as  a Christian  to  attitudes  prevalent  in 
the  society  here.  One  of  these  attitudes 
is  the  “eye  for  an  eye,  tooth  for  a 
tooth”  philosophy  which  condones  fight- 
ing, stealing,  and  dishonesty  in  revenge 
of  an  injustice.  Another  attitude  I find 
especially  frustrating  is  “what’s  mine  is 
mine,  but  what’s  yours  can  be  mine  if  I 
find  it  or  can  successfully  sneak  it.”  Re- 
sponding to  these  attitudes  both  in  and 
out  of  school  are  challenging. 

Yet  with  the  frustrations  also  come 
the  joys.  The  children  are  so  appreciative 
of  any  concern  and  love  shown  them. 
It  takes  so  little  to  make  them  happy 
and  make  them  feel  important. 

I really  appreciated  receiving  your 
Christmas  cards  as  well  as  seeing  a lot 
of  you  over  my  short  Christmas  vacation. 
However,  most  of  all  I appreciate  your 
thought  and  prayers.  They  certainly 
mean  a lot  to  me.  Cindy  Lehman 

Path  Foundation  coordinates 
ministry  to  the  offender 

Path  is  a not-for-profit  foundation  cre- 
ated to  meet  the  needs  of  offenders.  Max 
Bontrager  and  Abe  Peters  have  taken  the 
initiative  to  give  leadership  for  ministry 
to  the  offender  in  northern  Indiana  and 
southern  Michigan. 

Path  is  incorporated  in  the  State  of 
Indiana,  and  Abe  Peters  is  a full-time 
employee  visiting  the  Indiana  Prison  at 
Michigan  City  and  extending  this  serv- 
ice to  other  institutions.  The  budget  for 
1973  is  $15,000,  of  which  half  must 
come  from  donations. 

The  present  services  consist  of  coun- 
seling inmates  and  their  families  and 
helping  inmates  upon  release  from  pris- 
on. Plans  for  enlarged  services  as  volun- 
teers and  funds  become  available  include 
psychiatric  and  medical  assistance,  pre- 
release retraining  program  to  equip  for 
vocational  competence,  and  family  coun- 
seling. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-5 


Contemporary  Worship 


The  prayer  of  confession 

Leader : Beloved  in  Christ,  we  are  a for- 
given people.  God  values  us  in  spite  of 
our  failures!  The  future  is  open  to  us! 
Church : When  we  admit  the  falseness 
and  pettiness  of  our  lives,  God’s  love 
comes  to  us  again.  We  are  given  new 
possibilities  for  living. 

We  are  accepted  by  God’s  power 
and  love  which  are  infinitely  greater 
than  our  own. 

That  means  that  whatever  we  have 
done  or  will  do  . . . everything  is  accept- 
ed and  we  can  dare  to  live  with  in- 
tegrity and  hope! 

The  assurance  of  forgiveness 

Most  merciful  Father,  we  know  we  do 
not  love  you  above  all  things.  Neither 
do  we  really  love  our  neighbor;  we’re 
too  much  interested  in  ourselves.  We 
don’t  like  the  bodies  or  the  faces  we 
have.  We  have  made  sex  or  money  or 
status  or  grades  or  church  activities  the 
god  we  worship,  and  we  have  turned  our 
backs  on  you.  Heal  us,  O God,  from  the 
open  wounds  that  separate  us  from  you 
and  from  one  another.  Put  us  back  to- 
gether again  from  the  shattered  mess  we 
have  made  of  our  lives. 

Call  to  worship 

Leader : Let  us  consider  the  meaning  of 
his  word  carefully  as  we  share. 

People : Let  us  be  honest  with  one  an- 
other about  our  concerns  and  our  fail- 
ures. 

Leader : But,  let  us  also  share  together 
the  hope  and  joy  which  we  feel. 
People : Let  us  have  no  illusions  about 
the  world  and  its  problems. 

Leader:  Let  us  find  cause  to  celebrate 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  tragic  and  the 
absurd. 

People : Above  all,  let  us  remember  that 
we  are  called  not  just  to  talk — 
Unison:  But  also  to  translate  our  con- 
cerns and  joys  into  responsible  action 
in  and  for  the  world. 

Unison:  Come  from  your  routine,  take 
off  your  mask  of  formality  and  be 
yourself,  be  joyful,  for  it  is  God  who 
has  given  you  your  life.  Boynton  Men- 
nonite  Church 


Entreaty 

Leader:  Good  morning! 

People:  Good  morning! 

Leader:  Welcome  to  another  week  of 
life. 

People:  We  have  come  to  celebrate  out 
of  gratitude. 

Leader:  We  are  here  because  we  are 
alive. 

People:  Because  we  would  rather  be 
alive  than  dead. 

Leader:  We  are  here  because  God  has 
given  us  life  as  a gift. 

People:  We  have  come  to  thank  God 
for  the  gift  we  call  life. 

Leader:  Come  from  your  routine,  take 
off  your  mask  of  formality  and  be 
yourself.  Be  joyful,  for  it  is  God  who 
has  given  you  your  life. 

Leader:  Knock,  Holy  Spirit,  upon  the 
door  of  our  hearts. 

Response:  In  gratitude  that  makes  us 
humble,  in  memory  that  makes  us  peni- 
tent, in  vision  that  challenges  our  fin- 
est, in  compassion  that  opens  the 
gates  of  generosity. 

Unison:  Come. 

Invocation 

Leader:  In  the  name  of  the  Father  who 
makes  us, 

In  the  name  of  the  Son  who  makes  us 
free, 

In  the  name  of  the  Spirit  who  makes 
us  one, 

People:  Amen. 

Leader:  For  the  sorrows  which  brought 
no  softening  of  heart,  for  the  chas- 
tenings  which  yielded  no  peaceable 
fruit  of  righteousness,  and  for  the  re- 
bukes of  conscience  which  led  to  no 
amendment  of  life,  have  mercy  upon 
us,  O God,  we  humbly  entreat  thee. 

People:  For  the  counsels  of  thy  Word 
we  have  known  and  not  loved,  for  the 
gospel  of  thy  Son  we  have  believed  and 
not  obeyed,  and  for  the  leading  of 
the  spirit  of  truth  we  have  acknowl- 
edged and  not  followed,  have  mercy 
upon  us,  O God,  we  humbly  entreat 
thee. 

Unison:  We  thank  thee  for  thy  forgiv- 
ing grace.  Amen. 

Zion,  Donnellson 


Epp  addresses  corrections 
seminar  in  Bluffton 

The  second  of  a two-part  seminar  on 
offenders  was  held  at  Bluffton  College, 
Bluffton,  Ohio,  February  23  and  24. 
Planned  for  persons  in  the  Central  Dis- 
trict of  the  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite  Church  and  Region  IV  of  the  Men- 
nonite  Church,  the  seminar  focused  on 
changing  the  corrections  system. 

Edgar  Epp,  Toronto,  director  of  Com- 
munity resources  for  the  Ontario  De- 
partment of  Corrections,  was  the  key- 
note speaker. 

The  first  seminar,  held  October  6 and 
7,  1972,  at  Goshen  College,  Goshen,  In- 
diana, dealt  with  the  offender  and  his 
needs.  More  than  seventy  persons  par- 
ticipated in  that  seminar. 

Epp  was  cosponsored  by  the  Center 
for  Studies  on  Discipleship  of  Goshen 
College.  On  February  22,  he  addressed 
the  first  in  a series  of  forums  on  correc- 
tional systems  at  Goshen  College.  The 
forums  are  the  second  part  of  a program 
on  prisoner  reform  and  rehabilitation 
sponsored  by  Goshen  College  and  the 
Elkhart  County  sheriff’s  department. 

Lodging  at  Bluffton  was  in  Riley  Court 
on  campus  and  seminar  activities  were  in 
Marbeck  Center. 

Members  of  the  local  arrangements 
and  program  committee  were  Stanley  E. 
Bohn,  Bluffton;  George  Lepperd,  Lima; 
Ray  Hamm,  Bluffton;  and  Mitch  Kings- 
ley, Bluffton. 

Workshops  focused  on  the  following 
areas  of  concern:  Lima  State  Hospital; 
volunteer  programs — vpo,  pool,  Man 
to  Man;  legislation,  politics,  lobbying; 
and  visiting  procedures  at  institutions. 

A consultation  on  offender  ministries 
followed  the  seminar  on  the  Bluffton 
campus,  February  24  and  25.  Designed 
for  Mennonite  agencies  working  with 
offenders,  the  consultation  differed  from 
the  seminar  in  that  the  primary  focus 
was  on  the  responsibility  of  Mennonite 
agencies  in  offender  ministries,  rather 
than  on  stimulating  local  concern  and 
action  programs.  The  consultation  was 
sponsored  by  the  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  Peace  Section  and  Mennonite 
Mental  Health  Services. 


A-6 


MARCH  20,  1973 


WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


. . . “Bear  one  another’s  burden,  and  so 
fulfill  the  law  of  Christ."  (Gal.  6:2) 


WMA  program  set 
for  April  27  meeting 

P.M. 

5 : 00  Registration 
5:30  Fellowship  meal 

Welcome  and  prayer — Mrs.  Ger- 
ald Kreider,  president,  Eighth 
Street  Mennonite  Church  wma 
Business  meeting  — - Mrs.  Lowell 
Troyer,  presiding 
Report  of  nominating  commit- 
tee— Mrs.  Iona  Hostetter 
Election  of  officers 
Mini-activities  reporting 

Young  mission  workers,  Mrs. 
James  Moser 

Central  District  projects,  Mrs. 
Lyle  Troyer 

General  Conference  projects, 
Mrs.  Leonard  Yoder 
District  advisor,  Mrs.  John 
Bertsche 

Offering — Mrs.  Don  Gundy 
Bluff  ton  College  report — LaVera 
Neufeld 

Markham  nursery — Jane  Voth 
Report  of  election 
Report  of  offering  received 
7:00  Adjourn  with  prayer — Mrs.  Les- 
lie Lehman,  president,  General 
Conference  wma 

7:30  Reassemble  at  Union  auditorium 
for  public  service 

Robert  and  Alice  Ruth  Ramseyer 
leading  evening  service 


Material  for  this  page  may  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Donald  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, III.  61701. 


Scholarship  monies  available 
for  pastoral  education 

Only  276  days  left  till  ...  no  not  Christ- 
mas! Not  this  time!  “The  276  (approxi- 
mately, at  least)  days  left  til”  is  the 
time  you  have  to  get  your  pastor  started 
and  on  his  way  to  accepting  some  of  the 
scholarship  monies  the  Central  District 
Women’s  Missionary  Association  has 
been  making  available  to  our  Central 
District  pastors  to  use  in  a “continuing 
education”  program  at  the  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries. 

Last  month  you  read  the  report  of  the 
School  for  Ministers  which  had  been 
held  in  January.  If  plans  continue,  there 
will  be  a similar  school  in  January  1974. 
There  will  also  be  an  interterm  program 
of  several  regular  seminary  courses  of- 
fered in  a crash,  three-week  period,  ei- 
ther for  credit  or  for  audit.  The  monies 
for  scholarships  are  available  for  this 
three  week  course  also.  This  year  we 
appealed  to  your  wma  groups  not  only 
for  money  for  the  scholarships,  but  also 
to  urge  your  pastor  to  attend.  We  would 
like  to  think  we  helped  in  some  way  in 
this  increased  attendance  by  Central  Dis- 
trict pastors  this  year. 

It’s  not  too  early  to  begin!  Put  your 
pastor  into  this  picture  next  year!  Maybe 
if  they  see  this  picture  of  their  col- 
leagues, they  may  start  thinking  and  de- 
cide to  go  all  by  themselves.  But  you 
keep  pushing  too!  We  hope  to  see  new 
faces  in  the  picture  as  well  as  the  others 
returning!  Mary  Troyer,  cdwma  president 


New  WMA  paper 
will  be  published 

At  the  council  of  commissions  meetings 
held  February  7-9  at  Newton,  Kansas, 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  de- 
cided to  publish  a mission  news  insert  in 
The  Mennonite  that  would  contain  in- 
formation not  in  the  separate  mission 
field  papers.  This  new  insert  will  prob- 
ably begin  publication  toward  the  end 
of  this  year. 

The  new  mission  insert  will  receive 
wider  circulation  and  will  serve  the  same 
purpose  as  the  present  wma  publication, 
Missions  today.  To  avoid  duplication  of 
information,  Missions  today  will  be  dis- 
continued. In  its  place,  a new  wider  in- 
terest wma  magazine  will  be  published. 
If  you  presently  have  a subscription  to 
Missions  today,  your  subscription  will  be 
completed  by  this  new  wma  publication. 

There  will  be  articles  of  a devotional 
nature;  articles  about  women  in  the  home, 
church,  and  community;  church  news 
of  special  interest  to  women;  programs 
and  projects  of  wma  groups  throughout 
the  United  States  and  Canada;  and  let- 
ters from  readers. 

You  can  help  the  formation  of  plans 
by  sending  your  suggestions  for  a name 
for  the  new  paper  and  types  of  features 
you  would  like  to  see  in  it.  Send  your 
suggestions  to  your  district  advisor,  and 
she  will  see  that  your  ideas  are  passed 
on  to  the  proper  persons.  Mrs.  Evelyn 
Bertsche,  district  adviser 


Is  your  pastor  in  this  group?  Left  to  right  are  Stanley  Bohn,  First  Church,  Bluffton; 
Paul  and  Bertha  Diller,  Comins  Church,  Comins,  Michigan;  Leonard  Wiebe,  Maple- 
wood Church,  Fort  Wayne;  Gordon  N euenschw ander , first  Church,  Berne;  and 
wood  Church,  Fort  Wayne;  Gordon  N euenschw  ander , First  Church,  Berne;  and 
First  Church,  Lima.  They  attended  the  School  for  Ministers  in  January. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-7 


Election  ballot 
Conference  officers 

President  (two-year  term) 

Elymer  Wall 
Lloyd  L.  Ramseyer 
Vice  President  (two-year  term) 

Janean  Moser 
Joan  Wiebe 

Secretary  (two-year  term) 

Claude  Boyer 
Alice  Miller 

Treasurer  (two-year  term) 

Marlyn  Fast 
Ann  Penner 
Trustee  (two-year  term) 

Homer  Garber 
Wallace  Yoder 

Conference  committees 

Ministerial  committee  (four  and  two-year 
term) 

David  Habegger 
Roy  Henry 
Phyllis  Baumgartner 
Dick  Baum 

Program  committee  (three-year  term) 
Robert  Kreider 
Orlando  Schmidt 

Missions  committee  (three-year  term) 

A1  Bauman 
Louis  Delagrange 
Paul  Diller 
Robert  Ramseyer 

Education  and  publication  committee 
(three-year  term) 

Jeppi  Sue  Baumgartner 
Richard  Reimer 
Ken  Schwartzentraub 
Gladys  Ehrsman 

Peace  and  service  committee  (three-year 
term) 

Paul  Bertsche 
Richard  Boehr 
Nick  Kassabaum 
Robert  Liechty 
Ellene  Miller 
Lyle  Troyer 

Camp  Friedenswald  committee 
(three-year  term) 

Fred  Amstutz 
R.  A.  Ekstrom 
Warren  Habegger 
Stan  Schneck 
Shirley  Sommer 
Max  Sprunger 
Lucretia  Wilson 

Historical  committee  (three-year  term) 
Herman  Hilty 
Merl  Lehman 

Bluffton  College  trustee  (six-year  term) 
Rose  M.  Diller 
Burdell  Roeschley 


Reader  response 
to  Peter’s  consultation 

Dear  Editor:  I was  interested  in  the  re- 
port of  the  consultation  on  criminal 
justice  practices.  The  Mennonite  church 
was,  along  with  the  Friends,  one  of  the 
earliest  groups  in  the  United  States  to 
work  for  a more  humane  treatment  of 
prisoners.  I am  glad  that  we  are  still 
concerned  about  our  penal  system  and 
its  shortcomings. 

But  I am  concerned  by  some  of  the 
positions  reported  and  some  of  the  as- 
sertions made.  I will  comment  on  them 
in  the  order  reported,  and  not  necessari- 
ly in  the  order  of  their  weight. 

On  what  basis  was  the  assertion  made 
that  tax  frauds  are  not  considered  crim- 
inal by  our  society?  I am  quite  sure  that 
many  more  people  are  prosecuted  for 
tax  evasion  than  for  welfare  fraud,  and 
that  the  punishments  meted  out  are  more 
severe,  as  I would  agree,  they  should  be. 

The  blanket  judgment  that  society,  not 
the  criminal,  is  to  blame  for  crime  is 


bad  theology  as  well  as  bad  psychology.  ' 
I would  agree  that  there  are  more  things 
in  our  society  that  are  evil  than  there 
are  things  that  are  good.  But  every  one 
who  commits  a crime  is  responsible  for 
the  commission  of  that  crime.  The  Apos- 
tle Paul,  at  various  times,  lists  acts  that 
exclude  one  from  the  kingdom  of  heav-  \ 
en.  These  are  not  just  acts  to  which  an 
evil  society  has  attached  labels  to  as- 
suage its  own  guilt.  The  fear  of  being 
mugged  or  beaten  or  raped  or  murdered 
is  real.  I am  afraid  that  attempts  to 
picture  the  criminal  as  the  real  victim 
will  make  more  difficult  the  task  of  those  y 
who  wish  to  reform  the  penal  system  so 
that  all  prisoners  will  be  given  humane 
treatment  and  to  make  our  correctional 
institutions  instruments  of  rehabilitation, 
instead  of  instruments  of  retaliation. 

This  does  not  mean  that  it  is  not  one 
of  the  church’s  prime  purposes  to  eradi- 
cate from  our  society  every  feature  that 
tends  to  encourage  any  individual  to  1 
feel  that  he  can  survive  only  through 
crime.  Howard  Yoder 


VITAL  STATISTICS 


BIRTHS 

Carlock,  Carlock,  111.:  to  the  Gary 

Staulcups,  Frederick  Eric,  Jan.  8. 

Community,  Markham,  111.:  to  the 
Orell  Mitchells,  Lisa,  Dec.  30,  1972. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  the  Dennie 
Baumgartners,  Holly  Leigh,  Jan.  25;  to 
the  Terry  Joneses,  Rose  Marie,  Jan.  29. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  the  Terry 
Ginthers,  Kelly  Jo,  Jan.  23. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  to  the 
Claude  Schrocks,  Leonard  Levi,  Jan.  16. 

United,  Peoria,  111.:  to  the  Robert 
Roemers,  Clara  Belle,  Dec.  3,  1972. 


DEATHS 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Sylvia  Con- 
verse, Jan.  1. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Aldina  Lehman, 
January;  Mrs.  Hiram  Liechty,  January; 
Ralph  Stager,  Jan.  29;  Mrs.  Albert  Witt- 
wer,  January. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Louella  Steiner, 
Jan.  23. 

Meadows,  Meadows,  111.:  Anna  Rosz- 
hart,  Jan.  13. 

Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio:  Amelia 
Kurtz,  Jan.  13. 

Way  land,  Iowa:  James  Hileman,  Nov. 
22,  1972;  Fredrick  Hixson,  Nov.  1,  1972. 


MARRIAGES 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Dean  Von  Gunten 
and  Marcia  Mertz,  Feb.  10. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  Tim 
Peters  and  Melissa  Jones,  Nov.  4,  1972. 

Nappanee,  Nappanee,  Ind.:  Russell 

Miller  and  Nancy  Price,  Jan.  14. 

Way  land,  Iowa:  Michael  Lee  Hileman 
and  Nicholette  Joyce  Walters,  Nov.  4, 
1972. 

ANNIVERSARIES 

Carlock,  Carlock,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  El- 
mer Grove,  Feb.  4,  fifty-fourth;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  John  Miller,  Jan.  19,  fifty-seventh. 

United,  Peoria,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Steve 
Benko,  Dec.  3,  1972,  twenty-fifth. 

NEW  MEMBERS 

Carlock,  Carlock,  111.:  Mrs.  Rosalie  For- 
rester, Jan.  21. 

Congerville,  Eureka,  111.:  Mrs.  Fern 
Greider,  Jan.  28;  Jane  Greider,  Jan.  28; 
Mr.  Barry  Rice,  Jan.  28. 


Material  for  the  Central  District  Reporter  should 
be  sent  to:  Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant 

Plain,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


A-8 


MARCH  20,  1973 


Test  ideas  locally,  says  Manitoba  chairman 


The  caring  and  sharing  church  must  be 
a local  thing,  said  J.  F.  Pauls,  chairman 
of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Man- 
itoba in  his  message  at  the  opening  ses- 
sion of  the  annual  conference  February 
23-24  at  the  Altona  Bergthaler  Menno- 
nite  Church. 

At  the  local  level,  continued  Mr. 
Pauls,  where  everyone  has  a face,  a 
name,  and  associations,  it  seems  most 
likely  that  things  can  happen.  That  is 
the  best  place  to  test  the  ideas  of  the 
church.  “If  they  do  not  apply  here, 
where  will  they  apply?” 

To  the  225  delegates  in  attendance 
at  the  conference  plus  some  275  guests, 
Mr.  Pauls  posed  the  question:  “How  do 
we  become  the  caring,  sharing  church?” 
He  stressed  local  witness  “where  people 
wrestle  with  real  life  and  the  gospel  is 
tested  daily  by  the  fires  of  life.”  He  en- 
couraged churches  to  practice  full  em- 
ployment of  the  most  valuable  resources 
within  the  church — people.  The  number 
one  purpose  of  the  church  should  be 
development  of  persons,  made  whole  and 
useful.  All  programs  should  be  geared 
to  that  need. 

The  ministry  of  the  church,  he  said, 
is  a priesthood  of  all  believers,  rather 
than  the  concept  of  proxy  which  we  have 
so  long  upheld.  We  need  to  again  be- 
come a real  brotherhood  of  “one  heart 
and  mind.” 

A multimedia  report,  prepared  by  Wal- 
do Neufeld,  director  of  Faith  and  Life 
Communications,  showed  nine  Manitoba 
churches  who  shared  what  the  caring 
and  sharing  church  meant  in  their  com- 
munity. The  broadcasting  and  counsel- 
ling aspects  of  flc  were  then  demon- 
strated by  a film,  under  the  theme,  “Un- 
til the  whole  world  knows.” 

The  conference’s  education  committee 
report  included  a report  on  the  mar- 
riage enrichment  courses  which  have 
been  set  up  by  John  Neufeld,  chairman, 
and  Ron  Hunsicker.  These  courses,  said 
Mr.  Neufeld,  are  intended  for  use  by 
ministers  and  counselors  in  helping  cou- 
ples who  are  planning  marriage  to  pre- 
pare for  future  problems.  “Marriage,” 
he  said,  “is  too  serious  to  go  into  it 
without  preparation.” 

In  reporting  for  Faith  and  Life  Com- 
munications, chairman  John  Friesen 
pointed  out  possibilities  for  cooperation 
in  broadcasting  with  other  Mennonite 
groups  in  Manitoba.  This,  he  said,  could 
include  providing  some  French  language 
material  and  doing  away  with  duplica- 


tion which  now  exists.  “Cooperation 
would  not  be  a sell-out,”  he  said.  The 
counseling  work  which  has  arisen  from 
the  radio  broadcasting  is  more  than  the 
present  staff  can  handle.  On  behalf  of 
the  committee,  he  recommended  that 
counseling  services  be  expanded  to  in- 
clude a full-time  counselor-director-train- 
er and  a downtown  counseling  office. 

Ed  Comelson  and  Jake  F.  Pauls,  camp 
directors,  presented  a report  with  several 
campers  who  had  attended  Camp  Assin- 
iboia  and  Camp  Koinonia  last  summer. 
The  discussion  focused  on  what  these 
campers  remembered  most  about  their 
experiences,  and  what  job  they  would 
like  to  have,  could  they  work  at  camp. 

After  the  supper  break,  architect  Sieg 
Toews  presented  his  proposals  for  ex- 
pansion and  building  at  Camp  Assini- 
boia.  He  suggested  that  the  first  step  be 


After  more  than  forty  years  of  separa- 
tion, the  Bethany  and  Zion  Mennonite 
churches  of  Kingman,  Kansas,  have  de- 
cided to  reunite. 

At  a joint  meeting  January  28,  the 
two  congregations  voted  to  merge  as  one 
congregation  and  also  to  start  a day-care 
center.  The  worship  services  will  prob- 
ably be  at  the  Bethany  Church  in  the 
country,  which  has  a larger  sanctuary. 
The  day-care  center  would  probably  be 
at  the  smaller  Zion  Church  in  town. 

Three  months  before  the  final  decision 
a committee  of  seven,  representing  both 
congregations,  had  been  elected  to  seek 
ways  in  which  the  two  congregations 
could  work  together.  In  the  beginning, 
the  emphasis  had  been  on  possible  joint 
worship  services.  But  the  committee  ex- 
amined the  total  programs  of  the  church- 
es and  came  with  the  recommendation 
that  the  congregations  merge  and  start 
a day-care  center. 

The  Zion  Church  has  been  without 
a full-time  resident  pastor  for  some  time 
and  found  it  hard  to  attract  new  people 
without  pastoral  leadership.  The  Zion 
building,  however,  will  provide  Bethany 
Church  members  with  an  opportunity  for 
a Christian  service  outreach  in  the  com- 
munity through  the  day-care  center. 

Details  of  the  merger  have  not  been 
worked  out,  but  it  is  likely  the  new  or- 
ganization will  function  by  January  1, 
1974.  A lay  committee  is  making  further 
plans,  and  a chairman  and  secretary  of 


construction  of  a new  dining/kitchen 
building  which  could  be  used  both  in 
summer  and  winter.  Camp  committee 
chairman  George  Neufeld  then  presented 
that  committee’s  recommendation  for  the 
incorporation  of  Camp  Assiniboia.  In 
this  way,  he  said,  the  camp  could  be  eli- 
gible for  government  funds  for  its  build- 
ing program.  The  delegates  gave  the 
committee  the  green  light  to  go  ahead 
with  plans  and  to  present  them  at  a spe- 
cial spring  conference  for  final  approval. 

Ernest  Wiebe  and  Alf  Loewen,  chair- 
man of  the  finance  committee,  presented 
the  finance  committee  report  and  the 
budget  for  1973.  After  a motion  to  in- 
clude an  amount  for  the  hiring  of  a full- 
time youth  worker,  the  budget  was  unan- 
imously approved.  Gerhard  Ens  was  re- 
elected as  vice-chairman  and  Lawrence 
Klippenstein  as  secretary.  Leona  Dyck 


the  joint  congregation  have  been  elected. 
The  name  has  yet  to  be  decided. 

Peter  Funk,  pastor  of  the  Bethany 
Church,  said  the  two  groups  had  started 
out  in  the  Bethany  congregation,  but 
split  in  1927-28.  The  Zion  Church  in 
town  was  built  in  1937. 

Elbert  Koontz,  Western  District  con- 
ference minister,  was  invited  to  be  chair- 
man of  the  joint  congregational  meetings. 

Words  & deeds 

As  a result  of  the  nationalization  process 
in  Somalia,  the  Somalia  Mennonite  Mis- 
sion personnel  have  now  left  Somalia 
and  are  being  redeployed  elsewhere.  The 
mission  medical  personnel  have  been  re- 
placed by  Somali  citizens.  The  Dr.  Ron- 
ald Loewens  family  from  Steinbach, 
Manitoba,  was  transferred  to  Shirati  Hos- 
pital in  Tanzania  and  will  continue  there 
until  April  or  May.  They  will  probably 
complete  their  term  in  some  other  mcc 
assignment. 

The  Women’s  Auxiliary  of  MCC  (Sas- 
katchewan) has  opened  a self-help  shop 
in  Saskatoon.  It  will  sell  donated  goods, 
such  as  household  articles,  good  used 
clothing,  and  similar  items,  and  turn  the 
proceeds  over  to  Mennonite  Central 
Committee.  Katie  Bath  will  be  in  charge 
of  the  shop,  which  is  located  at  107 
3rd  Ave.  North.  The  name  selected  for 
the  store  is  the  Mennonite  Clothes  Closet. 


Kingman  churches  to  merge 


THE  MENNONITE 


193 


The  birth  of  a family  life  television  spot 

J.  Allen  Brubaker 


On  a park  bench  in  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
a young  couple  struggled  through  the 
following  scene  nineteen  times  one  sunny 
day  in  September. 

He:  “You  don’t  have  to  say  it.  . . .” 

She:  “You  can  forgive  me?” 

He:  “I  think  so.  It’s  been  hell.  For  us 
both.  But  it’s  OK.  You’re  OK.  You 
know?” 

She:  “You’re  forgiving  me  . . . why?” 

He:  “I  want  to.” 

Voice  over:  “Forgive.  It’s  the  Jesus 
way.  It’s  God’s  way.” 

“You’re  OK”  is  a thirty-second  spot 
showing  two  people  resolving  conflict 
through  forgiveness.  A second,  sixty- 
second  spot  was  also  filmed  in  Nashville. 
It  shows  a runaway  daughter  calling  home 
from  a phone  booth  and  discovering  that 
she  is  loved,  that  her  parents  are  eager 
to  have  her  home  again. 

The  theme  of  the  two  spots  is  love, 
forgiveness,  and  acceptance  of  individ- 
uals as  persons — warts  and  all — just  as 
God  accepts  us  through  Christ. 

Production  on  the  two  spots  began 
about  a year  and  a half  before  their  re- 
lease to  stations. 

In  December  1971  the  inter-Menno- 
nite  TV  committee  met  in  Winnipeg  to 
select  the  theme  for  a fifth  series  of  tele- 
vision spots.  Mass  media  representatives 
from  the  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite,  Mennonite  Brethren,  and  the  Men- 
nonite  Church  make  up  the  committee. 

Following  this  theme-selection  meet- 
ing, the  boards  of  the  sponsoring  groups 
met  in  January  1972  and  approved  the 
theme  and  allocated  funds  for  produc- 
tion. The  executive  producer  was  then 
able  to  solicit  scripts  from  writers. 

After  the  submission  of  nineteen 
scripts,  the  committee  met  three  times 
in  winter  and  spring.  During  these  meet- 
ings scripts  were  evaluated,  sent  back 
for  rewrites,  discarded,  and  new  versions 
written.  Six  were  selected  and  sent  to  po- 
tential producers  for  evaluation  and  cost 
estimates. 

On  August  31  Fred  Rowles,  a pro- 
ducer-director of  the  Television,  Radio, 
and  Film  Commission  of  the  United 
Methodist  Church  (trafco),  met  with 
the  committee  to  discuss  development  of 
the  scripts.  Trafco  was  chosen  to  pro- 
duce the  new  series  of  spots. 

Four  scripts  were  still  “in  the  running” 
at  the  August  31  meeting.  The  script  for 
the  “You’re  OK”  spot  was  accepted. 


“An  interesting  thing  happened  in  the 
process  of  evaluating  the  other  three,” 
comments  Harold  Weaver,  the  executive 
producer.  “We  ended  up  with  a com- 
pletely new  spot  that  evolved  from  an 
idea  in  one  of  the  other  three  that  didn’t 
quite  jell.” 

Before  the  actual  shooting  of  the  spots 
began,  actors  had  to  be  chosen  who  could 
bring  the  spots  to  life.  Mr.  Rowles  and 
Mr.  Weaver  spent  three  days  interview- 
ing actors  and  actresses  for  the  different 
roles  in  the  two  spots. 


Maybe  God  loves  me,  too. 


It’s  OK.  You’re  OK. 


“The  shooting  process  involves  setting 
up  and  testing  the  equipment,  position- 
ing the  camera  and  selecting  the  angle, 
rehearsing  with  the  actors,  and  doing  dry 
runs  without  shooting  film,”  Mr.  Weaver 
noted. 

“You  look  for  magic  combinations  of 
good  quality  in  sound,  voice,  and  back- 
ground. Was  the  acting  convincing?  Did 
they  feel  the  part?  Did  the  motion  and 
movement  flow  smoothly?  Did  the  cam- 
eraman catch  well  what  happened?  It 
takes  a combination  of  these  factors  to 
make  a good  spot — or  failing  that,  a 
mediocre  one,”  said  Mr.  Weaver. 

By  late  afternoon  of  September  19 
the  crew  felt  they  had  “in  the  can” 
enough  takes  to  make  a good  thirty-sec- 
ond “You’re  OK”  spot. 

The  “You’re  loved”  spot  was  filmed 
the  next  evening  at  a phone  booth.  It 
shows  two  teen-age  girls.  The  one  out- 
side the  booth  is  wearing  a T-shirt  with 
the  words,  “Smile.  God  loves  you,” 
across  the  front.  The  girl  inside  the 
booth  is  a runaway  finally  gathering 
courage  to  call  home.  Only  her  side  of 
the  conversation  is  audible.  In  her  emo- 
tionally charged  responses  the  viewer 
learns  that  her  parents  still  love  her  and 
are  eager  to  have  her  home. 

As  she  steps  outside  the  booth,  her 
friend  asks,  “Well,  what  did  they  say?” 

“You’re  right,”  she  admits.  “They  still 
love  me.”  After  they  embrace,  she  adds, 
“Maybe  God  loves  me,  too.” 

On  October  27  executive  members 
of  the  inter-Mennonite  TV  committee 
met  in  Nashville  to  view  the  edited  film 
with  a taped  sound  track. 

After  making  the  changes  requested 
by  the  executive  group,  a sample  of  the 
final  product  was  made  and  shown  to 
the  boards  of  the  sponsoring  groups. 
After  they  approved  them  in  January,  the 
master  prints  were  ready  for  duplication 
and  distribution  to  the  TV  stations  for 
public  service  release  in  May. 

The  previous  set  of  spots  (Series  IV) 
cost  about  $40,000  to  produce  and  dis- 
tribute to  some  500  stations.  Free  time 
given  to  the  spots  was  valued  at  more 
than  a million  dollars. 

A number  of  individuals  are  known 
to  have  been  nudged  toward  faith  in 
Christ  through  the  spots.  The  birth  of  a 
fifth  series  of  spots  may  mushroom  into 
many  “new  life”  experiences. 


194 


MARCH  20,  1973 


RECORD 


Workers 


Shawnci  Jean  Neal,  Guthrie  Center, 
Iowa,  joined  the  General  Conference 
: voluntary  service  program  Jan.  31.  She 
( is  serving  for  one  year  in  community 
, service  in  Upland,  Calif.  Ms.  Neal,  a 
member  of  the  United  Methodist  Church, 
i has  attended  Iowa  State  University  and 
1 is  the  daughter  of  Edward  and  Dorothy 
Neal. 


! Neal 

Tom  and  Arlene  Musselman  have  be- 
1 gun  a two-year  term  of  service  with 
| mcc  in  Fourche  River  Ranch,  Ark.  Tom 
f will  be  working  as  grounds  maintenance 
and  tour  guide.  Arlene  will  be  the  record 
keeper  and  the  secretary  for  the  ranch. 
Tom  received  an  AA  from  Freeman 
I Junior  College,  Freeman,  S.D.  Arlene 
I attended  Freeman  Junior  College  and  re- 
ceived a BA  in  business  and  private  sec- 
retarial work  from  Minnesota  School  of 
Business.  Tom  is  the  son  of  Richard 
' and  Pauline  Musselman,  Telford,  Pa., 

: and  a member  of  Zion  Church,  Souder- 
I ton,  Pa.  Arlene  is  the  daughter  of  Art 
| and  Olga  Rahn,  Mountain  Fake,  Minn., 
and  a member  of  First  Church,  Moun- 
tain Fake. 


A.  Musselman  T.  Musselman 

Sue  Schantz,  Bethany  Church,  Quak- 
ertown,  Pa.,  has  begun  a seven-months 
term  of  voluntary  service  with  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church.  She 


will  serve  until  Sept.  1 with  the  Fiftieth 
St.  voluntary  service  unit  in  Oklahoma 
City.  Ms.  Schantz  is  a 1971  graduate  of 
Bluffton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  with  a 
BA  in  psychology.  She  is  the  daughter 
of  Glenn  and  Eunice  Schantz. 

Ralph  and  Francis  Sommer,  Pandora, 
Ohio,  have  begun  an  eight-months  term 
of  service  with  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee. They  are  exploring  possibilities 
for  mcc  and  Mennonite  Disaster  Service 
action  in  the  flood-stricken  Buffalo  Creek 
valley  in  West  Virginia.  The  Sommers 
will  also  coordinate  the  work  of  a sum- 
mer mcc  voluntary  service  unit  in  the 
area.  The  Sommers  previously  served 
with  mcc  in  China  and  in  Paraguay. 
They  are  members  of  the  Grace  Church, 
Pandora,  Ohio. 

Arthur  C.  Waltner,  who  recently  re- 
tired as  special  agent  for  a Hutchinson, 
Kans.,  insurance  company,  has  been 
named  an  area  representative  by  Menno- 
nite Foundation,  Inc.  He  will  work  with 
Harold  P.  Dyck  of  Hesston,  Kans., 
regional  director  of  the  foundation.  Mr. 
Waltner  will  be  available  to  work  with 
all  branches  of  Mennonites  in  Kansas, 
Oklahoma,  and  Nebraska. 

LETTERS 


Misled  on  Bible  smuggling 

Dear  Editor:  I am  glad  to  finally  see  an 
article  like  “Bibles  for  smuggling”  (Jan- 
uary 9 issue)  put  into  print  because  I 
think  the  American  society  has  been 
misled  on  this  point. 

I have  also  noticed  the  larger  pages 
and  bigger  margins  since  the  beginning 
of  January.  I really  liked  the  ecology 
articles  you’ve  printed  in  the  past,  but 
I think  this  is  inconsistent  with  using 
more  paper  for  each  page.  Rod  Gerig, 
S.K.  — Nowielice,  Trzebiatwo  72-320, 
Poland.  Feb.  15 

Editor’s  note : The  amount  of  space  de- 
voted to  margins  is  about  the  same  pro- 
portionately in  both  the  old  and  new 
formats. 

Referral  rip-off 

Dear  Editor:  “Fiving  so  you  will  be 
asked”  (January  30)  sounds  to  me  like 
still  another  rip-off.  I very  much  resent 
people  fostering  a relationship  with  me 
for  purposes  of  referral,  whether  to  God 
or  to  some  pyramid-sales  endeavor,  un- 


less the  purpose  of  the  relationship  is 
explicit.  Ms.  Bartel  sounds  as  if  she  is 
trying  to  relate  to  people’s  needs  so  that 
she  may  refer  them  to  God.  This  is 
going  to  get  her  into  some  trouble  ethi- 
cally when  she  deals  with  people  whose 
most  urgent  need  is  not  to  be  referred. 
Ruby  Baresch,  257  N.  Rutan,  Wichita, 
Kans.  67208.  Jan.  30 

Tax  resistance 

Dear  Tarry:  I have  been  asked  by  a 
number  of  friends,  “Now  that  the  war  is 
over  in  Vietnam,  will  you  end  your  war 
tax  resistance?”  Since  most  of  my  friends 
read  The  Mennonite,  I wanted  to  share 
my  answer  here,  hoping  it  may  be  help- 
ful to  others. 

No,  I will  not  pay  the  telephone  excise 
tax  (now  9 percent);  I will  do  my  best 
to  owe  no  income  tax  and  will  refuse  to 
pay  whatever  I do  owe. 

I am  glad  that  the  United  States  has 
finally  agreed  to  withdraw  all  troops  from 
Vietnam  and  exchange  prisoners  with 
Hanoi,  but,  . . . the  war  is  not  over  and 
U.  S.  complicity  in  it  has  not  ended.  Our 
bombers  in  Indochina  have  not  been 
brought  home,  rather  they  are  raining 
destruction  on  Cambodia  and  Faos  in 
in  unprecedented  levels.  The  victims  of 
these  bombs  are  not  my  enemies.  Why 
should  they  suffer  for  the  sins  of  their 
rulers,  or  mine? 

Furthermore,  the  President  has  re- 
quested a $4.7  billion  increase  in  the 
Pentagon’s  budget,  and  this  in  supposed 
peace  time.  What  is  the  purpose  of  all 
this  war  spending  that  consumes  60  cents 
of  every  income  tax  dollar?  It  is,  it  seems 
to  me,  getting  ready  to  put  down  with 
massive  violence,  the  next  threat  to  the 
American  empire,  or  worse,  to  win  the 
nuclear  showdown  of  World  War  III. 
By  contributing  to  this  kind  of  terror  pol- 
itics, I do  not  demonstrate  God’s  nature 
nor  bring  his  peace.  So,  for  the  foresee- 
able future,  I plan  to  reinvest  my  war 
taxes  into  works  of  mercy. 

If  anyone  wants  information  on  how 
to  refuse  taxes  for  war,  even  if  you  are 
in  a withholding  situation,  write  me  or 
War  Tax  Resistance,  912  E.  31st  St., 
Kansas  City,  Missouri  64109. 

I haven’t  really  looked  into  the  ques- 
tion of  whether  Canadians  are  doing 
more  good  than  evil  by  paying  their 
taxes.  C.  J.  Hinke  of  918  Center  St. 
South  in  Whitby,  Ontario,  is  apparently 
the  only  open  tax  resister  in  Canada,  and 
would  be  glad  to  share  his  reasons  with 
inquirers.  David  Janzen,  409  W.  11th, 
Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Feb.  19 


THE  MENNONITE 


195 


A series  of  resurrections 


Lois  Rensberger 

Helen  Good  Brenneman  is  a happy 
woman,  the  author  of  several  best  sellers, 
who  also  struggles  with  the  problems  of 
a crippling  disease. 

From  these  struggles  has  come  a faith 
in  God  that  is  an  inspiration  to  those 
who  know  her  personally  and  also  to 
the  thousands  who  only  meet  her  through 
her  books. 

Wife,  mother,  writer,  Helen  won  a 
writing  contest  on  the  junior  page  of  the 
Washington  star  at  the  age  of  eleven. 
She  gained  experience  in  her  craft  by 
working  on  high  school  and  college  pa- 
pers and  taking  courses  in  writing. 

Helen  meant  to  become  a newspaper 
reporter.  Instead  she  went  to  Europe  in 
1947  to  marry  her  fiance  and  join  him 
in  his  work  with  World  War  II  refugees. 

“I  never  knew  I could  write  a book,” 
Helen  admits.  But  she  felt  their  poignant 
experiences  with  refugees  had  to  be 
shared. 

After  the  Brennemans  returned  to  the 
Midwest  and  Virgil  entered  college,  Hel- 
en began  to  research  and  write  But  not 
forsaken.  But  before  she  finished  it,  she 
gave  birth  to  a baby  boy  and  another 
book,  Meditations  for  the  new  mother. 
Helen  is  still  amazed  that  it  has  become 
one  of  the  all-time  best  sellers  of  Herald 
Press  with  well  over  100,000  in  print. 

More  children — a girl,  another  boy, 
a final  girl,  and  a foster  daughter — and 
more  writing.  Articles,  stories,  devotional 
material,  as  well  as  inspirational  talks 
for  women  filled  the  time  left  over  from 
her  hours  as  mother  and  minister’s  wife. 


And  then,  at  thirty-seven,  Helen  expe- 
rienced the  first  symptoms  of  multiple 
sclerosis.  Her  oldest  child  was  twelve, 
the  youngest  six. 

The  family  desperately  hoped  hers 
would  be  a light  case.  In  1964  they 
moved  to  Boston  for  a year  so  Virgil 
could  study  under  a Danforth  Founda- 
tion grant.  Helen  hoped  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  excellent  medical  research 
facilities  there. 

But  her  condition  quickly  deteriorated. 
For  two  weeks  she  became  progressively 
disabled,  not  knowing  when  she  went 
to  bed  at  night  whether  she  would  be  able 
to  get  up  in  the  morning.  Finally,  she 
was  hospitalized. 

Out  of  her  total  physical  collapse  came 
another  book,  My  comforters.  In  it  Helen 
shares  the  love  and  encouragement  that 
came  to  her  while  she  lay  helpless. 

What  kind  of  life  does  Helen  lead 
today? 

A visitor  to  her  home  might  have  to 
wait  on  the  porch  until  Helen  can  get 
up,  grasp  her  two  canes,  and  slowly  make 
her  way  to  the  door.  But  the  wait  is 
worthwhile.  She  says,  “Come  in,”  as 
though  you  are  the  one  person  she  hoped 
to  see. 

She  has  permanent  numbness  in  her 
toes  and  fingers,  spells  of  dizziness,  re- 
curring problems  with  her  vision  (there 
is  always  the  possibility  that  her  sight 
will  fade  and  never  return),  muscles 
that  become  spastic,  trembling  fingers 
that  cause  her  to  make  mistakes  in  typ- 
ing and,  perhaps  worst  of  all,  the  knowl- 


edge that  her  symptoms  are  constantly 
changing,  that  they  may  be  completely 
different  tomorrow. 

Like  all  mothers,  Helen  is  concerned 
about  her  children.  The  oldest  son  is 
now  in  Canada,  the  oldest  daughter  in 
college,  the  foster  daughter  married  with 
children  of  her  own.  The  remaining  son 
and  daughter  are  still  at  home,  and  Hel- 
en fears  she  puts  too  much  responsibility 
on  them. 

Over  the  years  the  family  has  had  to 
help  her  with  the  housework  Helen 
could  not  manage.  She  can  sit  on  the 
floor  to  load  her  washer  and  she  sits  to 
iron.  But  cooking  tires  her  quickly.  She 
cannot  vacuum  at  all.  Because  of  her 
poor  vision,  she  cannot  sew,  not  even  to 
replace  a missing  button. 

“I’ve  had  some  real  struggles  living 
with  my  disability,”  Helen  admits.  “It’s 
not  one  of  those  things  you  plan  for. 
But  I’ve  had  a series  of  little  resurrec- 
tions in  my  life,  times  when  I find  I can 
still  do  something  I thought  I’d  have  to 
give  up.” 

Helen  does  not  pamper  herself.  She 
trusts  in  God  and  keeps  on  going.  She 
travels  to  keep  speaking  engagements, 
to  serve  as  a leader  at  a workshop  for 
the  handicapped,  to  interview  someone 
for  a book  she  is  writing.  She  leads  a 
creative  writing  group  in  her  home 
town.  She  is  interviewed  for  a local 
radio  program. 

Above  all,  she  lives.  She  draws  her 
strength  from  Christ.  Her  body  is  crip- 
pled but  Helen  is  not. 


From  Helen’s  books 

On  personal  limitations 

“On  thing  which  has  helped  me  to  accept  my  particular 
handicap  is  the  knowledge  that  everyone  has  his  own  limita- 
tions. For  some  it  may  be  physical — a limb,  a problem  with 
obesity,  a crooked  nose.  For  others  it  may  be  an  emotional 
or  spiritual  limp,  a lingering  doubt,  an  unforgiven  anger. 
People  with  perfectly  good  legs  often  hurt  on  the  inside!” 
From  The  house  by  the  side  of  the  road,  p.  88 

On  finding  wholeness 

“Whether  God’s  will  is  to  heal  us  immediately  or  gradually, 
or  to  give  us  grace  to  live  with  our  problem,  we  know  that 
he  wills  all  of  us  to  be  whole  in  spirit  and  in  soul. 

“Let  us  ask  him  to  touch  our  lives,  the  real  us,  with  his 
healing  hand,  taking  from  us  all  barriers  to  his  perfect  will, 
all  resentments,  grudges,  ill  will,  fears,  worries,  and  guilt. 
“And  then  let  us  place  our  lives  in  the  hand  of  One  who 


has  our  best  interests  at  heart,  who  sees  our  lives  in  the  light  ] 
of  his  eternity.  We  can  trust  that  hand.”  From  My  comforters,  \ 
p.  68.  i 

On  womanhood  f 

“Now  I’ll  concede  that  loving  God  with  all  the  mind  is  not  a ) 
prerogative  of  the  male,  nor  is  loving  him  with  all  the  heart  ( 
the  exclusive  privilege  of  the  female.  Men  are  capable  of  { 
tenderness,  women  of  rational  logic. 

“But  it  seems  to  me  that  we  might  as  well  admit  that  ( 
we  are  women,  come  to  terms  with  the  fact,  act  like  women,  , 
react  like  women,  and  enjoy  our  womanhood  to  the  hilt.” 
From  The  house  by  the  side  of  the  road,  p.  25.  ; 

Material  for  this  page  provided  by  ; 1 
Women’s  Missionary  Association. 


196 


MARCH  20,  1973 


REVIEW 

Resources  for  women  and  the  church 

Dorothy  Nickel  Friesen 


The  current  women’s  liberation  revo- 
lution happening  in  secular  society  is 
also  happening  in  Mennonite  circles 
throughout  North  America.  It  may  be 
subtle,  it  may  be  quiet,  but  it  is  happen- 
ing. Every  area  of  life,  every  institution, 
! every  place  where  women  have  a role 
j (or  lack  one)  is  being  exposed  and  ques- 
, tioned.  The  Mennonite  church  is  not  be- 
ing left  out.  Just  what  is  a Christian 
response  to  the  current  women’s  libera- 
tion movement? 

The  first  response  should  be  one  of 
concern — not  cynicism  or  laughter.  The 
issues  are  not  matters  of  burning  bras 
and  using  men’s  restrooms.  The  issues 
are  ones  of  personhood,  the  dignity  of 
men  and  women,  equal  opportunity,  per- 
sonal fulfillment,  and  responsibility  to 
God  for  one’s  gifts  and  talents.  One  of 
the  best  guides  dealing  with  the  com- 
plexity of  women’s  liberation  (feminism) 
and  the  church  written  from  a Christian 
viewpoint  is  After  Eve- — The  new  fem- 
inism by  Alan  Graebner  (Minneapolis: 
Augsburg  Publishing  House,  1972,  96 
pp.  $2.50  pb).  A study  is  provided  with 
each  book  making  it  useful  for  various 
types  of  discussion  groups.  Topics  of  the 
book  include  the  concept  of  socialization 
(the  pressures  of  society  that  make  one 
be  either  “masculine”  or  “feminine”), 
institutionalized  discrimination  (wages, 
employment,  laws,  the  church’s  role  in 
putting  women  into  second-class  stand- 
ing), feminist  voices  in  the  liberation 
movement  (analyzing  some  of  the  prom- 
inent views,  tactics,  goals  of  “women’s 
liberation”),  and  freedom  for  women 
(freedom  to  define  themselves  and  seek 
their  own  goals). 

Another  response  to  the  women’s  lib- 
eration movement  should  be  to  admit  a 
lack  of  knowledge  (and  feeling)  con- 
cerning the  role  of  women  in  history, 
especially  in  the  history  of  the  church 
and  more  specifically  in  the  Mennonite 
church.  Where  is  one  to  go  for  infor- 
mation? 

Women  in  church  and  society  by  Geor- 
gia Harkness  (New  York:  Abingdon 

Press,  1972,  240  pp.  $4.75)  presents  an 
historical  perspective  of  the  role  of  wom- 
en. She  reviews  pre-Christian  history 
(women  of  Israel,  Greece,  and  Rome), 


women  in  Christendom,  and  the  mode 
women’s  movements.  In  the  second  part 
of  her  book,  she  deals  with  specific  ques- 
tions concerning  the  creation  accounts  in 
Genesis,  the  biblical  view  of  “What  is 
man — and  woman?”  and  the  ordination 
and  ministry  of  women.  The  book  is  well 
written,  is  scripturally  documented,  and 
serves  as  a good  survey  for  the  inter- 
ested reader. 

(Secular  histories  of  feminism:  Cen- 
tury of  struggle : The  women’s  rights 

movement  in  the  United  States  by  Elea- 
nor Flexner  [New  York:  Atheneum, 

1968]  and  Up  from  the  pedestal : Select- 
ed writings  in  the  history  of  American 
feminism  by  Aileen  Kraditer  [Chicago: 
Quadrangle,  1968].) 

Documents  concerning  the  role  of 
women  in  the  Mennonite  church  are 
scarce.  Roland  Bainton  in  Women  of 
the  Reformation  in  Germany  and  Italy 
(Minneapolis:  Augsburg  Publishing 

House,  1971,  279  pp.  $7.95)  deals  with 
some  Anabaptist  foremothers  in  one 
short  chapter!  An  article  “Women:  Status 
of”  in  the  Mennonite  Encyclopedia  is  a 
brief  treatment.  Obviously,  there  is  a 
glaring  insufficiency  in  our  church  rec- 
ords and  research. 


So  says  my  heart 

Amelia  Mueller 

Now  we  are  one. 

So  says  The  Book,  the  law 
Our  marriage  vows. 

But  in  our  groping  love 

We  still  are  fart  apart 

With  worlds  of  self-will  wedged  between. 

Two  decades  of  divergent  dreams 

Have  made  us  two 

Unique  and  separate  entities, 

Each  with  dimensions 
Which  the  other  cannot  know. 

No  magic  merging  force 
The  words  we  spoke; 

Long  years  of  welding  lie  ahead, 

As  bit  by  bit  we  forge  the  bonds 
To  bind  at  last  our  unity. 

Yet  — we  are  one  now! 

So  says  my  heart. 


A good  anthology  of  essays  written 
by  women  who  are  or  have  been  deeply 
involved  in  church  life  is  Women’s  lib- 
eration and  the  church  edited  by  Sarah 
Bentley  Doely  (New  York:  Association 
Press,  1970,  158  pp.  $2.95  pb).  Sub- 
jects include:  “A  Christian  perspective 
on  feminism,”  “Education  for  liberation: 
Women  in  the  seminary,”  and  “Women 
in  the  ministry.”  An  excellent  annotated 
bibliography  provides  additional  resourc- 
es. 

One  of  the  deficiencies  which  people 
will  have  to  overcome  is  their  lack  of 
biblical  knowledge  concerning  the  role 
of  women.  Some  of  the  traditional  “nat- 
ural order”  arguments  (God,  man,  wom- 
an, animal)  and  some  statements  of  Paul 
(“let  men  have  authority,  let  women  be 
silent”)  will  have  to  be  reexamined. 
Mary  Daly  in  her  book,  The  church  and 
the  second  sex  (London:  Geoffrey  Chap- 
men, Ltd.,  1968,  187  pp.)  deals  with 
these  issues.  As  a scholar  and  noted 
theologian,  Ms.  Daly  deals  with  the 
matters  of  biblical  interpretation  and 
reading.  While  tracing  the  history  of 
women,  she  raises  many  contradictions 
in  the  church,  for  example,  its  claim 
that  all  are  equal  before  God  but  the 
denying  of  ordination  to  women.  She 
unapologetically  speaks  from  a Christian 
(Catholic)  viewpoint  and  refutes  other 
critics  of  the  church  who  speak  from 
the  atheistic  reference.  Her  theology  is 
one  of  hope  and  not  of  despair.  She 
acknowledges  the  failures  of  the  church 
in  the  past  but  recognizes  the  human 
dignity  of  women  and  presses  on  to  the 
future  where  all  things  can  become  new. 
She  states,  “Men  and  women,  using  their 
best  talents,  forgetful  of  self  and  intent 
upon  the  work,  will  with  God’s  help 
mount  together  toward  a higher  order 
of  consciousness  and  being,  in  which 
the  alienating  projections  will  have  been 
defeated  and  wholeness,  psychic  integ- 
rity, achieved.” 

Another  “must”  for  people  deeply  con- 
cerned in  the  issue  of  human  liberation 
is  Krister  Stendahl’s  The  Bible  and  the 
role  of  women  (Philadelphia:  Fortress 
Press,  1966,  48  pp.,  $1.00).  This  booklet 
will  take  some  effort  to  work  through 
because  of  the  severe,  disciplined  style 


THE  MENNONITE 


197 


of  writing.  Nevertheless,  it  is  well  worth 
the  time  spent.  The  passages  of  Gala- 
tians 3:26-28  and  1 Corinthians  11  and 
14  are  explicated,  and  the  conclusion  of 
the  study  affirms  the  ordination  of  wom- 
en and  full  participation  of  women  in 
all  functions  of  church  life. 

Lois  Gunden  Clemens,  a Mennonite 
woman,  has  written  about  the  subject 
of  women  in  the  church  in  her  book, 
Woman  liberated  (Scottdale:  Herald 

Press,  1971,  158  pp.,  $4.95).  Originally 
a series  of  lectures  given  at  Conrad  Gre- 
bel  College  in  Ontario  (the  first  woman 
lecturer  in  a twenty-year-old  program), 
the  book  stands  alone  as  a substantial 
work  by  a Mennonite  author  on  the  sub- 
ject at  hand.  Ms.  Clemens  examines  the 
Bible  in  relation  to  “Who  is  woman?” 
“The  problem  of  roles,”  “Women’s  natu- 
ral strengths,”  “Women  functioning  under 
God,”  and  “Using  all  gifts  creatively.” 
This  book  is  highly  recommended  to 
people  who  want  a sound  scriptural 
basis  to  the  confusing  liberation  and  anti- 
liberation cries. 

A further  response  to  women’s  libera- 
tion should  be  one  of  critical  appraisal 
of  “anti-women’s  liberation”  resources.  A 
wealth  of  material  rolling  off  the  presses 
supports  the  status  quo  or  even  suggests 
a stronger  male-dominated  home  and 
society.  It  criticizes  the  “women’s  lib- 
eration” movement,  saying  it  will  destroy 
the  family,  wreck  the  solid  foundation 
that  all  children  need,  and  cause  our 
country  to  crumble.  This  alarmist  point 
of  view  worries  Christians.  Is  women’s 
liberation  a plot  to  wreck  family  life? 
Is  it  a conspiracy?  Are  females  who  are 
raising  questions  causing  family  break- 
down in  our  society? 

It  is  important  to  understand  clearly 
these  “opposition”  arguments  because 
their  presuppositions  have  so  strongly  in- 
fluenced us  all.  Their  discussion  also 
gives  a good  basis  for  comparison  with 
the  readings  so  far  suggested. 

One  book  presenting  the  biblical  and 
theological  stances  which  underlie  re- 
sistance to  women  as  equal  with  men  in 
the  church  is  The  Christian  family  by 
Larry  Christenson  (Minneapolis:  Beth- 
any Fellowship,  1970,  216  pp.,  $4.95). 
By  urging  strong  authoritarian  ways  of 
dealing  with  children,  Mr.  Christenson 
presents  the  domineering  father  image 
and  also  wrathful,  angry  God  stereo- 
types. 

Another  preacher  of  resistance  is  Billy 
Graham  in  his  article  “Jesus  and  the 
liberated  woman,”  Ladies  home  journal, 
December  1970.  Again,  he  falls  into  the 
trap  of  picking  out  the  militant,  radical. 


anti-Christian  feminist  and  pits  her  against 
Jesus  and  the  Bible.  I’ll  be  the  first  to 
admit  that  is  no  contest.  However,  he 
subtly  suggests  that  all  women’s  libera- 
tion voices  are  saying  the  same  thing 
and  the  best  thing  to  do  is  dismiss  them 
all.  How  sad! 

There  is  much  that  can  be  read.  The 
foregoing  books  and  articles  are  only  a 
few  of  the  resources  available.  Serious 
studying  and  delving  into  the  resources 
will  soon  illustrate  the  point  that  the 
larger  issue  is  one  of  human  liberation. 

Pat  answers  and  old  tales  of  Eve  will 


have  to  die.  A renewed  look  at  the  Bible 
without  the  old  presuppositions  will  give 
new  life  to  the  church.  A new  perspec- 
tive of  women  as  coworkers  in  the 
church,  as  leaders,  preachers,  teachers, 
healers,  will  bring  the  vision  of  the  New 
Kingdom.  It  will  speak  to  the  secular 
society  which  is  so  tangled  in  its  web  of 
contradictions  and  laws.  For  once  the 
church  may  be  the  leader  and  say, 
“Listen,  all  of  you,  for  we  have  discov- 
ered the  true  nature  of  God.  We  have 
affirmed  all  people,  female  and  male. 
We  have  heard  the  good  news.” 


MEDITATION 


I now  pronounce  you  . . . 

“I  now  pronounce  you  husband  and  wife.” 

That’s  where  the  trouble  all  begins,  someone  said.  You  are  now  man  and  wife 
...  a person  and  a role.  Sadly,  one  often  observes  that  in  an  attempt  to  play  the 
role  well  and  to  be  confined  in  it,  a woman’s  unique  call  and  full  contribution  as  a 
child  of  God,  are  lost  along  with  her  name. 

A single  woman  missionary  told  me,  “On  the  mission  field  I am  in  a category  all 
my  own.  I have  the  same  responsibilities  as  the  men,  but  very  few  decision-making 
powers.  I find  this  so  nearly  intolerable  that  I am  seriously  thinking  of  not  going 
back.” 

If  an  inferior  status  for  women  is  still  acceptable  in  society  today,  then  the  fact 
of  prejudice  against  women  in  our  religious  institutions  is  not  surprising.  Yet, 
shouldn’t  it  be  surprising?  Is  it  not  in  fact  a denial  of  the  radical  advent  of  Jesus 
Christ  whose  new  community  cuts  into  the  deepest  divisions  known  to  humanity  . . . 
even  those  of  male  and  female? 

One  argument  for  subordination  is  that  it  is  a part  of  the  created  order.  Yet  the 
main  motif  of  Genesis  1-3  seems  to  be  that  of  complimentarity.  Subordination  comes 
as  a result  of  the  Fall. 

In  the  world  in  which  Jesus  found  himself,  a woman’s  biological  characteristics 
made  her  impure.  Categorized  along  with  slaves  and  children,  she  was  not  allowed 
in  the  inner  courts  of  the  temple,  or  to  lead  in  worship.  In  fact  it  was  improper  to 
teach  women  the  Scripture  in  the  synagogue.  Whether  a wife,  a daughter,  or  a mem- 
ber of  a harem,  her  “role”  was  confined  to  the  home. 

In  that  context  the  actions  of  Jesus  are  simply  extraordinary  ...  a deliberate  break 
with  the  customs.  It  was  improper  to  speak  to  women  in  public  places  . . . especially 
if  you  were  a rabbi  . . . especially  if  the  woman  was  considered  “improper.”  Yet 
Jesus  initiated  conversations  and  willingly  violated  pertinent  social  codes  to  make  his 
point.  His  visit  to  Martha  and  Mary  indicates  that  he  did  not  think  of  a woman’s 
role  as  restricted  to  that  of  housekeeper. 

Jesus  strove  to  communicate  the  notion  of  equal  dignity  of  women  in  many  ways. 
In  one  sense,  that  effort  was  capped  in  his  parable  of  the  woman  who  lost  a coin 
(Luke  15).  Jesus  projects  God  in  the  image  of  a woman!  He  did  not  shrink  from 
the  notion  of  God  as  feminine.  Is  it  not  therefore  just  as  proper  to  pray,  “Our 
Heavenly  Mother.  . .”?  After  one  does  that  for  a period  of  time  one  realizes  that  to 
project  God  as  either  male  or  female  is  to  make  God  into  our  image  and  to  distort 
the  biblical  notion  that  God  is  beyond  the  polarity  of  sex. 

For  Paul  it  was  difficult  to  reconcile  his  own  cultural  context  with  the  experience 
of  the  new  freedoms  and  equality  enjoyed  by  both  female  and  male  in  Christ.  In  no 
way  does  that  contradict  the  fact  that  in  the  new  age  both  women  and  men  were 
called  to  preach  and  proclaim  the  Word  of  God. 


198 


MARCH  20,  1973 


Many  women  find  that  they  are  better  wives  and  mothers  by  combining  an  outside 
calling  with  care  of  the  family. 

If  we  are  not  to  deny  the  equality  of  all  under  God,  then  no  longer  can  real  par- 
ticipation in  the  body  of  Christ  be  reduced  to  the  deterministic  level  of  gender. 

Marian  Franz 


Biggest  task:  to  arrange  priorities 

Vast  opportunities  in  today’s  world  invite  the  help  and  talents  of  all  persons  who 
are  willing  to  respond.  This  fact  should  leave  little  room  for  women  to  feel  “unful- 
filled.” Today  the  possibilities  are  many  where  energies  and  talents  can  be  utilized 
and  appreciated. 

The  traditional  role  of  women  only  as  homemakers  is  breaking  down  and  we  are 
being  recognized  as  individuals  with  capabilities.  Single,  married,  young,  or  old,  no 
longer  need  we  fit  into  the  same  mold.  As  we  strive  to  keep  Christ’s  command  “to 
love”  before  us,  the  biggest  task  is  that  of  arranging  priorities  and  discovering  how, 
as  a part  of  God’s  family,  we  can  best  serve. 

I like  to  think  of  sensitivity  as  a special  gift  to  be  used  to  see  the  needs  of  others 
and  be  a caring  person.  As  a member  of  a group — whether  of  a fellowship,  a family 
unit,  a “supportive  community,”  a church,  school,  or  community  organization — we 
strive  for  certain  goals  and  our  actions  are  governed  by  them.  As  a sensitive,  partici- 
pating member  of  one  or  more  of  these  groups,  each  helps  set  up  these  goals  and 
helps  determine  the  manner  in  which  these  goals  can  best  be  reached.  This  requires 
personal,  conscientious,  dedicated  contributions  of  time  and  energy,  and  the  use  of 
special  gifts  and  resources.  Emphasis  will  no  doubt  be  modified  with  changing  cir- 
cumstances, necessitating  reevaluation  of  one’s  immediate  involvement,  but  each  day 
is  one  for  loving  someone,  looking  forward  to  something  of  worth  and  of  doing 
something  significant  for  others,  not  only  for  oneself. 

Materialism  is  frequently  cited  as  a crucial  problem  in  North  America.  We  need 
to  be  cautious  lest  we  unwittingly  become  enslaved  by  this  philosophy,  thereby  deny- 
ing our  Christian  discipleship  and  commitment.  Does  using  our  talents  and  being  re- 
warded by  a pay  check  affect  our  life  style  by  tempting  us  to  use  our  greater  purchas- 
ing power  for  self  or  family,  or  does  it  challenge  us  to  give  more  to  help  others  who 
are  in  need  of  being  “whole  persons”? 

When  “team  effort”  requires  for  a time  that  energies  be  utilized  primarily  in  the 
home,  a flexible  schedule  offers  unlimited  opportunities  to  be  a caring  person.  In 
addition  to  those  contributions  considered  important  to  family,  church,  and  commu- 
nity relationships,  we  can  relate  in  various  ways  to  issues  that  need  emphasis,  study, 

1 and  action.  As  Mennonite  women  in  Canada  and  the  United  States,  we  need  to 
courageously  express  our  disapproval  of  various  un-Christian  practices  and  attitudes 
which  come  to  our  attention  in  our  communities  and  at  various  levels  of  government, 
j Are  we  willing  to  be  actively  involved  and  to  discuss  honestly  the  Christian  response 
to  such  issues  as:  nonpurchase  of  products  made  by  top  military  contractors  or 
polluters  of  our  environment?  prison  and  the  offender?  amnesty?  war  taxes?  policy 
i of  apartheid?  the  plight  of  the  American  Indian?  racism?  exploitation  of  minority 
[ groups  and  problems  of  developing  countries? 

The  January  15  issue  of  Between  the  lines  suggests  that  “a  determined  Congress 
j can  easily  arouse  public  support  on  critical  issues  to  match  that  of  the  President. 
Thus  the  weight  of  decision  will  rest  as  never  before  on  articulate  informed  citi- 
zens. . .”  who  will  communicate  concern  to  their  legislative  representatives.  I accept 
' this  as  a real  challenge  for  women. 

Which  way  will  we  go?  How  will  each  respond?  With  all  the  talents  possessed  by 
| Mennonite  women,  it  would  seem  the  potential  for  involvement  is  limited  only  by 
the  quality,  depth,  and  sincerity  of  our  commitment  to  make  Christ’s  kingdom  more 
real  on  earth.  With  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord  of  our  life,  each  one  of  us  must  respond. 
Let  that  response  be,  “Here  am  I,  use  me!” 

Trust  in  the  Lord  with  cdl  your  heart,  and  do  not  rely  on  your  own  insight.  In  all 
I your  ways  acknowledge  him,  and  he  will  make  straight  your  paths  (Prov.  3:5,6). 
( I will  show  you  my  faith  by  my  works  (James  2:18). 

Lora  S.  Oyer 


I 


Contents 


Releasing  gifts  in  the  church  186 

Mennonite  women:  three  portraits  188 

Personhood  and  the  "real  woman"  190 

News  191 

Record  195 

Letters  ...  195 

A series  of  resurrections  196 

From  Helen's  books  196 

Resources  for  women  and  the  church  1 97 

So  says  my  heart  197 

I now  pronounce  you  198 

Biggest  task:  to  arrange  priorities  .199 

Games  people  play  about  women 

and  the  Bible 200 

CONTRIBUTORS 


David  Augsburger  is  a writer  and  speaker 
with  Mennonite  Broadcasts,  Inc.,  Harrison- 
burg, Va. 

Lois  Kemrer  Eckman  resides  at  516 
Capri  Rd.,  Lancaster,  Pa.  17603. 

J.  Allen  Brubaker  is  news  director  for 
Mennonite  Broadcasts,  Inc. 

Lois  Rensberger's  address  is  Route  1 , 
Box  99,  Middlebury,  Ind.  46540. 

Dorothy  Nickel  Friesen,  3003  Benham 
Ave.,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514,  is  editor  of 
"forum,"  a publication  for  college  stu- 
dents. 

Amelia  Mueller  lives  at  604  North  St., 
Halstead,  Kans.  67056. 

The  Meditation  writers  are  Marian 
Franz,  6151  31st  St.,  N.W.,  Washington, 
D.C.  20015,  and  Lora  S.  Oyer,  617  Sun- 
rise Drive,  Chenoa,  III.  61726. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Rohn  Engh,  Star  Prairie,  Wise. 
54026;  187,  Clifford  Koehn,  Lois  Janzen, 
Willard  Claassen,  Rohn  Engh;  189,  John 
Hiebert;  1 94,  Mennonite  Board  of  Mis- 
sions; 1 96,  reprinted  by  permission  from 
the  books  My  Comforters  and  The  House 
by  the  Side  of  the  Road,  by  Helen  Good 
Brenneman,  copyright  1966  and  1971, 
respectively,  by  Herald  Press,  Scottdale, 
Pa.  15683. 

Thp 

Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


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Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
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R3L  OS  1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


199 


Games  people  play  about  women  and  the  Bible 


Just  as  Christians  once  used  the  Bible  to  justify 
slavery,  some  Christians  are  now  using  the  Scrip- 
ture to  justify  the  suppression  of  women’s  gifts. 

Most  of  the  justification  centers  around  a few 
texts  from  the  writings  attributed  to  Paul.  Most  of 
the  attempts  to  use  the  Bible  against  women  ig- 
nore the  Gospels,  the  historical  context  of  the  Bi- 
ble, and  the  actual  participation  of  many  women 
in  the  life  of  the  early  church. 

What  is  needed  is  to  burst  some  of  the  myths 
about  women’s  role  which  church  people  have 
been  blowing  up  in  the  name  of  Christianity. 

1.  Woman  should  be  subordinate  to  man  be- 
cause man  was  created  first  and  woman  was  cre- 
ated out  of  man.  Only  the  second  creation  story 
(Genesis  2)  has  woman  created  after  man.  In 
Genesis  1,  male  and  female  are  created  together 
and  together  are  given  dominion  over  the  earth. 
Even  the  Genesis  2 story  does  not  necessarily 
imply  that  woman  is  subordinate  to  man  because 
she  was  created  from  him.  Man  was  created  from 
dust.  The  point  of  the  passage  is  the  closeness  of 
man  and  woman  and  why  they  are  driven  to 
“cleave”  together. 

2.  The  Bible  says  that  women  should  keep 
silence  in  church,  and  that  means  no  women  in 
the  pulpit.  Women  in  the  children’s  classrooms 
are  okay.  1 Corinthians  14:33-35  must  be  seen 
as  part  of  a larger  section  (chapters  11-14)  which 
deals  with  orderly  public  worship.  Evidently  Paul 
felt  some  practices  in  the  church  in  Corinth  were 
getting  out  of  hand:  women  were  praying  and 
prophesying  in  public  without  head  coverings 
(certainly  shocking  to  Greek  society),  people 
were  overeating  at  the  Lord’s  Supper,  large  num- 
bers of  people  were  speaking  in  tongues  at  once 
without  interpretation,  some  women  were  asking 
too  many  questions  during  the  service.  Paul’s  ad- 
vice was  that  the  worship  services  be  conducted 
so  as  not  to  give  offense  to  outsiders. 

Paul  seemed  to  have  some  ambivalent  feelings 
about  women’s  role.  In  1 Corinthians  11,  he  said 
it  was  all  right  for  women  to  preach  and  prophesy 
as  long  as  their  heads  were  covered.  Yet  in  chap- 
ter 14  he  asked  them  to  be  silent.  Elsewhere  in 
the  section,  he  saw  both  women  and  men  with 
varieties  of  gifts  to  be  used  in  the  church  and  all 
were  part  of  the  same  Spirit.  Other  passages,  too, 
show  that  in  practice  women  were  exercising  their 
gifts  in  the  early  church,  else  Paul  would  not 
have  felt  it  necessary  to  reprimand  excesses. 


3.  When  Paul  says  that  in  Christ  there  is 
neither  male  nor  female,  he  doesn’t  mean  men 
and  women  are  equal  in  everything.  Pie  fust  means 
that  they  are  equal  in  terms  of  salvation  before 
God.  Galatians  3:28,  long  the  favorite  verse  of 
feminists,  has  been  a target  of  those  who  insist 
that  domination  of  men  over  women  is  biblical. 
But  in  the  context  of  the  whole  book  of  Gala- 
tians, the  intent  is  clear. 

While  Paul  was  urging  a stricter  code  of  be- 
havior on  the  Corinthians,  he  felt  the  Galatians 
were  erecting  too  many  barriers  to  membership. 
The  biggest  barrier  was  the  requirement  that  Gen- 
tile believers  must  become  Jews  first,  then  Chris- 
tians, that  is,  they  had  to  be  circumcised.  Paul’s 
argument  to  eliminate  the  requirement  of  circum- 
cision not  only  allowed  Gentile  men,  but  all  wom- 
en into  the  church,  although  women  are  mention- 
ed specifically  only  in  3:28.  Christians  have  free- 
dom from  bondage  to  the  law,  Paul  said.  All  peo- 
ple are  children  of  God  and  offspring  of  Abraham 
through  faith.  All  people  are  to  live  as  brothers 
and  sisters  in  the  church  in  a new  freedom  of 
relationship. 

4.  Women  should  not  be  allowed  in  leadership 
roles  in  the  church  because  all  the  twelve  apostles 
were  men.  The  twelve  apostles  were  also  all  Jews, 
a requirement  for  leadership  that  few  North  Amer- 
ican churches  recognize. 

The  Gospel  records  show  clearly  that  Jesus 
inaugurated  a new  era  of  relationships  with  wom- 
en. In  his  time,  women  were  greatly  restricted 
from  Jewish  religious  observances  and  were  not 
allowed  to  read  aloud  in  the  synagogue.  A 
rabbi  was  not  supposed  to1  speak  with  a woman 
— not  even  his  own  wife — in  public.  Yet  Jesus 
began  a conversation  with  the  woman  of  Samaria 
at  the  well  and  risked  ritual  uncleanliness  by  heal- 
ing the  woman  with  the  twelve-year  flow  of  blood. 
He  spoke  out  against  discriminatory  divorce  laws. 
He  affirmed  Mary’s  role  “sitting  at  his  feet,”  even 
though  her  sister  Martha  wanted  her  to  help  in 
the  kitchen. 

Just  as  we  have  affirmed  that  the  gospel  does  not 
accept  slavery  or  the  exploitation  of  one  race  by 
another  as  the  Christian  way,  so  we  need  not  ac- 
cept the  dominance  of  men  over  women  as  the 
Christian  way.  Jesus  calls  us  to  break  down  the 
barriers  of  race  and  sex  so  that  we  all  might  be- 
come his  disciples,  using  our  particular  gifts  in  his 
kingdom,  lj 


OTHER  FOUNI 


WHICH  IS  JESU 


If  I were  A minister,  there  is  one  ser- 
mon theme  I’d  like  to  proclaim:  “Love 
yourself.”  I’ve  rarely,  if  ever,  heard  a 
pastor  affirm  the  need  for  self-accept- 
ance and  self-love  from  the  pulpit.  Per- 
haps those  sermons  were  there.  Perhaps 
I was  the  one  who  couldn’t  hear  them 
for  the  same  reason  that  Jesus  frequent- 
ly told  his  listeners,  as  in  Matthew  11: 
15,  “If  you  have  ears,  then  hear.” 

Rollo  May,  in  his  book  Love  and  will 
points  out  that  people  are  not  able  to 
gain  insights  until  they  are  able  to  see 
some  way  to  begin  to  change.  Hope  and 
a sense  of  “I  can”  are  essential  to  real 
hearing. 

In  searching  the  Scriptures,  I was 
struck  by  what,  at  first,  seemed  to  be  a 
conspicuous  absence  of  teachings  on  self- 
love.  I found  many  listings  of  the  sins 
of  the  human  flesh  and  of  cautions 
against  unseemly  pride,  selfishness,  and 
greed.  Christ  had  a lot  to  say  about  go- 
ing the  second  mile,  turning  the  other 
cheek,  and  being  sensitive  to  the  needs 
of  others.  These  were  pounded  into  me 
in  Sunday  school  and  church  until  I 
was  physically  numb  from  the  force  of 
their  legalistic  “you  must.”  Even  as  a 
child  something  didn’t  make  sense.  Why 
was  I supposed  to  make  a big  fuss  over 
other  people,  their  desires  and  accom- 
plishments, when  it  was  wrong  for  me 
to  want  the  same  kind  of  attention? 
How  desperately  I wanted  the  right  to 
share  my  own  sense  of  self  and  ac- 
complishments. 

In  preparing  for  a lay  sermon,  I stum- 
bled onto  the  answer.  Self-acceptance  is 
a basic  assumption  that  runs  through  the 
entire  Bible.  It  begins  in  Genesis  when 
God  looks  at  his  creation  and  pronounces 
it  good.  Repeatedly  we  are  reminded  that 
we  are  created  in  God’s  image.  The  Ten 
Commandments  begin  with  “You  shall 
love  the  Lord  your  God  with  all  your 
heart,  soul,  strength,  and  mind;  and 
your  neighbor  as  yourself.”  Only  then 
does  it  move  to  “thou  shalt  not.  . . .” 
The  first  and  second  commandments  be- 
come the  basis  for  all  the  other  Jewish 
religious  laws. 

Stories  in  the  Bible  are  about  people 
who  struggle  to  unravel  life’s  mystery. 
Job  is  the  classic  example.  But  at  some 
point  in  each  of  these  stories,  the  person 
has  a moment  of  self-confrontation  and 
accepts  himself  for  what  he  is.  From  then 
on,  even  though  painful  experiences  still 
plague  him,  he  has  an  inner  peace  and 
security  which  enables  him  to  face  what- 
ever comes.  He  is  comfortable  with  him- 
self and  confident  of  his  relationship  to 
God  and  the  world. 


/CRfflon 

I flEVER 


Joyce  Shutt 


When  we  come  to  love  and  accept  ourselves  as  God  loves  and 
accepts  us  and  when  we  can  see  ourselves  as  having  worth  be- 
cause of  what  we  are,  and  not  for  what  we  do,  then  we  open  the 
floodgates  to  love  and  abundant  life. 


202 


MARCH  27,  1973 


In  Luke  10,  a lawyer  questions  Jesus: 
“Master,  what  must  I do  to  inherit  eter- 
nal life?”  Jesus  replies  with  a question 
himself,  and  the  first  two  command- 
ments are  lifted  out  as  the  answer  to 
the  man’s  question.  But  when  the  lawyer 
wants  further  verification,  Jesus  tells  the 
story  of  the  good  Samaritan.  What  fasci- 
nated me  was  that  this  story  is  followed 
by  an  anecdote  about  Mary  and  Mar- 
tha and  the  teaching  of  the  Lord’s 
Prayer. 

Until  recently,  I could  hear  only  the 
do  parts  of  biblical  teachings.  Many  of 
Christ’s  teachings,  however,  are  set  up 
like  equations.  One  part,  the  do,  is  con- 
ditional on  an  already  existing  state  of 
being  within  the  individual.  Here  are 
some  examples: 

“Love  your  neighbor — as  yourself.” 
“Do  unto  others — as  you  would  have 
them  do  unto  you.” 

“Forgive  us  our  sins — as  we  forgive 
all  who  have  done  us  wrong.” 

“Judge  not — that  you  are  not  judged.” 
Self-knowledge,  self-acceptance,  and 
self-love  are  the  underlying  basic  as- 
sumption behind  all  of  these.  For  too 
long  I could  hear  the  “love  your  neigh- 
bor,” “do  unto  others,”  “forgive,”  and 
“judge  not”  as  an  “or  else.”  I could  not 
hear  that  Jesus  was  saying  that  I should 
show  the  same  mercy  to  myself  that  I 
try  to  extend  to  others.  Perhaps  I am  the 
one  who  is  too  harsh  on  myself,  not 
someone  else  or  God! 

An  article  appeared  some  time  ago  in 
, The  Mennonite  reporting  the  findings  of 
! a psychiatrist  in  Harrisonburg,  Virginia, 
and  reported  by  Dan  Shenk,  then  affiliat- 
ed with  Brook  Lane  Psychiatric  Center. 
These  men,  who  are  directly  involved  in 
counseling,  found  six  personality  traits 
characteristic  of  Mennonites.  These  traits 
are  so  prevalent  that  they  are  called  the 
Mennonite  syndrome.  One  of  them  is 
the  “feeling  of  self-hate,  inadequacy,  and 
l worthlessness.” 

Isn’t  it  strange  that  we  Christians 
should  hate  ourselves?  We  send  mission- 
aries and  spokesmen  all  over  the  world 
to  teach  God’s  accepting  love  and  his 
j grace.  Yet  we  ourselves  have  not  been 
i able  to  accept  God’s  forgiving  grace, 
i Seeing  salvation  as  something  that  is 
! supposed  to  rescue  us  from  our  human 
| desires  and  emotions,  we  can’t  shake 
our  basic  feelings  of  worthlessness  and 
take  that  first  step  in  Christian  commit- 
ment,  to  love  and  accept  ourselves. 

A friend  recently  shared  coffee  and 
f some  pent-up  tears  with  me.  Over  and 
> over  she  spoke  of  her  longing  for  some 
time  to  herself  and  of  her  desire  to  pur- 


sue certain  interests  which  involved  time 
away  from  home.  Yet  she  felt  that  if 
she  asserted  those  needs  she’d  be  denying 
her  family.  She  saw  her  desires  as  self- 
ish. She  could  not  understand  that  meet- 
ing her  own  legitimate  needs  in  a re- 
sponsible adult  way  was  vitally  impor- 
tant to  the  welfare  of  her  family,  and 
that  she  must,  in  a way,  put  her  self 
first  because  an  unhappy  angry  mother 
aids  no  one. 

Brought  up  as  a Christian,  she  be- 
lieved that  love  required  her  to  be  self- 
sacrificing  and  self-negating.  Yet  she  was 
burning  up  with  anger  and  resentment. 
By  devoting  every  minute  of  her  time 
to  her  family,  she  was  showering  them 
with  a smothering  love  that  was  destroy- 
ing them  all. 

Somewhere  along  the  line,  we  have 
confused  self-love  with  selfishness.  Self- 
ishness is  actually  self-hate  and  stems 
from  a sense  of  inferiority,  inedaquacy, 
and  lack  of  trust.  When  I selfishly  em- 
phasize my  own  needs,  when  I am  greedy 
and  thoughtless,  when  I demand  atten- 
tion and  manipulate  people  to  suit  me, 
I do  this  because  I feel  worthless  and 
dislike  myself.  My  selfish  bid  for  atten- 
tion and  power  comes  from  my  desperate 
need  to  feel  important  and  valued.  Hat- 
ing myself,  I have  no  faith  others  love 
and  value  me. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  I feel  good 
about  myself,  I don’t  need  to  grab  for 
life  or  attention.  Liking  myself,  I trust 
that  others  see  me  as  I see  myself,  as  a 
likable  though  imperfect  person  who  does 
not  need  to  earn  or  demand  love.  I can 
accept  criticism  and  deal  with  threaten- 
ing situations  because  I know  that  in 
spite  of  failure  and  conflict  I’m  basical- 
ly OK.  I am  able  to  relax  and  let  life 
flow  around  and  through  me  by  loving 
others  in  the  same  open  and  direct  way 
I love  myself. 

In  the  story  of  the  good  Samaritan 
two  so-called  pillars  of  the  church  and 
community  ignored  the  wounded  man. 
These  men  were  more  concerned  with 
their  reputations  than  with  another  per- 
son. The  Samaritan  came  along  and  saw 
himself  in  the  wounded  man.  Because  of 
this,  he  was  able  to  respond  to  the  hurt 
man’s  need  as  more  important  than  a 
timetable  or  meeting. 

Martha  was  bent  on  impressing  Jesus 
and  earning  his  approval  by  cooking  a 
spectacular  meal  and  having  the  house 
clean  and  orderly.  In  her  emphasis  on 
tasks  and  things,  she  couldn’t  see  what 
was  really  important.  The  correctly  serv- 
ed meal  was,  to  her,  more  important 
than  her  own  spiritual  well-being  or  Jesus. 


God’s  grace  is  really  the  freedom  to 
love  myself  as  I am  right  now — not  as 
I should  be — and  to  go  from  there.  I 
cannot  grow  or  change  until  I confront 
myself,  my  past,  my  ways  of  perceiving 
life.  Self-acceptance  is  a little  like  taking 
a trip.  You  have  to  know  your  starting 
point  before  you  can  get  to  your  destina- 
tion. Accepting  myself  as  an  imperfect 
yet  lovable  person  frees  me  to  grow  and 
accept  things  in  myself  that  I had  pre- 
viously viewed  as  sinful  and  tried  to 
deny.  Liking  self,  I can  look  for  unmet 
needs  which  are  causing  me  to  express 
myself  in  self-destructive  ways.  Freed 
through  God’s  grace,  I need  not  view 
my  emotions  as  good  or  bad  and  can 
become  freer  to  acknowledge  my  au- 
thentic feelings  and  react  appropriately 
and  responsibly. 

Jesus  said,  “Love  your  neighbor  as 
yourself.”  He  knew  that  self-acceptance 
is  the  key  to  loving  others,  for  if  I de- 
value my  own  self  I will  devalue  others. 
Until  I can  accept  my  own  anger  I won’t 
be  able  to  accept  yours.  Until  I can 
tolerate  my  own  mistakes  and  failures  I 
will  be  intolerant  of  yours.  If  I can’t  ac- 
cept my  own  successes  I’ll  see  your  self- 
affirmation  as  bragging  and  conceit. 

In  our  zeal  to  serve  God,  too  many  of 
us  end  up  fearing  that  we  can  never 
measure  up,  and  we  twist  the  beautiful 
liberating  message  of  the  Bible.  When 
we  come  to  love  and  accept  ourselves 
as  God  loves  and  accepts  us  and  can  see 
ourselves  as  having  value  and  worth  be- 
cause of  what  we  inherently  are,  not 
for  what  we  do,  then  we  open  the  flood- 
gates to  love  and  abundant  life. 

Jesus  knew  that  self-awareness  was 
the  key  to  Christian  love.  Real  love,  the 
kind  that  Jesus  demonstrated  in  his  life 
and  teachings,  is  an  open,  free-flowing 
thing  that  isn’t  restricted  to  one  person, 
family,  church,  or  nation.  It’s  like  an 
artesian  well  that  flows  from  one’s  joy 
in  being.  It  affirms  human  dignity  and 
treasures  life  whether  that  means  pain 
or  pleasure.  Such  love  pours  forth  from 
people  who  first  love  themselves.  Without 
self-love,  life  becomes  a frantic  search 
for  flattery  and  depends  on  rules  and 
performance  for  a measure  of  self-worth. 

One  step  each  of  us  can  take  toward 
self-affirmation  is  realizing  that  it  is  not 
sinful  to  love  ourselves  and  actively  to 
seek  fulfillment  of  our  physical  and  emo- 
tional needs.  Bruce  Larson  and  Ralph 
Osborn  in  The  emerging  church  point 
out  that  it  doesn’t  take  much  effort  to 
commit  a nothing  to  God.  With  that 
in  mind,  a healthy  self-love  becomes  the 
ultimate  act  of  worship  and  praise. 


THE  MENNONITE 


203 


Give  us  this  day 


Another  day, 
of  heavy  eyes 
dull  ears, 
lifeless  hands, 
forced  listening, 
noncomprehension, 
fading  thoughts, 
and  a begrudging  mind. 


Another  day,  Lord, 
we  give  it  back  to  you. 

Master  of  life, 

raise  us  from  this  fallen  death 
to  higher  realms; 
in  hope  that 
tomorrow, 

we  may  bring  a better  gift. 


Daneda  Heppner 


God's 

majesty 


God  gives  us  no  portrait, 
only  hints, 
of  his  majesty. 

We  catch  a glimpse 

in  white  waves  murmuring, 
rushing,  then  thundering 
against  the  silent  strength 
of  patient  rocks. 

We  watch  clouds  attack  the  sun 
in  terrible  swiftness, 
changing  brightness 
into  raging  fury, 
and  can  only  guess  at  his  power. 

Better  that  we  not  see  it  all, 

or  our  hearts  would  fail  to  beat 
in  their  fear, 

and  we  might  forget  the  gentle  love 
he  tells  us  in  apple  blossoms. 

Arlyss  Weast 


Stop  trying 

Try? 

Why  try? 

All  I do 

Shatters  like  eggshells. 


Turn! 

Trust  Christ! 

New  life  hatches 
From  scrambled  eggs. 

Joan  Wells 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonit-e 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


204 


MARCH  27,  1973 


NEWS 


becomes  head  of  hospital 


India  physician 

A chapter  was  closed  and  a new  one 
opened  at  Sewa  Bhawan  Hospital,  Jag- 
deeshpur,  India,  recently  when  Dr.  Wen- 
dell Wiens,  medical  superintendent,  turn- 
ed over  the  seal,  symbolizing  full  admin- 
istrative authority  and  responsibility,  to 
Dr.  E.S.K.  Arthur.  The  transfer  took 
place  during  a special  ceremony  in  Jan- 
uary at  the  hospital. 

Dr.  Arthur  assumes  the  post  of  med- 
ical superintendent  after  serving  on  the 
staff  since  July  1961.  He  is  the  first  In- 
dian medical  superintendent  of  a Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  mission  hos- 
pital. 

This  transfer  is  the  culmination  of 
several  years  of  planning  and  training 
by  the  medical  board,  which  operates 
under  the  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite Mission.  As  early  as  1952  a resolu- 
tion was  passed,  “that  in  view  of  the 
times  in  which  we  live,  we  urge  every 
missionary  administrator  to  make  full 
plans  for  an  Indian  national  to  share 
his  work  as  completely  as  possible.”  Be- 
ginning with  schools  in  1959,  the  trans- 
fer to  nationals  has  taken  place  as  peo- 
ple were  qualified.  The  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission  affirmed  this  as  a pri- 
ority at  its  Goals-Priorities-Strategy  meet- 
ing in  June  1972. 


Mr.  Wiens  will  remain  on  the  staff 
of  Sewa  Bhawan  Hospital  until  he  and 
his  family  leave  for  furlough  next  sum- 
mer. Aron  Jantzen,  serving  as  business 
manager,  is  currently  the  only  other  mis- 
sionary on  the  staff. 

After  graduating  from  Ewing  Chris- 
tian College,  Allahabad,  Dr.  Arthur 
went  on  to  Nagpur  Medical  College  and 
in  1960  received  an  MBBS  (the  equiva- 
lent of  an  MD  in  North  America).  Prime 
Minister  Jawaharlal  Nehru  was  com- 
mencement speaker  and  challenged  the 
young  doctors  to  serve  in  the  neglected 
rural  areas.  Shortly  after,  Samuel  Steph- 
en, principal  at  Jansen  Memorial  School, 
Jagdeeshpur,  encouraged  his  nephew  to 
join  the  staff  at  Sewa  Bhawan. 

In  addition  to  his  years  of  experience, 
Dr.  Arthur  has  also  spent  a year  in  post- 
graduate study  in  pediatrics  at  Christian 
Medical  College,  Ludhiana,  in  1971.  In 
1965-66,  he  served  as  acting  medical 
superintendent. 

Serving  with  Dr.  Arthur  is  Amritus 
Sonwani,  who  has  been  nursing  super- 
intendent since  August  1969.  Mr.  Son- 
wani grew  up  in  the  Janjgir  commu- 
nity, attended  Jansen  Memorial  School 
in  Jagdeeshpur,  and  later  taught  there 
for  a year.  He  then  took  nurse’s  train- 


ing at  Wanless  Hospital  at  Miraj  in  West 
India. 

Following  a brief  period  at  Bethesda 
Leprosy  Hospital,  Champa,  Mr.  Sonwani 
accepted  a job  in  Saudi  Arabia  with  the 
Arabian-American  Oil  Company.  In  this 
Muslim  land,  where  there  was  no  church 
building,  he  worshiped  with  other  Chris- 
tians in  a rented  theater. 

Mr.  Sonwani  returned  to  India  and 
joined  the  staff  at  Sewa  Bhawan  in  1958. 
He  has  continued  serving  there  except 
for  two  interruptions  for  further  train- 
ing— a year  at  Christian  Medical  College, 
Vellore,  and  two  years  at  Chandigarh 
for  a two-year  BS  course  in  nursing  un- 
der the  World  Health  Organization. 

Jagdeeshpur  is  a village  of  about  1,500. 
Sewa  Bhawan  Hospital  (House  of 
Service)  was  opened  as  a thirty-five  bed 
hospital  in  1932  by  Dr.  H.  E.  Dester. 
Upgraded  in  stages,  today  it  has  132 
beds.  Since  it  is  the  only  hospital  in  a 
forty-mile  radius,  it  serves  a large  area. 
In  1970  bus  service  was  opened  to  Jag- 
deeshpur, increasing  the  flow  of  out- 
patients. 

For  several  years  the  hospital  has  been 
self-supporting  in  day-to-day  operations 
but  has  received  grants  for  renovation 
and  equipment.  Vemey  Unt  uh 


Amritus  Sonwani,  another  Indian  na- 
tional, is  nursing  superintendent. 


Wendell  Wiens,  right,  congratulates  E.  S.  K.  Arthur,  who  took  over  Mr.  Wiens’ 
l position  as  head  of  Sewa  Bhawan  Hospital,  Jagdeeshpur,  India,  in  January. 


THE  MENNONITE 


205 


CMBC  seniors  teach  workshops  in  Alberta 


For  a week  during  February  twenty- 
three  senior  students  from  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College  in  Winnipeg, 
working  in  teams  of  two  or  three,  led 
workshops  in  Anabaptist  thought  and 
history  in  eleven  congregations  in  Al- 
berta. The  training  experience  was  ar- 
ranged jointly  by  CMBC  and  the  edu- 
cation committee  of  the  Alberta  Confer- 
ence of  Mennonites.  Katy  Letkemann, 
a member  of  the  Coaldale  congregation, 
describes  what  happened  in  her  church 
that  week. 

Judith  Epp,  Brian  Petkau,  and  Henry 
Rempel  were  the  cmbc  students  who  in- 
structed the  course  in  Mennonite  his- 
tory at  the  Coaldale  church. 

The  course  was  announced  and  books 
were  ordered  well  in  advance.  A week 
before  the  first  session  the  pastor,  who 
felt  he  had  been  overly  optimistic  in  or- 
dering even  fifteen  copies  of  the  re- 
quired texts,  found  it  necessary  to  place 
another  order.  A total  of  fifty-five  per- 
sons registered  for  the  course.  A wide 
range  of  ages  was  represented.  A few 
attended  as  whole  families,  and  a dozen 
or  so  young  people  came  regularly.  One 


grandfather  in  the  community  who  could 
not  attend  himself  (because  it  would  be 
“alles  Englisch”)  had  inquired  about 
purchasing  books  for  each  of  his  grand- 
children in  the  vicinity,  so  that  they 
could  participate. 

The  youngest  present  were  two  grade- 
five  girls  who  proudly  followed  along  in 
the  text  and  even  offered  a question: 
“What  does  Anabaptist  mean?”  Some 
chuckled,  but  at  least  one  older  gentle- 
man was  heard  to  remark:  “Yes,  I also 
wondered.  . . ,”  as  the  teachers  gave  a 
brief  definition. 

If  there  was,  indeed,  any  criticism  of 
the  presentations,  it  would  be  that  it 
was  taken  for  granted  that  many  of 
the  terms  used,  for  example,  “indul- 
gences,” “Anabaptist,”  “humanists,”  etc., 
were  familiar  to  all.  Some  also  felt  that 
the  book  used  (C.  J.  Dyck’s  An  intro- 
duction to  Mennonite  history)  was  too 
difficult  for  lay  and  young  persons. 

The  use  of  slides  during  one  of  the 
evenings  added  greatly  to  keeping  the 
interest  of  the  people. 

The  Mennonite  heritage  course  took 
the  listeners  from  the  historical  begin- 
nings of  the  church,  through  the  Refor- 


mation, Anabaptism,  and  the  nature  of 
the  church,  theological  views  of  the 
church,  and  contemporary  issues  primar- 
ily via  questions  raised  by  the  group.  (A 
supplementary  text  was  H.  S.  Bender’s 
The  Anabaptist  vision.) 

The  presentations  by  the  students  were 
well  done,  and  although  each  in  his  in- 
troduction testified  to  being  “more  scared 
than  you  (audience)  are,”  the  students 
had  no  trouble  establishing  rapport  with 
the  audience.  Even  the  young  lined  up 
to  “make  friends”  with  them  after  the 
sessions.  They  were  gentle,  cheerful,  and 
knowledgeable.  Not  the  least  of  their  at- 
tributes was  tactfulness.  With  such  a va- 
riety of  opinions  as  were  represented  in 
the  group  of  some  fifty  people,  some 
controversial  questions  which  presented 
themselves  for  discussion  could  easily 
have  resulted  in  unhappy  dialog. 

One  example  was  the  discussion  on 
“discipleship,”  and  a question  such  as 
“In  what  way  would  the  Anabaptists  of 
old  require  us  to  change  today,  in  order 
to  truly  express  Anabaptist  convictions 
again?”  To  each  one  present  the  answer 
was  “obvious” — but  each  according  to 
his  own  interpretation  of  “discipleship.” 

Some  expressed  that  our  greatest  down- 
fall as  Mennonites  or  Anabaptists  was 
the  fact  that  we  had  become  too  tol- 
erant of  things  that  had  at  one  time 
been  considered  “wrong”;  others  felt  we 
needed  to  change  our  life  style,  with 
regard  to  material  possessions  in  par- 
ticular. Some  felt  that  we  do  not  spend 
enough  time  in  group  Bible  study  and 
prayer,  while  still  others  stressed  that  | 
we  need  more  of  an  emphasis  on  social 
concerns  and  peace  (some  again,  felt 
that  we  were  too  concerned  with  the 
“social  gospel”). 

Some  felt  that  discipleship  meant 
being  more  willing  to  serve  within  the 
organized  church,  on  committees,  as 
Sunday  school  teachers,  and  so  forth. 
Somebody  in  the  after-the-session  ses- 
sions countered  here  that  too  often  the 
only  “service”  which  counts  as  Christian 
service,  according  to  many  church  mem- 
bers, is  that  which  is  organized  within 
the  church.  Here  again,  the  definition  of 
“church”  varied  with  the  individual,  and 
it  was  difficult  to  come  to  an  agreement. 

Menno  Simons  had  stressed  that  bap- 
tism and  church  membership  should  be 
“voluntary”- — some  felt  this  meant  that 
people,  especially  youth,  should  not  be 
pressured  into  baptism  and  joining  a 
church.  It  was  pointed  out  that  parents 


John  Weier  ( standing ) was  one  of  twenty-three  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College 
seniors  who  went  to  Alberta  for  a week  in  February  to  teach  workshops  in  Anabap- 
tist thought  and  history.  Mr.  Weier  and  Henry  Paetkau  were  assigned  to  the  Edmon- 
ton church.  One  Edmonton  church  member  wrote  after  the  experience:  “The  week 
was  inspiring  and  educational,  leaving  one  with  a sense  of  optimism  and  idealism 
for  the  church.” 


MARCH  27,  1973 


206 


Mission  consultation  looks  at  history,  future 


sometimes  do  this  to  relieve  their  own 
anxieties  regarding  their  child  as  a Chris- 
tian. Others  felt  that  the  word  symbolized 
simply  the  difference  between  child  bap- 
tism (involuntary)  and  adult  baptism, 
where  the  person  understands  his  obli- 
gations. 

A lengthy  discussion  began  about  the 
generation  gap  in  churches,  and  whether 
the  church  is  in  a “rut”  regarding  its 
form  of  worship,  its  institutional  bureauc- 
racy, and  so  on.  For  some  reason  this 
discussion  tended  to  center  on  students 
who  return  from  Bible  schools  and  col- 
leges, universities,  and  seminaries  and 
are  disappointed  in  their  churches. 
Again,  diverse  opinions. 

Some  expressed  that  perhaps  these 
persons  who  had  felt  so  newly  enlight- 
ened should  not  be  in  such  haste  to 
make  radical  changes  and  should  not,  in 
fact,  expect  to  “fit  in”  and  be  accepted 
until  they  had  learned  again  to  conform 
to  the  existing  pattern.  This  was  chal- 
lenged by  those  who  felt  that  the  re- 
verse was  important,  namely  that  the 
churches  should  accept  these  students  as 
they  are  and  even  be  pleased  to  try  some 
new  and  innovative  ideas. 

A practical  suggestion  put  forth  by 
Peter  Retzlaff,  the  pastor,  was  that  in- 
, stead  of  radically  changing  the  present 
1 form  of  worship  and  perhaps  destroying 
what  some  people  still  cherish,  we  should 
encourage  Sunday  evening  services  plan- 
ned by  and  for  youth,  to  allow  them  to 
express  themselves  in  ways  meaningful 
to  them. 

The  young  people  in  particular  seemed 
to  have  enjoyed  these  intense,  exciting 
dialogs  which  followed  each  presentation 
i of  historical  facts.  Since  most  of  them 
are  not  yet  participating  in  meetings  such 
as  “annual  church  meetings,”  for  many 
of  them  this  active  exchange  of  views 
and  interaction  between  old  and  young 
were  a “first,”  and  they  listened  intently. 
(This  was  evidenced  by  the  eager  dis- 
cussions which  continued  long  after  ar- 
riving home  from  church,  if  other  fami- 
lies reacted  like  ours  did. ) 

One  young  person,  after  a service, 
even  remarked  seriously,  with  a bit  of 
surprise  but  admiration,  “Man,  you  know, 
some  of  those  older  guys  say  some  really 
good  things,  eh?”  The  writer  was  of  the 
opinion  at  the  close  of  the  series,  that 
although  some  issues  had  become  quite 
controversial,  the  mood  of  the  meetings 
had  been  excellent.  People  had  been 
tolerant  of  each  other’s  views,  and  the 
whole  series  appeared  to  have  been  a 
learning  experience  for  all.  Some  young 
girls  commented  later  that  the  discus- 


Missionaries  on  furlough,  former  mis- 
sionaries, and  mission  executives  met 
in  February  in  Elkhart,  Indiana,  for  an 
informal  consultation  on  India. 

The  consultation  was  called  by  Rob- 
ert Ramseyer,  director  of  the  Overseas 
Mission  Training  Center  in  Elkhart,  so 
that  Mennonites  from  several  groups 
colud  find  help  in  the  India  experience 


Bumper  business 

The  production  of  Bible  bumper  stickers, 
bangles,  and  buttons  has  mushroomed 
into  “big  business.”  Devotional  slogans 
for  autos,  homes,  and  wardrobes  are  now 
being  marketed  in  the  millions  to  mem- 
bers of  all  denominations.  Figures  from 
some  producers  indicate  that  two  million 
devotional  bumper  stickers  will  be  print- 
ed this  year.  Cross  Publishing  Company 
of  Kenilworth,  New  Jersey,  and  Perm 
Publishing  Company  of  Elkhart,  Indiana 
— producers  of  the  stickers  shown  here — 
predict  steady  growth  of  their  business 
through  the  next  few  years.  In  addition 
to  stickers,  a half  dozen  major  makers 
are  turning  out  Jesus  T-shirts,  buttons, 
posters,  decals,  watches,  pins,  and  the 
like.  In  addition  to  the  standard  Bible 
and  Jesus-oriented  items,  some  two  mil- 
lion stickers,  pins,  etc.,  are  being  pro- 
duced for  use  in  Key  73. 


sion  periods  had  been  so  exciting  and 
interesting  that  they  would  have  liked 
to  ask  about  and  say  so  many  things, 
“if  only  we’d  had  the  nerve.”  I’m  cer- 
tain many  of  us  felt  likewise. 


in  understanding  problems  in  other  parts 
of  the  world,  share  with  the  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  commu- 
nity, and  help  current  missionaries  and 
mission  executives  in  decision  making. 

The  Mennonite  Church,  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church,  and  Menno- 
nite Brethren  Church  (all  represented 
at  the  consultation)  began  mission  work 
in  India  in  the  early  1 900s. 

All  four  members  of  the  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission’s  delegation  to  In- 
dia next  fall  were  present  at  the  con- 
sultation and  gained  a broader  back- 
ground to  understand  Mennonite  in- 
volvement in  India,  said  Howard  Ha- 
begger,  commission  executive  secretary. 

Mr.  Habegger  said  the  group  had  no 
formal  agenda  and  no  final  statement. 

“I  don’t  know  if  missionaries  and  mis- 
sion executives  have  ever  before  sat  down 
in  this  way,”  Mr.  Habegger  said. 

The  consultation  discussed  different 
forms  of  national  leadership,  the  role  of 
institutions  such  as  hospitals  and  schools 
in  the  India  church  and  why  institutions 
have  been  a priority  in  finances  and 
personnel,  and  mission-church  relation- 
ships— how  does  the  North  American 
church  share  with  the  Indian  church  so 
the  sharing  is  not  paternalistic?  Repre- 
sentatives of  each  of  the  three  groups 
with  missions  in  India  presented  a his- 
tory of  the  work. 

COE  survey  studies  church 
membership  classes 

Most  General  Conference  Mennonite 
congregations  have  church  membership 
classes.  But  few  of  these  use  any  learning 
experiences  beyond  lecture  and  discus- 
sion, and  most  pastors  who  teach  the 
classes  indicate  a high  level  of  dissatis- 
faction with  the  classes. 

These  are  some  of  the  findings  of  a 
survey  on  church  membership  classes 
conducted  in  1972  by  the  Commission 
on  Education. 

Of  the  350  questionnaires  mailed  to 
local  pastors,  191  questionnaires  (55  per- 
cent) were  returned. 

Results  of  the  survey  showed  that  173 
of  the  191  congregations  had  at  least 
one  membership  class.  In  almost  every 
instance,  the  classes  were  taught  by  pas- 
tors (170).  Most  classes  were  held  at 
least  once  a year  for  six  months  or  less. 
The  age  range  of  class  members  was 
eleven  to  seventy-five. 

Most  classes  were  confined  to  lecture 
and  discussion  as  teaching  techniques. 


THE  MENNONITE 


207 


Draft  down,  but  ROTC  is  up,  staff  told 


Now  that  the  military  draft  is  winding 
down  in  the  United  States,  the  military 
is  gearing  up  in  other  ways  to  recruit 
for  the  armed  services.  One  of  these 
ways  is  the  recent  push  to  get  the  junior 
Reserve  Officers  Training  Corps  program 
into  more  high  schools. 

But  the  resistance  to  rotc  must  be  on 
the  local  level,  since  local  school  boards 
make  the  decisions  about  whether  to 
institute  the  program. 

The  push  to  start  more  high  school 
rotc  programs  was  the  subject  of  a meet- 
ing March  5 in  Chicago  called  by  the 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  Peace  Sec- 
tion with  the  assistance  of  the  Midwest 
Central  Committee  for  Conscientious  Ob- 
jectors. 

Representing  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church  at  the  meeting  were 
Jake  I.  Pauls,  director  of  youth  minis- 
tries, and  Harold  Regier,  secretary  for 
peace  and  social  concerns,  who  said  Pen- 
tagon efforts  to  start  more  high  school 
rotc  units  have  increased  significantly 
during  the  past  year. 

As  of  last  October,  the  Navy  had  40 
percent  more  high  school  units  than  the 
year  before,  the  Marine  Corps  25  per- 
cent, and  the  Air  Force  15  percent.  The 
Army,  which  has  had  high  school  rotc 
units  longer  than  any  other  branch  of 
the  service,  added  forty-one  units  to 
bring  its  total  to  more  than  seven  hun- 
dred. Most  of  the  programs  are  in  the 
South  and  rural  areas;  however,  the  serv- 
ices are  expanding  into  northern  and 
western  cities  as  well.  Kansas  seems  to 
have  been  a special  target  during  the 
last  year. 

The  high  school  rotc  program,  open 
to  boys  and  girls,  includes  lectures  on 
the  military  service,  experience  in  using 
weapons,  and  drills.  Instructors  are  re- 
tired military  officers,  part  of  whose  sal- 
aries are  paid  by  the  military  and  part 
by  the  local  school  system.  Curriculum 
is  controlled  by  the  military. 

The  Air  Force  Junior  rotc  program 
lists  as  its  objectives:  informing  students 
about  the  challenges  and  opportunities 
of  aerospace,  developing  leadership  capa- 
bilities in  the  student,  introducing  him 
to  the  magnitude  of  the  national  defense 
effort,  instilling  discipline  and  respect 
for  authority,  promoting  habits  of  order- 
liness, developing  patriotism,  and  encour- 
aging a high  sense  of  personal  honor. 

High  school  students  who  take  two  to 
three  years  of  rotc  are  often  eligible 
for  college  rotc  credit  or  higher  pay 


if  they  enter  the  military  directly  after 
high  school. 

Mr.  Pauls  said  the  strategy  in  getting 
the  programs  into  high  schools  is  to 
contact  the  principal,  particularly  one  in 
a school  which  has  been  having  disci- 
pline problems.  The  rotc  representatives 
convince  the  principal  he  should  have  the 
program  and  indicate  that  the  deadline 
for  applying  is  only  a short  time  away, 
hoping  that  the  quick  deadline  will  elim- 
inate any  community  discussion  before 
approval  by  the  school  board. 

In  at  least  two  cities  recently,  citizens 
have  successfully  fought  the  introduction 
of  high  school  rotc. 

In  Hagerstown,  Maryland,  a group  of 
Brethren  and  Mennonites  brought  up  the 
moral  issue  of  teaching  war  to  children. 
Enough  opposition  was  organized  in  the 
community  that  the  county  board  of 
education  rejected  the  rotc  program. 

In  Salem,  Oregon,  a high  school  rotc 
program  was  defeated  after  one  person 
on  the  school  board  began  asking  ques- 
tions and  a community  group  organ'zed. 
The  issue  there  was  whether  the  rotc 
program  was  inconsistent  with  the  edu- 
cational philosophy  of  the  school  sys- 
tem— learning  to  obey  rather  than  learn- 


ing to  think  and  decide.  The  opponents 
of  the  program  also  objected  to  lack  of 
control  over  instructors  and  curriculum 
and  the  cost  of  the  program  when  other 
needed  programs  lacked  funds. 

“Rotc  is  easier  to  fight  than  the  draft 
because  it  is  a local  issue/’  said  Mr.  Re- 
gier. “School  boards  are  reluctant  to  start 
a program  if  there  is  a strong,  even 
though  small,  opposition  group.  People 
should  ask  the  questions:  Do  we  want 
the  military  to  run  certain  aspects  of  the 
school  program?  Do  we  want  to  teach 
fourteen-year-olds  the  art  of  killing?” 

Kinshasa  congregation 
will  receive  grant 

Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission  will  give 
$3,000  (U.S.)  toward  the  construction 
of  a chapel  for  the  newly  organized  Men- 
nonite fellowship  in  Kinshasa,  Zaire. 

The  decision  to  help  build  the  chapel 
was  made  recently  by  the  aimm  execu- 
tive committee,  after  a request  from  the 
Mennonite  Community  of  Zaire. 

Reuben  Short,  aimm  executive  secre- 
tary, reported  that  about  one  hundred 
people  are  now  attending  the  Mennonite 
fellowship  in  the  capital  city. 


Inter-Mennonite  course  is  joint  effort 

David  Schroeder  {center),  a faculty  member  at  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College, 
Winnipeg , leads  a small  discussion  at  CMBC’s  first  joint  ministers’  course  with  the 
Mennonite  Brethren  Bible  College,  which  is  also  located  in  Winnipeg.  Both  schools 
offered  separate  annual  courses  for  ministers  in  past  years,  but  this  year  they  decided 
to  do  it  together.  Forty-five  MB  and  General  Conference  pastors  from  across  Canada 
enrolled  in  the  one-week  course.  The  theme  was  “The  minister’s  task  in  today’s 
church.”  A CMBC  spokesman  said  that  both  course  content  and  the  inter-Mennonite 
nature  of  the  event  met  with  a strong  positive  response  from  the  participants. 


208 


MARCH  27,  1973 


Agencies  consult  on  offender  ministries 


Representatives  of  ten  Mennonite 
agencies  and  twelve  other  indi- 
viduals involved  in  offender  ministries 
met  in  Bluffton,  Ohio,  February  23-24  to 
begin  coordinating  their  efforts  and  re- 
sources. The  consultation,  organized  by 
Mennonite  Mental  Health  Services 
(mmhs)  and  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee Peace  Section,  represents  a grow- 
ing interest  in  offender  ministries  among 
Mennonites. 

The  consultation  group  felt  strongly 
that  conference  and  inter-Mennonite 
agencies  should  undergird  local  and  re- 
gional efforts  rather  than  impose  plan- 
ning from  the  top.  Canadian  Mennonites 
have  already  decided  to  organize  their 
ministries  through  mcc  provincial  bodies. 

As  group  sharing  indicated,  Menno- 
nites are  now  involved  in  a variety  of 
offender  ministries.  One  growing  project 
is  the  man-to-man  type  of  program  in 
which  a participant  builds  a direct,  long- 
term relationship  with  an  individual  of- 
fender. Present  educational  ministries  in- 
clude a newsletter,  Liberty  to  the  captives, 
published  by  the  mcc  Peace  Section  and 
a course  in  corrections  offered  to  Goshen 
College  students  and  Elkhart  County, 
Indiana,  law  enforcement  personnel. 
Other  Mennonites  are  influencing  change 
in  public  prison  policies  by  taking  jobs 
in  state  or  provincial  institutions.  Gros- 
venor  Place,  an  mcc  halfway  house  in 
Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  provides  an  alterna- 
tive to  traditional  correctional  institutions. 

The  consultation  group  at  Bluffton 

Contact  sought 

Atlee  Beechy,  of  the  mcc  executive 
committee,  and  Douglas  Hostetter,  mem- 
ber of  mcc  Peace  Section,  left  for  Paris 
in  mid-February  to  contact  representa- 
tives of  the  Democratic  Republic  of  Viet- 
nam (drv)  and  Provisional  Revolution 
Government  (prg),  the  government  of 
the  National  Liberation  Front. 

Mr.  Beechy  and  Mr.  Hostetter  went 
to  explore  possibilities  for  assisting  war 
victims  in  areas  not  controlled  by  the 
South  Vietnam  Government. 

Many  voluntary  agencies  from  Europe 
and  North  America  are  now  seeing  North 
Vietnamese  representatives  hoping  to 
establish  channels  for  assistance.  Because 
the  effectiveness  of  the  cease-fire  is  still 
questionable,  it  is  unlikely  that  the  drv 
or  prg  will  accept  foreign  workers  into 
unstable  areas. 


encouraged  conference  peace  secretaries 
to  continue  organizing  seminars  and 
forums  on  offender  work.  Mmhs  will 
consider  designing  experimental  projects 
in  community-based  care  for  offenders. 
The  group  asked  mcc  Peace  Section  to 
serve  as  an  information  clearinghouse 
on  offender  ministries  and  to  pull  to- 
gether film  and  literature  resources,  at 
least  until  other  structures  are  developed 
to  provide  this  service. 

Concerns  about  the  focus  of  offender 
ministries  threaded  the  conversation.  Do 
our  ministries  include  the  predelinquent 
as  well  as  those  who  have  already  com- 
mitted crimes?  Has  the  responsibility  of 
society  in  contributing  to  the  offender’s 
problems  been  overlooked?  Since  crucial 
decisions  are  often  made  by  the  police 
and  the  courts,  should  we  focus  efforts 
there?  What  is  being  done  to  help  the 
families  of  offenders?  What  about  vic- 
tims of  crime? 

Edgar  Epp,  an  administrator  of  adult 
correctional  institutions  in  Ontario  and 
a Peace  Section  member,  chaired  the 
meeting.  He  emphasized  that  aid  to  the 
offender  must  include  helping  a prisoner 
deal  with  his  guilt.  This  means  helping  a 
prisoner  make  direct  and  fair  restitution 
to  his  victim  when  possible. 

Mennonite  Christians  have  a history 
of  ministering  to  the  enemy  and  a the- 
ology that  supports  working  with  offend- 
ers. The  presence  of  Christian  commu- 
nity can  be  an  important  element  in  lib- 
eration from  hatred,  guilt,  and  fear  as 

with  DRV 

“Since  it  is  not  clear  that  we  can  be 
immediately  represented  in  drv  or  prg 
controlled  areas,  we  are  looking  for  re- 
sponsible channels  to  help,”  explained 
William  Snyder,  mcc  executive  secre- 
tary. 

“The  position  of  Mennonites  in  an 
area  of  conflict  is  to  serve  victims  on 
both  sides  of  the  conflict,”  Mr.  Snyder 
said.  “Mcc  has  been  trying  to  bring  aid 
to  North  Vietnam  for  several  years  but 
the  door  has  not  been  open.  We  provid- 
ed surgical  equipment  to  civilian  hos- 
pitals in  Hanoi,  but  in  a limited  way.” 

Mr.  Beechy  and  Mr.  Hostetter  went 
to  Paris  because  mcc  felt  that  in  light 
of  the  cease-fire  it  should  indicate  a 
deep  desire  to  help  in  reconstruction  of 
prg  and  drv  areas. 


well  as  from  an  unjust  social  or  eco- 
nomic system.  Mennonite  groups  can 
offer  such  support. 

Words#1  deeds 

Happy  as  the  grass  is  green,  a book  by 
Merle  Good,  is  the  first  Mennonite  nov- 
el to  be  made  into  a major  motion  pic- 
ture. Filming  began  in  Lancaster  County, 
Pennsylvania,  in  February.  Geraldine 
Page,  an  Academy  Award  nominee,  will 
have  a leading  role.  The  director  is 
Charles  Davis,  who  has  directed,  written, 
or  acted  in  nearly  1,000  television  shows. 
Merle  Good  is  serving  as  associate  pro- 
ducer. Mr.  Good’s  main  concern  was 
integrity.  “I  believe  I would  have  turned 
down  any  offer,  regardless  of  how  lucra- 
tive,” he  said,  “if  I was  not  convinced 
that  the  film  would  be  faithful  to  the 
book  and  to  our  people.”  Mr.  Good  is 
perhaps  best  known  for  the  dramas  which 
he  has  written  and  produced  for  the 
Dutch  Family  Festival  in  Lancaster  dur- 
ing the  past  five  years.  Happy  as  the 
grass  is  green  was  published  by  Herald 
Press,  Scottdale. 


American  Telephone  and.  Telegraph  re- 
ports that  22,000  people  refused  to  pay 
the  telephone  excise  tax  in  protest  against 
the  Vietnam  War  in  1972,  up  from 

17.000  in  1971  and  12,000  in  1970.  The 
Internal  Revenue  Service  wants  at&t 
to  disconnect  all  those  phones,  but  at&t 
says  tax  problems  are  irs’  business.  Ap- 
parently irs  wants  as  little  to  do  with 

22.000  prosecutions  as  at&t  wants  to 
do  with  the  $200,000  a month  it  would 
cost  to  disconnect  protesters’  phones. 


Mennonite  Foundation,  Goshen,  Indiana, 
reports  that  gift  assets  increased  more 
than  $1,300,000  in  1972.  An  additional 
$600,000  was  distributed  to  many  church 
institutions,  and  $1,000,000  was  desig- 
nated for  the  work  of  the  church  in  new 
and  revised  wills.  The  foundation’s  total 
gift  assets  now  stand  at  $5,304,000. 


The  next  proposed  Key  73  television 
special  will  be  “Come  together,”  subject 
to  final  approval  by  the  Key  73  program 
review  committee.  Pat  Boone  is  producer 
of  the  special,  which  will  be  a musical  va- 
riety program  based  on  Matthew  18:20, 
“Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  to- 
gether in  my  name,  there  am  I in  the 
midst  of  them.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


209 


Bible  school  for  junior  highs  catches  hold 


The  following  interpretive  report  comes 
from  Judith  Unruh,  Route  3,  Hillsboro, 
Kansas. 

Wa-Shun-Ga  — meaningless  syllables  to 
most  of  us,  but  to  a group  of  junior 
high  students  unforgettable.  For  three 
years  the  Goessel  area  churches  have 
taken  their  seventh-  and  eighth-grade  stu- 
dents to  Bible  school  at  a place  called 
Camp  Wa-Shun-Ga.  Last  spring  some- 
thing happened.  The  Holy  Spirit  hap- 
pened to  all  of  them.  Some  made  first- 
time commitments  to  God.  Others  re- 
dedicated their  young  lives  to  Jesus. 

It  all  came  as  a surprise.  A little  rumor 
had  been  floating  among  the  students 
that  discipline  was  going  to  be  enforced 
a little  more  stringently.  There  was  talk 
of  a petition  against  the  staff;  some  even 
talked  of  not  going.  In  the  end  they  all 
went. 

They  soon  found  that  the  staff  had 
time  to  talk  with  them  about  their  per- 
sonal world  and  how  to  survive  emo- 
tionally in  it.  An  emphasis  was  placed 
on  developing  healthy  interpersonal  re- 
lationships. About  two  months  before 
camp  each  student  had  been  asked  to 
write  questions  which  were  bothering 
him  and  his  peers.  These  questions  re- 
vealed a deep  searching  for  spiritual 
truths  and  problems  of  daily  living  and 
were  used  by  the  staff  in  preparing  lesson 
plans.  The  basis  for  Bible  study  was  the 
“Parables  of  Jesus.” 

The  carefully  chosen  staff  consisted 
of  pastors,  teachers,  and  college  stu- 
dents. One  of  the  recreation  leaders  was 
a young  factory  worker  with  a gift  for 
talking  with  the  young. 

Camp  was  a lot  of  fun,  but  it  had 
serious  times.  Teaching  sessions  were  not 
short.  There  were  midnight  talk  and 


Elkhart  coffeehouse 
opens  again  after  move 

Partly  Dave  coffeehouse  in  Elkhart,  In- 
diana, reopened  in  early  March  in  a 
new  location  across  the  street  from  the 
old  coffeehouse. 

The  downtown  building  which  they  had 
been  renting  for  the  coffeehouse  and  a 
record  cooperative  was  torn  down.  The 
new  building  is  being  purchased. 

The  coffeehouse  was  started  more  than 
six  years  ago  as  an  outgrowth  of  an 
evangelism  class  at  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary  in  Elkhart.  Peter  Stucky  is 
the  present  manager  of  the  coffeehouse. 


prayer  sessions  among  the  students.  The 
staff  was  available  around  the  clock  to 
share  beliefs  and  help  students  find  an- 
swers. 

On  Sunday  morning  (the  last  of  the 
three-day  camp)  the  climax  came.  As 
the  group  gathered  and  the  meeting  be- 
gan, many  began  to  speak  spontaneously 
of  their  faith.  The  scene  was  highly 
charged.  Karen  could  not  contain  her- 
self. There  was  only  one  way  to  express 
her  feelings.  She  got  her  guitar  and  they 
all  sang  the  new  songs  which  expressed 
how  they  were  feeling. 

Girls  wept  and  boys  wanted  to.  The 
love  of  God  was  penetrating  their  very 
being.  The  Holy  Spirit  was  real  for  all 
of  them. 

This  feeling  did  not  stay  at  Wa-Shun- 
Ga.  It  came  home.  The  following  Sun- 
day morning  part  of  this  group  came 
before  the  assembled  worshipers.  They 
sang  for  us,  like  we  had  never  heard 
before.  Then  one  by  one,  unrehearsed, 
they  told  us  what  God  had  done  for 
them. 

One  fellow,  who-  had  some  mischievous 
days  behind  him,  trying  very  hard  to  be 
offhand,  told  about  finding  the  Lord. 
His  happy  eyes  and  wide  grin  showed 
it  was  more  than  just  a lark.  His  mother 
wiped  away  tears  of  joy. 

Another  boy,  who  has  long  shown 


signs  of  a born  leader,  told  of  rededicat- 
ing his  life  to  God. 

Three  girls  told  of  a midnight  rap  ses- 
sion (uninterrupted  by  understanding 
cabin  counselors)  when  they  helped  each 
other  learn  to  pray. 

When  all  who  wished  to  speak  had 
spoken  they  closed  with  a song,  “Love 
is  a reality,”  and  invited  the  congrega- 
tion to  join  them.  The  clapping  and  the 
joy  was  infectious  and  many  stood. 
Others  remained  mute  and  immobile, 
paralyzed  with  the  emotional  impact  of 
it  all.  All  were  impressed  with  the  sincere 
joy  of  the  youth. 

They  asked  for  our  support.  Those  of 
us  with  some  years  of  being  saved  sin- 
ners behind  us  can  see  temptations  ahead 
by  the  dozen.  But  with  our  empathic 
help,  encouragement,  and  noncondemna- 
tory  concern  this  experience  will  be  the 
beginning  of  dynamic  Christian  living. 

In  the  minds  of  some  skeptics  this 
was  seen  as  a fad,  an  emotional  blitz. 
This  fear  has  been  proved  wrong. 
Through  the  summer  the  group  continued 
to  meet  once  a week  for  Bible  study. 
This  winter  they  are  still  seeking  answers 
to  significant  questions  through  the  reg- 
ular church  channels. 

As  in  the  words  of  their  generation 
and  ours,  “Alleluia,  praise  the  Lord,  and 
Amen.” 


Research  grants  awarded 


Mennonite  Foundation,  an  organization 
related  to  the  Conference  of  Mennonites 
in  Canada,  has  approved  the  first  two 
grants  from  its  recently  established  re- 
search fund.  The  two  projects  will  re- 
ceive a total  of  $4,000.  One  will  go 
toward  research  on  a film  project  and 
the  other  is  a study  of  Christian  educa- 
tion methods. 

Faith  and  Life  Radio  and  Television 
(flrt),  which  is  the  mass  media  arm  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  will  receive  $2,500  to  cover  a 
portion  of  the  research  costs  involved 
in  producing  short  films  for  use  in  com- 
mercial theaters.  These  films  will  be 
made  by  the  same  inter-Mennonite  group 
which  has  worked  cooperatively  on  tele- 
vision spots  during  the  past  three  years. 

Flrt,  in  making  the  application  on 
behalf  of  the  three  participating  Menno- 
nite conferences,  said  that  it  felt  the 
time  was  ripe  for  the  production  of  short 
films  (under  ten  minutes)  for  showing 


in  commerical  movie  houses  during  inter- 
missions and  at  other  times. 

The  grant  will  be  used  to  research 
suitable  topics  and  treatments,  to  develop 
the  first  draft  of  a script,  and  to  deter- 
mine the  scope  of  cooperation  and  the 
method  of  financing  the  project. 

The  Congregational  Resources  Board 
of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in 
Canada  received  $1,500  to  help  finance 
the  first  phase  of  what  is  envisioned  as 
a multiyear  study  on  Christian  education. 

The  study  will  attempt  to  discover 
ways  of  taking  a more  holistic  approach 
to  the  church’s  educational  program.  A 
two-week  educational  and  research  expe- 
rience, which  will  bring  together  educa- 
tors, church  leaders,  and  young  people, 
is  being  planned  for  late  July  this  year. 


210 


MARCH  27,  1973 


RECORD 


Workers 


B.  Kramer  Linscheid 


Rodney  Eck,  First  Church,  Newton, 
Kans.,  began  two  years  of  voluntary  serv- 
ice with  the  General  Conference  in 
March.  He  is  involved  in  hospital  work 
in  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  Rodney  has  at- 
tended Bethel  College,  North  Newton, 
Kans.,  and  Hesston  College,  Hesston, 
Kans.,  majoring  in  industrial  arts.  He  is 
the  son  of  Otto  and  Edna  Eck. 

Norris  and  Bonnie  Kramer,  Freeman, 
S.D.,  will  begin  voluntary  service  with 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  on  March  30.  They  will  work 
until  August  1974  in  children’s  programs 
near  the  Alberta  Community  Mennonite 
Church,  Portland,  Ore.  Norris,  son  of 
Willard  and  Katheryn  Kramer,  is  a mem- 
ber of  Salem  Church,  Freeman.  Bonnie, 

I daughter  of  Milton  and  Elvera  Huebert, 
is  a member  of  Bethesda  Church,  Hen- 
derson, Neb.  Both  Norris  and  Bonnie 
I have  attended  Freeman  Junior  College. 

Steven  Kent  Linscheid,  Goessel,  Kans., 
began  a five-months  terms  of  voluntary 
service  with  the  General  Conference 
, Church  March  12.  He  is  serving  in  Up- 
land Calif.,  until  August  in  maintenance 
work  and  in  a senior  citizens’  project. 
Steve  is  a 1973  graduate  of  Goessel  High 
School  and  is  the  son  of  J.  Willard  and 
Ruth  Linscheid. 

John  M.  Reimer,  formerly  of  Buhler, 
Kans.,  has  been  appointed  executive  sec- 
\ retary  of  the  national  distribution  de- 
i partment  of  the  American  Bible  Society. 
He  had  served  as  financial  secretary 
since  1971  and  has  been  on  the  staff 
of  the  society  in  New  York  City  since 
1 1951.  He  was  educated  at  Bethel  Col- 
lege and  Colorado  University.  He  is  a 
1 member  of  the  Congregational  Church 
i,  of  River  Edge,  N.  J.  (United  Church  of 
! Christ). 


June  21-24 — Northern  District  confer- 
ence, Freeman,  S.D. 

July  7-11 — Conference  of  Mennonites 
in  Canada  annual  meeting,  Edmonton, 
Alta. 

Canadian 

April  8 — Second  annual  Mennonite 
festival  of  art  and  music,  sponsored  by 
the  women’s  auxiliary  of  Westgate  Men- 
nonite Collegiate,  in  Polo  Park  Mall, 
Winnipeg. 

April  27-28 — -Seminar  on  the  offender, 
Waterloo,  Ont. 

April  27-28  — Alberta  conference, 
Coaldale 

Central 

May  11-13 — Festival  of  the  Holy  Spir- 
it, Goshen,  Ind. 

Pacific 

April  7 — West  Coast  mcc  relief  sale, 
Dinuba,  Calif. 

Western 

April  7 — Mennonite  Men’s  mass  choir, 
Hutchinson,  Kans. 

April  13-15 — Predraft  boot  camp, 
Camp  Mennoscah,  Kans. 

April  14 — Kansas  mcc  relief  sale, 
Hutchinson. 

Conference  budget 

$2,250,000 

2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 

1,000,000 

750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


Over-all  support  of  General  Conference  programs  including  the  seminary  increased 
by  36  percent  over  that  of  January  and  February  of  last  year.  Of  the  budgeted 
amount,  15.6  percent  has  been  received  compared  with  12.3  percent  for  the  same 
period  in  1972.  A total  of  $29,820  was  received  earmarked  “where  most  needed.” 
This  made  it  almost  possible  to  equalize  receipts  in  terms  of  percentage  for  the 
program  commissions  and  the  seminary. 

Your  continued  support  is  coveted,  not  only  finances,  but  prayer  as  well.  Wm.  L. 
Friesen,  conference  treasurer 


BUDGET  FOR  1973  INCLUDES 


1973  BUDGET: 
$2,155,945 


Elven  Shantz  was  honored  recently  at 
a dinner  sponsored  by  mcc  (Ontario). 
Mr.  Shantz  has  contributed  over  thirty 
years  of  service  through  the  military 
problems  committee,  Mennonite  Disas- 
ter Service,  negotiations  for  military 
exemptions  during  World  War  II,  and 
the  Historic  Peace  Church  Council.  One 
of  his  continuing  efforts  is  his  negotia- 
tion with  the  federal  government  on 
behalf  of  those  Amish  and  Old  Order 
Mennonites  who  do  not  want  to  be  part 
of  the  Social  Insurance  Plan. 

Calendar 


April  13-15  — Conferencewide  youth 
council,  Chicago. 

April  26-29 — Central  District  confer- 
ence, Goshen,  Ind. 

May  3-6 — Mennonite  conference  on 
Christian  community,  St.  Jacobs,  Ont. 

May  4-5 — Eastern  District  conference, 
Bally,  Pa. 

June  15-17 — Pacific  District  confer- 
ence, Dallas,  Ore. 


THE  MENNONITE 


211 


REVIEW 


No  longer  lonely  / Ask  me  to  dance 


No  longer  lonely  and  Ask  me  to  dance, 
by  Bruce  Larson  ( Word  Books,  Waco, 
Texas,  1971  and  1972,  $4.95  and  $3.95, 
respectively)  are  reviewed  by  Frieda 
Barkman,  a homemaker  and  free-lance 
writer  from  Pasadena,  California. 

Bruce  Larson  gives  us  another  two 
books  in  today’s  popular  vogue  of  people- 
helpers,  of  people  caring  for  people,  of 
a plea  for  the  relatability  quality  in  the 
fellowship  of  Christians.  He  writes  in  a 
frank,  chummy  style  consistent  with  the 
open  life  style  he  recommends. 

In  No  longer  lonely  the  author  recon- 
siders, “What  it  really  means  to  be 
Christian.”  In  our  changing,  crumbling 
world  some  absolutes  remain — the  gos- 
pel is  still  Jesus  Christ  himself,  living 
and  contemporary,  the  incarnation  of 
God’s  love — but  much  that  has  gone  un- 
der the  guise  of  Christianity  must  go, 
like  repression,  inhumanity,  etc.  The  po- 
larity between  pietism  and  activism  which 
in  the  past  dulled  the  church’s  witness 
is  fortunately  fading. 

Whereas  Jesus  dealt  primarily  with 
relationships,  the  church  has  emphasized 
belief  in  the  right  doctrines.  Mr.  Larson 
calls  “relational  theology”  the  missing  in- 
gredient. The  church  should  not  be 
forced  to  choose  between  doctrinal  and 
relational  soundness.  The  church  ought 
to  be  a fellowship  of  people  who  take 
both  these  dimensions  seriously.  A new 
brand  of  Christians  is  arising  who  are 
discovering  the  authentic  biblical  nature 
of  this  new  relational  life  style.  It  has 
two  dimensions:  a power  of  affirmation 

and  personal  vulnerability. 

By  the  power  of  affirmation  the  Chris- 
tian accepts  Jesus’  love  and  practices  it 
by  showing  men  their  worth,  that  God 
loves  them  as  they  are,  caring  about  them, 
putting  them  at  ease.  Too  often  the 
Christian  feels  he  is  the  “straightenerout- 
er”  of  someone,  presuming  to  take  the 
place  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Instead  of  criti- 
cizing and  underscoring  their  sins,  the 
Christian  should  see  men  as  Jesus  saw 
them:  unique,  worthwhile,  with  infinite 
possibilities,  thus  liberating  them  to  ac- 
cept Jesus’  love. 

Mr.  Larson,  a Presbyterian  clergyman, 
speaks  the  message  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment clearly,  like  a Mennonite.  We  love 


Christ  and  serve  him  by  loving  and  serv- 
ing people.  The  “Inasmuch”  has  to  be 
rediscovered.  We  need  more  than  wor- 
ship, prayer,  and  Bible  study.  We  need 
to  be  involved  in  the  world  and  its  needs, 
not  so  much  as  patronizing  teachers  but 
as  partners — our  “life  laid  down  along- 
side life,”  living  the  principle  which  says, 
“Don’t  bring  Christ  to  people  but  rather 
discover  Christ  with  people.” 

The  personal  vulnerability  advocated 
by  Bruce  Larson  is  threatening  to  most, 
for  it  requires  of  us  to  be  open  and 
honest,  to  let  the  world  know  we  strug- 
gle as  they  do.  Too  many  of  us  Chris- 
tians put  up  our  defenses.  We  are  afraid 
to  show  our  own  weaknesses,  and  we 
presume  to  be  beyond  criticism.  As  a 
result  we  are  unable  to  reach  or  help 
others.  By  simply  being  ourselves  we 
help  to  break  the  barriers  that  make  us 
strangers  to  one  another.  Also  we  are 
saved  the  pretentions  of  righteousness 
and  phoniness. 

Too  many  Christians  are  preoccupied 
with  and  never  get  beyond  the  laws, 
rules,  and  commandments  of  the  Bible 
and  thus  fail  to  experience  grace  instead 
of  guilt,  faith  instead  of  fear,  and  love 
instead  of  loneliness.  They  never  get  to 
know  the  new  spirit  of  freedom. 

We  were  not  meant  to  achieve  the 
Christian  life  on  our  own.  We  need 
God’s  help  and  we  need  each  other  in  a 
spirit  of  community,  of  openness,  re- 
lating to  the  whole  person,  sharing  our 
joys  and  our  burdens  in  true  dialog.  This 
takes  a creative  kind  of  communication. 
We  need  to  discover  this  basic  orthodoxy 
of  relationships  in  order  to  deal  with 
today’s  most  pervasive  problem;  loneli- 
ness. 

In  Ask  me  to  dance,  Mr.  Larson  con- 
tinues the  theme  of  relatability  to  peo- 
ple, an  understandable  emphasis,  com- 
ing from  the  president  of  Faith  at  Work. 
Beyond  conversion  there  is  a need  for  a 
one-to-one  ministry,  an  authentic  calling 
of  every  Christian. 

To  help  us  to  know  how  to  “be  friends 
of  Lazarus,  how  and  where  to  begin  un- 
wrapping the  bandages  that  bind  some- 
one whom  Christ  has  already  made 
alive,”  Mr.  Larson  discusses  six  dimen- 
sions in  which  man  responds  to  the 
gospel. 


The  volitional  response  to  Jesus  is  an 
act  of  commitment. 

The  conceptual  context  stresses  ideas 
and  gives  reason  to  truth. 

The  confessional  aspect  of  fellowship 
deals  with  guilt  and  is  essential  to  whole- 
ness in  the  Christian  life.  The  Roman 
Catholic  Church  and  psychology  have 
pointed  up  our  need  to  admit  our  wrongs. 
Be  confessors  one  to  another. 

The  relational  dimension  (his  thesis 
again)  stresses  identity  with  people.  Go 
where  people  are  hurting.  Let  them  know 
you  care.  Love  them  specifically  and  do 
not  play  it  safe.  Be  vulnerable. 

The  emotional  or  feeling  level  has 
too  often  been  denied,  resulting  in  sick 
Christians.  (See  his  “It’s  OK  to  be  an- 
gry” chapter.) 

Neither  should  we  deny  the  physical 
relationship  to  the  spiritual.  Learn  to 
read  body  language.  It’s  the  most  ac- 
curate indicator  of  what’s  going  on  in- 
side. And  (shock)  he  has  a chapter  on 
“Sexy  Christians”! 

The  thrust  of  both  books  is  the  warmth 
the  church  ought  to  convey  in  fellow- 
ship one  with  another  and  the  world. 

Evangelism  is  not  programs  and 
pamphlets,  but  people.  People  loving, 
caring,  sharing  in  the  words  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

Loneliness  melts,  we  are  no  longer 
strangers,  we  are  “fellow  citizens  with 
the  saints  and  members  of  the  house- 
hold of  God”  when  we  share  ourselves 
with  others. 

Ask  me  to  dance  in  my  Christian  life? 
Yes,  with  the  exhilaration  and  freedom 
and  joyful  abandon  that  David  expressed 
before  the  ark  of  the  Lord.  When  we 
have  found  mutual  help  and  wholeness 
in  this  adventure  of  authentic  Christi- 
anity, we,  too,  will  celebrate. 


y 


••CELEBRATE 


212 


MARCH  27,  1973 


LETTERS 


Unique  task  for  Freeman 

Dear  Editor:  Data  on  Freeman  Junior 
College  enrollment  which  appears  on 
page  149  of  the  February  27  issue  of 
The  Mennonite  needs  correction.  Free- 
man Junior  College  has  a total  enroll- 
ment this  semester  of  forty-nine,  com- 
pared to  fifty-one  the  first  semester  and 
a full-time  equivalent  enrollment  of  thir- 
ty-eight compared  to  thirty-nine  first  se- 
mester. 

We  were  surprised  and  gratified  that 
the  Commission  on  Education  at  its  Feb- 
ruary meeting  chose  to  devote  so  much 
time  in  its  schedule  to  Mennonite  higher 
education  and  in  this  instance  exclusive- 
ly to  Freeman  Junior  College.  The  com- 
mission viewed  our  colleges  as  a resource 
in  fulfilling  the  mission  of  the  confer- 
ence. This  eager  and  supportive  discus- 
sion should  give  friends  of  Freeman  joy, 
encouragement,  and  confidence  as  they 
plan  the  future.  As  Freeman  Junior 
College  uses  the  unique  gifts  given  it 
and  as  it  reshapes  its  mission,  I am  con- 
vinced that  it  will  have  an  increasingly 
significant  contribution  to  make  to  its 
community  and  our  total  brotherhood. 

I think  God  has  a unique  task  for 
Freeman  in  the  ministries  of  our  con- 
ference. I am  encouraged  and  full  of 
hope.  Robert  Kreider,  Department  of 
Higher  Education,  Bluff  ton,  Ohio  45817. 

March  1 

The  third  option 

Dear  Editor:  Since  the  1972  national 
election  in  the  U.S.,  I’ve  made  a few 
notes  to  myself.  W.  F.  Unruh’s  letter 
(December  19  issue)  gave  me  the  in- 
centive to  put  the  notes  together  for  a 
letter  to  The  Mennonite. 

Thinking  neither  Mr.  Nixon  nor  Mr. 

I McGovern  to  be  a man  of  “integrity  or 
1 honesty,”  I voted  for  American  Party 
I candidate  John  Schmitz.  Most  voters 
were  unaware  of  an  option  and  were  de- 
Iceived  into  thinking  there  were  only  Re- 
i publican  and  Democratic  candidates,  that 
our  country  would  fall  apart  without  a 
two-party  system.  Mr.  Nixon  included  in 
his  acceptance  speech  the  words  “two 
i parties,  two  candidates”  and  enforced 
the  notion  that  there  had  really  been 
I a contest.  During  the  campaign,  Mr. 

, McGovern  did  nothing  to  let  you  know 
he  had  an  opponent  more  worthy  than 


Mr.  Nixon.  Our  minds  were  kept  busy 
with  spying,  bugging,  contradictions,  and 
bickering.  What  means  might  the  estab- 
lishment have  used  to  keep  the  public 
thinking  in  terms  of  “two  parties,”  “two 
candidates”?  Perhaps  bullets  and  the  si- 
lent treatment  by  the  news  media  were 
equally  effective  in  silencing  the  opposi- 
tion. 

Another  deception  surrounding  the 
election  was  that  these  “two  parties”  of- 
fered different  programs.  Mr.  McGovern 
was  designated  the  peace  candidate  and 
naturally  spoke  out  against  the  Vietnam 
War.  Nothing  was  said  about  his  advocat- 
ing intervention  in  Israel’s  problems  if 
necessary,  or  his  record  of  support  of 
wars  of  liberation  going  on  in  Africa 
and  other  countries  where  “self-deter- 
mination” has  become  an  excuse  for  kill- 
ing. The  news  media  managed  to  make 
Mr.  Nixon  and  Mr.  McGovern  sound 
like  opponents  on  issues  confronting  this 
country,  but  where  did  the  “two  candi- 
dates” really  disagree  on  inflation,  health 
care,  the  United  Nations,  gun  control, 
the  Middle  East,  national  security,  tax- 
es, foreign  aid,  busing,  abortion,  or  the 
guaranteed  annual  income?  The  sad  truth 
is  that  Mr.  Nixon  was  already  doing 
what  Me.  McGovern  said  he  was  going 
to  do.  Mr.  Nixon  and  his  establishment 
have  become  experts  at  “fooling  most  of 
the  people,  most  of  the  time.” 

However,  Mr.  Nixon  is  just  the  man 
many  of  you  want  for  a president  or 
king!  We  are  going  to  be  handed  threats 
just  as  great  as  a war,  by  a government 
which  thinks  we  are  so  relieved  to  have 
even  an  unstable  peace.  Wait  and  see 
what  kind  of  government  controls  will 


be  pushed  upon  us.  Isn’t  that  what  you 
want?  Someone  to  protect  you  from 
watching  the  wrong  TV  programs  or 
from  buying  the  wrong  toy  for  your 
children?  Wouldn’t  you  rather  have 

fluoride  put  in  everyone’s  water  than  to 
practice  individually  good  nutrition,  tooth 
brushing,  and  flossing  to  prevent  dental 
disease?  Some  of  you  support  govern- 
ment programs  out  of  a sincere  desire 
to  help  the  disadvantaged.  Before  these 
programs  help  those  who  really  need 
help,  pockets  of  bureaucrats  will  be  filled 
and  people  will  be  appointed  to  research 
and  administer  what  could  be  done  more 
efficiently  by  state  and  local  agencies  and 
even  better  by  private  groups  and  church- 
es. We  have  given  government  control 
over  our  lives  with  our  own  money. 
When  will  we  admit  that  increasing  gov- 
ernment control  has  become  intolerable? 

Another  irritating  aspect  of  the  elec- 
tion year  was  hearing  remarks  made  by 
highly  educated  persons  about  political 
processes.  In  a special  election  year  Sun- 
day school  class,  one  professor  said,  “that 
the  reason  for  continuing  success  of  the 
Republican  and  Democratic  parties  is 
their  ability  to  change  with  the  times.” 
How  is  it  that  less  educated  people  sense 
and  know  facts  about  corruption  and 
deception  carried  on  by  persons  in  both 
of  these  “successful”  parties?  Yes,  these 
parties  have  changed  so  much  with  the 
times,  that  one  can  hardly  tell  them 
apart.  Another  professor  indicated  that 
political  platforms  were  boring  and  not 
worth  discussion.  Are  open-minded  and 
tolerant  educators  so  starved  for  infor- 
mation that  they  failed  to  notice  the 
American  Party  platform? 

So  often  intellectual-type  people  have 
the  most  abstract,  make-believe  solutions 
to  real  problems.  Their  answer  to  killing 
and  violence  is  gun  control.  The  person 
with  an  evil  intent  for  a weapon  will 
never  find  it  difficult  to  make  or  obtain 
one.  Knives  and  bombs  kill  just  as  well 
as  guns,  and  assassinations  were  com- 
mitted before  guns  were  invented.  It  is 
often  the  highly  educated  with  “safe” 
jobs  who  cry  for  more  federal  antipol- 
lution laws.  They  don’t  consider  those 
who  will  lose  jobs  when  factories  close 
because  of  unreasonable  and  costly  anti- 
pollution regulations.  Ironically,  they  also 
want  government  to  “create”  jobs  for 
everyone. 

In  the  lesson  for  January  14  from  the 
Living  faith  uniform  series  are  these 
words,  “Some  people  can  only  envision 
danger  and  violence  when  it  actually 
takes  place.  Even  then  sometimes  they 
have  difficulty  seeing  it  happen  to  them.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


213 


MEDITATION 


Wondering 

Where  lies  thy  peace,  oh  Lord? 

The  peace  of  soul  and  mind. 

That  calm  was  once  a part  of  our  lives,  but  now 
We  find  it  smothered  by  oppression  and  power 
Ruling  in  this  darkening  hour 
So  many  who  have  to  fight 
For  freedoms  and  justice  and  rights. 

Where  is  our  faith,  my  friends? 

The  faith  we  felt  so  strong. 

That  strength  we  thought  could  move  mountains 
Seems  to  be  gone  or  stifled  in  our  confusion 
Of  what  is  right  and  wrong,  and  the  illusion 
Goes  on  as  if  testing  this  trust 
Rending  our  hearts  with  an  infamous  thrust. 

Where  is  the  love  we  knew? 

The  love  of  our  fellowman. 

That  fulfillment  we  felt  in  the  pure  joy  of  lending 
A helping  hand  to  those  who  yearn 
For  a better  life  ...  oh,  when  will  we  learn 
The  true  purpose  of  living 
Is  loving  and  sharing  and  most  of  all — giving. 

Betty  Becker 


In  an  article  written  by  a noted  con- 
servative, Dan  Smoot,  regarding  events 
occurring  during  the  time  the  Bolsheviks 
seized  power  in  Russia,  are  more  words 
indicating  why  Americans  are  so  com- 
placent about  our  really  intolerable  situ- 
ation. A new  communist  was  explaining 
to  a horror-stricken  spectator  of  a sur- 
prise mass  killing,  “You  will  try  to  tell 
others  about  what  you  have  seen,  but 
who  will  believe  you?”  The  revolutionary 
further  explained  to  the  young  witness 
about  methods  used  to  control  the  oppo- 
sition, “You  saw  a demonstration  of  a 
profoundly  important  tactic  of  the  revo- 
lution: So  the  incredible  and  the  bour- 
geois mentality  will  not  give  it  credence. 

The  writer  of  the  article  makes  the 
point  even  clearer  by  saying,  “There  is 
a profound  truth  about  human  beings; 
they  cannot  be  exposed  to  evil  without 
being  harmed,  eventually  destroyed.  First 
exposure  revolts  them.  More  exposure 
brings  indifference.  Prolonged  exposure 
brings  active  acceptance;  and  with  ac- 
ceptance the  hapless  mortal  becomes  a 
participating  part  of  the  evil,  which  first 
repulsed  him.”  What  will  it  take  to  prod 
us  loose  from  the  part  of  that  pattern 
we  seem  to  be  caught  in?  Pamela  J. 
Unruh,  3117  S.  Wichita,  Wichita,  Kans. 
67217.  Feb-  20 

A response  to  Cleo 

Dear  Editor:  Now  that  several  weeks 
have  elapsed  since  the  “I  was  changed 
at  Bethel”  letter  appeared  from  Cleo 
Koop  (January  9 issue),  I think  that  I 
must  respond  for  the  benefit  of  a broad 
reading  circle  from  the  east  coast  to  the 
west  and  beyond.  As  a member  of  the 
same  church  and  community  as  Cleo,  I 
would  like  to  say  that  we  are  happy  for 
you,  Cleo,  to  have  experienced  such  a 
dramatic  change  in  your  life  and  do  pray 
that  as  you  mature  and  hold  responsi- 
bilities that  you  will  keep  this  faith  to  be 
applied  to  all  areas  of  your  life. 

What  really  bothers  me,  however,  is 
your  attitude  toward  your  own  church 
and  the  community.  You  say,  “I  was  bap- 
tized when  I was  a junior  in  high  school, 
but  never  felt  close  to  Jesus.”  This  is  a 
real  concern.  You  asked  to  be  baptized 
upon  your  confession  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  but  now  two  years  later  you  say 
you  never  felt  close  to  Jesus.  Perhaps 
in  your  youth  you  failed  to  see  that  the 
fault  really  is  within  yourself,  not  your 
community,  your  church,  your  pastors, 
or  even  your  parents. 

You  “somehow  started  hating  the  com- 
munity for  its  materialism  and  for  not 


providing  programs  of  interest  to  get  me 
closer  to  Jesus.”  Where  were  you,  Cleo? 
Our  church  has  provided  Sunday  school 
and  Sunday  evening  young  mission  work- 
ers’ classes  for  children  long  before  they 
even  start  to  school,  and  they  continue 
for  all  ages  no  matter  how  old  we  get. 
There  have  always  been  Bible  study  and 
prayer  meetings  for  as  long  as  I can  re- 
member. Now  we  even  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  choose  between  attending  these 
meetings  on  a Wednesday  evening  or  the 
same  lesson  on  a Thursday  morning.  We 
also  have  small  groups  meeting  in  homes 
if  that  is  more  meaningful  to  some.  Our 
Sunday  morning  worship  services  have 
been  profoundly  challenging  to  greater 
spiritual  experiences,  and  anyone  that 
has  missed  a blessing  from  them  simply 
didn’t  listen  openly. 

There  is  a standing  invitation  from 
our  pastors  to  come  in  and  talk  to  them 
about  our  concerns.  Cleo,  did  you  ever 
talk  to  them  about  our  church  being  “so 
much  fake”?  Perhaps  you  should  tell 
just  what  you  mean  and  on  what  you 


base  that  statement.  I don’t  understand. 
Besides  the  opportunities  already  men- 
tioned, there  are  also  carefully  planned 
camp  programs,  summer  teen-age  work 
camps,  choirs,  etc. 

While  I know  that  materialism  is  an 
attitude  as  well  as  the  use  of  material 
or  our  money,  are  you  possibly  “hating 
the  community”  for  something  of  which 
you  are  hardly  in  a position  to  judge? 
Neither  am  I,  but  I am  aware  and  grate- 
ful to  people  who  work  and  share,  mak- 
ing it  possible  for  some  to  represent 
our  congregation  in  so  many  different 
ways  all  around  the  world,  many  in 
difficult  situations.  We  are  glad  for  those 
that  can  go  but  equally  glad  for  those  j 
who  maintain  the  home  base  and  give  of 
their  means  to  keep  a strong  mission  pro- 
gram going,  whether  it’s  through  offer- 
ings, the  mcc  canner,  relief  sewing,  or 
any  other  outreach  of  the  church,  in- 
cluding the  support  of  our  colleges  and 
seminary.  I could  go  on  naming  other 
opportunities  offered  for  your  Christian' 
growth,  but  unless  each  of  us  prays  for 


214 


MARCH  27,  1973 


understanding  through  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  then  trusts  for  the  blessing,  we  are 
poor  indeed. 

Editor,  thanks  for  the  many  fine  ar- 
ticles we  read  in  The  Mennonite.  We 
find  it  a stimulating  paper  and  wouldn’t 
want  to  be  without  it.  Mrs.  Harvey 
Friesen,  Box  4,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Feb.  21 

Miss  family  news 

Dear  Editor:  It  has  been  for  some  time 
that  I have  missed  the  death,  baptism, 
and  wedding  announcements  in  The 
Mennonite.  I for  one  miss  these  reports 
very  much.  We  had  them  for  so  many 
years,  and  they  gave  us  the  pulse-beat 
of  our  congregations.  I have  discussed 
this  with  our  conference  officials  and 
they  advised  me  to  write  a letter  to  you, 
expressing  my  concern.  Could  it  be  that 
I am  the  only  one  who  is  missing  our 
family  page?  Henry  Boehr,  Apt.  25, 
Wheatland  Homes,  North  Newton,  Kans. 
67117.  March  1 

Editor’s  note.  After  struggling  for  a num- 
ber of  years  with  the  question  of  whether 
or  not  to  carry  the  marriage,  baptism, 
and  death  announcements  in  our  Record 
section  and  after  having  received  the 
counsel  of  our  editorial  committee,  we 
decided  earlier  this  winter  to  discontinue 
these  types  of  “family”  news  items.  Our 
main  reasons  for  making  the  decision 
were:  (1)  the  substantial  amount  of  space 


we  had  to  devote  to  these  items,  espe- 
cially in  autumn,  (2)  readers’  discontent 
expressed  in  letters  and  informal  discus- 
sions, and  (3)  an  imbalance  in  the  cov- 
erage provided  by  this  section  (half  of 
the  General  Conference’s  congregations 
sent  no  news  at  all  for  the  Record  sec- 
tion during  the  past  year).  Furthermore, 
some  of  the  district  papers  carry  the 
same  news  items,  causing  duplication. 
We  are  sorry  to  disappoint  those  of  our 
readers  for  whom  these  news  items  were 
an  important  part  of  The  Mennonite. 
We  hope  they  will  understand  the  dilem- 
ma which  we  faced. 

Letter  doesn’t  speak  to  me 

Dear  Editor:  I have  just  read  the  letter 
from  David  J.  Akenson,  Sioux  Falls, 
South  Dakota  (February  13  issue).  Mr. 
Akenson,  have  you  watched  the  POWs 
come  home  on  TV  this  past  week? 

These  are  the  Americans  you  wanted 
to  abandon.  Take  our  troops  and  go 
home  you  said. 

What  has  Billy  Graham  got  to  do  with 
a war?  He  can  no  more  stop  one  than 
I can. 

But  a lot  of  anti-Americans  will  like 
what  you  said. 

What  is  the  harm  in  a letter  like 
yours?  People  reading  it  will  think  that 
is  what  the  Mennonites  stand  for.  You 
surely  don’t  speak  for  me.  Mrs.  Kate  W. 
Hofer,  407  W.  7th  Street,  Yankton,  S.D. 
57078.  Feb.  19 


Contents 


The  sermon  I never  heard  202 

Three  poems  204 

News  205 

Record  211 

No  longer  lonely  / Ask  me  to  dance  212 

Letters  2 1 3 

Wondering  214 

Misplaced  allegiance  216 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Joyce  Shutt's  address  is  Ortanna,  Pa. 
17353.  She  is  a member  of  the  Fairfield 
(Pa.)  Mennonite  Church. 

The  three  poets  on  page  204  are 
Daneda  Heppner,  1302  S.  11th,  Omaha 
68108;  Arlyss  Weast,  8360  Corrington, 
Kansas  City  64138;  and  Joan  Wells,  142 
N.  Spruce,  Wichita  67214. 

Betty  Becker  resides  at  2505  Crestwood 
Circle,  Sheboygan,  Wise.  53081. 

Mark  O.  Hatfield  is  the  Republican 
senator  from  Oregon,  the  state  he  for- 
merly served  as  governor.  He  is  the  author 
of  the  1971  book  Conflict  and  Conscience 
(Word  Books). 

CREDITS 

Cover,  David  Hiebert,  Goshen  College, 
Goshen,  Ind.  46526;  202,  David  S.  Strick- 
ler.  Box  54,  Newville,  Pa.  17241;  205, 
Vic  Reimer,  Woodstock  School,  India;  206, 
Rudy  Regehr,  600  Shaftesbury,  Winnipeg; 
207,  213,  RNS;  208,  Henry  H.  Epp,  600 
Shaftesbury,  Winnipeg. 


Thp 

Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67 1 14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS'l ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  5’54'06; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


215 


Misplaced  allegiance 

Mark  O.  Hatfield 

The  following  statement,  presented  by  Senator 
Hatfield  at  this  year’s  National  Prayer  Breakfast 
in  Washington,  D.C.,  impressed  us  as  being  a 
highly  important  word  to  the  churches  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada  at  this  time. 

My  brothers  and  sisters:  As  we  gather  at  this 
prayer  breakfast  let  us  beware  of  the  real  danger 
of  misplaced  allegiance,  if  not  outright  idolatry, 
to  the  extent  we  fail  to  distinguish  between  the 
god  of  an  American  civil  religion  and  the  God 
who  reveals  himself  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  in 
Jesus  Christ. 

If  we  as  leaders  appeal  to  the  god  of  civil  re- 
ligion, our  faith  is  in  a small  and  exclusive  deity, 
a loyal  spiritual  advisor  to  power  and  prestige,  a 
defender  of  only  the  American  nation,  the  object 
of  a national  folk  religion  devoid  of  moral  content. 
But  if  we  pray  to  the  biblical  God  of  justice  and 
righteousness,  we  fall  under  God’s  judgment  for 
calling  upon  his  name,  but  failing  to  obey  his 
commands. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  confronts  false  petition- 
ers who  disobey  the  Word  of  God:  “Why  do  you 
call  me  ‘Lord,  Lord’  and  do  not  the  things  I say?” 
(Luke  6:46) 

God  tells  us  that  acceptable  worship  and  obedi- 
ence are  expressed  by  specific  acts  of  love  and 
justice: 

“Is  not  this  what  I require  of  you  ...  to  loose 
the  fetters  of  injustice  ...  to  snap  every  yoke  and 
set  free  those  who  have  been  crushed? 

“Is  it  not  sharing  your  food  with  the  hungry, 
taking  the  homeless  poor  into  your  house,  cloth- 


ing the  naked  when  you  meet  them,  and  never 
evading  a duty  to  your  kinsfolk?”  (Isa.  58:6,  7) 

We  sit  here  today,  as  the  wealthy  and  the  pow- 
erful. But  let  us  not  forget  that  those  who  follow 
Christ  will  more  often  find  themselves  not  with 
comfortable  majorities,  but  with  miserable  mi- 
norities. 

Today,  our  prayers  must  begin  with  repent- 
ance. Individually,  we  must  seek  forgiveness  for 
the  exile  of  love  from  our  hearts.  And  corporate- 
ly, as  a people,  we  must  turn  in  repentance  from 
the  sin  that  has  scarred  our  national  soul. 

“If  my  people  . . . shall  humble  themselves, 
and  pray,  and  seek  my  face,  and  turn  from  their 
wicked  ways,  . . . then  I will  forgive  their  sins, 
and  will  heal  their  land”  (2  Chron.  7:14). 

We  need  a confessing  church — a body  of  peo- 
ple who  confess  Jesus  as  Lord  and  are  prepared 
to  five  by  their  confession.  Lives  lived  under  the 
lordship  of  Jesus  Christ  at  this  point  in  our  his- 
tory may  well  put  us  at  odds  with  values  of  our 
society,  abuses  of  political  power,  and  cultural 
conformity  of  our  church.  We  need  those  who 
seek  to  honor  the  claims  of  their  discipleship — 
those  who  five  in  active  obedience  to  the  call  . . . 
“do  not  be  conformed  to  this  world,  but  be  trans- 
formed by  the  renewing  of  your  minds”  (Rom. 
12:2).  We  must  continually  be  transformed  by 
Jesus  Christ  and  take  his  commands  seriously. 
Let  us  be  Christ’s  messengers  of  reconciliation 
and  peace,  giving  our  lives  over  to  the  power  of 
his  love.  Then  we  can  soothe  the  wounds  of  war, 
and  renew  the  face  of  the  earth  and  all  man- 
kind. 


The 

Memionite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:14  APRIL  3,  1973 


We  Mennonites  are  too  down  in  the 
mouth  about  ourselves.  It  has  been  twen- 
ty-six years  since  I was  attracted  to 
Christ  by  the  loving  concern  of  a Men- 
nonite  pastor  and  congregation.  Since 
then  I have  had  opportunity  to  know 
many  Mennonite  people  in  my  work  as 
pastor,  member  of  district  and  General 
Conference  committees  and  commission, 
and  most  recently  while  visiting  103 
churches  for  the  Commission  on  Home 
Ministries.  During  these  experiences  I 
have  repeatedly  seen  what  I consider  to 
be  a negative  attitude,  a kind  of  inferi- 
ority complex  about  our  background  and 
spirituality. 

Our  attitude  toward  ourselves.  I have 
not  attended  a district  or  a General  Con- 
ference session  where  someone  does  not 
lament  the  fact  that  our  membership 
grows  so  slowly.  If  a church  does  expe- 
rience good  growth,  news  of  it  quickly 
and  quite  properly  spreads.  Often  in 
listening  to  discussion  of  such  events, 
one  hears  remarks  such  as:  “Well,  they 
must  be  doing  things  that  are  not  Men- 
nonite if  they  are  growing.”  When  we 
start  new  churches  we  ask  whether  “Men- 
nonite” should  be  in  the  church’s  name. 

We  look  at  ourselves  with  little  pride. 
We  seem  to  look  at  our  rural  roots  and 
consider  ourselves  the  country  hicks  of 
the  Christian  family.  In  spilling  over 
with  self-criticism  we  often  lament  the 
fact  that  our  gospel  presentation  is  not 
dynamic.  We  find  fault  with  our  evan- 
gelism and  our  theology,  with  the  form 
of  our  organization  and  the  shape  of  our 
structures.  Either  we  say  that  we  are  not 
growing  because  our  leaders  are  leading 
us  away  from  the  solid  foundations  of 
the  Word  of  God;  or  we  blame  lack  of 
growth  on  the  supposed  fact  that  we  are 
not  progressive  enough,  that  we  are  not 
moving  ahead  with  the  times. 

Did  God  made  a mistake  with  the 
Mennonites?  It  is  time,  long  past  time, 
for  us  to  face  our  attitude  about  our- 
selves, to  look  at  who  we  are  as  Men- 
nonites and  how  we  relate  to  the  church 
of  Jesus  Christ.  To  determine  what  we 
have  to  contribute  to  the  body  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  a whole  and  what  we  can  offer 
man  caught  in  “the  common  human  un- 
happiness.” 

The  gifts  of  the  Spirit.  We  teach  in 
our  churches  that  the  Holy  Spirit  gives 
his  people  gifts  for  the  building  up  of  the 
body  of  Christ.  We  claim  to  believe  the 
teaching  about  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  as 
found  in  Romans  12:4-8,  1 Corinthians 
12:4-10,  and  Ephesians  4:11.  We  say 
these  apply  to  every  Christian.  Why  not 
apply  them  to  congregations,  to  districts, 


and,  yes,  even  to  whole  conferences? 
We  often  seem  to  feel  that  Mennonites 
were  behind  the  door  when  spiritual 
gifts  were  handed  out. 

God  gives  gifts  to  individuals  and  he 
gives  them  to  groups  as  well,  but  he  de- 
pends on  us  to  put  these  gifts  to  use. 
In  the  nation  Israel,  he  chose  the  tribe 
of  Levi  to  be  his  priests  (Num.  3:4-12). 
He  chose  Judah  to  rule  (Gen.  49:8-10). 
Issachar  was  given  the  ability  to  read 
the  signs  of  the  times,  to  discover  what 
course  Israel  should  follow  (1  Chron. 
12:32).  However,  it  is  significant  that 
God  did  not  give  one  person  or  one 
tribe  all  the  various  gifts  or  talents.  He 
created  and  endowed  people  and  cul- 
tures to  have  different  points  of  view, 
different  abilities.  We  do  not  have  to  be 
ashamed  of  being  different. 

God’s  gifts  to  us.  The  New  Testa- 
ment passages  mentioned  above  list  twen- 
ty different  gifts  of  the  Spirit.  As  we 
read  these  lists  we  must  ask  what  gifts 
has  the  Holy  Spirit  given  to  our  people, 
our  congregations,  our  districts,  our  con- 
ference, so  that  we  can  glorify  him  and 
minister  his  grace  to  a hurt  world. 


Administrators 

Apostles 

Discerning  of  spirits 

Evangelists 

Exhortation 

Faith 

Giving 

Government 

Healing 

Helping 

Interpretation  of  tongues 

Knowledge 

Mercy 

Miracles 

Pastors 

Prophets 

Ruling 

Teachers 

Tongues 

Wisdom 

We  Mennonites  have  not  been  known 
for  dynamic  evangelism,  at  least  not 
what  most  often  passes  for  evangelism. 
We  have  not  until  recently  been  recog- 
nized as  prophets.  Administration  by  and 
large  is  not  our  most  recognizable  abil- 
ity. We  have  not  produced  the  most  pre- 
eminent theologians.  We  are  not  known 


David  Whitermore 

Hefners, 

healers. 

^people 

OIllMTCy 


218 


APRIL  3,  1973 


as  miracle  workers  or  as  those  who  have 
the  gift  of  ecstatic  tongues.  Where  Men- 
nonites  are  known,  really  known,  wheth- 
er as  individuals,  congregations,  districts, 
or  as  whole  conferences,  we  are  known 
as  helpers,  healers,  as  people  of  mercy. 
As  a part  of  his  body,  God  has  given 
us  the  gift  of  helping,  healing,  and  mercy. 

When  we  emphasize  what  we  don’t 
have,  we  are  guilty  of  what  Moses  warn- 
ed his  people  about,  “You  shall  not  . . . 
set  your  heart  on  your  neighbor’s  house, 
land,  slave,  slave  girl,  ox,  ass,  or  any- 
thing that  belongs  to  him”  (Deut.  5:21). 
Today  the  Lord  may  well  be  saying  to 
us,  “You  shall  not  ...  set  your  heart 
on  the  spiritual  gifts  I have  given  to 
other  churches.”  We  must  begin  to  em- 
phasize what  we  are,  realizing  that  God 
has  equipped  us  to  use  our  gifts  intelli- 
gently and  with  pride  for  our  success 
and  his  glory. 

How  relevant  are  our  gifts?  Bruno 
Bettelheim  writes  that  one  of  the  major 
reasons  for  discontent  is  anxiety.  “I 
refer  to  the  feeling  that  ‘youth  has  no 
.future’  because  modem  technology  has 
made  them  obsolete,  that  they  have  be- 


come socially  irrelevant  and,  as  persons, 
insignificant.”  Rightly  or  wrongly  their 
feeling  is  “that  nobody  needs  them,  that 
society  can  do  nicely  without  them.  Their 
existential  anxiety  is  that  they  have  no 
future  in  a society  that  does  not  need 
them  to  go  on  existing.”  If  Dr.  Bettel- 
heim is  right  in  his  analysis  of  youth’s 
discontent  and  their  feeling  of  obso- 
lescence, tell  me  who  has  a better  chance 
of  winning  them  to  Christ?  Is  it  the  mass 
evangelist,  the  theologian,  the  adminis- 
trator, or  the  person  who  cares,  the  per- 
son with  the  gifts  of  helping,  healing,  and 
mercy? 

A friend  of  mine  recently  was  in  a 
Presbyterian  church  in  New  Jersey.  Dur- 
ing the  course  of  the  service  the  pastor 
asked  a young  man  to  report  on  some 
recent  experiences.  The  bulk  of  the  man’s 
testimony  was  on  the  effectiveness  of 
Mennonite  Disaster  Service  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  the  Mennonite  work  in  Gulf- 
port, Mississippi.  He  ended  by  encourag- 
ing Presbyterians  to  care  and  share  with 
people  like  the  Mennonites  do. 

A Jewish  rabbi  recently  complained  to 
the  program  director  of  a large  Phila- 


delphia radio  station  about  the  quality 
of  religious  public  service  spots  and  pro- 
grams. In  ending  his  lament  he  said, 
“There  is  only  one  person  that  I hear 
that  speaks  with  the  authority  and  con- 
cern of  love.  It  is  a program  called  Choice 
produced  by  the  Mennonites.” 

We  do  have  a ministry  in  this  bruised 
and  bleeding  world  for  our  Lord. 

Philippians  3:12-14  says,  “It  is  not  to 
be  thought  that  we  have  already  achieved 
all  this.  We  have  not  yet  reached  per- 
fection, but  we  press  on,  hoping  to  take 
hold  of  that  for  which  Christ  once  took 
hold  of  us.  My  friends,  let  us  not  reckon 
ourselves  to  have  got  hold  of  it  yet.  All 
we  can  say  is  this:  Forgetting  what  is 
behind  us,  and  reaching  out  for  that 
which  lies  ahead,  we  press  towards  the 
goal  to  win  the  prize  which  is  God’s 
call  to  the  life  above,  in  Christ  Jesus.” 
God  has  given  us  unique  gifts.  Let  us 
thank  him  for  them.  Let  us  put  them 
to  use,  reaching  for  that  which  is  ahead. 
Let  us  dare  to  believe  that  we  will  win 
the  prize  for  which  God  is  calling  us. 
Let  us  continue  to  be  a powerful,  useful 
part  of  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ. 


I 


An  MCC  administrator,  John  Wieler,  talks  with  a wounded  Bengali  boy 
after  Bangladesh’ s war  of  independence. 

An  unidentified  MDS  volunteer  from 
Freeman,  South  Dakota,  assists  with  the 
emergency  clean-up  in  Rapid  City. 


THE  MENNONITE 


219 


VS  IS  GOOD  NEWS 


You  DoN’T 

Keep  good 

news 

Qu  I El 

You  send  it 
high  for. 

AIL  THEyVoRj-D 

To  SEE. 


VS  is  A 

VERY  UNIQUE 
WAY  THAT  CHM 

can  help  a 
Congregation 

let  its 

Good  news 

Be  seen. 


220 


APRIL  3,  1973 


V5  is  a program  that  is  na/oRkinq  directly  With 

CONGREGATIONS,  LETTING  local  CONGREGATIONS 

set  the  agenda.  With  that  as  its  central 
strategy,  a lpt  of  different  things  begin 

To  H/^PPeN. 


George  Lehman 

Saskatoon 

In  Saskatoon,  Saskatchewan,  the  Nu- 
tana  Park  congregation  was  anxious  to 
develop  relationships  with  senior  citizens 
in  a new  developing  retirement  center. 
A traveling  group,  the  Canadian  service 
I team,  has  been  instrumental  in  visiting 
people  and  in  helping  the  congregations 
to  develop  contacts  that  will  continue 
beyond  the  VS  unit’s  four-months  stay. 

Oklahoma  City 

The  Trinity  United  Presbyterian  Men- 
nonite  Church  in  Oklahoma  City  has  a 
number  of  people  in  it  who  are  uncom- 
j fortable  with  what  seems  to  happen  to 
people  in  public  housing  projects.  They 
! are  packed  in  tightly  in  six-  or  seven- 
j story  buildings.  The  church  is  hoping 
that  voluntary  service  workers  will  help 
them  bring  the  good  news  that  God  cares 
I to  the  people  in  these  unpleasant  living 
quarters. 

i Portland 

The  Alberta  Community  Mennonite 
Church  in  Portland,  Oregon,  is,  with  the 
i help  of  chm,  just  beginning  its  volun- 
| tary  service  program.  The  small  congre- 
gation has  been  carrying  on  programs 
for  young  people  on  Wednesday  after- 
noons. But  the  needs  of  the  community 
are  greater  than  the  resources  of  the 
church  members.  A VS  couple  has  just 
arrived  to  help  them  pursue  Christ’s 
mission  in  the  church’s  low-income  neigh- 
borhood. 

Fort  Wayne 

Members  of  the  Maplewood  Menno- 
nite Church  in  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  were 


instrumental  in  developing  a nonprofit 
housing  corporation.  Persons  from  the 
congregation  serve  on  its  board  of  di- 
rectors. Voluntary  service  workers  help 
the  congregation  express  Christian  con- 
cern by  working  directly  for  the  housing 
corporation. 

Hutchinson 

In  Hutchinson,  Kansas,  three  couples 
representing  General  Conference  and 
(Old)  Mennonite  churches  meet  once  a 
month  for  supper  with  a VS  unit  of 
twelve  people.  They  make  plans  for  new 
projects  or  people  and  check  up  on 
what’s  been  happening.  It  began  when  a 
lawyer  in  the  Mennonite  church  was 
approached  by  a hospital  administrator. 
He  said  that  Mennonites  had  a reputa- 
tion for  finding  good  hospital  workers. 
Could  the  church  help  them  find  some 
good  ambulance  drivers  for  their  newly 
formed  ambulance  driving  service?  At 
that  same  time  other  members  of  the 
church  were  evaluating  their  day-care 
center.  They  needed  additional  staff.  To 
help  the  congregation  meet  the  needs,  a 
new  VS  unit  was  born.  It  works  directly 
with  both  the  General  Conference  and 
the  (Old)  Mennonite  churches  in  Hutch- 
inson. The  congregations  know  this  VS 
unit  is  something  they  dreamed  of,  work- 
ed for,  and  put  a lot  of  time  and  energy 
into.  They  know  it’s  their  own  way  of 
showing  concern  for  the  people  around 
them. 

By  now  the  message  is  clear.  The  Gen- 
eral Conference  VS  program  works  with 
congregations.  It  is  not  designed  to  re- 
place congregations  or  to  do  their  work 
but  to  work  alongside  and  within  con- 


gregations. It  is  part  of  the  “living,  ac- 
tive congregations”  strategy. 

Taking  congregations  seriously  has  a 
lot  of  implications  for  the  operation  of 
the  VS  program.  Congregations  set  the 
standards  and  qualifications  for  their 
volunteers.  The  standards  and  qualifica- 
tions vary  from  church  to  church  in  re- 
lationship to  how  they  understand  the 
call  and  discipline  of  Christ.  Voluntary 
service  is  tailored  to  fit  the  particular 
feelings  and  concerns  of  individual  con- 
gregations. 

Congregations,  rather  than  central  of- 
fice staff,  plan  the  VS  projects.  There  is 
a wide  variety  in  how  Christ’s  mission 
is  being  carried  out.  Many  opportunities 
are  yet  to  be  developed.  The  ones  that 
are  developed  are  the  ones  that  congre- 
gations have  felt  were  important. 

The  central  VS  office  helps  a congre- 
gation begin  its  unit.  It  gives  assistance 
in  developing  patterns  of  finance  and  re- 
sponsibility. It  also  tries  to  find  the  per- 
sonnel to  meet  the  needs  which  churches 
have  defined. 

Mennonite  voluntary  service  programs 
have  grown  and  prospered  with  a lot  of 
help  from  the  draft.  But  they  have  been 
much  more  than  alternative  service  pro- 
grams. VS  units  have  included  nondraft- 
ed  Canadian  volunteers,  women,  and 
older  persons.  The  workers  have  a vari- 
ety of  educational  and  geographic  back- 
grounds. 

The  lack  of  the  draft  does  put  the  VS 
program  in  a tight  squeeze  for  people. 
Right  now  the  opportunities  for  new  vol- 
unteers are  great.  More  and  more  church- 
es are  seeing  VS  as  one  good  way  of 
sharing  Christ’s  love  with  people  around 
them.  Volunteers  are  urgently  needed. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
!t  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
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the  mennonite 


221 


NEWS 


Program  leads  from  jail  to  jobs 


Take  some  odd  jobs,  add  a few  men, 
and  put  this  together  with  a probation 
and  work-release  program  and  you  have 
First  Step  Industries,  a way  in  which 
church  people  in  Newton,  Kansas,  are 
helping  offenders  find  a way  out  of  jail 
and  joblessness. 

Basically,  the  program  takes  first  of- 
fenders or  those  convicted  of  misde- 
meanors in  the  Harvey  County  or  New- 
ton courts.  These  men  are  employed  at 
maintenance  or  construction  jobs  by 
First  Step  Industries  until  they  have  a 
work  record  and  a good  reference  for 
another  job. 

The  idea  of  working  with  olfenders 
in  this  way  started  with  A1  Voth,  who 
attended  the  U.S.  Congress  on  Evan- 
gelism in  Minneapolis  a few  years  ago 
and  visited  the  Minneapolis  Workhouse 
(the  city’s  jail),  where  Mennonite  vol- 
unteers have  worked  for  several  years 
with  work-release  programs. 

Excited  by  the  idea,  he  came  back  to 
Newton  and  talked  with  the  evangelism 
committee  of  the  three  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  churches  in  town. 

He  also  visited  the  volunteer  probation 
program  in  Royal  Oaks,  Michigan,  and 


the  first  move  for  the  Newton  group  was 
starting  a probation  department  in  Har- 
vey County. 

About  two  years,  Otto  Unruh  started 
working  as  a probation  officer  one  day 
a week  without  pay.  Now  the  program 
has  a government  grant  which  allows 
him  to  work  full  time  with  pay. 

The  First  Step  program  itself  started 
in  1972  out  of  the  frustration  Mr.  Unruh 
felt  in  trying  to  find  employment  for 
people  on  probation. 

Since  last  June,  First  Step  Industries 
has  been  employing  men  sixteen  and 
older  (more  are  under  twenty-one)  to 
put  up  fences,  paint  fences,  install  roof 
guttering,  repair  play  equipment,  or  do 
other  odd  jobs  until  they  can  find  more 
permanent  jobs. 

Money  received  for  the  jobs  goes  for 
wages  for  the  men  on  work  release 
from  the  jail  or  on  probation  and  for  the 
work  supervisor.  The  program  has  a job 
coordinator  and  a work  supervisor  who 
work  full  time,  plus  several  retired  car- 
penters who  help  out  as  supervisors. 

Mr.  Voth,  president  of  the  First  Step 
Industries  board,  hopes  that  nearby  in- 
dustries will  agree  to  sublet  work  to  the 


program  to  provide  additional  jobs. 

Several  of  the  men  in  the  program 
are  attending  night  school,  either  to  get 
a high  school  diploma  or  to  get  college 
credit.  Future  educational  programs  may 
include  a course  in  finances  taught  by  a 
local  banker,  or  one  in  legal  rights, 
taught  by  an  attorney. 

“We’ve  had  good  success  with  guys’ 
finding  jobs,”  said  Mr.  Voth.  “And  we 
have  had  some  failures,  too.” 

He  said  one  employer  of  a former 
worker  at  First  Step  Industries  comment- 
ed, “If  you  have  ten  more  workers,  I’ll 
take  them.” 

One  man  who  sat  down  on  Main  Street 
and  tried  to  kill  himself  is  now  living  at 
home  and  has  worked  for  six  months  at 
a job — a record  for  him.  Another  man  is 
off  welfare  after  three  years. 

Right  now,  the  program  is  a little  short 
of  money  to  pay  supervisors  and  insur- 
ance, but  eventually  the  program  will 
completely  pay  for  itself,  Mr.  Voth  said. 

First  Step  Industries  is  a private,  non- 
profit way  of  giving  offenders  their  first 
step  out  of  jail,  and  it  is  an  opportunity  j 
to  show  Christian  concern,  he  said.  Lois 
Barrett  Janzeri 


Cleo  Koop,  left,  and  Jack  Goering  install  roof  gutters  at  a placement  for  men  in  First  Step  Industries,  a local  program 

Newton,  Kansas,  house.  The  two  supervise  and  coordinate  job  to  employ  those  on  probation  and  those  in  jail. 


Offender  must 

“If  an  offender  is  to  behave  responsibly, 
he  must  feel  that  he  is  worthwhile  and 
that  others  consider  him  worthwhile,” 
Edgar  W.  Epp,  administrator  of  adult 
correctional  centers  in  Ontario,  said  in 
a lecture  at  Goshen  College,  Goshen, 
Indiana,  recently. 

Delinquent  behavior  is  simply  irre- 
sponsible action,  Mr.  Epp  explained.  It 
comes  about  because  the  person  doing 
the  offending  thinks  he  isn’t  worth  any- 
thing. 

Mr.  Epp,  who  is  a former  correctional 
center  superintendent  and  former  peni- 
tentiary warden  in  Canada,  said,  “In 
the  past,  correction  was  seen  mostly  as 
punishment  of  the  offender.” 

Punishment,  however,  only  reinforces 
worthlessness.  It  knocks  the  guy  down, 
rather  than  builds  him  up. 

His  theme,  “Does  punishment  cor- 
rect?” was  central  to  his  two  public  ad- 
dresses at  the  college. 

What  is  needed  for  the  offender,  said 
Mr.  Epp,  is  therapy  to  help  him  feel 
like  he  is  a worthwhile  person.  He  stated 
that  he  had  seen  the  “amazing  results” 
of  therapy.  For  one  thing,  in  compar- 
ing offenders  locked  behind  prison  walls 
to  the  offender  who  has  responded  to 
therapy,  Mr.  Epp  said  the  best  pro- 
tection for  the  public  is  the  corrected 
offender. 

“It  is  difficult  to  make  a person  feel 
worthwhile  in  a prison.  Prisons  dehu- 
manize. They  turn  persons  into  numbers. 
In  that  setting  they  are  made  to  feel 
like  robots.  If  an  offender  is  put  into  a 
prison  and  comes  out  later  as  a worse 
offender,  the  public’s  tax  money  has 
been  wasted.” 

To  practice  therapy,  one  does  not 
need  a college  degree  or  need  to  be  a 
social  worker  or  a psychiatrist. 

“Basic  to  a good  therapist,”  Mr.  Epp 
said,  “are  the  qualifications  of  a good 
father.  That  is  the  beauty  of  the  therapy 
— many  persons  can  do  it.” 

With  caution,  though,  Mr.  Epp  said 
not  all  offenders  will  respond  to  therapy. 
No  one  knows  yet  how  to  make  some 
offenders  feel  worthwhile,  and  these  per- 
sons will  have  to  be  held  in  institutions. 
Other  offenders  may  be  too  badly  dam- 
aged and  be  unable  to  respond  to  ther- 
apy. 

Mr.  Epp  said  that  Canadian  studies 
have  shown  that  five-sixths  of  all  offend- 
ers sentenced  for  two  years  or  less  could 
be  better  treated  at  halfway  houses  or  at 
institutions  like  Canada’s  “bush  camps.” 


feel  worthwhile , 

However,  the  other  one-sixth  of  the  of- 
fenders need  secure  institutions. 

Describing  a bush  camp,  Mr.  Epp  said 
there  are  no  guards  with  guns  and  no 
high  fences.  The  persons  in  charge  tell 
the  offenders  what  the  rules  are  and  en- 
force them  firmly.  The  typical  offender 
in  these  camps  responds  well  to  his  en- 
vironment. 

Mr.  Epp  also  praised  “day-release” 
programs  and  their  value  in  the  correc- 
tion of  offenders.  In  this  program,  of- 
fenders who  have  been  properly  assessed 
and  screened  as  able  to  profit  from  the 
program  leave  the  security  center  during 
the  day  to  continue  their  education  or 
to  hold  a job  in  the  community. 

Steps  toward  further  community  in- 
volvement, Mr.  Epp  pointed  out,  would 
be  lay  volunteers,  ready  to  help  local 
parole  and  probation  officers  when  they 
would  call  for  help.  Private  agencies 
could  be  formed  to  help  the  families — 

MMSF  studies 

The  Mennonite  Missionary  Study  Fel- 
lowship met  February  20-21  on  the 
campus  of  the  Associated  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminaries.  This  was  the  third 
such  meeting  of  the  mmsf,  which  is  a 
project  of  the  Institute  of  Mennonite 
Studies. 

The  first  two  sessions  were  devoted  to 
the  theme,  “Perspectives  on  church 
growth”  with  three  presentations  given 
in  the  following  order:  “Church  growth 
studies:  a bibliography  review,”  by  Wil- 
bert R.  Shenk;  “Theological  perspectives 
on  church  growth,”  by  John  H.  Yoder; 
and  “Anthropological  perspectives  on 
church  growth,”  by  Robert  L.  Ramseyer. 
A fourth  paper  by  J.  Stanley  Friesen, 
“The  significance  of  indigenous  move- 
ments for  the  study  of  church  growth,” 
was  distributed  and  reviewed  even  though 
Mr.  Friesen  was  not  able  to  be  present. 

Several  members  of  the  group  report- 
ed on  research  they  have  done  or  which 
is  currently  in  progress,  including  Paul 
M.  Gingrich’s  investigation  into  “The 
adjustment  of  mission  and  service  per- 
sonnel returning  from  overseas  assign- 
ment,” which  surveyed  the  experiences  of 
personnel  from  five  Mennonite  agencies. 
In  the  final  session  the  group  heard  Paul 
M.  Lederach’s  paper  (soon  to  be  re- 
leased in  booklet  form  by  Herald  Press) 
“The  spiritual  family  and  the  biological 
family,”  which  raises  penetrating  ques- 


says  Edgar  Epp 

wives  and  children — of  offenders,  and 
to  provide  help  and  treatment  to  the 
offender  on  an  individual  basis. 

“Punishment,”  Mr.  Epp  said,  “must  be 
a natural  consequence  of  an  offense” 
if  it  is  to  have  value  in  corrections.  He 
explained:  “If  a person  in  an  institution 
breaks  a window,  he  should  clean  up  the 
debris,  help  put  in  the  new  window,  and 
pay  for  the  cost.  Then  he  will  see  that  he 
is  responsible  for  his  action  and  that  the 
punishment  is  for  the  offense  and  not 
against  himself  as  a person.” 

This  concept  of  punishment  can  be 
applied  to  raising  children,  too. 

Mr.  Epp’s  lecture  was  the  first  on  the 
theme  of  “The  correction  of  criminal 
offenders,”  a series  of  four  cosponsored 
by  Goshen  College’s  Center  for  Disciple- 
ship  and  the  Elkhart  County  sheriff’s 
department  with  federal  funds  from  the 
Law  Enforcement  Assistance  Administra- 
tion. 

church  growth 

tions  concerning  Christian  education  in 
the  believers’  church. 

The  mmsf  has  deliberately  sought  to 
draw  together  mission  administrators, 
field  personnel,  and  academics  from  vari- 
ous disciplines  concerned  for  the  mission 
of  the  church.  The  emphasis  has  fallen 
on  fellowship  and  study  as  the  group 
has  sought  to  reflect  on  vital  questions 
confronting  the  church  and  encourage 
participants  to  do  staff  work  on  behalf 
of  the  group.  Wilbert  R.  Shenk 

New  Mennonite  group 
meets  in  St.  Louis 

Two  voluntary  service  workers  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  have  started  meetings 
of  Mennonites  in  the  area  who  have 
been  attending  churches  of  other  denom- 
inations. 

Fern  Hieb,  who  along  with  her  hus- 
band Barry  has  organized  the  meetings, 
said  their  goal  was  to  see  if  people  of 
Mennonite  background  are  interested  in 
meeting  regularly  or  in  starting  a Men- 
nonite fellowship. 

Meetings  so  far  have  been  informal 
and  occasional  rather  than  regular. 

Some  members  of  the  Bethesda  (Old) 
Mennonite  Church  in  the  inner  city 
have  attended  the  meetings,  but  the  ap- 
peal has  been  primarily  to  ethnic  Men- 
nonites in  the  suburbs. 


THE  MENNONITE 


223 


Summer  service  has  variety  of  options 


Mount  and  doing  farm  work;  backpack-  College-age  programs  are  planned  at 
ing  in  the  Colorado  Rockies;  a Manitoba  Germantown,  Pennsylvania;  Gulfport, 
canoe  trip  with  both  Indian  and  white  Mississippi;  Kansas  City,  Kansas;  Koi- 
young  men;  ten  days  at  Koinonia  Farms,  nonia  Farms;  Champaign,  Illinois;  Phil- 

a Christian  community  near  Americus,  adelphia;  Liberal,  Kansas;  and  Markham, 
Georgia;  and  work  with  retarded  peo-  Illinois. 

pie  in  Wheatridge,  Colorado.  Planned  activities  range  from  tutoring 

High  school  work  camps  are  avail-  and  day  care  to  reconstruction  projects 
able  at  nine  locations  from  California  to  at  Germantown. 

Ontario.  In  most  of  the  college-age  programs, 

High  school  graduates  may  participate  room  and  board  and  $5.00  per  week  are 
in  reconstruction  work  all  summer  with  provided  to  volunteers,  who  pay  their 
Mennonite  Disaster  Service.  Volunteers  own  medical  expenses  and  travel, 
will  work  in  flood  reconstruction  in  Application  forms  are  available  from 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Virginia,  and  South  Short-term  Service,  Box  347,  Newton, 
Dakota.  Kansas  67114. 

Three  students  give  $ 5,000 


Summer  service  programs  this  year  in- 
clude something  new,  said  George  Leh- 
man, voluntary  service  director  for  the 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

Some  programs  will  allow  college 
credit  for  participants.  Some  are  as  short 
as  one  week  or  as  long  as  six  weeks  or 
even  all  summer.  Costs  vary,  too.  Some 
have  opportunities  for  intercultural  edu- 
cation or  experiences  in  community. 

Programs  for  high-school-age  partici- 
pants include  both  work  camps  and 
service-education  experiences. 

In  the  latter  category  are  a six-week 
experience  of  tutoring  among  the  Chey- 
enne Indians  in  Clinton,  Oklahoma;  a 
discipleship  week  near  Freeman,  South 
Dakota,  studying  the  Sermon  on  the 


A backpacking  work  camp  in  the  Colo- 
rado Rockies  last  summer  ( shown  above) 
will  be  repeated  this  year  as  a part  of 
the  General  Conference’s  summer  service 
program  for  high-school-age  people. 


Recognizing  a choice,  three  young  per- 
sons currently  living  in  Goshen  and  with 
an  average  income  of  $4,000  have  con- 
tributed a total  of  $5,000  to  Goshen 
College.  They  have  decided  to  give  away 
their  earnings  rather  than  keep  them 
and  pay  federal  taxes,  much  of  which 
goes  for  war. 

Their  gifts,  received  by  the  college 
over  an  eight-months  period,  were  desig- 
nated for  the  specially  created  Agape 
student  grant  fund.  During  1972-73  the 
fund  is  benefiting  nine  students,  each  of 
whom  has  demonstrated  financial  need, 
has  personally  committed  himself  to 
Jesus  Christ  as  Lord,  and  who  is  a mem- 
ber of  one  of  the  recognized  campus 
house  fellowships. 

Five  “house  churches,”  as  they  are 
sometimes  called,  are  living  and  worship 
quarters  for  about  fifty  college  students 
this  year.  Generally,  each  individual 
covenants  with  the  group,  first,  to  love 
Jesus  Christ  with  all  his  heart,  intellect, 
and  soul,  and  second,  to  love  his  neigh- 
bor as  himself.  As  time  goes  on,  he  lives 
out  his  covenants,  loving  and  being 
loved,  and  when  necessary,  admonishing 
and  being  admonished. 

Names  of  the  1972-73  houses  are 
either  from  the  New  Testament  Greek 
or  current-day  English.  Current  groups 
carry  the  names  of  Ecclesia,  Ixthus, 
High  Park,  Main  Street,  and  Northside. 

The  three  donors  wish  to  remain  anon- 
ymous and  don’t  talk  much  about  their 
generosity  for  several  reasons.  An  im- 
portant one  is:  a lot  of  Christians  want 
to  give  more  money,  but  can’t.  However, 
they  give  in  other  substantial  ways  and 
are  blessed  by  God. 


One  of  them  said,  “We  don’t  want 
others  to  feel  they’re  not  in  the  king- 
dom business  if  they  can’t  give  dollars.” 
A second  reason  is:  “If  people  see  our 
names,  they  will  see  only  us.  They  may 
miss  the  value  of  taking  Jesus  Christ 
literally  in  the  realm  of  giving  and  shar- 
ing.” 

Although  the  donors  are  giving  gen- 
erously now,  they  have  had  occasions 
when  they  were  forced  to  ask  persons 
to  be  responsible  for  them  and  to  re- 
member them  with  gifts  and  prayers. 

“It  was  good,”  they  confessed,  “to 
depend  on  others  and  God,  and  it  cut 
deeply  into  our  feelings  of  self-sufficiency 
and  pride,” 

Mennonite  Indemnity 
reports  growth 

Mennonite  Indemnity,  Inc.,  has  reported 
that  premium  volume  increased  by  14.2 
percent  in  1972  and  for  the  first  time  in 
history  exceeded  $ 1 ,000,000. 

Mil  was  begun  in  1957.  “The  corpo- 
ration was  formed  so  that  its  members, 
local  Mennonite  Farm  Mutual  agencies, 
could  afford  to  take  large  risks,”  ex- 
plained Keith  Lehman,  mii  treasurer. 
“Mennonite  Indemnity  helps  to  level  off 
the  peaks  and  valleys.” 

Losses  paid  to  member  companies 
were  14.9  percent  lower  in  1972  than 
in  1971,  resulting  in  a 55.5  percent  loss 
ratio,  the  lowest  in  recent  years.  This 
improved  ratio  is  the  result  of  less  wind- 
storm activity  in  1972  and  more  ade- 
quate rating  of  hazardous  risks. 


224 


APRIL  3,  1973 


Peace  not  yet  at  hand  for  Vietnamese 


Paul  Longacre,  MCC  assistant  executive 
secretary,  prepared  this  report  following 
his  visit  to  Vietnam  after  the  cease-fire. 

‘‘Peace  is  a long  way  off,”  a senior  Viet- 
namese pastor  told  me  at  Nhatrang  on 
the  day  the  cease-fire  was  one  month  old. 
“It  has  been  real  warfare  ever  since 
the  cease-fire,”  observed  an  mcc  worker. 
Another  commented,  “I  have  seen  more 
Vietnamese  caskets  at  the  local  military 
hospital  in  the  past  few  days  than  be- 
fore the  cease-fire.”  An  American  aid 
official  said,  “Peace  will  take  some  get- 
ting used  to.” 

These  are  some  of  the  comments  I 
heard  on  a visit  to  South  Vietnam  in 
late  February.  I was  primarily  interested 
in  finding  out  if,  and  in  what  ways, 
mcc  could  assist  the  Vietnamese  people 
in  rehabilitation  and  reconstruction.  In 
addition  to  visiting  mcc  personnel,  Men- 
nonite  missionaries,  various  voluntary 
agency  representatives,  many  church 
leaders  in  Saigon,  and  several  locations 
“up  country,”  I met  with  several  mem- 
bers of  the  Canadian  delegation  of  the 
International  Committee  for  Control  and 
Supervision  (ices)  to  determine  pros- 
pects for  eventual  reconstruction. 

The  only  part  of  the  “peace”  that  the 
Vietnamese  people  need  to  get  used  to 
thus  far  is  freedom  from  American 
bombing.  In  most  other  respects  the  war 
continues  as  usual.  At  both  Nhatrang 
and  Pleiku  I observed  bombers  and  heli- 
copter gunships  taking  off  on  missions. 
More  than  100,000  new  refugees  have 
been  created  since  the  cease-fire.  Few, 
if  any,  refugees  have  returned  to  their 
villages.  There  has  been  no  demobiliza- 
tion of  forces,  and  few  military  and  no 
civilian  prisoners  have  been  released. 

The  machinery  for  peacekeeping — the 
loint  Military  Commission  (jmc)  in- 
volving the  four  parties  to  the  conflict, 
and  the  ices  (Canada,  Poland,  Hungary, 
and  Indonesia) — has  been  slow  in  get- 
ting into  the  field.  In  many  places  the 
ices  is  in  place  but  the  jmc,  to  whom 
they  are  to  report,  is  not.  The  Provision- 
al Revolutionary  Government  (prg)  has 
been  slow  in  getting  personnel  on  the 
teams.  The  only  part  of  the  peacekeeping 
function  that  is  moving  anywhere  close 
to  schedule  is  the  release  of  foreign 
military  prisoners  and  the  reduction  of 
the  U.S.  armed  forces. 

A Canadian  ices  member  commented, 
“You  think  the  present  supervision  is 
difficult.  Think  how  vastly  more  difficult 


it  will  be  after  the  sixty  days  when  the 
jmc  will  be  reduced  to  the  two  South 
Vietnamese  parties.  The  only  reason 
things  are  going  as  well  as  they  are  is 
the  determination  of  the  Americans  to 
get  the  prisoners  released  and  the  North 
Vietnamese  to  get  the  U.S.  military  out.” 

Though  American  helicopters  are  un- 
armed and  fly  about  the  country  shut- 
tling ices  teams  rather  than  troops  and 
rockets,  the  American  military,  political, 
and  economic  presence  is  still  substantial. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  will  be  up 
to  10,000  Americans  in  South  Vietnam 
at  the  sixty-day  period.  The  Stars  and 
stripes,  an  American  military  newspaper, 
reported  that  there  are  twenty-three 
American  civilian  companies  supplying 
parts  and  services  to  the  Vietnamese  air 
force  alone.  Numerous  military  person- 
nel who  were  serving  with  Civil  Oper- 
ations for  Rural  Delevopments  Service 
(cords)  will  be  continuing  the  same 
or  related  jobs  under  usaid  direction. 

There  has  been  a “war  of  the  flags” 
on  for  some  time  in  the  South.  The  an- 
nouncement of  the  cease-fire  has  accen- 
tuated this  war,  depicting  the  political 
struggle  for  the  control  of  the  people 
if  and  when  elections  are  held.  Yellow 
and  red  striped  flags  fly  from  every 


home,  business,  and  church  in  cities  and 
areas  held  by  the  South  Vietnamese  forc- 
es. Several  reporters  with  whom  I spoke 
who  had  visited  PRG-controlled  villages 
said  the  red  flags  were  just  as  prominent 
in  those  villages.  In  the  contested  areas 
families  are  known  to  have  both  flags 
for  use  as  the  occasion  demands. 

Though  few  Vietnamese  people  with 
whom  I spoke  anticipate  that  the  mili- 
tary and  political  struggle  will  diminish 
sufficiently  to  permit  large  numbers  of 
refugees  to  return  to  their  homes,  they 
feel  that  in  the  next  few  months  there 
will  likely  be  some  refugees  returning  to 
their  homes.  They  will  do  this  unless  the 
political-military  conflict  becomes  more 
intense  than  it  now  is.  There  will  also 
be  some  resettlement  of  villagers  in  new 
areas  rather  than  a return  to  their  former 
homelands. 

Many  Vietnamese  people  with  whom 
I spoke  would  like  to  be  optimistic  and 
think  that  the  peace  agreement  worked 
out  in  Paris  will  bring  peace  in  Vietnam, 
but  they  say  that  the  two  sides  are  too 
well  equipped  militarily  and  too  commit- 
ted to  their  political  positions  to  accom- 
modate each  other.  They  do  not  see 
themselves  entering  a generation  of  peace 
but  rather  the  third  Indochina  war. 


Lay  retreat  held  in  Taiwan 

The  Fellowship  of  Mennonite  Churches  in  Taiwan  had  its  first  retreat  for  all  lay 
people  February  14-16.  Missionary  Otto  Dirks  reported  that  in  the  past  there  had 
been  spiritual  retreats  for  pastors,  deacons,  elders,  youth,  Sunday  school  teachers, 
and  women’s  societies,  but  never  for  all  the  lay  people.  Shown  above  is  a teen-age 
discussion  group. 


THE  MENNONITE 


225 


Bad  news  for  the  poor,  poverty  war  curtailed 


Delton  Franz,  of  the  MCC  Peace  Section 
office  in  Washington,  D.C.,  filed  this  re- 
port: 

The  “war  on  poverty”  is  over! 

Calls  to  the  Peace  Section’s  Washing- 
ton office  from  constituents  involved  in 
a variety  of  federally  sponsored  poverty 
programs  have  already  signaled  the  im- 
pending hardships  awaiting  thousands  of 
disadvantaged  children  and  families  in 
city  ghettos,  migrant  camps,  Indian  res- 
ervations, and  Appalachian  hollers  across 
the  country. 

Federal  programs  designed  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  poor,  with  such  familiar 
captions  as  Head  Start,  Model  Cities, 
Community  Action  Programs,  and  the 
Legal  Services  Program,  are  destined  for 
oblivion.  Low-income  housing,  day-care 
centers,  mental  retardation  programs, 
medical  clinics  are  just  some  of  the 
services  available  to  the  poor  that  will 
either  be  sharply  reduced  in  scope  or 
dropped  altogether. 

The  president’s  budget  request  to  Con- 
gress for  fiscal  1974  (begins  July  1) 
prescribes  a retrenchment  in  domestic 
programs  on  the  grounds  that  a tax  in- 
crease can  be  avoided  if  the  line  is  held 
on  spending.  These  actions  are  being 
taken  in  the  assumption  that  the  pros- 
pering middle  and  upper  classes  have 
more  anxiety  about  high  taxes  than  about 
the  deprived  poor.  It  is  further  assumed 
by  the  administration  that  by  repeatedly 
emphasizing  that  poverty  programs  have 
been  failures,  wasteful,  and  costly — the 
public’s  attention  will  be  deflected  from 
the  far  greater  mismanagement  and 
waste  that  has  characterized  the  military 
defense  contracting  — the  paramount 
cause  of  inflation  and  high  taxes. 

Thus,  while  cutting  back  $6.5  billion 
on  programs  that  bear  most  heavily  on 
the  nation’s  twenty-five  million  poor,  the 
administration  has  requested  Congress 
to  increase  the  military  budget  by  $4.2 
billion — to  $81  billion  as  the  highest 
ever — even  though  it  might  be  antici- 
pated that  United  States’  disengagement 
from  the  Vietnam  War  would  result  in 
less  taxes  for  war. 

Nor  has  the  White  House  chosen  to 
curb  a tax  increase  by  tax  reform.  The 
special  interests  of  big  business  and  the 
rich  are  destined,  it  seems,  to  be  protect- 
ed while  services  and  programs  to  allevi- 
ate the  hardships  of  the  disadvantaged 
are  to  be  terminated. 

Those  programs  not  totally  dismantled 


could,  technically,  be  continued  at  the 
local  level  through  the  use  of  revenue- 
sharing funds  from  Washington.  But 
what  do  the  cities  and  states  do  with  the 
money  they  receive  from  Washington 
through  revenue  sharing?  A survey  made 
by  the  Senate  subcommittee  on  inter- 
governmental relations  reveals  that  state 
and  city  governments  do  not  spend  fed- 
eral revenues  on  services  to  the  poor.  On 
the  contrary,  the  indications  are  that  the 
money  is  being  used  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing number  of  mayors  and  governors  to 
make  tax  cuts  favorable  to  middle-in- 
come groups  and  to  beef  up  community 
services  such  as  the  fire  and  police  de- 
partments. 

It  seems  clear  that  if  those  most  in 
need  are  to  be  helped,  the  federal  gov- 
ernment will  have  to  earmark  funds  in 
a specific  way.  But  few  guidelines  or  re- 
strictions are  stipulated  for  state  and 
local  use  of  the  funds  provided  in  the 
administration’s  revenue  - sharing  pro- 
gram. Revenue  sharing  has  all  the  mak- 
ings of  becoming  a boondoggle. 

What  then  is  the  response  of  the 
church?  As  members  of  an  affluent  so- 
ciety, can  the  deft  appeal  of  the  White 
House,  capitalizing  on  citizen  discontent 
with  high  taxes,  distract  our  attention 
from  the  unfortunate  victims  of  the  eco- 
nomic system? 

The  disclosure  of  an  internal  evalua- 
tion authorized  by  the  White  House  re- 
veals that  the  administration  has  with- 
held from  the  public  the  results  which 
judged  the  Community  Action  Program 
(cap)  to  be  “highly  constructive.”  Cap 
programs  were  introduced  nearly  eight 
years  ago  to  provide  the  poor  at  the 
local  level  with  a chance  to  be  part  of 
the  decisions  affecting  their  lives.  Many 
of  the  kinks  have  been  ironed  out,  and 
cap  agencies  are  now  functioning  re- 
sponsibly. If  “returning  government  to 
the  people”  was  an  objective  of  the 
White  House,  it  should  not  have  dealt 
the  death  blow  to  the  one  platform  for 
civil  involvement  provided  the  poor. 

Likewise,  the  Head  Start  programs 
designed  to  prepare  educationaly  dis- 
advantaged youngsters  in  the  ghetto  for 
entering  school  will  be  severely  trimmed 
back.  The  administration  contends  the 
research  reports  do  not  show  adequate 
proof  of  gams  by  the  children  to  war- 
rant its  full-fledged  continuance.  Yet  Ed- 
ward Zigler,  director  of  the  administra- 
tion’s Office  of  Childhood  Development, 
has  indicated  that  a soon-to-be-published 


review  of  Head  Start  shows  that  children 
gained  substantially  in  learning  capacity, 
personality,  and  motivation. 

Would  Amos  and  Jeremiah  have  noth- 
ing to  say  to  rulers  and  a society  which 
chastise  the  poor  for  being  “shiftless” 
while  lavishly  subsidizing  large  enter- 
prises like  Lockheed,  Gruman,  and  itt 
which  have  mismanaged  their  funds?  Be- 
cause of  the  church’s  efforts  (though 
relatively  limited)  to  relate  the  needs  of 
the  poor  to  the  government,  this  major 
policy  shift  by  the  U.S.  administration 
can  hardly  be  ignored. 

Congress  will  need  to  take  action  not 
to  cut  back  on  crucial  poverty  programs, 
but  to  cut  the  increased  military  budget 
submitted  by  the  administration.  The 
military  budget  will  increase  four  billion 
dollars.  There  have,  of  course,  been  mis- 
takes and  poorly  planned  poverty  pro- 
grams. But  a variety  of  federally  funded 
programs  in  the  areas  of  education,  hous- 
ing, health  care,  and  legal  assistance  were 
ironing  out  the  rough  spots  and  proving 
most  valuable.  Congress  will  need  to  re- 
introduce these  programs  if  they  are  to 
be  salvaged.  It  is  now  rather  clear  that 
revenue-sharing  funds  are  being  used  to 
benefit  middle-income  groups  and  not  the 
underprivileged. 

The  church  should  also  engage  its  own 
resources  of  people  and  money  in  de- 
veloping first-rate  programs  to  lift  the 
oppressed  through  compensatory  educa- 
tion, economic  development  opportuni- 
ties, and  health  care. 

In  Washington,  the  Office  of  Economic 
Opportunity,  nerve  center  for  the  war 
on  poverty,  is  being  dismantled.  The 
orders  to  terminate  its  work  are  being 
carried  out  with  dispatch.  Some  staff 
members  have  reported  being  given  thir- 
ty minutes  to  empty  their  desks  and  close 
shop. 

Can  the  church  show  just  as  much 
urgency  in  moving  out  to  stand  by  the 
“disinherited”  of  our  rich  country?  A 
precedent  for  such  action  seems  to  come 
through  in  the  urgency  with  which  one 
leader  spoke  when  he  addressed  his  con- 
gregation: “The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is 
upon  me  because  he  has  anointed  me  to 
announce  good  news  to  the  poor  ...  to 
let  the  broken  victims  go  free.  ...” 


226 


APRIL  3,  1973 


Jesuit  priest  addresses 
school  staff  in  India 

Vic  Reimer,  a teacher  at  Woodstock 
School  in  India,  submitted  the  following 
report: 

The  close  relationship  between  education 
and  the  teaching  of  values  was  seen  in 
the  professional  development  workshop 
at  Woodstock  School,  Mussoorie,  India, 
prior  to  the  school’s  opening  in  February. 
The  keynote  speaker  was  Dominic 
George,  an  Indian  lesuit  priest  from  Cal- 
icut in  the  state  of  Kerala.  Several  days 
later  the  theme  of  values  was  again  stud- 
ied and  discussed  during  the  annual  staff 
retreat  with  particular  emphasis  on  wit- 
nessing to  them. 

Fr.  Dominic  referred  to  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  as  the  fundamental  value 
system  of  Christianity.  However,  aes- 
thetic, moral,  and  spiritual  concepts  are 
all  relevant  to  a discussion  of  values  due 
to  their  humanizing  potential  and  moti- 
vational thrust.  Values  are  great  moti- 
vators and  humanizers. 

Commenting  further  on  the  reasons 
for  teaching  values,  Fr.  Dominic  ob- 
served that  values  intolerantly  held  cre- 
ate conflict  situations.  While  intolerance 
i is  unhealthy,  conflict  is  potentially  good 
! for  the  spirit.  If  confrontation  leads  to 
honest,  searching  dialog,  characterized 
' by  open-mindedness,  a person  may  then 


perceive  God’s  mystery  from  the  per- 
spective of  another  person.  Fr.  Dominic 
cautioned  that  a closed  system  of  values 
atrophies  and  becomes  defensive.  There- 
fore each  individual  must  continually  re- 
evaluate and  reintegrate  his  values. 

Woodstock’s  guest  placed  great  im- 
portance on  dialog  as  a method  of  teach- 
ing values  because  serious  dialog  gener- 
ates growth.  He  expressed  considerable 
faith  in  man’s  rationality.  It  is  better  to 
search  out  solutions  to  human  problems 
in  dialog  than  for  one  person  to  decide 
for  another. 

Teacher  reaction  was  that  the  dialog- 
ical method  was  too  sophisticated  for 
students,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
the  senior  high  level.  The  effect  of  rules 
in  influencing  values  should  not  be  under- 
estimated. The  teaching  of  values  is  more 
difficult  since  the  teacher  is  in  the  posi- 
tion of  power.  Nevertheless,  Woodstock’s 
teachers  do  agree  that  one-to-one  relation- 
ships are  effective  in  value  formation, 
and  the  Christian  teacher’s  own  example 
in  his  academic  work  and  in  his  life  is 
also  of  prime  importance. 

Interestingly,  on  the  second  day  of  the 
workshop,  his  presentations  over,  Father 
Dominic  visited  Hampton  Court,  a Cath- 
olic girls’  school  in  Mussoorie.  Upon  his 
return,  he  brought  along  several  staff 
members  from  the  Catholic  institution 
to  meet  the  Woodstock  faculty.  Appar- 
ently this  was  the  first  such  meeting  be- 


tween the  Woodstock  and  Hampton 
Court  staffs.  It  symbolized  the  importance 
the  friendly  Christian  from  Calicut  at- 
tached to  open-mindedness. 

Uruguay  annual  conference 
looks  at  new  curriculum 

The  Conference  of  Mennonite  Churches 
in  Uruguay  met  February  9-11  in  Delta, 
Uruguay,  to  discuss  Sunday  school  mate- 
rial, a catechism,  and  selection  of  of- 
ficers of  the  conference. 

Since  the  General  Conference  is  no 
longer  providing  German-language  Sun- 
day school  material,  South  American 
Mennonites  are  working  on  a new  Ger- 
man curriculum.  A committee  of  Sun- 
day school  teachers  has  written  teaching 
material  and  presented  the  conference 
with  a sample  lesson.  The  conference 
gave  them  the  go-ahead  to  proceed  with 
the  rest  of  the  curriculum. 

The  Uruguay  conference  also  adopted 
a new  confession  of  faith,  drawn  up  by 
representatives  from  each  congregation. 
The  conference  had  been  using  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  of  the  Mennonites  in 
Prussia,  written  in  1895. 

The  conference  debated  whether  the 
officers  of  the  conference  should  be  cho- 
sen from  the  elders  of  the  four  congrega- 
tions, as  in  the  past,  or  if  the  officers 
should  be  four  “unburdened”  delegates. 
The  conference  decided  that  elders  could 
best  carry  on  the  business  of  the  confer- 
ence. 

Vfords^decds 

The  Mennonite  museum  at  Steinbach, 
Manitoba,  has  received  a second  stone 
monument  from  the  Soviet  Union  hon- 
oring one  of  the  two  representatives  who 
negotiated  the  large  Mennonite  migra- 
tion from  Prussia  to  Russia  in  1788.  The 
memorial,  which  honors  Jacob  Hoepp- 
ner,  consists  of  a tombstone  and  a large 
granite  obelisk  similar  to  the  memorial 
for  Jacob  Bartsch  which  the  museum  re- 
ceived from  Russia  in  1967.  The  entire 
cost  of  bringing  the  monument  to  Can- 
ada— a total  of  $5,335 — is  being  raised 
by  the  Isaac  A.  Hoeppner  family  of  Mor- 
den,  Manitoba. 

The  voluntary  service  workers  at  the 
Sunshine  Children’s  Home  at  Maumee, 
Ohio,  have  prepared  a special  Sunday 
school  curriculum  for  fifteen  retarded 
children  at  the  home.  The  children,  who 
belong  to  the  highest  intelligence  group 
at  the  home,  color,  cut  out  pictures,  and 
listen  to  Bible  stories. 


Ruth  Unrau  {center),  a Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  apppointee  who  is  teaching 
English  at  Woodstock  School  in  India,  chats  with  two  of  the  school’s  staff  about 
Father  Dominic  George’s  presentations  on  values.  Peter  Lugg  {left)  is  from  Delhi, 
and  Bill  Shryock  is  from  Montana. 


THE  MENNONITE 


227 


For  information  write  to: 
Voluntary  Service 
Commission  on  Home 
Ministries 
Box  347 

Newton,  Kansas  67114 
or  call  (316)  283-5100. 


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REVIEW 

The  closing  circle 


The  closing  circle,  by  Barry  Commoner 
( Bantam  Books,  Alfred  A.  Knopf,  New 
York,  1971)  is  reviewed  by  Esko  Loe- 
wen,  copastor  of  the  Bethel  College 
\ Church,  North  Newton,  Kansas. 

Ecology  can  so  quickly  become  a name 
for  cleaning  up  the  environment  or  re- 
ducing pollution  that  soon  we  choose 
sides  finding  ecologists  as  strange  people 
who  want  paper  recycled,  cans  and  de- 
bris picked  up,  or  people  who  ride  bi- 
cycles or  walk,  people  who  back  off  from 
all  the  “progress”  we  have  made,  who 
protest  the  use  of  detergents  and  stand 
in  the  way  of  pipelines  in  Alaska  and 
the  overuse  of  energy  resources  here  at 
home,  until  we  quite  completely  miss  the 
point  of  what  ecology  is  all  about. 

Barry  Commoner’s  book  quickly  car- 
ries us  beyond  these  superficial  expres- 
; sions  of  the  problem.  For  the  real  prob- 
lem is  the  basic  destruction  of  the  very 
, delicate  balance  of  all  the  forces  inter- 
related with  each  other  making  life  on 
; our  planet  possible.  Ecology  is  concerned 
about  this  subtle  and  profoundly  com- 
plex combination  of  forces  that  makes 
■ physical  life  a reality  on  this  earth. 

The  concern  of  the  book  is  the  “bull- 
' in-the-china-shop”  style  with  which  our 
i economy  and  technology  have  sought  to 
control  nature — and  in  the  process  has 
| laid  mankind  open  to  some  sobering 
1 prospects  in  the  future.  For  Mr.  Com- 
; moner  would  say,  control  of  nature  is 
impossible,  existence  is  possible  only  by 
the  route  of  cooperation. 

You  soon  come  to  the  comic  strip 
I Pogo’s  conclusion,  “We  have  met  the 
enemy  and  he  is  us!”  And,  you  realize 
| that  a basic  decision  must  be  made  re- 
I garding  our  assumptions  about  what  man 
can  do  and  cannot  do.  Early  you  see 
what  those  early  American  authors,  such 
[ as  Thoreau,  Whitman,  Mark  Twain, 
| Cooper,  and  Emerson,  were  talking  about 
j when  they  reflect  such  an  entirely  dif- 
I ferent  spirit  toward  nature  as  compared 
. with  the  attitude  of  our  day.  Today  we 
I think  in  terms  of  mastering  nature.  They 
saw  man’s  proper  relationship  as  one  of 
i cooperation  and  identity  with  nature, 
i When  you  read  a book  such  as  this  the 
I wisdom  of  the  fathers  has  a compelling 
( authority. 


For,  we  delude  ourselves  if  we  think 
ours  is  to  master  nature.  In  the  last 
twenty-five  years  a whole  Pandora’s  box 
of  synthetic  and  nondegradable  articles 
have  been  developed  and  produced.  Now 
the  question  we  face  is  what  do  we  do 
with  them.  Detergents  are  one  such  an 
item.  Result,  not  only  are  great  quanti- 
ties of  phosphates  poured  into  rivers  and 
lake,  but  also  mercury,  which  is  used  to 
produce  phosphates.  The  imbalance  pro- 
duced in  lakes  is  resulting  in  the  death 
of  lakes  and  streams,  mercury  in  fish,  and 
an  imbalance  of  life  in  these  bodies  of 
water,  loss  of  oxygen  in  the  water,  wip- 
ing out  whole  species  of  fish,  but  likely 
permanently  changing  the  whole  balance 
of  nature  (Lake  Erie  is  Exhibit  A of  this 
process). 

The  frightening  fact  is  that  because 
our  technology  has  never  looked  at  the 
whole  picture,  it  has  brilliantly  “solved” 
single  problems  but  in  the  process  has 
created  a whole  array  of  new  ones.  DDT 
is  an  example  of  solving  one  problem — 
the  mosquito  for  instance,  but  opening 
the  door  to  a whole  array  of  new  prob- 
lems. 

Barry  Commoner,  at  the  conclusion 
of  an  article  on  Lake  Erie  in  the  1968 
World  book  yearbook,  says,  “The  de- 
terioration of  Lake  Erie  warns  of  a great 
impending  crisis  in  our  environment, 
one  that  threatens  to  destroy  the  suita- 
bility of  the  earth  for  human  habitation. 
It  is  a crisis  bom  of  our  unwitting  de- 
struction of  the  natural  system  that  sup- 
ports us.  The  lake  damage  suggests  that 
the  conviction  that  science  and  tech- 
nology can  ‘conquer’  nature  is  indeed 
a dangerous  illusion.  If  we  are  to  survive, 
we  must  remake  our  urban,  industrial, 
and  agricultural  technologies  so  that  they 
will  conform  to  the  unconquerable  de- 
mands of  the  natural  environment  on 
which  human  welfare  and  survival  de- 
pend.” 

In  this  brief  paragraph,  Mr.  Common- 
er describes  what  The  closing  circle  is 
all  about.  It  portrays  the  lively  prospect 
that  man  by  his  own  technological  doing 
will  do  himself  in.  He  will  not  conquer 
nature.  His  only  recourse  is  to  under- 
stand and  cooperate  with  nature — or 
be  its  victim. 

One  step  to  such  understanding  is  to 


be  informed.  This  book  informs.  It  looks 
at  our  problem  not  just  from  the  biolog- 
ical perspective,  but  from  the  social,  eco- 
nomic, and  political  points  of  view  as 
well. 

If  one  could  be  so  persuasive  as  to 
convince  everyone  to  read  a book  on 
ecology  for  the  purpose  of  getting  peo- 
ple to  see  what  we  are  doing  to  ourselves, 
at  least  a public  understanding  could  re- 
sult. This  is  a must  book  for  such  an 
understanding.  And  understanding  is  a 
must  if  mankind  is  to  survive  the  crisis 
so  imperceptibly  but  certainly  shaping. 

Doubtless  my  generation  will  survive 
the  folly  we  have  produced.  But,  the 
gnawing  question  I ask  myself  is  what 
of  our  stewardship  for  the  sake  of  those 
who  will  live  100  years  from  now?  And, 
what  will  they  say  of  our  stewardship? 
Please  do  read  The  closing  circle. 

Published 

Led  by  the  Spirit.  Five  study  guides, 
written  to  help  prepare  persons  for  the 
Festival  of  the  Holy  Spirit  May  11-13 
on  the  Goshen  College  campus,  are  now 
ready.  The  guides  are  centered  in  a se- 
ries of  New  Testament  selections  on  the 
leading  of  the  Spirit,  theme  of  this  year’s 
festival.  Writing  team  of  the  guides  was 
a group  of  Goshen  College  and  Associ- 
ated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  stu- 
dents, faculty,  and  local  pastors  led  by 
Robert  Guth,  seminary  student. 


THE  MENNONITE 


229 


LETTERS 


Coping  in  crisis 

Dear  Larry:  I would  like  to  compliment 
you  on  the  timely  and  inspiring  article 
by  C.  G.  Rempel  “Coping  in  crisis” 
(February  20  issue).  For  me  it  came 
just  after  a very  close  friend  was  killed 
in  an  accident.  Thanks! 

It  has  been  good  to  read  of  all  the 
good  “vibes”  at  various  end-of-the-year 
meetings.  God  has  been  good  to  all  our 
conferences!  I have  been  looking  for 
some  serious,  prophetic  venture  of 
thanksgiving  in  innovative  programming 
for  the  future.  So  far  I haven  t seen  it 
in  the  reports.  Maybe  we  feel  God  is 
blessing  our  status  quo.  Personally,  I 
feel  God  is  interested  in  our  being  faith- 
ful to  our  time,  and  the  challenges  are 
plentiful.  Where  are  the  Mennonite 
prophets  of  the  1970s?  Bernie  Wiebe, 
2506  Cumberland  Rd.,  Grand  Forks, 
N.D.  58201.  March  5 

Let  MCC  represent  us  all 

Dear  Editor:  You  report  that  mcc  s 
increased  income  caused  executive  sec- 
retary William  T.  Snyder  some  embar- 
rassment and  then  quote  him  as  saying 
that  mcc  must  be  concerned  that  its 
program  not  run  too  far  ahead  of  the 
conferences’  (February  13  issue).  Be- 
cause I think  his  way  of  thinking  per- 
vades a large  part  of  our  church  leader- 
ship, I write  the  following  to  you  and  to 
your  readership  as  well  as  to  Mr.  Snyder. 

The  unequal  distribution  of  the  mate- 
rial goods  of  this  world  is  such  that  we 
in  America  enjoy  a standard  of  living 
so  much  higher  than  most  of  the  rest 
of  the  world  that  there  is  hardly  a mean- 
ingful way  in  which  to  calculate  the  dis- 
parity. It  seems  strange  then  that  the 
people  who  are  supposed  to  be  urging 
us  to  share  our  abundance  would  make 
statements  which,  if  they  do  not  have 
the  opposite  effect,  do  nothing  to  impel 
us  to  higher  levels  of  giving.  For  most 
of  us  it  is  hard  to  resist  buying  that  new 
model,  whether  car,  dishwasher,  or  coat. 
In  order  for  us  to  postpone  our  own 
gratification  for  the  sake  of  God’s  cause 
we  need  each  other’s  encouragement  to 
give  more  of  our  money  away.  We  do 
not  need  church  leaders  who  are  embar- 
rassed when  we  do.  Hopefully  the  mcc 
officers  read  the  following  week  s issue 
of  The  Mennonite,  which  reported  about 


MEDITATION 

On  making  persons  whole 


In  dividing  an  individual  into  parts — a mind,  a body,  a spirit  or  soul  we  are  more 
Greek  than  we  are  Judeo-Christian.  It  is  more  Christian,  more  like  Jesus’  belief  and 
action,  to  see  a person  as  a whole,  a totality,  a person.  And  this  is  important. 

So  one  may  note  Jesus’  concern  to  make  persons  whole,  those  who  in  one  way  or 
another  were  not  complete.  The  woman  with  a hemorrhage,  a physical  ailment,  is 
made  well  (Mark  5:24-34).  The  man  with  many  demons,  we  might  say  mentally  ill, 
is  restored  to  wholeness  (Luke  8:26-39).  The  prostitute,  morally  and  spiritually 
sick,  is  forgiven  (Luke  7:36-50).  While  we  tend  to  say  physical,  mental, 
“moral,”  or  “spiritual,”  Jesus  saw  only  individuals  who  were  less  than  they  could 
be,  and  so  he  did  what  was  needed  to  restore  them  to  wholeness. 

It  is  instructive  to  observe,  in  the  above  illustrations  (though  not  consistently  in 
the  gospels),  the  same  word  is  used  in  the  original,  written  language  to  describe 
the  restoring  (Gr.  sozo).  The  woman  with  the  hemorrhage  is  “made  well”  (sozo) ; 
the  demoniac  is  “healed”  (sozo)-,  the  prostitute  is  “forgiven”  (sozo).  And  this  is 
the  word  we  usually  translate  “save.”  To  deal  with  and  remedy  these  conditions 
which  prevent  a person  from  being  complete,  by  whatever  name,  is  to  save  or 
rescue  him  from  incompleteness. 

This  running  together  of  what  we  term  the  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual,  this 
interrelatedness,  is  also  evident  in  our  own  vocabulary.  The  English  words  whole, 
health,  and  holy  stem  from  the  same  root,  the  Old  English  hal.  Health  is  wholeness 
and,  to  some  extent  at  least,  holiness.  In  German  this  kind  of  common  tie  is  also 
true,  but  even  more  dramatically.  The  adjective  heil  means  well,  sound,  whole;  the 
verb  heilen  means  to  heal  or  cure;  heilig  is  holy  or  sacred;  the  noun  Heil  means 
salvation. 

So  the  concern  for  persons,  for  a person,  needs  to  be  for  each  m his  totality. 
There  are  unique  approaches,  certainly.  The  physician  does  have  a special  responsi- 
bility for  the  physical  body,  the  psychiatrist  for  the  mind  and  feelings,  the  pastor 
for  spiritual  and  ethical  matters.  But  this  responsibility  is  not  for  one  component  of 
a person;  it  must  be  a responsibility  for  all  of  the  person.  And  each  approach  is 
working  essentially  for  the  same  thing— to  make  the  person  whole,  to  bring  him  to 
soundness  and  health,  to  save  him  from  whatever  makes  him  less  than  a full  person 
— be  that  sickness,  hunger,  anxiety,  crime,  or  sin. 

This  is  our  task.  Vernon  Neufeld 


food  shortages  in  Bangladesh  and  India, 
or  better  yet  the  reports  of  the  mcc  field 
people  on  which  your  articles  were  pre- 
sumably based.  And  if  there  is  not  need 
enough  abroad,  the  Seattle  Neighbors  in 
Need  (a  food  bank  for  the  unemployed) 
could  use  some  of  the  extra  money. 

To  church  officials  who  have  the  men- 
tality reflected  in  Mr.  Snyder’s  statement 
I would  say  the  following:  If  mcc  does 
not  know  what  to  do  with  the  money  I 
send,  I know  of  many  relief  agencies 
that  are  willing  to  receive  it,  who  know 
what  to  do  with  it,  and  I am  not  think- 
ing of  our  conference  mission  boards. 
The  reason  why  I,  and  apparently  others, 
give  less  to  mission  boards  and  more  to 
mcc  is  because  we  see  that  mcc  does 
the  kind  of  work  Jesus  wants  us  to  do, 
namely  to  relieve  people’s  hunger  and 


heal  their  illnesses.  Perhaps  Mennonite 
conference  boards  are  beginning  to  en- 
gage in  this  kind  of  work  as  well.  While 
such  may  be  a sign  of  Mennonite  ma- 
turity, I do  not  see  why  we  need  to  give 
to  two  or  three  boards  simply  in  order 
to  feed  so  many  more  organizational 
structures.  Let  mcc  represent  all  of  us. 
Let  our  church  leaders  take  it  as  a mes- 
sage from  their  giving  constituencies  that 
we  want  them  to  get  on  with  the  job, 
even  though  by  world  standards  our 
work  is  small,  of  redistributing  the 
world’s  wealth  as  efficiently  as  possible. 

In  defense  of  Mr.  Snyder,  let  me  say 
that  it  is  possible  that  it  was  The  Men- 
nonite’s  reporting  which  gave  his  re- 
marks their  dissuading  and  restraining 
effect.  John  Klassen,  2032  Franklin  East, 
Seattle,  Wash.  Feb.  28 


230 


APRIL  3,  1973 


Elated  by  Meetinghouse  3 

Dear  Editor:  Thanks  for  the  joint  issue 
with  the  Gospel  herald  (February  27 
issue)  which  dealt  chiefly  with  the  issue 
of  worshiping  of  God  or  mammon.- 

I am  elated  that  these  important  dis- 
cussions have  come  from  within  the  Men- 
nonite  church.  This  gives  me  much  en- 
couragement to  know  that  this  type  of 
thinking  is  in  the  “midst  of  us.” 

Now  that  the  issues  and  answers  have 
been  so  clearly  presented,  there  must 
be  some  follow-up  by  concerned  and 
responsible  people.  Perhaps  the  first  log- 
ical move  would  be  to  discuss  this  fur- 
ther in  the  churches,  small  groups,  and 
through  The  Mennonite.  The  latter  could 
be  done  by  having  more  articles  and 
through  readers’  letter  response.  Ray- 
mond M.  Brubaker,  R.  1,  Washington 
Boro,  Pa.  17582.  March  10 

World  peace  advanced 

Dear  Editor:  My  thoughts  go  back  to 
our  home  when  I was  a growing  young- 
ster. The  Bundes  Bote  had  a vital  part. 
Father  and  mother  searched  its  pages, 
then  discussed  its  contents  to  share  a 
greater  measure  of  spiritual  food. 
Through  discussions  we  children  shared 
their  spiritual  gems. 

The  Bundes  Bote  has  been  replaced 
by  The  Mennonite.  Along  the  way  The 
Mennonite  has  lost  much  of  the  food 
for  the  spirit.  The  letters  to  the  editor 
are  partisan  political  criticisms,  directed 
mainly  against  President  Nixon  and  Billy 
Graham — letters  one  would  expect  from 
the  news  media,  but  not  in  a church  pa- 
per. 

This  letter  is  not  critical  of  the  editor 
for  publishing  these  letters,  as  it  is  the 
only  way  the  conference  can  know  the 
thinking  of  a minority  of  the  constitu- 
ency. 

Many  years  ago  in  one  of  our  Bible 
classes  the  following  thought  was  given 
us:  “Never  leave  a chapter  in  the  Bible 
until  you  can  see  Jesus  in  it.”  In  ap- 
plying the  above  analysis  to  President 
Nixon  and  Billy  Graham,  the  chief  tar- 
gets for  criticism,  we  find  two  men  who 
have  been  intimate  friends  through  the 
years.  Both  are  known  around  the  world 
and  highly  respected  by  people  every- 
where. Few  men  in  recent  history  have 
had  the  opportunity  to  acquire  firsthand 
wisdom  as  they  have.  In  their  field  of 
endeavor  they  are  giants  among  men. 
They  belong  to  the  world,  but  we  are 
richly  blessed  that  we  can  claim  both  as 
our  own. 


When  President  Nixon  took  office  he 
inherited  a war  to  which  he  had  not 
contributed.  He  pledged  to  bring  home 
more  than  500,000  of  our  citizens  in  the 
war  zone,  to  wind  down  the  war,  to  seek 
an  honorable  peace,  and  to  bring  the 
prisoners  of  war  home.  Now  as  Presi- 
dent Nixon  begins  his  second  term  he 
has  kept  his  pledge  to  the  nation.  The 
stage  for  world  peace  appears  more  prom- 
ising than  it  has  in  many  years. 

On  the  international  level  we  have  pos- 
sibly witnessed  the  beginning  of  a miracle 
during  the  last  four  years.  Nations  seem 
to  have  mellowed  toward  the  United 
States.  Nations  with  a hostile  ideology 
now  participate  with  us  in  friendly  coun- 
cil. This  would  have  been  utterly  im- 
possible only  a few  years  ago. 

Billy  Graham  continues  to  witness  for 
God  around  the  world  and  refuses  to  be 
drawn  into  controversies  which  would 
destroy  his  testimony. 

Could  it  be  that  the  Ford  is  using 
these  two  men  to  bring  peace  and  to 
bring  the  people  of  the  world  back  to 
God?  We  should  be  praying  daily  for 
both  that  the  Ford’s  will  will  come  to 
pass.  Lawrence  A.  Bartel,  124  Washing- 
ton Ave.,  Souderton,  Pa.  18964.  Feb.  22 

We  share  same  concerns 

Dear  Editors:  Thanks  to  both  of  you 
(editors  of  Gospel  herald  and  The  Men- 
nonite) for  Meetinghouse  3 (February 
23),  which  I felt  was  one  of  the  best 
issues  of  both  periodicals  in  recent 
months.  It  was  a beautiful,  prophetic 
issue,  and  it  is  a real  service  to  the  Men- 
nonite brotherhood  to  make  it  plain  that 
we  share  the  same  concerns.  Doris  Long- 
acre,  724  Fulton  St.,  Akron,  Pa.  17501. 

March  4 

About  letters:  To  encourage  our  read- 
ers to  express  themselves  on  a variety  of 
issues,  we  try  to  use  all  letters  submitted 
for  publication.  Unsigned  correspon- 
dence, however,  will  not  be  published, 
though  we  may  withhold  names  for  valid 
reasons  in  a special  situation.  Editor. 


Contents 

Helpers,  healers,  and  people  of  mercy  218 


VS  is  good  news 220 

News  222 

The  closing  circle  229 

Letters  230 

On  making  persons  whole  230 

The  Paul  principle  232 


CONTRIBUTORS 

This  week's  issue  focuses  special  atten- 
tion on  the  Commission  on  Home  Minis- 
tries. Three  of  the  writers  are  on  the 
staff  or  board.  David  Whitermore  has 
spent  several  months  visiting  churches 
and  communities  telling  the  CHM  story. 
Until  recently  he  was  pastor  of  Grace 
Church  in  Lansdale,  Pa.  George  Lehman 
is  completing  a four-year  term  as  di- 
rector of  the  General  Conference's  volun- 
tary service  program  this  summer.  Stan 
Bohn,  pastor  of  First  Church  in  Blufffon, 
Ohio,  is  chairman  of  CHM. 

Vernon  H.  Neufeld,  1105  N.  Wishon, 
Fresno,  Calif.  93728,  is  executive  director 
of  Mennonite  Mental  Health  Services. 

COVER 

Voluntary  service  worker  Bob  Neufeldt, 
right,  talks  with  two  boys  in  Oklahoma 
City. 

CREDITS 

219,  Waltner,  Freeman,  S.D.,  MCC; 
222,  GCNS;  225,  Peter  Kehler,  Box  165, 
Taichung,  Taiwan,-  227,  Vic  Reimer, 
Woodstock  School,  Mussoorie,  U.P.  India. 


Meiulonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS'l ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  &8371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


231 


The  Paul  principle 

Stan  Bohn 

In  1984  the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
worked  itself  out  of  a job  and  went  out  of  exist- 
tence.  It  started  when  Mennonite  Indian  Leaders’ 
Council  took  over  chm’s  Indian  ministries  pro- 
gram in  1976.  At  chm’s  suggestion,  milc  made 
requests  directly  to  district  and  provincial  confer- 
ences for  aid  on  mission  projects. 

The  voluntary  service  program  of  chm  con- 
tinued a policy  started  in  the  1960s  of  having 
congregations  replace  chm  as  sponsor  of  units. 
By  the  1980  conference,  many  churches  reported 
locally  directed  interdenominational  VS  efforts, 
and  the  VS  office  in  Newton  was  closed. 

The  pioneering  done  by  chm  in  radio  and  TV 
spots  was  so  popular  that  large  denominations 
offered  to  help.  They  also  funded  the  new  five- 
minute  Christian  message  movie  trailers  used  at 
drive-in  theaters,  and  funds  from  our  congrega- 
tions weren’t  needed. 

There  was  a hot  argument  at  the  1974  trien- 
nial conference.  Chm  threatened  to  stop  channel- 
ing funds  to  new  congregations.  It  urged  nearby 
established  congregations  to  send  funds  direcdy 
to  the  emerging  congregations  in  Seattle  and 
Orange  County,  California.  A proposal  was  adopt- 
ed that  the  functions  of  the  church  extension 
office  be  moved  into  the  Sunday  school  classes. 

Even  the  peace  and  social  concerns  office  cre- 
ated to  deal  with  issues  some  congregations 
thought  they  could  not  handle  locally  refused 
requests  in  1982  to  call  a consultation  on  abor- 
tion and  create  a Mennonite  position  statement. 
It  advised  churches  and  communities  to  come 
together  and  work  on  it  as  a brother-  and  sister- 
hood should  with  the  doctors,  pastors,  counselors, 
and  others  who  actually  faced  the  decisions.  Other 
issues  were  treated  the  same  way.  Sometimes  the 
letters  to  the  editor  section  of  The  Mennonite 
added  extra  pages  as  churches  reported  their  find- 
ings and  other  churches  disagreed. 

By  1984  chm  was  out  of  a job  and  gone. 

By  1985  the  letters  to  the  editor  section  in 
The  Mennonite  bristled  with  remarks  such  as: 
“We  need  some  conference  staff  who  understand 
Indian  positions  to  help  us  not  to  repeat  mis- 
takes with  minority  groups.”  “The  new  military 
draft  is  flooding  us  with  people  looking  for  ap- 
proved alternative  service  assignments.  Get  a VS 
director!”  The  new  offshore  mining  develop- 
ments in  the  Great  Lakes  have  created  a huge 


urban  complex  in  western  Ontario.  We  need  a 
trained  church  extension  person  to  help  groups  do 
more  than  build  a building  and  serve  themselves. 
We’re  wasting  mission  money!”  “Those  TV  spots 
lack  the  zip  our  peace  heritage  gave  them.” 

In  1989  chm  was  recreated. 

The  above  fantasy  describes  the  usual  chm 
tension  of  doing  necessary  things  while  saying  at 
the  same  time,  “Are  you  sure  you  can’t  do  it 
better  locally?”  You  could  call  this  tension  the 
result  of  the  Paul  principle.  The  apostle  Paul 
wouldn’t  let  himself  be  built  into  any  congregation. 
Instead  of  looking  to  Jerusalem  for  permission  to 
act,  congregations  were  to  share  discoveries. 

It  is  a nuisance  in  letters,  committee  meetings, 
and  reports  to  have  someone  constantly  bringing 
up  the  Paul  principle.  Why  should  chm  sponsor  a 
seminar  on  the  offender  when  a local  church  could 
do  it  with  other  local  churches?  Then  people 
could  zero  in  on  the  needs  at  their  own  local 
court,  jail,  and  probation  office,  organizing  what’s 
needed  instead  of  returning  from  a conference 
frustrated  by  the  local  problems.  It  turned  out 
that  seminars  were  needed  at  both  the  confer- 
ence and  community  levels. 

If  your  congregation,  after  hearing  the  annual 
Gideon  presentation,  says,  “Why  don’t  local 
churches  get  together  and  put  free  take-along 
modem  translation  Bibles  in  our  local  motel  . . . 
along  with  a note  of  some  kind?  Why  pay  the 
Gideons  to  make  contacts  churches  could  make?” 
the  Paul  principle,  which  has  been  a nuisance  at 
chm,  is  loose  in  your  congregation,  too. 

Last  week,  a new  leak  developed  in  our  roof — 
not  out  on  the  porch  this  time,  but  in  the  house. 
When  I called  a builder  from  our  church  he  said, 
“Yes,  I could  put  a new  roof  on,  but  . . . And 
then  he  proposed  that  he  would  provide  the  need- 
ed supervision  and  tools  if  we  would  think  of  mak- 
ing a family  project  out  of  it  this  summer.  It 
would  save  money  for  other  causes,  give  me  some 
needed  exercise,  teach  me  some  things  about  the 
three  kinds  of  roofs  we  have,  and  solve  the  sum- 
mer job  problem  for  our  teen-agers  for  part  of 
the  summer,  so  that  they  will  do  less  watching 
of  summer  reruns  on  the  tube.  That  is  the  way 
chm,  nagged  by  the  Paul  principle,  wants  to  be 
used:  not  to  do  things  for  a congregation,  but  to 
help  congregations  make  a church-family  learning 
and  growing  project  out  of  sharing  Jesus  Christ. 


TTip 

Mennonite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


vs 


88:15  APRIL  10,  1973 


y\ 


/q,  , *>- 


Lc.r 

iA, 


-A  n i 

*«T}' 


Wounded  Knee.  1890 


The  seizure  of  Wounded  Knee  by  militant  Indians  who,  in  a standoff  with  the  government,  declared  the  area  a \ 
“sovereign  nation,’’  has  virtually  nothing  to  do  with  strategic  location  or  whatever  value  South  Dakota  land  L 
may  have.  The  saga  of  Wounded  Knee  1973  has  to  do  with  memory  and  history,  for  it  was  there  in  1890  n 
that  the  last  major  incident  in  the  “Indian  wars”  took  place.  At  Wounded  Knee  the  spirit  of  the  Sioux  was  j|j 
broken — for  many  decades  at  least — as  the  United  States  Cavalry  slaughtered  some  300  men,  women,  and  chil-  [ 
dren  who  were  trying  to  reach  Pine  Ridge,  the  site  of  the  agency  set  up  for  the  Oglala  Sioux  by  the  govern-  <K 
ment.  The  photos  on  this  page  and  the  cover,  made  available  by  the  Museum  of  the  American  Indian  in 
New  York  City,  are  scenes  taken  before  and  after  the  massacre. 

(Cover)  Bodies  of  Indians  lie  on  the  battlefield  at  Wounded  Knee,  following  the  December  29,  1890,  j 
massacre.  ( 1 ) A band  of  Sioux  assembled  for  a dance  in  August  1890.  Nearly  all  were  later  killed  at  Wounded  \, 
Knee.  (2)  When  the  shooting  stopped,  scores  of  Indians  were  dead  or  seriously  wounded.  Many  of  the  wounded  T 
crawled  away  to  die.  The  dead  Indians  were  buried  in  a mass  grave  after  the  massacre.  (3)  The  body  of  a Sioux 
medicine  man  killed  in  the  fighting. 


1 


2 


IN  MEMORIAM 

' Knee 

Sr  1890 
73? 


Bill  Meilen 

Brave  men  blue 

Tall  in  saddles 

Long  knife  soldiers 

Horsed  and  sabred 

Do  not  let 

The  running  babies 

And  the  squaws 

Reach  the  fathering  arms 

Of  the  mossgrown  outcrop 

Ride  down  the  bearing  women 

Slice  through  the  screams 

Of  the  carriers 

Of  future  braves. 


To  make  these  birds  unborn 
That  could  fly  high 
Smash  the  eggs 
While  in  the  nest 
So  they  will  never  reach 
The  freedom  of  the  sky. 


Boys  in  khaki 
Smoothfaced  guardsmen 
Raise  your  Garands 
And  draw  a bead 
Upon  a people’s  hope. 


3 


THE  MENNONITE 


235 


Peter  J.  Ediger 


WoundedKnee 
and  a 
.hardened 
heart 


Notice!!! 

“We  the  people  of  this  land  are  at  the  point  of  no  return. 
So  this  will  be  your  last  chance,  white  man. 

Learn  to  live  with  us  or  suffer  your  own  greediness 
and  your  sins  to  our  people. 

We  will  overcome  our  plight. 

We  will  be  free  once  again. 

Let  no  man  stand  between  our  search  for  freedom 
unless  he  is  willing  to  be  chastised. 


Those  words,  posted  on  a bulletin  board  at  the  “liber-  > 
ated”  trading  post  at  Wounded  Knee,  wormed  their  wayj 
deep  into  my  guts  during  two  days  at  Wounded  Knee,  L 
where  several  hundred  native  Americans  were  living  those  j 
words  and  ready  to  die  with  those  words. 

And  death  was  just  over  the  hills  at  Wounded  Knee, 
prowling  on  the  tracks  of  dozens  of  armored  personnel  j 
carriers  threatening  to  move  in  at  any  time. 


We  only  die  once, 
so  let’s  die  here  together 
Wounded  Knee,  Again. 

It  is  better  to  die  on  your  feet 
than  to  live  on  your  knees.” 


Indians,  one  of  them  holding  a gun,  stage  a religious  cere- 
mony in  the  Sacred  Heart  Roman  Catholic  mission  in  Wound- 
ed Knee,  South  Dakota.  The  church  served  as  headquarters 
for  the  Indians  who  took  over  the  village,  located  in  the  Pine 
Ridge  reservation. 


And  there  we  were,  a dozen  persons  present  in  the  name' 
of  the  Christian  church — present  in  an  interposition  be-i 
tween  the  rifles  and  tanks  of  the  fbi — federal  marshals  j 
and  the  fortified  bunkers  of  the  Indians,  present  to  ob-J 
serve  happenings  in  the  demilitarized  zone,  present,  hope-i 
fully,  to  help  cool  the  clamor  for  invasion  and  to  en-j 
courage  further  negotiations — negotiations  so  difficult  and 
yet  so  vital,  so  complex  and  yet  so  crucial. 


We  came  to  Wounded  Knee  at  the  request  of  the  Na- 
tional Council  of  Churches  to  participate  in  a mediating 
ministry.  I came  with  many  questions;  I left  with  many! 
more.  I came  with  some  feelings  about  Wounded  Knee;} 
I left  with  these:  , 

Wounded  Knee  is  a symptom  of  a hardened  heart,  and!1 
I am  a part  of  that  heart. 

Wounded  Knee  is  a symptom  of  a diseased  body,  and| 
I am  a part  of  that  body. 

Wounded  Knee  is  a symptom  of  a crippled  conscience,! 
and  I am  a part  of  that  conscience. 

Wounded  Knee  is  a symptom  of  a two-hundred  year! 
running  festering  sore,  and  I am  a part  of  that  continuing! 
infection. 


Will  our  hearts  be  buried  at  Wounded  Knee,  or  canf 
Wounded  Knee  help  the  whole  body  to  be  free? 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  | 
tt  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonit-e 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial  i | 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  ! 2 


APRIL  10,  1973 


236 


NEWS 

Aid  considered  for  refugees  at  Wounded  Knee 


Paul  Leatherman,  director  of  MCC’s  vol- 
untary service  program,  prepared  the 
following  report  March  16. 

Sharp  battle  lines  have  been  drawn  be- 
tween the  American  Indian  Movement 
and  the  U.S.  Department  of  Justice  at 
Wounded  Knee,  South  Dakota,  on  the 
Pine  Ridge  reservation.  Various  church 
groups  have  been  working  with  the  op- 
posing sides  to  bring  about  a cease-fire. 
It  appeared  that  an  agreement  had  been 
reached,  March  10.  One  of  the  points 
of  the  agreement  was  a commitment  on 
the  part  of  a number  of  churches  to 
provide  food  for  the  Indians  who  had 
lost,  their  homes  through  fires  and  loot- 
ing as  a result  of  the  Wounded  Knee  con- 
frontation. Church  World  Service  asked 
MCC  if  it  could  mobilize  a feeding  pro- 
gram at  Wounded  Knee. 

Last  week  Lawrence  Hart,  a Menno- 
nite  minister  and  a Cheyenne  Indian 
chief  from  Clinton,  Oklahoma,  briefed 


the  mcc  executive  committee  on  the 
Wounded  Knee  situation  as  he  under- 
stood it.  Mr.  Hart  is  a newly  elected 
member  of  the  executive  committee.  He 
encouraged  mcc  to  investigate  the  needs 
of  the  Indians  who  had  been  forced  out 
of  their  homes  in  Wounded  Knee  but 
cautioned  against  moving  too  quickly. 

Indians  have  faced  broken  treaties  and 
broken  promises  from  the  white  man  ever 
since  he  arrived  in  this  country.  The 
Bureau  of  Indian  Affairs  which  has  been 
established  by  the  U.S.  Government  to 
administer  government  funds  on  behalf 
of  Indian  affairs  is  itself  repressive.  Many 
times  the  bureau  does  not  work  in  the 
best  interests  of  the  Indian. 

The  various  Indian  tribes  have  differ- 
ent opinions  on  how  they  should  respond 
to  these  broken  promises  and  repressive 
tactics.  The  American  Indian  Movement 
is  a militant  group  that  speaks  for  only 
a small  portion  of  the  Indian  population. 

Virgil  Claassen  from  the  mcc  center 


at  North  Newton,  Kansas,  and  Nelson 
Hostetter,  who  was  then  in  Rapid  City, 
South  Dakota,  went  to  investigate  the 
needs  in  the  Pine  Ridge  reservation. 
Road  blocks  prevented  them  from  enter- 
ing Wounded  Knee.  The  cease-fire  did 
not  materialize  as  had  been  anticipated. 

Mr.  Claassen  and  Mr.  Hostetter  esti- 
mated that  sixty-five  Indians  had  left  their 
homes  in  the  Wounded  Knee  area  and 
were  living  in  church  basements  and 
with  other  families  in  Pine  Ridge.  Ray- 
mond Lautt,  a Mennonite  Brethren  work- 
ing with  the  Rapid  City  disaster  response 
committee,  has  delivered  a load  of  blan- 
kets, food,  and  money  to  these  Indian 
refugees.  He  will  be  available  to  give 
further  assistance  if  called  upon. 

The  investigative  team  concluded  that 
until  a cease-fire  is  firmly  established  and 
there  is  free  access  into  Wounded  Knee 
both  for  Indians  and  others,  attempts  to 
help  from  outside  the  area  would  only 
further  complicate  the  situation. 


Freeman  Junior  College  sets  new  direction 


A career-oriented  curriculum  will  be  the 
central  thrust  of  Freeman  Junior  Col- 
lege, Freeman,  South  Dakota,  accord- 
ing to  a recent  decision  of  the  college’s 
board. 

The  decision,  made  March  14,  grew 
out  of  two  executive  committee  meetings 
and  two  full  board  meetings  during  the 
past  month  on  the  subject  of  the  future 
of  the  school. 

Another  meeting  soon  with  the  board 
and  the  Freeman  Junior  College  cor- 
poration will  outline  more  detailed  plans 
of  the  new  emphasis,  certain  elements  of 
which  will  be  reflected  in  next  fall’s  pro- 
gram. 

The  board  based  its  action  in  part  on 
the  experience  of  Hesston  Junior  Col- 
lege, Hesston,  Kansas,  which  draws  Men- 
nonite students  nationwide  for  career 
studies  and  which  is  one  of  the  few 
church  colleges  to  enjoy  steady  enroll- 
ment growth  in  recent  years.  Freeman 
Junior  College  has  recently  experienced 
a decline  in  enrollment. 

The  Kansas  college  offers  a variety  of 
two-year  career  programs  including  agri- 


culture-business, building  technology, 
child  care,  electronics,  and  professional 
secretarial. 

In  its  decision,  the  Freeman  board  re- 
viewed two  study  documents  prepared 
by  Robert  Kreider,  study  director  of  the 
Department  of  Higher  Education  of  the 
General  Conference. 

In  his  paper  on  career-oriented  edu- 
cation as  an  option  for  Freeman,  Mr. 
Kreider  proposed  such  criteria  in  select- 
ing career  programs  as:  no  program 

which  would  require  initially  more  than 
one  full-time  faculty  member,  programs 
which  permit  extensive  on-the-job  learn- 
ing opportunities,  and  programs  leading 
to  promising  employment  opportunities. 

The  board,  in  opting  for  the  career- 
oriented  program,  said  it  sought  to  do 
this  “in  the  liberal  arts  context  with  a 
strong  Christian  and  religious  emphasis 
and  with  continued  close  relationship  to 
the  Mennonite  church.” 

Palmer  Graber,  board  chairman,  said, 
“The  executive  committee,  which  has 
been  charged  with  the  task  of  securing 
a new  president,  now  has  a much  clearer 


sense  of  direction  for  its  search.  This  is 
now  our  No.  1 job.” 

Mr.  Kreider  said  the  four-year  Free- 
man Academy  would  continue,  but  the 
accent  will  be  on  the  junior  college. 

Released  journalist 
finds  homeland  selfish 

An  Australian  journalist,  recently  re- 
leased after  three  years  of  captivity  in 
the  Chinese  People’s  Republic,  declared 
in  Sydney  that  he  had  returned  to  “a 
rich,  selfish,  dog-eat-dog  society.” 

Francis  James,  fifty-six,  former  pub- 
lisher of  The  Anglican,  went  on  a jour- 
nalistic assignment  to  mainland  China 
in  1969.  He  was  arrested  as  he  was 
about  to  cross  over  into  Hong  Kong. 
He  was  charged  with  being  a Russian 
spy. 

Mr.  James  said  that  Australian  society 
appeared  to  be  “in  a far  worse  state”  than 
when  he  left  it  in  1969,  using,  as  it  did, 
“pretenses  and  shams”  to  disguise  the 
fact  that  “it  was  not  merely  unchristian, 
but  positively  anti-Christian.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


237 


Seminarians  look  at  women's  roles 


Carol  Hull  (center  in  striped  blouse ) leads  an  all-seminary  forum,  discussing  two 
women  s groups  which  have  begun  meeting  on  campus  this  year. 


The  number  of  women  students  at  Asso- 
ciated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  in 
Elkhart,  Indiana,  is  not  large  — twenty- 
four  full-time  and  part-time  students. 
But  the  number  is  ten  more  than  last 
year,  and  that  increase  plus  the  general 
climate  in  the  churches  has  made  the 
role  of  women  in  the  seminary  and  in  the 
church  the  most  talked-about  issue  on 
campus  this  year. 

Most  of  the  discussion  has  been  private 
or  in  small  groups,  but  the  issue  has  been 
there.  Women  — both  students  and  wives 
of  students  — have  started  meeting  regu- 
larly over  lunch  or  during  an  evening 
to  discuss  their  roles.  Men  have  discussed 
the  issue  more  informally  and  wondered 
why  the  groups  were  for  women  only. 
Finally  in  March  the  whole  seminary 
community  discussed  the  issue  at  a Fri- 
day noon  forum.  Earlier  in  the  week, 
Dorothy  Nyce  talked  in  chapel  on  “Wom- 
en in  God’s  plan  and  men’s  world”  and 
was  applauded — a rare  occurrence. 

Women  at  the  seminaries  have  been 
meeting  together  for  years — but  primar- 
ily through  the  Seminary  Women’s  Fel- 
lowship, consisting  mostly  of  wives  of 
students  and  faculty  who  met  to  listen  to 
missionary  talks  and  devotions. 

The  newly  formed  groups  are  talking 
instead  about  themselves — how  they  can 
relate  to  the  seminaries  as  students  or 
students’  wives  and  how  they  can  relate 
to  the  churches  as  pastors’  wives. 

A group  of  women  students  began 
meeting  in  December  over  Monday  lunch- 
es to  talk  about  theological  education 
for  women,  curriculum  changes,  finding 
jobs  after  graduation,  and  recruitment 
of  more  women  for  the  seminaries. 

Some  women  students  have  felt  that 
the  seminaries  should  be  more  active  in 
finding  employment  for  women  gradu- 
ates in  the  churches.  Erland  Waltner, 
president  of  Mennonite  Biblical  Semi- 
nary, argued  that  the  seminary  doesn’t 
provide  placement  service  for  anyone — 
male  or  female. 

“We  are  primarily  an  educational  in- 
stitution, not  a placement  agency,”  he 
said.  “But  the  women’s  raising  the  issue 
may  result  in  more  concern  for  every- 
one’s placement.” 

A course  on  women’s  history  in  the 
church  had  been  planned  for  the  Janu- 
ary interterm  but  hit  some  snags,  and 
the  women  students’  group  has,  to  a 
degree,  been  an  extracurricular  response 
to  an  issue  it  was  not  possible  to  study 
fully  within  the  regular  curriculum. 


The  second  group,  mostly  students’ 
wives — although  there  is  some  overlap 
with  the  first  group — is  more  diverse. 
Participants  include  working  women, 
students,  wives  of  students,  and  women 
who  spend  most  of  their  time  rearing 
children — women  who  otherwise  would 
have  little  chance  to  interact  with  each 
other. 

The  group  is  studying  the  book  After 
Eve  by  Alan  Graebner,  and  discussions 
include  such  topics  as  the  role  of  a min- 
ister’s wife,  women’s  role  at  seminary, 
combining  vocation  and  marriage,  and 
personal  fulfillment. 

“Women  here  are  awfully  fragment- 
ed,” said  Dorothy  Nickel  Friesen,  for- 
mer student  and  student’s  wife.  “We  do 
not  ever  see  each  other  except  on  Wed- 
nesday evening  (when  the  group  meets). 
We  had  stereotypes  of  what  a working 
wife  is.  It  is  important  to  discover  real 
people  under  those  titles.” 

Ms.  Friesen  said  the  women’s  groups 
had  been  criticized  for  being  separatist, 
but  “we  have  4,000  years  to  catch  up  on 
who  we  are.” 

The  all-seminary  forum  to  discuss  the 
women’s  groups  became  a place  to  in- 
form the  men  about  what  was  happen- 
ing and  defend  the  groups’  existence 
against  those  who  were  not  sure  why 
women  should  need  to  meet  separately. 

“There  are  so  few  of  us  and  this  is  a 
man’s  world,”  said  Dorothy  Ann  Friesen. 

“My  self-confidence  in  my  vocational 
goals  decreased  after  I came  to  semi- 
nary,” said  Martha  Smith,  a middler  who 


plans  to  take  special  training  in  clinical 
pastoral  education.  “I  felt  pressure  from 
men  at  the  seminary  to  prove  myself 
academically.  Everyone  has  been  con- 
ditioned that  women  are  not  supposed  to 
work  with  theology.  But  I have  had  to 
develop  self-confidence  that,  yes,  I can 
do  theology.  I can  exegete. 

“It’s  exciting  to  work  with  other  wom- 
en (in  the  small  groups).  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  threatening  for  us  and  for 
men.  This  awareness  brings  responsibil- 
ity, and  women  must  be  adequately  pre- 
pared to  take  responsibility.  But  I am 
positive  about  the  future  role  of  women 
in  the  church.  If  a woman  has  a good 
understanding  of  her  own  womanhood 
and  her  mission  and  is  adequately  pre- 
pared and  not  apologetic  for  that,  I feel 
that  the  churches  won’t  be  denying  her 
the  right  to  work  where  she  is  prepared. 
If  we  could  get  more  women  who  are 
willing  to  take  that  risk,  we  could  really 
do  things.  There  have  been  some  in 
Mennonite  history,  but  there  just  haven’t 
been  enough.” 

The  role  of  women  is  not  the  only 
issue  at  the  seminaries. 

There  is  much  discussion,  both  formal 
and  informal,  on  finding  community.  The 
emphasis  on  community  is  an  official 
part  of  the  program  of  the  seminaries 
through  K (koinonia)  groups  (small 
groups  in  which  students  and  faculty 
and  spouses  participate  regularly),  week- 
ly forum  meetings  over  a sack  lunch, 
chapel  services,  and  field  education  in 
congregations. 


238 


APRIL  10.  1973 


The  catalog  says,  “The  knowledge 
which  is  to  be  communicated  and  learned 
through  the  curriculum  is  basically  re- 
lational in  character  and  its  mastery  and 
comprehension  involve  relationships.  . 
This  calls  for  a different  orientation  of 
members  of  the  learning  community 
toward  each  other  than  would  be  re- 
quired if  their  intellectual  search  were 
directed  toward  purely  objective  mate- 
rial whose  secret  can  be  determined  by 
disinterested  observation  and  analysis 
which  leave  the  discoverer  unchanged  in 
his  being.” 

Yet  there  are  questions  about  whether 
community  can  be  structured — whether 
there  should  be  less  trying  to  structure 
it  and  more  trying  to  manifest  it. 

Part  of  the  feeling  of  community  is 
the  blurring  of  denominational  lines  at 
the  two  seminaries — Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary  and  Goshen  Biblical  Seminary. 


Few  people  seem  to  care — or  even  know 
— who  is  General  Conference  Mennonite 
and  who  is  (Old)  Mennonite.  Eleven 
denominations  are  represented  in  the  stu- 
dent body  of  110,  although  most  are 
Mennonites.  The  president  of  the  Com- 
munity Council,  made  up  of  faculty  and 
students,  is  Bob  Hull,  a Catholic. 

The  tension  between  the  academic  and 
the  practical  is  always  present.  Some 
students  feel  that  they  receive  too  little 
academic  credit  for  the  field  work  they 
perform — either  in  nearby  congregations 
or  in  clinical  pastoral  education. 

As  faculty  member  Jacob  J.  Enz  put 
it,  “There  is  the  continuing  creative  ten- 
sion here  between  the  book  and  the  liv- 
ing human  document.” 

“But  this  is  a tension  you  want  to 
keep,”  said  John  Howard  Yoder,  Go- 
shen Biblical  Seminary  president. 

A related  tension  is  whether  the  sem- 


inaries are  to  “prepare  people  for  the 
ministry,  period”  or  to  serve  also  those 
people  who  want  a one-year  theology 
program  and  lay  persons  who  have  come 
to  think  through  their  faith. 

Mr.  Yoder  saw  a slight  shift  in  stu- 
dent interests  from  the  peace  activism 
of  the  late  sixties  to  a new  charismatic 
emphasis. 

The  self-study  necessitated  by  a regu- 
lar accreditation  review  has  meant  that 
the  seminary  community  has  been  look- 
ing hard  at  itself  this  year.  The  question 
related  to  all  these  issues  is:  Flow  can 
we  create  a setting  for  theological  edu- 
cation that  is  consistent  with  our  the- 
ology as  a believers’  church?  That  ques- 
tion has  been  addressed  in  twenty-four 
pages  at  the  back  of  the  current  catalog 
and  continues  to  be  addressed  as  the 
seminaries  continue  becoming.  Lois  Bar- 
rett Janzen 


Construction  progresses  on  African  hospital 


Two  Zairian  construction  workers  help  with  building  the  new  hospital  at  Tshikaji. 


The  following  report  was  submitted  by 
Sam  Ediger,  a short-term  worker  under 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
supervising  construction  on  a new  hos- 
pital near  Kananga,  Zaire. 

I am  here  with  the  imck,  or  Christian 
Medical  Association  of  Zaire,  building  a 
new  200-plus-bed  hospital,  if  the  money 
holds  out.  This  hospital  is  to  train  doc- 
tors and  nurses  and  take  in  only  special 
cases  for  analyzing  and  cure.  I am  one 
of  a team  of  three  here,  and  my  assign- 
ment is  to  supervise  the  men,  about  sev- 
enty-five by  now,  and  also  control  the 
quality  of  construction,  which  of  course, 
is  a feel-as-you-go  method,  because  there 
aren’t  any  testing  laboratories  here. 

From  fifty  to  one  hundred  men  work 
here,  depending  on  the  need,  and  by  the 
ones  standing  in  line  at  the  gate,  you 
could  probably  get  three  times  that  many 
at  a day’s  notice.  They  come  from  vari- 
ous villages  in  a fifteen-kilometer  radius. 

Some  of  the  wealthier  men  get  to  work 
on  motorbikes;  others  have  just  a plain 
worn-out  bike;  others  walk  all  the  way. 
We  start  on  the  job  at  7:30  a.m.  and  they 
usually  report  to  work  at  7:15  for  roil 
call  and  our  morning  devotions,  which 
consists  of  group  singing  and  prayer. 
This  means  that  many  have  started  from 
home  around  5,  without  breakfast,  pos- 
sibly carrying  a banana  or  palm  nuts  for 
their  meal.  There  are  stands  on  the  way 
and  across  the  road,  and  we  allow  a fift- 
teen-minute  break  for  lunch.  Ladies 
come  by  with  bananas,  peanuts,  etc., 


which  is  all  the  men  eat  till  they  go  back 
home  late  in  the  evening  for  their  big 
meal  of  bidia. 

These  men  are  hard-working  and  quick 
to  learn.  You  will  always  receive  a return 
smile  or  a greeting  as  you  pass  them  at 
their  work.  They  appreciate  their  job, 
since  it  gives  opportunity  for  earning 
and  learning,  even  though  they  receive 
for  the  day’s  work  less  than  $1.00  (U.S.). 
The  cost  of  goods  is  higher  than  in 
North  America,  so  somewhere  they  have 
to  do  without.  They  don’t  live  in  ex- 
pensive houses,  drive  big  cars,  or  eat 
out  often. 

They  are  quite  young  in  their  tech- 
nical experience.  A rubber-tired  wheel- 
barrow is  really  something  to  sport  on 


the  job.  Give  them  a red-handled  ham- 
mer, or  even  a pencil,  and  they  feel  im- 
portant. 

Most  of  these  men  live  in  stick  houses 
covered  with  mud  and  with  a grass  roof. 
Some  have  mud-block  houses  with  a tin 
roof.  I helped  a labor  foreman  build  one 
of  these  mud-block  houses  with  a tin 
roof. 

These  men  are  Christian  gentlemen. 
They  are  eager  for  the  Bible  and  Chris- 
tian literature.  They  love  the  morning 
devotions.  If  you  are  taking  a busload 
home  because  of  rain,  you  will  find  them 
singing  religious  songs  most  of  the  way. 
We  have  bought  and  handed  out  over 
100  Bibles  and  tracts  for  our  workers 
and  have  ordered  100  more. 


THE  MENNONITE 


239 


WHERE  IN 


THE  WORLD 


ARE  YOU? 


• • 


• *A 


• • 


• • 


V 


1973  PROGRAM 


Commission  on  Home  Ministries — 
$369,300 

Voluntary  service;  Indian  American 
congregations  and  school;  radio 
and  TV;  evangelism;  programs  on 
peace,  poverty,  and  social  concerns. 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission — 
$1,470,645 

Programs  in  ten  countries:  evangelism 
and  church  planting;  training  national 
leaders;  missionary  support  and  travel; 
urban  witness;  medical  work;  economic 
development;  educational  ministries; 
and  MCC  overseas  relief  and  service. 


Commission  on  Education — $143,000 

Developing  Sunday  school  and  other 
study  materials;  leadership  develop- 
ment; workshops;  work  with  children, 
youth,  and  college  students;  publications. 


Where  are  you?  All  over  the  world!  You  may  be  thinking,  “Nc| 
not — I'm  here  in  Saskatoon  (or  Quakertown,  or  Bloomington,! 
or  Dallas,  or  Freeman)."  Yes,  you  are  there  in  your  home  town,| 
right  there  in  your  own  community. 

But  you  are  in  the  world,  too.  You  were  out  in  the  world  that  time 
you  helped  a needy  neighbor.  In  your  own  way  you  tried  to  show 
the  love  of  Christ  to  him. 

You  are  in  the  world  through  a son  or  daughter  or  friend  who  may 
be  in  a service1  or  mission  program  somewhere,  either  under  MCC 
or  General  Conference.  They  are  representing  you  by  going  where  yo 
cannot  go  and  serving  in  ways  for  which  you  may  not  have  the  skj 
You  are  in  ten  countries  of  the  world  where  workers  of  the 

£ \ 

General  Conference  Mennonite  Church  are  helping  people  to  f cj 
Christ  and  wholeness  of  life. 

You  will  soon  be  communicating  God's  love  and  f c gj 
two  new  TV  spots,  "You're  OK"  and  "You're  bjj 
in  May  and  June.  Your  gifts  make  it  possill 
stations  to  let  people  know  that  God — arS 
Jesus  said  one  day  that  His  followers  "are  Ilia 
world."  Our  world  is  the  one  which  "God  lovH 
• His  only  Son,  so  that  everyone  who  believes  blj 

• but  have  eternal  life." 

„ Ours  is  a world  of  people — people  with  whom  wjl 

- ' whom  we  can  love,  whom  we  can  care  about.  At 

' • suspicious,  afraid,  illiterate,  undernourished,  podf 

r bankrupt.  We  who  have  been  put  in  touch  with  Gcjji 

to  introduce  such  persons  to  God’s  love. 

"As  you  go,  make  disciples”  is  a paraphrase  ofl 
words.  Make  disciples  as  you  go  into  the  world  you); 

_ 4.1 L + 


go  through  your  representatives. 

Let’s  be  our  best  for  God  wherever  we  are  in  the  \| 


OUR  WORKERS  IN  THE  WO! 


Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary — $173,000 

Training  church  leaders;  teacher  salaries 
and  equipment;  scholarships;  maintain- 
ing physical  plant;  Institute  of 
Mennonite  Studies. 


TOTAL 


$2,155,945* 


♦Includes  the  following  amounts  for 
poverty  projects:  $27,500  for  CHM; 
$27,500  for  COM;  and  $5,000  for  COE. 
Total,  $60,000. 


Workers  on  five  continents  and  in  thiij 
nine  countries  are  giving  a Christian  ( 
witness  through  the  worldwide  minis' 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonitel 
Church. 

Our  gifts  make  possible  this  testirrl 
to  life,  love,  peace,  and  reconci I iatiorl  j 
in  Christ. 

The  number  of  workers  supported  I 
through  your  contributions  to  Genera;  j 
Conference  are: 


Go  to  the  whole  world  and  preach  the 
gospel  to  all  mankind — JESUS 


417 


245* 

662 


neral  Conference 
Overseas  180 

Indian  workers  30 

Voluntary  Service  140 

jAennonite  Biblical 

Seminary  17 

i Staff  (Newton,  Winnipeg, 
and  Saskatoon)  50 


pnonite  Central  Committee 
!>taff  (North  America)  33 

|A/orkers  in  North  America  68 
Workers  overseas  144 


Total 


Trough 
e released 
500  television 
•pie — care, 
the  whole 
that  He  gave 
not  die 

In  are  lonely, 
lually 
world 

ig 

j;  you 


DOLLARS  HELP  PEOPLE 
IN  THE  WORLD 

$1,550  pays  a missionary's  tuition, 
board,  and  room  to  study  one  year  at 
the  seminary's  new  Overseas  Mission 
Training  Center. 

$12,000  pays  General  Conference  costs 
for  two  new  TV  spots  to  be  shown 
across  North  America. 

$2,849  will  permit  Vidal  and  Julie 

Jimenez  to  start  new  work  in  Girardot, 
Colombia,  a city  of  70,000.  Urban 
witness  and  church  planting  are 
urgent  priorities  in  Colombia. 

$500  is  needed  to  plan  a Graduate 
Seminar  for  Mennonite  students.  This 
is  one  of  the  few  ways  we  keep  in 
contact  with  our  young  people  in 
higher  education. 

$500  provides  the  funds  for  one  couple 
to  attend  the  Theological  Institute  in 
Kinshasa,  Zaire.  While  husbands 
prepare  for  the  ministry,  wives  receive 
instruction  in  Bible  and  homemaking. 

$200  makes  it  possible  to  recruit,  train, 
and  place  one  volunteer  in  a Voluntary 
Service  unit  for  two  years. 


General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church 
600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 
Winnipeg,  Man.  R3P  0M4 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671 14 


;)tal  MCC  workers:  733.  General 
Tference  members  represent  one-third 
the  total. 


MCC  personnel  down 


The  number  of  MCC  personnel  in  service 
increased  steadily  since  1963  until  last 
year.  Total  personnel  in  1972  declined 
slightly  to  759  last  November,  com- 
pared to  772  in  November  1971. 

The  reasons  for  decline  in  personnel 
are  difficult  to  pinpoint.  Major  changes 
in  the  Selective  Service  System  in  the 
United  States  in  1972  resulted  in  a sig- 
nificant decrease  in  the  total  number  of 
persons  drafted.  For  some  potential  vol- 
unteers, the  primary  reason  for  entering 
service,  the  draft,  was  removed. 

However,  the  apparent  decrease  in 
interest  in  service  cannot  be  blamed  en- 
tirely on  the  draft.  A number  of  persons 
close  to  Mennonite  colleges  have  felt  a 
lack  of  student  leadership  and  interest 
in  involvement  in  social  issues.  One  pro- 
fessor noted  that  students  seem  to  be 
directing  energies  toward  intentional  com- 
munities and  local  social  issues.  Others 
speculate  that  a tightening  job  market 
discourages  young  people  from  giving  up 
present  or  potential  jobs. 

“One  bright  spot  is  the  strong  con- 
tinuing interest  of  people  who  have  served 
previously  in  mcc,”  said  Lavon  Welty, 
personnel  director.  “The  wealth  of  in- 
terest that  exists  among  our  former  work- 


ers may  be  one  key  to  the  recruitment 
problem.” 

The  number  of  mcc  persons  serving 
overseas  at  the  end  of  November  1972 
was  488 — the  same  number  as  in  No- 
vember 1971.  The  number  of  personnel 
decreased  in  Nigeria,  Zambia,  Vietnam, 
and  Greece  and  increased  slightly  in  Bots- 
wana, Jamaica,  and  Zaire. 

Fewer  volunteers  are  serving  in  North 
America.  The  greatest  decreases  occurred 
at  Junior  Village  in  Washington,  D.C., 
where  mcc  involvement  was  completely 
phased  out,  and  in  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

More  Canadians  are  entering  mcc 
programs.  For  the  first  time  in  the  re- 
cent past,  Canadians  make  up  more  than 
one-fourth  of  the  total  personnel  in 
service. 

Most  major  Mennonite  conferences 
saw  increased  involvement  on  the  part 
of  their  members  in  mcc  service.  One 
notable  exception  was  the  Mennonite 
Church.  At  the  end  of  1971,  272  Men- 
nonite Church  members  were  in  mcc 
service.  In  1972  there  were  only  227. 

Mcc  volunteers  from  non-constituent 
churches  increased  from  14.2  percent  of 
total  workers  in  1970  to  19.6  percent 
in  1972. 


Foundation  names  officers 


The  structure  of  an  inter-Mennonite 
foundation  for  Canada  is  gradually  be- 
ing shaped  by  the  conferences  which  have 
agreed  to  work  together  on  this  project. 

Representatives  from  three  conferences 
and  observers  from  a fourth  group  met 
in  Winnipeg  in  early  March  to  hear  about 
final  preparations  for  an  application  for 
a charter  and  to  make  further  refine- 
ments on  the  organization’s  bylaws. 

Mennonite  Foundation  of  Canada  will 
begin  with  twenty-two  corporation  mem- 
bers. All  of  them  will  be  elected  by  the 
three  member  conferences.  Six  each  will 
be  selected  by  the  Western  Ontario  and 
Ontario  Mennonite  conferences,  and  ten 
by  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in 
Canada.  Provisions  have  been  made  to 
permit  other  conferences  to  join  if  they 
wish.  The  Northwest  Conference  (for- 
merly the  Alberta-Saskatchewan  Confer- 
ence), for  example,  is  considering  entry. 
It  had  observers  at  the  March  meeting 
in  Winnipeg. 

The  twenty-two  corporation  members, 
in  turn,  will  elect  an  eleven-member 
board  of  directors. 


The  interim  board  of  directors,  which 
is  responsible  for  the  foundation’s  busi- 
ness until  each  of  the  conferences  has 
duly  elected  its  contingent  of  corpora- 
tion members,  named  its  officers  at  the 
March  meeting.  They  are  David  P.  Neu- 
feld,  Virgil,  Ontario,  chairman;  Milo 
Shantz,  Preston,  Ontario,  vice-chairman; 
Arthur  Rempel,  Winnipeg,  secretary; 
and  Mervin  Good,  London,  Ontario, 
treasurer. 

Considerable  time  was  also  devoted 
at  this  meeting  to  a discussion  of  the 
functions  which  the  foundation  will  as- 
sume. Because  it  will  be  registered  as 
a nonprofit  corporation,  it  will  not  be 
able  to  incur  debts  on  tax-deductible 
donations.  It  will  therefore  need  to  work 
out  an  arrangement  with  the  conferences 
whereby  the  foundation  will  administer 
and  invest  such  funds  on  a management- 
trust  basis.  Through  this  type  of  an  ar- 
rangement, each  member  conference  will 
be  fully  aware  of  the  funds  that  the  foun- 
dation is  handling  on  its  behalf.  It  will 
also  be  possible  for  the  conferences  to 
turn  other  funds  over  to  the  foundation. 


The  foundation  will  be  in  a position  to 
serve  the  conferences  and  related  institu- 
tions in  a variety  of  other  ways,  such  as 
setting  up  educational  programs,  provid- 
ing legal  counsel  and  investment  advice, 
and  administering  certain  funds. 


Minneapolis  congregation 
refuses  telephone  excise  tax 

Faith  Mennonite  Church  in  Minneapolis, 
Minnesota,  has  recently  voted  to  with- 
hold payments  of  the  9 percent  federal 
excise  tax  on  its  telephone  bill  “in  pro- 
test against  the  Vietnam  War  and  U.S. 
militarism.” 

The  church  council  had  discussed  the 
issue  in  November  and  January  and  had 
recommended  that  the  tax  issue  be 
brought  up  at  the  anual  business  meeting 
February  4.  On  that  date,  the  issue  was 
debated  during  the  Sunday  school  hour 
and  voted  on  at  the  annual  meeting  in 
the  afternoon. 

“There  was  not  complete  consensus  in 
our  case,”  said  Pastor  Donald  Kaufman. 
“But  a significant  group  feels  that  this  is 
an  important  Christian  witness.” 

Congregational  moderator  Richard 
Westby  drafted  a letter  to  Northwestern 
Bell  to  be  sent  with  each  month’s  phone 
payment.  The  letter  reads  in  part: 

“The  Faith  Church  has  traditionally 
opposed  war  and  continues  to  pay  for 
war  (although  tax  withholding  does  not 
have  a long  tradition  within  our  history.) 
This  contradiction  between  profession  and 
practice  within  our  congregation  is  now 
being  changed  so  that  we  are  more  con- 
sistent in  our  faith.  We  are  opposed  to 
war  and  do  not  want  our  tax  payments 
to  support,  endorse,  or  pay  for  U.S.  war 
efforts. 

“As  a church  organization,  we  realize 
that  we  have  a responsibility  to  our  coun- 
try and  government  for  services  ren- 
dered. We  support  our  government  ex- 
cept when  it  contradicts  Christian  moral- 
ity and  conscience.  . . . We  feel  obligat- 
ed to  challenge  our  government’s  reck- 
less and  immoral  military  deeds.  By  our 
small  action  we  join  with  many  other 
moral  people  in  strongly  urging  our  gov- 
ernment to  change  its  priorities  and  re- 
duce its  dependence  upon  the  military. 
Without  money,  modern  warfare  could 
not  be  fought.  . . .” 

The  telephone  tax,  formerly  10  per- 
cent, was  restored  by  President  Lyndon 
B.  Johnson  in  1966,  during  the  escala- 
tion of  the  Vietnam  War.  Beginning  this 
year,  it  will  be  decreased  1 percent  an- 
nually until  it  disappears  in  1982. 


242 


APRIL  10,  1973 


Stuckys  to  serve  again  in  Colombia  missions 


Gerald  and  Mary  Hope  Stucky,  mission- 
aries in  Colombia  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  will  return  to  Colombia  for  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission,  prob- 
ably in  early  May. 

The  Stuckys,  who  began  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  work  in  Colom- 
bia in  1945,  have  been  invited  by  the 
Mennonite  Church  in  Colombia  to  serve 
in  preparation  and  counseling  of  church 
leaders,  promotion  of  retreats,  and  inter- 
denominational relations. 

Com  has  also  asked  the  Stuckys  to 
help  implement  the  priorities  of  last  June’s 
Goals-Priorities-Strategy  meeting,  orient 
new  missionaries,  and  interpret  Anabap- 
tist teachings  on  peace  and  discipleship. 

The  Stuckys  served  in  Cachipay,  Co- 
lombia, until  1965,  directing  a school 
for  children  of  those  with  leprosy.  After 
the  Stuckys’  termination  in  Colombia, 
Gerald  served  as  associate  pastor  of  the 


G.  Stucky  M.  H.  Stucky 


First  Mennonite  Church  in  Berne,  In- 
diana. He  has  been  a member  of  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  and 
has  served  on  the  commission’s  candi- 
date committee  since  1968. 

After  leaving  Berne,  the  Stuckys  stud- 
ied in  the  clinical  pastoral  education 
programs  at  Methodist  Hospital  in  In- 
dianapolis, Indiana,  and  at  the  Ypsilanti 


State  Hospital,  Ypsilanti,  Michigan. 

Gerald  is  serving  from  December  to 
mid-April  as  temporary  candidate  sec- 
retary for  com  in  the  Newton,  Kansas, 
offices,  in  the  absence  of  Lubin  Jantzen, 
who  is  on  special  assignment  to  India. 
Mary  Hope  has  continued  her  clinical 
pastoral  education  at  Prairie  View  Com- 
munity Mental  Health  Center,  Newton, 
during  the  past  four  months. 

Both  Gerald  and  Mary  Hope  are  grad- 
uates of  the  Biblical  Seminary  in  New 
York. 

Although  it  is  unusual  for  mission- 
aries to  return  to  a country  once  they 
have  terminated,  Mr.  Stucky  said  he  was 
looking  forward  to  meeting  friends  and 
coworkers. 

“I  am  hoping  to  be  a real  service  to 
them,  more  in  the  role  of  a brother  and 
servant  rather  than  a leadership  role,” 
he  said. 


Whitermore  will  work  in  church  extension 


David  Whitermore,  who  will  complete 
an  itineration  assignment  with  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries  in  June,  has 
been  asked  by  chm  to  begin  a new  as- 
signment in  church  extension  July  1. 

The  invitation  to  the  new  assignment, 
which  lasts  through  the  end  of  the  tri- 
ennium,  grew  out  of  discussion  at  the 
recent  annual  meeting  of  the  commis- 
sion. There  commission  members  and 
district  mission  committee  members  saw 
a need  for  more  leadership  from  chm 
in  church  extension.  They  pointed  to  a 
readiness  in  the  conference  for  new  in- 
itiatives in  church  extension  and  an  open- 
ness to  varied  forms  of  church  extension, 
including  house  churches,  intentional 
communities,  and  “daughter”  congrega- 
tions. 

“The  city  church  movement  of  the 
i 1950s  has  kind  of  died.  That  was  a gath- 
■ ering  of  lost  sons  of  Menno  into  subur- 
1 ban  church  buildings,”  said  Palmer  Beck- 
er, chm  executive  secretary.  “But  there 
are  a lot  of  people  in  communities  in 
North  America  that  could  be  helped  with 
an  Anabaptist  type  of  fellowship.  A num- 
ber of  congregations  are  expressing  some 
interest  in  starting  a new  congregation.” 

Mr.  Whitermore’s  job  description  will 
include  developing  a strategy  for  church 
extension  in  consultation  with  district 
home  missions  committees  and  others  at 
a specially  called  meeting  later  this  year. 

He  will  work  with  districts  to  find  ap- 


proriate  locations  for  new  churches,  and 
perhaps  live  at  a location  for  a month 
or  two  to  help  the  new  congregation  get 
started. 

He  will  also  help  in  promotion  in  “de- 
veloping a church  extension  mentality  in 
the  General  Conference.” 

Before  Mr.  Whitermore  began  his  as- 
signment with  the  Commission  on  Home 
Ministries  in  September,  he  served  for 
almost  ten  years  as  pastor  of  the  Grace 
Mennonite  Church,  Lansdale,  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

During  those  ten  years,  the  Grace 
Church  helped  to  start  the  Norriton  Com- 
munity Church,  the  Kempton  Mennonite 
Church,  Indian  Valley  Mennonite  Church, 
and  the  Crossroads  Community  Center 
in  Philadelphia. 

He  formerly  served  as  Eastern  District 
representative  to  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries  and  is  chairman  of  the 


Whitermore 


chm  Faith  and  Life  Radio  and  Television 
committee. 

Parents,  church  leaders 
share  blame  for  runaways 

A California  audience  of  2,000  young 
people  and  their  elders  recently  heard 
David  Wilkerson  of  Teen  Challenge 
criticize  parents  and  many  church  lead- 
ers for  hypocrisy  and  cited  it  as  a prime 
cause  why  young  people  run  away  from 
home. 

“Parents  who  smoke  and  drink  are 
just  as  hooked  on  cigarettes  and  alcohol 
as  any  of  their  kids  are  on  drugs,  and 
they  have  abdicated  their  right  to  preach 
to  their  children,”  the  author  and  youth 
minister  said  in  a speech  in  Napa,  Cali- 
fornia. 

Mr.  Wilkerson,  who  has  spent  the 
past  decade  and  a half  working  with 
troubled  young  people,  gave  three  pri- 
mary reasons  why  youth  leave  home: 
(1)  a hassle  with  friends,  (2)  a hassle 
with  their  faith,  and  (3)  a hassle  with 
their  parents.  He  challenged  his  youth- 
ful listeners  to  get  out  of  bad  company 
and  stand  up  for  what  they  believe.  He 
said  a wave  of  doubt  is  sweeping  across 
America. 

“Young  people  don’t  really  believe 
they  can  touch  Jesus  in  prayer  and  it’s 
simply  not  in  vogue  to  believe  in  mir- 
acles,” he  added. 


THE  MENNONITE 


243 


REVIEWS 


Covenant  of  despair 

Covenant  of  despair,  by  Omar  Eby  ( Her- 
ald Press,  Scottdale,  Pa.,  1973,  $5.95) 
is  reviewed  by  Paul  I.  Dyck,  a former 
missionary  in  India  who  is  now  teaching 
at  the  Mennonite  Collegiate  Institute  in 
Gretna,  Manitoba.  He  holds  an  MA  de- 
gree in  anthropology. 

It  was  with  joy  that  I discovered  this 
new  novel  by  a Mennonite  author,  par- 
ticularly since  he  was  writing  about  the 
experiences  of  an  American  missionary 
in  an  African  setting.  The  book  is  a far 
cry  from  the  traditional  missionary  nov- 
el in  which  all  the  forces  of  evil  are  out 
there  among  the  “heathen.”  In  fact,  the 
message  comes  through  with  great  clar- 
ity that  the  major  battle  to  be  fought  is 
right  inside  each  person,  be  he  white  or 
black,  teacher  or  student,  missionary  or 
whatever.  All  men  are  full  of  desires, 
which  must  be  dealt  with  in  honesty 
before  God. 

In  the  novel  the  religious  bigots  who 
make  life  miserable  for  everyone  are  the 
members  of  the  East  Africa  Revival 
Fellowship.  They  assume  that  they  have 
arrived  at  moral  and  spiritual  perfec- 


CHRIST-CENTERED 

FAITH 

byJ.  C.  Wenger 

A summary  of  New  Testament  teach- 
ing on  a faith  built  around  Christ, 
enlightened  and  empowered  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  resulting  in  obedient  living. 

Here  is  a concise  statement  of  Anabap- 
tist-Mennonite  belief  doctrine  in  the 
centralness  of  Christ  to  our  faith. 

72  pages.  Paperback.  $1 .50 


ORDER  FROM: 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE. 
NEWTON,  KANSAS. 


tion,  but  are  unchristian  in  their  harsh- 
ness and  cold  correctness. 

The  hero  of  the  novel  is  determined 
not  to  be  like  them,  but  he  soon  dis- 
covers that  his  own  desires  are  explo- 
sively real.  He  tries  to  hide  his  feelings 
(and  an  indiscretion)  from  the  head- 
master of  the  school  in  which  he  is 
teaching.  Life  becomes  even  more  of  a 
drag,  as  he  feels  that  he  is  living  in 
duplicity. 

When  the  headmaster  hears  a rumor 
about  the  hero’s  activities,  explanations 
are  demanded.  The  hero  then  decides 
that  his  own  attempts  at  hiding  his  feel- 
ings are  just  as  hypocritical  as  the  head- 
master’s correctness.  He  confesses  his 
indiscretion.  The  headmaster  has  no 
warmth  of  understanding  or  forgiveness, 
but  the  hero  finds  that  he  can  even  at- 
tend a meeting  of  the  Revival  Fellowship 
without  anger  or  resentment. 

The  title  of  the  book  comes  from  the 
account  in  the  Old  Testament  where 
desperate  men  in  the  wilderness  made  a 
covenant  with  David  to  stay  with  him 
through  thick  and  thin.  They  were  sin- 
ners who  banded  together  for  survival. 
The  hero  realizes  that  he,  though  a mis- 
sionary, is  still  a sinner.  He  needs  words 
of  encouragement,  not  condemnation. 
The  covenant  of  despair  leads  to  free- 
dom— freedom  from  having  to  keep  up 
a false  front,  a pretended  piety,  and  free- 
dom from  having  to  defend  himself. 

Fresh  vision  on  racism 

About  a year  ago  several  Mennonite 
groups  teamed  up  to  talk  about  white 
racism.  The  Reference  Council  on  Race 
decided  to  prepare  a small  study  docu- 
ment which  would  help  church  groups  to 
ask  the  many-sided  questions  dealing 
with  the  ugliness  of  racism. 

Lois  Bartel  of  La  Junta,  Colorado,  was 
appointed  writer  of  this  study  guide, 
which  is  now  off  the  press.  It  is  a small 
paperback  entitled,  A new  vision.  The 
booklet  has  thirteen  chapters  which  in- 
clude relevant  reference  sources,  a Chey- 
enne gospel  song,  and  a litany  of  con- 
fession. 

Youth  and  adult  church  groups  ought 
to  work  through  portions  or  all  of  this 
book,  since  it  offers  opportunities  to  en- 
hance our  understanding  of  racism,  which 
I have  a hunch,  is  rearing  its  ugly  head 
in  varied  forms  presently.  Menno  Wiebe 


RECORD 


Workers 


B.  Baughman  W.  Baughman 


William  and  Barbara  Baughman,  Pu- 
laski (Iowa)  Church,  will  begin  volun- 
tary service  with  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church  in  mid-April. 
The  Baughmans  will  serve  three  years  as 
directors  of  Pine  Lake  Camp  near  Mer- 
idian, Miss.,  and  relate  to  the  Gulfport, 
Miss.,  voluntary  service  unit.  Barbara 
is  a graduate  of  Iowa  Methodist  Hos- 
pital School  of  Nursing.  William  is  a 
graduate  of  Bloomfield  (Iowa)  High 
School. 

Lucille  Lepine,  an  Air  Canada  steward- 
ess, has  been  appointed  news  editor  of 
Youth  Opportunities  Unlimited  in  Win- 
nipeg, a center  for  native  Canadians 
operated  by  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission. 
Miss  Lepine  will  prepare  news  releases 
for  Winnipeg’s  daily  newspapers,  Menno- 
nite periodicals,  and  several  Indian  pub- 
lications during  the  days  when  she  is  not 
flying. 

D.  P.  Neufeld,  pastor  of  Bethany  Men- 
nonite Church,  Virgil,  Ont.,  has  been 
elected  chairman  of  Mennonite  Founda- 
tion, a recently  formed  inter-Mennonite 
organization  in  Canada.  Arthur  Rempel 
of  Winnipeg  was  elected  secretary  of  the 
foundation. 

Edward  Stucky  of  Berne,  Ind.,  has 
been  appointed  as  associate  in  deferred 
giving  at  Bluffton  College.  He  began 
his  duties  March  1. 

Ministers 


Donavin  Diller,  pastor  at  First  Church, 
Phoenix,  Ariz.,  will  become  pastor  of 
First  Church,  Beatrice,  Neb.,  this  sum- 
mer. 

James  Schrag  will  become  pastor  at 
Tabor  Church,  rural  Newton,  Kans.,  June 
15.  He  will  graduate  with  a master  of  di- 


244 


APRIL  10,  1973 


vinity  from  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary, 
Elkhart,  Ind.,  in  May.  A graduate  of 
Bethel  College,  he  has  taught  high  school 
social  sciences,  and  has  served  with  the 
Teachers  Abroad  Program  in  Kenya.  He 
is  a member  of  First  Church,  Newton. 

Kenneth  Schrcig,  a 1973  graduate  of 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart, 
Ind.,  will  serve  the  New  Hopedale 
Church,  Meno,  Okla.,  beginning  May  1. 

Calendar 


April  26-29 — Central  District  Con- 
ference, Goshen,  Ind. 

Canadian 

April  23-25 — Mennonite  Camping  As- 
sociation conference,  Camp  Valaqua, 
Water  Valley,  Alta. 

April  27-28  — Alberta  Conference, 
Coaldale. 

April  28 — Ontario  women’s  confer- 
ence, Grace  Church,  St.  Catharines. 

Pacific 

April  15-18 — Pre-Easter  services  at 
First  Church,  Aberdeen,  Idaho;  Dietrich 
Rempel,  Abbotsford,  B.C.,  speaker. 

April  27-29  — California  Mennonite 
Fellowship,  Fresno. 

April  27-29 — Mennonite  Camping  As- 
sociation conference,  Drift  Creek  Men- 
nonite Camp,  Lincoln  City,  Ore. 

Western 

May  4 — Seminar  on  aging,  Herold 
Church,  Cordell,  Okla. 

May  6 — Seminar  on  aging,  North- 
ridge  Manor,  Moundridge,  Kans. 


LETTERS 


Paul  states  case  clearly 

Dear  Editors:  The  back  page  article, 
“Games  people  play  about  women  and 
the  Bible”  (March  20  issue)  proves  one 
thing  for  sure.  A person  can  prove  any- 
thing using  the  Holy  Word  of  God.  Paul 
always  seemed  to  be  a pretty  straight 
dude  to  me.  He  said  what  he  thought 
and  stepped  on  toes  if  needed.  This  sort 
of  man  doesn’t  need  a second-rate  re- 
interpretation of  what  he  said.  He  states 
his  case  clearly,  that  women  are  to  be 
silent  in  church,  and  this  means  shut  up. 
Max  Krause,  66  Garden  Center,  Broom- 
field, Colo.  80020.  March  20 


Jesus  ignored  politics 

Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  I have  received  and 
read  The  Mennonite  for  some  time  now, 
often  with  frustration  but  sometimes 
with  less  frustration. 

I think  the  church  needs  to  work  in 
the  area  of  social  needs  and  speak  out 
in  areas  of  social  injustice.  I think  we 
need  to  be  more  careful  in  our  advo- 
cacy of  “enlightened  ideas”  about  social 
policy  or  prescription  of  remedies.  To 
me  it  often  reflects  the  grossest  naivete. 
Social  problems  are  complex  in  their 
roots,  character,  and  response  to  treat- 
ment. Unhappily  even  the  experts  often 
don’t  know  what  will  work  and  what 
won’t.  The  simplistic,  jargonistic,  vocifer- 
ous rhetoric  of  the  half-informed  preach- 
er is  of  scarcely  any  help. 

A recent  article  (February  27  issue), 
seemed  to  imply  that  money  would  clean 
up  the  ghettos  if  we  would  sell  our 
churches  and  give  it.  If  money  was  all 
that  was  needed,  any  government  could 
have  done  the  job  long  ago  and  made  a 
good  name  for  itself.  A recent  letter  to 
the  editor  (for  which  I was  glad)  showed 
the  obvious  want  in  the  approach  taken 
to  the  Indian  problem.  In  an  article 
about  Canada’s  independence  (with  all 
due  respect  to  Ray  Hamm)  the  U.S. 
was  blamed  for  the  monetary  crisis.  I’m 
no  expert,  but  it  seems  to  me  foreign 
banks  have  been  buying  U.S.  currency 
for  a long  time  to  keep  the  price  of  the 
dollar  high  (something  about  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand),  creating  a huge 
surplus  of  U.S.  currency  abroad  which 
has  finally  resulted  in  a dollar  crisis.  Is 
the  U.S.  all  to  blame? 


All  the  copious  verbiage  on  the  Viet- 
nam War  seems  to  reflect  about  the  same 
degree  of  insight.  Again,  I’m  no  expert, 
but  I try  to  stay  somewhat  informed. 
Interesting  that  some  of  the  returning 
POWs  (who  were  obviously  as  close  to 
the  war  as  anyone)  now  blame  the  anti- 
war activists  for  lengthening  the  war  by 
a couple  of  years.  Whether  it’s  true  or 
not,  that  surely  was  not  their  intention. 
It  does,  however,  point  out  the  difficulty 
of  supporting  particular  public  policy. 

It  seems  to  me  the  whole  question 
about  war  taxes  is  a prime  example  of 
utter  question  begging.  In  the  final  an- 
alysis all  the  taxes  go  in  and  out  of  the 
same  pot.  Tagging  a name  to  any  par- 
ticular tax  doesn’t  really  mean  anything. 
I don’t  ever  expect  to  live  under  a gov- 
ernment that  has  no  defense  system,  be 
it  capitalist  or  communist.  How  directly 
I support  that  defense  system  through 
the  tax  dollar  doesn’t  seem  to  me  to  be 
of  any  great  import  one  way  or  the  other. 

I think  The  Mennonite  would  reflect 
more  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  if  there 
was  a little  more  emphasis  on  what 
Christianity  really  has  to  offer  the  world: 
a personal  relationship  with  Jesus  Christ 
and  a better  personal  relationship  with 
those  around  us.  An  article,  “The  church 
and  public  policy,”  by  Reo  M.  Christen- 
son, which  recently  appeared  in  Christi- 
anity today  substantiates  this  point.  It 
is  a well-written  article  from  a pacifist 
standpoint.  He  makes  the  point  very 
aptly  that  Jesus  largely  ignored  the  po- 
litical plane  and  rather  stressed  the  plane 
of  personal  and  man-God  relations.  It 
would  seem  to  me  this  ought  to  be  more 
of  a controlling  factor  in  the  editorial 
policy  of  The  Mennonite.  An  article  of 
this  caliber  and  scope  could  do  wonders 
for  the  status  and  usefulness  of  your 
publication.  Gus  Konkel,  R.R.  1,  Box 
287,  Winkler,  Man.  March  17 

Indicator  of  the  “wind” 

Dear  Larry:  We  intensively  read  The 
Mennonite  and  are  glad  to  receive  it. 
The  wide  variety  of  topics  and  infor- 
mation are  greatly  appreciated.  For  us 
The  Mennonite  is  an  indicator  of  the 
“wind”  blowing  within  the  conference. 
Grace  and  wisdom  to  you  as  editor. 
P.  H.  Janzen,  Box  161,  Ruthven,  Ont. 
NOP  2G0.  March  15 


THE  MENNONITE 


245 


Statistics  hide  the  facts 

Dear  Editor:  My  wife  thought  that  the 
phrase  “wagging  tongues  of  ignorance” 
was  very  apt  in  the  article  on  the  in- 
voluntary poor”  by  H.  Schwartzentruber 
(February  27  issue).  However,  when  I 
read  the  author’s  statistics  on  the  U.S. 
welfare  dollar,  I wondered  whether  the 
phrase  could  find  application  here  as 
well.  No  source  for  the  statistics  is  indi- 
cated. There  is  no  hint  of  maladministra- 
tion of  the  type  that  a social  worker 
from  the  South  reported  to  us  at  Eastern 
Mennonite  College  a couple  of  years 
ago.  He  claimed  that  a social  worker 
was  offered  10  percent  of  the  welfare 
costs  for  every  person  he  managed  to 
keep  off  the  role.  The  implication  was 
that  the  balance  of  the  money  found  its 
way  into  the  pockets  of  the  top  admin- 
istrators. 

The  figures  add  up  to  100  percent  and 
thus  give  the  impression  that  all  the  wel- 
fare money  really  goes  to  the  people 
that  need  it.  This  is  obviously  not  true 
and  I do  not  think  that  we  are  helping 
the  cause  by  publishing  articles  that  are 
not  truthful  concerning  the  evils  of  the 
present  welfare  system. 

I attended  the  Canadian  Conference 
on  Social  Welfare  last  June.  I asked  for 
time  to  report  at  the  Ontario  conference 
which  was  not  granted.  I offered  it  for 
publication  and  it  has  not  been  published. 
Let  me  quote  one  paragraph  to  show  up 
the  statistic: 

“M.  R.  Morris  enthusiastically  re- 
ported that  social  welfare  expenditures 
had  gone  up  by  17  percent.  It  was  more 
than  they  had  hoped  for  in  their  fondest 
dreams.  Nevertheless,  the  gap  between 
the  rich  and  the  poor  remains.  Remedies 
have  been  totally  inadequate.  They  have 
not  been  convincing  to  the  large  working 
class  population  who  no  longer  feel  that 
social  workers  are  their  allies.  Their  way 
of  organizing  their  program  had  proved 
less  productive  than  they  had  hoped  and 
two-thirds  of  their  funds  are  filtered  out 
by  intermediaries  in  their  present  bu- 
reaucracy.” 

How  can  a conference  paper  present 
a statistic  that  hides  the  above  fact,  which 
welfare  administrators  themselves  ac- 
knowledge with  an  uneasy  conscience? 

But  I am  no  less  deeply  troubled  by 
the  author’s  solution  to  the  poverty  prob- 
lem as  he  gives  up  on  changing  the  sys- 
tem— both  church  and  government.  He 
wants  to  set  up  a model  garden  in  the 
slum  ghetto.  This  is  the  type  of  solution 
that  the  system  has  always  offered  to  the 
few.  A few  Negroes  are  allowed  to  make 


MEDITATION 


Condemned 

I stood  as  the  jury  returned  their  verdict.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the  foreman 
stood  and  almost  dispassionately  said,  “We  have  found  the  defendant  guilty  on  the 
one  count  of  first-degree  murder.”  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  on  that  evening  I 
had  been  nowhere  near  the  scene  of  the  murder.  Furthermore,  I didn’t  even  know 
the  victim  or  who  he  was. 

Well,  that  stunned  me,  but  when  the  judge  pronounced  sentence,  saying,  “I 
sentence  you  to  be  transferred  to  the  state  penitentiary  and  there  to  be  hanged  by  the 
neck  until  dead”  what  could  I say?  I stood  numb,  as  though  in  a totally  unreal 
world,  wanting  to  scream  out  my  innocence,  but  not  able  even  to  speak.  The  despair  , 
was  absolutely  crushing.  Why  had  this  happened  to  me?  What  right  had  that  judge  to 
deprive  me  of  life?  Had  I done  anything  to  anyone  to  deserve  this? 

Of  course,  we  would  appeal,  and  we  did,  but  it  did  no  good.  The  day  of  execution 
approached.  I was  scared.  My  survival  senses  said,  “Run!”  but  I couldn’t  move  ten 
feet  in  any  direction,  including  straight  up.  I thought  of  my  family,  especially  my 
wife,  my  two  preschool  boys,  deprived  of  their  father  by  miscarried  justice,  and  I 
cried.  The  sobs  were  such  that  I thought  they  might  mercifully  tear  the  very  life 
from  my  body  and  spare  me  further  agony,  but  all  too  soon,  the  sobs  became  dry.  I 
wanted  to  cry  more,  but  tears  would  not  come.  I wanted  to  scream,  but  those  who 
would  care  weren’t  there.  Even  the  chaplain’s  hands  were  tied.  Never  could  any  man 
other  than  a condemned  man  have  known  such  isolation. 

The  day  came.  The  last  appeals  had  been  made.  All  the  preparations  were  made, 
and  nothing  could  now  be  reversed.  The  guard  came  in,  tied  my  hands  at  my  side 
against  a struggle,  and  led  me  from  my  cell.  Guards,  the  warden,  and  the  chaplain 
walked  at  my  side.  Each  step  I took  was  a step  into  eternity.  I was  choking  to  death 
from  fear.  Fear  of  that  room  so  few  steps-into-etemity  down  the  hall.  The  suffoca- 
tion was  totally  indescribable.  Then  halfway  from  my  retention  cell  to  the  door  of  the 
execution  room,  I awoke  from  that  foul  dream  and  thanked  God  that  it  was  just 
that,  a foul  dream.  I dressed,  tasting  freedom  in  a way  I have  never  known  it  be- 
fore, ate,  and  went  on  about  this  business  of  living. 

That  dream  occurred  three  weeks  ago,  and  I hadn’t  thought  of  it  again  until  two 
days  ago.  As  I drove  home  from  work,  I felt  God  compelling  me  to  write  this  ac- 
count. Now,  as  I sit  writing,  I am  crushed,  but  this  time  by  real  guilt.  That  judge 
was  no  temporary  judge.  He  was  God  himself.  The  jury  was  none  other  than  my  own 
sins  speaking  out  against  me:  sins  of  greed,  lust,  withholding  love,  hatred,  “legal” 
death  sentences.  No  wonder  all  my  appeals  were  of  no  avail.  I had  charted  my  course, 
programmed  myself  like  a computer  to  follow  it,  and  I could  not  turn  back,  save  to 
throw  myself  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  Christ  and  accept,  not  beg  or  demand,  accept  the 
love  he  is  holding  out  for  me,  and  to  realize  I am  totally  at  the  mercy  of  God. 

For  me,  this  experience  came  just  a few  days  before  my  twenty-seventh  birthday, 
but  how  many  have  never  experienced  such  a drama?  Indeed,  how  many  reading 
this  will  experience  the  same  as  I did  in  my  dream,  but  for  real  when  all  the  time  for 
them  has  run  out?  There  will  be  no  dream  from  which  to  awaken,  only  eternal 
despair  and  agony;  eternal  separation  from  hope,  from  God.  I stand  and  I weep  with 
that  great  statesman  who  said,  “There,  but  for  the  grace  of  God,  go  I.  Jack  Mace 


it  in  the  system,  but  does  that  solve  the 
problem  of  racial  prejudice?  Are  you 
going  to  solve  the  poverty  issue  by  help- 
ing a few  families  in  the  ghetto  to  live 
well?  What  are  you  going  to  do  when 
the  others  want  to  be  in  on  it? 

In  order  to  dramatize  the  problem, 
just  imagine  yourself  in  a boat  that  is 
filled  to  capacity,  yet  thousands  of  other 
persons  are  struggling  to  board  because 
they  are  afraid  of  drowning.  Would  you 


take  them  on  and  then  drown  together 
as  the  boat  goes  under,  or  would  you 
beat  them  off  and  save  yourself? 

The  solution  offered  is  a viable  alterna- 
tive. At  best  it  only  does  what  the  sys- 
tem is  already  doing — helping  some  at 
the  expense  of  others.  We  need  to  build 
enough  boats  so  that  all  can  be  saved 
from  drowning.  One  such  solution  is  a 
guaranteed  annual  income.  David  Janzen, 
Niagara-on-the-Lake,  Ont.  March  12 


246 


APRIL  10,  1973 


Seminary  story 

Dear  Larry:  As  a member  of  the  Go- 
shen Biblical  Seminary  board  of  over- 
seers, and  as  one  interested  in  the  pro- 
gram of  the  seminary  as  it  relates  to  the 
churches  and  to  our  Christian  mission 
in  the  world,  I want  to  commend  you 
for  the  excellent  way  you  have  brought 
together  the  seminary  story  and  placed 
it  before  the  Mennonite  constituency 
(March  6 issue).  James  D.  Kratz,  Box 
370,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514.  March  13 

Dignified  issue  on  women 

Dear  Editor:  Just  a note  of  apprecia- 
tion. I like  the  looks  of  The  Mennonite 
and  whether  the  little  extra  space  is  eco- 
logically correct  or  not,  it  certainly  makes 
reading  much  more  appetizing,  especial- 
ly when  one  comes  to  the  time  when 
“those  that  look  through  the  windows 
are  dimmed”  (Eccles.  12:3).  The  Men- 
nonite is  one  paper  I always  “read  from 
kiver  to  kiver.”  I appreciated  especially 
the  last  issue  with  its  article  on  women’s 
lib,  though  no  such  crass  expression  was 
used.  That  The  Mennonite  is  aware  of 
women’s  rights  I could  see  by  the  fact 
that  from  time  to  time  it  has  been  using 
the  title  “Ms.”  instead  of  Miss  or  Mrs. 

I chuckled  when  I read  David  Augs- 
burger’s  statement  in  regard  to  the  theo- 
logical attitude  toward  women’s  place 
in  the  church,  “If  the  status  quo  must  go, 
hen  we  retheologize  to  regain  relevancy.” 

[ also  liked  his  emphasis,  that  by  not 


giving  woman  her  full  rights,  the  church 
misses  out  on  wholeness,  or  spiritual  gifts. 

I was  interested,  too,  in  the  article 
pointing  out  the  contributions  women 
made  in  our  early  Anabaptist  heritage. 
I smiled  at  the  statement  that  Jesus’ 
words  about  the  two  becoming  one  have 
been  corrupted  to  include  “And  that  one 
shall  be  the  husband.  . . .” 

It  was  all  so,  what  shall  I say,  digni- 
fied? That  isn’t  exactly  what  I mean.  It 
was  straightforward,  searching,  con- 
trolled, not  highly  emotional.  It  was  just 
good.  Marie  J.  Regier  Frantz,  Box  205, 
North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  March  19 

“Dingdong”  uncharitable 

Dear  Editor:  I think  the  Meditation 
“Dingdong”  (February  13  issue)  was  out 
of  place  in  The  Mennonite.  I know  a lot 
of  Jehovah’s  Witnesses,  and  I have  found 
them  to  be  very  good  people,  good  neigh- 
bors and  honest.  If  they  are  all  like  the 
ones  I know,  we  wouldn’t  need  police- 
men or  prisons,  and  they  stand  up  for 
their  convictions  better  than  any  reli- 
gious sect  I know. 

I am  not  one  of  them,  nor  do  I be- 
lieve as  they  do,  but  I feel  that  “Ding- 
dong”  is  an  uncharitable  article.  . . . 
D.  J.  Akenson,  1200  West  41  St.,  Sioux 
Falls,  S.D.  57105.  Feb.  15 


Contents 


In  memoriam  234 

Wounded  Knee  and  hardened  heart  236 

News  237 

Record  244 

A covenant  of  despair  244 

Letters  245 

Condemned  246 

What  chance  brotherhood?  248 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Bill  Meilen  is  a member  of  the  drama 
department  at  the  University  of  Alberta, 
Edmonton.  His  poem  first  appeared  in  the 
March  9 issue  of  Native  People,  a publi- 
cation produced  in  Edmonton. 

Peter  J.  Ediger,  5927  Miller,  Arvada, 
Colo.  80003,  was  one  of  the  observers 
selected  by  the  National  Council  of 
Churches  to  go  to  Wounded  Knee  March 
1 2 and  1 3 to  attempt  to  mediate  the 
dispute. 

Jack  Mace  is  a student  at  the  Associ- 
ated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries,  3003 
Benham,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  234,  235,  236,  Religious  News 
Service;  238,  Lois  Janzen;  239,  Sam  Edi- 
ger; 245,  CORK,  Postbus- 101,  Heeren- 
veen,  Nederland. 


Thp 

Mennonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newt-on, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R-3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  5'8'6  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS'l ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  22t  1 - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


%Isq  it! 

Ifie  all  new 
directory  for 
Overseas  c Missions 


use  it  as:  • a prayer  guide 

• a source  of  information  about  all  missionaries 

• a resource  for  mission  study 

• an  introduction  to  our  many  ministries  overseas 

Ask  your  pastor  for  a free  copy  or  order  from: 

Commission  on  Overseas  Mission,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


' 


HE  MENNONITE 


247 


What  chance  brotherhood? 

“A  few  hundred  years  ago  an  enterprising 
Italian,  lost  at  sea,  collided  with  a continent. 
Thinking  he  was  in  India,  Columbus  misnamed 
the  citizens  of  the  unexpected  land.  Misunder- 
standing, disrespect,  and  deception  have  been  the 
marks  of  the  white  man’s  dealings  with  the  orig- 
inal (North)  Americans  ever  since.” 

The  foregoing  paragraph  is  the  opening  sec- 
tion of  an  article  by  Thomas  Orrin  Bentz  in  the 
United  church  herald.  Mr.  Bentz  goes  on  to  de- 
scribe how  the  native  people  of  this  continent 
were  stripped  of  their  land,  resources,  and  cul- 
ture, leaving  them  finally  with  less  than  3 percent 
of  the  land  which  they  had  occupied  for  millennia 
before  the  European  settlers  and  adventurers 
came.  Not  only  were  the  Indians  robbed  of  their 
land,  but  they  were  subjected  to  new  diseases  and 
social  practices  which  ravaged  their  communities. 
Fire  water  burned  away  the  moral  underpinnings 
of  a proud  and  self-sufficient  people. 

When  Indians  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  con- 
tinent resisted  the  strict  religious  practices  which 
the  colonists  insisted  they  should  observe,  ven- 
geance was  swift  and  brutal.  A chief  who  had  led 
the  resistance  was  drawn,  quartered,  and  behead- 
ed. His  companions  were  sold  into  slavery.  The 
proverb,  “The  only  good  Indian  is  a dead  Indian,” 
was  coined  in  the  Christian  towns  at  that  time. 

On  the  sweeping  North  American  plains,  the 
buffalo  was  the  main  source  of  the  Indians’  live- 
lihood. It  was  also  the  symbol  of  the  people’s 
freedom.  Even  after  they  were  placed  on  reserva- 
tions, the  Sioux  in  South  Dakota  occasionally  left 
the  reserves  to  hunt  the  proud  prairie  beasts  which 
remained  after  the  white  man’s  massive  buffalo 
kills. 

In  1890,  fifteen  years  after  George  Custer’s  in- 
famous cavalry  charge  at  Little  Big  Horn,  a 
group  of  Sioux,  inspired  by  a fleeting  hope  for  a 
return  of  the  buffalo  and  their  people’s  freedom, 
left  the  reservation.  The  Seventh  Cavalry  quickly 
caught  up  with  them,  and  tried  to  force  them 
back.  An  old  medicine  man  refused.  A rifle  shot 
cracked  somewhere,  and  the  troops  retaliated  with 
a two-mile  massacre  of  300  Indians.  One  hundred 
of  the  victims  were  women  and  children. 

The  place  was  Wounded  Knee. 

“Squaw!” 

The  Indian  woman  blinked  in  disbelief.  Why 
were  these  young  white  Mennonite  hockey  play- 


ers directing  this  slur  at  her?  True,  she  had  been 
cheering  vigorously  for  the  Indian  team  against 
whom  they  were  playing,  but  was  she  to  be  de- 
nied the  spectator’s  privilege  of  supporting  the 
team  of  her  choice? 

Although  she  found  no  quick  words  with  which 
to  answer  the  taunts,  she  wondered  what  had 
caused  this  racist  outburst.  Some  of  the  long- 
smoldering  distrust  of  white  people  once  more 
burned  to  the  forefront  of  her  consciousness.  She 
wondered  who  really  represents  the  Mennonites’ 
attitude  toward  the  Indians.  Was  it  these  players 
from  a church-sponsored  high  school?  Or  was  it 
the  Mennonites  who  support  and  operate  Youth 
Opportunities  Unlimited,  a Winnipeg  center  for 
native  people  on  whose  advisory  board  she  had 
recently  been  asked  to  serve?  If  young  men  from 
Christian  homes  who  are  receiving  training  in  a 
church  high  school  are  led  to  make  racist  slurs 
with  so  little  apparent  provocation,  what  hope  is 
there  of  even  achieving  a more  wholesome  rela- 
tionship between  races? 

And  so  the  circle  goes  round  and  round.  Lessons 
which  should  have  been  learned  about  brother- 
hood, remain  unlearned.  All  we  have  learned,  it 
seems,  is  how  to  kill  the  spirit  without  killing  the 
body. 

The  temptation  for  some  readers  will  be  to  try 
to  discover  who  the  young  men  were  who  called 
their  hockey  opponents  and  their  supporters, 
“dirty  Indians”  and  squaws,”  and  to  chastise 
them.  But  that  is  not  the  answer.  These  young 
hockey  players  revealed  the  race  tensions  which 
run  deep  among  many  Mennonite  people.  A pas- 
tor observed  recently  that  he  knew  of  no  white 
Mennonite  community  or  church  located  near  an 
Indian  community  which  was  not  either  apathetic 
or  hostile  toward  its  native  neighbors. 

In  Winnipeg  the  Mennonite  people  are  doing 
practically  nothing  to  relate  in  a brotherly  way  to 
the  native  people.  The  one  exception,  the  Youth 
Opportunities  Unlimited  center,  is  frequently 
hamstrung  by  so-so  support  from  the  Mennonite 
churches. 

Eternity  magazine  was  correct  when  it  said  not 
long  ago,  “Unfortunately  (the  Christian  church- 
es’) aim  too  often  has  been  to  turn  Indians  into 
white  men  rather  than  to  turn  Indians  to  Christ. 
Pure  Christianity  is  perhaps  more  in  harmony 
with  traditional  Indian  values  than  contemporary 
North  American  values.”  lk 


The 

Meimonite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:16  APRIL  17,  1973 


The  sun  stopped  shining  and  darkness 
covered  the  whole  country — 

Jesus  cried  out  in  a loud  voice, 

"Father!  In  your  hands  I place  my  spirit 

He  said  this  and  died. 

The  army  officer  saw  what  had  happened,  and  he 
praised  God,  saying,  "Certainly 

he  was  a good  man!"  Luke  23:44-47 


Gregory  S.  Athnos 


His  Matthew  tale 
speaks  mountains  of  passion. 
His  Christ- bore 
the  fountain. 

A Paschal  fluid 
flung  at  the  world 
in  towering  tones 
trumpeting 
tension. 

A vein-vault  treasure. 
Magdalene’s  pleasure 
a Christ-pour  of 
humanity. 

He  colors  the 
tree-splint  cast 
by  wrenching 
note  from  note 


1 

CM 

twisting  the  tones 
in  sighing  spasms 
of  Golgotha. 

This  shell  of  man 

1 have  dined 

He  walks 

this  hanging  hulk 

at  his  feast 

yesterday  roads 

holds  God  now 

soared 

in  a today  world. 

for  a time. 

on  his  wings 

A barren 

often. 

mother  of  a maze 

For  a time 

Been  burned 

desolate 

he  speaks  of  a glowing  halo 

by  his  radiance 

down 

of  shimmering  strings 

stung 

into  obscurity’s  haze. 

an  irridescent  God-man. 

by  his  anguish 

He  shameless 

A fresco  by  candlelight 

softened 

shouts  a Psalm 

and  incense. 

by  his  humanity. 

with  fevered  flair 

Emerging. 

Godlike. 

drilling  the  air 

Receding. 

I have  felt 

dramatic, 

Emerging. 

the  same  song 

droning 

God  now. 

within  me. 

in  days 

A radiant  spirit. 

I know  his  language 

of  dimestore  mannequins. 

This  hell  of  man 

but  cannot  speak. 

The  single  inhabitant 

hangs  him 

He  coaches  my  waves 

in  deserted  space 

draining  life 

to  respond 

sings  alone. 

to  our  death. 

to  his  wind. 

And  singing  alone 

No  God  now 

He  is 

captures 

in  his  shuddering. 

the  teller  of  tales 

the  Christ-core 

Man. 

the  spinner  of  silence. 

of  silence. 

Most  mortal. 

A Christ-gore 
of  silence. 


250 


APRIL  17, 


5 

The  teller  of  tales 
the  spinner  of  silence 
sings 

one  of  the  songs 
of  Zion. 

He  is 
the  god 
of  the  notes. 

Bach. 

But 

God 

is  the  Bach 
of  the  silence. 

He 

takes  on  the  sins 

of  the  sinner 

the  spinner  of  dreams 

who  whispers  of  moonbeams 

and  ultimate  truth 

in  the  space 

between  notes 

called 

silence. 


4 

Silence. 

Darkness 
dawns  at  midday. 
Forsaken  One 
hangs 

at  forked  roads 
ever. 

Rebuke  your  sins 
that  Christ-wore. 

O Sacred  Head 
hymned 

a thousand  Fridays 
or  ten. 

i The  chronicler 
j Evangelist 
; no  longer  pens. 
j Weep  the  wounds. 

! The  polyphonic  poet 
1 with  rose-colored  lens 
| opens  the  Christ-door. 
' Within  the  silence 
\ salvation. 

t Within  the  salvation 
j silence. 


fH€  MENNONITE 


251 


Cy^Qarps  love-df-a  vial  of  perfume 


“That’s  him!”  I had  gone  with  a friend 
to  the  airport  to  meet  someone  I did  not 
know.  As  her  friend  moved  into  view, 
she  shouted  eagerly,  “That’s  him — the 
one  in  the  brown  suit.” 

Like  my  friend,  Christ’s  followers 
have  been  pointing  him  out  to  others, 
saying  with  John  the  Baptist,  “That’s 
him;  that’s  the  Lamb  of  God  who  takes 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.” 

Some  do  this  by  preaching,  others  by 
speaking,  some  by  song  or  other  service, 
some  by  gifts  of  money  or  friendship, 
some  by  suffering.  Unfortunately  the 
tendency  has  always  been  to  categorize 
the  ways  a person  may  witness  and  then 
to  expect  his  followers  to  fit  into  one  of 
these  patterns. 

As  Christ  neared  the  time  of  his  cruci- 
fixion, one  woman  pointed  him  out  to 
the  others  in  a rather  unusual  manner. 
Her  name  was  Mary,  sister  of  Martha, 
who  anointed  the  feet  of  Jesus  in  the 
house  of  Simon  the  leper. 

Simon  was  giving  a supper  in  Jesus’ 
honor.  The  low  tables  were  set  with  a 
simple  meal,  probably  fruit,  bread,  and 
wine.  Around  the  tables  reclined  the 
guests,  all  men,  of  course,  for  it  was 
improper  for  women  to  assume  such  a 
position  in  public. 

At  the  door  and  possibly  even  around 
the  walls  of  the  room  stood  the  peasants 
observing  the  festivities.  The  women  were 
in  the  kitchen,  preparing  and  serving  the 
food. 

Then  Mary,  carrying  an  alabaster  box 
of  perfumed  ointment,  separated  herself 
from  the  other  women  and  moved  to 
the  back  of  Jesus’  couch.  Breaking  the 
flask,  she  poured  its  contents  on  his  feet. 


Katie  Funk  Wiebe 


The  custom  was  to  anoint  a person’s 
head,  but  she  poured  the  perfume  on  his 
feet,  and,  letting  down  her  long  hair, 
used  it  as  a towel  to  dry  them. 

The  reaction  came  immediately.  Judas 
spoke  up,  “Why  is  she  wasting  this  oint- 
ment on  Jesus?  Why  wasn’t  it  sold  for 
300  denarii  and  given  to  the  poor?” 
Though  his  concern  seemed  to  be  with 
the  money  evaporating  into  the  air  as 
perfume,  he  and  the  others  may  have 
found  her  behavior  peculiar  in  other 
ways. 

By  letting  down  her  hair  in  public, 
Mary  was  defying  the  standard  of  re- 
spectability set  for  women.  Only  pros- 
titutes let  down  their  hair  in  public — 
their  flowing  hair  was  a symbol  of  their 
trade.  One  well-respected  lady  of  that 
time  boasted  that  not  even  the  beams 
of  her  house  had  ever  seen  her  hair  loose. 

Lenski  writes  that  Mary  was  willing 
to  lay  her  woman’s  honor,  so  highly 
prized  and  carefully  guarded,  at  Jesus’ 
feet.  Her  devotion  to  Christ  meant  yield- 
ing everything  to  him.  This  was  her  gift, 
no  more  and  no  less.  She  recognized 
who  Jesus  was  and,  overcome  with  that 
realization,  she  acknowledged  it  in  the 
most  creative,  self-giving  way  she  could 
think  of.  She  was  saying  to  herself,  to 
Jesus,  and  to  the  others,  “Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God!” 

But  Judas  termed  it  waste.  He  feared 
the  treasury  of  the  relief  committee 
might  be  poorer  because  of  her  action. 
Her  gift  certainly  was  costly — enough 
to  feed  5,000  men  and  their  families  at 
one  time  or  a working  man’s  wage  for 
a year.  Judas  couldn’t  understand  that 
a gift  of  beauty  and  love  might  satisfy 


Christ.  He  couldn’t  grasp  that  Jesus  did- 
n’t come  into  the  world  to  help  raise 
budgets  for  good  causes. 

Jesus  praised  Mary’s  act.  He  accepted 
it  not  in  terms  of  its  usefulness,  but  for 
its  love.  Her  act  expressed  trust  in  him, 
and,  because  of  this,  she  was  willing  to 
risk  the  reaction  of  those  who  demanded 
conformity  in  a person’s  witness. 

She  dared  to  move  into  men’s  terri- 
tory, not  with  a platter  of  meat  for  them 
to  eat,  but  with  a very  different  kind  of 
a gift  for  her  Lord.  They  had  expected 
her  to  serve  them,  instead  she  worshiped 
the  Christ.  She  dared  to  face  the  criticism 
of  those  who  saw  only  a woman  en- 
gaged in  a foolish  effeminate  act  of  pour- 
ing perfume  over  a man’s  feet  and  wip- 
ing them  with  her  hair. 

The  bystanders  couldn’t  understand — 
except  for  Jesus.  He  said,  “Leave  her 
alone.” 

Argye  Briggs  says  that  Christ  left 
Mary  free  to  find  her  own  way  and  her 
own  place  in  the  kingdom.  He  didn’t 
stipulate  what  her  gift  should  be  or  that 
it  must  be  useful  or  conform  to  tradition. 

In  the  church’s  present  struggle  for 
renewal,  as  Christ-followers  listen  more 
intently  for  the  voice  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
his  leading  may  direct  them  into  untried 
paths  of  service  and  witness.  Like  Mary, 
a few  women  may  move  out  into  the 
sacred  territory  considered  “man’s  land” 
in  the  church  with  their  vial  of  perfume 
for  Christ.  If  and  when  they  do,  will 
their  act  be  recognized  as  a Mary-act — 
or  will  it  evoke  the  word  “waste”?  And 
should  they  hesitate  to  move  out,  will! 
there  be  men  to  encourage  them  and  the 
Marthas  to  step  forth? 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


252 


APRIL  17,  1973 


Roses  again 

This  is  the  way  of  the  earthborn  . . . 
They  come  on  dawn-pink  promises, 
A mystery  with  thorns. 

Soon,  rosebuds  foretell 

Of  the  full-blown  beauty  to  come, 

Of  glad  working  days  in  the  sun. 

Briefly,  come  golden  days, 

Bronzed  as  the  sky  lowers, 

Preceding  a rest  in  cool  darkness; 
Bedded  with  love. 

Light  opens  their  eyes! 

The  Easter  resurrection 
brings  life  anew. 

The  rose  blooms  again! 

Emma  Schwartz 


fHE  MENNONITE  253 


Cycle  of  life 

When  time  is  young  in  springtime’s  quickening  hours 
Green  life  thrusts  upward  through  the  yielding  sod. 
Caressed  by  sunshine’s  warmth  and  gentle  showers 
New  fruit  is  born  in  embryonic  pod. 

Fulfillment  comes  with  summer’s  arduous  striving 
And  weary  toil  beneath  a blazing  sun; 

Then  autumn’s  mellow  harvest  days  arriving 
Serene  with  knowledge  of  a task  well  done. 

Fall’s  bounties  yield  to  winter’s  barren  dearth, 

In  blazing  glory  leaf  and  flora  die; 

Cold,  icy  specters  stalk  the  still,  white  earth, 

Bare  trees  etched  bold  against  a bleak  gray  sky. 

But  from  the  throes  of  winter’s  lonely  pain 
Is  born  the  essence  of  new  life  again. 


Amelia  Mueller 


i 


NEWS 


Two  draft  resisters  — where  are  they  now? 


At  a time  when  the  U.S.  military  draft 
is  winding  down,  talk  about  draft  re- 
sistance may  be  winding  down,  too.  But 
the  issue  is  not  moot  for  two  recent 
Mennonite  draft  resisters — Dennis  Koehn 
and  David  Rensberger. 

This  is  a report  on  what  they  are 
doing  now,  their  prison  experiences,  and 
their  current  feelings  about  the  draft. 

Dennis  Koehn  of  North  Newton,  Kan- 
sas, who  refused  to  register  with  the 
Selective  Service  System  and  was  taken 
into  custody  in  May  1972,  is  serving  a 
sentence  in  the  Federal  Youth  Center, 
Englewood,  Colorado.  He  expects  to  be 
released  after  eighteen  months — about 
November  1 — and  is  now  on  a study- 
release  program,  taking  a full  load  of 
courses  at  Colorado  University  in  Den- 
ver. 

He  reported,  “Five  days  a week  a 
number  of  us  leave  the  Federal  Youth 
Center  about  6:30  a.m.  and  return  at 
8:30  or  10  at  night.  ...  I spend  most 
of  my  time  studying  and  going  to  classes, 
but  a few  hours  a week  are  spent  doing 
things  I enjoy.  Going  to  school  in  an 
urban  setting  is  quite  different  from 
Bethel  College,  so  I enjoy  just  observing 
what  is  going  on  around  me.  I expect 
to  go  to  school  here  during  the  summer 
term  in  addition  to  the  present  school 
semester.  Most  of  my  energy  goes  into 
school-related  activities,  so  that  I feel 
far  removed  from  any  kind  of  inmate 
identity.  Actually  I never  did  feel  much 
of  an  inmate  identity.  I’ve  looked  at  my 
whole  experience  at  fyc  as  a time  for 
learning  and  growth. 

“As  one  gets  nearer  a probable  re- 
lease date,  more  opportunities  are  avail- 
able. By  the  end  of  May  I will  probably 
be  able  to  get  a furlough  to  visit  my 
family  in  Kansas  for  a few  days.” 

Life  at  the  Federal  Youth  Center,  said 
Mr.  Koehn,  includes  job  assignments  for 
some — such  as  cooking,  maintenance, 
laundry,  and  clerical  work — or  school 
for  others  plus  leisure  time  activities. 

“As  you  can  see,  the  program  offer- 
ings are  quite  extensive,”  he  said.  “How- 
ever, I am  not  convinced  that  these  pro- 
grams offer  inmates  what  they  need 
to  make  it  on  the  streets.  These  programs 
do  not  necessarily  promote  caring  rela- 


tionships, something  which  most  inmates 
didn’t  experience  in  their  families,  either. 

“The  draft  violators  at  fyc  are  all 
white,  middle  class,  generally  have  a 
higher  education  level  than  the  average, 
and  are  two  to  four  years  older.  For 
these  reasons,  the  draft  violator  is  in  a 
better  position  to  get  into  better  jobs 
and  educational  programs. 

“I  don’t  think  about  the  Selective 
Service  System  much  anymore.  I’m 
happy  that  the  draft  is  no  longer  affect- 
ing people’s  lives  as  it  was  a few  years 
ago,  although  it  still  has  this  potential. 

I hope  that  Congress  will  remove  the 
president’s  capability  to  induct  people, 
but  I see  little  chance  that  the  whole 
Selective  Service  System  will  be  dis- 
mantled. If  I were  turning  eighteen  now, 

I might  decide  that  nonregistration  was 
not  an  appropriate  witness  against  con- 
scription and  militarism.  But  I am  happy 
with  the  route  I have  taken.  A peace 
witness  today  might  more  appropriately 
speak  to  the  misallocation  of  material  re- 
sources (our  tax  dollars)  rather  than  hu- 
man resources  (young  men).” 

David  Rensberger,  formerly  of  Mid- 
dlebury,  Indiana,  is  on  parole  and  at- 
tending the  University  of  Wisconsin  in 
Madison.  He  spent  sixteen  months  in 
the  Federal  Youth  Center  in  Ashland, 
Kentucky. 

He  commented  on  his  experience,  “I’m 
so  far  removed  from  my  act  of  resistance 
that  it  is  really  difficult  to  call  to  experi- 
ence my  reasons  for  it.  I would  have 
to  say  that  the  act  was  done  before  the 
reasons  for  it  were  perceived.  Essen- 
tially it  was  an  act  of  noncooperation. 
When  asked  to  go  somewhere  a long 
way  from  where  we  were  and  do  some- 
thing a great  deal  removed  from  what 
we  are  doing,  I simply  didn’t.  It  seems 
to  have  been  a matter  of  inertia  as  much 
as  anything  else.  . . . Perhaps  even  my 
own  inertia  was  being  used  by  God  to 
bring  occasion  for  witness  to  the  truth. 

“The  process  was  some  time  in  getting 
under  way.  After  about  six  months  of 
more  or  less  inertial  responses — I did 
send  them  (the  draft  board)  poetry  and 
other  things  about  on  the  same  level 
of  unreality  as  I viewed  their  demands 
on  me  to  be  — I was  prodded  into  re- 


turning my  draft  card  by  a letter  in 
The  Mennonite  from  a young  man  con- 
sidering draft  resistance.  This  was  in 
December  1969. 

“A  year  later,  during  an  extended 
visit  to  our  parents  in  Indiana,  I was 
busted.  It  was  about  three  months  till 
I was  arraigned,  in  March  1971.  During 
that  time  I thought  and  wrote  about  con- 
scription and  resistance.  The  Goshen  area 
was  embroiled  in  a considerable  con- 
troversy over  a young  Brethren  resister 
named  Darrell  Weybright,  whom  I later 
got  to  know  in  prison.  The  argument 
over  his  actions  took  up  a simply  as- 
tounding amount  of  space  in  the  local 
paper’s  letters  to  the  editor. 

“I  also  got  input  of  various  sorts  from 
letter  writers,  friends,  and  relatives.  In 
the  give  and  take,  my  thinking  moved 
from  identification  of  the  Selective  Serv- 
ice with  the  military — a valid  identifica- 
tion— to  a realization  that  conscription 
as  an  activity  of  government  was  immor- 
al. Who  is  the  state  to  demand  a section 
of  every  man’s  life?  Did  the  state  give 
that  life  or  the  talents  the  man  is  en- 
dowed with?  Essentially,  I extended  Jesus’ 
question  about  the  ‘image  and  inscrip- 
tion’ on  the  taxable  coin  to  its  obvious 
conclusion  about  the  ‘image  and  inscrip- 
tion’ on  an  individual  human  life — which 
image  and  inscription  must  be  God’s 
and  none  other’s.  . . . Any  form  of  con- 
scription, even  if  you  ‘only  have  to  regis- 
ter,’ is  wrong  and  dangerous. 

“Anyway,  I was  sentenced  to  three 
years  in  prison  on  Good  Friday  morning, 
April  9,  1971 

“Prison  must  have  done  something  to 
me,  and  the  fact  that  I don’t  know  what 
is  an  indication  of  its  magnitude.  Of 
course,  outwardly  it  took  me  from  being 
a shiftless  hippie  and  made  me  a college 
student — certainly  a good  deed.  Or  you 
could  also  say  it  took  me  from  being 
a person  pretty  sure  of  myself  and  my 
direction,  living  quietly  in  the  quiet  hills, 
and  deftly  turned  me  in  the  direction 
of  the  neurosis  I had  finally  begun  to 
escape  and  planted  me  in  a city  scream- 
ing with  sirens — and  made  me  forget 
how  to  write  poetry. 

“I  did  learn  something  grimly  and 
immensely  important  in  prison,  and  that 


254 


APRIL  17,  1973 


Village  celebrates  advent  of  electricity 


The  following  report  comes  from  Bill 
and.  Elsie  Siemens,  working  with  the 
Taroko  Community  Development  Pro- 
gram near  Hw alien,  Taiwan.  The  three- 
year  program  was  originally  funded  by 
the  Poverty  Fund  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church.  It  is  now  un- 
der the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 

They  call  the  place  Be  Gou.  I haven’t 
yet  figured  out  if  that  is  the  old  Japan- 
ese name  for  this  little  group  of  eight 
homes  or  if  that  is  the  Taroko  language 
name.  At  any  rate,  except  for  the  map 
in  the  Taiwan  poverty  project  file,  you 
will  not  find  a map  with  a place  by  such 
a name,  nor  are  there  many  people 
who  know  the  village  better  than  do  the 
staff  of  the  Taroko  Community  Develop- 
ment Program. 

For  official  and  administrative  pur- 
poses, this  group  of  eight  homes  is  listed 
as  a part  of  the  larger  village  of  Shwei 
Yuan.  Be  Gou  is  situated  about  one  mile 
from  Shwei  Yuan  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains.  The  children  of  Be  Gou 
attend  public  school  and  Sunday  school 
in  Shwei  Yuan.  The  government  has 
set  up  a village  office  in  Shwei  Yuan 
and  the  Taroko  Community  Develop- 
ment Program  also  has  an  office  in  the 
larger  village. 

I first  visited  this  little  village  in  Jan- 
uary 1971,  when  our  staff  asked  if  these 
eight  homes  were  also  to  receive  help 
through  the  Taroko  Community  Devel- 
opment Program.  The  poverty  and  back- 
wardness that  we  saw  on  our  first  visit 
made  it  hard  to  believe  that  this  village 
was  not  much  farther  back  than  the  one 
mile  of  “road”  that  we  had  just  trav- 
eled. The  eight  homes  in  the  village  were 
of  bamboo  frame  with  roofs  and  walls 
of  grass.  There  was  not  a latrine  in  the 
village,  and  while  most  of  the  children 
were  on  the  school  register,  attendance 
was  irregular.  On  one  occasion  we  dis- 
covered a twelve-year-old  girl  high  in 


is  that  prisons  and  other  such  institu- 
tions are  a perverse  and  lunatic  way 
of  dealing  with  problem  people.  That’s 
really  another  whole  story;  we’re  hear- 
ing plenty  about  it  these  days.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  the  moral  difference  be- 
tween most  of  the  prisoners  and  most  of 
the  guards — and  administrative  officers 
— was  just  about  nil.  It  was  nil,  in  fact. 
The  few  kind  and  enlightened  staff  were 
balanced  by  the  few  kind  and  enlightened 
prisoners.” 


the  mountains,  guarding  a field  of  bam- 
boo around  the  clock  all  alone.  She 
had  never  gone  to  school.  This  village 
would  be  the  ultimate  test  of  our  com- 
munity development  theory. 

Among  their  list  of  needs  as  given  to 
us  during  the  first  month  of  involvement 
were  electricity  and  latrines.  They  were 
also  interested  in  raising  pigs  and  chick- 
ens. They  received  some  Poverty  Fund 
pigs  and  chickens  but  never  made  out 
too  well  with  them  because  of  their 
lack  of  money  to  buy  food  concentrates 
to  add  to  their  home-grown  foods  for 
these  animals.  They  contributed  some  la- 
bor to  the  two  latrines  which  the  program 
constructed  in  their  village.  We  got  the 
twelve-year-old  girl  enrolled  in  a resi- 
dential school.  Our  public  health  nurse 
did  some  environmental  health  teaching 
but  seemingly  without  success,  and  I 
balked  at  providing  electricity,  maintain- 
ing that  this  was  a luxury  they  could  not 
afford.  They  would  be  expected  to  pay 
a monthly  electricity  bill. 

Soon  we  had  tried  every  trick  of  our 
imagination  with  little  success.  Our  visits 


A lone  electric  wire  runs  into  the  tiny 
village  of  Be  Gou. 


to  Be  Gou  unwittingly  became  less  and 
less  regular.  There  was  nothing  doing 
there,  so  why  go?  Then  in  June  1972, 
1 Vi  years  after  my  first  visit  to  the  eight- 
home  village,  we  called  a meeting  of  the 
Committee  for  Community  Development 
in  Shwei  Yuan.  Mr.  Lee,  the  representa- 
tive for  Be  Gou,  was  there  and  for  good 
reasons.  Mr.  Lee  did  not  attend  regularly. 
At  the  meeting  he  said,  “It  is  now  IV2 
years  since  my  village  people  requested 
electricity.  When  will  this  request  be 
realized?”  We  agreed  with  him  that  when 
five  of  the  seven  homes  in  his  village 
(one  family  had  moved  out)  made  a 
deposit  of  U.S.  $15  at  our  office,  then 
our  program  would  release  money  to 
cover  the  expense  of  having  the  electric- 
ity brought  the  six  hundred  meters  into 
the  village.  The  U.S.  $15  (NT  $600) 
would  cover  the  cost  of  having  their  lit- 
tle homes  wired.  Mr.  Lee  asked  if  we 
could  wait  till  the  ginger  root  harvest  in 
October. 

Things  were  happening  in  this  village 
while  our  visits  were  less  regular.  The 
environmental  health  had  improved  con- 
siderably. A few  of  the  tumbledown 
shacks  had  been  rebuilt.  There  were  a 
number  of  vegetable  gardens  now,  and 
the  village  farmers  had  planted  consider- 
ably more  ginger  on  their  mountain  slope 
farm  land  than  in  the  former  year. 

On  January  24,  the  Taroko  Commu- 
nity Development  staff  was  invited  to 
Be  Gou  to  celebrate  the  “turning  on  of 
the  lights.”  There  was  a special  invita- 
tion asking  Elsie  and  Tony  to  be  sure 
to  come.  I suggested  that  in  place  of  a 
ribbon-cutting  ceremony  we  should  cere- 
moniously blow  out  the  light  of  one  of 
their  little  kerosene  lamps  and  then  turn 
on  the  electric  light  which  hung 
over  our  “banquet”  table.  The  village, 
however,  felt  that  the  traditional  Chin- 
ese firecrackers  would  be  more  appropri- 
ate. At  the  dinner  served  to  us  Mr.  Lee, 
speaking  for  the  village,  thanked  us  for 
helping  them  to  bring  this  convenience 
to  their  homes.  We  congratulated  the 
village  people  on  their  efforts  which 
made  the  success  of  this  project  possible. 
We  also  informed  them  that  it  was  with 
gifts  from  the  Christians  in  North  Amer- 
ica that  we  had  been  able  to  help  them. 

We  discussed  future  projects:  a “street 
light”  on  the  power  pole  in  the  center 
of  the  village  would  be  helpful,  they 
suggested;  some  land  leveling  near  the 
village  would  make  more  room  for 
homes  and  gardens. 


THE  MENNONITE 


255 


Unsolved  problems  keep  Buffalo  Creek  tense 


Frances  and  Ralph  Sommer  ( left  to  right),  Pandora,  Ohio,  are  attempting  to  co- 
ordinate their  work  in  Man,  West  Virginia,  with  Jenny  Flood,  United  Methodist 
Church,  who  helped  begin  the  interdenominational  Buffalo  Creek  Ministry. 


Gayle  Gerber  Koontz 

A stranger  driving  along  Buffalo  Creek 
near  Man,  West  Virginia,  would  never 
know  that  one  year  ago,  a twenty-foot 
wall  of  water  surged  through  the  valley, 
destroying  seventeen  unincorporated 
communities  in  its  path.  The  creek  runs 
placidly  now.  Fifteen  miles  of  the  grassy 
bottomland,  previously  covered  with 
homes,  is  clean  and  bare.  Only  a careful 
observer  would  spot  a giveaway  sign, 
a pair  of  blue  jeans  caught  in  the  top 
of  a tree. 

It  takes  a closer  look  to  see  the  resi- 
due of  the  flood,  a kind  of  look  that 
Ralph  and  Frances  Sommer,  mcc  volun- 
teers from  Pandora,  Ohio,  have  had. 

The  Sommers  are  not  new  to  the 
Mennonite  Disaster  Service  or  mcc 
worlds.  Ralph  served  as  coordinator  of 
the  western  Ohio  mds  unit  for  IV2  years 
before  going  to  Buffalo  Creek.  After 
World  War  II  the  Sommers  helped  with 
the  rehabilitation  of  refugees  in  China 
through  mcc. 

“People  here  along  Buffalo  Creek  are 
just  about  down  to  their  emotional 
threshold,”  Ralph  said.  “They’re  un- 
happy and  frustrated.” 

Some  of  the  most  obvious  problems 
are  the  government  trailer  courts,  “ref- 
ugee” camps  for  flood  victims.  Although 
the  trailer  courts  were  intended  as  tem- 
porary housing,  it  is  now  one  year  since 
the  flood  and  most  of  the  flooded-out 
families  have  not  been  able  to  move  into 
permanent  housing. 

Another  problem  seems  to  be  plans 
for  a new  highway  along  Buffalo  Creek. 
Since  homes  were  washed  out  by  the 
flood,  the  government  is  doing  more  with 
the  highway  than  it  had  originally 
planned.  Buffalo  Creek  will  now  be  re- 
directed and  land  formerly  owned  by 
local  residents  will  be  taken  by  eminent 
domain  to  build  the  road. 

The  highway  map  was  not  finalized 
until  eleven  months  after  the  flood.  Land- 
owners  could  not  get  permits  to  rebuild 
their  homes  until  it  was  certain  whether 
or  not  their  land  would  be  needed  for 
the  highway.  Owners  whose  land  will 
likely  be  taken  could  not  be  paid  for 
the  land  until  the  final  decision  was 
made.  Most  people  had  no  financial  re- 
sources except  their  property.  Only  two 
or  three  families  had  flood  insurance. 

Flat  land  for  building  is  rare.  In  the 
Appalachian  hills,  narrow  strips  of  bot- 
tomland along  a creek  provide  the  only 


level  land.  “Between  the  highway  and 
the  coal  companies  it’s  hard  to  find  a 
spot,”  Frances  Sommer  explained. 

“A  few  people  are  moving  trailers  up 
the  valley  onto  their  own  lots,”  Ralph 
added.  “Some  are  in  the  right  of  way. 

I wouldn’t  be  surprised  if  they  meet  the 
highway  people  with  a shotgun.” 

Anger  about  the  circumstances  of  the 
flood  is  alive,  too.  Heavy  rains  taxed  a 
coal  company’s  weak  slag  dam  at  the 
top  of  the  valley.  When  the  dam  broke, 
February  26,  1972,  130  million  gallons 
of  water  poured  into  the  valley.  The 
people  feel  the  coal  company  was  re- 
sponsible for  the  disaster.  The  coal  com- 
pany says  it  was  “an  act  of  God.”  Ru- 
mors that  the  coal  company  is  building 
more  slag  dams  feed  existing  anger  and 
fear. 

“The  people  can’t  stop  talking  about 
the  flood,”  Frances  said.  “At  a senior 
citizens’  potluck  supper,  one  lady  gave 
me  the  whole  flood  story  in  eight  min- 
utes. She  talked  so  fast! 

“Another  lady  said  to  me,  ‘I’ll  never 
forget  the  sound  of  the  dogs.  They  had 
been  cut  up  and  were  howling.’  Some 
of  the  people  in  the  trailers  still  can’t 
sleep  well  when  it  rains.  It’s  amazing  how 
the  people  keep  reliving  it.” 

Ralph  and  Frances,  who  have  lived 
in  one  of  the  government  trailer  courts 
since  January  9,  are  trying  to  learn 
which  needs  in  the  area  are  most  crucial. 
The  mcc  and  Mennonite  Disaster  Service 
resources  will  be  channeled  to  meet  those 
needs  where  possible.  Mcc  will  plan  its 
program  with  Buffalo  Creek  Ministries, 
a local  interdenominational  organization. 

Because  of  the  great  need  for  housing, 


especially  for  low-income  families,  Ralph 
has  been  checking  out  low-cost  houses 
built  by  the  West  Virginia  Technologi- 
cal Institute.  The  institute  is  a nonprofit 
organization  that  builds  only  for  low- 
income  people.  In  the  process  of  build- 
ing, the  institute  trains  unemployed  or 
unskilled  people  in  building,  masonry, 
plumbing,  and  electrical  skills. 

“The  institute  is  open  to  the  idea  of 
mds  volunteer  building  supervisors  com- 
ing to  help  construct  the  homes  in  Buffa- 
lo Creek  valley,”  Ralph  reported.  “I 
don’t  think  we  want  to  bring  in  mds 
volunteers  to  do  all  the  work.  It’s  okay 
to  work  for  people  after  a disaster  when 
they’re  in  shock.  About  all  they  can  do 
then  is  sit  back  and  watch  what  others 
are  going  to  do.  But  now  we  need  to  be 
working  with  the  people.” 

In  summer  Ralph  and  Frances  will 
be  responsible  for  a group  of  mcc  sum- 
mer service  volunteers  in  Man,  West 
Virginia.  Volunteers  may  provide  day 
care  for  children  and  recreational  events 
for  youth  and  assist  in  building  repairs 
or  construction. 

The  undercurrent  of  tension  affects 
all  aspects  of  life  in  Buffalo  Creek. 
Frances  has  been  helping  three  days  a 
week  at  the  Amherstdale  School  as  an 
aide  to  a third-grade  teacher. 

“The  school  got  the  overflow  from  the 
two  schools  up  the  valley  that  were, 
washed  away.  While  enrollment  isn’t 
terribly  high,  most  classes  have  over 
thirty  children.  Teachers  seem  tense. 
They  claim  many  children  haven’t  re- 
laxed from  the  flood.  It’s  probably  true 
because  their  parents  haven’t  relaxed 
either,”  she  said. 


256 


APRIL  17,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


April  17,  1973 


Larry  Voth 


President  looks  for 
fellowship  with  believers 

Annual  conference  means  many  different 
things  to  those  of  us  who  are  members 
of  the  Central  District  Conference.  One 
of  the  main  concepts  I had  of  annual 
conference  twelve  years  ago,  when  I was 
introduced  and  welcomed  into  the  dis- 
trict as  a new  pastor,  was  that  at  these 
sessions  we  would  have  the  opportunity 
of  becoming  aware  of  what  has  been 
happening  in  the  various  churches  and 
organizations  in  our  conference.  I have 
appreciated  that  facet  of  conference.  It 
has  been  good. 

Another  thrill  I saw  at  annual  confer- 
ence was  the  time  spent  dreaming  about 
the  coming  year  and  selecting  leadership 
for  the  various  committees.  It  was  some- 
| thing  special  to  recognize  that  here  rep- 
resentatives from  across  our  district  were 
concentrating  on  the  future.  It  has  been 
good. 

But  I must  admit  that,  over  the  years, 
conference  has  meant  more  than  just 
reporting  and  planning  for  the  next  year. 
The  highlight  of  conference  for  me  has 
always  been  that  which  happens  beyond 
the  business  sessions,  that  which  happens 
beyond  the  devotional  presentations, 
namely,  the  fellowship  with  fellow  believ- 
ers. I have  been  one  who  has  found  it 
difficult  to  keep  from  skipping  out  from 
some  of  the  business  sessions  so  that  I 
could  spend  more  time  with  persons  on 
Continued  on  A-3 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 


Jesus  is  Lord  of  life 

Freedom  of  the  children  of  God 
Christian  involvement  in  corrections 


It  would  be  nice  if  we  had  a biblical 
text  containing  a direct  injunction  about 
corrections — a text  that  asked  us  to  visit 
those  in  prison,  or  even  one  that  said, 
“Blessed  are  those  who  undertake  the 
work  of  corrections.”  But  we  don’t, 
though  Jesus  did  say,  “When  I was  in 
prison  you  visited  me” — in  the  form  of 
the  “least  of  these,  my  brethren.” 

Actually  the  Bible  offers  us  something 
better  than  a single  text.  The  whole  mes- 
sage of  the  Bible  is  about  human  libera- 
tion. Usually  references  to  physical  lib- 
eration (for  example,  Luke  4:16-21  and 
its  Old  Testament  background)  pertain 
to  war  captives  and  political  prisoners, 
though  the  Hebrew-Jewish  social  system 
also  had  its  criminal  code  and  system 
of  detention.  Liberation  includes  free- 
dom from  physical  incarceration. 

But  in  the  Old  Testament  hope  and 
the  New  Testament  good  news  of  its 
beginning,  liberation  embraces  an  inner 
freedom  from  fear,  hate,  greed,  jealousy, 
self-interest,  and  despair — those  evils  that 
are  the  cause  of  most  physical  detention. 
And  the  fruits  of  liberation  are  joy,  hope, 
peace,  love,  power,  and  righteousness. 

The  truth  of  this  has  been  recognized 
by  the  minority  groups’  liberation  move- 
ments in  Canada  and  the  U.S.  Someone 
like  Martin  Luther  King  recognized  that 
the  black  man’s  inner  liberation  from 
stereotypes  of  himself  was  more  impor- 
tant than,  and  a precondition  of,  full 
liberation  in  the  external  sense,  for  ex- 
ample, freedom  to  sit  anywhere  on  a bus. 

Freedom  in  biblical  thought  is  never 
absolute  freedom,  freedom  the  abstract. 
We  are  not  free  from  the  law  of  gravity, 
from  dependence  upon  air,  food,  and 
water  for  life,  from  personal  interde- 
pendence. Plant  and  animal  life  illus- 
trates this.  A beautiful  lion  or  robin  or 
spruce  tree  is  one  whose  growth  and  life 
is  unhindered  by  any  interference  (e.g., 
disease)  that  prevents  its  achieving  its 


potential  as  an  instance  of  its  species. 

Jesus  came  to  bring  this  freedom  to 
man.  He  sought  to  make  men  whole. 
This  is  included  in  his  ministry  outreach 
to  offenders  and  it  will  also  be  true  in 
ours.  Heaven  is  the  final  description  of 
the  kind  of  life  God  desires  for  his 
creatures.  In  response  therefore  to  the 
common  claim  that  offenders  deserve  to 
be  punished,  our  answer  is  that  they  de- 
serve to  be  freed  from  all  that  would 
frustrate  their  humanity  in  order  to  en- 
ter their  inheritance  as  children  of  God. 

The  Mennonite  tradition  offers  a spe- 
cial urgency  for  involvement  in  such  lib- 
eration. Nonresistance  on  the  various  lev- 
els of  correction  is  a logical  extension  of 
pacifism  with  respect  to  war.  In  war  we 
refuse  to  become  inwardly  bound  by  the 
enemy’s  hate  and  fear,  seeking  instead 
to  free  him  from  his  spiritual  bondage 
to  such  powers  of  evil.  So  also  in  cor- 
rections we  seek  to  break  the  cycle  of 
paranoia  and  hostility  generated  and  re- 
inforced by  the  cycle  of  antisocial  be- 
havior and  retaliatory  punishment  (which 
is  also  in  the  profoundest  sense  antiso- 
cial behavior).  We  must  show  the  way 
out  of  this  cycle  by  modeling  a truly 
human  personal  existence  and  social  sys- 
tem, one  that  reflects  the  birthright  of 
God’s  children. 

In  all  of  this  we  will  still  have  prob- 
lems, one  of  the  chief  of  which,  surely, 
is  that  many  physically  free  people  with 
no  criminal  records  are  not  inwardly 
free.  And  our  total  social-political-eco- 
nomic system  reflects  some  of  these  evils 
of  jealousy,  greed,  fear,  and  hostility. 
That  means  the  criteria  for  liberation 
cannot  be  simply  the  criminal  codes  and 
societal  mores  of  the  total  community 
at  large.  The  touchstone  of  liberation  is 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  who  even  through 
death  remains  the  ultimate  model  of 
freedom  and  who  offers  us  all  the  liberty 
of  the  sons  of  God.  Marlin  Jeschke 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-l 


Abortion  may  be  a realistic  alternative 


A child  will  almost  certainly  be  born 
deaf,  blind  and  severely  retarded.  The 
mother  had  German  measles  during 
pregnancy. 

A mother  with  five  children  whom  she 
cannot  adequately  support  finds  herself 
pregnant  again,  although  she  does  not 
want  another  child. 

A young  wife  with  professional  aspira- 
tions and  no  desire  to  be  a mother  be- 
comes pregnant. 

Should  abortions  be  performed? 

Abortion  laws  in  many  states  have 
been  or  are  in  the  process  of  becoming 
liberalized.  Technology  and  the  medical 
profession  are  developing  safer  and  easi- 
er methods  of  birth  control  and  abortion. 

While  one  can  oppose  liberalized  laws 
and  decry  the  use  of  science  for  these 
purposes,  it  is  doubtful  that  these  trends 
can  be  reversed.  In  the  face  of  these 
changes,  the  moral  decisions  surround- 
ing abortion  are  increasingly  left  to  the 
individual  and  her  doctor.  And  the  abor- 
tion debate,  what  is  right,  what  is  wrong, 
how  should  one  act,  rages  on.  As  Chris- 
tians, how  can  we  think  clearly  about 
and  act  responsibly  on  these  questions? 
We  might  begin  by  examining  some  of 
the  major  arguments  in  the  abortion  de- 
bate. 

1.  Perhaps  the  main  objection  to  abor- 
tion is  that  it  is  murder,  the  unjustified 
and  intentional  taking  of  innocent  human 
life.  Mennonites,  traditionally  pacifists, 
have  long  been  convinced  that  killing  in 
its  various  forms  is  wrong.  It  would  there- 
fore be  logical  to  expect  Mennonites  to 
take  an  absolutist  stand  against  abortion. 
There  are  complicating  factors,  however, 
which  divide  the  ranks.  One  of  these  is 
the  definition  of  the  beginning  of  human 
life. 

The  argument  that  abortion  is  murder 
implies  acceptance  of  the  view  that  hu- 
man life  begins  at  conception  (or  shortly 
thereafter).  Other  common  definitions  of 
the  beginning  of  life  are  birth,  the  time 
of  viability  (when  the  fetus  can  survive 
outside  the  uterus — about  twenty  weeks 
after  conception),  and  the  onset  of  brain 
activity — around  the  seventh  week  of 
pregnancy  (a  definition  which  is  linked 
to  trends  toward  defining  death  primar- 
ily as  the  cessation  of  brain  activity). 
Obviously  one  who  accepts  one  of  the 
three  latter  definitions  of  the  beginning 
of  human  life  would  not  conceive  of  all 
abortions  as  murder. 

2.  Abortion  is  also  opposed  by  those 
who  argue  that  immediately  after  con- 


ception there  is  “potential”  life  which 
should  be  guarded  as  faithfully  as  if  it 
were  full  life  itself.  While  the  notion  of 
“potential”  life  recognizes  that  the  fetus 
is  neither  just  a piece  of  tissue  nor  hu- 
man life  in  the  full  sense,  but  life  in  the 
process  of  becoming,  the  view  that  such 
“potential”  life  must  be  protected  at  all 
costs  overlooks  the  fact  that  one  may 
actually  have  a greater  responsibility  of 
existing  human  life  than  toward  “poten- 
tial” life.  A classic  example  is  the  family 
of  seven  which  lives  in  overcrowded,  sub- 
standard housing,  has  no  room  for  an- 
other child,  and  will  not  be  able  to  take 
care  of  it.  In  this  case  the  “potential” 
life  may  significantly  lessen  the  quality 
of  life  of  existing  persons  in  the  family. 
In  addition,  it  is  doubtful  that  the  “po- 
tential” life  would  have  much  of  a chance 
to  develop  as  a whole  person  after  birth. 

3.  A more  theological  objection  to 
abortion  is  the  assertion  that  it  is  an 
affront  to  God,  that  it  interferes  with 
the  natural  processes  which  God  or- 
dained and  through  which  he  acts.  Car- 
ried to  its  logical  extreme  this  position 
would  be  anticorrective  glasses,  anti- 
doctors, antisurgery,  and  antibirth  con- 
trol pills.  Certainly,  an  important  theme 
in  the  Bible  is  God  acting  in  history,  as 
well  as  through  nature.  Perhaps  techno- 
logical developments  are  also  acts  of  God 
through  which  he  enables  man  to  con- 
trol his  biological  being  more  fully  and 
thus  make  more  possible  community  in 
which  all  are  wanted  and  adequately 
cared  for. 

4.  Some  persons  oppose  abortion  be- 
cause they  feel  it  undermines  respect 
for  all  human  life.  For  these  persons  the 
step  between  abortion  and  infanticide  is 
not  great.  If  killing  a fetus  is  accepted 
the  causal  chain  would  be  set  in  motion 
and  justifying  euthanasia,  genocide,  the 
killing  of  the  mentally  retarded,  and  oth- 
ers seen  as  not  beneficial  to  society,  would 
be  easier.  The  logic  of  this  argument, 
however,  seems  to  depend  on  a view  of 
the  fetus  as  human  life  in  the  full  sense, 
not  simply  as  “potential”  life.  Just  as 
most  of  us  would  argue  that  the  use  of 
contraceptives  does  not  reduce  respect 
for  human  life  by  preventing  potential 
life  from  becoming  actual,  so  the  use  of 
abortion  does  not  necessarily  lead  to  loss 
of  respect  for  human  life.  In  addition  it 
may  be  asked  whether  respect  for  human 
life  is  most  seriously  endangered  by  abor- 
tion, or  by  the  tragic  effects  of  overpopu- 
lation and  the  births  of  the  unwanted. 


5.  Many  persons  also  cite  the  nega- 
tive psychological  effects  on  women  who 
have  had  abortions  as  reasons  for  op- 
posing abortion.  Certainly  more  research 
needs  to  be  done  in  this  area.  The  Amer- 
ican Friends  Service  Who  shall  live? 
man’s  control  over  birth  and  death 
states  that  statistics  show  “that  the  ma- 
jority of  women  do  not  feel  guilty  after- 
ward; that  a relatively  small  percentage 
are  haunted  by  self-reproach;  that  far 
from  causing  psychiatric  illness,  abortion 
is  often  a defense  against  it”  (p.  34). 
How  an  individual  woman  might  react 
to  abortion,  however,  is  unpredictable. 

6.  Sometimes  the  objection  that  the 
psychological  side  effects  of  abortion  are 
damaging  to  a woman  is  coupled  with 
the  statement  that  abortions  are  selfish. 
Women  who  want  abortions  are  seen  as 
taking  the  life  of  another  for  their  own 
personal  goals  and  desires.  Although  this 
attitude  may  be  applicable  to  some  peo- 
ple, must  abortions  always  be  selfish?  In 
addition  to  general  concerns  about  over- 
population, a mother  may  be  consider- 
ing the  quality  of  life  of  the  rest  of  her 
children.  And,  in  a time  when  the  tra- 
ditional roles  of  men  and  women  are 
being  reexamined,  is  it  necessary  for 
every  woman  to  accept  motherhood? 

The  abortion  problem  will  not  be 
solved  in  the  immediate  future.  The  de- 
velopment of  “morning  after”  aborti- 
facient  pills  will  likely  revolutionize  the 
process  of  abortion,  but  the  fact  that 
human  life  or  “potential”  human  life  is 
being  taken  will  remain.  For  the  Chris- 
tian who  sees  the  spirit  of  God  revealed 
in  Jesus  as  agape  love,  the  question, 
what  does  love  mean  in  the  case  of  abor- 
tion, is  not  simple.  Life  is  a fragile  and 
valuable  gift.  But,  is  it  more  loving  for 
the  mother  who  cannot  afford  and  does 
not  want  a child,  to  have  an  abortion  or 
not?  Is  it  more  loving  for  parents  who 
know  their  child  will  be  severely  retard- 
ed to  decide  to  have  an  abortion  or  not? 
Moral  decisions  would  be  easy  if  they 
were  black  and  white  as  we  often  make 
them  out  to  be.  In  areas  where  there  is 
no  clear  right  and  wrong,  or  in  which 
no  option  exists  to  choose  an  unambigu- 
ous good,  decisions  are  most  difficult. 
Yet  they  must  be  made  and  it  appears 
that  in  certain  cases  abortion  may  be  the 
lesser  of  two  evils  and  thus  the  morally 
appropriate  act. 

The  point  of  this  article  is  not  to  con- 
tend that  abortion  is  a positive  moral 
good,  but  only  that  sometimes  it  may 


A-2 


APRIL  17,  1973 


be  the  best  realistic  alternative.  A better 
long-term  solution  in  the  vast  majority 
of  abortion  cases  is  of  course  the  de- 
velopment and  distribution  of  simple, 
safe,  and  reliable  contraceptives.  Chris- 
tians who  are  sensible  to  the  complex 
of  issues  involved  in  abortion  should 
certainly  support  the  development  and 
distribution  of  such  contraceptives  re- 
gardless of  the  side  of  the  abortion  de- 
bate on  which  they  find  themselves. 
Gayle  and  Ted  Koontz,  reprinted  from 
forum 


Conference  from  A- 1 

a one-to-one  basis  or  in  a small  group, 
many  times  talking  about  some  things 
that  are  unrelated  to  the  business  of  con- 
ference. I am  not  recommending  that 
anyone  who  is  planning  to  attend  the 
conference  be  encouraged  to  skip  some 
of  the  meetings,  but  if  you  feel  the  need 
for  that  kind  of  personalized  fellowship 
that  seemingly  can  take  place  best  out- 
side of  the  structured  program,  feel  free 
to  at  least  skip  one  or  two  of  the  sessions. 

One  of  the  challenges  that  I see  as 
we  face  this  year’s  conference — there 
are  many,  but  I will  just  lift  out  one — is 
the  whole  question  of  “How  do  we  feel 
the  Lord  leading  us  as  a district  in  this 
matter  of  church  extension?”  In  the  early 
years  of  our  ministry  in  Markham  there 
were  a number  of  churches  in  our  dis- 
trict who  were  seeking  subsidy  from  the 
Central  District  missions  committee. 
Markham  was  one  of  the  congregations 
that  was  being  heavily  subsidized.  The 
missions  committee  tried  desperately  to 
find  some  way  in  which  churches  that 
were  on  subsidy  could  be  strongly  en- 
couraged to  become  self-supporting  and 
in  this  way  make  it  possible  for  new 
churches  to  be  born  who  could  again 
find  some  of  their  early  support  from 
the  district.  Most  of  the  churches  that 
were  receiving  subsidy  ten  to  twelve 
years  ago  are  no  longer  receiving  sub- 
sidy from  the  district.  Those  who  are 
yet  receiving  subsidies  have  greatly  re- 
duced the  amounts  requested  in  the  last 
couple  of  years. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  not  been 
able  somehow  to  discern  the  Spirit  as 
to  what  we  ought  to  be  doing  in  the 
way  of  church  extension  in  our  district. 
Few  new  churches  are  being  bom.  Fur- 
ther, when  we  look  specifically  at  the 
church  in  the  city,  which  has  been  the 
focus  for  new  church  starts,  we  have 
found  it  extremely  difficult  to  begin  new 
work  which  might  one  day  flourish  into 
a strong,  dedicated  congregation. 

What  is  the  thinking  of  the  persons 


THE  MENNONITE  A-3 


who  make  up  the  membership  of  Cen- 
tral District  Conference  on  this  matter 
of  church  extension  in  our  district  for 
the  decade  of  the  1970s?  Lawrence  Voth, 
conference  president 

Offenders  need  restitution, 
to  feel  worthwhile 

Keynoting  a corrections  seminar  at  Bluff- 
ton  College  Edgar  Epp,  the  director  of 
community  resources  for  the  Ontario 
Department  of  Corrections,  said  the  of- 
fender should  be  allowed  to  make  com- 
pensation for  crimes  he  has  committed. 

“We  should  offer  compensation  rath- 
er than  our  own  need  to  punish,”  stressed 
Mr.  Epp. 

According  to  Mr.  Epp,  it  is  an  injus- 
tice not  to  give  the  offender  a chance  to 
make  restitution.  He  said  a basic  need 
of  an  individual  is  to  feel  worthwhile 
and  indicated  that  irresponsible  behavior 
can  be  expected  from  people  who  don’t 
feel  worthwhile  to  themselves  or  to 
others. 

If  the  offender  is  not  allowed  to  com- 
pensate for  his  actions  against  society, 
he  often  feels  worse  and  less  worth- 
while, explained  Mr.  Epp. 

“Even  if  we  are  only  concerned  about 
our  safety  ...  we  are  contributing  to 
our  own  self-destruction  by  the  way  we 
are  handling  offenders,”  said  the  former 
prison  warden. 

Mr.  Epp  said  offenders  are  dehuman- 
ized in  institutions,  which  makes  them 
feel  less  worthwhile  when  leaving  a pris- 
on than  they  did  when  they  entered.” 
The  result  is  that  the  prisoner,  once 
freed,  will  act  more  irresponsibly  in  so- 
ciety and  show  no  sign  of  rehabilitation. 

“I  have  concluded  that  if  we  don’t 
treat  the  offender  any  better  than  he 
treated  us,  we  have  little  reason  to  think 
he  is  any  worse  than  we  are,”  comment- 
ed Mr.  Epp. 

Service  assignment 

Dean  and  Sandra  Amstutz  have  begun 
a twenty-six-months-term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Belem,  Brazil.  Dean  will  work 
at  the  Wycliffe  dairy  farm  and  later  in 
agriculture  with  the  Amazon  Indians. 
Sandra  will  be  working  in  preventive 
health  care  with  the  Amazon  Indians. 
The  Amstutzes  are  members  of  the  Pu- 
laski Church,  Pulaski,  Iowa. 

Rodney  Eck,  First  Church,  Newton, 
Kansas,  will  begin  two  years  of  voluntary 
service  with  the  General  Conference  in 
March. 

He  will  be  involved  in  hospital  work 
in  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana. 


Wendall  Metz,  assistant  deputy  di- 
rector of  program  services  for  the  Ohio 
Department  of  Corrections,  said  the  ques- 
tion is  whether  society  wants  protection 
from  offenders,  punishment,  rehabilita- 
tion, or  treatment  for  them. 

Concurring  with  Mr.  Epp’s  opinion 
that  prisons  are  failing  to  prepare  of- 
fenders to  live  in  society,  Mr.  Metz  said 
that  70  percent  of  the  prisoners  in  Ohio 
institutions  have  been  there  before. 

He  said  the  Ohio  Department  of  Cor- 
rections is  attempting  to  return  offenders 
to  society  in  a competitive  type  of  way 
and  is  doing  so  by  increasing  its  voca- 
tional and  educational  offerings  for  of- 
fenders. 

According  to  Mr.  Metz,  society  is 
moving  away  from  the  outdated  idea 
that  regimentation  and  hard  work  are 
ways  to  rehabilitation.  He  said  society 
has  historically  attempted  to  solve  its 
social  problems  through  giant  institu- 
tions and  it’s  finally  moving  away  from 
that  concept. 

Mr.  Metz  said  in  recent  years  society 
has  been  working  to  keep  people  out  of 
the  criminal  justice  system  instead  of 
working  on  improving  the  institutions 
and  court  system.  He  indicated  that 
working  toward  improvement  of  penal 
institutions  and  the  court  system  is  a 
difficult  task. 

He  said  the  basic  weakness  in  Ohio’s 
penal  system  is  that  it  is  more  custody 
oriented  than  treatment  oriented. 

The  seminar  was  the  second  of  a two- 
part  series  sponsored  by  the  Central 
District  of  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite  Church  and  Region  IV  B of  the 
Mennonite  church.  The  first  seminar  was 
held  in  October  1972  at  Goshen  Col- 
lege. 

Janene  Elaine  Hostetler,  McPherson, 
Kansas,  began  at  least  one  year  under 
General  Conference  voluntary  service  on 
February  12. 

She  will  serve  as  a day-care  worker 
in  the  Markham,  Illinois,  voluntary  serv- 
ice unit. 

Ralph  and  Francis  Sommer,  Pandora, 
Ohio,  have  begun  an  eight-months  term 
of  service  with  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee. They  are  exploring  possibilities 
for  mcc  and  Mennonite  Disaster  Service 
action  in  the  flood-stricken  Buffalo  Creek 
valley.  The  Sommers  will  also  coordinate 
the  work  of  a summer  mcc  voluntary 
service  unit  in  the  area. 

The  Sommers  previously  served  with 
mcc  in  China  and  in  Paraguay.  They 
are  members  of  the  Grace  Church,  Pan- 
dora, Ohio. 


More  Christian  laymen 
should  go  to  court 

Our  title  does  not  mean  to  imply  that 
we  want  to  see  more  Christian  laymen 
in  court  because  of  misdemeanors  they 
have  committed.  It  is  the  Christian’s  re- 
sponsibility to  become  aware  of  what  is 
happening  in  our  courts  today,  to  see 
and  know  what  the  problems  of  our 
youth  are  and  why  these  problems  exist. 
If  your  city  or  county  has  a court  volun- 
teer program,  find  out  how  it  works  and 
how  you  as  a Christian  layman  can  be 
a part  of  the  rehabilitative  process  in 
the  life  of  a youth  who  has  become  in- 
volved in  misdemeanors  and  is  develop- 
ing a pattern  that  will  lead  to  a life  of 
crime.  If  your  community  has  no  such 
program,  perhaps  you  might  be  instru- 
mental in  getting  one  started. 

Jail  sentences  and  fines  and  prolonged 
probation  serve  a valuable  purpose,  but 
are  not  the  answer  for  many  offenders. 
It  is  evident  that  in  providing  the  of- 
fender with  a special  helper  or  friend 
(court  volunteer),  one  to  whom  the  of- 
fender can  turn  for  counsel  and  ad- 
vice and  just  to  talk,  often  results  in  a 
new  experience.  Problems  that  were  in- 
surmountable become  less  frustrating,  the 
help  of  a friend  who  cares  brings  a new 
dimension  in  the  life  of  the  offender. 

The  problem  of  many  of  today’s  youth 
is  that  they  never  had  that  adult  person 
(parent  or  friend)  they  could  relate  to 
and  feel  at  ease  with  to  talk  out  their 
problems.  Youth  wants  and  needs  disci- 
pline, counseling,  and  love. 

Who  is  better  able  to  help  meet  the 
need  of  the  offender  than  the  man  or 
woman  who  has  chosen  as  his  leader 
the  greatest  of  all  volunteers?  As  Jesus 
Christ  offers  life,  abundant  life,  and  more 
abundant  life,  and  ultimately  eternal  life 
to  his  followers,  and  as  his  followers 
enjoy  this  life,  is  it  not  reasonable  then 
that  as  Christian  laymen  we  ought  to 
share  these  real  values  of  life? 

So  when  we  suggest  that  more  Chris- 
tian layman  go  to  court,  we  are  inviting 
Christian  laymen  to  express  their  faith 
in  a living  way  by  sharing  it  in  a positive 
way  by  being  a special  friend  to  an  of- 
fender. The  offender  you  befriend  can 
become  a useful  productive  citizen  of 
the  community;  if  no  one  cares,  he 
could  become  a life-termer  in  prison. 

Jesus  said,  “Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done 
it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my 
brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  me.” 
How  can  we  do  less?  Virgil  Oyer,  di- 
rector, Volunteers  in  Probation,  Adrian, 
Michigan. 


HAPPENINGS 


Too  late! 
you  missed  it! 

The  newlyweds,  the  grandparents,  and 
the  couples  in  between  had  a great  time 
getting  to  know  each  other  and  sharing 
the  things  that  tied  them  more  closely 
to  their  spouses.  It  was  the  couples’  re- 
treat held  March  9-11  at  Camp  Friedens- 
wald  that  drew  two  couples  for  the  sec- 
ond time  and  the  others  for  the  first  time. 

Isn’t  it  interesting  that  the  young  cou- 
ples thouhgt  only  young  couples  could 
find  time  to  come,  and  the  middle-aged 
thought  only  the  middle-aged  would  be 
able  to  find  time  and  make  arrangements 
to  get  to  the  retreat?  But  no  one  was 
disappointed  for  they  all  thought  the 
age  span  was  tremendous  in  adding  wider 
dimensions  to  the  experiences.  It  was  a 
retreat  to  remember,  a retreat  to  add 
perspective  to  the  days  to  come!  Ray 
Keim  did  a capable  job  in  leading  the 
retreat.  His  experience  as  pastor  and 
counselor  guided  the  group  into  a 
thoughtful  period  of  growth. 

The  couples  were  interested  in  making 
further  contacts  with  each  other  and 
made  the  following  list  of  names  and 
addresses.  Why  not  ask  them  about  the 
weekend  and  plan  to  join  the  couples 
group  next  year?  Plan  early. 

Attending  were  Bob  and  Fran  Core, 
Bluffton,  Ohio;  Herb  and  Helen  Fretz, 
Goshen,  Indiana;  Tim  and  Marybeth 
Hartzler,  Pandora,  Ohio;  Ray  Keim,  Elk- 
hart, Indiana;  Carol  and  Berry  Hoffman, 
Danvers,  Illinois;  Bob  and  Miriam  Leich- 
ty,  Berne,  Indiana;  Freeman  and  Carol 
Schrock,  Goshen,  Indiana;  Roy  and  Car- 
ol Sprunger,  Monroe,  Indiana;  and  Seth 
and  Ruth  Stevens,  Marion,  Ohio. 

Six-week  program  CLASS 
closed  in  Kidron,  Ohio 

Three  Central  District  pastors  and  a 
professor  of  economics  were  on  the  staff 
of  the  annual  Christian  Life  and  Service 
Series  (class)  which  closed  its  six-week 
program  recently  at  Central  Christian 
high  school  in  Kidron,  Ohio.  Held  on 
Wednesday  evenings,  class  had  an  en- 
rollment of  about  300  and  included  twen- 
ty-six churches  of  the  five-county  area. 
The  project  is  sponsored  by  the  Wayne- 
Medina  Mennonite  Ministerial  Fellow- 
ship. 


Peter  Wiebe  led  a group  on  “New  pat- 
terns in  worship”;  Donald  Steelberg 
taught  “Last  things  first” — a study  of  the 
subject  of  Christian  hope.  Claude  Boyer 
taught  “A  biblical  study — Sermon  on  the 
Mount.”  Richard  Reimer,  professor  at 
the  College  of  Wooster,  taught  “Cross- 
cultural  relations.”  These  were  four  of 
twelve  courses  for  spiritual  enrichment. 
The  sponsoring  committee  included  Ben 
Rahn  and  Merl  Lehman  of  the  Salem 
Church  in  Kidron. 

Other  resource  persons  and  teachers 
came  from  other  Mennonite  churches  in 
the  area.  As  in  other  years,  it  proved  to 
be  a stimulating  cooperative  venture  in 
biblical  studies. 


Staff  members  of  class  from  the  Cen- 
tral District  were  Peter  Wiebe  (left)  and 
Dr.  Richard  Reimer,  Smithville;  Don 
Steelberg,  Wadsworth;  and  Claude  Boyer, 
Sugarcreek.  The  sessions  were  attended 
by  members  of  twenty-six  central  Ohio 
churches  of  the  various  conferences. 

COM  publishes  book 
for  prayer 

A book  to  encourage  prayer  for  mis- 
sionaries and  national  church  workers 
was  published  in  February  by  the  Com- 
mission on  Overseas  Mission. 

The  135-page  booklet  replaces  prayer 
cards  for  individual  missionaries  and 
families  and  “Serve  and  bear  witness,”  a 
discontinued  yearly  publication  which 
listed  missionaries  beginning  new  terms 
that  year. 

The  new  booklet  includes  pictures  of  I 
the  approximately  180  missionaries  work- 
ing under  com  as  of  January  1,  descrip- 
tions of  their  work,  their  home  churches, 
and  the  year  in  which  they  began  com 
work. 

The  booklet  is  available  free  of  charge  j 
from  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis-  j 
sion.  Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114.  ! 


A-4 


APRIL  17,  1973 


Carlock  sets  goals 

A congregational  goal  for  the  coming 
year: 

to  have  an  effective  system  of  identi- 
fying the  needs  in  our  community  and 
meeting  them  with  as  great  a congre- 
gational participation  as  possible,  this 
to  be  called — Operation  Help. 

To  help  us  arrive  at  the  above  goal 
in  one  year  from  now  here  is  a short- 
term goal: 

to  have  Operation  Help  functioning 
effectively  with  twenty  participating 
members  by  May  1. 

Can  you  help ? 

— by  having  chats  with  shut-ins  by  phone 
— by  taking  an  elderly  person  to  the 
doctor’s  office 
— by  making  a few  visits 
— by  alerting  us  to  some  need 
— by  taking  taped  Sunday  services  to 
shut-ins. 

— by  seeing  some  new  way  to  help? 

Contact  Cecil  Holmes  for  informa- 
tion or  for  volunteering  to  be  a helper. 
Phone  376-4491. 

Carlock  and  Danvers 
unite  in  shared  ministry 

We  wish  to  share  some  of  the  things 
two  congregations,  North  Danvers  and 
Carlock,  are  doing.  The  two  churches 
are  located  three  miles  apart.  The  Car- 
lock  Church  is  located  in  a small  town 
and  North  Danvers  is  in  the  country.  We 
are  involved  in  a shared  ministry. 

Last  summer  a series  of  outdoor  Sun- 
day evening  services  were  held  on  the 
lawn  of  the  North  Danvers  Church.  The 
lawn  is  spacious.  The  church  is  located 
between  the  towns  of  Carlock  and  Dan- 
vers and  thus  these  services  drew  people 
from  both  communities. 

A summer  fun-with-books  hour  was 
held  at  the  Carlock  Church.  This  week- 
ly hour  provided  what  the  name  implies 
— fun.  It  included  the  telling  of  Bible 
stories,  refreshments,  films,  singing,  and 
the  reading  of  good  books  from  the 
ample  church  library. 

During  the  summer,  in  cooperation 
with  the  local  Christian  Church,  we  pro- 
vided a Saturday  evening  service  for 
campers  at  Hidden  Hills  Camp.  The 
camp  is  located  AV2  miles  north  of  Car- 
lock.  These  weekend  campers  miss  their 
town  church  services  and  appreciate  a 
[ meaningful  outdoor  service.  Throughout 
the  year  we  have  also  provided  weekly 
| services  on  Tuesday  afternoon  for  the 
residents  of  Bloomington  Manor.  Elmer 
I Wall,  Carlock-North  Danvers. 


Mark  and  Jane  Steinmetz 


Camp  has  new 
program  director 

James  Bertsche,  chairman  of  Camp  Frie- 
denswald  committee,  has  announced  the 
appointment  of  Mark  Steinmetz  as  pro- 
gram director.  This  is  a full-time  job  to 
give  leadership  for  year  around  pro- 
gramming beginning  in  June. 

Mark  is  originally  from  Van  Wert, 
Ohio.  He  graduated  from  Bluffton  Col- 
lege in  1970  with  a major  in  chemistry 
and  a minor  in  physical  education  and  is 
now  teaching  in  the  Perry  Local  Schools 
of  Lima,  Ohio. 

Mark’s  wife,  Jane  Kingsley,  grew  up 
in  Berne,  Indiana,  graduating  from  high 
school  in  Sylvania,  Ohio.  Jane  is  a gradu- 
ate of  Bluffton  College  in  elementary 
education.  She  plans  to  teach  in  public 
schools  near  Camp  Friedenswald.  Mark 
and  Jane  are  members  of  the  First  Men- 
nonite  Church  of  Bluffton,  Ohio. 

Jess  and  Vi  Kauffman  will  continue 
in  the  roles  they  have  filled  the  past 
several  years.  Jess  is  camp  director  giv- 
ing administration  leadership.  Vi  will  be 
engaged  in  food  service  and  accounting. 
Mark  and  Jess  will  share  in  the  mainte- 
nance and  custodial  aspects  of  the  camp 
with  part-time  local  help  as  needed. 

Missions  takes  the  offensive 

In  an  historic  meeting  the  Central  Dis- 
trict missions  committee  launched  a strat- 
egy for  church  planting  and  enlarged 
ministry  and  witness  to  youth. 

President  Ben  Sprunger  of  Bluffton 
College  is  approaching  the  members  of 
Central  and  Eastern  District  congrega- 
tions to  pledge  support  of  a campus  pas- 
tor. The  missions  committee  is  enthusi- 
astic in  its  support  of  this  plan  and  has 


designated  $2,500  for  the  first  year  to 
launch  this  plan.  This  is  a three-year 
launching  support  with  reduced  figures 
each  year  as  churches  assume  larger 
responsibility. 

Partly  Dave,  a coffeehouse  in  Elkhart 
which  has  established  a significant  min- 
istry to  youth  over  the  past  seven  years, 
has  purchased  a downtown  building  to 
enlarge  and  stabilize  its  program.  During 
this  critical  period  of  transition  the  mis- 
sions committee  is  allocating  $1,000  for 
1973  and  reduced  amounts  for  1974 
and  1975  to  support  a seminary  student 
working  primarily  with  teen-aged  youth 
involving  truancy,  runaways,  juvenile  of- 
fenders, and  drugs.  Dale  Suderman  is 
at  present  giving  leadership  in  this  area. 
Peter  Stucky  is  full-time  director  of 
Partly  Dave. 

“Operation  Paul”  is  a plan  for  church 
planting  in  areas  anywhere  within  the 
Central  District.  David  Whitermore,  gc 
consultant  for  church  extension,  in  co- 
operation with  the  conference  minister, 
will  visit  major  centers  of  population 
in  the  five-state  area  to  determine  in- 
terest and  readiness  for  church  planting. 
Students  on  university  campuses  and 
Mennonite  people  living  in  metropolitan 
areas  will  be  consulted  in  this  “First  mis- 
sionary journey.”  Plans  will  be  laid  in 
the  summer  for  the  major  thrust  during 
the  fall  months. 

Cincinnati  is  one  area  the  committee 
is  agreed  is  ready  for  a launching.  The 
committee  has  instructed  the  conference 
minister  to  move  aggressively  in  securing 
an  experienced  pastor  to  move  to  Cin- 
cinnati and  begin  relating  to  various 
groups  and  needs  as  they  now  exist.  Mcc 
will  assume  part  of  this  person’s  salary 
as  director  of  the  Cincinnati  VS  unit. 
The  focus  of  this  new  church  fellowship 
will  be  for  professional  and  semiprofes- 
sional families  now  living  in  Cincinnati 
and  university  students.  The  pastor  may 
also  provide  an  assistant  for  the  Bluffton 
College  summer  urban  studies  program 
in  Cincinnati. 

Student  ministry  is  a significant  as- 
pect of  the  missions  committee  budget. 
Neil  Avenue  Church,  Columbus,  Ohio, 
and  the  Champaign,  Illinois,  Church,  both 
give  major  attention  to  the  needs  of 
university  students. 

Will  you  pray  for  God’s  continued 
guidance  as  we  seek  to  fulfill  Christ’s 
mission  in  the  Central  Midwest  area  of 
our  country? 

Material  for  the  Central  District  Reporter  should 
be  sent  to:  Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant 

Plain,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-5 


Year  of  fulfillment  at  Normal 

Last  year  was  a year  of  fulfillment  for 
the  First  Mennonite  Church  of  Normal. 
The  “operation  layman”  plan  which  had 
been  initiated  late  in  1971  when  the 
church  was  left  without  a pastor  was  re- 
warding in  activating  and  to  a degree  uni- 
fying the  brotherhood  in  a joint  effort 
to  carry  forward  the  work  of  the  church. 
The  new  year  found  many  church  mem- 
bers contributing  generously  in  a variety 
of  ways  and  assuming  responsibilities 
ordinarily  done  by  a pastor.  While  guest 
ministers  frequently  filled  the  pulpit  dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  1972,  opportunity 
was  also  given  for  some  experimentation 
and  introduction  of  lay  personnel,  both 
old  and  young,  to  the  pulpit.  Special  ef- 
forts were  made  to  increase  the  oppor- 
tunities for  fellowship  and  face-to-face 
communication.  This  led  to  better  under- 
standing of  each  other  and  to  more  open 
discussion  of  our  differences  as  well  as 
common  purposes. 

At  the  beginning  of  1972  our  congre- 
gation was  without  a pastor.  Before  the 
end  of  January,  we  extended  a call  to 
James  H.  Waltner  and  his  family.  They 
graciously  accepted  and  became  a part 
of  our  community  in  July  1972.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  Brother  Waltner  has  great  “ful- 
fillment potential”  for  our  particular  con- 
gregation, and  is  leading  the  way  to  a 
more  mature  servanthood  role  for  all  of 
us.  We  look  forward  to  developing  a 
new  dimension  in  all  our  relationships, 
and  to  a broader  outreach  of  service  in 
the  community  and  to  other  segments  of 
society  where  we  can  minister  to  the 
needs  of  people. 

Other  fulfillment  experiences  include 
such  cooperative  activities  with  the 
Bloomington  Mennonite  Church  as  com- 
bined quarterly  board  meetings,  Bible 
school,  visitation  training,  and  Sunday 
evening  and  choir  programs.  On  the  first 
Sunday  of  the  new  year,  January  7,  our 
congregation  had  its  first  “love  feast” 


with  a service  of  Holy  Communion.  This 
seemed  a fitting  celebration  of  God’s 
infinite;  patience  and  love  and  of  the 
work  of  his  spirit  in  our  midst.  Luella 
Regier 

A layman  from  Nappanee 

I am  thankful  to  God  for  all  the  mem- 
bers in  my  congregation  (First  Church, 
Nappanee,  Indiana)  who  made  our  year 
successful  financially.  We  took  in  more 
money  than  we  had  budgeted  and  it  was 
probably  our  second  best  year  in  “giv- 
ing,” next  to  one  of  our  years  when  we 
were  working  on  a building  program.  I 
pray  that  the  members  will  continue  to 
seek  God’s  help  with  their  stewardship 
of  all  their  goods. 

I am  also  thankful  to  God  for  all  the 
members  who  actively  worshiped  this 
past  year.  It  takes  perseverance  and  forti- 
tude on  their  part  to  keep  their  worship 
active.  To  keep  the  congregation  active, 
we  must  have  worship. 

For  all  members  who  take  their  time 
and  talents  to  give  help  and  leadership 
in  the  congregation,  I am  especially 
thankful.  I pray  that  God  will  continue 
to  lead  members  into  these  programs  to 
make  them  effective. 

About  three  years  ago,  three  new  fam- 
ilies joined  our  congregation.  I am  thank- 
ful for  all  their  contributions  to  this  con- 
gregation. It  brings  a new  spirit  to  all  of 
our  congregation. 

Now  we  have  a newly  married  young 
couple  giving  of  their  time  to  youth  proj- 
ects. I praise  God  for  guiding  them  into 
this  service,  and  bringing  new  energetic 
spirits  to  these  young  people. 

One  of  the  members  of  our  new  fam- 
ilies has  volunteered  to  teach  a young 
married  couples  Sunday  school  class.  I 
am  thankful  to  God  for  this  willingness 
to  serve.  We  have  needed  leadership  for 
the  past  several  years  to  get  interest  in 
this  group.  I now  urge  all  our  members 
to  pray  for  this  new  group.  Wendell 
Metzler 


Experimenting  at  Pekin 

In  1972  we  realized  we  needed  some- 
where to  go.  The  workings  of  the  past 
didn’t  seem  adequate.  We  struggled  with 
the  Sunday  school.  The  need  for  greater 
participation  and  involvement  was  evi- 
dent. In  1972  we  experimented  with 
various  class  groupings.  For  experimen- 
tation in  1973  we  are  trying  team  teach- 
ing and  a film  series  for  a quarter  involv- 
ing both  the  junior  and  senior  Sunday 
schools.  Two  teachers  have  laid  aside 
the  traditional  quarterly  and  have  de- 
signed their  own  lesson  plans,  objectives, 
and  materials  with  feedback  and  evalua- 
tion from  the  students.  So  far  some  have 
found  it  confusing,  but  many  have  found 
it  inspiring.  Grant  Noll 

Ministry  to  elderly 
at  Pulaski  manor 

As  a part  of  our  community  outreach 
activities,  our  congregation  engages  in  bi- 
weekly visitation  at  the  local  nursing 
home  in  Bloomfield,  Iowa.  Last  fall  dur- 
ing harvest  and  the  first  months  after 
the  arrival  of  a new  pastor,  these  visits 
to  the  Bloomfield  Manor  were  discon- 
tinued for  some  months.  When  our  visits 
were  finally  resumed  in  November,  we 
were  surprised  at  how  much  our  visits 
had  been  missed.  In  fact,  one  man  knew 
exactly  how  many  weeks  it  had  been 
since  the  last  visit  of  our  congregation. 
As  John  Swartzendruver,  our  community 
outreach  chairman,  put  it  in  his  annual 
report,  “It  was  humbly  gratifying  to  see 
the  heartfelt  appreciation  of  both  the 
members  of  the  staff  and  the  residents 
of  Bloomfield  Manor  when  our  visits 
were  resumed  this  fall.  It  was  obvious 
that  our  efforts  of  the  past  two  winters 
had  become  cherished  experiences  for 
the  people  on  whom  our  congregation 
had  been  calling.”  S.  Roy  Kaufman, 
pastor 


A-6 


APRIL  17,  1973 


V ITAL  STATISTICS 


DEATHS 

Calvary,  Washington,  111.:  Barbara  Fau- 
bel,  Feb.  25;  Carl  Unsicker,  Feb.  23. 

Carlock,  Carlock,  111.:  Melody  Hoff- 
man Whitehouse,  Feb.  26. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Henry  E.  Lehman, 
Feb.;  Rolandes  Liechty,  Feb.  20;  Ora 
Merillat,  Feb.  24;  Alina  Neuenschwan- 
der,  Feb.  18;  Lena  Schiffler,  February; 
Nora  Soldner,  Feb.  24;  Elery  Whitcomb, 
Feb.;  Mrs.  Chris  Zurcher,  February. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  Chester  A.  Miller, 
March  9;  Aaron  Salzman,  Jan.  26. 

First,  Wadsworth,  Ohio:  Mabel  Bren- 
neman,  Feb.  19. 

United,  Peoria,  111.:  Avery  Weaver, 
Oct.  19. 

ANNIVERSARIES 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bemie  Aken,  Mar.  4,  50th. 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Homer  E.  Spallinger,  Feb.  11,  50th. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ed- 
win Newhauser,  Mar.  3,  63rd;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Jacob  Stucky,  Mar.  4,  53rd. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Irvin  Rodabaugh,  Mar.  12,  60th. 

First,  Nappanee,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Russell  Hostetter,  Mar.  24;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Stahly  Weldy,  Mar.  7. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Orrie  E.  Lugibihl,  Feb.  25,  50th. 

Salem,  Kidron,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Menno  Zuercher,  Mar.  6,  52nd. 

Silver  Street,  Goshen,  Ind.:  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Alton  Mckibbin,  Mar.  6,  35th;  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Ralph  Rensberger,  Mar.  25, 
57th;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jake  Rink,  Mar.  2, 
67th;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clarence  Schrock, 
Mar.  31,  50th;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rom  Yoder, 
Feb.  20,  50th. 

BIRTHS 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  to  the  Larry 

Beutches,  Shawna  Michelle,  Feb.  9;  to 
I Dr.  and  Mrs.  P.  D.  Hilty,  Daniel  Peter, 
Feb.  12. 

Carlock,  111.:  to  the  Lynn  Whitehouses, 
Jennifer  Lynn,  Feb.  25. 

Eighth  Street,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  the 
| Doyle  Preheims,  Elissa  Joy,  Feb.  3. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  the  Larry  Du- 
i bachs,  Tara  Dianne,  Mar.  3;  to  the  James 
L.  Garbodens,  Jeffrey  Allen,  Feb.  10;  to 
the  John  Kirckhofers,  by  adoption,  Tim- 
i othy  James,  Feb.  3;  to  the  Harry  Smiths, 
Amy  Jo,  Mar.  3. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Philip 


Trauchts,  Matthew  Philip,  Feb.  11;  to 
the  Baldemar  Valesquezes,  Satya  Tem- 
plin,  Feb.  25. 

First,  Nappanee,  Indiana:  to  the  Den- 
nis Kauffmans,  Kari  Ann,  Jan.  23. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  the  Dean 
Weltys,  Salley  Renee,  Feb.  15. 

United,  Peoria,  Illinois:  to  the  Kevin 
Oswalds,  Sean  Douglas,  Feb.  25;  to  the 
Jerry  Weavers,  Jennifer  Marie,  Feb.  1. 

NEW  MEMBERS 

Congerville,  Congerville,  111.:  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Vem  Blackford;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
Carroll,  Sr.;  Lisa  Carroll;  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ralph  McFall. 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Jared  and 
Charlene  Burkholder;  Terry  Riegle;  Da- 
vid and  Carol  Steiner. 

MARRIAGES 

First,  Berne,  Indiana:  Sara  Jo  Biber- 
stein  and  Randall  Sprunger,  Feb.  25. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Susan  Neuensch- 
wander  and  Jack  Cupples,  Mar.  3. 

United,  Peoria,  Illinois:  Carla  Un- 
zicker  and  Paul  Griffith,  Mar.  10. 

Workshop  held  at  Bluffton 
on  religion-philosophy 

Der  Hof  at  the  Bluffton  College  farm 
was  the  site  of  the  annual  Bluffton- 
Goshen  College  religion-philosophy  work- 
shop Friday  and  Saturday  (March  16- 
17). 

The  two  Bluffton  students  whose  pa- 
pers were  read  are  Robin  Hostetter,  sen- 
ior philosophy  major  at  Wadsworth,  Ohio, 
and  Beth  Buist,  a senior  English  major 
from  Bluffton. 

Professors  and  students  from  Goshen 
and  Bluffton  attended.  The  workshop  has 
been  hosted  by  the  two  schools  inter- 
changeably for  several  years. 

New  Bible  school 
curriculum  available 

The  new  Herald  Omnibus  Bible  Series 
is  one  of  two  vacation  Bible  school 
curricula  which  the  Commission  on  Edu- 
cation is  suggesting  for  use  in  General 
Conference  congregations. 

Cornelia  Lehn,  coe  children’s  educa- 
tion director,  said  the  Herald  material 
was  geared  to  minority  groups  and  urban 
congregations,  but  middle-class  and  rural 
congregations  could  adapt  it  for  their 
use.  Minority  groups  were  also  involved 
in  the  planning  of  the  curriculum. 


THE  MENNONITE  A-7 


WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


. . . “ Bear  one  another’s  burden,  and  so 
fulfill  the  law  of  Christ.”  (Gal.  6:2) 


Normal  women  at  work 

The  Normal  Mennonite  Church  in  Nor- 
mal, Illinois,  has  two  women’s  groups 
which  meet  regularly  to  learn  more 
about  missions  and  to  work  on  projects 
which  will  further  the  mission  of  the 
church.  Until  recently  a third  group  met 
and  included  interested  women  from 
other  churches. 

The  largest  of  the  above  groups  is 
known  as  the  “Goodwill  circle.”  It  has 
a membership  of  forty-eight  and  has  ten 
monthly  meetings  in  a year.  Probably 
one  of  the  more  interesting  features  of 
this  group  is  the  wide  age  span  of  its 
members.  Working  side  by  side  for  the 
same  purpose  are  women  between  the 
ages  of  twenty-five  and  seventy-five. 

Because  of  the  wide  age  span,  the  tal- 
ents and  interests  of  the  group  are  quite 
varied.  With  this  in  mind,  the  project 
committee  plans  several  projects  for  each 
“work  night.”  Along  with  the  assigned 
projects,  the  circle  prepares  items  for 
the  Mennonite  Relief  Sale,  for  the  Men- 
nonite Hospital  Bazaar,  and  for  other 
non-Mennonite  agencies,  such  as  the 
American  Cancer  Society. 

The  Goodwill  circle  meetings  are  but 
a starting  point  for  many  of  its  mem- 
bers. Many  are  actively  involved  in  the 
Mennonite  Hospital  auxiliary  and  vol- 
unteer program,  in  programs  aiding  the 
needy  in  the  community,  such  as  mo- 
bile meals  and  in  conference  activities. 

We  are  fortunate  to  have  as  one  of 
our  members,  Evelyn  Bertsche,  district 
advisor.  The  circle  has  three  study  pro- 
grams in  its  year’s  program.  At  a recent 


“study  night”  she  shared  her  experiences 
from  the  Council  of  Commission  meet- 
ings held  in  February.  She  shared  in 
depth  about  the  work  of  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries.  This  was  an  inter- 
esting and  enlightening  meeting  for  all. 
(Note:  Your  district  advisor  would  be 
available  to  share  with  other  women’s 
groups  and  can  be  contacted  by  writing 
to  her  at  1404  N.  Walnut  St.,  Normal, 
111.  61761.) 

News  from  Meadows’ 
auxiliary 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Meadows 
Mennonite  Home  women’s  auxiliary  was 
held  February  22.  We  were  told  of  some 
interesting  and  exciting  preliminary  plans 
for  expansion  at  the  home. 

Lotus  Troyer,  director  of  pastoral 
care  and  social  services  at  the  home, 
spoke  briefly  to  the  group.  He  stressed 
the  importance  of  and  thanked  the  wom- 
en for  being  involved  with  the  people  at 
the  home,  as  well  as  with  buying 
“things.” 

The  dates  for  the  quarterly  board 
meetings  are  as  follows:  March  15  at 
1:30  p.m.,  June  21  following  the  annual 
picnic,  September  20  at  1:30  p.m.,  and 
a decorating  day  in  December  (date  to 
be  set).  Churches  are  encouraged  to 
send  a representative  to  the  meetings  so 
that  local  churches  can  be  kept  better 
informed. 

Alice  Reeser,  house  director,  reported 
that  some  current  needs  of  the  home 
are  as  follows:  Twin-sized  bedspreads, 
lightweight  quilts,  fitted  mattress  covers 
(dacron-filled),  medium  weight  bath- 
towels,  hand  towels,  and  washcloths  (col- 
ored or  white) . 

Ruth  Miller  spoke  to  the  group  and 
told  of  some  new  activities  at  the  home. 
A shopping  basket  has  been  started  and 
is  taken  to  the  residents  so  they  can 
purchase  needed  items.  A monthly  paper 
written  by  the  residents,  called  The 
round  robin,  is  being  enjoyed.  A weekly 
bulletin  of  news  and  activities  has  been 
started.  She  stressed  that  volunteers  can 
be  used  to  read,  write  letters,  or  to  visit 
and  listen.  Children’s  programs  and  travel 
pictures  are  always  enjoyed. 

Mrs.  Delmer  Augspurger  from  the 
Meadows  Church  was  reelected  to  the 
auxiliary  board  and  Mrs.  Jerry  Bright 
from  the  Grace  Evangelical  Church  in 
Morton  was  newly  elected  to  the  board. 
A thank-you  was  expressed  to  Mrs.  Clar- 
ence Amberg  from  the  North  Danvers 


Take  time 

BE  STILL  AND  KNOW  THAT  I AM  GOD 

BE  STILL  AND  KNOW  THAT  I AM 

BE  STILL  AND  KNOW  THAT 

BE  STILL  AND  KNOW 

BE  STILL  AND 

BE  STILL 

BE 

TAKE  TIME  TO  BE  HOLY 
TAKE  TIME  TO  BE 
TAKE  TIME  TO 
TAKE  TIME 
TAKE 
I 

L 

MY  PEACE 
A 
V 

E 

With  You 


As  I wrote  the  above  words  from  Psalm  46:10  and  the  one  line  of  the  tune  running 
through  my  mind,  I seemed  almost  to  breathe  in  the  calmness  these  thoughts  pro- 
claimed, promised,  and  in  truth  were  delivering  to  me  even  as  type  sprang  forth 
across  the  whiteness  of  the  paper  in  my  typewriter.  “Thanks,  God,  I needed  that. 

I had  been  muttering  all  day  to  myself,  “I  just  must  take  time  to  call , 

I must  take  time  to  finish , I simply  have  to  take  time  out  and  

But  the  hectic  day  continued  to  tumble  about  me  in  a dreadful  conglomerate  of 
demands,  pressures,  and  needs  and  little  or  no  progress.  Then  the  final  acknowledg- 
ment of  a deeper  need,  a heavier  pressure,  a more  urgent  demand. 

By  the  time  most  of  you  will  be  reading  this  our  Central  District  Conference  will 
either  be  just  upon  us  or  just  completed.  This  will  be  my  last  word  via  the  yellow 
pages”  to  express  to  you  all  my  deep  appreciation  for  the  privilege  of  learning  to 
know  the  work  of  the  Women’s  Missionary  Association  better,  especially  that  of  the 
Central  District  wma,  and  to  become  better  acquainted  with  many  of  you  My 
prayer  will  be  that  each  of  us  may  “Be  still  and  know”  the  better  thing  that  God  has 
for  each  of  us  if  we  “take  time”  to  be  filled  with  his  “peace.  Mary  Troyer,  Presi- 
dent Central  District  WMA 


Church  for  her  five  years  of  faithful 
service  to  the  auxiliary. 

The  purchase  of  three  pairs  of  drap- 
eries was  chosen  as  the  project  for  this 
year.  Contributions  may  be  mailed  to 
the  auxiliary  treasurer,  Mrs.  Kenneth 
Folkers,  R.R.  2,  Minonk,  Illinois  61760. 
Each  of  you  is  urged  to  participate  by 
paying  your  $1  dues  through  your  local 
church. 

Plan  to  attend  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
celebration  to  be  held  at  the  home  on 
May  20.  Mrs.  Gerald  Nofsinger,  sec- 
retary 


Material  for  this  page  should  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Marjorie  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, III.  61701. 


Circle  members  with  quilt  made  for 
Mennonite  Relief  Sale. 


A-8 


APRIL  17,  1973 


I 


VS  group  helps  start  project  in  Saskatoon 


A group  of  voluntary  service  workers 
recently  spent  three  months  in  the  Nu- 
tana  Park  Mennonite  Church,  Saskatoon, 
Saskatchewan.  But  even  though  the  vol- 
unteers are  no  longer  with  the  congre- 
gation, the  programs  they  started  are 
continuing  with  personnel  from  the  local 
church. 

The  voluntary  service  workers  were 
members  of  the  Canadian  Service  Team, 
which  is  spending  a year  traveling  across 
Canada  helping  five  congregations  get 
started  in  service  projects. 

In  December,  January,  and  February, 
:he  four — Norma  Klassen,  Kathy  Ber- 
gen, Bob  Neufeldt,  and  Norman  Klassen 
—spent  most  of  their  time  at  Sherbrooke 
Community  Center,  an  institution  for 
he  elderly,  invalids,  and  others  who  can- 
id  take  care  of  themselves. 

The  service  team  did  not  try  to  take 
he  place  of  employees  at  the  center, 
iut  did  the  “extra”  things:  reading  or 
vriting  letters,  bringing  ice  water  to  the 
latients,  engaging  them  in  physical  ex- 
-rcise  (even  wheelchair  patients),  help- 
ng  patients  with  lunch,  or  playing  table 
;ames  with  patients  who  might  otherwise 
it  alone  in  their  rooms. 

The  group  reported  to  the  congrega- 
ion  that  many  a lonely  person  in  the 
nstitution  wants  a friend  outside.  For 
xample,  several  persons  of  Mennonite 
background  who  do  not  know  the  En- 
lish  language  would  like  a visit  with  a 
-ow  German  friend.  Many  of  the  people 
re  shy  and  hesitant  to  join  someone 
lse  in  the  activity  room.  After  the  serv- 
x team  had  visited  a few  times,  these 
eople  began  to  join  small  groups  more 


enthusiastically.  Couldn’t  the  congrega- 
tion find  volunteers  who  could  make  reg- 
ular visits  or  take  the  patients  out  of 
the  institution  for  a short  time?  the 
group  asked  the  congregation. 

Response  from  the  congregation  was 
positive. 

R.  P.  Penner,  a church  member,  com- 
mented about  the  service  team,  “Their 
life  is  a good  witness  to  Christian  be- 
havior, Christian  service,  and  Christian 
love.  We  hope  that  their  example  in  the 
congregation  will  bear  good  fruit.” 

The  committee  which  the  Nutana  Park 
Church  had  set  up  to  coordinate  rela- 
tionships between  the  congregation  and 
the  service  team  is  continuing,  although 
the  voluntary  service  workers  have  gone. 
The  church  has  named  one  of  its  mem- 
bers as  coordinator  of  volunteers,  and 
a number  of  people  are  visiting  the  cen- 
ter each  week. 

Judi  Janzen,  associate  voluntary  serv- 
ice director,  reported  that  three  women’s 
groups  alternate  weeks  visiting  the  cen- 
ter for  group  singing  or  arts  and  crafts 
with  the  patients. 

The  Canadian  Service  Team  planned 
to  spend  March  with  First  Mennonite 
Church  in  Saskatoon,  developing  a drop- 
in  center  for  senior  citizens  in  the 
church  basement. 

The  next  move  will  be  to  the  Charles- 
wood  Mennonite  Church  in  Winnipeg, 
where  they  will  spend  two  weeks  each 
on  four  projects,  in  such  areas  as  prison 
ministries,  housing  projects,  and  the 
Crossroads  Community  Center. 

June,  July,  and  August  will  be  spent 
with  the  Ottawa  Mennonite  Church. 


Conference  on  Christian 
community  planned  May  3-6 

The  Mennonite  Community  Association, 
once  active  in  sponsoring  conferences 
from  1945  to  the  early  1960s,  will  again 
sponsor  a Mennonite  Conference  on 
Christian  Community  May  3-6  at  the 
St.  Jacobs  Mennonite  Church,  St.  Jacobs, 
Ontario. 

In  response  to  the  recent  upsurge  of 
interest  in  issues  of  Christian  commu- 
nity, the  association  has  decided  to  hold 
at  least  one  more  conference  on  the 
“Search  for  Christian  community.” 

Speakers  will  include  Willard  Swartley 
on  “The  biblical  basis,”  Frank  Epp,  Wal- 
ter Klaassen,  and  Donovan  Smucker 
on  “Satan’s  seductions,”  Hubert  Brown 
on  “Christian  community  and  my  black- 
ness,” Menno  Wiebe  on  “Christian 
community  and  my  ethnic  Mennonitism,” 
a symposium  on  “Economic  barriers/ di- 
lemmas/opportunities,”  and  Ralph  Le- 
bold  on  “The  local  congregation.” 

The  planning  committee  for  the  con- 
ference felt  that,  although  Christian 
community  has  always  been  an  issue  in 
Anabaptist  experience,  some  present  de- 
velopments have  invited  Mennonites  to 
take  an  especially  hard  look  at  what  the 
shapes  of  Christian  community  might  be. 

The  committee  noted  the  growing  in- 
terest among  Mennonites  in  intentional 
communities  and  other  alternatives  such 
as  close-knit  house-church  fellowships, 
economic  sharing,  condominium  living, 
and  retirement  villas. 

Another  factor  in  calling  the  confer- 
ence was  the  growing  cultural  pluralism 
within  the  Mennonite  brotherhood. 

There  was  a concern  for  congregation- 
al renewal  and  the  question  of  how 
Mennonites  as  brothers  and  sisters  can 
form  life’s  values  and  make  decisions 
within  the  context  of  a local  congrega- 
tion of  Jesus’  followers,  rather  than  tak- 
ing their  cues  from  North  American 
culture. 

The  conference  will  also  be  an  at- 
tempt to  speak  a prophetic  word  to 
North  American  Christianity  and  North 
American  society  in  general  on  how  hu- 
man beings  should  live  together. 

The  conference  will  begin  at  7:30 
p.m.,  Thursday,  May  3,  at  the  St.  Jacobs 
Mennonite  Church,  five  miles  north  of 
Waterloo,  and  continue  through  Sunday 
noon,  May  6.  There  will  be  no  registra- 
tion fee,  but  an  offering  will  be  taken. 
Reservations  for  lodging  in  homes  or 
at  Conrad  Grebel  College  may  be  made 
with  Vernon  Leis,  4 Herbert  St.,  Elmira, 
Ontario. 


HE  MENNONITE 


257 


Fremont  Regier,  who  prepared  this  re- 
port, is  director  of  SEDA  ( Agricultural 
Development  Service)  in  Nyanga,  Zaire, 
under  the  auspices  of  Africa  Inter-Men- 
nonite  Mission,  a cooperative  program 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  Evangelical  Mennonite  Church, 
and  Evangelical  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church.  Mr.  Regier  s project  is  now 
administered  through  the  budget  of  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 

Sometime  ago  we  received  $2,000 
through  the  Poverty  Fund  for  an  incu- 
bator project  for  seda  (Agricultural  De- 
velopment Service)  here  at  Nyanga. 
Ever  since  that  time  and  before,  we 
have  been  looking  for  the  biggest  and 
most  advantageous  kerosene-operated  in- 
cubator we  could  find.  After  a number 
of  tries  in  several  different  directions, 
we  found  that  the  biggest  available  were 
of  450-egg  capacity.  We  have  now  four 


incubators  with  a capacity  of  300  each. 
So  450  is  not  too  great  an  improvement. 
And  with  kerosene-operated  machines 
we  get  often  rather  poor  hatches;  it  is 
time-consuming  in  relation  to  number 
of  chicks  hatched. 

We  have  finally  now  purchased  an 
electric  incubator  of  3,000-egg  capacity 
with  a standby  generator  to  keep  it  going 
when  the  power  goes  off,  as  happens 
frequently  out  here.  We  plan  to  put  this 
machine  at  Tshikapa  where  they  have 
fairly  good  power  service.  Tshikapa  is 
four  hours  from  Nyanga  by  truck  and 
eighteen  minutes  by  maf  plane,  which 
makes  weekly  trips  there  and  back.  So 
we  will  be  able  to  get  out  eggs  from  the 
farm  center  here  to  the  incubator  and 
the  chicks  back  here  and  to  our  outposts 
and  other  areas  ordering  chicks. 

The  total  cost  of  this  incubator  and 
the  standby  generator  will  be  approxi- 
mately $3,600.  We  will  use  a special  gift 


make  up  the 

difference. 

Last  evening  at  a special  party  at  our 
house  to  celebrate  the  occasion,  we  in- 
vited all  the  seda  men.  We  killed  a crip- 
pled goose  and  had  “musa”  together. 
Several  speeches  were  given  and  I an- 
nounced the  purchase  of  the  incubator,  j 
We  broke  a case  of  cokes  to  toast  the 
occasion,  and  the  seda  Zairian  vet  sug- 
gested  that  we  all  pause  for  two  minutes 
to  thank  God  for  the  incubator. 

We  are  just  now  getting  started  with 
weekend  seminars  where  a team  con- 
sisting of  an  evangelist,  a seda  extension 
man,  and  a woman  from  the  local  church 
spends  the  weekend  in  the  village  at 
various  regional  centers.  Evangelistic  ser- 
vices, classes  in  livestock  raising,  health 
and  nutrition,  house-to-house  visitation, 
and  women’s  meetings  are  included  in 
the  activities.  It  is  an  effort  to  deepen 
relationships  and  services  to  communi- 
ties and  work  cooperatively  with  the 
local  church. 

Yesterday  the  young  marketing  coop 
met  to  review  the  year’s  report.  During 
1972  the  eleven  members  sold  rabbits, 
ducks,  chickens,  and  eggs  valuing  over 
$8,000  and  now  have  almost  $500  prof- 
its to  be  repaid  as  dividends  or  rein- 
vested. We  are  at  a critical  time  in  the 
coop  development  as  they  now  decide 
what  to  do  with  the  profits. 

Meeting  coming  on  black, 
brown,  and  white  theology 

A major  “meeting  of  the  minds”  is  sched- 
uled to  take  place  April  26-29  in  Des 
Plaines,  Illinois,  among  black,  brown, 
and  white  members  of  the  (Old)  Men- 
nonite Church.  The  cross-cultural  theo- 
logical consultation  is  being  cosponsored 
by  the  Minority  Ministries  Council  and 
the  General  Board  of  the  Mennonite 
Church. 

The  fifty-five  invited  participants  at 
the  consultation  will  deal  with  the  impli- 
cations of  Anabaptist  theology  and  the 
theologies  in  the  Spanish-speaking  and 
black  communities.  How  do  these  some-| 
what  divergent  theologies  differ  andj 
where  do  they  overlap? 

According  to  John  Powell,  executive 
secretary  for  Minority  Ministries  Coun- 
cil and  one  of  the  planners  for  the  con-j 
sultation,  emphasis  will  be  placed  on 
the  “common  ground”  of  the  theologies, 
though  major  differences  which  should 
not  be  ignored  will  also  be  dealt  with. 


"Godspell"  on  the  screen 

“Godspell,”  a popular  off-Broadway  play,  has  been  made  into  a motion  picture. 
Filmed  on  location  in  New  York’s  streets  and  parks,  the  film  projects  a vast  joy 
of  life.  Taking  many  of  its  lines  from  the  Bible,  “ Godspell ” portrays  a Jesus  figure 
coming  to  New  York  City  for  one  day  in  which  he  magically  entrances  nine  disci- 
ples, including,  of  course,  a Judas  who  in  the  end  betrays  him.  One  of  the  most 
popular  songs  from  the  play’s  score  is  “Day  by  day,”  which  sold  more  than  a 
million  copies  as  a single.  Its  lyrics  are:  “Oh  dear  Lord,  three  things  I pray/  to  see 
thee  more  clearly / to  love  thee  more  dearly/  to  follow  thee  more  nearly/  day  by 
day,  day  by  day.”  Above,  the  Jesus  character  is  surrounded  by  the  loving  hands 
of  his  devotees. 


Poverty  grant  buys  egg  incubator  in  Zaire 

from  a donor  in  Kansas  to 


258 


APRIL  17,  1973 


Medical  corps  proposed 


A national  medical  corps  to  meet 
health  needs  of  ghettos  and  sparsely  pop- 
ulated rural  areas  was  advanced  by  J. 
Lawrence  Burkholder,  president  of  Go- 
shen College,  at  the  opening  session  of 
the  college’s  recent  health  care  workshop. 

Mr.  Burkholder  identified  the  major 
problem  of  health  delivery  as  one  of 
distribution  of  medical  care  so  that  all 
persons — rich  and  poor  alike — may  have 
at  least  their  minimal  needs  met.  His 
topic  was  “Ethical  guidelines  for  deci- 
sion making  in  health  care  services — a 
Christian  perspective.” 

A national  medical  corps,  Mr.  Burk- 
holder said,  would  appeal  to  the  idealism 
of  those  youth  who  are  motivated  by 
service  in  the  public  interest  as  well  as 
the  seriousness  and  depth  of  the  medical 
professions.  It  could  be  tailored  along 
the  lines  of  the  Peace  Corps,  which  has 
met  with  considerable  success,  and  could 
be  underwritten  with  government  funds. 

One  respondent  to  Mr.  Burkholder 
reported  that  under  certain  conditions, 
limited  funds  are  available  to  medical 
students  today  if  they  agree  to  serve  in 
areas  with  physician  shortage  after  their 
schooling  is  completed. 

In  his  forty-minute  address  Mr.  Burk- 
holder called  attention  to  the  insatiable 
demand — both  in  quantity  and  quality — 
for  medical  services  in  the  past  twenty 
years. 

Some  of  this  demand  is  due  to  Medi- 
care and  Medicaid  programs.  Part  is 
due  to  society’s  requests  for  more  and 
more  amenities  of  life  and  for  more 
privileges,  including  sophisticated  medi- 
cal care. 

Although  he  had  no  answers,  Mr. 
Burkholder  acknowledged  one  of  the 
great  problems  the  medical  profession 
faces:  What  is  the  responsibility  to  extend 
the  length  of  human  life?  Doctors  with 
their  training  in  science  and  medicine 
are  not  sure  what  to  do. 

Philosophers,  theologians,  and  spe- 
cialists in  ethics  have  no  answers  yet 
either,  he  said. 

However,  he  said,  “There  is  a kind 
of  defiance  in  many  persons  who  de- 
nand  the  impossible  in  medical  care. 

1 say  this  hesitatingly:  there  must  be  a 
ooint  where  one  must  acknowledge  his 
lumanity,  finitude,  suffering,  and  pain 
md  accept  an  ethic  of  resignation.” 

Mr.  Burkholder  said  every  profession 
— whether  medicine,  law,  education,  or 
my  other — has  its  built-in  standards  and 
;m  image  to  uphold  to  the  public. 


He  warned,  however,  that  unless  there 
is  imagination  and  courage  to  go  for- 
ward, the  professions  can  drift  into  a 
kind  of  rigidity  and  assume  a kind  of 
arrogance. 

The  Christian  community  can  help 
young  professionals  who  may  not  have 
the  support  of  all  their  colleagues  in 
their  field,  Mr.  Burkholder  said.  The 
church  can  support  and  reinforce  their 
attempt  to  launch  something  new,  some- 
thing that  represents  a constructive  de- 
parture from  the  old  ways. 

Emergency  funds  released 
for  southeast  states 

Twisters  in  Georgia  and  Alabama 
and  heavy  rains  spreading  from  southern 
Virginia  into  eastern  Arkansas  and  Lou- 
isiana forced  the  evacuation  of  more 
than  a thousand  families  from  their 
homes  this  past  week.  Rising  mountain 
streams  and  creeks  now  include  the 
Mississippi  River. 

At  least  one  flood-related  death  has 
been  reported.  Most  injuries  are  minor 
but  property  damage  is  severe. 

“Congregational  Mennonite  Disaster 
Service  units  are  working  locally,”  re- 
ported Nelson  Hostetter,  mds  executive 
coordinator  who  is  spending  time  in 
Huntsville,  Alabama;  Chattanooga,  Ten- 
nessee; and  Columbus,  Mississippi.  “Six 
state  and  local  units  are  busy.  Regional 
and  three  national  units  are  assuming 
responsibility  for  the  heavy  population 
centers,”  Mr.  Hostetter  said. 

Three  thousand  dollars  has  been  re- 
leased from  the  mds  emergency  fund  for 
southern  states’  flood  relief. 

Seminars  on  aging  scheduled 
in  two  Western  District  towns 

Two  area  seminars  on  aging  are  being 
planned  by  the  Western  District  peace 
and  social  concerns  committee  in  coop- 
eration with  the  peace  and  social  con- 
cerns office  of  the  Commission  on  Home 
Ministries. 

Representatives  of  Mennonite  churches 
and  churches  of  other  denominations 
in  the  surrounding  area  will  meet  Fri- 
day evening,  May  4,  at  the  Herold  Men- 
nonite Church,  Cordell,  Oklahoma.  An- 
other seminar  is  planned  Sunday  after- 
noon, May  6,  at  the  Northridge  Manor 
community  room,  Moundridge,  Kansas. 

The  two  seminars  are  pilot  projects 
and,  if  successful,  will  be  repeated  in 
other  areas. 


H.  A.  Fast,  chm  resource  person  on 
aging,  said  the  meetings  would  be  un- 
structured with  “no  high-priced  speakers, 
just  talking  in  a family  circle.”  The 
planners  want  older  people,  younger 
people,  and  church  officers  to  talk  about 
older  people  and  tackle  the  concerns 
of  aging  on  a practical  basis,  rather  than 
being  scared  by  big  programs. 

“One  of  our  concerns  is  that  most 
older  people  live  in  their  own  homes, 
not  in  institutions,”  said  Harold  Regier, 
chm  peace  and  social  concerns  secre- 
tary. “It  is  important  that  these  people 
find  ways  to  meet  others’  needs  as  well 
as  having  their  needs  be  met.” 

Although  General  Conference  and 
Western  District  people  are  planning 
the  seminars,  other  Mennonite  and  non- 
Mennonite  church  groups  are  being  in- 
vited to  participate.  Tilman  Smith  of 
Goshen,  Indiana,  director  of  studies  and 
programs  for  aging  for  the  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions,  will  attend  both  meet- 
ings. 

Words  ^ deeds 

The  community  self-help  center  in  Al- 
tona,  Manitoba,  a project  to  turn  con- 
tributed items  into  cash  for  the  Men- 
nonite Central  Committee,  celebrated 
its  first  anniversary  in  March.  Since  it 
opened  its  doors  on  March  17,  1972,  it 
has  remitted  nearly  $9,000  to  mcc.  Fifty 
volunteers  staff  the  center.  They  meet 
once  every  three  months  to  discuss  plans 
and  to  share  experiences. 

At  the  recent  baptisms  of  Ward  Dallas 
and  Collins  Preston  at  the  Bacavi  (Ari- 
zona) Church,  pastor  Daniel  Schir- 
mer  read,  “If  there  be  any  present  who 
have  not  yet  made  a public  declaration 
of  their  faith,  may  this  be  a personal 
summons  to  their  hearts.”  Unexpectedly, 
Emily  Kewanimptewa,  who  had  attended 
church  for  years,  responded  to  the  invi- 
tation and  joined  the  baptismal  group. 
Then  the  three  plus  Mr.  Dallas’s  wife 
Laura  testified  to  their  decision  to  com- 
mit themselves  publicly  to  Jesus  Christ. 

HELP  WANTED 

TEACHERS 

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request.  Write:  Personnel  Office,  Box  347, 
Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


'HE  MENNONITE 


259 


if 


CANADIAN 

MENNONITE 

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COLLEGE 

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Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College 
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Religious  Studies  major;  B.Th. 

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at  U.S.  liberal  arts  colleges. 

A competent  faculty 

Henry  Poettcker,  A.B.,  B.D.,  Th.D. 

President,  Professor  of  New  Testament 
Henry  J . Engbrecht,  Dipl. Sac. Mus.,  A.R.C.T.,  B.A.,  M.M. 
Instructor  in  Music 

Peter  Fast,  B.A.,  B.Ed.,  B.D.,  Th.M.,  (Th.D.  Cand.) 

Assistant  Professor  of  New  Testament 
John  Friesen,  B.Chr.Ed.,  A.B.,  B.D.,  (Ph.D.  Cand.) 

Assistant  Professor  of  History  and  Theology 
Helmut  Harder,  B.A.,  B.D.,  M.Th.,  Th.D. 

Associate  Professor  of  Theology 
Harry  Huebner,  B.A.,  M.A.,  (Ph.D.  Cand.) 

Instructor  in  Philosophy  and  Theology 
Waldemar  Janzen,  B.A.,  B.D.,  M.A.,  Th.M.,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Old  Testament  and  German 
David  Schroeder,  A.B.,  B.D.,  M.A.,  D.Th. 

Professor  of  New  Testament  and  Philosophy 
Esther  A.  Wiebe,  A.R.C.T.,  A.M.M.,  L.M.M. 

Assistant  Professor  of  Music 

George  D.  Wiebe,  B.Chr.Ed.,  A.M.M.,  A.R.C.T.,  Mus.M. 
Associate  Professor  of  Music 


Cost 

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Books,  etc. 

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260 


APRIL  17,  1973 


LETTERS 


Take  stock  of  resources 

Dear  Larry:  Having  recently  heard  a 
lecture  by  Dennis  and  Donella  Meadows, 
the  authors  of  The  limits  of  growth,  I 
was  reminded  that  I was  going  to  write 
a letter  of  appreciation  to  you  for  the 
excellent  material  contained  on  a similar 
topic  in  your  February  27  issue. 

The  point  which  the  lecture  made,  and 
which  was  underlined  by  so  many  of 
the  items  in  the  February  27  issue,  was 
that  we  will  have  to  turn  from  a con- 
sumer society  into  a conserver  society. 
The  goal  needs  more  to  be  “how  much 
can  I do  without,”  rather  than  “how 
much  do  I think  I need  or  want.”  It  is 
not  surprising  that  since  this  concept 
j is  in  direct  antithesis  to  most  of  what 
is  going  on  in  North  American  business 
and  society,  it  is  quite  unpopular.  We 
have  the  distorted  notion  that  automatic 
defrost  refrigerators,  self-clean  ovens, 
the  largest  automobile  with  the  most 
extras,  are  all  items  to  be  desired.  Some 
years  ago  when  this  trend  was  in  the 
i take-off  stage,  we  heard  much  criticism 
of  this  kind  of  attitude  from  our  pul- 
pits. This  criticism  has  ceased,  probably 
because  it  was  not  effective  in  changing 
behavior.  In  the  meantime,  rampant 
| consumer  indulgence  has  become  the 
j order  of  the  day,  often  in  the  name  of 
such  worn,  out  cliches  as  the  need  to 
, improve  the  “standard  of  living.”  Con- 
i currently  with  this  mindless  pursuit,  the 
quality  of  life  has  deteriorated  rapidly. 

The  fact  is  that  prosperity  and  a higher 
[ GNP  are  no  longer  sacrosanct  economic 
principles.  The  environment  and  our 
resources  will  not  be  able  to  satisfy  our 
greed  forever.  In  fact,  time  limits,  some 
within  our  lifetime,  have  been  set,  for 
some  of  the  resources  and  commodities 
which  we  now  use  as  if  they  will  have 
no  end.  We  cannot  deny  that  in  some 
countries  where  the  per  capita  GNP  is 
less  than  one-tenth  of  that  in  North 
America,  there  is  no  famine.  So  learning 
j to  do  with  less  does  not  mean  anyone 
will  have  to  starve.  And  it  may  mean 
a much  better  quality  of  life  in  the  fact 
j that  we  will  perhaps  pursue  lasting  val- 
ues rather  than  those  which  only  satisfy 
the  senses. 

It  is  clear  that  to  change  our  present 
trends,  individual  attitudes  will  have  to 
shift  drastically.  The  Meadowses  in 
their  presentation  contended  that  this. 


not  unilateral  government  action,  was 
the  answer  to  the  economic  dilemma. 
While  many  intellectuals  are  pursuing 
the  goal  of  zero  or  stable  economic 
growth  from  purely  rational  and  sur- 
vivalist  motivation,  it  would  seem  that 
the  Christian  can  bring  an  added  dimen- 
sion to  this  problem.  We  are  supposed 
to  know  all  about  giving  rather  than 
getting  (Matthew  5),  about  looking  be- 
yond ourselves  and  our  present  order  for 
the  meaning  of  life,  and  all  the  other 
Christian  virtues  which  look  at  life 
more  from  the  qualitative  point  of  view 
than  the  quantitative.  (“A  man’s  life 
consists  of  more  than  the  sum  of  the 
things  he  has.”) 

Too  long  we  have  thought  that  Ana- 
baptist Christianity  must  not  dabble  in 
economics  (all  the  while  we  have  become 
very  prosperous!)  and  that  to  do  so 
means  either  to  accept  a socialist  or 
capitalistic  interpretation.  Recent  expe- 
rience shows  us  that  the  lines  between 
these  two  so-called  extremes  have  become 
blurred.  The  fact  is  that  to  pursue  our 
present  path  means  annihilation,  not  for 
this  generation,  but  certainly  for  our 
children  and  countless  nameless  brothers 
around  the  globe.  We  may  indulge  our- 
selves in  the  short  run,  but  the  long  run 
spells  disaster. 

It  behooves  us  all  to  take  stock  of  our 
own  attitude  toward  the  resources  and 
things  of  this  life  and  place  them  in 
proper  perspective.  After  all,  “the  earth 
is  the  Lord’s,”  not  ours!  Let  us  see  where 
we  can  pioneer  in  doing  with  less,  in 
sharing,  in  repairing  appliances,  instead 
of  throwing  them  away,  in  teaching  our 
children  to  respect  and  conserve  the 
environment.  Let  us  also  remember  that 
human  ethics  will  fail  so  long  as  they 
are  merely  human  (Schweitzer).  Lome 
R.  Buhr,  309  Carleton  Drive,  Saskatoon, 
Sask.  S7H  3P1.  March  23 

Tell  them  we’re  rising 

Dear  Editor:  Someone  defined  this  life 
as  a vale  of  character  building,  not  just 
a pursuit  of  freedom  and  happiness. 
But  through  and  after  life’s  many  years 
is  it  to  be  continued  or  cancelled?  If 
we  can’t  find  the  answer  in  our  genera- 
tion, then  men’s  wisdom  is  cruel  and 
indifferent. 

As  the  song  writer  Griffith  Jones 
writes: 

“When  Jesus  came  to  Golgotha,  they 
hanged  him  to  a tree.  They  drove  nails 
through  hands  and  feet  and  made  a 
Calvary.  They  crowned  him  with  a 
crown  of  thorns;  red  were  his  wounds 


and  deep,  for  those  were  cruel  days 
and  human  flesh  was  cheap. 

“When  Jesus  came  to  Birmingham 
(or  Vietnam)  they  simply  passed  him 
by.  They  never  hurt  a hair  of  him.  They 
only  let  him  die.  The  men  had  grown 
more  tender  and  they  would  not  give 
him  pain.  They  just  passed  by  down 
the  street  and  left  him  in  the  street. 
Still  Jesus  cried,  ‘forgive  them,’  and  cried 
for  Calvary.” 

One  of  Jesus’  great  words  is  in  Luke 
6:35:  And  your  reward  will  be  great 
and  you  will  be  sons  of  the  Most  High. 
Is  the  reward  then  in  a quality  of  being? 
Or  must  the  Most  High  become  the 
most  low  in  us  by  snuffing  out  his  son 
or  sons  before  they  are  mature? 

After  the  U.S.  Civil  War,  General  Arm- 
strong, a friend  to  blacks,  asked  those 
released  from  slavery  what  message  he 
should  give  the  North  from  the  South. 
One  answered,  “Tell  them  we’re  rising.” 
A missionary  in  Formosa  during  the 
time  when  food  was  scarce  expected  to 
be  asked  for  food.  But  first  they  asked, 
“Are  there  any  Bibles  in  Christian  Amer- 
ica?” They  too  wanted  to  learn  the 
meaning  of  love  and  grace.  No  man  lives 
by  bread  alone. 

There  may  not  be  first  or  last  seats 
in  heaven  but  everyone’s  cup  will  be  full 
and  some  may  be  running  over  (Ps.  23). 
The  words  in  Luke  12-13:9  or  Hebrews 
10:26-39  should  cause  us  to  go  forth 
to  the  conflict,  render  loyal  service,  lift 
high  the  gospel  banner  and  proudly 
let  it  wave,  wearing  sword  and  shield 
of  our  defender  (Eph.  6).  . . . 

Some  evangelists  will  remain  popular 
by  saying  that  collective  killings  (46,000 
Americans  and  1 million  Viets)  if  order- 
ed by  high  government  authorities  are 
not  the  same  as  if  done  by  individuals. 
Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  to  soothe  the 
conscience  of  a nation  of  Christians, 
they  say  that  this  was  a judgment  on 
America. 

Our  forefathers  came  here  to  have 
religious  freedom  and  to  escape  wars, 
not  to  get  into  more  and  more.  . . . 

In  Gethsemane  Jesus  made  a decision 
by  praying,  “Thy  will  be  done.”  We  can 
also  walk  through  the  garden  of  the 
empty  tomb  into  the  garden  of  over- 
coming with  the  risen  Lord.  Tell  them 
we’re  rising,  but  we  need  to  repent  of 
pride  of  race,  face,  place,  and  grace, 
and  steadfastly  abound  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord  (1  Cor.  15).  Let  us  permit 
every  kin  or  tribe  on  this  terrestrial  ball 
to  hail  the  power  of  Jesus’  name  and 
crown  him  Lord  of  all!  Joe  Eck,  Route  2, 
Box  13,  Sedgwick,  Kans.  67135.  March  9 


THE  MENNONITE 


261 


It’s  a man's  world 

Dear  Editor:  Undoubtedly  your  desk  is 
now  well  covered  by  mail  in  response  to 
the  March  issue  on  the  position  of  wom- 
en in  society.  As  a clergyman  and  com- 
missioned with  the  responsibility  of  ex- 
pounding the  Bible,  I cannot  refrain  from 
responding  to  some  of  the  ideas  pro- 
pounded therein. 

When  a person  negates  the  Word  of 
God  and  refuses  to  accept  the  Bible  as 
the  authority  for  Christian  faith  and 
conduct,  then  he  has  nothing  left  to  fall 
back  upon  but  human  reason.  Human 
reason  is  always  in  favor  of  the  flesh  and 
will  make  decisions  that  favor  the  desire 
and  lust  of  the  flesh.  Without  the  Bible, 
a person  will  find  reason  for  anything 
he  or  she  desires.  Such  as  abortion,  di- 
vorce, anger,  hate,  war,  and  women’s  li- 
beration. It  is  the  latter  to  which  I want 
to  address  myself. 

I agree  with  Dorthy  Nickel  Friesen  in 
her  article  under  “Review”  when  she 
said:  “A  renewed  look  at  the  Bible  with- 
out the  old  presuppositions  will  give  new 
life  to  the  church,”  but  it  won’t  be  the 
God-directed  life,  the  biblical  life,  nor 
the  Christian  life.  There  are  some  basic 
presuppositions  set  forth  by  the  Bible 
that  you  cannot  bypass  and  still  expect 
to  be  in  the  will  of  God.  The  presupposi- 
tion that  the  Bible  has  the  answer  is  the 
only  safe  ground  for  making  the  proper 
decisions.  Decisions  made  upon  circum- 
stances of  convenience  or  personal  de- 
sires are  absolutely  dangerous. 

I am  grieved  that  the  author  states 
that  Billy  Graham  falls  into  a trap.  The 
biblical  authority  is  not  a trap,  but  the 
humanistic  fleshly  desire  to  be  “liberated” 
from  the  position  that  God  has  given  to 
the  woman  is  truly  the  trap  and  is  a 
slap  to  the  face  of  God.  A defiant  dirty 
slap  that  is  further  depicted  in  the  article 
under  the  “Meditation”  when  the  author 
proposes  the  heresy  of  addressing  the 
Eternal  God  as,  “Our  heavenly  Mother.” 
A distortion  that  could  only  come  after 
rejecting  God,  his  word,  and  his  will.  It 
can  be  concluded  that  either  some  peo- 
ple do  not  know  the  biblical  direction 
regarding  the  woman,  marriage,  and  the 
home  or  willfully  reject  it  in  favor  of 
personal,  selfish  ambitions  regardless  of 
the  will  of  God. 

God  has  given  the  woman  a beautiful 
and  beneficial  position,  and  he  in  no  way 
means  to  disparage  or  punish.  Complete 
and  perfect  happiness  can  come  by  ad- 
hering to  the  plan  God  has  outlined, 
but  discontent  is  the  sure  result  of  re- 
jection and  rebellion — a fact  that  started 


in  Eden  and  a result  that  has  continued. 

Let’s  establish  some  facts.  As  stated 
in  the  “Meditation,”  “Subordination 
comes  as  a result  of  the  fall.”  True,  and 
where  in  Scripture  has  this  ever  been 
changed?  God  did  not  create  a mon- 
strosity but,  according  to  Ephesians  5:21- 
33,  God  has  ordained  a proper  order  for 
perfect  happiness.  Verses  22  and  23  set 
forth  that  unqualified  submission  has 
cut  off  all  occasion  for  discord.  Verse  24 
unmistakably  shows  that  obedience  is 
the  course  God  has  ordained  for  the 
wife.  Now  the  women  can  fuss  all  they 
want  to  about  that,  but  he  will  not  allow 
the  church  to  disobey  its  head,  lesus 
Christ.  In  like  manner,  the  wife’s  re- 
sponsibility is  to  submit  to  the  head  of 
the  marriage,  her  husband.  In  1 Corin- 
thians 11:7-12  he  reinforces  the  position 
of  headship  and  purpose.  The  woman 
was  created  for  the  man,  not  the  man 
for  the  woman  (9):  Not  a slave,  not  a 
tool,  but  for  his  completion.  This  text 
is  not  restricted  to  husband  and  wife 
relationships,  but  rather  the  general 
principle  of  man /woman.  The  apostle 
Paul  says  (16)  if  you  want  to  argue 
about  this  we  have  no  other  way  to  sug- 
gest to  you  than  the  Scriptures. 

Before  some  begin  to  scream,  “Beast, 
tyrant,  cruelty  to  poor  women,”  look  at 
the  means  of  regulation  that  the  Lord 
has  set  forth.  The  text  of  Ephesians  5 
shows  that  the  aim  of  Christ  was  the 


The  three  crosses 


sanctification  and  glorification  of  the 
church.  Everything  he  did  was  to  pro- 
mote her  welfare  and  happiness.  Thus 
“so  (just  so)  ought  men  to  love  their 
wives  as  their  own  bodies.”  Christ’s  love 
for  the  church  was  sacrificial,  costly, 
genuine,  and  constant.  It  would  not  be 
hard  to  love  and  obey  a man  like  that, 
a man  that  does  everything  for  her  hap- 
piness and  welfare.  In  turn,  she  would 
enjoy  his  protection  and  provision,  and 
all  of  her  basic  needs  would  be  met. 

How  does  anyone  find  a man  like  that? 
Know  your  God-given  role  as  given  in 
the  Scripture  and  plan  your  life  through 
much  prayer.  If  you  are  a mother,  teach 
your  children  well  and  prepare  them  for 
the  proper  selection  of  a good  husband. 
After  marriage  it  is  too  late.  The  un- 
equal yoke  of  Christian  and  non-Chris- 
tian is  clearly  forbidden  of  God  and  is 
the  first  step  to  an  unhappy  and  often 
disastrous  life.  Plan  it  well  and  enjoy  it 
to  the  full  according  to  God’s  direction 
(Tit.  2:3-5,  1 Pet.  3:1). 

It  seems  to  me  that  perhaps  10  percent 
of  the  women  population  in  their  rebel- 
lion and  rejection  will  make  it  unbear- 
able for  the  remaining  90  percent  if  the 
women’s  liberation  movement  is  ap- 
proved by  our  states.  I’m  sorry,  ladies, 
but  as  far  as  leadership  and  responsibil- 
ity, it’s  a man’s  world,  and  God  is  not 
“Our  heavenly  Mother”!  Dan  U.  Dalke, 
Route  2,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817.  March  23 


MEDITATION 


Nineteen  hundred  forty  years  ago,  a historical  incident  happened  outside  the 
city  of  Jerusalem  which  has  tremendous  significance  for  you  and  me.  At  that  time, 
three  criminally  charged  men  were  hung  on  posts,  or  crosses  as  they  called  them, 
to  be  executed.  These  men  were  exposed  to  the  mocking  crowds  and  the  elements 
until  they  finally  died  of  exposure  and  loss  of  blood.  It  was  a hideously  cruel  way 
to  die. 

On  the  center  cross  was  a man  who  was  unjustly  condemned  to  death  because 
of  the  envy  of  the  religious  leaders.  This  man  had  lived  a perfect  life,  and  we 
will  call  his  cross  the  cross  of  redemption  for  when  he  died  he  was  not  dying 
because  of  his  own  sins,  but  for  all  the  sins  of  the  people  of  the  world.  He  hung 
on  the  criminals’  cross  not  because  of  his  own  crimes,  but  because  of  the  crimes 
of  others.  Isaiah  tells  us  what  he  was  really  doing  on  that  cross  when  he  says, 
“He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions.  . . . He  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities  . . . 
the  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.” 

Although  it  appeared  that  he  died  an  outwardly  hideous  and  tragic  death,  his 
life  did  not  end  in  tragedy.  In  his  death  he  accomplished  more  than  all  of  humanity 
has  accomplished  since  the  creation.  In  his  death  he  paid  the  full  price  for  all 
our  sins  and  made  it  possible  for  all  of  us  to  be  forgiven. 

On  the  second  cross  hung  a real  criminal.  His  crimes  according  to  his.  buddy  in 
crime  deserved  the  kind  of  death  he  was  dying.  He  lived  in  sin  and  he  died  in  sin. 


262 


APRIL  17,  1973 


Contents 


He  did  not  fear  God,  and  he  rejected  God’s  plan  of  forgiveness  for  he  did  not 
think  he  needed  forgiveness.  Therefore,  we  call  his  cross  the  cross  of  rejection,  and 
we  read  that  he  made  fun  of  the  Son  of  God  while  he  was  dying. 

Although  this  criminal  did  not  fear  God,  he  did  fear  death,  and  he  desperately 
wanted  to  escape  being  put  to  death.  You  see,  he  had  no  hope  of  eternal  life.  He  had 
lived  in  sin,  and  that  is  bad  enough,  but  to  persist  in  sin  is  much  worse  for  it  leads 
to  eternal  damnation.  At  his  death  he  mocked  the  Lord  Jesus  who  was  dying  on 
the  cross  of  redemption  so  that  the  criminal  could  be  forgiven  of  his  criminal  deeds. 

On  the  third  cross  was  another  criminal.  He  by  his  own  confession  said  that  he 
deserved  the  hideous  death  that  the  Romans  were  giving  him.  His  conscience  re- 
minded him  of  the  criminal  deeds  that  he  had  committed  against  both  God  and  man. 
He  like  his  partner  on  the  other  cross  had  lived  in  sin,  but  unlike  his  partner  he 
died  to  sin  instead  of  in  sin.  We  know  that  he  died  to  sin  instead  of  in  sin,  because 
during  those  long  agonizing  hours  while  he  was  hanging  on  the  cross  he  publicly 
rebuked  the  other  criminal  for  making  fun  of  the  Jesus  Christ.  He  said,  “Dost  not 
thou  fear  God,  seeing  thou  art  in  the  same  condemnation?”  While  on  the  cross 
he  preached  a short  message  to  his  criminal  buddy  about  the  wages  of  sin.  He  said, 
“We  receive  the  due  reward  of  our  deeds.”  In  other  words  he  said,  “We  are  getting 
what  we  deserved.”  He  feared  God  and  admitted  that  he  was  a sinner. 

This  second  criminal  recognized  the  man  on  the  first  cross  as  the  Son  of  God 
and  said  in  Luke  23:45,  “Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom.” 
There  he  accepted  Jesus  Christ  as  his  personal  Savior,  and  he  rebuked  the  other 
criminal  for  placing  the  Son  of  God  in  the  same  class  with  criminals.  He  recognized 
that  Jesus  had  lived  a perfect  life,  and  accepted  him  as  his  personal  Savior.  We  call 
his  cross  the  cross  of  reception  because  there  he  received  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Savior. 

In  one  of  the  most  tremendous  acts  of  faith  that  I know  of,  he  asked  the  dying 
Ix>rd  Jesus  to  remember  him  when  Jesus  became  king.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
Jesus’  body  was  bloodstained,  torn,  and  dying,  he  believed  that  Jesus  would  some 
day  live  again  and  reign  as  king.  And  so  he  spoke  to  Jesus  and  said,  “Lord  remember 
me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom.” 

Jesus’  answer  to  this  criminal  was  generous  and  gracious,  for  Jesus  promised  him 
heaven. 

Maybe  you  are  saying,  of  what  significance  is  that  to  me?  Jesus  Christ  was  not 
only  dying  for  the  criminal  offences  of  that  criminal.  He  was  dying  so  that  you  and  I 
could  have  forgiveness  for  all  the  criminal  deeds  that  we  have  committed  against 
God  in  our  thoughts  and  actions. 

You  and  I are  called  upon  by  God  to  make  a choice.  Either  we  have  to  reject 
Christ  as  the  first  criminal  did  or  else  accept  him  as  the  second  criminal  did. 

Bob  Peters 


Cantus  250 

Mary's  love-gift  252 

Roses  again  253 

Cycle  of  life  253 

News  . , 254 

Letters  261 

The  three  crosses  262 

The  last  word:  life  264 

Is  service  interest  waning?  264 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Gregory  S.  Athnos  is  assistant  professor 
of  music  at  North  Park  College,  Chicago, 
III.  His  poem  first  appeared  in  Covenant 
Companion  and  is  used  by  permission. 

Katie  Funk  Wiebe's  address  is  208 
North  Jefferson,  Hillsboro,  Kans.  67063. 

The  two  poets  whose  works  appear  on 
page  253  are  Emma  Schwartz,  Freeman, 
S.D.  57029,  and  Amelia  Mueller,  604 
North  St.,  Halstead,  Kans.  67056. 

Gayle  Gerber  Koontz  is  a writer  for 
MCC  Information  Service,  Akron,  Pa. 

Bob  Peters  is  pastor  of  the  Burrows 
Bethel  Church,  Winnipeg.  His  address  is 
1035  Simpson  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R2K  1S7. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Ken  Janzen,  1505  N.  .Fairview, 
Wichita,  Kans.  67203;  251,  "Crucifixion" 
by  Emerich  Holzknecht,  photo  by  Anthony- 
Verlag,  Waldstrasse,  Ecke  Prinzenweg, 
813  Starnbarg  am  See;  253,  263,  Reli- 
gious News  Service  ("Crucifixion  of 
Christ,"  by  George  Wesley  Bellows); 
256,  MCC;  257,  Judi  Janzen;  258,  Co- 
lombia Pictures  Industries,  Inc.;  "Cantus" 
by  Gregory  S.  Athnos,  appeared  in  the 
March  15  issue  of  Covenant  Companion, 
510  N.  Francisco  Ave.,  Chicago  60625, 
and  is  used  by  permission. 


Tho 

Mennonite 


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Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


263 


The  last  word:  life 

When  Jesus  died  on  Golgotha,  his  cause  died 
along  with  him.  That  was  what  everyone  con- 
nected with  the  intense  young  carpenter  from 
Nazareth  thought  when  he  was  taken  down  from 
the  cross  and  buried  in  a sealed  vault.  Jesus  had 
given  his  followers  hope  that  finally  things  would 
be  different,  but  again  the  flickering  of  light  was 
snuffed  out  before  it  could  burst  into  flame  and 
make  God’s  people  a great  nation  again.  Death, 
as  always,  had  the  final  word. 

Even  those  who  had  been  close  friends  of  Jesus 
were  certain  that  his  fledgling  movement  was 
finished,  dead  before  it  really  got  started.  His 
followers  were  deflated,  overcome  with  shame, 
despair,  and  fear. 

But  Easter  morning  gave  the  world  a new  last 
word:  Life!  “The  despair,”  wrote  Ernest  Marshall 
Howse  in  the  United  Church  observer,  “was 

Is  service  interest  waning ? 

No  need  to  press  the  panic  button  yet,  but  the 
drastic  drop  in  the  number  of  applications  for 
service  in  conference  and  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  programs  this  year  should  cause  some 
head  scratching. 

One  Mennonite  college  in  the  United  States, 
which  in  recent  years  required  as  much  as  three 
days  of  the  mcc  recruiter’s  time  for  interviews 
with  prospective  volunteers,  this  year  produced 
fewer  than  a dozen  indications  of  interest.  The 
downturn  is  not  entirely  due  to  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Selective  Service  System’s  “helping  hand.”  In 
one  Canadian  province,  where  there  were  eighty 
inquiries  about  service  possibilities  a year  ago, 


changed  to  gladness,  the  shame  was  transformed 
to  glory,  the  fear  consumed  in  incandescent  faith.” 

Jesus  rose  from  the  dead.  The  final  triumph 
was  God’s  (1  Cor.  15:26).  The  empty  grave 
became  the  symbol  of  victory  over  death  and 
fear.  It  radiated  hope  and  demonstrated  the 
breaking  in  of  God’s  kingdom  into  the  here-and- 
now. 

The  resurrection  is  a central  theme  of  New 
Testament  faith.  Even  though  its  importance  is 
assumed  in  everything  the  church  is  doing,  it  is 
good  for  us  to  affirm  in  a special  way  each  Easter 
that  Christ  is  alive  and  that  his  Spirit  is  seeking 
to  permeate  the  earth  through  us.  We  can  shout 
for  joy  that  we  are  living  on  the  right  side  of 
Easter — on  the  side  of  life  and  hope.  Christ  is 
risen!  He  is  risen  indeed!  lk 


there  were  only  half  that  number  this  year.  Con- 
scription, of  course,  was  not  a factor  here.  So 
there  must  be  other  reasons  for  the  abrupt  down- 
ward trend. 

The  drop  may  only  be  a temporary  phenom- 
enon which  will  adjust  itself  next  season.  Mean- 
while, however,  many  service  openings  are  going 
begging. 

If  this  downward  trend  continues,  the  confer- 
ence and  its  member  congregations  will  need  to 
take  a serious  look  at  what  the  diminished  in- 
terest in  service  says  about  the  churches’  strength 
and  vitality,  lk 


A statement  adopted  by  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
Peace  Section , March  31. 

As  A major  chapter  in  the  Indochina  war  ends,  it  is  im- 
portant that  the  suffering  and  tragedy  of  the  millions  of  war 
victims  in  Southeast  Asia  and  North  America  not  be  for- 
gotten. In  a real  sense  everyone  is  a victim — those  who  pro- 
moted misguided  policies  as  well  as  those  who  suffer  from  the 
terror  of  bombs  and  napalm  and  the  thousands  of  civilians 
still  imprisoned  in  South  Vietnamese  jails.  Another  group 
which  continues  to  be  victimized  by  the  war,  though  they 
courageously  refused  to  participate  in  it,  are  the  thousands 
of  fugitives  from  compulsory  military  service.  It  is  for  these 
persons  that  amnesty  is  needed. 

1.  Canada  and  the  United  States  were  once  known  by  the 
nations  of  the  world  as  lands  of  refuge  for  persons  who  op- 
posed peacetime  conscription  or  who  refused  to  fight  in 
wars.  Among  those  who  came  for  such  reasons  were  some 
of  our  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  forebears.  Many 
came  as  fugitives  from  compulsory  military  service.  With  the 
war  in  Indochina,  this  situation  changed  and  the  United  States 
has  now  become  a land  from  which  men  are  fleeing.  Canada, 
among  other  nations,  has  been  the  recipient  of  many  of  these 
fugitives  of  conscience. 

Many  Christians  in  Canada  have  rallied  to  aid  those  trou- 
bled, conscientious  young  men  and  their  families;  they  have 
provided  food,  shelter  and  fellowship.  These  ministrations  of 
mercy  grew  out  of  a deep  sense  of  Christian  obligation  to 
help  “the  stranger  within  the  gates.”  It  was  also  a repayment, 
in  many  cases,  for  the  hospitality  and  friendship  given  to 
those  who  earlier  came  to  Canada  as  refugee-immigrants.  We 
thank  God  for  these  demonstrations  of  love  and  compassion. 

2.  As  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  Christians,  we  op- 
pose all  wars  and  believe  that  the  refusal  to  participate  in 
war  is  the  Christian’s  duty.  The  Indochina  war  is  no  excep- 
tion. Indeed  this  has  been  a particularly  heinous  war  in  the 
way  it  has  been  fought.  It  is  our  strong  belief  that  Christ’s 
message  of  peace  and  reconciliation  is  at  the  very  heart  of  the 
gospel.  From  this  perspective  and  with  this  concern  we  speak 
for  amnesty,  an  action  which  we  believe  can  help  heal  the 
wounds  of  the  war. 

Reconciliation  and  the  restoration  of  civil  rights  can  come 
through  a general  amnesty — an  amnesty  which  will,  as  the 
word  in  its  origin  implies,  forget  the  legal  offenses  because  of 
a greater  interest  at  hand.  For  us  in  this  situation,  amnesty  is 
the  law’s  ability  to  set  aside  its  own  power  to  indict  and 
punish. 


Many  not  faced  with  the  life  and  death  decisions  of  the 
draftee  or  a person  in  military  service,  see  amnesty  either  as 
a generous  act  for  youths  who  made  a mistake  or  as  for- 
giveness for  those  who  broke  the  law.  For  Anabaptist  Chris- 
tians, the  view  is  quite  different.  We  join  with  many  of  these 
young  men  in  believing  that  taking  a stand  against  the  im- 
morality of  the  Vietnam  War  needs  no  forgiveness.  The  “pre- 
mature awakening  of  conscience”  should  not  cause  the  young 
men  who  early  opposed  participation  in  this  immoral  war  to 
continue  to  be  considered  criminals.  Indeed  are  these  not  a 
part  of  that  creative  minority  who  have  helped  to  change 
American  opinion  from  supporting  war  to  the  recognition  that 
it  was  a fundamental  mistake? 

3.  Most  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  young  men 
have  refused  military  service  for  conscientious  reasons  and 
have  accepted  alternate  service  assignments.  For  some  from 
our  churches,  however,  the  decision  to  refuse  military  service 
also  led  to  questioning  the  validity  of  performing  alternate 
service.  This  decision  was  usually  the  result  of  deep  struggles 
of  conscience  and  a serious  attempt  to  be  a faithful  Christian 
disciple.  These  Mennonite  young  men,  perhaps  numbering 
several  dozen,  are  part  of  the  larger  group  of  potential  am- 
nesty recipients. 

4.  Several  hundred  thousand  men  may  be  affected  by  a 
general  amnesty.  Some  of  these  have  never  been  in  the  mili- 
tary. A minority  of  this  group  chose  not  to  cooperate  with 
Selective  Service  or  the  military  in  any  way.  Most  Menno- 
nites  who  would  be  recipients  of  amnesty  are  in  this  group. 

A larger  group  of  men,  however,  did  attempt  without  success  i 
to  gain  conscientious  objector  classification.  Despite  their  ;| 
opposition  to  all  war,  some  of  these  were  denied  conscientious  i 
objector  status,  often  because  of  administrative  mishandling  j| 
by  Selective  Service.  Others  were  not  recognized  as  consci-  j 
entious  objectors  because  they  felt  participation  in  some  wars  j 
may  be  right,  even  though  they  believed  participation  in  the  | 
Vietnam  War  was  wrong.  These  men  accept  the  just  war  posi-  [ 
tion  which  calls  on  persons  to  discriminate  individually  be-  L 
tween  just  and  unjust  wars.  Most  Christian  churches  take  this  i 
position  officially;  it  is  not  recognized  legally,  however. 

These  potential  recipients  of  amnesty  who  were  not  in  the  j 
military  generally  find  themselves  in  one  of  these  situations.  | 
First,  they  may  already  be  convicted  of  draft  law  violations  ! 
and  be  in  prison,  or  probation,  or  released  after  serving  a [ 
sentence  as  a felon.  Since  1964,  7,43 3 1 have  been  prosecuted  i| 
and  those  convicted  have  lost  some  fundamental  rights  of 
citizenship.  Another  17,2002  are  awaiting  prosecution.  Sec- 
ond, they  may  be  living  in  Canada  or  other  countries  to 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
!t  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years,-  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
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268 


APRIL  24,  1973 


escape  military  service  and  prosecution.  Between  30,000  and 
40,0003  men  are  in  this  group.  Third,  they  may  be  living 
“underground”  in  the  United  States  or  its  territories  and  be 
liable  for  prosecution.  No  firm  statistical  evidence  is  avail- 
able regarding  the  number  of  men  in  this  group,  but  it  is 
commonly  estimated  that  this  number  is  as  large  as  that  of 
the  group  which  migrated. 

5.  The  largest  group  of  potential  amnesty  recipients  did 
not  initially  claim  conscientious  objection  to  war.  They  were 
drafted  or  enlisted  in  military  service  and  then  discovered 
that  their  conscience  would  not  permit  them  to  continue 
performing  such  service.  As  a result,  these  men  find  them- 
selves in  one  of  three  situations. 

First  there  are  those  sentenced  to  military  prisons  after 
unsuccessful  attempts  to  obtain  discharges.  Second  there  are 
those  who  were  less  optimistic  about  getting  such  discharges 
and  deserted  from  the  military;  these  men  when  apprehended 
are  also  subject  to  military  prosecution  for  their  actions.  The 
third  and  largest  group  includes  those  who  have  received 
other  than  honorable  military  discharges  for  actions  based 
on  principled  objection  to  war.  These  men  face  consequences 
somewhat  less  severe  than  a convicted  felon,  but  carry  a 
stigma  as  a result  of  the  other-than-honorable  discharge  that 
may  hinder  future  chances  of  employment  or  favorable 
character  references. 

6.  Amnesty  is  in  the  best  tradition  of  the  United  States; 


eleven  presidents  have  granted  amnesty  following  wars  and 
rebellions.  A general  amnesty  was  granted  to  all  following 
the  United  States  Civil  War — even  to  those  found  guilty  of 
treason. 

The  time  has  come  again  to  bind  up  the  nation’s  wounds, 
wounds  resulting  this  time  from  the  Vietnam  War.  Amnesty 
will  help  reconcile  the  nation  and  a large  group  of  its  alienat- 
ed sons. 

7.  In  light  of  the  above  considerations,  the  Peace  Section 
of  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee: 

— Asks  our  congregations  to  welcome  back  those  who  be- 
cause of  conscience  violated  the  Selective  Service  Act  or 
military  law  to  avoid  military  service. 

— Urges  our  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  bodies  to 
support  a universal  amnesty  which  without  being  punitive 
would  restore  all  civil  rights  to  those  having  refused  military 
service  for  conscience’  sake. 

— Appeals  to  the  United  States  Government  to  recognize 
the  value  of  the  witness  of  the  men  who  opposed  the  war  by 
restoring  full  civil  rights  with  impunity  to  these  men. 

— Commends  those  governments  such  as  Canada  which 
admitted  young  men. 

1.  Administrative  Office  of  U.S.  Courts. 

2.  Department  of  Justice  1972  draft  violators,  Selective  Service  1973  draft 
violators. 

3.  National  Interreligious  Service  Board  for  Conscientious  Objectors. 


RESPONSES  TO 

nutu 

Copies  of  the  working  draft  of  the  MCC  Peace  Section’s  amnesty  statement  were 
shared  with  a number  of  persons  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  for  their  re- 
sponse. Their  comments  follow: 


TWO  SONS 
IN  CANADA 

As  the  Mennonite  parents  of  two 
sons  in  Canada  because  of  their  inabili- 
ty, or  refusal,  to  in  any  way  cooperate 
with  Selective  Service,  it  is  rather  diffi- 
cult to  be  helpful  to  those  who,  how- 
ever good  and  noble  their  motivations 
and  intentions  may  be,  work  for  amnesty. 
During  the  months  prior  to  our  sons’ 
decisions,  we  raised  and  discussed  many 
questions.  We  never  tried  to  dictate 
their  decisions.  We  did  challenge  their 
reasons.  We  asked,  “What  are  you  trying 
to  say?  Why  are  you  saying  what  you 
say?  Are  you  prepared  to  live  with  your 
decision  for  the  rest  of  your  lifeV  The 


possibility  of  eventual  amnesty  was  never 
considered  as  a basis  for  any  decisions. 
We  entered  into  their  problem  as  being 
one  of  permanence.  This  we  assumed 
as  the  only  sound  basis  for  making  these 
kinds  of  decisions. 

Having  said  that,  we  must  hasten  to 
say  that  there  are  thousands  of  young 
men  who  did  not  enjoy  the  luxury  of 
this  kind  of  basis  for  making  their  de- 
cisions. For  many  of  them,  the  decision 
to  go  to  Canada  or  some  other  country 
of  political  asylum  was  one  of  despera- 
tion. They  had  no  one  with  whom  to 
counsel  or  confide.  They  often  received 
no  support  from  family  or  associates. 
They  received  no  counsel  as  to  their  legal 
rights  from  draft  boards  or  military 
advisors,  including  chaplains. 

The  U.S.  Government  is  so  desperate- 
ly on  the  defensive  that  it  will  not  allow 
anything  that  will  further  bring  into 
question  the  legitimacy  of  this  war.  It 
holds  to  a ridiculous  minimum  the  num- 


ber of  men  involved  in  evasion,  and  the 
fatal  results  if  amnesty  were  granted 
which  might  set  a precedent  in  future 
wars. 

Until  there  is  a full  congressional  in- 
vestigation of  many  aspects  of  the  Viet- 
nam War,  including  Selective  Service  and 
military  disregard  for  the  legal  implica- 
tions of  the  draft,  there  is  little  hope  for 
amnesty,  or  a sound  basis  for  it.  Ralph 
and  Frances  Sommer,  serving  with  MCC 
in  Man,  West  Virginia 

U.S.  SHOULD 
ADMIT  FAILURE 

In  considering  the  statement  on  amnes- 
ty as  prepared  by  the  mcc  Peace  Section, 
I have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is 
one  of  the  most  important,  and  neces- 
sary, documents  of  our  time.  I say  this 
because  I can  see,  more  and  more,  the 


THE 


MENNONITE 


269 


freedoms  of  this  country  passing  away 
before  the  people’s  eyes.  At  the  same 
time  I see  people  doing  nothing  about 
their  losses.  Are  the  American  people 
too  proud  to  admit  it,  or  even  worse,  to 
know,  when  they  are  wrong? 

It  has  been  said  that  sometimes  a no- 
ble failure  serves  the  world  as  faithfully 
as  a distinguished  success.  I definitely 
believe  that  the  U.S.  Government  should 
reassess  its  position  on  amnesty.  It  might 
hurt  the  pride  of  the  U.S.  to  admit  that 
there  is  such  a thing  as  a wrong  U.S. 
policy,  but  I am  convinced  that  we  would 
be  much  better  off  in  the  long  run. 

We  must  now  persuade  others,  by  be- 
ing earnest  in  ourselves,  to  work  for 
universal  amnesty.  I urge  all  to  take  a 
stronger  stand  for  amnesty.  Brent  H. 
Sprunger,  Goshen,  Indiana  (student) 

A MULTICOLORED 
PROBLEM 

I am  not  in  favor  of  universal  amnesty. 
The  young  men  who  belonged  to  the 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
churches  in  the  United  States,  and  who 
for  conscience’  sake  did  not  wish  to 
become  involved  in  military  service  were 
given  the  opportunity  by  our  government 
to  apply  for  conscientious  objector  status. 
By  doing  so  they  had  the  opportunity  to 
work  constructively  within  the  confines 
of  the  United  States  or  other  approved 
areas.  There  was  no  need  for  any  of 
them  to  flee  to  Canada.  Those  who  did 
cross  the  borders  to  the  north  lost  the 
opportunity  to  give  a true  peace  witness 
from  a Christian  point  of  view.  Had 
they  stayed  in  this  country  they  could 
have  served  in  hospitals,  in  slums,  ghet- 
tos, Goodwill  Industries,  etc.  They  could 
have  given  their  Christian  peace  witness 
both  by  word  and  deed  and  in  good 
conscience. 

I believe  that  those  who  wish  to  re- 
turn, now  that  the  Vietnam  War  is  over, 
should  be  willing  to  render  some  con- 
structive service  to  this  country,  for  a 
period  of  at  least  two  years.  If  they  dis- 
dain the  United  States  so  much  that  they 
do  not  want  to  assume  the  obligations 
of  citizenship,  then  they  had  better  stay 
in  Canada  and  live  in  a country  that 
they  can  respect. 

The  matter  of  conscience  is  a multi- 
colored problem.  Even  though  one 
should  not  go  against  one’s  conscience, 


there  is  such  a thing  as  educating  one’s 
conscience  within  the  Christian  frame  of 
reference  so  that  it  will  conform  to  the 
New  Testament  pattern.  If  I understand 
the  New  Testament  teaching  concerning 
a Christian’s  relationship  to  civil  govern- 
ment, it  teaches  that  a Christian  is  to 
obey  the  laws  of  the  country  and  respect 
it.  If  our  government  had  made  no  pro- 
vision for  the  conscientious  objector  to 
serve  in  a nonmilitary  capacity,  then  my 
answer  would  be  different.  But  since  it 
allowed  the  objector  to  remain  in  his 
country  and  serve  his  country  in  a non- 
military way  that  was  in  keeping  with  the 
Christian  conscience  of  the  Mennonite 
and  Brethren  in  Christ  churches,  he 
should  have  used  that  opportunity  to 
serve  both  his  country  and  his  Christ. 
If,  at  any  time,  a Christian  for  con- 
science’ sake  must  move  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  the  country,  he  should  be  pre- 
pared to  accept  the  penalties  as  well  for 
conscience’  sake.  Otherwise  we  would 
have  societal  anarchy.  Nobel  V.  Sack, 
Portland,  Oregon  (pastor  and  chairman 
of  the  Pacific  District  home  missions 
committee) 


ADJUSTMENT 
PROBLEMS  CONTINUE 


We  wish  to  commend  the  work  of 
the  Peace  Committee  in  preparing  an 
excellent  “working  draft  on  amnesty.” 
Especially  important  is  the  recognition 
that  a universal  amnesty  will  serve  a 
greater  interest — the  unity  and  well-being 
of  the  nation. 

Of  equal  importance  is  the  recognition 
that  amnesty  must  be  extended  to  all 
categories  of  men  victimized  by  the  war, 
to  both  those  who  have  and  those  who 
have  not  served  in  the  military,  either  on 
grounds  of  conscience  or  the  “just  war” 
doctrine. 

Recently,  the  Canadian  Government 
has  made  it  extremely  difficult  to  obtain 
legal  status  here.  The  Winnipeg  Commit- 
tee to  Assist  War  Objectors  has  respond- 
ed by  ministering  to  the  immediate  needs, 
both  human  and  material,  of  those  men 
who  have  thus  been  forced  to  live  an 
underground  existence.  In  addition,  there 
are  a number  who,  although  enjoying  a 
legal  right  to  stay  in  Canada,  have  found 
difficulty  in  adjusting  to  life  here.  For 
these  men,  too,  assistance  is  needed,  and 


an  immediate  amnesty  would  resolve  >1 
their  problems. 

Therefore,  we  again  applaud  the  posi-  |< 
tion  taken  by  the  Peace  Section  in  en- 
couraging a grant  of  universal  amnesty. 
Bruce  Proctor  and  Pat  Cook,  Winnipeg 
(both  are  connected  with  the  Winnipeg 
Committee  to  Assist  War  Objectors) 

RESISTERS  DESERVE 
APOLOGY 

I hesitate  to  support  efforts  urging  the 
granting  of  ajnnesty  to  draft  violators, 
deserters,  and  those  dishonorably  dis- 
charged from  the  military. 

Many  men  who  would  “benefit”  from  [ 
an  amnesty  cannot  accept  its  basic  in- 
tention. For  it  is  a corrupt  and  unre- 
pentantly  militaristic  government  that 
would  say,  “We  will  forget  what  you 
have  done.”  Regardless  of  whether  we  j 
talk  about  “legal”  as  over  against  moral 
offences,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
government,  it  would  imply  forgiveness. 
But  the  draft  resisters  have  done  nothing 
for  which  to  be  forgiven.  If  there  is  any 
talk  of  forgiveness,  it  ought  to  be  the 
resisters’  forgiving  the  U.S.  Government.  j 

Since  the  statement  speaks  about  of- 
fenses— albeit  only  “legal” — on  the  part 
of  the  resisters,  it  ought  at  the  same  | 
time  to  speak  to  guilt  on  the  side  of  the 
U.S.  Government  and  policy  makers.  The 
American  people  owe  an  apology  to  the 
draft  resisters.  It  will  not  be  made  by  a 
declaration  of  amnesty.  It  can  only  be 
done  by  a confession  of  guilt  and  request 
for  forgiveness.  Walter  Klaassen,  Water- 
loo, Ontario  (university  teacher) 

AMNESTY'S 

BROADER 

IMPLICATIONS 

Perhaps  amnesty,  wiping  out  unjusti- 
fiable past  actions,  has  a wider  applica- 
tion than  we  suspect.  Perhaps  we  should 
consider  amnesty  not  only  for  those  who 
went  out  of  the  country  or  into  prison 
or  underground  but  for  all  who  were  in- 
volved— or  refused  to  become  involved 
— in  the  nightmare.  For  men  who  raided  ! 


270 


APRIL  24,  1973 


NEWS 

Manitoba  Mennonites  plan  centenary 


draft  boards  and  for  those  who  felt  the 
government’s  call  to  be  equal  to  God’s. 
For  men  who  put  on  the  uniform  like 
holy  armor;  for  the  leaders  who  saw  hu- 
man beings  as  so  many  pieces  in  a game, 
units  to  be  moved  around,  killed,  count- 
ed, converted  into  statistics  that  no  long- 
er bled.  For  Lieutenant  Calley,  and  for 
those  who  commanded  him.  For  indus- 
tries that  created  marvelous  inventions 
to  cut  people  into  pieces  or  burn  them 
up,  and  for  their  workers  who  also  made 
a living  from  death.  For  politicians  who 
cared  more  for  their  own  pride  than  for 
the  lives  of  soldiers  or  enemy  children. 
For  all  of  us  who  have  learned  not  only 
to  give  and  receive  death,  but  to  observe 
it  tvithout  flinching. 

For  these  thy  children.  Lord,  grant 
amnesty.  Lois  Rensberger,  Middlebury, 
Indiana  (writer,  homemaker,  and  mother 
of  a draft  resister  who  was  imprisoned ) 

AKIN  TO 

JESUS'  SPIRIT 

The  spirit  in  which  the  statement  is 
written  is  akin  to  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  The 
law  is  to  be  put  aside  in  favor  of  love 
and  mercy  so  people  again  can  be  recon- 
ciled. We  think  of  those  who  stayed  in 
our  home.  Jeff,  who  is  studying  to  be- 
come a lawyer  in  Toronto,  and  Faye, 
who  is  playing  viola  in  the  symphony, 
may  not  want  to  go  back.  Ray  ran  from 
reformatory  to  reformatory  and  is  still 
running.  Tim,  a social  worker  in  Can- 
ada, is  using  his  talents.  Pat  will  not  go 
back  if  amnesty  means  forgiveness,  be- 
cause he  does  not  want  to  be  forgiven 
for  doing  right. 

Some  will  be  happy  to  gain  amnesty 
j so  they  will  again  be  able  to  see  their 
I friends.  Others  will  care  little  what  hap- 
pens, and  still  others  will  refuse  to  ac- 
cept amnesty.  If  amnesty  means  that 
| paternal  America  now  considers  itself 
gracious  in  receiving  them  back,  then  ac- 
ceptance of  amnesty  is  a sellout.  After 
World  War  II,  the  Germans  disowned 
Hitler  and  repented.  The  greatest  trag- 
edy of  the  Vietnam  War  is  that  Amer- 
icans are  trying  hard  to  believe  that  they 
won  with  honor.  When  there  is  no  re- 
pentance, grace  cannot  abound  and  mer- 
cy is  far  away.  Leo  and  Darlene  Driedger, 
Winnipeg  ( visiting  research  scholar  this 
year  at  the  University  of  California, 
Berkeley) 


Leona  Dyck 

In  1873  the  Mennonite  settlements  in 
Russia  sent  delegates  to  North  America 
to  spy  out  the  land.  The  following  year, 
the  first  group  of  these  settlers  left  their 
Russian  homes  for  Manitoba  and  Kansas. 

Beginning  this  summer,  the  Manitoba 
Mennonite  community  will  commemo- 
rate this  centenary.  Plans  are  already 
under  way,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Manitoba  Mennonite  Historical  Society’s 
centennial  committee,  for  activities  which 
will  cut  across  the  denominational  lines. 

The  first  event,  according  to  the  soci- 
ety’s chairman,  J.  J.  Reimer,  will  be  a 
bus  safari  to  the  site  south  of  Niverville 
where  the  delegates  from  Russia  first  dis- 
embarked. There,  said  Mr.  Reimer,  a 
special  commemorative  service  is  plan- 
ned. Then  the  participants  will  travel  to 
the  Hudson  Bay  store  at  Ste.  Anne  and 
climax  the  day  with  a visit  to  the  Men- 
nonite Village  Museum  grounds  north 
of  Steinbach. 

Gerhard  Lohrenz,  chairman  of  the 
special  centennial  committee,  says  that 
plans  for  various  public  meetings 
throughout  1974  are  now  under  way. 
These  meetings  will  center  on  both  the 
religious  and  ethnic  aspects  of  Menno- 
nite life.  Special  lecturers  will  prepare 
themselves  to  deliver  presentations  on 
the  events  of  the  past.  Churches,  said  Mr. 
Lohrenz,  will  be  “encouraged  to  invite 
these  speakers.”  H.  J.  Gerbrandt  of  Win- 
nipeg is  in  charge  of  arrangements. 

Plans  for  these  and  other  events  were 
actually  begun  about  fifteen  years  ago 
when  the  late  P.  J.  Schaeffer  of  Gretna 
was  asked  to  submit  a paper  to  the  his- 
torical society  projecting  ideas  as  to>  how 
the  Mennonite  community  in  Manitoba 
could  celebrate  its  centennial  in  1974. 
At  that  time  he  suggested  mass  rallies, 
special  plays,  and  special  television  pro- 
grams. 

These  ideas  have  strongly  influenced 
plans,  according  to  the  centennial  com- 
mittee’s secretary  Gerhard  Ens.  Although 
he  felt  that  suggesting  television  pro- 
grams fifteen  years  ago  showed  a great 
deal  of  foresight,  now  he  is  sure  this  was 
a timely  thing. 

Plans  are  being  made  for  a special 
memorial  to  be  placed  on  the  Manitoba 


legislative  grounds.  The  purpose  of  this 
monument,  according  to  Mr.  Lohrenz, 
will  be  to  “remind  our  own  people  of 
the  past  and  to  be  a testimony  to  our 
cocitizens.”  He  felt  that  in  the  past 
Mennonites  have  been  too  apologetic 
about  the  role  they  played  in  helping 
this  province  arrive  at  where  it  stands 
today.  After  all,  he  added,  “we  were  the 
ones  who  dared  to  go  live  in  the  open 
prairie  and  demonstrated  that  it  could  be 
done.” 

Included  in  the  projected  plans  is  a 
special  Sunday,  probably  in  late  July 
1974,  to  commemorate  the  actual  arrival 
of  the  first  immigrants.  It  is  likely,  said 
Mr.  Ens,  that  on  this  Sunday  a large 
rally  will  be  held  in  the  Steinbach-Niver- 
ville  area,  where  the  first  settlers  arrived. 
Another  Sunday  will  also  be  designated, 
on  which  local  congregations  will  “do 
their  own  thing”  to  celebrate  the  centen- 
nial. 

An  anthology  of  the  best  things  Men- 
nonites have  written  over  the  past  100 
years  is  also  planned.  Other  people  have 
the  idea  that  perhaps  a special  opera  or 
oratorio  should  be  written.  These  plans, 
said  Mr.  Reimer,  are  being  spearheaded 
by  the  younger  men  and  are  very  costly. 
“At  the  moment,”  he  added,  “I  don’t 
know  where  I am  going  to  get  the  money 
from.”  He  felt  that  other  plans  might 
also  not  materialize  due  to  lack  of  funds. 

Mr.  Reimer,  who  is  also  involved  with 
the  workings  of  the  Village  Museum, 
said  that  plans  are  under  way  to*  do-  some 
additional  building  there  for  this  centen- 
nial. He  said  that  excitement  had  been 
aroused  with  the  arrival  of  the  Hoeppner 
memorial  there  a few  weeks  ago.  A hall 
of  culture,  for  the  display  of  Mennonite 
handicraft  items  is  planned. 

A special  song  to  commemorate  the 
centennial  is  already  being  worked  on  by 
Esther  Wiebe.  This  song,  according  to 
Mr.  Lohrenz,  will  be  introduced  at  a 
large  rally  and  then  will  be  available  for 
local  congregations  to  use  in  their  own 
celebrations. 

The  committee  has  also  received  the 
suggestion  that  a cross-cultural  song  fes- 
tival be  planned  for  the  Centennial  Con- 
cert Hall  in  Winnipeg. 


THE  MENNONITE 


271 


Oklahoma  town  avoids  another  Wounded  Knee 


Harnmon,  Oklahoma,  in  February  looked 
almost  like  Wounded  Knee,  South  Dako- 
ta, in  March.  But  there  was  a difference. 
Although  the  threat  of  violence  was 
there,  Indians  and  whites  began  working 
out  their  disagreements  and  put  down 
their  guns  without  firing  a shot. 

Harnmon,  population  600,  is  about 
half  white,  half  Cheyenne.  Bethel  Men- 
nonite Church,  predominantly  Indian, 
is  there,  as  is  a General  Conference  Men- 
nonite  voluntary  service  unit,  which  runs 
a Head  Start  program. 

Exactly  what  began  the  dispute  in 
Harnmon  is  itself  disputed.  Indian  fami- 
lies in  the  town,  however,  are  split  along 
the  kinship  and  friendship  lines  drawn 
in  disagreement  last  fall  concerning  which 
Indian  woman  was  to  have  a teacher’s 
aide  position  in  the  local  public  school. 

But  other  issues  began  coming  to  the 
fore  in  late  January:  possible  misuse  of 
federal  funds  appropriated  to  the  school 
district  for  Indian  students,  the  alleged 
slapping  of  a third-grade  Indian  girl, 
demands  to  release  four  teachers,  other 
accusations  of  discrimination  against  In- 
dians by  the  school  system. 

Seven  Indian  families,  in  protest 
against  racial  discrimination,  pulled  their 
children  out  of  the  public  school,  and 
after  getting  no  response  to  their  griev- 
ances from  the  school  board,  called  in 
representatives  of  the  National  Indian 


When  the  mayor  of  Hutchinson,  Kansas, 
wanted  a “Clean-up-fix-up-paint-up” 
month,  he  called  a meeting  of  some  local 
building  contractors — and  some  repre- 
sentatives of  local  Mennonite  churches. 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  Mennonite 
representatives,  the  month  of  April  will 
include  more  than  just  individual  clean- 
up, as  originally  planned.  Two  Menno- 
nite churches  have  promised  the  labor 
for  major  repair  on  one  house  and  paint- 
ing on  two  other  houses  where  the  own- 
ers are  elderly  or  handicapped  and  not 
able  to  hire  the  work  done. 

Richard  Ratzlaff,  pastor  of  First  Men- 
nonite Church,  Hutchinson,  said  volun- 
teers from  his  congregation  and  the 
South  Hutchinson  Mennonite  Church 
would  begin  the  second  week  in  April 
on  the  repair  work.  Scheduled  for  re- 
pair is  a blind  person’s  house,  for  which 
the  city  will  get  funds  for  repair,  and 
two  houses  of  elderly  persons  will  be 
painted. 


Youth  Council.  On  February  12  they 
began  a “survival  school,”  an  alternative 
school  for  Indian  children  boycotting  the 
public  school,  a place  where  Indian 
students  could  learn  more  about  Indian 
history  and  culture. 

The  protesting  parents  still  got  no  re- 
sponse from  the  school  board. 

A week  to  ten  days  after  the  survival 
school  opened,  someone — reportedly  a 
member  of  the  National  Indian  Youth 
Council — called  in  the  American  Indian 
Movement. 

The  aim  members  came  to  Harnmon 
with  guns,  sticks,  and  chains  and  tried 
to  get  more  guns  from  local  Indians.  An 
armed  guard  was  stationed  on  the  Indian 
center  downtown  where  the  survival 
school  was  being  held. 

Afraid  of  shooting  and  burning,  some 
whites  in  Harnmon  panicked.  The  sheriff 
deputized  150  men.  A white  man  with  a 
gun  was  stationed  on  top  of  the  grain 
elevator,  overlooking  the  Indian  center. 

For  about  four  days,  tensions  were 
high.  Some  people  simply  stayed  out  of 
the  downtown  area. 

Finally,  at  the  urging  of  some  agents 
of  the  U.S.  Department  of  Justice,  Com- 
munity Service  branch,  negotiations  be- 
gan between  the  Indians — boycotting  and 
nonboycotting — and  the  school  board. 
Some  concessions  were  won  from  the 
school:  a promise  to  offer  evening  class- 


If  successful,  the  Mennonite  churches 
plan  to  continue  the  project  beyond 
April. 

“We  see  this  as  part  of  our  mission 
for  Key  73,”  said  Mr.  Ratzlaff.  “We 
want  to  minister  to  people  directly. 
David  Whitermore  (staff  person  for  the 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries)  was 
in  our  congregation  recently  and  talked 
about  Mennonites’  need  to  use  their  gifts. 
We  took  that  seriously.” 

Mr.  Ratzlaff  said  that  the  mayor  met 
Mennonites  about  a year  ago  when  a 
Sunday  school  class  at  First  Church 
asked  him  to  speak  about  the  minimum 
housing  code  being  debated  in  Hutch- 
inson. At  the  class,  the  mayor  learned 
of  the  Mennonite  Disaster  Service  con- 
cept. 

Youth  groups  and  volunteers  from 
other  churches  will  be  mobilized  for  the 
regular  cleanup  and  painting  jobs,  Mr. 
Ratzlaff  said. 


es  in  Indian  language,  for  example.  And 
the  school  board  affirmed  the  right  of 
the  Indians  to  air  their  grievances. 

The  American  Indian  Movement  rep- 
resentatives, apparently  satisfied,  left  on 
March  3,  reportedly  for  Wounded  Knee,  i 

The  protesting  families  in  Harnmon, 
however,  are  still  boycotting  the  public 
school  and  operating  the  survival  school  j 
with  about  forty  children  from  grade 
school  to  high  school.  The  director  of 
the  school,  Bernie  Bush,  and  other  teach- 
ers are  there  on  a volunteer  basis,  living 
on  $30  a week. 

Mr.  Bush  and  the  board  members  for 
the  survival  school  are  seeking  funds 
from  church  groups  and  other  sources, 
determined  to  keep  the  school  running. 

Mr.  Bush  requested  funds  on  recent 
visits  to  Harnmon  by  Malcolm  Wenger, 
General  Conference  secretary  for  Indian 
ministries,  and  Virgil  Claassen,  supervisor  j 
of  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
center  in  North  Newton,  Kansas.  Support  " 
for  the  school  would  be  given  only  on  j 
recommendation  of  the  Bethel  Church, 
Mr.  Wenger  said. 

There  are  other  problems  to  be  worked  i 
out,  too.  All  the  grievances  against  the 
school  board  have  not  been  settled.  Neith- 
er have  the  differences  been  settled  be- 
tween the  two  Indian  groups — those  for 
and  against  the  continuation  of  the  sur-  ; 
vival  school. 

“Feelings  among  Indians  are  really 
high  yet,”  said  Bob  Standingwater,  chair- 
man of  the  Bethel  congregation.  Mem- 
bers of  the  church  have  a variety  of  atti- 
tudes toward  the  survival  school. 

“I  don’t  think  anything  has  changed  j 
except  that  the  American  Indian  Move- 
ment moved  out,”  said  Jake  Unrau,  Beth- 
el pastor.  “But  I see  the  survival  school  J 
as  positive  in  that  people  are  determined  j: 
to  make  it  go.  I see  it  as  a sign  of  hope, 
of  self-determination.  Maybe  how  it  hap-  ; 
pened  was  too  radical,  but  it  has  to 
happen.” 

Perhaps  one  small  sign  of  progress 
in  the  situation  is  that  people  can  laugh 
about  the  tensions  occasionally.  They  are 
calling  Harnmon  “Wounded  Ankle.” 


Hutchinson  churches  expand  city's  cleanup  month 


APRIL  24,  1973 


272 


Key  73  activities  under  way  in  conference 


General  Conference  Mennonite  congre- 
gations across  North  America  are  par- 
ticipating in  Key  73  evangelism  activ- 
ities in  a variety  of  ways. 

— Elkhart,  Indiana,  churches,  includ- 
ing the  Hively  Ave.  Mennonite  Church, 
distributed  about  25,000  copies  of  the 
Gospel  of  Luke  in  March.  On  Good  Fri- 
day the  churches  planned  outreach  in 
downtown  Elkhart. 

— The  Boynton  Mennonite  Church, 
Hopedale,  Illinois,  has  a Luke-Acts  Bi- 
ble study  and  several  “share”  groups. 
The  Easter  phase  of  Key  73  will  be  cele- 
brated with  dramas  and  a community 
chorus. 

— The  Maplewood  Mennonite  Church, 
Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  has  started  an 
adult  inquiry  class,  Tuesday  night  visita- 
tion, and  a congregational  goals  study. 

—At  the  First  Mennonite  Church, 
Berne,  Indiana,  Bibles  were  distributed 
in  March,  and  high  school  girls  are  giv- 
ing out  Scripture  portions  in  restaurants 


and  motels.  Small  groups  meeting  in 
homes  are  studying  Luke. 

— The  First  Mennonite  Church,  Up- 
land, California,  also  helped  with  dis- 
tribution of  Scripture  portions  in  March. 

— Elim  Fellowship  Church,  Selkirk, 
Manitoba,  has  planned  joint  services  and 
some  action  of  repentance  toward  mi- 
nority groups  during  the  Key  73  year. 

— Glendale  Mennonite  Church,  Lyn- 
den,  Washington,  planned  home  Bible 
study,  visitation,  and  distribution  of 
Good  news  for  modern  man. 

— In  Coaldale,  Alberta,  Mennonites 
participated  in  an  interfaith  service  in 
March  at  St.  Ambrose  Catholic  Church. 
The' focus  was  on  Key  73. 

— The  Salem  Mennonite  Church, 
Freeman,  South  Dakota, -has -made  a spe- 
cial effort  to  get  more  people  involved 
in  Bible  study.  The  congregation  ordered 
Bible  courses  from  the  Mennonite  Hour, 
and  several  small  groups  studied  them  in 
homes.  Others  took  the  course  as  a fam- 


ily project.  On  Sunday  evenings  the  con- 
gregation studied  the  Book  of  Acts  and 
on  Wednesday  evenings,  Communicating 
the  good  news  by  David  Augsburger. 
“These  studies  have  given  us  new  in- 
sights and  a new  zeal  for  Key  73,”  said 
Mrs.  Herbert  Waltner. 

— United  Mennonite  Church,  Mission 
City,  British  Columbia,  is  participating 
in  an  interdenominational  project,  start- 
ing Bible  studies  and  discussions  in 
homes  weekly  or  biweekly.  “This  pro- 
gram reaches  people  who  would  never 
come  to  church  to  hear  the  good  news, 
but  will  take  part  in  discussions  in  a 
neighborhood  home,”  said  Elsie  -Rempel. 

— Associated  churches  of  Moundridge, 
Kansas,  are  sponsoring  Bible  study  groups 
with  at  least  twenty-five  host  homes  and 
more  than  two  hundred  people  taking 
part  in  the  discussion.  The  Bible  study 
guide  is  Key  to  Luke,  Part  2,  by  Horace 
Weaver  and  Harold  Fair.  Besides  church 
families  others  are  taking  part. 


Peace  groups  examine  development  strategies 

TedKoontz 


In  spite  of  a blizzard  in  Ohio  which  pre- 
vented one  group  from  attending  and 
made  travel  hazardous  for  others,  forty- 
five  persons  from  as  far  as  California 
gathered  at  the  Church  Center  for  the 
United  Nations  in  New  York  for  the 
annual  Intercollegiate  Peace  Fellowship 
Conference,  March  18-20. 

Ipf  is  an  organization  of  peace  groups 
from  fifteen  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in 
Christ  colleges  and  seminaries.  This  year’s 
conference,  focusing  on  “Third  world 
development  and  exploitation,”  included 
ten  persons  studying  at  non-Mennonite 
schools. 

Economist  James  Herod  and  the  film, 
“Who  invited  US?”,  made  clear  that  the 
exploitation  of  the  third  world  has  been 
an  integral  part  of  western  history  since 
the  sixteenth  century.  The  film  docu- 
mented the  role  of  the  United  States  in 
neocolonialism  and  imperialism. 

The  meaning  of  exploitation  hit  some 
participants  during  “Star  power,”  a sim- 
ulation game  designed  to  give  players  an 
understanding  of  how  “the  rules  of  the 
game”  can  make  it  impossible  for  some 
persons  or  groups  to  get  ahead.  The 
game  reflects  in  a rough  way  the  rela- 
tionships between  rich  and  poor. 

Due  to  an  initial  inequity  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  valuable  chips  among  the 


three  participating  groups  and  to  the  un- 
equal bargaining  position  which  result- 
ed, the  top  group  soon  had  most  of  the 
wealth  concentrated  in  its  hands  and 
was  allowed  to  make  the  rules  for  the 
rest  of  the  game.  They  designed  rules 
which  succeeded  in  insuring  their  con- 
tinued wealth  and  power,  but  finally 
ended  the  game  by  benevolently  redis- 
tributing the  wealth. 

Discussion  following  the  game  showed 
that  the  “poor”  groups  resented  the  pa- 
ternalism which  the  charity  of  the  “rich” 
group  reflected.  “You  didn’t  include  us 
in  any  of  your  decision-making  proc- 
esses. We  would  have  felt  a lot  better 
if  you  would  have  let  us  help  set  up 
rules  which  would  have  given  all  of  us 
an  equal  chance.  This  way  you  kept  us 
from  having  a feeling  of  control  over 
our  situation  and  a feeling  of  accom- 
plishment. I feel  degraded,”  one  partici- 
pant observed. 

Some  felt  the  benevolent  action  of  the 
top  group  was  typical  of  the  charitable 
activity  of  white  middle  class  North 
Americans  and  was  motivated  by  guilt. 
“Somehow  we  felt  a need  to  deal  with 
the  guilt  caused  by  having  such  dispro- 
portionate wealth  and  power,  but  we 
either  couldn’t  or  wouldn’t  actually  share 
power,”  one  of  the  rich  group  noted. 


The  great  gap  in  power  affected  the 
two  poor  groups  in  different  ways.  One 
group  was  beginning  to  think  about  rev- 
olution— physically  forcing  the  wealthy 
group  to  redistribute  wealth  and  power 
in  complete  disregard  for  the  “rules  of 
the  game.”  A member  of  the  other  group 
reflected  on  its  predominant  mood.  “Near 
the  end  we  gave  up  and  didn’t  care.  We 
felt  powerless  to  change  things.” 

Much  of  the  remainder  of  the  con- 
ference centered  in  small  group  meet- 
ings with  resource  people  on  topics  such 
as  disarmament  and  development,  rural 
development,  the  Chinese  and  Egyptian 
models  of  development,  and  bilateral, 
multilateral,  corporate,  and  church  de- 
velopment programs. 

A number  of  themes  emerged,  several 
of  which  were  expressed  by  Dick  Mey- 
ers, former  mcc  worker  in  Botswana. 
There  is  great  danger  of  educational 
programs  only  benefiting  an  elite  few, 
Mr.  Meyers  said.  In  poor  societies  even 
a high  school  education  gives  one  a 
great  advantage  over  others,  an  advantage 
which  often  results  in  greater  social 
stratification  and  inequality.  Mr.  Meyers 
stressed  that  “Education  dare  not  simply 
be  a ladder  to  privilege,”  but  noted  that 
designing  educational  programs  which 
avoid  this  result  is  not  easy. 


THE  MENNONITE 


273 


Workshop  provides  resources  for  teachers 

Mary  Rempel,  left,  and  Cornelia  Lehn,  center  facing  camera,  lead  a homeroom 
session  for  kindergarten  teachers  at  “ Project : Teach,”  jointly  sponsored  by  the 
Commission  on  Education  ( General  Conference  Mennonite  Church),  Mennonite 
Publishing  House  ( Mennonite  Church),  Bethel  College,  and  Hesston  College.  Ses- 
sions for  church  school  teachers  of  kindergarten  through  junior  high  school  were 
held  March  25-29  at  Bethel  College. 

Ordination  study  revised 


A study  paper  on  ordination  is  being 
revised  by  the  General  Conference’s  com- 
mittee on  the  ministry,  and  the  revisions 
will  be  included  in  a second  printing  of 
the  study  guide  on  “Church  leadership 
and  ordination”  in  April. 

Heinz  Janzen,  general  secretary,  and 
Erland  Waltner,  president  of  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminary,  are  working  on  a 
final  draft,  combining  a 1968  statement 
on  the  ministry,  approved  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  with  some  of  the  later 
study  papers. 

The  committee  on  the  ministry,  meet- 
ing March  28-30  in  Chicago,  reaffirmed 
its  basic  position  in  earlier  study  papers 
that  all  believers  are  priests,  but  leader- 
ship in  the  congregation  is  a recognized 
function  in  the  biblical  records  and  in 
Anabaptist  history.  Ordination  defines 
function  rather  than  status,  and  age,  race, 
and  sex  are  not  proper  criteria  for  selec- 
tion of  a minister. 

The  revised  study  guide  will  be  avail- 
able to  pastors  and  congregations  who 
want  to  begin  a study  of  ordination. 

The  committee  also  discussed  proce- 
dures for  placement  of  ministers.  It  said 
that  ministers  needing  a congregation  or 


congregations  needing  a minister  should 
first  contact  their  district  minister,  if 
there  is  one.  Those  in  other  districts 
should  be  encouraged  to  use  the  re- 
sources of  the  General  Conference  per- 
sonnel office.  The  committee  found  that 
sometimes  congregations  are  not  sure  to 
whom  they  should  turn  when  a pastoral 
vacancy  occurs. 

Also  under  discussion  was  the  problem 
of  finding  congregations  for  ministers 
who  experience  placement  difficulties. 
The  committee  will  give  more  attention 
to  this  issue  at  its  fall  meeting,  Septem- 
ber 20-21,  when  it  will  invite  a consul- 
tant to  report  what  other  denominations 
are  doing  with  a surplus  of  ministers. 
The  committee  suggested  that  some  hard- 
to-place  ministers  might  be  referred  to 
diagnostic  and  counseling  agencies. 

The  committee  asked  the  personnel 
office  to  get  information  on  pastors’  sal- 
aries across  the  conference  and  agreed 
that  the  seminary  should  continue  to  take 
primary  responsibility  in  continuing  edu- 
cation for  pastors. 


Slide  set  on  war  kept  off  TV 
despite  youth’s  fund  raising 

Three  Freeman,  South  Dakota,  youth  |J 
groups  raised  $950  to  put  the  slide  set 
“The  automated  air  war”  on  local  tele- 
vision. But  so  far  they  haven’t  been  able 
to  spend  the  money. 

Youth  at  the  Hutterthal,  Salem,  and 
Salem-Zion  Mennonite  churches  easily 
raised  enough  money  for  the  TV  time  by 
sponsoring  a pig  roast  last  year.  Finding 
a television  station  that  would  agree  to 
sell  time  for  the  program,  on  the  in- 
creasing automation  of  U.S.  bombings 
in  Southeast  Asia,  proved  more  difficult. 

Johnnie  Hofer  of  Freeman  said  the 
youth  first  contacted  KELO-TV  in  Sioux 
Falls,  South  Dakota.  The  station  viewed 
the  slides  last  fall,  took  the  script  to  a 
lawyer,  and  promised  to  notify  the  youth 
when  the  managers  reached  a decision. 
Several  months  later,  the  youth  still 
haven’t  heard  what  the  decision  is. 

The  youth  next  went  to  KORN-TV  in 
Mitchell,  South  Dakota,  wanting  to  buy 
time  for  the  show  before  the  November 
elections.  The  station  said  all  time  be- 
fore the  elections  had  been  reserved  for 
the  candidates,  and  attempts  to  go 
through  George  McGovern’s  office  to  get 
time  released  were  equally  unsuccessful. 

“After  the  election  I talked  to  the 
new  manager  who  seemed  willing  to  show 
the  slides  or  at  least  to  present  the  issue 
to  the  people,  especially  after  the  Christ- 
mas bombing  began,”  reported  Mr.  Hof- 
er. “After  consulting  with  his  lawyer 
he  said  he  couldn’t  air  the  program  be- 
cause of  the  implications  of  the  content, 
things  that  seemingly  linked  the  corpora- 
tions represented  (those  manufacturing 
military  hardware)  directly  with  Vietnam 
— especially  the  implication  that  to  buy 
something  from  a company  that  also  pro- 
duces war  materials  directly  supports  the 
war. 

“Yet  he  seemed  very  willing  to  get 
involved  in  the  issue  and  suggested  giving 
us  a free  half  hour  in  which  we  could 
present  our  views,  especially  in  dialog 
with  persons  with  opposing  views.  Well, 
that  hasn’t  been  done  either.” 

Mr.  Hofer  said  the  money  will  prob- 
ably be  used  for  some  peace  project,  such 
as  care  packages  for  Nicaragua  or  the 
peace  television  spot  announcements. 

The  slide  set,  produced  for  the  Amer- 
ican Friends  Service  Committee,  details 
the  development  of  an  automated  bomb- 
ing system  by  the  U.S.  military,  which 
increasingly  requires  fewer  personnel  but 
more  of  the  taxpayers’  money. 


274 


APRIL  24,  1973 


Words  & deeds 


Theologian  Martin  Marty  recently 
made  the  following  observation  about 
people’s  response  to  new  movements: 
“Whenever  we  or  someone  else  voices 
even  mild  appreciation  for  the  new  re- 
ligious experiences — -be  they  Johnny- 
come-latelys  to  the  Jesus  movements  or 
neo-Pentecostals— people  close  to  them, 
often  bruised  by  the  encounter,  ask  why 
it  is  that  something  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
or  in  the  Spirit  does  not  rub  off  on  these 
advocates.  True,  these  people  treat  each 
other  nicely-nicely.  But  their  impatience 
with  their  families,  their  home  churches, 
old  friends,  employers,  neighbors,  and 
the  like  suggests  that  they  have  not  heard 
that  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  are  ‘love, 
joy,  peace,  patience,  kindness,  goodness, 
fidelity,  gentleness,  and  self-control.’  My 
spouse’s  question  about  the  enthusiasts 
remains:  ‘They’re  all  right,  but  would 
you  want  your  daughter  to  marry  one 
of  them?’  My  question:  Is  your  experi- 
ence different?  Are  the  ‘freaks’  missing 
something,  or  are  we  not  seeing  some- 
thing they  have  but  do  not  show?” 


Scriptures  in  1,500  tongues.  Statistics 
compiled  by  the  United  Bible  Societies 
show  that  since  the  invention  of  print- 
ing in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century 
to  the  end  of  1972,  at  least  one  com- 
plete book  of  the  Bible  has  been  printed, 
by  various  organizations,  in  1,500  lan- 
guages or  dialects.  The  total  reflects  an 
increase  of  forty-three  in  the  language 
count  over  the  previous  year.  Ekajuk, 
the  forty-third  new  language,  is  spoken 
in  Nigeria  and  made  its  debut  in  the 
language  count  as  a complete  New  Tes- 
; tament. 

Paraguayan  Mennonites 
build  at  home  for  the  aged 

Paraguayan  Mennonites  found  a home 
| for  the  aged  near  Asuncion  where  pa- 
tients had  to  eat  at  tables  under  the 
trees,  come  sunshine,  rain,  or  cold  wea- 
ther. 

Through  the  Paraguayan  missions  com- 
Imittee  a shelter  is  now  being  built  for 
dining,  and  other  service  is  planned  for 
the  future. 

The  home  is  the  St.  Francis  of  Assisi 
Home  for  the  Aged,  twelve  miles  east  of 
Asuncion,  a project  of  the  Paraguayan 
police. 

Living  there,  barracks  fashion,  are  al- 
most 200  older  people  without  family 
connections  or  with  families  who  do  not 


want  to  care  for  them.  The  home  is  run 
by  a corps  of  nurses  paid  by  the  police. 
But  cooking,  cleaning,  and  other  tasks 
are  done  by  delinquent  girls  sent  there 
by  the  police  for  punishment.  Police 
stand  guard  around  the  home  to  prevent 
the  girls  from  running  away. 

Gerhard  Goerzen,  chairman  of  the 
Mennonite  missions  committee,  had  held 
religious  services  there  occasionally  and 
was  welcomed  by  the  administrators, 
but  he  saw  that  more  was  needed  than 
periodic  services. 

The  first  project  has  been  the  building 
of  a dining  shelter. 

Mr.  Goerzen  reported  that  fifteen 
young  people  from  Paraguay  and  two 
from  Brazil  spent  two  weeks  in  January 
in  construction.  Another  group  of  vol- 
unteers from  Paraguay  also  spent  two 
weeks  working  on  the  shelter.  He  wrote 
on  March  7 that  the  work  was  now  con- 
tinuing with  paid  help. 

The  police,  grateful  for  the  building, 
contacted  a film  crew,  and  the  building 
of  the  shelter  by  Mennonites  was  shown 
in  Asuncion  over  nationwide  television. 
Mr.  Goerzen  also  had  opportunity  to 
speak  on  the  television  show. 

About  $1,100  (U.S.)  for  work  at  the 
home  for  the  aged  has  been  included  in 
the  Paraguayan  missions  committee  bud- 
get this  year.  About  half  of  this  will  be 
received  from  North  America  through 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 

Home  Ministries  Council 
will  consider  Probe  74 

Evangelism  strategies  and  the  possibility 
of  a Probe  74  will  be  discussed  May  15- 
16  by  the  Home  Ministries  Council,  a 
group  of  Mennonite,  Brethren  in  Christ, 
and  inter-Mennonite  administrators  in- 
volved in  North  American  mission  and 
service  programs. 

Palmer  Becker,  secretary  of  the  coun- 
cil, said  the  denominational  evangelism 
secretaries  and  the  Probe  72  executive 
committee  had  been  invited  to  the  coun- 
cil’s meeting  in  Chicago.  A major  block 
of  time  will  be  spent  on  a definition  of 
evangelism,  its  relationships  to  mission 
and  service  programs,  models  of  evan- 
gelism, and  the  possible  need  for  another 
inter-Mennonite  evangelism  consultation 
similar  to  Probe  72,  held  in  April  1972 
in  Minneapolis. 

Other  agenda  items  include  offender 
ministries,  the  mentally  retarded,  the 
poor,  Mennonite  Disaster  Service,  con- 
gregational ministries,  voluntary  service, 
minority  ministries,  and  inter-Mennonite 
cooperation  in  North  America. 


RECORD 


Workers 


Melvin  Yoder  has  begun  work  as 
bookkeeper  for  the  General  Conference 
central  offices  in  Newton,  Kansas.  He 
replaces  Marie  Dyck,  who  will  continue 
part  time  as  editor  of  Missions  today. 
Mr.  Yoder  has  previously  worked  as 
bookkeeper  for  the  Vickers  Petroleum 
Co.  in  Wichita  and  is  a part-time  farmer 
west  of  Newton.  He  is  a member  of  the 
Whitestone  Mennonite  Church,  Hesston, 
Kansas. 


Yoder 


Calendar 


May  3-6 — Mennonite  Conference  on 
Christian  Community,  Elmira,  Ont. 

May  4-5 — Eastern  District  Conference, 
Bally,  Pa. 

Canadian 

April  28-29 — Canadian  Mennonite  Bi- 
ble College’s  closing  exercises,  Winnipeg. 

May  5 — Women’s  missionary  confer- 
ence of  Saskatchewan,  Herbert. 

Western 

April  25-29 — Special  meetings  at  First 
Church,  Pretty  Prairie,  Kans.;  Harold 
Graber,  speaker. 

May  12 — Topeka  1-W  unit  reunion, 
Wright  Park,  Dodge  City,  Kans.;  Roy  W. 
Regier,  Meade,  Kans.,  chairman. 

HELP  WANTED 

YOUTH  WORKERS 

MATURE  MALE  to  work  with  teen-age 
youth  at  Youth  Residence  Center.  Mature 
single  female  or  a couple  to  live  in  at 
group  home  for  teen-age  girls.  Positions 
open  immediately.  Location  Hamilton,  On- 
tario. High  school  graduation  required,  some 
college  preferred.  No  experience  necessary. 
Transportation,  room,  board,  and  $25  a 
month  provided.  Apply  to  Personnel  Office, 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114,  (316)  283- 
5100. 


fHE  MENNONITE 


275 


LETTERS 


The  foundation  is  important 

Dear  Editor:  It  appears  as  though  Mr. 
Nixon  and  the  adversary  debated  the 
peace  we  now  have  in  Vietnam  to  the 
point  where  the  requirements  are  so 
that  a type  of  peace  which  is  on  paper 
has  to  be  formed  in  search  of  a peace 
that  “passeth  understanding.” 

Therefore,  we  are  involved  in  a search 
for  peace  where  Jesus  Christ,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  is  the  groundwork.  The 
law  of  nature  is  the  groundwork  of  our 
earthly  nature,  of  communism.  . . . Now 
is  the  time  to  be  converted.  Are  we  of 
Jesus  Christ?  Or  are  we  of  Satan?  Ralph 
H.  Goering,  Cedar  Rest  Home,  Peabody, 
Kans.  66866.  March  20 

What  an  encore! 

Dear  Larry:  Thanks  for  today’s  The 
Mennonite  (March  20  issue),  including 
the  editorial  by  Lois.  It’s  beautiful  and 
very  strengthening. 

If  you  get  a lot  of  flak  from  the  who- 
was-created-first  controversy,  you  might 
consider  the  possibility  that  God  did  in- 
deed create  man  first.  Then  he  stepped 
back  to  take  a long  look  at  his  creation 
and  slowly  shook  his  head.  “I  can  do  bet- 
ter than  that,”  he  said. 

And  so  God  created  woman.  . . . Lois 
Rensberger , R.R.  1,  Box  99,  Middlebury , 
Ind.  46540.  March  20 

Selfhood  and  self-denial 

Dear  Editor:  Your  last  issue  of  The 
Mennonite  (March  20  issue)  has  a lot 
of  perceptive  material  for  both  men  and 
women.  I hope  male  readers  will  re- 
spond responsibly. 

One  thing  continues  to  puzzle  me,  how- 
ever. How  does  all  this  effort  to  be  equal 
correspond  with  Christ’s  humbling  him- 
self and  his  emphasis  on  servanthood 
and  denial  of  one’s  rights,  rather  than 
clamboring  for  them?  For  it  is  in  giving 
that  we  receive — in  losing  that  we  find. 

Peggy  Raines  (wife  of  author  Robert 
Raines)  says,  “Before  I can  deny  my- 
self, I’ve  got  to  have  a self  to  deny.  Then 
I can  give  myself  because  I want  to  and 
not  because  I have  to.”  That’s  good! 
But  I’m  not  sure  that  my  search  for 
authentic  selfhood  is  always  prompted 
by  a desire  for  greater  self-denial. 


I have  long  thought  that  the  spiritual 
depth  of  woman  saints  is  not  the  result 
of  spiritual  leadership  given  by  men,  but 
of  their  response  to  the  constant  need  for 
self-denial.  LaVerna  Klippenstein,  Box 
58,  Gretna,  Man.  March  30 

Women  make  men  great 

Dear  Editors:  With  all  the  articles  on 
women  (March  20  issue),  I was  disap- 
pointed not  to  have  one  by  Ella  May 
Miller.  You  still  should  because  her  ar- 
ticles are  surely  much  more  biblical  and 
uplifting. 

We  don’t  need  to  be  berated;  we  are 
free  in  Christ,  yes,  free  to  serve  our 
husband  and  family,  to  love  our  hus- 
band and  children,  and  to  teach  and  live 
Christ  to  our  children. 

In  their  pursuit  of  equality  with  men, 
are  our  women  surrendering  superiority 


in  character  and  function?  There  is  truth 
in  the  statement  that  “the  hand  that 
rocks  the  cradle  is  the  hand  that  rules 
the  world.” 

At  least  one  woman,  usually  two,  have 
been  responsible  for  whatever  great  deeds 
a man  accomplishes. 

Isn’t  it  better  to  be  superior  in  morals 
and  character  than  to  be  merely  equal 
with  men?  Can  women  exercise  an  up- 
grading influence  on  men  if  they  are  to 
be  their  equals? 

Is  any  role  superior  to  that  of  mother- 
hood? In  what  other  role  can  women 
exercise  so  much  influence? 

Aren’t  the  rolling  pin,  the  mop,  etc., 
as  important  as  the  plow,  the  axe,  and 
the  hammer? 

Looking  forward  to  an  article  that  up- 
lifts motherhood,  as  does  the  Bible.  Mrs. 
Roland  Epp,  Lushton,  Neb.  68383. 

March  23 


f I 

DOCTOR  IN  RAGS 


Louise  A.  Vernon 
Allan  Eitzen.  illustrator 

This  is  the  story  of  Paracelsus  and  the 
Hutterites  as  seen  through  the  eyes  of 
twelve-year-old  Michael  Byrne.  Taking 
place  in  fifteenth-century  Moravia. 
Michael  becomes  involved  with  a group 
of  Hutterites  encamped  on  the  Byrne 
farm. 

In  fifteenth-century  Moravia  to  be  a 
Hutterite  was  illegal  and  those  befriend- 
ing the  Hutterites  were  subject  to  arrest. 
Paracelsus,  an  eariy  practitioner  of  herb- 
al medicine,  earns  the  admiration  of 
Michael  who  decides  to  pursue  a career 
in  missionary  medicine.  1 68  pages. 
Hardcover:  $3.95.  Softcover:  $2.95. 


ORDER  FROM: 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON.  KANSAS. 

OR  BERNE.  INDIANA 


pictures  by 
Altatt©£«n 


Doctor  in  Rags 

BY  LOU®  A.  VERNON 


( 


276 


APRIL  24,  1973 


Exceptions  not  the  rule 

Dear  Editor:  I am  responding  to  the 
March  20  issue.  It  seems  to  me  two  ex- 
tremes still  exist  in  the  Mennonite  church. 
One  group  is  holding  to  former  tradi- 
tions and  is  limiting  the  privileges  of 
women.  The  other  would  like  to  see  all 
barriers  banned  and  grant  privileges  and 
responsibilities  to  women.  I would  like 
to  stand  with  the  majority  of  churches, 
those  which  have  found  a way  to  solve 
this  problem  in  granting  privileges,  but 
limiting  responsibilities. 

The  approach  that  is  being  used  in 
some  of  the  articles  in  the  March  20 
issue  will  not  bring  us  closer  together. 
If  we  want  to  help  the  people  in  the 
church,  we  cannot  accuse  them  of  shal- 
low thinking.  I,  too,  have  met  people 
who  would  not  agree  with  me  on  some 
issues,  but  they  were  sincere  and  wanted 
the  Bible  to  be  respected  as  they  under- 
stood it.  If  we  reject  the  records  of  Gen- 
esis 2,  then  we  also  reject  Paul’s  state- 
ment about  these  records.  Some  people 
object  to  Paul’s  statements  about  mar- 
riage and  the  role  of  women,  because  a 
bachelor  has  never  understood  women, 
they  say.  Paul’s  position  is  sound,  when 
you  study  it  in  its  right  context. 

In  his  message  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
|cost,  Peter  revealed  to  his  listeners  that 
a new  vision  had  come  to  him  that  both 
sexes  would  stand  on  equal  ground  in 
their  relationship  to  Christ.  This  is  the 
i difference  between  the  old  and  the  new. 
This  was  actually  what  Paul  was  build- 
ing on,  as  he  organized  the  church. 

Voting  rights  and  floor  privileges  for 
women  are  not  granted  in  some  church- 
es, but  even  in  these  churches  the  gifts 
of  women  are  well  accepted  and  they 
[are  involved  in  a number  of  activities.  On 
:he  mission  field  we  have  them  in  the 
majority  and  they  give  an  effective  wit- 
ness. 1 Corinthians  14:33-35  is  not  as 
pimple  to  some  of  our  people  as  is  an- 

Iicipated.  It  is  true,  Paul  is  saying  the 
apposite  to  other  churches  because  of 
Afferent  circumstances.  Yes,  the  Gospels 
lo  not  exclude  women,  but  Christ’s  first 
ninistry  was  redemption  and  to  put  men 
n charge  of  his  church.  I find  it  diffi- 
cult to  accept  the  interpretation  of  1 
Corinthians  11,  as  Paul  suggesting  that 
vomen  should  be  called  to  the  preaching 
ninistry.  Some  people  read  into  Scrip- 
ure  what  they  seem  to  miss.  Genesis 
* : 1 6,  Ephesians  5:22,  1 Timothy  2:11, 
>r  1 Peter  3:1,  5,  9 cannot  be  ignored. 

Should  women  be  subordinated  to 
nen?  That  is  not  what  the  Bible  teach- 
s.  A wife  is  much  more  than  a servant 


to  her  husband,  even  though  he  is  the 
head  of  the  home.  If  husband  and  wife 
have  become  one  body,  they  still  re- 
main two  persons.  The  wife  is  in  posses- 
sion of  her  womanhood,  her  personal 
needs,  and  desires  and  special  gifts,  and 
this  is  what  makes  that  union  real  and 
pleasant.  Husbands  who  miss  this  dis- 
covery are  losing  out  on  the  greatest 
joy  of  marriage. 

It  is  not  so  obvious  that  Jesus  selected 
his  disciples  from  his  own  people.  Salva- 
tion is  of  the  Jews,  he  said  in  John  22, 
and  let  us  remember  that  no  Jew  was 
selected  to  become  a deacon.  It  was  not 
only  the  racial  tension  that  the  disciples 
had  to  cope  with,  but  to  uplift  women 
from  their  former  lower  position  to  the 
new  standard  that  Jesus  wanted  them  to 
be  as  well.  The  preaching  ministry  is  not 
to  be  looked  upon  as  a vocation,  but 
rather  a calling.  There  are  some  prin- 
ciples in  nature  that  men  will  never 
change.  God  has  some  principles  in  his 
kingdom  that  men  should  never  attempt 
to  change. 

In  the  home  husband  and  wife  have 
mutual  responsibilities,  but  each  plays 
his  own  role.  As  God  created  men  and 
women  they  were  to  stand  side  by  side, 
but  not  to  represent  the  other.  A father 
can  never  replace  a mother  and  vice 
versa.  But  as  husband  and  wife  live  and 
work  together,  they  are  able  to  fulfill 
the  will  of  God  in  their  lives  and  con- 
tribute to  needs  of  this  world. 

If  one  church  is  calling  a female  pas- 
tor, that  is  their  business.  Exceptions  are 


even  recorded  in  the  Bible,  but  that  is  not 
the  normal  thing.  To  make  that  excep- 
tion the  rule  could  create  a turmoil  such 
as  we  have  never  seen  before.  I am 
thankful  for  gifted  women  in  the  church 
who  would  have  found  their  field  of  ac- 
tivity and  are  dedicated  to  God  and  his 
kingdom.  As  pastor,  I would  like  to  share 
my  ministry  with  them  as  well  as  with 
men,  but  this  is  to  be  in  line  with  Scrip- 
ture and  in  agreement  with  the  church. 
The  spirit  of  the  church  is  love  and  not 
legislation.  We  also  need  much  grace  and 
patience  as  well.  Let  us  work  together 
for  a unification  in  the  brotherhood  and 
the  fulfillment  of  the  commission  to  the 
church.  A great  program  is  offered  to 
us  in  Key  73.  Let  us  get  busy  and  do 
something  about  it.  This  is  the  area 
where  our  churches  need  help.  Let’s 
give  it  to  them.  P.  J.  Froese,  Box  720, 
Winkler,  Man.  ROG  2X0.  March  4 

Gift  of  tongues 

Dear  Editor:  In  the  article,  “Helpers, 
healers,  and  people  of  mercy”  (April  3 
issue),  it  is  encouraging  to  note  that 
tongues,  the  interpretation  of  tongues, 
miracles,  and  healing  (be  they  physical 
or  mental)  were  mentioned  among  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit.  While  Mennonites  as 
a whole  are  not  associated  with  these,  it 
is  good  to  see  some  recognition  of  these 
gifts  in  a Mennonite  publication,  since 
these  gifts  do  exist  in  our  day.  Wayne 
Bergen,  14320  Taft  St.,  Wichita,  Kans. 
67235.  April  3 


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HE  MENNONITE 


277 


The  war  is  over  — But.  . . 


War  games 

War  games. 

Sneak  up;  surprise 
The  make-believe  enemy. 

Small  boys  creep  through  grass, 
Around  trees. 

Bang!  Bang! 

You’re  dead! 

(Not  really,  though.) 

Get  the  best  toy  gun, 

Or  an  angled  stick 
Will  do  the  job! 

Bang!  You’re  dead! 

(But  not  really.  It’s  just  a game.) 
Mothers  smile. 

So  cute,  our  little  boys  play. 

War  games. 

Uniformed,  trained  to  hate. 

Big  boys  now 

Creep  through  grass,  around  trees. 
Or  better  yet,  mow  the  enemy  down 
In  tanks,  on  wheels. 

Bang!  Bang! 

You’re  dead! 

(Really!) 

Get  the  best  guns  taxes  will  buy. 
They’ll  do  the  job. 

The  enemy  is  out  there. 

No  games  now. 

Bang!  You’re  dead! 

(So  are  you;  it  works  both  ways.) 
Mothers  smile  no  more. 

So  cold,  our  boys  lie. 

Alice  W.  Lapp 


The  war  is  over.  But  the  U«S.  military  recruitment  budget  is  at  an 
all-time  high.  A volunteer  army  is  promised.  How  will  we  as 
individuals,  parents,  and  citizens  respond  in  the  light  of  our 
Anabaptist  heritage  vision? 


Material  for  this  page  provided  by 
Women’s  Missionary  Associations 


APRIL  24,  1 


278 


MEDITATION 


Unity  within  and  between 


j°hn  17:20-24.  For  three  years  Jesus  had  tried  to  teach  his  disciples  to  become  a 
truly  unified  group.  But  there  were  many  difficulties.  Each  disciple  had  his  own 
opinion  about  how  things  should  be  run.  And  each  one  was  careful  to  insure  his  own 
interests.  James  and  John  wanted  to  receive  highly  recognized  positions  in  Christ’s 
kingdom.  Peter  declared  that  he  could  be  trusted  to  remain  faithful  even  if  all  the 
other  disciples  became  unfaithful  (Mark  14:29).  Judas  had  his  own  unique  way  of 
seeking  personai  gam.  In  their  zeal  for  assisting  Jesus  in  what  they  hoped  would  be 
the  fulfillment  of  their  dreams,  they  were  ready  to  exterminate  those  who  did  not 
recognize  them  (Luke  9:55).  At  the  close  of  his  ministry  Jesus  once  more  teaches 
them  to  ‘love  one  another,  even  as  I have  loved  you”  (John  13:34). 

All  of  us  have  discovered  how  difficult  it  is  to  achieve  true  unity.  We  have  also 
experienced  that  some  efforts  at  unity  are  superficial  and  easily  broken.  All  about 
us  there  is  fragmentation,  evidence  of  conflict,  lack  of  wholeness,  and  disunity. 
There  is  need  for  unity  on  so  many  levels,  the  level  of  personal  relationships  of 
group  relationships. 

There  is  also  need  for  unity  within  oneself.  There  are  many  conflicting  forces 
withm  each  one  of  us.  There  are  many  selves,  each  vying  for  attention  at  different 
times.  There  is  a plurality  within  us  which  leaves  us  frustrated,  fragmented,  and 
often  deeply  peiplexed.  The  Scriptures  imply  such  conditions  of  internal  conflict 
have  always  existed  in  men.  Elijah  confronted  his  people  with  the  question,  “How 
long  will  you  go  limping  with  two  different  opinions?”  (1  Kings  18:21).  A man  who 
was  asked  by  Jesus,  “Who  are  you?”  answered  by  saying,  “Legion,”  implying  a host 
of  voices,  of  selves  within  him  that  tore  his  being  into  shreds.  It  was  after  having 
experienced  the  healing  power  of  Jesus  that  the  man  became  a whole  person. 

I want  to  believe  that  when  Jesus  prayed  “that  they  may  become  perfectly  one,” 
he  also  had  in  mind  the  unity  of  one’s  own  inner  being.  When  all  the  inner  forces 
-an  be  brought  under  control  so  they  serve  to  enhance  the  whole  character  and 
aersonality,  then  a person  becomes  whole,  a unified  being.  This,  I believe,  is  oart  of 
he  shalom,  the  peace  God  gives. 

But  the  unity,  for  which  Jesus  prayed,  is  certainly  more  than  an  inner  spiritual 
inity.  It  concerns  the  oneness  between  people.  Difficult  as  this  may  appear,  unity  is 
•till  the  will  of  God.  In  Jesus,  God  reached  out  his  hand  to  reconcile,  to  make  at  one 
hat  which  had  been  broken  apart. 

Jesus  is  not  stating  an  impossible  ideal.  He  says  that  the  base  of  true  unity  has 
dready  been  established.  It  lies  in  the  person  of  Jesus  who  is  one  with  God.  And 
fesus  offers  us  this  unity  as  a gift  by  offering  us  his  Spirit  (Eph.  4:3  neb).  This 
ipmt  in  turn  leads  us  in  some  very  practical  efforts  toward  realizing  and  maintain- 
ng  umty.  Some  of  these  practical  expressions  are  listed  in  Ephesians  4:1-3.  Be 
tumble,  gentle,  and  patient.  Be  forbearing  and  charitable. 

Jesus  implies  that  unity  or  oneness  within  and  between  people  will  be  positive 
proof  ^at  God  dwells  among  “his  people.”  In  our  time,  when  the  need  for  com- 
munication and  sharing  relationships  are  so  great,  this  oneness  in  Christ  can  make 
he  reality  of  Christ  believable  to  an  unbelieving  world.  I want  to  join  Jesus  in  his 
irayer  for  unity,  for  perfect  oneness,  and  to  experience  the  joy,  the  strength  of  a 
rue  community.  But  then  I also  want  to  do  my  share  in  answering  that  prayer  by 
tecoming  what  essentially  we  already  are,  one  in  Christ.  Within  the  community  of 
esus  the  direction  of  movement  must  always  be  toward  greater  unity.  It  is  in  unity 
hat  Jesus  is  glorified.  Jake  Rarms 

Happiness  wanted 

Recently  the  following  advertisement  appeared  in  a central  Illinois  weekly:  “Girl 
|o  share  house.  $35  per  month.  Phone  447-  evenings.  Prefer  happy  person.” 
■lnce  then  I have  been  tempted  to  call  and  see  if  a happy  person  was  found.  Happi- 
ess  is  rare  these  days.  We  are  either  too  busy  or  we  have  too  many  problems  to  be 
appy.  The  psalmist  says,  “Happy  is  he  whose  hope  is  in  the  Lord  his  God.” 

Ward  W.  Shelly 


Contents 


A Christian  college:  vision  for 

peacemaking  266 

A declaration  on  amnesty  268 

Responses  to  amnesty  ..  269 

News  27 1 

Record  275 

Letters  276 

War  games  278 

Unity  within  and  between  279 

Happiness  wanted  . 279 

Education  for  leadership  and  service  280 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Harold  J.  Schultz  became  president  of 
Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kans.,  in 
summer  1971.  His  inaugural  address, 
which  appears  on  pages  266-67  in  con- 
densed form,  was  read  into  the  Congres- 
sional Record  by  Senator  James  B.  Pear- 
son of  Kansas. 

Leona  Dyck,  a free-lance  writer,  re- 
sides at  Suite  A,  55  Cornish,  Winnipeg 
R3C  0Z9. 

Ted  Koontz  is  associate  executive  sec- 
retary of  the  MCC  Peace  Section,  Akron, 
Pa.  17501. 

Alice  W.  Lapp  is  a resident  of  Goshen, 
Indiana,  where  her  husband  serves  as 
dean  of  Goshen  College. 

Jake  Harms,  767  Buckingham  Rd., 
Winnipeg  R3R  1C3,  is  pastor  of  the 
Sargent  Mennonite  Church  in  Winnipeg, 
and  he  also  serves  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  which  oversees  The  Menno- 
nite. 

Ward  Shelly  is  pastor  of  the  Calvary 
Church,  Washington,  III. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Religious  News  Service;  266,  267, 
and  278,  David  S.  Strickler,  Box  54, 
Newville,  Pa.  17241;  274,  General  Con- 
ference News  Service. 


Memionite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Arc-a  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67 1 14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS'l;  Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


HE  MENNONITE 


279 


Education  for  leadership  and  service 


Bethel,  Bluffton,  cmbc,  Conrad  Grebel,  and 
Freeman  colleges  are  serving  our  churches  well. 
An  impressive  number  of  congregational  and  con- 
ference leaders  have  received  their  training  and 
inspiration  in  these  institutions.  They  have  also 
had  a major  part  through  the  years  in  keeping  the 
Anabaptist  vision  alive  among  us. 

These  schools  are  equipped  to  do  even  more 
for  us  if  we  give  them  the  chance.  They  have  out- 
standing leadership,  as  is  demonstrated  so  well 
by  Harold  Schultz’s  article  elsewhere  in  this  issue 
and  by  the  high  caliber  of  men  who  lead  the 
schools.  The  schools  have  conscientious,  well- 
trained  teachers,  and  they  have  a blossoming 
awareness  of  the  importance  of  the  church. 

These  persons  who  are  devoting  their  lives  to 
the  training  of  our  youth  need  our  constructive 
participation  in  the  educational  process.  They 
need  our  support  as  they  take  the  risks  of  provid- 
ing their  students  with  a penetrating  look  at  our 
world.  As  they  take  pains  to  examine  the  world 
from  various  points  of  view,  including  of  course 
the  Christian  perspective,  we  must  give  them  our 
understanding  and  trust. 

We  must  also  encourage  the  college  commu- 
nities to  engage  in  conversations  with  people  in 
the  congregations  more  often,  as  did  the  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College  seniors  with  the  Alberta 
churches  in  February  (see  March  27  issue).  The 
Bible  college’s  entire  graduating  class  was  invited 
to  come  to  Alberta  for  a week.  Two  or  three  stu- 
dents were  assigned  to  each  congregation  in  the 
province  to  help  lead  discussions  on  Anabaptism 
and  simply  to  become  better  acquainted  with  the 
members  of  the  church  they  were  visiting.  Both 
the  Alberta  education  committee,  which  initiated 
the  idea,  and  cmbc  acknowledge  that  a venture  of 
this  type  involves  some  risks,  but  the  trust  which 
developed  between  the  students  and  the  host 


churches  more  than  compensated  for  any  appre- 
hensions they  may  have  had. 

Our  colleges  must  also  be  encouraged  to  be- 
come involved  in  educational  processes  which 
may  not  be  fully  appreciated  in  some  academic 
circles.  Goshen  College’s  sponsorship  of  the  fes- 
tival of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  1972  and  again  this 
spring  is  an  example  of  what  I have  in  mind. 
Some  people  arched  their  eyebrows  when  the  first 
festival  was  announced.  The  event  didn’t  seem  to 
fit  their  image  of  Goshen  College.  But  the  week- 
end experience  helped  many  individuals  and  fam- 
ilies to  get  a better  understanding  of  a phenom- 
enon about  which  they  were  uninformed  and 
anxious.  A further  benefit  was  the  inspiration 
which  many  people  derived  from  the  event. 

Many  themes  recommend  themselves  for  sim- 
ilar treatment:  the  occult,  biblical  prophecy,  the 
second  coming  of  Christ,  Caesar  worship  (civil 
religion),  the  problem  of  prayer,  etc.  Our  col- 
leges would  help  both  themselves  and  their  sup- 
porting churches  if  they  would  arrange  occasions 
from  time  to  time  at  which  a broad  section  of  the 
conference  or  the  community  could  delve  into  a 
religious  theme  of  current  interest. 

The  colleges  also  need  strong  support  in  their 
continuing  efforts  to  become  centers  at  which 
peacemaking  and  reconciliation  are  both  taught 
and  experienced. 

Their  resourcefulness  in  the  face  of  the  finan- 
cial crises  which  they  have  been  confronting  in 
recent  years  is  quite  outstanding.  Now  that  the 
spirit  of  our  people  again  seems  to  be  on  the  up- 
swing, the  schools  need  to  be  given  a vote  of 
confidence  to  move  forward  boldly  and  creatively 
in  the  important  task  of  educating  our  young  peo- 
ple and  all  the  rest  of  us  for  leadership  and  service. 

LK 


CHRIST 


D^YSPRING 

Elizabeth  Searle  Lamb 


egi 


A 


MARK  9 


The  day  began  ordinarily  enough  for 
the  disciples,  but  it  soon  became  frus- 
trating. As  usual  they  took  to  the  road 
to  do  the  work  of  their  master:  to  teach, 
to  preach,  to  heal  and  to  help,  and  to 
cast  out  demons  that  were  plaguing  so 
many  people  of  their  day.  It  was  not 
unusual  for  a crowd  to  assemble  around 
the  disciples,  for  it  seemed  wherever  the 
disciples  were  there  was  always  some 
action.  The  curious,  the  critics,  and  the 
idle  rabble-rousers  were  there,  and  so 
were  the  needy. 

Among  the  latter  was  a father  with 
his  demon-possessed  son,  a pathetic  sight. 
Try  as  they  would,  the  disciples  could 
not  help  him.  They  stood  there,  cha- 
grined under  the  malicious  gaze  of  the 
critics  and  the  pleading  voice  of  the 
father.  Then  their  master  came. 

With  heads  bowed  in  shame,  the  dis- 
ciples listened  to  the  accusing  report  of 
the  father:  “Teacher,  I brought  my  son 
to  you,  for  he  has  an  evil  spirit.  I asked 
your  disciples  to  cast  it  out,  but  they 
were  unable  to  do  it.” 

With  mixed  feelings  they  watched  as 
Jesus  took  hold  of  the  situation.  To  the 
joy  of  the  father  and  the  amazement  of 
the  crowd,  he  restored  the  boy  complete- 
ly. Later  that  night,  when  they  were 
alone  with  their  master,  the  disciples’ 
quiet  question  of  conscience  arose:  “Why 
could  not  we  cast  it  out?” 

Perhaps  we  too  are  prone  to  pro- 
nounce judgment  on  these  helpless  dis- 
ciples. But  before  we  draw  our  accusing 
fingers  from  our  warm  pockets  we  should 
remember  that  we  are  in  the  same  pre- 
dicament as  the  disciples.  We,  too,  as 
disciples  in  the  twentieth  century,  have 
been  bidden  to  face  the  world  in  all  its 
areas  of  need.  A needy  world  of  the 
sick,  the  lonely,  the  addicted,  the  sinful, 


the  perverted,  the  imprisoned,  and  the 
retarded,  the  poor,  the  suppressed,  and 
on  and  on.  We  have  tried  to  help.  We 
have  programmed,  structured,  and  built. 
We  have  given  of  our  time  and  talents 
and  money.  (Our  conference  met  its 
budget  this  year!)  We  have  preached, 
discussed,  demonstrated,  and  witnessed. 
Yet  in  quiet  moments  such  as  this,  where 
we  find  ourselves  accountable,  we  realize 
the  failure  of  our  attempts  to  really 
help.  And  with  the  disciples  we  ask  our 
master:  “Why  couldn’t  we?” 

To  the  concerned  and  searching  heart, 
the  answer  unfolds.  Perhaps  we  could 
not  help  because,  like  the  disciples,  we 
are  part  of  the  problem.  The  father  in 
the  Mark  account  doubted  the  power  of 
Jesus  because  of  the  helpless  disciples: 
“Your  disciples  could  not.  ...  If  you  can 
do  anything.  . . .”  The  story  is  told  of 
a quarreling,  bickering  congregation. 
After  one  of  their  stormy,  fruitless  ses- 
sions, one  elderly  wise  man  of  God 
arose  to  say:  “Brueder,  das  macht  Un- 
glaube!”  (“Brothers,  this  creates  unbe- 
lief.”) 

A helpless  church  compounds  the  frus- 
trations of  a needy  world.  Instead  of 
creating  faith  in  the  power  of  God,  it 
distracts  from  it.  Were  we  unable  to 
help  because  we  were  part  of  the  prob- 
lem? 

The  incidents  preceding  and  following 
the  story  of  the  possessed  boy  and  his 
father  shed  more  light  on  the  question 
at  hand.  They  tell  us  a little  about  the 
attitudes  of  the  disciples. 

The  three  disciples  of  Jesus  had  just 
gone  through  a glowing  experience.  They 
witnessed  the  transfiguration  of  Jesus  and 
heard  the  voice  of  God.  They  were  so 
entranced  with  this  sensation  that  Peter 
cried  out,  “It  is  well  that  we  are  here. 


Why 

couldn’t 

we 

cast 

the 

demon 

out? 


Jake  Tilitzky 


282 


MAY  1,  1973 


Let  us  build  three  booths!”  This  is  also 
our  dilemma.  We  want  to  build  walls 
around  our  experience  with  Jesus.  We 
want  to  institutionalize.  And  in  doing  so 
we  become  reluctant  to  leave  the  moun- 
taintop  to  go  down  into  the  valleys  of 
darkest  need.  We  do  need  our  mountain- 
top  experience.  But  God  gives  us  this  ex- 
perience so  that  we  may  carry  some  of 
this  light  down  into  the  valleys  below. 
Is  this  perhaps  a problem  of  the  Men- 
nonite  church?  Reluctance  to  leave  the 
sanctuary  of  experience  to  go  out  to 
meet  the  world  where  it  really  hurts? 

Following  the  healing  of  the  demon- 
possessed  boy,  Jesus  went  down  the  road 
i with  his  disciples,  telling  them  about  the 
course  of  events  to  follow.  He  talked 
about  suffering,  a cross,  and  about  death. 

! This  was  his  way.  The  disciples  could 
not  understand,  and  they  didn’t  want  to 
ask  because  they  were  afraid  their  mas- 
ter might  mean  exactly  what  he  said. 
They  evidently  had  hopes  of  a glorious, 
sensational  road  of  success  and  power. 
They  did  not  want  to  follow  the  way  of 
Christ.  Because  they  misunderstood  the 
will  and  the  purpose  of  Jesus,  they  were 
weak  in  facing  their  needy  world. 

It  seems  almost  ironic,  that  after  a 
moment  of  weakness,  even  when  Jesus 
was  pointing  to  the  cross,  the  disciples 
; should  be  arguing  among  themselves 
about  which  of  them  should  be  the  great- 
[ est.  I suppose  Mohammed  Ali  was  neither 
original  nor  unique  when  he  loudly 
boasted:  “I  am  the  greatest!”  The  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus  have  been  guilty  of  this 
for  a long,  long  time.  We  are  still  doing 
! it.  Our  desire  for  prestige,  for  place,  and 
for  prominence,  and  the  energy  we  spend 
trying  to  achieve  them,  has  left  us  weak 
and  helpless  in  facing  our  world  of  need. 

One  more  incident  in  Mark  9 is  of 


fHE  MENNONITE  283 


significance  here.  The  disciples  came  to 
Jesus  and  with  an  air  of  smugness  and 
self-righteousness  reported,  “Master,  we 
saw  a man  casting  out  demons  in  your 
name,  and  we  forbade  him,  because  he 
was  not  following  us.”  A glaring  example 
of  bigotry.  They  were  unable  to  help 
and  now  they  forbade  someone  else, 
who  was  successful,  to  work. 

I recall  an  anecdote  about  a fisher- 
man who  said  to  his  companion:  “All 
fishermen  are  liars  except  you  and  me, 
and  sometimes  I’m  not  so  sure  about 
you.”  Perhaps  this  has  a parallel  in 
Christianity!  Our  intolerance  toward 
those  that  say  things  differently,  do  things 
differently,  look  different,  wear  a dif- 
ferent label,  that  “aren’t  with  us”  has 
not  only  left  us  weak  but  has  hindered 
the  work  of  Christ. 

Why  can’t  we  cast  the  demons  out? 
Is  it  because  our  attitudes  hinder  us? 
The  attitude  of  reluctance,  of  willful 
misunderstanding  of  Christ’s  purpose,  the 
desire  for  greatness,  and  the  display  of 
bigotry? 

The  answer  to  our  question  comes  di- 
rectly from  the  mouth  of  Jesus:  “All 
things  are  possible  to  him  who  believes.” 
I firmly  believe  that  the  demonic  power 
of  Satan,  which  sought  the  total  destruc- 
tion of  that  possessed  boy,  is  at  work  in 
the  world  today.  I am  equally  convinced 
of  the  fact  that  our  human  resources,  the 
best  of  attitudes,  human  ingenuity,  and 
goodwill  are  inadequate  to  overcome  this 
power  at  work  in  our  needy  world.  We 
need  the  power  of  God!  This  does  not 
mean  that  we  do  not  need  structures 
and  human  resources.  But  where  these 
are  a substitute  for  faith  they  cannot  but 
utterly  fail.  Faith  is  God  in  action,  and 
God  in  action  can  overcome  the  great- 
est needs  that  meet  us. 


Further,  Jesus  points  to  prayer  as  the 
power  we  need  to  meet  the  world.  If 
faith  is  God  in  action,  then  prayer  is 
faith  in  action.  Through  it  we  claim  the 
resources  of  God.  We  are  told  that  for 
centuries  the  oil-rich  tar  sands  of  Atha- 
baska  have  lain  there  unclaimed.  The 
natives  used  some  of  the  tarry  substance 
as  a caulking  compound  for  the  cracks 
in  their  canoes.  Only  lately  have  we  be- 
gun to  tap  these  vast  resources.  Perhaps 
this  is  an  illustration  of  our  prayer  life. 
We  have  used  a little  of  this  resource  as 
a caulking  compound  to  keep  our  own 
little  life’s  canoe  afloat.  But  have  we  real- 
ly utilized  this  potential  for  the  sake  of 
a suffering  world? 

For  us  as  a church  and  a conference 
of  the  twentieth  century,  the  question  is 
not  whether  we  are  to  face  the  world  or 
not.  The  big  question  is  how  do  we  face 
it.  Shall  we  face  it  from  a distance,  from 
the  safety  of  our  inner  church  circle? 

Last  December  our  six-year-old  niece 
in  Vancouver  was  attacked  by  a strange 
man  when  she  was  on  the  way  home 
from  school.  She  screamed,  scratched, 
kicked,  wriggled,  and  finally  managed  to 
free  herself  and  to  run  home.  It  was  a 
horrifying  experience  for  her  and  the 
family.  The  police  later  discovered  that 
a number  of  persons  had  witnessed  the 
tragedy  from  the  safety  of  their  living 
rooms  and  their  backyards.  Not  one  of 
them  came  to  help. 

Is  this  typical  of  a society  that  does 
not  want  to  get  involved?  Could  it  be 
typical  of  the  church?  How  do  we  face 
the  world?  Only  in  the  power  of  human 
resources?  Or  will  we  face  the  world  in 
the  power  of  God  through  faith  and 
prayer?  May  the  latter  be  our  resolution. 


THREE  FROM  2/TIRE 

T wo  veteran  missionaries  relate  three  stories  about  answered  prayer  in  Zaire. 


A Ntnka  snakebite  that  wasn't  fatal 

Jeanne  Zook 


All  the  medical  books  say:  a bite  by 
the  Ntoka  snake  of  central  Africa  is 
invariably  fatal  within  fifteen  to  thirty 
minutes.  After  many  years  of  seeing  and 
treating  snakebites,  it  was  only  recently 
that  I saw  my  first  victim  of  this  snake. 
Most  victims  die  too  quickly  to  reach 
medical  help. 

Early  one  morning  during  our  vaca- 
tion, a mother  ran  onto  the  porch  with 
her  eleven-year-old  son.  He  had  a tour- 
niquet on  his  forearm.  I was  just  pouring 
breakfast  coffee,  which  I never  did  get 
to  drink.  She  breathlessly  explained  that 
the  boy  had  been  bitten  by  a Ntoka 
snake. 

We  calculated  that  -five  or  six  min- 
utes had  elapsed  since  the  bite.  The  boy 
did  not  show  any  signs  of  failing  respira- 
tions or  even  pain,  but  his  finger  was 
bloody,  the  fang  mark  evident. 

I called  to  our  neighbor  who  has  had 
considerable  experience  identifying 
snakes,  “Is  it  really  a Ntoka?”  It  had 
just  been  killed  by  the  boy’s  father.  The 
neighbor  called  back,  “It  sure  is,  eight 
feet  long  and  a black  one  at  that.” 
(These  are  reputed  to  be  more  poison- 
ous than  the  lighter-skinned  varieties,  al- 
though there  is  no  confirmation  on  this.) 
Poison  dripped  from  the  nearly  severed 
head. 

I quickly  located  the  snakebite  kit. 
Incising  over  the  bite  area,  I attempted 
suction.  But  the  apparatus  would  not  fit 


the  small  surface  of  the  finger.  I began 
sucking  on  the  wound,  spitting  the  blood 
out.  Suck,  spit,  suck,  spit,  for  fifteen 
minutes.  We  tightened  the  tourniquet, 
but  inwardly  I was  thinking,  “This  can’t 
really  save  his  life.  All  these  heroics, 
and  if  this  snake  really  bit  him  he  can’t 
make  it.”  But  at  the  same  time  I prayed, 
“Dear  God,  save  him;  dear  Lord,  help 
us  to  help  him.” 

His  condition  remained  the  same,  for 
twenty  . . . thirty  . . . forty-five  minutes. 
It  was  so  surprising  that  he  was  still  alive 
and  having  no  symptoms  of  collapse  that 
we  began  to  discuss  the  possibility  that 
perhaps  the  snake  bit  him  but  did  not 
inject  poison. 

A crowd  had  gathered.  “Make  them 
stay  back  and  let  the  boy  have  air.” 
“What  is  your  name?” 

“Kabasuababo.” 

“How  did  the  snake  bite  you?” 

“I  was  digging  a hole  in  the  garden.  I 
saw  a small  hole  at  the  bottom  of  my 
hole,  so  I put  a stick  in  it  to  see  if  it 
was  a rat’s  nest.  When  I drew  the  stick 
out,  the  serpent’s  head  followed,  and  he 
bit  me.” 

Blood  still  dripped  from  the  incisions. 
The  tourniquet  was  still  tightly  bound 
around  his  forearm.  Since  we  were  on 
vacation,  we  did  not  have  any  antivenom 
injections,  which  must  be  refrigerated. 
So  we  had  no  medical  help  to  give  him. 
We  prayed,  counted  the  pulse  and  res- 


pirations, and  tried  to  comfort  the  boy 
and  the  family.  After  such  a long  time 
with  no  real  symptoms,  we  began  to 
feel  that  it  was  time  to  loosen  the  tour- 
niquet. 

With  trepidation  I made  the  decision 
to  take  it  off.  Within  five  minutes  the 
boy  was  writhing  in  pain.  His  respira- 
tions and  pulse  both  jumped  dramatical- 
ly, and  he  showed  signs  of  shock.  He 
complained  of  a bitter  taste  in  his  mouth 
and  began  to  spit  to  get  rid  of  it. 

After  fifteen  minutes  of  fearful  agony 
by  the  boy,  we  were  visited  by  a delega- 
tion of  concerned  folk  who  wanted  to 
give  him  a purge  to  rid  the  body  of  the 
poison.  We  had  to  resist  considerable 
local  pressure  to  give  this.  We  were  giv- 
en to  understand  that  if  the  boy  died 
after  we  rejected  this  “good  advice,” 
we  might  be  held  responsible. 

Many  curious  folk  gathered,  and  it 
was  necessary  to  repeatedly  ask  them  to 
move  back  to  give  the  boy  air.  Prayer 
was  being  offered  continuously  in  the 
house  and  on  the  porch. 

A radio  message  went  out  late  in  the 
morning  for  the  antivenom  to  be  brought 
by  the  doctor  that  evening.  At  the  end 
of  three  hours,  the  pain  began  to  sub- 
side somewhat.  Still  his  pulse  raced  at 
120  and  the  respirations  were  rapid  and 
shallow.  We  began  to  think  that  he  might 
live. 

At  the  end  of  four  hours,  Kabasuaba- 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


284 


MAY  1,  1973 


Sloiu  ferrymen  and  a 
VW  distributor  from  heaven 


bo  made  an  attempt  to  sit  up.  He  still 
was  weak  and  shaky,  but  the  pain  had 
subsided.  We  had  a praise  service.  One 
of  the  village  men  read  the  Scripture, 
“Let  him  have  all  your  worries  and 
cares,  for  he  is  always  thinking  about 
you,  watching  everything  that  concerns 
you.  Be  careful,  watch  out  for  attacks 
from  Satan,  your  enemy.  He  prowls 
around  like  a hungry  roaring  lion  look- 
ing for  some  victim  to  destroy.  Stand 
firm  when  he  attacks,  trust  the  Lord, 
remember  that  other  Christians  around 
the  world  are  going  through  these  suf- 
ferings too”  (1  Peter  5:7-9,  Living  Bible). 

We  reminded  everyone  that  if  the  boy 
lived,  it  was  not  we  who  had  healed  him 
but  the  Lord  God.  During  the  entire 
morning  the  crowd  which  waited  was 
reminded  that  God  was  working  through 
their  prayers  and  their  faith. 

During  the  hot  hours  of  the  after- 
j noon  the  boy  seemed  weaker  and  his 
i eyes  were  unable  to  focus.  He  was  nau- 
seated, but  kept  down  a little  cold  drink. 
His  pulse  remained  at  100.  At  times  he 
seemed  to  sink.  We  wondered  again  if 
we  had  been  premature  in  hoping  for 
recovery. 

At  6 o’clock  that  evening,  the  boy  was 
still  quite  weak.  The  doctor  arrived  with 
the  antivenom  serum.  He  injected  two 
ampuls.  The  youngster  made  a gradual 
recovery  over  the  next  two  days,  a testi- 
mony to  answered  prayer.  We  surmise 
that  the  dose  of  venom  injected  by  the 
serpent  was  small,  which  is  what  saved 
him.  Still  we  rejoice  that  a life  was  saved. 


Peter  W.  B idler 

Below  are  two  scenes  related  by  Peter 
Buller  at  the  Congo  Inland  Mission’s 
sixtieth  anniversary  celebration  in  1972. 

I will  leave  it  to  the  historians  to 
point  out  the  great  events  of  cim  history 
(now  the  Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mis- 
sion). In  speaking  about  exciting  mo- 
ments, I will  simply  lift  out  several 
scenes  which  were  meaningful  to  me  in 
a personal  way.  If  every  missionary  were 
allowed  the  same  apportunity  to  speak 
that  I have  here,  such  scenes  could  be 
multiplied  a hundredfold. 

Scene  1 took  place  at  the  Luange 
River  ferry.  I was  returning  to  Nyanga 
from  Mukedi,  where  I had  gone  to  fetch 
the  body  of  a man  who  had  died  at  the 
Mukedi  hospital.  lust  before  I left  Mu- 
kedi, Dr.  Merle  Schwartz  asked  me  to 
take  another  passenger  along.  He  was 
an  elderly  man  who  had  incurable  can- 
cer and  who  wanted  to  go  back  to  his 
village  to  die. 

The  Luange  River  ferry  is  God’s  train- 
ing ground  for  impatient  missionaries. 
But  as  we  waited  for  the  ferrymen  to 
come,  I had  time  to  talk  with  my  ailing 
passenger.  There  was  only  one  possible 
topic  of  conversation,  for  although  the 
ferrymen  were  slow  in  coming,  the  time 
for  the  two  of  us  was  short.  We  talked 
about  Jesus.  When  I finally  asked  my 
friend  if  he  would  like  to  accept  Jesus  as 
Savior,  the  old  man  said,  “Yes.”  He 
prayed  a simple  prayer  of  repentance  and 
faith  in  Christ. 

At  last  the  ferrymen  arrived  and  we 
crossed  the  treacherous  river.  Half  an 
hour  later  we  passed  the  home  village  of 
this  special  passenger.  We  stopped  to 
unload  him  and  his  few  possessions. 
There  was  a smile  on  his  face  as  he 
waved  goodbye. 

Scene  2 occurred  on  a lonely  Congo 
highway  200  sandy  miles  from  the  near- 


est town.  We  were  returning  inland  with 
my  new  Volkswagen  from  the  port  city 
of  Matadi.  Traveling  with  me  on  an- 
other vehicle  was  Sam  Entz,  the  capable 
mission  mechanic. 

The  distributor  on  the  VW  conked  out, 
and  Sam  spent  four  hours  trying  to  get 
the  car  to  run.  Finally,  he  said,  “I’m 
sorry,  Pete,  there’s  nothing  I can  do.  It 
simply  shorts  out.  We  will  have  to  let  it 
sit  here  and  hope  you  can  get  a spare 
distributor  and  hitch  a ride  back  here.” 

Sam  and  I both  knew  that  to  abandon 
the  car  in  the  wilderness  meant  that  it 
would  be  stripped  by  the  first  vehicle 
that  chanced  by. 

It  was  noon,  and  time  to  eat.  Before 
eating,  I walked  ahead  to  a bend  in  the 
road  and  prayed  a simple  but  desperate 
prayer:  “Lord,  I can’t  abandon  that  car. 
Help.  By  your  grace  make  it  possible  for 
my  car  to  continue  its  trip.” 

I walked  back  to  Sam,  but  even  be- 
fore I got  there,  I heard  the  sound  of 
an  approaching  vehicle,  the  first  one  in 
six  hours.  Around  the  bend  came  a truck 
driven  by  a Catholic  priest.  On  the  bed 
of  his  truck  stood  a VW  with  its  front 
end  smashed  in. 

The  unhappy  priest  said:  “One  of  my 
workers  took  the  car  without  permission 
and  ran  into  a stone  wall.” 

As  he  was  talking,  I was  looking  at 
the  rear  end  of  the  VW  on  the  truck. 
There  was  an  unharmed  motor  with  the 
most  beautiful  distributor  that  Sam  and 
I had  ever  seen.  The  priest  graciously 
gave  it  to  us,  and  my  redeemed  VW 
drove  all  the  way  home  to  Mukedi  with- 
out a misfire. 

The  lump  of  excitement  and  gratitude 
in  my  throat  was  almost  big  enough  to 
choke  me.  That  distributor  couldn’t  have 
come  any  more  from  the  hand  of  God 
had  it  fallen  from  heaven  as  a fiery 
meteor! 


THE  MENNONITE 


285 


NEWS 


Five  denominations  or  one? 


Lester  Janzen 

The  five  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in 
Christ  denominations  participating  in  the 
Church  Member  Profile  are  more  alike 
than  they  are  different. 

This  is  one  of  the  major  findings  of 
researchers  J.  Howard  Kauffman,  head 
of  the  Department  of  Sociology,  Goshen 
College,  Goshen,  Indiana,  and  Leland 
Harder,  professor  of  practical  theology 
at  the  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminaries,  Elkhart,  Indiana.  The  Church 
Member  Profile  is  a study  of  the  be- 
liefs, attitudes,  and  practices  of  members 
of  five  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
denominations. 

In  elaborating  on  the  “five  denomina- 
tions or  one?”  question  at  a recent  meet- 
ing of  the  cmp  administrative  commit- 
tee meeting,  Mr.  Kauffman  and  Mr.  Har- 
der pointed  out  that  these  groups  are 
more  similar  than  dissimilar  when  com- 
pared to  other  North  American  denom- 
inations. 

An  example  of  their  similarity  is  seen 
in  a scale  designed  to  measure  doctrinal 
orthodoxy.  In  order  of  rank,  from  high- 
est to  lowest,  they  are:  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren Church,  Mennonite  Church  and 
Brethren  in  Christ  Church  (same),  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church, 
and  Evangelical  Mennonite  Church. 
However,  when  compared  to  similar 
studies  in  other  Protestant  denomina- 
tions all  five  groups  rank  high.  More- 
over, each  group  usually  had  within  it 
the  entire  spectrum  of  scores. 

A number  of  important  insights  are 
emerging  from  the  research  data: 

— Teaching  on  Anabaptism  has  a sig- 
nificant influence  on  present-day  beliefs 
and  practices.  The  direction  of  this  in- 


fluence, however,  varies  in  relation  to 
such  factors  as  ecumenical  attitudes  or 
political  behavior. 

— Fundamentalism  has  had  a negative 
influence  on  maintaining  Anabaptism 
emphases,  such  as  a peace  witness  and 
a concern  for  social  compassion.  That 
is,  the  higher  Mennonites  and  Brethren 
in  Christ  rank  in  accepting  the  basic 
tenets  of  fundamentalism,  the  lower  they 
rank  in  concerns  such  as  nonresistance, 
race  relations,  and  social  witness,  and 
the  higher  they  rank  in  social  and  re- 
ligious prejudice. 

— Education  has  had  an  influence  on 
our  attitudes  and  practices  in  the  area 
of  social  ethics.  The  more  education  a 
person  has,  the  more  likely  he/she  is 
to  be  personally  involved  not  only  in 
confronting  social  issues,  but  also  in  the 
work  of  the  church. 

The  Church  Member  Profile  will  help 
to  explode  an  old  assumption  that  Men- 
nonites and  Brethren  in  Christ  lose  their 
faith  when  they  move  to  the  city.  Ap- 
parently urban  members  have  taken  so 
much  of  their  religious  values  with  them 
and  rural  folks  have  become  so  urban- 
ized, that  the  rural-urban  variable  has 
lost  much  of  its  significance  as  a factor 
influencing  the  faith  of  our  people.  The 
cmp  provides  data  to  determine  whether 
residence  is  a factor  in  the  way  our  mem- 
bers apply  their  faith  to  the  issues  of 
life  and  discipleship  as  well. 

The  idea  of  a Church  Member  Profile 
originated  with  the  congregational  liter- 
ature division  of  the  Mennonite  Pub- 
lishing House,  Scottdale,  Pennsylvania. 
Writers  and  editors  of  curriculum  mate- 
rials and  other  Christian  literature  face 


the  constant  need  of  knowing  to  whom 
they  are  writing.  Comprehensive  church 
member  surveys  by  other  denominations 
have  yielded  helpful  demographic,  reli- 
gious, and  social  profiles  of  their  mem- 
bers who  sit  in  the  pews  of  local  con- 
gregations. 

Application  was  made  to  the  Fraternal 
Fund  of  Mennonite  Mutual  Aid  for  a 
grant  to  do  a similar  study  in  the  Men- 
nonite Church.  Encouraged  by  mm  a, 
an  invitation  to  participate  was  extended 
to  other  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
constituent  groups.  Thus  the  project  be- 
came a joint  effort  of  the  five  groups 
that  elected  to  participate:  the  Menno- 
nite Church,  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite Church,  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church,  Brethren  in  Christ  Church,  and 
Evangelical  Mennonite  Church.  Menno- 
nite Mutual  Aid  has  provided  most  of 
the  funds  and  the  participating  denom- 
inations, smaller  amounts. 

Study  directors  were  appointed  and  the  , 
study  was  launched  in  the  spring  of 
1971.  After  consultations  with  church 
agency  representatives  in  the  summer  of 
that  year,  a research  instrument  and  the 
selection  of  sample  congregations  and 
sample  members  were  completed  by 
March  1,  1972.  The  questionnaires,  con- 
sisting of  295  items  plus  short  sections 
for  each  of  the  five  groups,  were  admin- 
istered from  March  through  June  1972. 
Data  processing  began  last  summer. 

The  research  findings  will  be  pub- 
lished by  Herald  Press,  Scottdale,  Penn- 
sylvania, in  a book  tentatively  entitled, 
Twentieth-century  Anabaptists',  patterns 
of  faith  and  life  in  five  Mennonite  and 
Brethren  in  Christ  denominations.  The 
target  date  for  publication  is  tarly  1974. 
Because  the  study  directors,  J.  Howard 
Kauffman  and  Leland  Harder,  were  oc- 
cupied nearly  full  time  with  teaching  j 
duties  during  the  1972-73  school  year,  ; 
writing  of  the  report  will  not  be  com- 
pleted until  the  end  of  this  summer. 

A major  activity  planned  by  this  ad- 
ministrative committee  is  a seminar,  pos- 
sibly in  the  spring  of  1974,  for  leaders  of 
the  five  denominations  to  study  the  find- 
ings together  in  order  to  learn  the  im- 
plications for  church  programs. 


MAY  1,  1973 


J.  Howard  Kauffman,  left,  and  Leland  Harder  discuss  results  of  the  Church  Member 
Profile,  a study  of  members  of  five  denominations. 


286 


Keeney  appointed  peace  missioner  in  Africa 


William  Keeney  has  resigned  as  chair- 
man of  the  mcc  Peace  Section  to  ac- 
cept a two-year  assignment  as  peace 
missioner  in  South  Africa.  John  A.  Lapp, 
dean  of  Goshen  College  and  former  ex- 
ecutive secretary  of  the  Peace  Section, 
will  become  the  organization’s  third 
chairman.  Harold  S.  Bender,  who  was 
chairman  from  1942-62,  and  William 
Keeney  have  been  the  only  other  two 
chairmen. 

Mr.  Keeney,  the  son  of  a coal  miner 
from  southwestern  Pennsylvania,  discov- 
ered the  Mennonites  as  a student  at 
Bluffton  College  in  the  1940s.  Convinced 
of  Christian  pacifism,  he  served  as  a con- 
scientious objector  working  in  mental 


William  Keeney,  retiring  chairman  of  the 
MCC  Peace  Section,  is  shown  above  with 
his  eldest  daughter,  Lois,  who  serves  on 
the  Peace  Section  as  Intercollegiate  Peace 
Fellowship  representative. 


health  institutions  during  World  War  II. 

After  two  years  of  postwar  service  in 
Germany  and  the  Netherlands,  he  com- 
pleted his  theological  training  at  Men- 
nonite  Biblical  Seminary.  As  a professor 
at  Bluffton  College  in  Ohio,  he  became 
division  chairman  in  the  Religion  De- 
partment. In  1959  he  received  his  PhD 
in  historical  theology  from  Hartford  The- 
ological Seminary.  He  served  with  mcc 
in  Amsterdam  as  a representative  to  the 
Dutch  Mennonite  Church  and  as  a Euro- 
pean peace  worker  from  1961  to  1963. 

Following  his  return  from  Europe  in 

Government  says  yes,  then  no 
to  Denver  housing  project 

Denver  area  Mennonite  churches  had 
been  planning  to  build  a fifty-unit  hous- 
ing complex  for  low-  and  middle-income 
families  with  federal  funds. 

Funds  were  approved  just  before  the 
freeze  on  federal  housing  projects  Jan- 
uary 8,  but  the  project  is  in  limbo  now, 
since  the  Department  on  Housing  and 
Urban  Development  decided  to  review 
all  projects  approved  between  December 
15  and  January  8. 

Doug  Jenner,  president  of  the  Men- 
nonite Housing  Development  Corpora- 
tion, said  that  because  of  a procedural 
error  at  the  Federal  Housing  Adminis- 
tration level,  hud  had  withdrawn  the 
project’s  letter  of  feasibility.  The  Den- 
ver group  has  appealed  the  decision 
and  is  hoping  for  a new  letter  of  feasi- 
bility. 

The  four  churches — First  Mennonite, 
Glennon  Heights  Mennonite,  Garden 
Park  Mennonite  Brethren,  and  Arvada 
Mennonite — had  already  started  archi- 
tectural and  engineering  work  when  the 
promise  of  funds  was  withdrawn. 

In  the  planning  stages  are  fifty  apart- 
ments about  two  miles  from  the  Arvada 
Church.  When  finished,  the  project  would 
involve  voluntary  service  workers  to 
manage  the  apartments,  help  start  a 
tenants’  organization,  coordinate  recre- 
ation and  youth  services,  provide  family 
crisis  services,  and  possibly  start  a child 
day-care  center. 

Mr.  Jenner  said  that  if  the  hud  deci- 
sion is  favorable,  construction  could  start 
by  late  summer. 

“I  think  the  project  could  be  helpful 
to  the  residents  and  provide  an  excellent 
focus  to  the  voluntary  service  unit  al- 
ready in  Arvada,”  he  said. 


1963,  he  was  elected  chairman  of  the 
mcc  Peace  Section  and  served  in  that 
capacity  until  accepting  an  assignment 
as  peace  missioner  to  South  Africa  in 
1973.  As  a result  of  that  assignment,  he 
withdrew  his  name  as  a candidate  for 
Peace  Section  chairman. 

During  all  but  the  first  year  of  William 
Keeney’s  tenure  as  chairman,  the  United 
States  was  at  war  in  Vietnam.  This 
brought  strong  pressures  from  many 
sides. 

His  new  assignment  with  the  Peace 
Section  and  the  Council  of  Mission 
Board  Secretaries  will  take  him  and  his 
family  to  Johannesburg,  South  Africa, 
for  two  years.  While  in  South  Africa, 
Dr.  Keeney  will  be  on  a leave  of  ab- 
sence from  Bethel  College,  where  he  is 
provost. 

Others  elected  as  officers  of  the  Peace 
Section  at  a recent  meeting  were  Victor 
Adrian,  Toronto,  Ontario,  vice-chairman, 
and  David  Habegger,  Elkhart,  Indiana, 
recording  secretary. 

Deeds  alone  are  not 
enough,  says  theologian 

Christian  evangelism  in  the  U.S.  has 
gone  through  two  phases  in  the  last 
twenty  years  and  is  now  entering  a third, 
says  theologian  Gabriel  J.  Fackre. 

Mr.  Fackre,  a professor  at  Andover 
Newton  Theological  Seminary,  Newton 
Center,  described  the  emerging  phase 
as  one  of  “word-in-deed.” 

In  the  1960s,  he  said  the  emphasis 
was  on  social  activism,  while  the  1950s 
were  marked  by  a ministry  of  “peace  of 
mind.” 

Mr.  Fackre  was  the  principal  speaker 
at  a Pastor’s  Study  Conference  sponsored 
recently  by  the  division  of  evangelism  of 
the  United  Church  of  Christ.  He  said 
that  “peace  of  mind”  ministry  developed 
in  the  1950s  because  it  seemed  then  that 
the  responsibility  of  the  church  was  to 
give  comfort  to  the  individual. 

By  contrast,  the  1960s  featured  “go 
into  all  the  world”  themes  and  Christians 
saw  their  evangelistic  role  in  the  quest 
for  social  justice. 

The  1970s,  Mr.  Fackre  said,  promise 
to  be  a decade  in  which  deeds  of  social 
action  are  no  less  important  but  there 
will  be  growing  awareness  that  deeds 
alone  are  not  enough.  Christians  need 
roots,  he  said,  so  the  challenge  of  telling 
the  gospel  story  is  once  again  gripping 
leaders  of  the  churches. 


THE  MENNONITE  287 


Financial  revolution  — an  Indonesian  miracle 

Lawrence  M.  Yoder 


The  Evangelical  (Mennonite)  Church 
of  Java,  a conference  of  twenty-three  con- 
gregations with  130  outpost  congrega- 
tions, has  governed  its  own  affairs  for 
thirty  years.  Since  the  Japanese  invasion, 
foreigners  have  not  been  involved  in 
church  government.  Sometimes  foreign 
personnel  working  under  the  call  of  the 
church  are  invited  to  conference  board 
meetings  to  help  work  on  specific  issues, 
but  those  foreign  personnel  hold  no  con- 
ference offices.  One  can  accurately  say 
that  the  church  is  self-governing. 

The  church  is  alive.  It  has  grown  from 
a baptized  membership  of  2,000  in  1949 
to  20,000  in  1972.  Almost  no  foreign 
personnel  were  directly  involved  in  the 
evangelistic  work  which  resulted  in  this 
remarkable  growth.  The  church  is  self- 
propagating. 

But  when  we  look  at  the  questions 
about  development  toward  self-support, 
the  picture  is  different.  The  sobering  fact 
is  that  less  than  1 percent  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Church  of  Java  general  confer- 
ence budget  comes  from  Indonesian 
churches.  Ninety-nine  percent  comes 
from  foreign  sources  — the  European 
Mennonite  Evangelism  Committee  and 
Mennonite  Central  Committee. 

Of  the  church’s  institutions,  which  in- 
clude ten  parochial  schools,  a seminary, 
a religious  teachers’  training  school,  and 
a hospital,  only  the  hospital  does  not 
receive  heavy  financial  support  from  the 
general  conference.  The  conference  also 
pays  the  salaries  of  almost  all  of  the  local 
ministers  and  many  of  the  Bible  teach- 
ers. Local  congregations  may  add  vary- 
ing amounts  to  the  salaries.  In  the  last 
number  of  years  most  congregations 
have  made  no  contributions  to  the  con- 
ference budget. 

The  leaders  of  the  conference  give 
various  explanations  for  this  state  of  af- 
fairs. Many  of  the  new  converts  which 
flooded  the  churches  in  the  last  decade 
are  said  to  be  poor  tenant  farmers,  and 
the  rural  areas  where  most  of  the  church- 
es are  located  are  slow  to  develop  eco- 
nomically. Conference  leaders  also  say 
that  during  the  days  of  the  old  mission 
everyone  was  accustomed  to  receiving 
from  the  church.  To  teach  them  some- 
thing different  is  difficult. 

But  there  is  a new  breeze  blowing. 
The  triennial  general  conference  met  in 
Tayu,  August  1971,  and  enacted  the  One 
Rupiah  Plan.  Each  month  each  member 


The  Rev.  Sutartono  . . . starting  steward- 
ship fires  in  Indonesia. 


is  to  contribute  one  rupiah  to  the  con- 
ference treasury.  One  rupiah,  which 
equals  about  one-fourth  of  a United 
States  cent,  is  about  1 percent  of  a day 
laborer’s  daily  wages.  The  plan  began  to 
move  slowly  with  mainly  churches  in 
the  western  district  filling  their  monthly 
quotas.  Unhappily,  when  financial  reports 
were  published  in  the  conference  maga- 
zine and  it  became  clear  that  all  dis- 
tricts were  not  participating,  the  western 
district  decided  to  withhold  their  one 
rupiah  support. 

But  the  bleeze  did  not  stop  blowing. 
After  returning  from  the  Asia  Mennonite 
Conference  in  India  in  1971,  Mr.  Sutar- 
tono, vice-chairman  of  the  general  con- 
ference and  chairman  of  the  western 
district,  began  to  vocalize  his  feelings 
about  the  need  to  become  self-support- 
ing. 

Mr.  Sutartono  started  working.  Revival 
meetings  on  stewardship  were  held  in 
the  western  district.  A Baptist  mission- 
ary, Mr.  Willis,  was  called  to  lead  these 
meetings.  He  preached  tithing  in  a sim- 
ple and  straightforward  way.  A special 
stewardship  conference  was  called  for 
the  church  board  members  of  all  the 
churches  in  that  district.  Lawrence  Yoder 
of  the  seminary  (akww)  lectured  on  the 
biblical  pattern  for  supporting  religious 
institutions  and  preached  on  stewardship. 
A flame  was  lighted  and  the  breeze 
fanned  the  flame.  In  a few  months  mirac- 
ulous changes  took  place  in  the  financial 
situation  of  several  of  the  congregations 


in  the  western  district.  Two  examples 
will  suffice. 

Jepara  is  an  urban  congregation.  Many 
of  its  120  members  are  government  em- 
ployees and  teachers  (which  does  not 
mean  that  they  receive  high  salaries). 
The  total  giving  of  that  congregation  for 
the  month  of  December  1971  was  about 
five  thousand  rupiahs.  But  the  year  1972 
saw  steady  monthly  increases  at  an 
amazing  rate.  That  congregation  had 
total  contributions  for  December  1972 
of  about  fifty-eight  thousand  rupiahs,  al- 
most a twelvefold  increase  in  a period  of 
twelve  months!  The  congregation  has 
several  outposts.  Since  the  church  has 
greatly  improved  its  financial  situation, 
it  can  now  fully  support  three  ministers 
and  provide  half  support  for  the  fourth. 

The  Ngeling  congregation  of  200  mem- 
bers is  in  a poor  rural  area.  The  steward- 
ship flame  caught  hold  there,  too.  Ngel- 
ing Christians  are  farmers.  In  the  last 
months  of  1972  they  experienced  a bad 
drought.  Many  of  their  crops  were  dam- 
aged or  destroyed.  Remarkably,  however, 
the  congregation  increased  its  giving 
threefold  during  those  months  of  drought. 
They  do  not  expect  the  increases  to  be 
temporary  because  they  have  called  a 
full-time  minister  whose  salary  will  de- 
pend on  a higher  rate  of  giving.  And 
they  have  decided  to  ask  no  help  from 
the  conference  in  the  payment  of  his 
salary. 

The  attitude  of  the  district  chairman, 
Mr.  Sutartono,  is  of  utmost  importance 
in  this  financial  revolution.  He  says, 
“There  is  nothing  really  wrong  with  our 
churches  receiving  some  aid  from  our 
brethren  in  Europe  and  America,  but  I 
still  feel  happy  when  we  can  get  along 
without  it.” 

Last  year  one  young  congregation 
wanted  to  build  a church  building.  They  | 
came  to  Mr.  Sutartono  to  ask  if  they  \ 
couldn’t  get  help  from  mcc.  Mr.  Sutar-  L 
tono  said,  “If  you  get  mcc  money  to 
build  your  church,  you  will  have  to  call  | 
it  ‘The  mcc  Church.’  ” They  got  the  i| 
point  and  now  they  have  a new,  simple 
church  building  constructed  with  their  ly 
own  resources. 

For  the  most  part  the  flame  has  caught  1 
hold  only  in  congregations  of  the  west-  j 
ern  district.  But  the  point  has  been  made. 
Even  poor  tenant  farmers  can  give  if  I 
challenged  and  if  they  think  their  offer-  1 
ings  are  needed. 


MAY  1,  1973 


288 


MEDA  goes  nonprofit; 

Project  status  unaffected 

Mennonite  Economic  Development  As- 
sociates (meda)  unanimously  decided  to 
apply  for  nonprofit  status  at  its  annual 
meeting,  March  28-29.  The  organization, 
designed  to  help  small  businesses  in  un- 
derdeveloped countries,  was  set  up  on  a 
profit  basis  because  the  members  felt 
such  a status  would  decrease  the  stigma 
of  charity.  Meda  aid  was  intended  as 
a business  proposition,  not  as  relief. 

The  new  nonprofit  status  will  more  ade- 
quately reflect  the  actual  operations  of 
meda;  no  profits  have  been  made  and 
distributed  to  shareholders.  Most  invest- 
ors did  not  expect  returns  when  they 
joined  meda.  They  simply  desired  to 
share  in  an  effective  manner  funds  and 
business  know-how  with  people  overseas. 
When  meda  becomes  nonprofit,  support- 
ers will  receive  tax  credit  for  contribu- 
tions. 

Most  members  do  not  believe  nonprofit 
status  will  negatively  affect  their  rela- 
tions with  the  overseas  projects. 

“We  still  expect  our  businesses  to  be 
profit  making,”  explained  Lloyd  J.  Fisher, 
executive  director.  “And  going  nonprofit 
does  not  mean  we  will  not  make  a profit. 
It  means  we  as  meda  members  will  not 
take  profit. 

Edgar  Stoesz,  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  Latin  America  director  and 
major  speaker  for  the  meeting,  shared 
his  thoughts  on  the  process  of  develop- 
| ment. 

“The  object  of  development  is  peo- 
, pie/  Mr.  Stoesz  said,  “and  involves 
j people  in  community.  Much  develop- 
' ment  planning  does  not  recognize  the 
importance  of  collective  action.  When 
one  or  several  members  of  a small  group 
are  helped  to  achieve  a standard  of  liv- 
ing beyond  the  reach  of  others,  they  are 
often  rejected  by  the  community.  The 
solidarity  of  the  group  is  weakened.” 

He  also  emphasized  that  development 
is  a sequential  process  and  that  North 
Americans  too  often  short-circuit  the 
critical  educational  stage. 

“Development  is  achieved  through  in- 
stitution building,”  Mr.  Stoesz  noted. 
“Institutions  aid  in  problem  solving,  are 
instruments  for  collective  action,  and 
add  permanence  and  stability  to  a proc- 
ess. It  is  important  to  distinguish  relief 
activity  from  institution  building.  Insti- 
tutions help  to  establish  an  indigenous 
process  which  generates  its  own  energy.” 

The  initiative  and  responsibility  for 
levelopment  activity  must  come  from 
within  the  receiving  system,  Mr.  Stoesz 


told  meda  members.  “Untold  damage  has 
been  done  by  well-intending  workers 
who  have  suggested  answers  before  they 
understood  the  questions.” 

Three  new  men  take  meda  offices  this 
year.  Henry  J.  Pankratz,  Mountain  Lake, 
Minnesota,  replaces  Erie  Sauder  as  chair- 
man. Milo  D.  Shantz,  Preston,  Ontario, 
will  serve  as  vice-chairman.  Roy  G.  Sny- 
der, Waterloo,  Ontario,  was  elected  mem- 
ber-at-large. These  new  officers  will  serve 
with  Lloyd  J.  Fisher,  Akron,  Pennsyl- 
vania, secretary;  Olen  L.  Britsch,  Arch- 
bold, Ohio,  treasurer;  and  Peter  A.  Enns, 
Dinuba,  California,  and  John  L.  Weber, 
Ephrata,  Pennsylvania,  members-at-large. 

Music  most  popular 
event  at  festival 

Four  thousand  people  came  to  the  Polo 
Park  shopping  mall  in  Winnipeg  Sunday, 
April  8,  and  not  a single  shop  was  open. 
The  Women’s  Auxiliary  of  Westgate 
Mennonite  Collegiate  had  taken  over  the 
entire  mall  for  six  hours  to  stage  the  sec- 
ond annual  Mennonite  festival  of  art 
and  music. 

About  100  artists  and  craftsmen,  ten 
choral  groups,  a handful  of  Mennonite 
writers,  and  several  Mennonite  organiza- 
tions came  to  exhibit  their  wares.  To  add 
to  the  carnival  atmosphere  about  a dozen 
groups  had  set  up  refreshment  booths 
offering  hot  dogs,  coffee,  and  fresh-baked 
goods. 

It  is  clear  that  when  it  comes  to  a 
choice  of  art  forms  the  Mennonites  still 
choose  choral  music  over  everything  else. 
There  was  continuous  music  at  the  north 
end  of  the  mall.  There  were  always  be- 
tween 500  and  1,000  people  seated  and 
standing  here.  A new  attraction  on  the 
stage  this  year  was  Reuben  Epp  giving 
readings  in  Low  German. 

“Plain  people”  refuse 
Good  Neighbor  award 

For  the  twenty-third  year,  the  Lion’s 
Club  of  Lebanon,  Pennsylvania,  pre- 
pared its  Good  Neighbor  Award,  but  this 
year  the  recipients  refused  to  appear  to 
accept  it.  The  award  was  announced  for 
the  “plain  people”  who  helped  with  re- 
lief work  following  a devastating  flood 
in  the  wake  of  tropical  storm  Agnes  in 
June  1973. 

Representatives  of  the  plain  people 
said  they  had  declined  to  attend  the 
Lion’s  affair  because  they  did  not  want 
to  be  honored  for  doing  what  they  con- 
sidered to  be  their  Christian  responsi- 
bility. 


Bethel  College  introduces 
peace  studies  program 

A new  program  in  peace  studies  and 
conflict  resolution  has  been  approved 
by  the  Bethel  College  faculty.  Courses 
leading  to  a major  are  to  be  introduced 
next  year. 

A peace  studies  program  seeks  to  help 
people  understand  the  multiple  causes 
of  destructive  conflict,  and  the  various 
means  by  which  conflict  can  be  pre- 
vented, according  to  Duane  Friesen, 
who  is  director  of  peace  studies  at  Beth- 
el. It  applies  not  only  to  problems  of 
war  and  international  conflict,  but  also 
to  such  problems  as  racial  conflict,  fam- 
ily tension,  and  tensions  between  small 
groups.  It  is  neither  aimed  at  peace  ac- 
tivism and  protest  nor  defense  of  the 
status  quo. 

In  the  program  developed  by  a fac- 
ulty-student committee  at  Bethel,  persons 
desiring  a major  in  peace  studies  will  be 
advised  to  take  a double  major — in  peace 
studies  and  in  another  academic  disci- 
pline. Thus,  peacemaking  can  be  an  inte- 
gral part  of  many  careers,  such  as  teach- 
ing, social  work,  and  law. 

“There  is  hardly  a department  in  the 
college  which  does  not  contribute  to  the 
understanding  of  the  issues  of  human 
conflict  and  peace,”  Mr.  Friesen  ex- 
plained. “For  example,  a person  in  teach- 
er education  might  take  a major  also  in 
peace  studies,  studying  how  to  teach 
about  issues  of  human  conflict  within, 
say,  the  social  science  curriculum  of  the 
public  school.” 

Another  feature  of  the  peace  studies 
program  is  an  off-campus  internship,  or 
field  experience,  for  at  least  one  semes- 
ter, for  which  the  student  would  receive 
fourteen  hours  of  credit. 

Students  will  be  placed  in  situations 
where  they  will  learn  from  persons  actu- 
ally involved  in  the  tasks  of  bringing 
about  social  change.  This  might  involve 
an  internship  with  a professional,  such 
as  a lawyer  or  politician,  work  with  a 
voluntary  association  like  the  War  Re- 
sisters’ League  or  the  Mennonite  Central 
Committee,  or  involvement  in  an  institu- 
tion like  a mental  health  center  which 
works  in  family  counseling  and  other 
human  conflicts. 

The  program  is  seen  as  especially  ap- 
propriate for  freshmen  and  sophomores, 
though  juniors  may  also  enter  if  their 
program  is  carefully  planned.  Dr.  Frie- 
sen also  sees  courses  in  the  area  as  being 
of  interest  to  older  persons  for  personal 
enrichment  even  if  not  pursuing  a degree. 


'HE  MENNONITE 


289 


Church  families  ski  at  Jasper 

Six  families  from  the  Nutana  Park  Mennonite  Church  in  Saskatoon  used  the  spring 
school  break  in  March  to  go  to  Jasper  Park  in  Alberta  to  do  some  skiing  on  real  moun- 
tains. Many  families  in  Saskatoon  have  taken  up  skiing  since  1971,  when  their  city 
built  an  artificial  mountain,  called  Mount  Blackstrap,  for  that  year’s  Canadian  Winter 
Games.  One  of  the  Nutana  Park  members  who  went  to  Jasper  said  that  the  oppor- 
tunity to  get  away  from  telephones  and  the  routine  of  city  life  and  to  get  together 
with  family  and  church  members  for  an  extended  period  of  time  in  a beautiful  set- 
ting made  the  experience  so  worthwhile  that  next  year  many  other  families  would 
likely  join  them. 


Turkey  Red  wheat 
returns  to  Russia 

Dave  Link,  a staff  writer  for  the  Uni- 
versity daily  Kansan,  prepared  the  fol- 
lowing report  for  a recent  issue  of  the 
University  of  Kansas  newspaper. 

Without  the  help  of  a Russian  immi- 
grant by  the  name  of  Bernard  Warkentin 
back  in  the  fall  of  1873,  the  United 
States  might  never  have  been  able  to 
complete  its  $600  million  wheat  deal 
with  Russia  last  fall. 

It  was  Mr.  Warkentin  and  his  band  of 
Mennonites  who  introduced  Turkey  Red 
hard  winter  wheat  to  Kansas  and  the 
United  States  100  years  ago  last  fall. 

Without  red  hard  winter  wheat,  which 
is  still  the  major  variety  grown  in  Kan- 
sas, Kansas  could  have  never  become 
the  nation’s  leading  wheat-producing 
state,  contributing  over  20  percent  to 
the  annual  U.S.  wheat  crop. 

The  Kansas  Legislature  has  given  ten- 
tative approval  to  a resolution  proclaim- 
ing 1974  as  the  centennial  celebration 
year  of  the  introduction  of  Turkey  Red 
wheat  into  Kansas. 

According  to  James  C.  Malin  in  his 
book,  Winter  wheat,  Mr.  Warkentin  and 
his  followers  each  brought  a bushel  of 
Turkey  Red  with  them  when  they  immi- 
grated to  Marion  County,  Kansas,  from 
southern  Russia. 

Hard  red  winter  wheat  is  now  Kansas’ 
major  crop,  producing  almost  300  mil- 
lion bushels  annually.  Fifteen  million 
bushels  of  Kansas  wheat  were  exported 
to  Russia  last  fall,  which  could  be  called 
a return  to  the  womb  for  Turkey  Red 
hard  winter  wheat. 

Mr.  Warkentin,  by  the  way,  was  forced 
out  of  the  farming  business  by  the  locust 
plague  which  hit  Kansas  in  August  1874 
and  went  on  to  become  a leader  in  the 
milling  industry  of  Kansas  in  the  1880s. 

HELP  WANTED 

COMMUNITY 
PROGRAM  DEVELOPERS 

One  director  of  Jefferson  County  Action 
Center,  Arvada,  Colorado.  One  developer  of 
new  programs  in  public  housing  projects, 
Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma.  One  person  to 
do  community  research  to  develop  a referral 
network  for  Seattle  Crisis  Center,  Seattle, 
Washington.  One  coordinator  of  emergency, 
summer,  and  long-term  programs  for  Church 
Community  Services,  Elkhart,  Indiana.  Col- 
lege degree  preferred.  Voluntary  Service  sup- 
port: room,  board,  travel  expenses,  and  $25 
a month  provided.  Write:  Personnel  Office, 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


Distress  line  helps 
callers  in  Edmonton 

A “distress  line”  is  part  of  the  outreach 
of  members  of  the  First  Mennonite 
Church,  Edmonton,  Alberta. 

Mary  Johnston  reported  that  several 
volunteers  from  the  congregation  help 
staff  the  distress  line,  a telephone  num- 
ber which  anyone  can  call  concerning 
financial  problems,  personal  problems, 
suicide,  drugs,  venereal  disease,  other 
illness,  or  legal  services.  Callers  may 
then  be  referred  to  an  appropriate  agen- 
cy or  to  counseling. 

The  distress  line,  begun  in  October 
1972,  is  a project  of  aid  Service  (Ad- 
vice, Information,  and  Direction),  start- 
ed by  the  Edmonton  Social  Planning 
Council  to  provide  a central  informa- 
tion and  referral  service  about  social  serv- 
ice programs  available  in  Edmonton. 

During  office  hours,  8:30  a.m.  to  4:30 
p.m.,  aid  staff  members  answer  such 
calls  for  help.  Volunteers  work  from 
4:30  to  midnight  Monday  through  Fri- 
day and  8:30  a.m.  to  midnight  Satur- 
day and  Sunday.  There  is  an  answering 
service  after  midnight,  but  aid  hopes  to 
operate  the  distress  line  twenty-four 
hours  a day  by  summer. 

Don  Sawatzky,  a member  of  First 


Mennonite  Church  and  professor  in  edu- 
cational  psychology,  helped  organize  the  i 
distress  line  and  recruit  and  train  volun- 
teers. Volunteers  were  trained  at  two  all-  f 
day  sessions  with  lectures,  film,  and  role  ! 
playing. 

Each  volunteer  works  with  one  other  ! 
person  for  a four-hour  period. 

Adapted  radio  spots  ready 
for  local  distribution 

Two  sets  of  radio  spots — one  with  a 
Key  73  emphasis  and  the  other  adapted 
from  the  new  family  life  television  spots  j 
— are  being  distributed  to  pastors  by  , 
Mennonite  Radio  and  Television,  Win- 
nipeg, and  Mennonite  Media  Services, 
Harrisonburg,  Virginia. 

The  first  record,  available  now,  con- 
tains eight  60-second  messages  compiled 
from  spots  previously  produced  by  Men-  ! < 
nonite  Broadcasts.  These  spot  announce- 
ments present  the  Good  News  as  good 
news  in  true-to-life  happenings. 

The  other  disc,  produced  for  release 
in  May,  has  four  spots  adapted  for  radio 
from  the  sound  tracks  of  the  television 
spots  “You’re  OK”  and  “You’re  loved.” 

This  is  the  first  time  a series  of  radio  I 
announcements  has  been  produced  from  j 
the  sound  track  of  the  TV  spots. 


290 


MAY  1,  1973 


RECORD 


Ministers 


Bill  Anderson,  now  at  Grace  Bible  In- 
! stitute,  Omaha,  Neb.,  will  become  min- 
j ister  of  Christian  education  at  East 
' Swamp  Church,  Quakertown,  Pa.,  in 
August.  Stephen  Strunk  will  be  summer 
[ assistant  pastor  there. 

Eugene  Gentry,  Bill  Helmuth,  and 
Helen  Robinson  have  been  providing 
pastoral  leadership  as  a team  at  Bethesda 
( Mennonite  Church,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  since 
November  1972,  when  they  were  licensed 
by  the  South  Central  Mennonite  Con- 
ference. Each  has  different  responsibili- 
ties in  the  congregation,  although  all 
three  have  taken  their  turns  leading  the 
Sunday  morning  service.  Mr.  Gentry,  a 
‘laborer  at  Veterans’  Hospital  in  St.  Louis, 
is  director  of  activities  for  evening  pro- 
-ams. Mr.  Helmuth,  a teacher  of  retard- 


Gentry 

ed  children,  keeps  official  records  for 
the  church,  does  legal  chores,  and  brings 
to  the  task  abilities  in  teaching  and  the- 
ology. Ms.  Robinson,  a crisis  worker  for 
Northside  Team  Ministry,  carries  admin- 
istrative responsibility  and  makes  pasto- 
ral visits.  She  had  formerly  served  as 
church  secretary.  The  Bethesda  team 
ministry  will  be  evaluated  after  a year. 

Ardean  Goerlzen,  assistant  pastor  of  the 


Helmuth 


I 

Conference  budget 

$2,250,000  


2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 

1,000,000 

750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


J FMAMJ  JASOND 


Tie  first  quarter  of  the  year  is  again  history.  There  is  always  much  to  be  thankful 
or  as  one  looks  back.  Right  now  I am  thankful  for  the  support  experienced  by  the 
onference  in  these  first  few  months.  While  there  is  support  of  various  kinds,  it  is 
|.lways  easiest  to  measure  financial  support.  Over-all  we  have  received  $475,000  or 
2 percent  of  the  budget.  This  compares  with  $398,000  or  19.9  percent  of  budget 
ist  year  during  the  first  quarter. 

We  have  also  written  a number  of  gift  annuity  contracts  this  year.  Write  for  infor- 
aation  if  you  are  interested,  giving  your  age  or  ages.  At  age  eighty-six  and  over,  the 
ate  of  return  is  10  percent.  Wm.  L.  Friesen,  conference  treasurer 


Robinson  Nomura 


Bethel  Church,  Mountain  Lake,  Minn., 
was  ordained  Feb.  18  at  Mountain  Lake. 
He  is  a graduate  of  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind.,  and  began  work 
with  the  Bethel  Church  in  June  1972. 

Takeiji  Nomura  was  installed  March 
25  as  pastor  of  the  Baba  Cho  Church 
in  Kobe,  Japan.  He  graduated  on  the 
same  day  from  Osaka  Biblical  Seminary. 
Mr.  Nomura  first  came  to  the  Mennonite 
church  in  Kobe  IV2  years  ago  and  was 
baptized  in  September  1966. 

Erick  Sawatzky,  who  will  receive  the 
master  of  divinity  degree  from  Menno- 
nite Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind.,  this 
spring,  will  begin  as  pastor  of  Trinity 
Church,  Hillsboro,  Kans.,  in  September. 
He  attended  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible 
College,  Winnipeg,  and  holds  a BA  de- 
gree from  the  University  of  Saskatche- 
wan. 

John  Howard  Yoder,  president  of  Go- 
shen Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind., 
will  be  ordained  as  “teacher  of  the  Word” 
May  6 at  the  Oak  Grove  Church,  Smith- 
ville,  Ohio. 

Calendar 


July  7-11 — Annual  sessions  of  Con- 
ference of  Mennonites  in  Canada,  Ed- 
monton, Alta. 

Central 

May  11-13 — Festival  of  the  Holy  Spir- 
it, Goshen.  College,  Goshen,  Ind. 

Eastern 

May  19 — Bible  school  workshop,  Zion 
Church,  Souderton,  Pa. 

Western 

May  6 — Junior  choir  festival,  North 
Newton,  Kans. 

May  20 — Bethel  College  commence- 
ment, North  Newton,  Kans. 

May  25-28 — Mennonite  Camping  As- 
sociation conference,  Deer  Creek  Chris- 
tian Camp,  Pine,  Colo. 


HE  MENNONITE 


291 


Phase  1 of  retirement 
community  is  being  built 

Six  Mennonite  churches  and  one  Apos- 
tolic Christian  church  in  the  Phoenix, 
Arizona,  area  have  organized  to  build 
cooperatively  a retirement  community 
in  Glendale,  Arizona. 

Construction  has  begun  on  thirty  gar- 
den apartments,  and  Leland  Bachman, 
director  of  the  project,  said  the  first 
occupants  will  probably  be  able  to  move 
in  during  early  summer. 

When  the  retirement  community,  called 
Glencroft,  is  finished,  it  will  include  240 
apartments  with  kitchens,  a residential 
living  building  with  apartments  without 
kitchens,  and  a building  for  more  ex- 
tensive nursing  care. 

The  churches — General  Conference 
Mennonite,  (Old)  Mennonite,  Conserva- 
tive Mennonite,  and  non-conference  re- 
lated— organized  as  Friendship  Retire- 
ment Corporation  in  1970  and  began 
planning  and  raising  funds  for  the 
project. 

Much  of  the  labor  has  been  on  a vol- 
untary basis.  Some  have  come  on  a two- 
year  basis,  others  only  during  the  winter 
months.  Eugene  Stuber  of  the  Apostolic 
Christian  Church  is  general  contractor. 
Owen  Slabaugh,  Grace  Mennonite,  is 
plumbing  contractor.  Dan  Stoll,  Trinity 
Mennonite,  is  electrical  contractor.  Two 
members  of  Paradise  Valley  Mennonite 
and  Sunnyslope  Mennonite  have  taken 
on  the  masonry  work. 

Mr.  Bachman  said  that  the  churches 
had  decided  on  the  project  because  they 
felt  Phoenix  had  the  ideal  climate  for 
retirement  living.  Most  of  the  churches 
are  small  and  could  not  have  embarked 
on  such  a project  without  banding  to- 
gether. He  said  this  was  the  first  time 
this  group  of  churches  had  worked  so 
extensively  together. 

Saskatoon  choir  makes 
weekend  trip  to  Alberta 

The  choir  from  the  Mayfair  Mennonite 
Church,  Saskatoon,  visited  the  Rosemary 
and  Foothills  (Calgary)  Mennonite  con- 
gregations in  Alberta  on  a recent  week- 
end. 

One  participant  said  after  the  experi- 
ence, “I  think  as  Christians  we  not  only 
need  to  fellowship  with  believers  in  our 
own  congregation  but  with  people  in 
other  churches  in  our  city  and  even 
out-of-province  churches.” 


Award  for  Mother  Teresa 


Mother  Teresa  of  Calcutta,  founder  of  the  Order  of  Missionaries  of  Charity,  is 
the  recipient  of  the  1973  Templeton  Foundation’s  ‘‘Prize  for  progress  in  religion.” 
The  award  carries  a stipend  of  eighty-eight  thousand  dollars,  which  will  be  presented 
to  the  Yugoslavian-born  nun  by  Prince  Philip,  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh.  Mother 
Teresa,  widely  hailed  for  her  work  among  the  destitute  and  dying,  was  chosen  from 
2,000  nominees  by  an  international  panel  of  judges.  The  award  was  established  by 
the  Templeton  Foundation  last  year  to  attempt  to  do  in  religion  what  other  prizes 
have  done  for  science  and  culture. 


caLLto 

-paltJaprlj^ess 

essays  in  Canadian  mennonite  sfadies 

EDITED  BY  HENRY  POETTCKER  AND  RUDY  A.  REGEHR 

A 25TH  ANNIVERSARY  PUBLICATION  OF 

CANADIAN  MENNONITE  BIBLE  COLLEGE 

Price  (postpaid)  $3.25  soft;  $5.00  hard 

Order  your  copy  from:  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College,  600  Shaftesbury 
Blvd.,  Winnipeg,  Manitoba  R3P  0M4,  or  from  your  Mennonite  bookstore. 


MAY  1,  1973 


292 


REVIEW 


Festschrift:  Call  to  faithfulness 


Call  to  faithfulness,  essays  in  Canadian 
Mennonite  studies,  edited  by  Henry 
Poettcker  and  Rudy  Regehr  ( Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College,  Winnipeg, 
1972,  222  pp.)  is  reviewed  by  Heinz 
Janzen,  general  secretary  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference. 

“I’m  strongly  in  favor  of  rediscovering 
the  genius  of  Mennonitism  and  discov- 
ering what  it  is  that  Mennonites  need  to 
inject  into  the  unchristian  world  about 
them,”  says  Menno  Wiebe  in  perhaps  the 
most  valuable  essay  in  Call  to  faithful- 
ness. These  articles  celebrate  both  the 
silver  anniversary  of  the  Canadian  Men- 
nonite Bible  College  and  the  contribu- 
tions made  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  J.  Thies- 
sen  of  Saskatoon  to  the  Conference  of 
Mennonites  in  Canada. 

The  authors  are  primarily  faculty  or 
alumni  of  cmbc,  who  seek  to  help  rank- 
and-file  conference  members  see  their 
origins  and  their  pioneer  efforts  in  Can- 
ada and  to  interpret  the  rapid  changes 
taking  place  in  their  churches. 

A separate  article  on  the  J.  J.  Thiessens 
would  have  enriched  the  collection.  He 
incarnates  Menno  Wiebe’s  advice,  “For 
the  professionally  trained  minister,  there 
'is  a crucial  hurdle  to  overcome,  namely 
to  move  from  a stance  of  analytical  de- 
scription to  a stance  of  visceral  apprecia- 
tion of  the  people  he  is  serving.” 

The  twenty  essays  fall  into  three  ma- 
jor areas:  Roots  of  faithfulness,  Experi- 
ence of  faithfulness,  and  Challenges  to 
faithfulness.  Biblical  roots  are  discussed 
in  articles  by  five  of  the  Bible  college 
faculty.  It  is  refreshing  amidst  the  in- 
cessant calls  to  activism  to  read  of  a 
God  who  disclosed  himself  to  the  He- 
brews, supremely  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
still  discloses  himself  to  men  today  in 
order  to  save  them  from  sin.  Yet  man’s 
faith  response  is  not  mere  intellectual 
assent,  but  trust,  commitment,  and  obedi- 
ence to  God’s  purposes  revealed  in  Jesus 
Christ.  David  Schroeder  is  helpful  in 
iistinguishing  four  levels  of  obedience 
and  pointing  out  the  difficulty  of  making 
3od’s  will  specific.  Helmut  Harder  notes, 
The  Christian  . . . offers  his  life  as  a 
•ign  that  the  promise  is  hastening  to 
ulfillment.  The  ultimate  fulfillment  will 
ae  given  by  God.”  Waldemar  Janzen,  in 


“Sign  and  belief,”  discusses  the  hidden- 
ness of  God  and  the  signs  which  he  gives 
to  disclose  himself. 

“To  deny  that  God  led  men  in  the 
past  may  deny  that  he  can  lead  us  in 
the  present,”  asserts  John  Friesen  in  an 
article  on  the  relation  of  past,  present, 
and  future.  Another  Anabaptist  empha- 
sis, “The  church  as  community”  reiter- 
ates the  importance  of  the  Christian 
brotherhood  in  ethical  decision  making, 
applying  the  Scriptures  to  the  issues  of 
today. 

Four  chapters  outline  aspects  of  the 
history  of  the  Conference  of  Menno- 
nites in  Canada.  Originally  a union  of 
the  Bergthaler  cluster  in  Manitoba  and 
the  Rosenorters  of  Saskatchewan,  it  later 
incorporated  the  immigrant  waves  of  the 
1920s  and  1940s  from  South  Russia  and 
Germany. 

“Forms  of  ministry,”  by  Herman  Enns, 
speaks  to  one  of  the  major  issues  fac- 
ing all  North  American  Mennonites.  A 
new  synthesis  of  the  once  despised  mul- 
tiple ministry  with  the  well-trained  sem- 
inary professional  is  struggling  for  birth. 
Yet,  “where  there  is  a faithful  minister 
there  will  be  an  authentic  ministry  to- 
gether with  God’s  people.” 

The  remarkable  proliferation  of  Chris- 
tian schools  in  the  1930s  and  1940s  by 
churches  of  the  conference  comes  as  a 
surprise  to  the  U.S.  reader.  However, 
financial  stress  is  forcing  consolidation 
in  recent  years,  most  happily  in  the 
Columbia  Bible  Institute,  Clearbrook, 
British  Columbia. 

Five  chapters  describe  social  changes 
in  the  life  of  Canadian  Mennonites.  Cul- 
tural isolation  is  ending.  Families  must 
find  new  ways  of  togetherness  with  the 
end  of  chores  and  the  growing  aliena- 
tion in  our  society,  according  to  Bernie 
Wiebe.  Leo  Driedger  documents  the  rap- 
id urbanization  of  Mennonites.  Roy 
Vogt  gives  a helpful  critique  of  two  re- 
cent approaches  to  Mennonite  involve- 
ment in  Canadian  economic  life. 

The  final  section,  “Challenges  to  faith- 
fulness,” is  quite  stimulating  in  giving 
North  American  Mennonites  clues  to 
faithfulness  in  the  present  and  future. 
Menno  Wiebe  affirms  both  the  legitimacy 
of  Mennonite  culture  and  the  need  for 
an  updated  ideology. 


Some  of  the  earlier  articles  are  too 
one-sided  in  their  criticism  of  evangelical 
fundamentalism,  attacking  its  weaknesses 
while  discounting  its  appeal  and  strengths. 
Some  almost  make  pacifism  a savior. 

Yet  C.  J.  Dyck  can  assert,  “Some  of 
the  best  things  Mennonites  affirm  have 
been  borrowed  or  recovered  from  oth- 
ers, for  example,  mission  concern.  His- 
torically, new  life  has  often  come  to 
them  from  outside  of  their  own  ranks.” 

Regardless  of  his  view  of  cmbc,  no 
Canadian  Mennonite  can  afford  to  be 
ignorant  of  the  value  input  and  output 
of  this  nerve  center  of  conference  life. 
One  could  justify  forcing  U.S.  readers 
to  read  Call  to  faithfulness  as  penance 
for  years  of  neglecting  Anabaptist  life 
north  of  the  border. 

This  reviewer  found  the  book  fascinat- 
ing and  stimulating.  The  authors  en- 
deavor to  uphold  the  Anabaptist  flag, 
but  they  are  creative  enough  to  disagree 
with  each  other.  Henry  Poettcker  and 
Rudy  A.  Regehr  deserve  our  commenda- 
tion for  conceiving  this  Festschrift  and 
bringing  it  to  birth. 

Filmstrip  gives  Cheyenne 
interpretation  of  Jesus 

Artists  who  paint  Jesus  usually  paint  him 
as  if  he  were  one  of  their  own  people. 
When  the  artist  is  a Cheyenne  Indian 
the  pictures  are  strikingly  different  from 
those  with  which  most  people  are  fa- 
miliar. 

Dick  West,  Cheyenne  artist,  has  paint- 
ed a series  of  pictures  of  Jesus  in  Indian 
American  idiom  and  settings.  The  scenes 
include  the  annunciation,  the  nativity, 
the  Last  Supper,  the  crucifixion,  and  the 
ascension. 

Close-ups  of  these  pictures  along  with 
others  of  Dick  West’s  paintings  and 
sculptures  have  been  made  into  an 
eighty-one-frame  filmstrip  entitled  “An- 
other face  of  Jesus.”  It  can  help  audi- 
ences from  intermediate  grades  through 
adults  understand  that  Jesus  came  for 
all  peoples  and  not  just  those  of  white 
skin. 

The  filmstrip  is  available  with  a rec- 
ord from  the  Audiovisual  Library,  Box 
347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114,  for  a serv- 
ice charge  of  $2.00. 


HE  MENNONITE 


293 


MEDITATION 


o • 


Psalms  and  prayers 

The  following  psalms  and  prayers  were  written  by  Sunday  school  students  in  the 
Leamington  ( Ontario ) United  Mennonite  Church  and  the  Charleswood  ( Manitoba ) 
Mennonite  Church. 

Jesus. 

Is  he  alive 
Or  is  he  dead? 

Or  is  it  all  just  in  our  head? 

Please  will  you  tell  me. 

I don’t  understand. 

Is  it  true  about  Christmas  Day? 

Is  it  or  isn’t  it,  who  can  say? 

Did  he  rise  on  Easter  Sunday? 

Please  will  you  tell  me. 

I don’t  understand. 

What  about  the  Easter  eggs 
and  the  Christmas  presents? 

Why  do  we  do  this  if  it’s  his  life  to  remember? 

Please  will  you  tell  me. 

I don’t  understand. 

Barb  Dyck,  10,  Winnipeg 

Psalm  2.  Thank  you,  God,  for  giving  me  a mother  and  father  who  take  care  of  me 
when  I am  in  need  of  help.  Thank  you  for  giving  me  a place  to  stay  during  this  part 
of  my  life.  The  place  we  stay  is  in  a big  white  house.  We  have  a gray  bam  and  a 
gray  garage.  We  have  one  mother  cat  and  five  kittens.  Thank  you  for  everything. 

Rollie  Driedger,  11,  Leamington 


Psalm  3.  Thank  you  God  for  giving  me  parents  who  care  for  my  needs.  Thank  you 
for  giving  me  a good  public  school  where  I can  learn.  . . . Thank  you  for  my  brother 
who  helps  me  in  times  of  need.  Eddie  Taves,  11,  Leamington 


LETTERS 


Thanks  for  Project  Teach 

Dear  Editor:  We  would  like  to  express 
our  appreciation  to  the  Commission  on 
Education  for  “Project  Teach"  (April 
24  issue,  page  274). 

Besides  providing  us  with  a variety  of 
new  teaching  techniques,  we  received  a 
better  insight  into  our  Anabaptist  her- 
itage and  a deeper  understanding  of  the 
book  of  Matthew.  For  many  of  us  a 
highlight  was  the  worship  experience  that 
was  held  each  evening.  It  was  meaning- 
ful because  of  the  group  participation 
and  interaction.  Perhaps  most  important 
of  all  was  our  interaction  with  fellow 
Sunday  school  teachers,  staff,  and  re- 
source persons. 

If  another  project  like  this  should  be 
initiated,  we  would  like  to  urge  as  many 
others  as  possible  to  attend.  Gladys  Dyck, 
Louise  Friesen,  and  Martha  Wolfe,  Sas- 
katoon, Sask.  April  2 

Withstanding  the  “powers” 

Dear  Larry:  During  this  Easter  sea- 
son, our  minds  are  brought  back  to  the 
basic  message  which  we  as  Mennonite 
Christians  proclaim,  that  of  God’s  rec- 
onciliation through  his  son,  Jesus.  Would 
we  be  wise,  also,  to  apply  it  to  our- 
selves? 

The  war  issue  . . . needs  to  be  re- 
examined in  the  clear  light  of  God’s 
redeeming  love.  Those  of  us  who  feel 
it  is  impossible  to  take  part  in  the  killing 
even  if  our  government  commands  it — 
have  we  always  lived  up  to  the  high 
standard  we  proclaimed?  Or  have  there 
been  times  in  our  cps  and  voluntary 
service  experiences  where  we  failed  mis- 
erably in  supporting  the  local  church,  or 
where  our  personal  lives  were  less  than 
clean? 

And  those  of  us  who  feel  we  must 
support  our  leaders,  regardless  of  what 
they  ask,  because  of  the  biblical  injunc- 
tion of  being  loyal  to  those  “who  rule 
over  you” — have  we  always  remembered 
the  other  words  of  Scripture,  “We  must 
obey  God,  rather  than  men”?  Have  we 
seen  in  Mussolini  and  Hitler  the  work 
of  the  Antichrist  and  not  seen  what  they 
were  actually  proclaiming?  Have  we 
been  afraid  of  the  Communists  and  all 
they  stand  for  and  forgotten  to  see  the 
greater  pattern  they  all  fit  into,  along 
with  all  other  dictatorships?  Isn’t  it  true 


that  the  defunct  and  discredited  dic- 
tators of  the  past  years,  and  also  those 
of  the  present,  are  basically  operating 
under  their  own  narrow  nationalism  and 
militarism?  Isn’t  this  the  great  power 
that  is  demanding  every  knee  to  bow? 
Isn’t  this  the  thing  that  Paul  and  John, 
and  Jesus  himself,  warned  about?  The 
Roman  Empire  was  the  established  gov- 
ernment of  that  day — and  our  Savior 
asked  us  to  pay  our  tribute  where  it  was 
due — but  also  to  give  to  God  the  things 
which  were  his,  our  basic  lives  and  per- 
sonalities. Paul  and  John  both  spoke  of 
being  good  citizens  and  without  blame, 
but  when  it  came  to  the  final  clincher, 
they  had  to  say  no  to  the  establishment. 

We  are  probably  living  “in  the  last 
times,”  and  becoming  blinded  to  the  ever 
increasing  demands  for  tax  money  for 
the  military  program.  And  our  leaders 


are  frightened  to  death  when  anyone 
so  much  as  asks  why.  Isn’t  this  ever- 
growing power  of  an  all-encompassing 
nationalism  and  militarism  actually  the 
great  “beast”  which  is  demanding  “ev- 
ery knee  to  bow”?  It  is  worldwide,  and 
it  is  frightening. 

So,  somehow,  through  all  of  the  pres- 
sures that  come  from  above  and  also 
from  below,  we  as  Mennonite  Christians 
have  the  privilege  of  seeing  trends  and 
warning  our  beloved  nation.  Have  we 
been  a part  of  the  picture  that  sees  the 
enemy  attacking  our  women  and  chil- 
dren, and  in  our  anxiety  and  frustration, 
found  that  the  only  way  to  solve  it  was 
to  attack  their  women  and  children? 

We  have  an  important  message  to 
share  with  those  who  aren’t  yet  in  “the; 
way”  of  reconciliation  that  the  person  of  i 
Jesus,  our  Lord,  experienced  and  dem-: 


294 


MAY  1,  1973 


onstrated  in  his  sacrificial  life  and  death, 
and  life  again.  The  great  contribution 
the  Mennonite  church  can  make  today, 
when  many  other  denominations  are  also 
taking  up  the  renewed  interest  in  inter- 
faith and  international  understanding,  is 
to  say,  “Yes,  we  have  the  faith  to  see  it 
through.”  . . . 

We  have  the  task  of  recognizing  our 
true  identity — not  just  belonging  to  a 
single  group — but  to  the  eternal  power 
that  comes  only  from  God.  And  we  can 
be  a part  of  his  great  reconciliation  when 
other  so-called  “powers”  make  their  fev- 
erish demands  on  our  love  and  loyalty. 
Harold  Thiessen,  1412  Third  St.,  Snoho- 
mish, Wash.  98290.  April  5 

Self-love  and  Christ’s  love 

Dear  Joyce:  I read  “The  sermon  I never 
heard”  (March  27  issue)  and  I loved 
you,  not  as  you  loved  yourself,  but  as 
Jesus  loved  the  rich  young  ruler  (Matt. 
19,  Luke  18,  Mark  10).  He  mistakenly 
thought  he  had  kept  the  commandment 
of  love.  It  turned  out  that  he  loved  him- 
self and  his  riches  more  than  the  gift  of 
discipleship  that  Jesus  offered  him  in  its 
place.  He  walked  away  with  a heavy 
heart.  Please  don’t  follow  his  example. 

Your  article  appears  to  reflect  a basic 
Nietzschean  resentment  to  Christian 
love,  and  there  are  those  who  would  say 
that  your  description  of  self-love  was 
:ertainly  not  intended  by  Jesus.  But  if 
you  would  like  to  read  the  best  positive 
analysis  of  self-love  with  very  precise 
osage  and  definitions,  read  Joseph  But- 
er’s  (1692-1752)  Fifteen  sermons.  You 
vould  likely  find  them  in  most  good  uni- 
/ersity  libraries.  If  not,  look  for  them 
n books  of  ethical  readings,  e.g.,  A.  I. 
Melden;  W.  T.  Jones,  Approaches  to 
’thics,  which  will  at  least  have  selections 
rom  them. 

If  you  read  German,  I would  refer 
/ou  to  Hans  Denck’s  “Von  der  waren 
ieb  etc.”  Possibly  The  Mennonite  would 
consider  publishing  a part  of  it.  Denck 
■ays,  “Thus  love  hates  itself,  because  it 
[lesires  only  what  serves  the  interest  and 
velfare  of  the  other  person  and  not  it- 
elf.” 

j Can  you  honestly  bypass  Jesus’  call 
or  self-denial  (Luke  9:23)?  Bonhoeffer 
ays,  “To  deny  oneself  is  to  be  aware 
>nly  of  Christ  and  no  more  of  self,  to 
ee  only  him  who  goes  before  and  no 
nore  the  road  which  is  too  hard  for  us” 
The  cost  of  discipleship,  Chapter  4). 
Vhy  does  Paul  lament  in  Phil.  2:1911 
hat  all  but  Timothy  are  “bent  on  their 
wn  ends,  not  on  the  cause  of  Christ”? 


Do  you  not  jump  from  self-acceptance 
in  the  goodness  of  God’s  creation  to  the 
self-acceptance  of  the  fallen  person  over- 
looking the  fact  that  the  meaning  of  the 
term  changes  with  the  context? 

Do  you  not  wrongly  separate  being 
and  doing?  Love  is  a matter  of  the  will 
and  the  deed.  According  to  Kierkegaard, 
you  can  only  speak  of  works  of  love. 

Are  you  not  confusing  the  being  of  a 
sinner  (unlovable)  whom  God  loves  in 
spite  of  sin,  with  lovable  and  likable?  To 
make  “lovable”  a condition  of  God’s 
love  could  only  lead  to  despair. 

Are  you  not  setting  “freedom  to  love” 
against  Paul’s  freedom  to  be  a fool  for 
Christ?  (Cf.  J.  Pelikan,  Fools  for  Christ .) 

If  you  examine  your  use  of  “self- 
love,”  “interests,”  and  “needs”  in  their 
different  contexts,  are  you  not  aware  of 
their  changing  meanings? 

Are  you  not  favoring  human  desires 
and  emotions  against  conscience?  (Cf. 
Butler.)  Or  confusing  actual  feelings  with 
authentic  feelings? 

Are  you  right  in  grounding  Christian 
love  in  your  own  self-acceptance  rather 
than  in  Christ  who  first  loved  us?  (Cf. 
Alan  Richardson,  A theological  word 
book  of  the  Bible,  article  on  “Love.” 
Note  the  repeated  emphasis  on  “de- 
pendent on  the  prior  love  of  God.”) 

Are  you  sure  that  self-love  will  take 
away  your  misery?  Joseph  Butler  says, 
“Happiness  does  not  consist  in  self-love. 
The  desire  of  happiness  is  no  more  the 
thing  itself  than  the  desire  of  riches  is 
the  possession  or  enjoyment  of  them. 
People  may  love  themselves  with  the 
most  entire  and  unbounded  affection, 
and  yet  be  extremely  miserable”  (Ser- 
mon 11).  Butler  would  say  that  you  are 
not  properly  distinguishing  between  self- 
love  and  benevolence  when  you  say, 
“The  Samaritan  came  along  and  saw 
himself  in  the  wounded  man.” 

I appreciate  your  thoughtful  reflection, 
but  please  don’t  sit  back  as  one  who  has 
reached  a final  answer.  My  purpose  is 
to  help  you  to  a further  thoughtful  re- 
examination of  your  position.  May  God 
bless  your  search!  David  Janzen,  Niag- 
ara-on-the-Lake,  Ont.  April  6 


About  letters:  To  encourage  our  read- 
ers to  express  themselves  on  a variety  of 
issues,  we  try  to  use  all  letters  submitted 
for  publication.  Unsigned  correspon- 
dence, however,  will  not  be  published, 
though  we  may  withhold  names  for  valid 
reasons  in  a special  situation.  Editor. 


Contents 


Mark  9 282 

Three  from  Zaire  284 

News  286 

Record  291 

Call  to  faithfulness  293 

Letters  294 

Psalms  and  prayers  294 

Taking  our  feet  out  of  the  trough  . . 296 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Poet  Elizabeth  Searle  Lamb's  address  is 
4 Washington  Square  Village,  New  York, 
N.Y.  10012. 

Jake  Tilitzky  is  pastor  of  the  Eben 
Ezer  Church,  Abbotsford,  B.C.,  and  chair- 
man of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in 
Canada.  It  was  at  the  latter  organiza- 
tion's annual  council  of  boards  meeting 
in  January  that  he  presented  the  medita- 
tion which  appears  in  this  issue. 

Jeanne  Zook  directs  the  Tshikaji  nurs- 
ing school  in  Zaire.  Peter  W.  Buller,  who 
has  been  on  the  Bluffton  College  faculty 
for  the  past  two  years,  will  be  return- 
ing to  Kinshasa  later  this  year  to  join 
the  faculty  of  the  theological  institute. 

Lester  Janzen  is  director  of  stew- 
ardship and  communication  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church. 

Lawrence  Yoder  serves  under  MCC  in 
Indonesia. 

Barbara  Ward  is  a Christian  economist 
who  writes  regularly  for  the  National 
Catholic  News  Service,  which  has  granted 
us  permission  to  use  the  article  which 
appears  on  the  back  page. 

CREDITS 

Cover  and  292,  Religious  News  Service; 
287,  Ted  Koontz;  288,  Lawrence  Yoder; 
290,  D.  H.  Epp. 

Thp 

Mennonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67 1 14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0ST ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


HE  MENNONITE  295 


Taking  our  feet  out  of  the  trough 


Barbara  Ward 

If  we  admit,  with  President  Nixon,  that  inflation 
is  a most  dangerously  unjust  and  destabilizing 
force  in  society — rewarding  the  affluent  and  the 
speculators,  pushing  the  already  handicapped  fur- 
ther to  the  wall’ — we  have  to  ask  whether  it  in- 
vites any  specifically  Christian  response  or  re- 
sponsibility. Are  there  any  actions  or  policies 
which  Christian  citizens  can  pursue  in  the  hope 
of  lessening  the  evil  of  steadily  rising  prices  and 
steadily  increasing  pressure  on  the  poorest  sec- 
tions of  the  population? 

One  point  which  more  and  more  economists 
are  coming  to  underline  is  the  impossibility  of 
any  society  offering  steadily  rising  incomes  to 
everybody  without  inflation  following  as  an  un- 
avoidable consequence.  At  present  America  with 
some  200  million  citizens  represents  about  6 per- 
cent of  the  world’s  total  population.  But  it  con- 
sumes 40  percent  of  the  world’s  income.  If,  as 
some  projections  suggest,  the  average  per  capita 
income  of  the  over  300  million  North  Americans 
who  may  have  arrived  by  the  year  2000  will 
have  gone  up  to  between  $20,000  to  $30,000  a 
year,  North  Americans  alone  would  then  be  try- 
ing to  consume  eight  times  the  present  total  in- 
come of  the  entire  planet. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  at  some  point  in- 
comes have  to  stop  rising.  If  claims  do  not  be- 
come more  moderate,  there  simply  will  not  be 
energy  and  raw  materials  to  go  around — unless 
nearly  all  the  other  inhabitants  of  Planet  Earth 
were  to  keep  their  demands  to  a minimum  in 
order  to  help  North  Americans  to  go  on  getting 
richer. 

This  possibility  is  so  unlikely  that  I think  it  is 
quite  safe  to  say  that  if  our  present  course  con- 
tinues, then  sometime  in  the  next  decade  we  risk 
running  into  any  one  of  three  disastrous  alterna- 
tives. The  first  is  that  wages,  salary,  and  dividend 
claims  will  spiral  into  an  uncontrollable  “cost- 
push”  inflation.  The  second  is  that  the  hectically 
rising  demand  for  more  goods  will  push  up  the 
prices  of  increasingly  scarce  goods  into  an  un- 
controllable “demand-pull”  inflation.  The  third  is 
a depression  of.  1929  proportions,  with  a general 
collapse  of  incomes,  production,  welfare  and 
everything  else. 

Economists  can,  of  course,  suggest  a number 
of  technical  ways  of  avoiding  these  risks.  One  I 
have  discussed  already — a higher  proportion  of 


present  earnings  paid  in  the  shape  of  high,  guar- 
anteed, inflation-proof  incomes  after  sixty  as  old 
age  comes  on. 

Another  is  a graduated  tax  on  all  firms  whose 
payouts  — wages,  salaries,  dividends  — exceed  a 
“norm”  which  the  government  fixes  as  the  upper 
possible  limit  for  payments  in  any  one  year.  This 
is  a flexible  kind  of  income  control  since  firms 
responding  to  rising  demands  or  showing  higher 
productivity  can  afford  the  tax  and  will  still  grow, 
while  those  which  cannot  will  not  be  able  to  join 
in  any  general  cost-push. 

Another  possibility  is  for  firms  to  take  a fresh 
look  at  profit  sharing  so  that  the  mass  of  the 
workers  have  a greater  direct  interest  in  true 
profitability  and  productivity.  ...  In  short,  there 
are  a number  of  possible  answers  or  a combination 
of  answers.  But  few  citizens  want  to  take  their 
own  feet  out  of  the  trough. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  we  have  to  ask  whether 
there  is  any  particular  Christian  responsibility. 
Surely,  one  of  our  Lord’s  most  persistent  remind- 
ers was  of  the  danger  of  wanting  too  much  and 
becoming  caught  in  the  snare  of  what  we  call 
“high  consumption.” 

Whenever  the  Christian  community  has  begun 
to  renew  itself,  some  of  its  saints  and  prophets 
have  made  a new  effort  to  fight  against  the  enor- 
mous temptations  of  wanting  too  much.  As  Rome 
collapsed,  the  monks  went  into  the  desert.  As 
the  barbarians  took  over  Europe,  St.  Benedict  set 
up  his  monasteries  where  all  was  simplicity,  work, 
and  prayer.  As  the  first  wave  of  high  bourgeois 
prosperity  broke  over  medieval  Europe,  St.  Francis 
of  Assisi  made  Lady  Poverty  his  bride.  At  the 
beginnings  of  the  commercial  and  industrial  rev- 
olution in  England,  the  Quakers  rejected  all  lux- 
ury in  dress  or  manner. 

Not  all  Christians  feel  called  to  this  total  self- 
giving. But  is  there  not  a place  for  the  renewal 
of  the  idea  of  a “third  order”  of  Christian  people 
who,  voluntarily,  cut  back  their  consumption, 
abandon  the  dream  of  ever-rising  prosperity,  and 
begin  seriously  sharing  their  income  with  those 
who  are  in  the  greatest  need?  Can  we  be  sure 
that  such  an  example,  joyfully  made  and  ex- 
plained, might  not  set  social  tides  moving  away 
from  the  greedy  collective  pressures  which  feed 
first  inflation  and  then  disaster? 


The 

Meimonite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:19  MAY  8,  1973 


THE  STATE  OF  THE  MENHONITE  FAMILY ! 

* 


Of  all  the  myriad  types  of  social 
organizations  and  institutions  that  man- 
kind has  devised,  none  is  more  univer- 
sal or  more  persistent  than  the  family. 
It  seems  to  survive  all  onslaughts  of  war, 
pestilence,  famine,  poverty,  and  national 
disasters.  It  even  survives  the  blows  of 
radicals  who  hammer  away  at  the  phil- 
osophical and  moral  underpinnings  of 
family  idealism. 

The  survival  of  the  family  as  an  insti- 
tution, however,  says  little  about  the  well- 
being of  specific  families.  In  many  ways, 
the  North  American  family  system  has 
fallen  on  hard  times.  The  system  may 
survive  the  current  storms,  but  particu- 
lar families  and  individuals  are  getting 
badly  battered. 

The  toll  of  heartbreak,  disappoint- 
ment, and  bitterness  from  broken  mar- 
riages and  family  relationships  seems  to 
be  steadily  mounting.  Currently  nearly 
a third  of  all  American  marriages  are 
ending  in  divorce.  Among  those  who 
marry  before  the  age  of  twenty,  nearly 
one-half  are  showing  up  in  the  divorce 
court.  The  rising  rate  of  crime  and  de- 
linquency also  reflects  the  weakness  of 
our  modern  family  system. 

Mennonite  families  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  also  partake  in  the 
rising  tide  of  family  problems.  We  may 
have  built  some  protective  cultural  fences 
around  our  family  and  kinship  groups, 
but  we  have  no  immunity  to  the  de- 
structive forces  that  threaten  the  family 
system.  The  fact  that  our  divorce  and 
delinquency  rates  are  relatively  low  must 
not  soothe  us  into  a somnolent  compla- 
cency. 

What  is  the  state  of  the  Mennonite 
family?  It  all  depends  on  what  kind  of 
a bench  mark  we  use  for  making  judg- 
ments. If  we  compare  ourselves  with  the 
“average  American  family”  we  may  look 
pretty  good.  If  we  have  in  mind  a hoped- 
for  “ideal  family”  type,  we’ve  got  a lot 
of  trouble.  If  “husbands  love  your  wives,” 
“children  obey  your  parents,”  and  “pro- 
voke not  your  children  to  wrath”  be 
our  measuring  sticks,  who  among  us  does 
not  have  some  things  to  confess? 

Mennonite  families  have  a low  di- 
vorce rate.  According  to  a recent  survey 


of  3,591  members  in  five  Mennonite  and 
Brethren  in  Christ  denominations  (Church 
Member  Profile,  1972),  only  1 percent 
of  the  members  have  experienced  di- 
vorce or  separation.  Half  of  these  have 
remarried. 

We  can  assume  that  additional  divorces 
have  occurred  among  those  who  former- 
ly were  members  of  Mennonite  churches 
but  who  withdrew  in  the  face  of  strong 
attitudes  disfavoring  divorce.  Is  it  more 
difficult  to  show  love  than  to  show  criti- 
cism and  condemnation  toward  those 
caught  in  the  web  of  marital  failure? 

One  piece  of  research  indicated  that 
at  least  10  percent  of  Mennonite  couples 


Howard.  Kauffman 

are  relatively  unhappy  with  their  mar- 
riages. What  resources  does  the  church 
have  to  help  these  persons  in  difficulty? 

There  are  plenty  of  “generation  gap” 
problems.  The  North  American  “youth  \ 
culture”  of  the  1960s  has  made  an  im-) 
pact  on  Mennonite  youth  that  is  difficult) 
to  evaluate.  The  demands  for  freedom 
from  social  restraints,  the  experimenta- 
tion with  new  sets  of  values,  the  readi- 
ness of  youth  to  take  physical,  social,! 
and  moral  risks  all  serve  to  create  great 
anxieties  on  the  part  of  parents  for  the1 
welfare  of  their  children. 

Some  parents  and  youth  are  poles! 
apart  in  their  music  tastes,  views  on  cloth- 


Religion  continues  to  be  an  important  part  of  Mennonite  family  life.  Grace  at  meals 
is  regularly  observed  in  all  but  3 or  4 percent  of  families.  Above,  a family  starts  off 
a meal  during  a camping  trip  by  praying  audibly. 


298 


MAY  8,  1973 


ing  and  hair  styles,  attitudes  on  use  of 
| leisure,  use  of  money,  use  of  language, 
i etc.  It’s  not  that  the  new  youth  values 
are  always  wrong — they  are  different. 
And  the  differences  sometimes  cause  ten- 
sions that  weaken  parent-youth  relation- 
ships. In  more  serious  cases  the  gap  leads 
parents  and  their  children  to  “write  each 
other  off.”  There  is  enough  informal  evi- 
dence to  suggest  that  many  Mennonite 
families  suffer  these  “generation  gap” 
difficulties. 

Mennonite  families  share  in  the  gen- 
eral economic  affluence.  Evidence  from 
■ several  studies  indicate  that  the  Menno- 
nite family  income  distribution  in  the 
. U.S.  is  similar  to  that  of  the  nation  as 
/ a whole.  On  the  basis  of  Church  Member 
Profile  data,  the  average  Mennonite  fam- 
' ily  in  1971  had  an  income  of  about 
$10,400,  which  is  very  close  to  the  na- 
tional family  average.  However,  Menno- 
nite families  appear  to  have  somewhat 
smaller  proportions  in  the  very  poor  and 
the  very  rich  categories.  About  80  per- 
cent of  all  Mennonite  families  own  their 
own  homes,  which  is  well  above  a na- 
tional average  of  around  60  percent. 

Religion  in  family  life.  Mennonite 
families  attend  church  more  regularly 
than  families  in  most  Protestant  denom- 
inations. Seventy  percent  of  church  mem- 
■bers  report  attending  worship  services 
at  church  at  least  once  a week.  Another 
:23  percent  attend  “almost  every  week.” 
Forty-five  percent  of  families  indicated 
that  they  “have  a family  or  group  wor- 
ship, other  than  grace  at  meals.”  In  ad- 
ditional households,  family  members 
have  private  worship  and  Bible  study. 
Grace  at  meals  is  regularly  observed  in 
all  but  3 or  4 percent  of  families.  In 
about  three-fourths  of  the  homes,  grace 
is  always  or  usually  said  audibly;  in  the 
i remainder  it  is  usually  given  silently. 

Seventy-three  percent  of  married 
church  members  reported  the  spouse  be- 
; onged  to  the  same  denomination  at  the 
ime  of  their  wedding.  In  those  cases  of 
Tiarriage  across  denominational  lines, 
here  is  a strong  tendency  to  adjust  mem- 
bership one  way  or  another  so  that,  fol- 
owing  manriage,  both  spouses  belong  to 
he  same  church.  Only  6 percent  of  the 


church  members  reported  that  they  and 
their  spouses  presently  belong  to  differ- 
ent denominations.  No  doubt  many  of 
these  are  young  married  persons  who  will 
later  join  the  same  church. 

Mennonite  young  people  apparently 
do  not  begin  dating  and  do  not  enter 
marriage  as  early  as  is  true  for  the  na- 
tional population.  On  the  basis  of  limited 
data,  it  appears  that  both  dating  and 
marriage  among  Mennonites  begins  at 
least  two  years  later  on  the  average.  The 
typical  age  for  beginning  dating  is  fifteen, 
and  the  average  age  of  marriage  for 
Mennonite  men  and  women  is  about 
twenty-four  and  twenty-two  respectively. 

Family  size  is  declining.  Like  the  na- 
tion as  a whole,  American  Mennonites 
have  a declining  birth  rate.  This  is  prob- 
ably associated  with  increasing  urbani- 
zation, employment  of  women  outside 
the  home,  increased  knowledge  and  use 
of  birth  control,  and  the  desire  to  bestow 
family  resources  more  abundantly  upon 
fewer  children. 

Mennonites  reflected  the  long-time  de- 
cline in  birth  rates  into  the  1930s.  The 
post-World  War  II  peak  in  birth  rates 
was  reached  by  Mennonites  about  1953, 
according  to  a 1963  census  of  families 
in  the  Mennonite  Church.  The  national 
peak  did  not  come  until  1957.  Follow- 
ing the  1950s  both  national  and  Men- 
nonite rates  have  declined  to  an  all- 
time  low  at  present.  The  number  of  chil- 
dren born  to  Mennonite  families,  how- 
ever, tends  to  be  roughly  50  percent 
greater  than  the  national  average. 

The  status  of  women.  There  is  a lot 
of  discussion  these  days  over  questions 
of  women’s  rights  and  women’s  roles  in 
society.  In  respect  to  employment  of 
women  outside  the  home,  Mennonite 
women  keep  up  with  the  nation.  Accord- 
ing to  the  1970  U.S.  Census,  39.6  per- 
cent of  all  women  were  employed  (part 
time  or  full  time)  outside  the  home.  The 
figure  for  Mennonite  women  is  45.1  per- 
cent. Counting  only  Mennonite  house- 
wives, 38  percent  are  employed  at  least 
part  time.  Only  14  percent,  however, 
were  employed  full  time.  Even  among 
families  living  on  farms,  nearly  one- 
fourth  of  the  wives  are  supplementing 


the  family  income  by  working  away  from 
home  at  least  part  of  the  time. 

What  about  discrimination  against 
women?  Church  members  were  asked, 
“Do  you  believe  that  women  in  Canadian 
and  American  societies  are  being  dis- 
criminated against  and  denied  certain 
basic  rights?”  Eighteen  percent  of  the 
males  and  14  percent  of  the  females  an- 
swered yes. 

An  unusually  large  percentage  of  Men- 
nonite women  never  marry.  Among 
church  members  thirty-five  years  of  age 
and  over,  21.2  percent  of  females  and 
3.6  percent  of  males  have  never  mar- 
ried. Although  a few  will  marry  beyond 
this  age,  it  appears  that  about  one-fifth 
of  Mennonite  women  will  never  marry, 
compared  to  only  about  7 percent  of  all 
American  women.  The  discrepancy  be- 
tween male  and  female  marriage  rates 
among  Mennonites  is  apparently  due  to 
much  larger  numbers  of  males  leaving 
the  Mennonite  church  or  bringing  wives 
into  the  Mennonite  church  from  other 
backgrounds. 

Finally,  Mennonites  are  becoming  in- 
creasingly urbanized.  We  are  increasingly 
in  communication  with,  and  participating 
in,  the  activities  and  forces  shaping  the 
urban,  industrial,  technological,  and  com- 
mercial society.  Time  was  when  most 
Mennonites  lived  in  the  more  slowly 
paced,  relaxed  farm  situation.  Today 
only  one-fourth  of  Mennonite  males  over 
twenty  years  of  age  have  farming  as  their 
chief  occupation.  Thirty-five  percent  of 
families  are  living  in  towns  and  cities. 

Farming  is  a “family  affair”  and  facili- 
tates family  interaction  and  common  ac- 
tivities. Urban  families  need  to  work 
hard  at  the  job  of  achieving  meaningful 
interaction  and  shared  activities  between 
siblings  and  between  parents  and  chil- 
dren. And  whether  urban  or  rural,  the 
real  cement  that  binds  persons  together 
is  a Christian  faith  that  gives  meaning, 
purpose,  and  spiritual  strength  to  meet 
the  stresses  and  strains  of  living  in  to- 
day’s world.  Let’s  be  glad  for  the 
strengths  reflected  in  Mennonite  family 
life.  Let’s  have  courage  and  concern  to 
work  at  the  many  problem  situations 
that  our  families  encounter. 


HE 


MENNONITE 


299 


Would  you  say  that  again? 


Bernie  Wiebe 

There  are  over  sixty  million  households 
in  the  United  States.  Less  than  75  per- 
cent are  husband-wife  households  and 
over  20  percent  have  female  heads.  In 
1973,  about  one  million  children  will 
be  involved  in  divorce-proceedings.  The 
legitimate  birth  rate  is  drastically  declin- 
ing, but  the  illegitimate  birth  rate  con- 
tinues to  climb  very  sharply.1 

Paul  Popenoe,  director  of  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Family  Relations,  says: 
“Throughout  recorded  history,  one  civ- 
ilization after  another  has  ended  in  de- 
terioration and  downfall.  It  has  started 
with  a strong  virtually  monogamous  fam- 
ily life;  it  has  ended  with  deterioration 
and  decadence  of  the  family.”2 

Contemporary  family  pressures.  There 
is  a general  frustration  abroad  today 
about  the  family.  People  are  feeling  dis- 
illusioned enough  to  experiment  with 
open  marriages,  contract  marriages,  com- 
munal living  in  regular  as  well  as  ex- 
tended families,  and  with  nonmarriage. 
What  are  the  reasons? 

Leo  Tolstoi  says  in  Anna  Karenina : 
“Happy  families  are  all  alike  . . . every 
unhappy  family  is  unhappy  in  its  own 
way.”3  It  is  impossible  to  analyze  all 
the  pressures  upon  today’s  family.  But 
we  can  see  some  major  issues. 

Our  time  is  a time  of  the  feelings 
revolution.  In  a work-oriented,  pioneer- 
ing period,  people  need  all  their  energies 
to  make  a living.  In  an  age  of  affluence, 
leisure,  and  mechanization,  we  suddenly 
find  ourselves  with  an  abundance  of  en- 
ergies left  over.  At  first,  when  this  came 
upon  us,  we  directed  these  excess  emo- 
tional and  physical  energies  to  a reckless 
pursuit  of  boating,  golfing,  and  travel- 
ing. They  are  all  fun  but  of  themselves 
do  not  fill  the  vacancies  of  the  human 
emotional  structure.  Man  was  created  for 


fellowship  with  his  fellowman.  As  hu- 
man alienation  and  meaninglessness  in- 
creased, people  began  to  realize  the 
need  for  human  interaction.  Groups  have 
sprung  up  all  over  the  continent  and  in 
every  sphere  of  life.  People  “let  it  all 
hang  out.”  They  admit  their  loneliness 
and  find  eager  response  from  others 
who  are  equally  lonely.  Feelings  are  ex- 
plored and  expressed  at  the  “gut  level.” 

This  is  new  and  it  is  threatening.  There 
is  scarcely  a family  that  isn’t  “hurting” 
in  this  area. 

Our  families  are  experiencing  the  fail- 
ures of  scientism.  Ever  since  the  indus- 
trial revolution,  our  culture  has  largely 
been  shaped  by  its  scientific  impetus.  We 
weighed  the  pros  and  cons  and  made  our 
decisions.  Often  we  confused  spirituality 
with  “what  is  best”  in  pragmatic  terms. 
There  were  prophets  like  Sigmund  Freud 
who  warned  us  of  this  fallacy.  Freud 
said:  “In  minor  decisions,  weigh  the 
pros  and  cons.  ...  In  vital  matters,  de- 
cisions should  be  governed  by  the  deep 
inner  needs  of  our  nature.”4  Perhaps  it 
sounded  too  much  like  a charismatic 
talking  for  us  to  be  able  to  hear. 

Today  we  can’t  miss  it  in  our  fam- 
ilies. The  rules  of  logic  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  reasoning  do  not  provide  us 
with  a productive  approach  to  family 
living  and  communication.  The  marital 
context  more  and  more  finds  itself  regu- 
lated by  affective  or  nonrational  senti- 
ments. This  is  a clear  challenge  not  only 
to  western  scientism  but  also  to  much  of 
Christianity  which  has  prided  itself  in 
being  largely  rational. 

That  leads  us  to  the  third  pressure. 
Today’s  generation  feels  general  disillu- 
sionment with  the  accepted  philosophies 
and  religions.  My  own  children  wonder 
out  loud  why  and  how  we  can  live  in  a 


“Christian,”  “democratic”  country  and 
still  have  so  much  internal  crime,  vio- 
lence, injustice,  and  poverty  in  our  own 
country;  not  to  mention  our  unwilling- 
ness and  inability  to  share  our  affluence 
with  the  third  world.  We  are  the  product 
of  2,000  years  of  Christianity  and  hu-  > 
manitarian  philosophies.  Must  our  fam- 
ilies look  to  the  ancient  religions  and 
the  eastern  philosophers  for  a new  sense 
of  direction  and  purpose? 

Signs  of  hope.  Ever  since  the  Garden*, 
of  Eden  there  has  been  a persistent, 
though  uninformed  suspicion  in  most  off 
us  that  we  can  solve  our  own  prob- 
lems and  be  the  masters  of  our  own 
destiny.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that 
by  ourselves  we  can  only  be  consumed 
by  our  problems.  Harry  Stack  Sullivan, 
one  of  the  more  eminent  psychiatrists  of 
this  century,  propounded  the  theory  that; 
all  personal  growth,  all  personal  damage; 
and  regression,  as  well  as  all  personal 
healing,  comes  through  our  relationships 
with  others.  “What  I am,  at  any  given 
moment  in  the  process  of  my  becoming! 
a person,  will  be  determined  by  my  rela- 
tionships with  those  who  love  me  or  re- 
fuse to  love  me,  with  those  whom  I lovej 
or  refuse  to  love.”5 

We  are  convinced  today  that  in  an' 
ever-shrinking  world,  interpersonal  rela- 
tionships based  not  only  on  utility,  butj 
also  on  the  emotional  and  spiritual  di-j 
mensions,  are  absolutely  essential.  And 
society  has  the  natural  setting  for  this: 
the  family.  And  there  are  hopeful  signs. 

A critical  beginning  for  the  contempo- 
rary Christian  family  is  to  cultivate  thel 
art  of  listening.  James  said  it  long  ago: 
“Each  of  you  must  be  quick  to  listen, 
slow  to  speak,  and  slow  to  be  angry 
(1:19  neb).”  A careful  analysis  of  this 
text  shows  us  that  James  advocates  this 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  ana  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennoaife 
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300 


MAY  8,  197 


as  a basic  general  principle.  Our  prac- 
tice has  too  much  been  the  opposite. 
Even  when  we  listen  to  each  other,  we 
'often  don’t  do  it  in  order  to  hear.  We 
do  it  only  so  we  have  time  to  prepare 
our  next  barrage  of  words. 

In  1957  Ralph  Nichols  described  his 
jbook,  Are  you  listening?,  as  “the  first  close 
'analysis  ever  made  of  the  oldest,  most 
ased,  and  most  important  element  of  inter- 
personal communication  — listening ,”1 2 3 4 5 6 
Books  and  the  electronic  media  are  rel- 
ative newcomers  to  man.  Listening  has 
often  been  our  sole  medium  of  learning 
throughout  history.  In  our  schools, 
|churches,  and  families,  we  put  the  great- 
est emphasis  on  speaking  and  reading.  A 
person  cannot  comprehend  nearly  all 
the  communications  that  bombard  us 
from  every  direction.  This  forces  us  to 
become  sensitive  listeners.  We  need  to 
hear  each  other  both  verbally  and  non- 
i verbally.  So  much  of  what  happens  in 


the  family  is  never  spoken,  but  it  cer- 
tainly is  communicated!  Elton  Mayo  says: 
“One  friend,  one  person  who  is  truly 
understanding,  who  takes  the  trouble  to 
listen  to  us  as  we  consider  our  prob- 
lems, can  change  our  whole  outlook  on 
the  world.”7 

A second  critical  approach  for  today’s 
Christian  family  is  to  exercise  more  af- 
fection and  a little  less  protection.  Many 
families  try  to  “give”  their  children  ev- 
erything but  themselves.  We  buy  the  best 
toys  and  provide  cars  and  high  allow- 
ances because  we  want  our  children  to 
have  better  opportunities  in  life  than  we 
had.  We  had  to  work  hard  and  earn 
our  own  way  through  school,  but  they 
shall  not  have  to  do  that.  We  want  to 
protect  our  families  from  Knocks  Col- 
lege because  we  know  how  difficult  it 
sometimes  got  to  be.  But  that  is  a delu- 
sion! We  are  what  we  are,  believe  what 
we  believe,  feel  what  we  feel,  in  good 


measure  because  of  our  experiences. 
There  is  no  good  substitute  to  the  school 
of  real  life.  And  more  and  more  youth 
and  adults  are  opting  out  of  our  “well 
paved,  highly  oiled”  life  style  to  strike 
out  on  their  own. 

We  as  families  have  much  to  offer 
here.  There  is  no  person  who  does  not 
have  a need  to  be  loved.  Somehow  God 
created  man  with  that  innate  craving. 
Our  families  need  to  be  centers  of  love 
and  affection.  People  who  feel  loved  tend 
to  want  to  identify  with  such  a group. 
This  is  the  best  gift  any  family  can  pro- 
vide. Loving  relationships  are  the  best 
protection  for  facing  the  real  world.  This 
is  so  amply  demonstrated  again  and 
again  in  the  life  and  ministry  of  Jesus. 
The  heavenly  Father  allows  his  son  to  be 
tempted  in  every  way  as  we  are,  but  he 
remains  true  to  the  Father.  God’s  love 
sustains  him  even  to  a victorious  death 
on  the  cross. 

The  Mennonite  family.  We  as  Men- 
nonites  stand  in  the  position  of  poten- 
tially making  a tremendous  contribution 
to  Christian  family  living.  Our  history 
is  one  of  togetherness,  practical  disci- 
pleship,  and  nonresistance  or  nonviolent 
ways  of  dealing  with  conflict.  The  popu- 
lar song  says:  “What  the  world  needs 
now  is  love,  sweet  love.”  The  Menno- 
nite church  stands  in  the  unique  position 
of  having  a history  and  a theology  that 
are  relevant  to  the  contemporary  fam- 
ily. Our  families  have  not  escaped  the 
pressures  of  our  time,  but  we  have  a 
built-in  direction.  The  challenge  to  Men- 
nonite families  today  is  to  be  truly 
Anabaptist-Mennonite  as  first  taught  by 
our  predecessors.  The  Jesus  way  is  a 
way  of  peace  and  love.  It  is  also  the 
Mennonite  way.  It  is  the  way  to  cope 
with  today’s  family  pressures. 


1.  Ferris,  A.  L.  Indicators  of  change  in  the 
American  family.  New  York:  Russell  Sage,  1970. 

2.  Popenoe,  P.  Family  life , October  1970,  page  1. 

3.  Ackerman,  N.  W. ; Beatman,  F.  L.;  Sherman, 
S.  N.  Expanding  theory  and  practice  in  family 
therapy.  New  York:  Family  Service  Association  of 
America,  1967,  page  110. 

4.  Reik,  T.  Listening  zvith  the  third  ear.  New 
York:  Farrar,  Straus  and  Co.,  1949,  page  3. 

5.  Powell,  S.  J.  Why  am  1 afraid  to  tell  you  who 
I am?  Chicago:  Peacock  Books,  1969,  page  43. 

6.  Nichols,  R.  Are  you  listening?  New  York: 
McGraw-Hill,  1957,  foreword. 

7.  Ibid.,  page  49. 


Loving  relationships,  says  Bernie  Wiebe,  are  a family’s  best  protection  against  the 
challenges  of  the  world. 


HE  MENNONITE  301 


A 


ON1HE 

/MEANING 


'<v_ 
\ 


j Abraham  Schmitt 

1 As  I reflect  upon  the  flow  of  clients 
: through  my  office  1 am  left  with  nu- 
j merous  poignant  impressions  about  the 
| state  of  the  marriage  union  today.  The 
\ editor  thought  it  would  be  helpful  to 
share  some  of  the  predominant  themes 
that  keep  reappearing  and  have  made  a 
lasting  impression  on  me. 

“Let’s  find  out  whose  fault  it  is!” 

Many  people  think  of  the  problem 
within  marriage  as  being  someone’s  fault. 
This  would  indeed  be  simple  if  that  were 
the  case.  It  also  implies  that  someone  is 
doing  something  very  destructive  to  his 
spouse  deliberately  and  willfully.  The  so- 
I called  “problem”  in  a marriage  is  much 
I more  subtle  than  that,  and  almost  al- 
[ ways  has  more  to  do  with  something 
; other  than  what  couples  are  saying.  It  is 
I my  impression  that  what  really  hurts  in 
marriages  is  that  two  people  are  not 
growing,  and  the  marriage  is  not  mov- 
| ing  anywhere,  if  not  actually  deteriorat- 
ing. Most  couples  begin  counseling  with 
the  hope  that  I will  quickly  pinpoint  the 
guilty  party. 

“If  s your  fault!” 

Since  spouses  in  conflicting  marriages 
!are  unable  to  see  the  real  problem,  at 
least  not  within  themselves,  they  quickly 
conclude  that  it  must  be  the  spouse’s 
fault.  The  initial  intake  interview  is 
usually  a time  for  listing  the  hurts  of 
the  marriage  and  then  subtly  (and  some- 
times not  so  subtly)  blaming  the  spouse 
for  causing  the  marital  pain.  It  is  true 
that  it  really  feels  like  the  agony  is 
caused  by  the  spouse.  “If  he  only  would 
love  me  as  I love  him,  then  we  would 
not  be  here!”  It  is  my  task  then  to  move 
from  simple  fault  finding,  to  looking  at 
the  marriage  as  a whole,  in  terms  of  the 
interplay  of  two  people  from  the  moment 
they  met  until  the  present.  Why  has  the 
interplay  failed  to  bring  the  dividends 
that  two  people  need  from  a marriage? 
It  also  means  looking  toward  the  future 
in  terms  of  “Where  do  people  want  to  go 
in  life?”  For  Christians  their  marriage  is 
central  to  this  accomplishment  and  they 
know  it. 

“Then  if s my  fault!” 

People  who  have  been  so  accustomed 
to  find  the  culprit  cannot  stop  once  they 
realize  that  the  spouse  will  not  be  made 
the  scapegoat  in  the  counselor’s  office. 
The  next  move  is  to  quickly  turn  upon 
themselves  and  blame  themselves.  The 
haunting  notion  that  they  are  guilty  is 
often  just  below  the  surface.  This  can 


erupt  quickly  once  we  begin  exploring 
each  person’s  part  in  the  whole  system. 

“We  long  to  be  made  whole!” 

Early  in  the  counseling  process  I hear 
a voiceless  voice  calling  for  two  people 
in  the  marriage.  The  voice  simply  says, 
“We  are  longing  for  the  wholeness  that 
this  marriage  ought  to  provide  but  does 
not.”  For  me  to  articulate  in  concrete 
form  this  hope  for  the  marriage  quickly 
brings  relief  to  two  suffering  persons. 

It  is  my  distinct  belief  that  marriage 
as  a permanent  arrangement  between 
the  sexes  was  intentionally  done  by  the 
Creator  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  creat- 
ing offspring,  but  also  for  the  purpose  of 
creating  more  God-like  persons  in  every 
sphere  of  human  existence.  The  real  ag- 
ony of  conflicting  marriages  is  not  what 
people  do  to  each  other,  but  rather  what 
two  people  prevent  from  happening  in 
each  of  their  lives,  as  well  as  in  the  most 
sacred  relationship  on  earth. 

“I  need  to  be  me!" 

“You  are  exactly  right,  you  need  to 
be  you.”  That  is  the  place  to  begin  re- 
versing the  destructive  cycle.  I believe 
that  only  as  a person  is  capable  of  know- 
ing himself,  of  enjoying  being  himself, 
and  of  actually  loving  himself  is  he 
capable  of  loving  someone  else.  “The 
love  a man  gives  his  wife  is  the  extending 
of  his  love  for  himself  to  enfold  her.” 
Ephesians  5:28  (Phillips) 

Low  self-esteem  has  been  far  too  long 
equated  with  humility  and  thus  godliness. 
I believe  we  have  assumed  that  when  we 
despise  our  wrong  acts  this  also  means 
we  ought  to  despise  ourselves  as  being. 
The  real  truth  is  that  one  can  fully  rec- 
ognize one’s  imperfect  behavior  in  a 
repentant  way  and  yet  highly  esteem  one- 
self as  the  only  self  he  will  ever  be. 
“I  am  a very  special  piece  of  God’s  cre- 
ation that  is  given  to  me  to  be  and  some- 
day present  to  him  in  gratitude  for  al- 
lowing me  to  have  existed.” 

“And  you  must  be  you!” 

Acceptance  of  your  own  distinctive- 
ness as  a person  depends  to'  a large  de- 
gree on  someone  else  who  also'  values 
that  distinctiveness.  The  next  major  task 
in  counseling  is  to  help  two  people  ac- 
cept each  other’s  uniqueness — that  which 
makes  each  a special  part  in  the  whole, 
no  matter  how  different.  Difference  real- 
ly adds  breadth  and  beauty  to  any  rela- 
tionship. In  a union  where  great  varia- 
tion is  freely  accepted,  a great  span  of 
territory  exists  in  which  children  can 
grow. 


“We  need  to  touch  each  other.” 

As  the  process  of  the  destructive  cycle 
spins  on,  two  people  weave  a larger  and 
larger  web  around  themselves  which 
neither  one  can  penetrate.  I often  mea- 
sure the  distance  in  inches  that  partners 
sit  from  each  other  in  the  office,  and 
even  that  may  be  a forced  closeness. 
Man  needs  intimacy.  If  the  marriage 
fails,  it  fails  here  and  each  is  sent  wan- 
dering, a lonely,  hollow  man  in  a cold, 
impersonal  world. 

There  is  a miracle  in  touch.  There  is 
a special  nurturing  that  comes  from  be- 
ing physically  touched  by  another  per- 
son. To  be  invited  into  an  intimate  re- 
lationship such  as  marriage  enriches  a 
person  even  more. 

In  the  course  of  “wholeness  counsel- 
ing” two  people  suddenly  remove  the 
zene  around  themselves  and  reach  out  to 
the  one  they  need  the  most  on  earth. 
In  a special  way  they  know  and  love 
themselves  and  now  they  long  to  touch 
the  uniqueness  of  the  other  also.  The 
surprising  discovery  is  that  the  other  is 
starving  for  that  healing  hand  just  as 
he  does  and  the  balm  in  intimacy  is  re- 
turned. They  are  made  emotionally 
whole. 

“We  always  have  and  always  shall 
belong  to  each  other!" 

In  amazement  two  people  sit  in  the 
same  office  only  one-half  year  later 
marveling  at  the  grace  of  the  benevolent 
God  who,  even  while  they  appeared  so 
naive,  had  a hand  in  bringing  them  to- 
gether. He  was  already  at  work,  with  a 
great  plan  in  mind,  while  they  in  their 
childish  ignorance  were  only  playing 
around.  It  was  he,  too,  that  watched 
over  them  as  they  went  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death. 

There  was  a time  when  it  appeared 
so  wrong  that  they  ever  met,  least  of 
all  became  married  to  each  other.  Then 
when  the  fire  of  the  purifying  process 
began  to  die  down,  he  reached  out  and 
touched  them  again.  And  now  they  know 
that  their  destiny  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  must  be  in  and  for  each  other,, 
and  there  will  never  be  anyone  else.  A 
“unity  of  destiny”  ceremony  with  the 
fellowship  rejoicing  would  be  the  only 
fitting  response  to  so  beautiful  a closure. 

“And  they  lived  more  wholly  ever 
after!” 

I then  breathe  a prayer  of  gratitude 
for  having  been  permitted  to  be  a part 
of  this  sacred  healing  process,  for  I,, 
too,  have  been  healed. 


fHE  MENNONITE 


303 


Marriage  is  a partnership 


Jacob  W.  Elias 

I am  married  to  a minister’s  wife. 
Wives  of  ministers  constitute  a very 
small  minority  of  the  world  population, 
so  I count  myself  very  fortunate  to  have 
found  one. 

There  might  be  some  who  assume  that 
a ministerial  wedlock  is  in  some  sense 
other-worldly.  To  them  it  would  come 
as  a surprise  to  learn  that  there  is  no 
magic  ingredient  which  places  a pastor 
and  his  wife  in  a world  apart. 

Nothing  supernatural  happened  to  our 
five-year-old  marriage  when  in  October 
1968  I was  ordained  to  the  ministry. 
The  garbage  still  has  to  be  carried  out, 
the  children  still  get  into  each  other’s 
hair,  and  the  steak  is  sometimes  tough. 
We  are  beset  by  all  the  temptations 
which  are  common  to  man  except  per- 
haps those  temptations  which  come  with 
affluence. 

I know  from  intimate  personal  expe- 
rience that  ministers  and  their  wives  are 
human.  Lillian,  my  wife,  enjoys  quoting 
James  on  this  point:  “Elias  was  a man 
subject  to  like  passions  as  we  are”  (5:17, 

KJV). 

Having  insisted  that  a ministerial  mar- 
riage is  in  no  sense  other-worldly,  I ad- 
mit that  the  pressures  and  frustrations  of 
the  pastoral  ministry  are  unique.  This, 
however,  is  true  of  the  doctor,  or  the  car- 
penter, or  the  long-distance  trucker  as 
well.  Each  vocation  imposes  certain  lim- 
itations on  marital  togetherness  and  fam- 
ily life.  The  success  or  the  failure  of 
any  marriage  depends  in  large  measure 
on  how  the  marital  partnership  expresses 
itself  within  these  limits. 

Marriage  is  a partnership.  Lillian  and 
I have  not  concerned  ourselves  with  the 
question  of  rank:  Are  we  equal  partners, 
or  is  one  subordinate  to  the  other?  We 
have  found  that  if  we  are  agreed  on  our 
goals  there  is  no  conflict  of  roles.  If 
there  is  oneness  of  purpose  the  partner- 
ship works. 

Our  dating  years  are  fondly  recalled, 
not  because  we  went  to  many  flashy  so- 
cial events,  but  because  right  from  the 
beginning  we  discussed  matters  related 


to  our  life  purpose.  Both  of  us  were 
preparing  ourselves  for  a teaching  career, 
but  beyond  this  unity  of  vocational 
choice  was  a oneness  in  Christ.  I recall 
vividly  the  commitment  service  which 
concluded  a mission  rally  in  Saskatoon. 
When  the  invitation  was  given  for  us  to 
express  publicly  our  willingness  to  go 
wherever  the  Lord  would  lead,  Lillian 
and  I simultaneously,  but  independently, 
rose  to  our  feet. 

In  August  1963,  when  Lillian  and  I 
were  united  in  marriage,  there  were  sev- 
eral decisions  which  we  had  made  con- 
cerning our  future.  The  most  significant 
one  perhaps  was  that  after  a year  or  two 
of  teaching  we  would  enroll  for  studies 
at  seminary. 

Our  first  home  as  a married  couple 
was  Thompson,  Manitoba.  Our  partner- 
ship developed  at  several  levels  during 
those  two  honeymoon  years  in  the  north- 
land.  Professionally,  we  were  both  teach- 
ing. Domestically,  we  were  both  in  the 
dishwater.  And  we  were  both  intimately 
involved  in  the  life  and  ministry  of  the 
United  Mennonite  Church. 

There  was  some  specialization,  of 
course.  For  example,  Lillian  did  the  bak- 
ing, while  I did  the  laundry.  And  when 
it  came  to  giving  birth  to  our  firstborn, 
I was  little  more  than  a passive  on- 
looker. By  and  large,  however,  we  were 
equal  partners  in  what  was  proving  to 
be  an  exciting  enterprise. 

In  autumn  1965  we  arrived  in  Elkhart. 
Even  though  the  process  of  uprooting 
ourselves  from  the  security  of  the  teach- 
ing profession  was  somewhat  sobering, 
we  soon  adjusted  to  new  circumstances 
and  challenges  as  members  of  the  sem- 
inary family.  During  our  three  Elkhart 
years,  our  partnership  as  a husband-wife 
team  again  expressed  itself  at  several  dif- 
ferent levels. 

We  were  both  studying.  Lillian  took 
her  final  year  at  Goshen  College,  gradu- 
ating at  the  end  of  our  second  year  in 
Indiana.  Secondly,  we  were  both  work- 
ing. For  two  years  I had  a part-time  job 
as  Christian  education  director  in  a 


church  in  South  Bend.  Lillian  had  a half- 
time job  as  kindergarten  teacher  during 
our  last  year.  Thirdly,  we  both  took 
responsibility  in  the  home  and  with  the 
children.  I vividly  recall  reading  Barth’s 
Dogmatics  and  exegeting  the  Scriptures 
while  tending  two  babies,  one  having  just 
graduated  to  panties,  the  other  still  very 
much  dependent  on  diapers. 

The  next  chapter  in  our  partnership 
story — one  that  is  still  being  written — 
has  British  Columbia  as  its  setting.  We 
moved  to  Vancouver  in  response  to  a call 
from  the  Vancouver  Mennonite  Mission 
Church  (now  the  Mountainview  Menno- 
nite Church)  inviting  me  to  serve  as  their 
pastor.  In  these  new  circumstances  we 
again  found  ourselves  working  as  a team. 

However,  we  are  not  a “two  for  the 
price  of  one”  ministering  team,  in  which 
the  pastor’s  wife  doubles  as  church  sec- 
retary,  or  organist,  or  choir  director,  or 
Sunday  school  superintendent,  or  presi- 
dent of  the  sewing  circle,  or  any  com- 
bination of  these  positions.  Our  partner-  i 
ship  as  a ministering  couple  expresses , 
itself  in  other  less  tangible  ways.  In  fact, 
there  are  few  differences  between  our 
partnership  and  that  of  any  “lay”  min- 
istering couple  in  the  church. 

Often  it  is  in  the  agonizing  process  of 
dealing  with  differences  and  confronting 
problems  that  a marriage  partnership 
matures,  or  breaks.  As  I reflect  on  the 
years  of  our  more  settled  existence  fol- 
lowing the  seminary  years,  I realize  that 
we  have  dealt  with  a number  of  thorny 
issues.  For  example,  Lillian  and  I had 
differences  in  our  thinking  about  stew- 
ardship and  finances. 

In  our  postseminary  state  of  depressed 
finances,  we  found  it  necessary  to  do 
some  careful  budgeting.  We  had  debts 
to  pay,  a house  to  furnish,  and  the  car 
was  on  its  last  wheels.  I worried  too 
much,  and  therefore  I tended  to  question 
Lillian  too  closely  regarding  her  pur- 
chases. We  had  a number  of  heart-to- 
heart  talks  on  this  matter.  By  facing  up 
to  our  differences  we  are  becoming  part- 
ners in  seeking  first  the  kingdom  of  God. 


304 


MAY  8,  1973 


The  stewardship  of  our  time  has  been 
another  topic  of  frequent  discussion,  es- 
pecially in  trying  to  establish  how  much 
time  should  be  devoted  to  the  family. 
Shortly  after  our  arrival  in  Vancouver, 
the  tension  between  the  demands  of  the 
ministry  and  the  expectations  of  the 
family  came  to  a dramatic  head. 

A family  in  our  church  experienced 
the  tragic  death  of  their  son  in  a plane 
crash.  I found  myself  emotionally  in- 
volved with  this  grieving  family.  The  di- 
mension of  the  pastoral  ministry  that  I 
had  feared  most  was  that  of  ministering 
to  the  dying  and  the  bereaved.  Because 
of  my  feelings  of  inadequacy,  I probably 
became  overly  involved  in  this,  my  first 
grief  ministry  situation.  This  happened 
to  be  exactly  at  the  time  of  Lillian’s 
birthday  and  our  anniversary,  and  so  I 
was  tom  between  ministry  to  the  be- 
reaved family  and  spending  time  with 
my  family. 

The  most  significant  dimension  of  our 
marriage  partnership,  and  also  the  one 
that  still  needs  to  be  cultivated  the  most, 
is  our  partnership  in  prayer.  During  our 
dating  years  we  often  prayed  together. 
As  a married  couple  we  have  sometimes 
hit  dry  spots,  during  which  we  prayed  to- 
gether only  infrequently. 

My  need  for  intimate  prayer  fellow- 
ship is  often  met  in  other  contexts,  in 
Bible  study  groups  or  ministerial  fellow- 
ships, and  so  I tend  to  become  insensitive 
to  Lillian’s  spiritual  needs.  We  have  re- 
cently experienced  anew  the  joy  of  in- 
timate prayer  fellowship,  especially  as 
we  pray  together  conversationally.  A 
Christian  growth  group  has  also  helped 
us  in  experiencing  more  fully  the  dy- 
namic power  of  prayer  partnership. 

Marriage,  we  have  found,  is  an  excit- 
ing partnership,  especially  as  we  together 
seek  to  serve  the  same  Lord.  We  praise 
God  for  his  leading.  We  feel  that  the 
most  important  asset  in  any  marriage  is 
the  unity  of  purpose  which  comes  from 
being  one  in  Jesus  Christ. 


BLESS  THIS  HOME 

Bless,  O Lord,  this  home. 

Fill  each  room  with  your  presence. 

Teach  us  anew  how  to  live  here  without  hurting  each  other  by 
harsh  words  or  unkind  actions. 

Deepen  our  trust  in  one  another  so  that  we  can  honestly 
accept  each  other  as  we  are. 

Show  us  that  here  we  do  not  have  to  impress. 

In  such  fellowship — -help  us  to  know  you  better  so  that  we  in 
turn  may  be  unafraid  to  know  ourselves. 

And  as  we  go  back  into  the  world — help  us  to  go  forth 
with  your  confidence. 

Amen. 


Blaise  Levai 


THE  MENNONITE 


305 


NEWS 


India  mission  properties  transferred 


Twenty  major  properties,  primarily  hos- 
pitals, schools,  and  missionary  dwellings 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Mission  in  India,  were  transferred  to  the 
Evangelical  Trust  Association  of  North 
India  (etani)  on  March  30. 

The  action  transferred  legal  ownership 
from  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church,  New- 
ton, Kansas.  The  decision  to  transfer  had 
been  made  jointly  by  nationals  and  mis- 
sionaries last  October  and  culminated 
nearly  twenty  years  of  planning. 

Missionaries  from  several  groups  be- 
gan planning  in  the  early  1950s  for  a 
trust  association  in  central  India.  But 
because  of  the  withdrawal  of  some  of 
the  major  members,  this  attempt  had  to 
be  abandoned.  In  the  1960s  another  at- 
tempt resulted  in  the  formation  of  etani, 
which  now  has  about  twenty  member 
denominations  which  have  transferred  or 
are  planning  to  transfer  property. 

Missions  were  spurred  to  more  imme- 
diate action  in  August  1972,  when  the 
Foreign  Exchange  Regulation  bill  was 
introduced  in  the  Indian  Parliament.  One 
provision  of  the  bill  prohibits  the  hold- 
ing of  property  by  a foreign-based  or- 
ganization. 

At  the  urgent  request  of  mission  lead- 
ers, the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion sent  Lubin  Jantzen,  com  candidate 
secretary  and  former  missionary  in  In- 
dia, to  India  in  December.  He  was  fa- 
miliar with  land  papers  and  legal  pro- 
cedures from  his  previous  assignment  in 
India  and  gave  full  time  for  about  four 
months  this  winter  to  preparing  the  nec- 
essary documents. 

Mr.  Jantzen  said  that  the  transfer 
“means  that  the  lands  which  were 
bought  by  missionaries  in  India  down 
through  the  years  and  the  buildings 
which  were  built  by  dedicated  funds 
donated  by  many  local  supporters  of 
General  Conference  missions  will  con- 
tinue to  serve  the  purpose  for  which 
they  were  bought  and  built.” 

In  addition,  all  church  buildings,  par- 
sonages, and  cemeteries  still  owned  in 
North  America  were  transferred  to  the 
church  conference  in  India. 

The  Evangelical  Trust  Association  of 
North  India  was  organized  specifically 


for  the  purpose  of  holding  legal  title  to 
properties  and  ensuring  that  each  prop- 
erty will  be  used  for  the  Christian  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  originally  obtained. 

Com  staff  said  that  examples  abound 
in  India  and  other  countries  where  prop- 
erties formerly  owned  by  missions  have 
been  used  by  individuals  or  small  groups 
for  personal  gain  or  where  they  have 
become  the  source  of  power  struggles. 

Officers  of  etani  are  M.  K.  Hanbar- 
hatty,  chairman,  a retired  judge  and 
Christian  leader  near  Bombay;  I.  Ben 
Wati,  vice-chairman,  executive  secretary 
of  the  Evangelical  Fellowship  of  India; 
and  B.  N.  Banerjee,  secretary,  a lawyer 
who  has  had  previous  experience  with 
the  Ford  Foundation  in  New  Delhi. 

Com  staff  said  that  the  transfer  of 
property  should  not  be  interpreted  as  a 
step  toward  phasing  out  com  involve- 
ment in  India. 

At  its  February  meeting,  com  affirmed 
a continuing  missionary  presence  in  In- 


The  news  media  in  many  cases  are  not 
discussing  the  real  issues  behind  the  oc- 
cupation of  Wounded  Knee,  South  Da- 
kota, by  members  of  the  American  In- 
dian Movement  (aim),  according  to  an 
American  Baptist  Indian  leader  who  was 
there. 

James  L.  West,  a member  of  aim  and 
chairman  of  the  American  Baptist 
Churches’  Indian  Caucus,  moved  freely 
through  roadblocks  set  up  by  both  aim 
and  the  Justice  Department  in  an  effort 
to  serve  as  a communications  link  be- 
tween the  two  factions. 

But  Mr.  West  cautioned  that  there  is 
a third  party  in  the  dispute  that  is  not 
getting  adequate  attention — the  tribe. 

“One  of  aim’s  primary  issues,”  he 
said  in  an  interview,  “is  tribal  sovereign- 
ty, which  was  a key  issue  of  the  Treaty 
of  1868.  Aim  was  brought  to  Wounded 
Knee  as  representatives  of  the  Oglala 
Sioux  people  to  talk  about  the  issues  in- 
volved in  the  Treaty  of  1868.  To  talk 
about  the  treaty’s  tribal  issues,  you’ve  got 
to  involve  the  tribe.  This  can’t  really  be 
dealt  with  unless  the  tribe  is  part  of  it.” 


dia  as  long  as  doors  remain  open.  The 
staff  said  the  transfer  was  also  in  har- 
mony with  the  Goals-Priorities-Strategy 
statement  of  June  1972,  in  which  prior- 
ity three  calls  for  “transfer  of  adminis- 
trative authority,  responsibility,  and  ac- 
countability to  national  leadership,  prac- 
ticing an  active  brotherhood  during  and 
beyond  transition.” 

To  further  develop  brotherhood  rela- 
tionships with  the  church  in  India,  a 
delegation  representing  the  commission 
will  visit  India  in  August  and  Septem- 
ber. 

The  delegation  will  include  Elmer 
Neufeld,  commission  chairman;  Howard 
Habegger,  com  executive  secretary;  Ver- 
ney  Unruh,  secretary  for  Asia;  and  Rob- 
ert Ramseyer,  director  of  the  Overseas 
Mission  Training  Center  in  Elkhart,  In- 
diana. 

The  General  Conference  mission  was 
the  second  to  complete  the  transfer  of 
its  properties  to  etani,  Mr.  Jantzen  said. 


Nevertheless,  Mr.  West  pointed  out, 
“Everybody  ignores  the  tribe.  Aim  ig- 
nores the  tribe.  The  Justice  Department 
ignores  the  tribe.  Even  the  National 
Council  of  Churches,  when  it  came  to 
Wounded  Knee,  ignored  the  tribe.” 

Mr.  West  conceded  that  the  question 
“had  to  be  raised”  whether  the  tribal 
council,  headed  by  Richard  A.  Wilson, 
was  responsive  to  the  will  of  the  people. 
He  supported  the  idea  of  a tribal  refer- 
endum to  settle  the  question  of  tribal 
leadership. 

One  thousand  books  given 
to  Hopi  Mission  School 

An  entire  library  of  1,000  children’s 
books  has  been  donated  to  Hopi  Mission 
School,  Oraibi,  Arizona,  by  the  Polacca 
(Arizona)  Baptist  Church. 

The  Polacca  Church,  a Hopi  congre- 
gation in  the  American  Baptist  Con- 
vention, has  been  considering  closer  co- 
operation with  the  Mennonite  Hopi  con-  I 
gregations  in  directing  and  supporting  1 
the  work  of  the  Hopi  Mission  School.  ■' 


Tribe's  needs  being  overlooked 


306 


MAL  8,  1973  ; 


International  team  assists  at  Vietnam  clinic 


Vietnamese  student  nurses  work  with  an  eye  patient  at  the  Nhatrang  evangelical 
clinic.  Seven  international  MCC  volunteers  assist  with  the  work  at  the  clinic. 


A Japanese  nurse,  an  Indian  lab  tech- 
nician, and  a North  American  doctor, 
maintenance  worker,  and  nursing  in- 
structor are  working  with  Vietnamese 
employees  at  the  Evangelical  Clinic  in 
Nhatrang,  South  Vietnam.  The  clinic 
serves  the  city’s  civilian  population  of 
100,000. 

The  clinic,  founded  by  the  Evangelical 
Protestant  Church  of  Vietnam  and  mcc 
in  1960,  offers  outpatient  and  inpatient 
care,  eye  surgery,  and  hospitalization  for 
patients  with  active  tuberculosis.  All 
seven  of  the  foreign  professional  staff 
are  presently  sponsored  by  mcc. 

The  clinic  began  with  a six-bed  ca- 
pacity and  expanded  to  a 120-bed  hos- 
pital, including  a sixty-bed  tuberculosis 
ward.  The  wards  are  sparsely  equipped 
with  hard  board  beds  covered  with  mats. 
The  patients’  meals  are  prepared  by  their 
relatives  in  an  assigned  building.  Pa- 
tients who  are  unable  to  afford  hospital- 
ization are  allowed  free  hospital  care. 

The  clinic’s  public  health  program  in- 
cludes an  immunization  clinic.  A Viet- 
namese employee  immunizes  patients 
against  polio,  cholera,  diphtheria,  tetanus, 
typhoid,  and  smallpox  without  expense 
to  the  patient. 

Jean  Hershey,  R.N.,  trains  student 
nurses  in  a growing  educational  program. 
Mcc  has  financed  an  assistant  nurse 
school  at  Nhatrang  since  1968.  Ninety- 
:wo  percent  of  the  Nhatrang  nursing  staff 
ire  trained  at  the  school.  The  hospital 
idministrator,  Pastor  Tuyen,  intends  to 
expand  student  enrollment  so  the  hos- 
pital can  send  graduates  to  work  else- 
where as  well. 

Dr.  Norman  Blair  takes  special  in- 
erest  in  the  clinic’s  ophthalmology  pro- 
gram. Although  he  had  not  had  ophthal- 
nological  training  before  he  went  to 
/ietnam,  he  has  learned  a great  deal  at 
Nhatrang  about  eye  diseases  and  surgery, 
n five  months  of  surgery,  Dr.  Blair  ex- 
racted  100  cataracts,  and  handled  thirty 
;laucoma  procedures  and  over  fifteen 
►ther  eye  surgical  cases. 

“Due  to  the  prevalence  of  eye  dis- 
ase  and  the  unavailability  of  care,  our 
tospital  has  provided  eye  care  to  the  poor 
ivilian  population  in  our  area  since 
965,”  Dr.  Blair  reported. 

One  new  service  is  providing  eye  glass- 
s.  “Not  only  are  glasses  the  definitive 
reatment  for  many  of  our  patients,  but 
: is  helpful  to  know  how  much  of  a 
atient’s  visual  impairment  can  be  cor- 
seted by  lenses  and  how  much  is  due  to 


other  diseases.  In  addition,  all  cataract 
patients  need  to  wear  glasses,”  Dr.  Blair 
said. 

The  clinic  is  attempting  to  expand  pub- 
lic health  aspects  of  eye  care,  too. 

An  Indian  lab  technician,  Dev  Deva- 
doss,  and  his  family  arrived  in  Vietnam 
March  31.  For  the  past  two  and  a half 
years  Dev  has  been  serving  as  a lab 
technician  at  the  Shyamnagar  Christian 
Hospital,  operated  by  the  Mennonite 
Christian  Service  Fellowship  of  India 
medical  board. 

Ann  Noel  Ewert,  a nurse  in  language 
study  in  Vietnam,  will  join  the  Nhatrang 
staff  soon. 

Manitoba  offender 
ministry  expanded 

Mcc  (Manitoba)  will  be  enlarging  its 
ministry  to  offenders  this  summer.  It 
recently  approved  two  appointments  to 
head  up  the  expanded  program. 

C.  N.  Friesen,  who  has  been  director 
of  Grosvenor  Place  here  since  its  begin- 


ning in  1971,  will  become  director  of  a 
person-to-person  type  of  program  which 
will  match  up  volunteers  with  men  in 
the  province’s  jails.  This  new  arm  of 
mcc’s  offender  ministry  will  also  pro- 
vide job  training  and  placement  services 
for  released  prisoners. 

Henry  Dueck  has  been  named  to  suc- 
ceed C.  N.  Friesen  as  director  of  Gros- 
venor Place.  Mr.  Dueck  and  his  wife, 
Marie,  have  been  houseparents  at  the 
probation  hostel  since  it  was  opened 
two  years  ago. 

COM  is  looking  for  teacher 
for  missionaries’  children 

An  experienced  teacher  for  missionaries’ 
children  in  Taiwan  is  needed  by  Septem- 
ber, according  to  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission. 

The  assignment  calls  for  two  to  three 
years  teaching  at  the  Hwalien  Christian 
School,  Hwalien,  Taiwan.  Applicants 
with  two  to  three  years’  experience  may 
contact  the  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas. 


E MENNONITE 


307 


Cave  and  well  found 
at  Germantown  site 

Volunteer  workers  at  the  Germantown 
project  in  Philadelphia  recently  were  re- 
warded with  some  exciting  discoveries. 
For  over  four  years,  men  and  women 
have  been  working  on  Saturday  to  reno- 
vate the  apartment  house.  On  February 
17  it  was  decided  to  investigate  a strange 
passageway  leading  from  the  basement. 

Eleven  men  from  Indian  Valley,  Grace, 
Plains,  and  Germantown  Mennonite 
churches  removed  about  twenty  tons  of 
ashes  and  debris  from  an  underground 
room.  Over  300  old  bottles,  pots,  earth- 
enware, and  miscellaneous  items  were 
found  in  the  refuse.  The  floor  of  the 
hidden  room  was  found  lined  with  bricks. 
In  the  far  corner  was  a well  full  of 
ashes  and  debris. 

Called  to  the  scene  was  John  Cotter 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  fac- 
ulty. He  and  his  archaeology  class  came 
to  evaluate  the  discovery  and  advise  on 
the  remaining  excavations  to  be  done. 
Mr.  Cotter  recommended  that  workers 
proceed  to  excavate  the  well,  carefully 
saving  all  the  bits  of  glass  and  other 
objects. 

It  was  determined  that  the  cave  and 
well  were  from  a previous  dwelling  lo- 
cated on  this  site.  The  ashes  and  debris 
appear  to  be  at  least  100  years  old. 

Plans  are  under  way  to  keep  the  col- 
lection intact  and  to  exhibit  the  items  at 
the  Germantown  center.  Meanwhile  the 
collection  will  be  given  further  study  in 
an  effort  not  only  to  date  the  earlier 
dwellings,  but  to  learn  more  about  the 
history  of  early  Germantown. 

Administrators  of  the  center  are  Ro- 
man and  Marianna  Stutzman.  The  proj- 
ect’s information  center  at  6117  German- 
town Ave.  in  Philadelphia  is  active  and 
is  open  to  tourists  and  visitors.  It  is  the 
location  of  the  first  Mennonite  meeting- 
house in  North  America. 


Switzerland  will  allow 
alternative  service  option 

After  a fifty-six-year  debate,  the  Swiss 
Government  has  finally  agreed  to  allow 
conscientious  objectors  an  alternative  to 
military  service. 

Persons  who  object  to  the  draft  on 
the  grounds  of  “religious  or  personal 
conscience”  may  work  as  civilians  in  the 
public  interest  for  an  equivalent  period 
of  time. 

Until  now,  anyone  refusing  military 
service  had  to  serve  a mandatory  jail 
sentence. 


Interreligious  film  awards  given 

The  emigrants,  a film  about  a Swedish  family  in  the  U.S.,  and  Sounder,  the  story  of 
a black  sharecropper  family  during  the  depression,  have  received  the  1972  Inter- 
religious  Film  Awards.  The  citations  are  presented  by  the  National  Council  of 
Churches,  the  U.S.  Catholic  Conferences,  and  the  Synagogue  Council  of  America. 
The  emigrants,  directed  and  photographed  by  Jan  Troell,  was  honored  for  telling  its 
story  of  nineteenth-century  emigrants  “with  consummate  artistry  and  luminous 
grace.”  In  a scene  from  the  film  at  top,  actress  Liv  Ullmann  and  actor  Max  von 
Sydow  and  their  screen  family  land  in  New  York  after  an  Atlantic  crossing  from 
Sweden.  Sounder,  produced  by  Robert  B.  Radnitz  and  directed  by  Martin  Ritt,  was 
praised  for  its  portrayal  of  the  “forging  of  a youngster’s  self-image  of  dignity  through 
the  strength  of  a father’s  love  and  his  family’s  support  in  the  midst  of  external  hard- 
ships and  poverty.”  Below,  in  a light  moment  from  the  movie,  are  actors  Paul  Whit- 
field, Yvonne  Jarrell,  Eric  Hooks,  Cicely  Tyson,  Kevin  Hooks,  and  Taj  Mahal. 


308 


MAY  8,  1973 


Peace  Section  puts  women's  items  on  agenda 


Following  a major  presentation  on  wom- 
en and  the  church  by  several  women 
' members  of  the  mcc  Peace  Section  and 
I others  present,  the  Section  at  its  spring 
meeting  in  Ottawa  took  the  following 
action: 

“Moved  that  the  mcc  Peace  Section  ex- 
press its  appreciation  to  the  women 
members  and  participants  in  this  session. 
We  are  grateful  that  they  have  sensitized 
the  male  members  to  faulty  use  of  lan- 
j guage,  distorted  values,  inadequate  bib- 
I lical  interpretation,  and  discrimination 
i against  women  in  church  and  societal 
' structures. 

“The  Peace  Section  accepts  the  chal- 
i lenge  to  place  women’s  interests  on  its 
continuing  agenda  and  supports  bring- 
ing these  concerns  to  the  attention  of 
the  church  via  a variety  of  forms  and 
j offers  its  resources  for  such.  The  Peace 
Section  appoints  a subcommittee  of  the 
women  members  of  the  Section  along 
j with  Luann  Habegger  and  Ted  Koontz 
as  staff  persons  to  pursue  the  suggested 
goals.” 

The  decision  to  work  on  women’s 
I concerns  was  seen  as  natural  in  light 
I of  the  Section’s  related  mandates.  Feme 
Umble,  Peace  Section  member  repre- 
senting the  Women’s  Mission  and  Service 
Commission  of  the  Mennonite  Church, 
and  Luann  Habegger,  of  the  Peace  Sec- 
tion Washington  Office  staff,  pointed  out 
i that  Peace  Section  has  long  worked  to 
overcome  discrimination  in  its  various 
forms  and  that  discrimination  based  on 
. sex  should  also  be  addressed.  Since  the 
Peace  Section  has  sought  to  call  persons 
; to  follow  Christ  by  freeing  others  from 
cultural  barriers  which  make  full  hu- 
man life  impossible,  it  should  deal  with 
[the  barriers  set  up  along  sexual  lines 


HELP  WANTED 


MENTAL  RETARDATION 
AIDES 

• Bus  driver /maintenance  worker,  vocational 
[rehabilitation  aide,  and  group  home  couple 
I in  program  sponsored  by  Elkhart  County 
Association  for  the  Retarded  in  Elkhart, 
Indiana.  Aide  therapist  at  Wheat  Ridge 
State  Home  and  Training  School  in  Arvada, 
[Colorado.  Variety  of  aide  positions  at  Pa- 
cific State  Hospital  in  Upland,  California. 
[All  positions  open  in  summer  or  fall.  Some 
[college  preferred.  No  experience  necessary. 
Voluntary  Service  support  of  room,  board, 
! travel,  and  $25  a month  provided.  Write: 
Personnel  Office,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas 
67114. 


which  restrict  the  life  options  of  women. 

“The  domination  of  one  person  or 
group  by  another  is  at  the  base  of  war, 
racism,  and  sexism,”  Ms.  Habegger  no- 
ted. “Ending  domination  by  men  in  re- 
lations between  the  sexes  is  one  way  to 
work  at  the  root  causes  of  war  and 
racism.” 

A central  biblical  theme  is  the  libera- 
tion of  persons,  Dorothy  Nyce  contend- 
ed in  her  presentation  to  the  Section  en- 
titled, “Male  and  female  he  created 
them.”  Surveying  the  biblical  material, 
Ms.  Nyce  concluded  that  Jesus  is  the 
liberator  of  persons,  including  women, 
and  that  many  of  the  restrictions  placed 
on  women  in  our  society  are  based  on 
cultural  patterns,  not  the  teachings  of 

COM  names  new  publication 
Mary  Rempel  will  be  editor 

Encompass,  a new  overseas  mission  pub- 
lication, will  appear  for  the  first  time 
next  September  under  the  editorship  of 
Mary  Rempel. 

The  eight-page  quarterly  magazine  will 
replace  the  papers  formerly  published  by 
missionaries  in  Japan,  Taiwan,  India, 
and  Colombia  and  will  be  inserted  in 
The  Mennonite  and  Der  Bote,  the  of- 
ficial publications  of  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church. 

Other  copies  will  go  free  of  charge  to 
churches  not  members  of  the  Every 
Home  Plan  for  The  Mennonite  or  Der 
Bote,  subscribers  to  Missions  today  who 
do  not  receive  another  conference  pub- 
lication, and  other  individuals  not  mem- 
bers of  General  Conference  churches. 
Circulation  will  be  about  30,000. 

Howard  Habegger,  executive  secretary 
of  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
said  Encompass  would  be  a com  publi- 
cation to  share,  inform,  and  report  over- 
seas mission  and  church  news  in  all  ten 
countries  in  which  com  works.  It  will 
not  be  a mission  journal  or  be  used  for 
fund  raising. 

Com  will  underwrite  all  costs  of  the 
new  publication,  which  will  be  evaluat- 
ed after  two  years. 

The  new  editor,  Mary  Rempel  of 
Hesston,  Kansas,  was  to  begin  her  part- 
time  duties  May  1. 

Ms.  Rempel  has  edited  the  Leaders’ 
resource  manual  for  Young  Mission 
Workers,  was  editor  of  Unser  Missions- 
blatt  for  three  years,  and  has  been  ed- 
itorial assistant  for  Bibel  Studien  for  ten 
years. 


Jesus.  Just  as  Peace  Section  calls  on  per- 
sons to  follow  the  cross  rather  than  the 
flag,  it  should  in  this  case  help  the  church 
listen  to  the  voice  of  God  rather  than 
the  voice  of  culture. 

Feme  Umble  presented  several  propos- 
als for  action  which  the  Peace  Section 
committee  on  women  will  explore. 
Among  them  were  suggestions  to  assist 
in  establishing  a communications  link 
among  persons  interested  in  women’s 
concerns,  to  develop  a series  of  essays 
on  women  and  the  Mennonite  church, 
to  help  get  more  women  on  church  com- 
mittees and  boards,  and  to  have  at  least 
one  woman  give  a major  address  on 
women’s  concerns  at  the  next  Peace 
Section  Assembly. 

The  feeling  of  those  at  the  Peace  Sec- 
tion meeting  is  well  summarized  in  this 
observation  made  by  Ms.  Habegger: 
“Women  are  being  freed  with  a new 
self-respect  and  are  calling  on  the  church 
to  allow  us  to  develop  and  use  our  full 
potential.”  To  this  the  church  must  surely 
respond. 

Three  denominations  will 
publish  joint  curriculum 

Three  groups  have  agreed  to  be  publish- 
ing partners  in  the  new  Anabaptist  cur- 
riculum for  use  in  children’s  classes  in 
the  church. 

Participating  in  the  publishing  coun- 
cil for  the  curriculum  will  be  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church,  rep- 
resented by  Frank  Ward  and  Dick  Rem- 
pel of  the  Commission  on  Education; 
Mennonite  Church,  represented  by  Paul 
Lederach  and  Ben  Cutrell  of  Mennonite 
Publishing  House;  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
Church,  represented  by  Erwin  Thomas 
and  Don  Shafer. 

The  Church  of  the  Brethren  will  not 
be  a publishing  partner,  but  will  be  a 
“participating  user”  with  a member  on 
the  editorial  council. 

Other  believers’  church  groups  which 
discussed  the  possibility  of  the  curricu- 
lum have  said  no.  The  U.S.  Mennonite 
Brethren  will  not  participate,  and  the 
Canadian  Mennonite  Brethren  have  not 
yet  made  their  final  decision. 

The  publishing  council  will  have  an 
organizational  meeting  May  21-22  to 
plan  administration,  appoint  an  execu- 
tive director  of  the  project,  and  discuss 
the  makeup  of  the  editorial  council, 
which  will  be  directly  responsible  for 
the  production  of  material. 


THE  MENNONITE  309 

! 


REVIEW 

Growing  old  — a family  affair 


Growing  old  is  a family  affair,  by  Dor- 
othey  Bertolet  Fritz  ( John  Knox  Press, 
Richmond,  Virginia,  1972,  96  pp.,  $2.50) 
is  reviewed  by  Elizabeth  Enns,  St.  Cath- 
arines, Ontario,  who  is  a nurse,  home- 
maker, and  pastor’s  wife. 

This  book  is  stimulating  and  informa- 
tive. It  is  directed  at  middle-aged  peo- 
ple who  are  or  ought  to  be  preparing 
for  old  age.  1 approach  book  reviews 
with  some  fear  because,  as  many  other 
readers,  I often  hear  what  possibly  was 
not  said  or  meant  by  the  author. 

Last  evening,  while  on  hospital  duty, 
I answered  a call  bell  and  found  a deep- 
ly distressed  lady.  “I’m  all  shook  up. 
The  doctor  says  I must  leave  my  home 
and  enter  a nursing  home  and  maybe 
live  in  a semiprivate  room  for  the  rest 
of  my  life.  I am  just  not  pliable  any- 
more. I love  solitude.  O God!  I’m  all 
shook  up!”  These  and  similar  problems, 
familiar  to  many  of  us,  are  discussed  in 
the  book. 

Dorothy  Fritz  tells  how  she  too  was 
“shook  up”  when  at  sixty-five  she  re- 


tired and  realized  that  now  she,  to- 
gether with  her  ninety-year-old  mother, 
belonged  to  a class  of  people  known  as 
geriatrics!  Not  only  that,  they  had  be- 
come part  of  a serious  social  problem 
of  our  day,  old  age. 

The  author  dispels  some  myths  about 
aging.  Seventy  percent  of  people  over 
sixty-five  do  not  live  alone.  Only  3 to  4 
percent  live  alone,  and  these  are  main- 
ly women.  People  up  to  seventy  years  of 
age  are  relatively  healthy.  Less  than  1 
percent  are  really  senile  and  less  than 
10  percent  have  hardening  of  the  ar- 
teries and  their  brain  continues  to  re- 
main active. 

When  I first  began  to  read  the  book, 
I received  a depressing  impression  that 
somehow,  unless  people  cultivate  the 
art  of  being  “nice,”  they  might  as  well 
forget  about  being  worthwhile.  I was 
bothered  by  comments  such  as,  "For 
every  elderly  person  who  is  unnecessarily 
shabby,  out  of  fashion,  poorly  groomed, 
there  is  the  erect,  immaculate,  charming, 
distinguished  one.  Smart  clothes  are  de- 
signed for  older  people.  . . .” 


Another  quotation  is,  “Youth  admires 
competence,  ability,  and  achievement. 

95 

Many  young  people  I know  lay  great- 
er value  on  caring,  honesty,  sincerity, 
and  simplicity.  In  our  country,  people 
from  other  cultures  draw  smiles  because 
of  their  dress,  but  they  are  tremendous 
folks  to  know  nevertheless.  I know  and 
love  an  older  lame  man  who  walked 
many  long  blocks  of  city  streets  and 
climbed  stairs  with  excruciating  arth- 
ritic pains,  because  someone  sick  or  lone- 
ly in  the  hospital  needed  him.  He  for- 
got himself  and  cared.  I maintain  that 
the  intense  beauty  of  these  people  far 
exceeds  an  erect  gait. 

I asked  my  family  (with  a bit  of  se- 
cret dread),  “Do  you  think  I’ll  grow 
into  a sweet,  soft-spoken,  sophisticated 
old  lady?”  A gale  of  laughter  con- 
firmed my  suspicion,  “We’ll  love  you 
anyhow!” 

I was  comforted  when  I read  that  a 
child  raised  in  a tidy  home  is  unlikely  i 
to  turn  into  a sloppy  old  person.  I vis- 
ualized  my  son  neatly  folding  away  his 
patched  and  frayed  jeans  and  trimming 
his  locks  as  a well-groomed  old  man. 
Humor  aside,  the  author  is  right  in  as- 
serting that  we  must  begin  now  to  cul- 
tivate  courtesy,  good  habits,  responsi- 
bility, spiritual  values,  and  goals  for 
the  years  that  lie  ahead. 

A statement  worth  reflecting  on  is ; 
made  when  the  author  says,  “There  is 
nothing  more  unbecoming  to  old  age ; 
than  bitterness,  nothing  apt  to  make  old  | 
people  more  unhappy  and  unpopular.” 

We  are  quick  to  say  that  bitterness ! 
in  a child  or  in  a marriage  partner  may  i 
be  due  to  a great  unfulfilled  need.  Why  j 
should  aged  people  be  barred  from  ex- ! 
pressing  themselves?  Might  they  not  be 
bitter  because  in  their  retirement  lone- 
liness they  need  the  ear  of  a compas- 
sionate listener?  Do  we  not  tend  to  iso- 
late them  from  all  responsibilities  and 
meaningful  interaction?  j 

Such  thoughts  haunt  me,  yet  I was 
cheered  by  the  understanding  feelings  j 
that  my  teen-ager  had  stuck  on  her  bul-  J 
letin  board  in  the  form  of  a poem  en-i 
titled,  “Lament  for  old  men.”  Some! 
lines  read:  “Solitary,  abandoned  by  the  [ 
world  . . . lost  in  some  vacuum  of  time. 


.A\  Vs. 


Two  New  Visitation  Pamphlets 

Both  pamphlets  have  a beautiful  full-color  illustration  on  the  glossy  cover. 


JUST  IN  FOR  TESTS 
by  Robert  W.  Rae 

"I'm  just  in  for  tests,"  a common 
explanation  offered  by  hospitalized 
patients.  This  nothing-to-worry-about 
attitude  may  be  only  a mask  of  con- 
fidence camouflaging  a fear-filled  mind. 
This  pamphlet  provides  comfort  and 
assurance  for  such  persons.  16  pages. 

40e  each. 

Order  from 


GRIEF'S  SLOW  WORK 
by  Harold  E.  Bauman 

The  author  gives  insights  into  the 
psychological  process  of  grief,  factors 
affecting  grief's  work,  and  resources 
for  meeting  bereavement  when  it 
comes.  A difficult  subject  discussed 
helpfully  in  layman's  language.  16 
pages.  40c  each. 

Faith  and  Life  Bookstore 
Newton,  Kansas  or  Berne,  Indiana 


310 


MAY  8,  1973 


MEDITATION  Contents 


Love  is  forever 

A part  of  most  weddings  is  the  signing  of  the  wedding  certificate.  On  the  wedding 
certificate  there  is  no  statement  saying  what  the  two  persons  will  do  if  the  marriage 
doesn’t  work  out.  The  certificate  assumes,  I guess,  that  love  is  forever. 

But  is  love  forever?  For  some  people  we  know  that  love  is  not  forever.  Would  it 
not  be  better  if  the  certificate  would  not  assume  that  love  is  forever?  Some  people 
have  suggested  that  perhaps  the  certificate  should  write  in  the  terms  of  divorce  in 
case  it  might  be  needed.  That  would  be  a modern  marriage,  twentieth  century. 

Today  we  have  some  marriage  certificates  from  approximately  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury before  Jesus,  from  the  very  time  of  Abraham.  And  these  old  marriage  cer- 
tificates include  the  terms  of  divorce  in  case  the  marriage  does  not  turn  out  well. 
What  we  thought  was  a modern  twentieth-century  idea  turns  out  to  go  back  in  one 
big  circle  to  the  twentieth  century  b.c.,  when  also  love  was  not  forever. 

Where  and  when  did  someone  get  the  idea  that  love  is  forever?  The  idea  didn’t 
come  from  a law,  for  even  the  law  of  Moses  provided  for  divorce.  It  came  rather 
from  the  experience  of  a prophet  who  lived  800  years  before  Christ.  This  prophet 
loved  his  wife,  but  his  marriage  was  in  trouble.  He  was  about  to  divorce  her.  But 
then  he  realized  that  just  as  he  loved  his  wife  and  his  marriage  was  in  trouble,  so 
God  loved  his  people,  and  his  relationship  with  his  people  was  in  trouble.  But  God 
did  not  divorce  his  people.  For  with  God,  love  is  forever. 

Then  Hosea  knew  what  he  had  to  do.  If  with  God  love  is  forever,  then  with  Hosea 
love  would  be  forever.  This  is  where  the  idea  started  that  love  is  forever.  It  did  not 
start  from  a law.  And  woe  to  you,  Matthew  and  Kathy,  if  to  hold  your  marriage 
together  you  have  only  a law.  It  started  when  a man  experienced  that  the  love  of 
God  is  forever. 

The  New  Testament  says  that  husbands  and  wives  are  to  love  each  other  as  Christ 
loved  the  church.  As  a representative  of  the  church,  I with  this  assembly  have  heard 
the  commitments  which  you,  Matthew  and  Kathy,  have  made  to  each  other.  What 
God  has  united  together  no  one  can  separate. 

And  now:  “May  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob 
be  with  you,  and  may  he  fulfill  his  blessing  in  you:  that  you  may  see  your  children’s 
children  even  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation,  and  thereafter  may  you  have  life 
everlasting,  by  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  lives  and  reigns  with  God  forever  and  ever.”  Amen.  Millard  Lind 


. . . Everyday  a slap  across  the  face, 
proffered  by  some  innocent  young  man, 
hoping  to  be  respectful,  but  asking  noth- 
ing of  the  old  man’s  mind.  . . . Defeated, 
ignored,  his  dignity  stepped  on  by  time, 
be  passes  soon  . . . lucky  to  go  at  night 
. . . alone.” 

My  husband  and  I treasure  the  years 
spent  in  a congregation  with  many  older 
people.  The  many  simple  homes  with 
:he  Bible  verse  wall  mottoes  correspond- 
ed well  with  the  lives  and  faith  expres- 
>ions  of  these  people. 

In  closing,  the  author  lists  these  uni- 
versal needs  of  the  aging  which  ought 
o be  given  consideration  and  taken  care 
)f  at  least  by  middle  age:  good  health, 
inancial  security,  companionship  and  af- 
ection,  interpersonal  relationships,  and 
he  development  of  creative  activities. 


She  lists  various  ways  in  which  continued 
usefulness  can  be  cultivated  and  a phi- 
losophy of  life  and  church  closeness 
strengthened. 

As  to  rewards  available  in  old  age, 
she  lists  the  finding  of  serenity  and  cour- 
age, and  the  knowledge  of  having  touch- 
ed some  other  life  for  good.  She  quotes 
an  old  gentleman  who  said,  “You  can 
be  absolutely  sure  that  you  are  right  and 
you  don’t  care  whether  anyone  agrees. 
• . .”  You  have  convictions  and  heaven 
help  us  if  no  one  has  any  anymore. 

In  the  closing  chapters  the  author  is 
shown  as  one  who  tenderly  cares  for  her 
mother,  who  is  ailing  mentally  and  phys- 
ically. It  is  here  that  her  deeds  speak 
most  eloquently  for  her  contention  that 
growing  old  can  be  a family  affair. 


The  state  of  the  Mennonite  family  298 


Would  you  say  that  again?  300 

Reflections  on  the  meaning  of 

marriage  302 

Marriage  is  a partnership  304 

Bless  this  home  305 

News  306 

Growing  old — a family  affair  310 

Love  is  forever  311 

Acceptance  and  work  312 

Meetinghouse:  time  to  evaluate  312 

CONTRIBUTORS 


Howard  Kauffman  is  a sociology  pro- 
fessor at  Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Ind. 
46526.  He  codirected  the  Church  Mem- 
ber Profile  study  in  1972, 

Bernie  Wiebe,  who  is  on  leave  of  ab- 
sence from  a communications  and  fam- 
ily counseling  position  with  the  Confer- 
ence of  Mennonites  in  Manitoba,  is  tak- 
ing a doctoral  program  in  counseling  at 
the  University  of  North  Dakota,  Grand 
Forks,  N.D. 

Abraham  Schmitt  is  assistant  professor 
of  social  work  in  psychiatry.  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  a marriage  coun- 
selor in  private  practice.  He  lives  in 
Souderton,  Pa. 

Jacob  W.  Elias  is  pastor  of  the  Moun- 
tainview  Church,  Vancouver,  B.C. 

Ted  Koontz  is  associate  executive  sec- 
retary of  the  MCC  Peace  Section,  Akron, 
Pa.  17501. 

Millard  Lind  is  on  the  faculty  of  Asso- 
ciated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries, 
Elkhart,  Ind.  46514.  He  gave  the  Medita- 
tion at  a wedding  in  Chicago  last  sum- 
mer. 

John  Drescher  is  editor  of  Gospel 
Herald. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  RNS,  Don  Rutledge;  298,  RNS, 
Knolan  Benfleld;  301,  302,  Rohn  Engh, 
Pine  Lake  Farm,  Star  Prairie,  Wise.  54026; 
307,  MCC,  Jean  Hershey;  308,  RNS. 

Meiuionite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67 1 14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1;  Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


'HE  MENNONITE  311 


Acceptance  and  work 

In  her  book.  The  snake  has  all  the  lines,  Jean 
Kerr  comments,  “Marrying  a man  is  like  buying 
something  you  have  been  admiring  a long  time 
in  a shop  window.  You  may  love  it  when  you  get 
it  home,  but  it  does  not  always  go  with  every- 
thing else  in  the  house,”  Someone  else  said,  “Get- 
ting married  is  like  buying  a phonograph  record; 
to  get  what  is  on  one  side  you  got  to  take  what 
is  on  the  other  side  also.”  And  sometimes  the 
other  side  is  very  unromantic. 

Without  a doubt,  the  chief  hindrance  to  happi- 
ness in  marriage  and  the  home  is  the  desire  to 
change  the  other  person.  If  we  could  remember 
our  job  is  not  to  change  others  but  to  accept  them, 
to  love  them,  and  to  make  them  happy,  nearly  all 
the  sadness  would  suddenly  disappear.  The  wed- 
ding vows  are  realistic,  “Do  you  take  this 

for  better  or  for  worse?”  And  each  of  us 

has  the  “worse”  as  well  as  the  “better.” 

But  after  the  wedding  we  seek  to  change  the 
other  into  our  likeness.  Rather  than  complement- 
ing one  another  as  different  persons,  we  demand 
the  dullness  of  sameness.  And  desiring  to  change 
the  other  into  our  likeness  we  divide  and  destroy 
relationships.  We  marry  the  one  we  love  and  the 


one  whom  we  think  is  the  most  wonderful  person 
in  the  world.  It  is  peculiar  then  how  hard  we 
seek  to  change  the  other  after  marriage. 

That’s  the  first  part  of  this  editorial.  If  a mar- 
riage or  home  is  to  be  happy,  we  must  stop  trying 
to  change  the  other  person. 

A second  hindrance  to  happiness  is  in  the 
home  in  the  search  for  a single  magic  solution 
rather  than  a daily  struggle  side  by  side.  An  old 
fable  pictures  a peasant  on  his  deathbed.  He  tells 
his  sons  that  a treasure  is  buried  in  the  field.  After 
the  father’s  death,  the  sons  dig  everywhere  to 
discover  the  treasure.  They  do  not  find  it,  but 
their  constant  digging  improves  the  soil  so  much 
it  secures  a good  living  for  all  of  them.  The 
treasure  was  not  in  one  big  precious  or  sudden 
find  but  in  a continuing  search. 

The  family,  like  no  other  institution  in  the 
world,  provides  the  greatest  potential  for  growth 
and  maturity.  But  it  involves  love  and  hard  work. 
Meaningful  relationships  and  true  happiness  de- 
pend, not  on  one  magic  key,  but  on  the  continu- 
ing search  to  discover  each  other  and  to  help 
each  other  become  the  best  possible  persons. 

John  M.  Drescher 


Meetinghouse  — time  to  eva/uate 


This  week’s  issues  of  Gospel  herald  and  The 
Mennonite  have  again  been  planned  jointly  by 
the  editors  of  these  two  publications.  It  is  the 
fourth  Meetinghouse  since  September  26,  1972, 
when  a cooperative  issue  on  Key  73  was  pro- 
duced. The  themes  of  the  other  two  Meeting- 
house issues  prior  to  this  one  were  the  state  of 
inter-Mennonite  cooperation  (November  21,  1972) 
and  the  problems  of  affluence  (February  27).  In 
this  final  issue  of  the  first  year’s  cycle  we  are 
focusing  on  the  family,  the  institution  which  we 
consider  to  be  one  of  the  major  cornerstones  of 
society  and  the  church. 

A grant  from  the  Schowalter  Foundation  has 
enabled  the  editors  of  The  Mennonite  and  Gospel 
herald  to  get  together  to  plan  these  joint  issues. 
A substantial  amount  of  advance  work  has  al- 
ready been  done  in  developing  the  second  year’s 
series  of  issues.  Among  the  themes  which  are  on 
the  docket  for  treatment  are  the  Mennonite  iden- 
tity question,  a critique  of  the  public  education 
system  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  the 
centennial  of  the  Russian  Mennonites’  coming  to 
North  America. 


The  purpose  of  these  joint  issues,  as  stated  at 
one  of  our  initial  meetings,  is  to  provide  a place 
for  Mennonites  from  various  conferences  to  meet 
each  other  and  to  meet  God  and  to  discern  his 
will  in  a new  way.  Hence  the  name  Meetinghouse. 
A practical  benefit  has  been  the  opportunity  to 
draw  writing  skills  from  a much  larger  reservoir. 

Other  Mennonite  publications  have  been  and 
will  continue  to  be  invited  to  join  this  cooperative 
undertaking.  They  will  have  the  freedom  to  use  as 
much  or  as  little  of  the  jointly  solicited  materials 
as  they  wish.  All  the  materials  from  the  first  four 
issues  of  Meetinghouse  were  shared  with  them 
free  of  charge. 

Readers  are  encouraged  to  help  evaluate  the 
Meetinghouse  concept.  Should  it  be  continued? 
Should  it  be  labeled  more  visibly  as  an  inter- 
Mennonite  endeavor?  Should  we  step  up  the  num- 
ber of  joint  issues  per  year  somewhat?  Which  are 
some  of  the  themes  to  which  Meetinghouse  should 
be  addressing  itself?  The  readers’  counsel  on  these 
and  other  questions  concerning  this  cooperative 
approach  will  be  received  with  appreciation. 

Larry  Kehler 


\Jkf 


Menmmite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:20  MAY  15,  1973 


„v. 


•mm 


Lydia  Janzen 


Wiicfi  is  tk  real  India? 


Thousands  filled  the  shore  at  the  confluence  of  three  rivers — 
the  Ganges,  the  Jamuna,  and  the  Saraswati — in  Prayag,  India, 
during  the  Hindu  festival  of  Ardh  Kumbh  recently.  The  con- 
fluence is  the  site  of  two  major  festivals.  Every  twelve  years, 
the  Kumbh  Mela  festival  is  held  at  four  holy  places  in  India, 
where,  according  to  legend,  four  drops  of  the  elixir  of  life 
accidentally  fell  to  the  earth  during  a battle  between  the  gods. 
During  the  sixth  year  between  these  festivals,  the  Ardh  Kumbh 
celebrations  are  held.  At  Prayag,  which  is  near  the  city  of 
Allahabad,  and  is  one  of  the  four  holy  places,  an  estimated 
five  million  worshipers  took  part  in  the  most  recent  Ardh 
Kumbh  festival.  Bathing  in  the  confluence  is  considered  one  of 
the  most  sacred  actions  in  the  Hindu  faith.  So  many  make  the 
pilgrimage  to  the  Ganges  that  during  the  recent  celebration,  as 
many  as  seven  thousand  policemen  and  five  thousand  social, 
service  volunteers  were  on  duty  to  control  the  crowds.  Tent 
cities  were  set  up  to  house  the  pilgrims  and  special  trains 
brought  them  in  and  out  of  Allahabad. 


314 


MAY  15,  197: 


The  writer  spent  several  years  working 
! in  a Lutheran  mission  hospital  in  India 
under  the  Canadian  University  Students 
Overseas  (cuso).  Below,  using  an  in- 
' terview-style  format,  she  attempts  to  al- 
low India  to  speak  for  itself.  Ms.  Janzen 
' shared  these  reflections  recently  with 
her  home  congregation,  the  Rosthern 
Mennonite  Church. 

What  and  where  is  the  real  India? 

No  matter  what  you  have  seen  or 
where  you  have  been,  someone  is  cer- 
tain to  tell  you  it  is  not  the  real  India. 
It  is  always  someplace  else — a smaller 
, village,  a bigger  temple,  or  a muddier 
river.  Anyone  who  has  come  in  contact 
with  me  has  had  a glimpse  of  the  real 
India. 

India,  what  do  you  consider  your 
greatest  problems? 

I am  a country  of  great  contrast. 
You  can  say  one  thing  about  me  and 
‘then  say  exactly  the  opposite,  and  be 
right  both  times.  For  example,  I am  a 
poor  country.  Millions  of  families  live 
jon  less  than  an  average  Canadian  teen- 
ager spends  on  stereo  records.  Yet,  my 
wealthy  jewelers  think  nothing  of  display- 
ing a set  of  ivory  chessman  costing  more 
than  a factory  worker  earns  in  an  entire 
year. 

I have  a population  problem.  Al- 
though I am  only  one-third  the  size  of 
the  United  States,  550  million  people 
occupy  that  area.  Life  becomes  cheap 
and  death  is  only  a transition. 

I must  contend  with  the  caste  system. 
Although  the  Untouchability  Offenses 
Act  guaranteed  equal  social  rights  to  all, 
a Brahman  still  goes  through  the  entire 
cleansing  ritual  when  the  shadow  of  a 
Harijan  falls  on  his  pathway. 

I am  the  birthplace  and  homeland  of 
Hinduism,  but  I have  more  Muslims  than 
the  Arab  Middle  East  and  more  Chris- 
tians than  all  of  Scandinavia.  Hinduism, 
vhich  claims  to  be  the  world’s  oldest 
■eligion,  is  as  much  a way  of  organizing 
ife  and  society  as  it  is  an  organized 
aith.  There  is  little  general  agreement 
imong  Hindus  as  to  what  they  believe, 
vith  two  exceptions:  these  are  a belief 
n a destiny  determined  before  birth  and 
•eincarnation.  Both  are  fundamental  in 
haping  my  society. 

The  cow  is  not  worshiped.  It  is  hon- 
)red,  perhaps  even  considered  sacred,  as 
i symbolic  mother  of  the  country  and 
he  people. 

There  are  many  religions  within  my 
>orders,  and  they  are  the  cause  of  many 
{uarrels  and  disputes. 

I suffer  from  more  than  just  bilingual- 


ism. My  people  speak  twenty-four  dif- 
ferent languages  and  200  dialects.  The 
result  is  a bitter  babble  which  sometimes 
threatens  to  tear  me  apart.  The  last 
time  my  parliament  tried  to  discuss  this 
matter,  I was  plunged  into  chaos  for 
days.  Trains  with  English  signs  were 
derailed.  Schools  using  English  were 
forced  to  close.  Hindi  books  were  burn- 
ed, and  government  offices  were  stoned. 
This  stress  on  regional  languages  is  seri- 
ously eroding  the  standards  of  English, 
which  is  the  only  common  language 
among  the  educated  people. 

I try  to  please  the  many  who  desire 
to  be  literate.  More  schools  are  being 
built  so  that  more  students  can  study. 
But  the  more  students  we  have,  the  less 
intense  individual  instruction  is  possible. 
Therefore,  student  unrest  results. 

Are  you  making  progress,  India? 

Yes.  But  not  in  western  terms.  My 
villages  are  changing.  Tractors  are  being 
used  as  well  as  hybrid  seeds  and  fer- 
tilizer. Radios  are  readily  available  and 
television  is  no  longer  a dream.  Elec- 
tricity is  reaching  even  remote  villages. 

What  do  you  think  of  foreigners  com- 
ing to  your  shores? 


If  they  come  with  arms  outstretched, 
ready  to  help,  can  I turn  them  down? 
If  I exist  on  foreign  aid,  can  I refuse  it? 
No  amount  of  assistance  will  ever  get 
me  to  where  the  western  nations  are.  It 
is  something  I must  do  on  my  own,  with 
my  people,  and  I will!  lust  give  me  time. 
Besides,  when  I observe  the  life  of  for- 
eigners, I question  their  values.  Rushing 
around  in  a materialistic  glass  box  is 
not  what  1 want  to  offer  to  my  people. 
My  people  cannot  have  what  they  want, 
but  they  do  want  what  they  have  and 
are  much  happier  with  it  no  matter  how 
meager.  Some  foreigners  become  walking 
cultural  indiscretions  and  insult  my  peo- 
ple. It  is  with  hesitation  that  I allow 
them  to  move  freely  across  my  bound- 
aries. 

It  is  the  foreigner  who  becomes  in- 
volved with  my  people  whom  I value, 
one  who  can  sit  cross-legged  on  a dirt 
floor  and  communicate  even  to  the  leper 
outside  the  door.  It  is  that  person  who 
begins  to  break  down  barriers  and  to 
give  hope.  That  is  the  kind  of  person  I 
need  to  restore  our  great  Mahatma 
Gandhi’s  belief  of  love  and  nonviolence 
in  my  people. 


Sitting  on  the  ground,  their  hands  folded,  hundreds  of  India’s  Hindu  untouchables 
chant  in  solemn  unison-.  “I  shall  not  steal.  I shall  not  lie.  I shall  not  take  liquor.  I 
shall  abide  by  the  ideal  of  wisdom,  morality,  and  compassion.  I hereby  forsake  the 
Hindu  religion.  I believe  that  1 am  reborn  into  a new  way  of  life.”  Thus  2,500  un- 
touchables shed  the  religion  of  their  birth  and  embraced  Buddhism  in  a New  Delhi 
ceremoney  conducted  by  the  Dalai  Lama  of  Tibet.  In  all,  as  many  as  two  million 
of  the  lowest  members  of  India’s  caste  system  have  embraced  Buddhism  in  India, 
the  land  of  the  religion’s  birth. 


HE  MENNONITE 


315 


tXJOO 


chciRcbes, 

ooe  fa\th 


There  is  an  increasing  interest  in  the 
genealogies  of  families.  We  read  the 
genealogy  of  Jesus  in  Matthew  and  try 
to  reconcile  it  with  a historian’s  zeal 
with  that  of  Luke.  Have  you  ever  thought 
of  what  the  genealogy  of  the  church 
would  look  like?  What  a family  tree  that 
would  make  as  the  churches  branch  out 
to  show  the  spread  of  Christianity  in  the 
world. 

Near  the  line  of  the  descendants  of  the 
church  as  it  has  branched  out  in  India 
are  two  congregations  that  we  visited 
during  our  winter  vacation.  Their  wide 
differences  remind  us  once  again  of  the 
cliche  that  India  is  a land  of  contrasts. 

We  work  in  North  India,  but  during 
our  holiday  we  visited  our  mission 
friends  in  Madhya  Pradesh.  We  attend- 
ed the  Champa  church,  a congregation 
of  over  400  members.  The  architecture 
of  the  church  is  simple,  patterned  after 
the  old  meetinghouse.  It  has  clean  lines 
and  a feeling  of  spaciousness.  The  only 
decorations  were  Christmas  pennants  of 
blue,  yellow,  and  red  which  were  strung 
from  the  rafters. 

The  church  was  full.  A few  benches 
at  the  back  and  along  each  side  served 
those  of  us  who  preferred  not  to  sit  on 
the  floor.  Most  of  the  floor  space  was 
covered  with  a layer  of  rice  straw  and 
filled  with  women  and  children.  Mothers 
sat  with  babies  in  their  laps.  A toddler 
amused  other  children  by  tossing  straw 
over  himself.  During  the  rather  long 
service  there  was  good  order.  No  one 
paid  any  attention  to  the  birds  that  flew 
in  and  out  except  those  of  us  who  don’t 
often  see  birds  in  church. 

The  congregation  sang  with  enthusi- 
asm, some  using  the  Hindi  hymnbook, 
others  singing  from  memory.  Most  of 
the  songs  had  familiar  gospel  tunes. 

The  service  was  in  Hindi  and  includ- 
ed the  consecration  of  a child,  the  recep- 
tion of  a member  from  another  church, 
and  the  dismissal  of  a church  member 
for  dishonest  conduct.  We  didn’t  know 


Ruth  Unrau 

enough  Hindi  to  follow  the  sermon, 
preached  by  the  Indian  pastor,  but  we 
could  participate  in  the  communion  serv- 
ice. The  adults  formed  a large  semi- 
circle at  the  front  to  receive  the  ele- 
ments, which  consisted  of  a piece  of 
chappati  (unleavened  Indian  bread)  and 
raisin  juice.  The  pastor  was  assisted  by 
a woman  from  the  congregation.  Four 
large  groups  were  served  in  this  way. 

A few  weeks  later,  back  home  in 
Mussoorie,  we  visited  Christ  Church,  a 
former  Anglican  congregation,  now  a 
part  of  the  union  known  as  the  Church 
of  North  India.  Built  in  the  middle 
1800s,  it  served  the  English  community 
with  all  the  symbolism  and  liturgy  of  the 
mother  Church  of  England. 

Vestiges  of  beauty  abound  in  its  fur- 
nishings. The  pulpit  and  the  carvings 
across  the  front  are  of  white  Belgium 
marble.  At  the  reader’s  lectern,  the  enor- 
mous Bible  rests  on  the  outstretched 
wings  of  a carved  walnut  eagle.  We  had 
no  music,  for  the  hand-pumped  bellows 
of  the  organ  had  been  eaten  by  rats 
long  ago.  But  the  pipes  are  impressive 
with  their  blue,  red,  and  gold  enamel 
designs. 

The  pews  are  padded  in  faded  rose, 
and  the  threadbare  carpet  has  a fleur-de- 
lis  pattern.  However,  the  skirt  round  the 
altar  and  the  kneeling  bench  are  still 
beautiful  wtih  embroidery  and  tapestry. 

Once  this  church  was  filled  with  chil- 
dren and  staff  from  two  English  schools, 
as  well  as  local  English  and  Anglo-In- 
dian residents.  The  plaques  around  the 
walls  recount  the  families  who  attended 
and  how  they  died,  many  of  the  young 
men  in  World  War  I,  one  young  woman 
at  sea,  going  to  or  from  England. 

This  once  vital  church  is  now  almost 
dead.  There  had  been  no  services  held 
there  for  a number  of  years,  but  re- 
cently, rather  than  have  the  property 
revert  to  the  state,  a remnant  of  the  con- 
gregation has  started  holding  services 
again.  The  service  that  morning  was  led 


by  the  local  Indian  pastor,  acting  for 
the  Church  of  North  India,  and  the 
sermon  was  preached  by  the  chaplain 
of  Woodstock  School.  Four  of  us  from 
Woodstock  joined  in  the  worship  from 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  with  twelve 
other  participants.  Again  we  concluded 
with  the  communion  service,  all  of  us 
being  able  to  kneel  at  the  altar  rail  at 
one  time  to  receive  the  wafer  and  the 
grape  juice. 

These  two  churches  really  should  not 
be  compared  today.  One  seems  vital  and 
growing;  the  other  probably  will  not 
last  for  many  more  years.  There  is  no 
money  to  restore  Christ  Church,  and 
we  don’t  know  what  will  eventually  hap- 
pen to  the  lovely  marble  pulpit  and  the 
impressive  organ.  The  members  of  the 
congregation  can  surely  find  other  church- 
es in  the  area  to  attend. 

It  is  sad  to  see  a church  die.  It  is  sad 
to  try  to  reconstruct  the  lives  of  the  peo- 
ple of  this  church  who  lived  with  trag- 
edy. But  it  is  heartening  to  know  that 
for  over  one  hundred  years  this  church 
was  the  means  by  which  the  Word  was 
transmitted  to  a group  of  people. 

In  this  respect  both  the  simple  Champa; 
church  and  the  elaborate  Christ  Church 
have  something  in  common.  Both  have; 
sustained  the  faithful.  These  are  places 
where  the  seed  was  sown,  where  the! 
light  was  given,  and  where  the  body  ofj 
Christ  was  received. 

The  Champa  church  is  now  a thriv-f 
ing  church  and  we  have  every  reason, 
to  think  that  it  will  continue  to  be  so.i 
However,  if  it  should  be  discontinued; 
or  dispersed,  as  other  churches  which) 
our  denomination  has  founded  have  been 
discontinued  or  dispersed,  we  will  know! 
that  in  its  time  it  served  God’s  purpose.} 

Both  these  churches  — representing: 
contrasting  cultures,  liturgies,  and  archi- 
tecture— are  written  into  the  genealogy} 
of  the  church  and  are  part  of  the  line! 
of  the  descendants  of  the  church  as  it 
was  founded  by  Jesus  Christ. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennomte 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years,-  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editonal 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  6/114. 


316 


MAY  15,  1973 


1VEWS 


Drought  grips  two-thirds  of  India 


Indian  women  engage  in  food-for-work  projects  in  drought-plagued  India. 


The  failure  of  monsoon  rains  in  1972  is 
causing  severe  famine  in  India.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  country  has  been  affected. 
Prime  Minister  Indira  Gandhi  declared 
the  situation  “a  national  calamity.” 

Seven  of  India's  seventeen  states  are 
seriously  affected.  In  Maharashtra,  a 
three-year  drought  has  uprooted  about 
20  million  people.  An  estimated  47,000 
refugees  from  rural  areas  have  swelled 
the  population  of  Bombay,  a city  already 
bursting  at  the  seams.  Water  scarcity  is 
so  acute  that  cattle  are  dying.  Thousands 
of  villages  are  facing  severe  water  short- 
age. 

To  alleviate  the  water  scarcity  the  In- 
dian Oil  Corporation,  an  American  oil 
company,  and  the  Indian  army  are  pro- 
viding tankers  for  distribution  of  water 
in  the  villages. 

Andhra  Pradesh  had  59  percent  less 
rain  this  year  than  usual.  The  typical 
drought  hit  rice  paddy  fields  in  the  Krish- 
na district  where  acres  of  wet  crops  are 
withering  away.  The  worst  area  is  Ray- 
alseema  where  an  estimated  17,400  vil- 
lages have  been  affected. 

Thirty-six  of  the  forty-three  districts 
of  Madhya  Pradesh  are  facing  total  crop 
damage.  The  government  is  stressing  the 
conversation  of  water  resources  by  every 
possible  means. 

In  Rajasthan  690  out  of  726  villages 
are  in  the  grip  of  famine.  Due  to  lack 
of  fodder,  cows,  camels,  and  sheep  are 
oeing  mortgaged  and  sold  at  throw-away 
orices.  The  lack  of  drinking  water  is 
critical  and  more  tankers  are  needed  for 
water  distribution. 

Poor  and  middle-class  consumers  in 
jujarat  are  facing  difficulty  in  getting 
ood  grains.  The  situation  is  grimmer  in 
■ural  areas  than  in  the  towns  where 
nost  of  the  fair  price  shops  have  been 
erving  less  than  10  percent  of  the 
:onsumers.  Besides  damaging  seeds  and 
slants,  the  drought  has  aggravated  the 
cest  problem.  Several  thousand  acres  of 
and  have  been  invaded  by  “katra,”  a 
lairy  caterpillar. 

The  drought  affected  nearly  half  of 
he  56  million  people  in  the  Bihar  dis- 
rict  which  suffered  from  a two-year 
Irought  in  1966-67.  The  Mennonite 
lervice  Agency,  directed  by  J.  R.  Isaacs, 


is  administering  a food-for-work  program 
in  this  area. 

In  addition  to  India’s  drought  prob- 
lems, a cyclone  followed  by  rains  and 
floods  hit  areas  of  Tamil  Nadu  along 
the  coastal  line  in  December.  Eighty 
people  died  in  the  floods.  Heavy  rains 
destroyed  homes,  standing  crops  and  ir- 
rigation dikes.  The  government  has  been 
working  on  relief  efforts. 


Mennonite  Central  Committee  has  al- 
located $50,000  for  drought  relief  in 
India  in  1973.  The  money  is  being  chan- 
neled through  Neil  Janzen,  mcc  India 
director,  and  the  Mennonite  Christian 
Service  Fellowship  of  India.  Robert 
Miller,  mcc  Asia  and  Middle  East  di- 
rector, will  return  shortly  from  an  ad- 
ministrative visit  to  Asia  with  a detailed 
report  of  the  Indian  situation. 


Two  North  Americans  will  attend  Colombia  GPS 


Howard  Habegger,  executive  secretary 
of  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
and  Henry  Gerbrandt,  commission  mem- 
ber and  executive  secretary  of  the  Con- 
ference of  Mennonites  in  Canada,  will 
participate  in  a Goals-Priorities-Strategy 
study  conference  June  5-9  in  Cachipay, 
Colombia. 

The  Colombian  Mennonite  Church  in- 
vited Mr.  Habegger  to  serve  as  a re- 
source person  at  the  study  conference, 
and  the  com  executive  committee  asked 
Mr.  Gerbrandt  to  accompany  him.  The 
commission  has  endorsed  a team  ap- 
proach for  visits  to  com  work  in  other 
countries. 


Following  his  stay  in  Colombia,  Mr. 
Gerbrandt  will  visit  Mennonite  commu- 
nities in  Bolivia,  Paraguay,  and  Uruguay. 

The  Colombia  study  conference  will 
evaluate  twenty-eight  years  of  General 
Conference  mission  work  there  and  set 
directions  for  the  future. 

Participants  will  include  Mennonite 
church  and  mission  leaders  and  other 
Protestant  leaders. 

The  study  conference  has  been  planned 
by  a committee  of  nationals  and  mis- 
sionaries in  Colombia. 

Mr.  Gerbrandt  is  a temporary  mem- 
ber of  the  commission  until  June,  re- 
placing Peter  Fast. 


HE  MENNONITE 


317 


Missionaries  note  changes  in  India 


India  today  has  accepted  Christianity  as 
one  of  its  religions,  report  Edwin  and 
Irene  Weaver.  (Old)  Mennonite  mission- 
aries to  India  from  1935-59,  the  Weavers 
in  early  January  concluded  a four-months 
visit  to  the  Mennonite  Church  in  Madh- 
ya Pradesh  and  to  the  Bihar  Mennonite 
Church. 

Transitions  in  India  have  been  revolu- 
tionary, the  Weavers  note.  The  country, 
twelve  years  independent  when  they  left 
in  1959,  in  1972-73  shows  revolutionary 
economic,  social,  and  religious  changes. 

Visiting  in  the  Dhamtari,  M.P.,  area 
the  Weavers  were  impressed  with  phys- 
ical changes.  New  industrial  towns  have 
sprung  up,  related  to  iron  ore  mining  and 
smelting.  Deposits  of  iron  ore  in  this 
area  are  said  to  be  among  the  world’s 
richest. 

Hospitality  throughout  their  visit 
matched  their  schedule — unlimited.  In- 
vited to  homes  right  from  the  start  “we 
ate  more  than  100  Indian  meals,”  Mrs. 
Weaver  said. 

The  growing  acceptance  of  Christian- 


ity, the  Weavers  report,  was  evident  in 
a more  relaxed  atmosphere  and  open- 
ness to  discuss  the  religion.  Illustrated 
weekly,  a national  English-language  pa- 
per, carried  an  article  on  Christianity  in 
India  going  back  2,000  years.  Christi- 
anity, the  article  pointed  out,  began  in 
India  before  some  of  India’s  traditional 
religions,  including  the  Muslim  religion. 

Families  are  moving  from  established 
Mennonite  congregations  to  the  new  in- 
dustrial towns.  In  some  places  in  the 
Dhamtari  area  this  is  now  almost  an 
exodus.  Young  people  in  these  new  con- 
gregations bring  a vitality  and  interest 
to  a new  mission  for  the  mci. 

The  increase  in  activity  of  the  Men- 
nonite Church  in  India  (mci)  comes  at 
a time  of  missionary  redeployment  in 
the  Dhamtari  area.  After  mid-year  1973 
no  foreign  missionaries  will  be  related 
directly  to  the  mci,  although  missionaries 
are  continuing  in  supporting  roles  which 
relate  to  the  wider  Christian  community 
at  Union  Biblical  Seminary,  Yeotmal, 
and  in  bookstore  and  literature  work. 


Fraternal  short-term  special  assign- 
ment visits,  such  as  completed  by  the 
Weavers,  and  scholarships  for  medical 
training  in  India  are  present  examples 
of  relating  resources  of  the  Mennonite 
Church  in  North  America  to  the  Men- 
nonite Church  in  India. 

In  1973,  as  part  of  the  social,  eco- 
nomic, and  religious  flux,  “People  are 
searching,  taking  a second  look  at  what 
Christianity  has  to  say,”  said  Mr.  Weav- 
er. 

Hindu  people  are  much  more  open  to 
talk  about  religion,  he  said.  Temple  wor- 
ship is  being  disregarded  and  seen  as 
something  for  older  people. 

In  one  area  the  Mennonite  Church  in 
India  has  been  contacted  by  a tradi- 
tionally outcaste  group  which  is  seek- 
ing acceptance  and  baptism.  The  church 
is  being  stirred  and  is  providing  counsel, 
standing  by  seekers  and  giving  instruc- 
tion. Ten  young  men  requested  and  re- 
ceived baptism  during  the  annual  con-  | 
ference  of  mci.  Earlier  seventy-nine  per- 
sons had  been  baptized. 


Philadelphia  Mennonites  form  new  council 


Cooperation  among  Mennonite  and 
Brethren  in  Christ  groups  in  Philadelphia 
has  expanded  with  the  formation  of  the 
Philadelphia  Mennonite  Council  April  12. 

The  council  is  an  outgrowth  of  the 
Philadelphia  Mennonite  Coordinating 
Committee  but  has  representatives  of  a 
wider  spectrum  of  Mennonite  churches 
and  church  agencies. 

Six  congregations,  three  conferences, 
three  voluntary  service  units,  plus  sev- 
eral other  Mennonite-sponsored  programs 
are  participating  in  the  council. 

Mark  Miller,  newly  elected  chairman 
of  the  council,  said  one  of  the  first  ac- 
tions of  the  council  was  to  sponsor  an 
inter-Mennonite  fellowship  meeting  April 
29.  John  Freed,  Mennonite  pastor  of 
the  Towamencin  Mennonite  Church  in 
New  York  City  and  chairman  of  the 
mission  commission  of  the  Franconia 
Mennonite  Conference,  has  been  asked 
to  speak  on  “Identity  conflict  in  the 
communication  of  the  good  news.” 

Other  goals  for  the  council  will  be 
publication  of  a newsletter  which  was 
formerly  sent  only  to  Mennonite  stu- 
dents in  the  city,  facilitating  congrega- 
tional renewal,  and  providing  speakers 
and  information  about  the  city  to  rural 
churches. 


Mr.  Miller  said  Messiah  College  (Phil- 
adelphia campus),  a Brethren  in  Christ 
institution,  was  considering  starting  a 
seminar  center  to  educate  evangelical 
church  people  to  the  needs  of  the  city. 
The  Philadelphia  Mennonite  Council 
hopes  to  become  involved  in  this. 

The  council  will  also  be  a clearing- 
house which  area  conferences  can  use 
to  test  proposals  for  funding  new  projects 
or  personnel  in  Philadelphia. 

Participating  in  the  council  are  Dia- 
mond St.  Mennonite  Church  (MC), 
Germantown  Mennonite  Church  (GC- 
MC),  Norris  Square  Mennonite  Church 
(MC) — both  English  and  Spanish  sec- 
tions— Oxford  Circle  Mennonite  Church 
(MC),  Second  Mennonite  Church 
(GCMC),  Eastern  District  Conference, 
Franconia  Mennonite  Conference,  Lan- 
caster Mennonite  Conference,  and  the 
Philadelphia-Chester  District  of  the  Lan- 
caster Conference. 

Voluntary  service  units  of  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church,  Menno- 
nite Board  of  Missions,  and  Eastern 
Mennonite  Board  of  Missions  and  Char- 
ities participate  along  with  Crossroads 
Community  Center  (sponsored  by  the 
Eastern  District  Conference),  German- 
town Mennonite  Church  Corporation, 


Mennonite  Student  Services,  Messiah  | 
College  (Philadelphia  campus),  and 
Bethany  Day  Care  Center  (Lancaster  j' 
Conference) . 

Other  members  of  the  council’s  strat- 
egy committee  in  addition  to  Mr.  Miller  j 
are  Raymond  Jackson,  pastor  of  the  Dia- 
mond St.  Church,  vice-chairman,  and 
Wesley  Mast,  Mennonite  Student  Serv-  j 
ices,  secretary. 

Words  jfdeeds  | 

Television  violence  has  devastating  ef- 
fect. New  studies  and  experiments  in 
Stuttgart,  Germany,  claim  that  television 
brutality  and  violence  are  not  only  pro- 
ducing “harmful”  effects  in  children,  but 
are  providing  “the  most  devastating 
means  of  negating  ideas  for  living  to- 
gether peacefully.”  “Media  violence,”  j 
said  a member  of  the  research  commit-  j 
tee,  “is  like  a passion  that  can  only  be  1 
excited  by  even  stronger  reactions.  And  | 
it  makes  democracy  and  cooperation 
impossible.”  Nine  scientists  and  thirty  ! 
parents  involved  in  the  exploration  came  j 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  danger,  so  jv 
frequently  considered  negligible  has  i 
grown  since  the  first  investigations  were 
carried  out. 


318 


MAY  15,  1973 


AIMM  discusses  Zaire  political  pressures 


Both  Zairian  Mennonites  and  North 
American  missionaries  to  Zaire  should 
be  free  to  act  according  to  their  con- 
sciences with  regard  to  political  changes 
in  Zaire. 

This  was  the  decision  of  the  board  of 
Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission  at  its 
annual  meeting  in  April,  preceded  by  a 
retreat  with  missionaries  on  furlough. 

Missionaries  Archie  and  Irma  Graber 
returned  from  Zaire  a few  days  before 
the  retreat,  bringing  last-minute  news  of 
the  church-state  conflict. 

Information  they  brought  has  not  been 
available  to  the  church  press,  but  some 
facts  have  come  from  other  sources. 

Religious  radio  programs  and  all  non- 
government periodicals  have  been  banned. 
Loyalty  exercises  are  enforced  in  the 
public  schools.  Youth  meetings  not  con- 
nected with  the  party — including  those 
of  the  church — are  prohibited. 


The  actions  are  part  of  President  Mo- 
butu Sese  Seko’s  drive  for  African  au- 
thenticity, seeking  to  strengthen  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  state  and  Zairian  unity. 

The  one  political  party,  the  Popular 
Movement  of  the  Revolution,  declares 
that  the  Zairian  goal  is  the  liberation  of 
all  Zairians,  men  and  women,  from  servi- 
tude and  to  assure  progress  in  becoming 
a republic  that  is  truly  democratic  and 
truly  social.  The  changes  are  to  happen 
from  a Zairian  point  of  view  without  ref- 
erence to  foreign  thinkers. 

The  goal  is  a strong,  independent, 
authentically  African  nation. 

Some  of  the  new  regulations  have 
dealt  with  clothing — western  suits  and 
ties  are  banned  for  men,  for  example. 

But  the  regulations  which  concern  the 
missionaries  and  the  aimm  board  are 
those  which  affect  the  activities  of  the 
church  and  those  which  seem  to  demand 


that  Zairians’  first  loyalty  be  to  the  state 
rather  than  to  God. 

The  retreat,  said  Reuben  Short,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  aimm,  reaffirmed  aimm 
trust  in  church  members  in  Zaire  and 
respected  their  right  to  participate  in  the 
process  of  nation  building  and  restora- 
tion of  authentic  Zairian  culture  under 
the  sovereignty  of  God.  The  board  said 
it  would  continue  to  send  and  support 
missionaries  to  Zaire  on  invitation  of 
the  Mennonite  community  in  Zaire,  as 
long  as  missionaries  are  allowed  to  re- 
main faithful  to  the  purpose  of  aimm. 

All  missionaries  were  urged  to  respect 
the  conscience  of  the  Zairian  Christian 
community  as  well  as  that  of  each  other. 

“Today  the  church  is  seeking  to  de- 
termine which  is  of  God  and  which  of 
Caesar,”  said  Mr.  Short.  “As  the  process 
of  nation  building  intensifies,  how  does 
one  participate  and  simultaneously  regard 
Jesus  Christ  as  Lord?” 

Youth  council  reports 
on  regional  activities 

About  thirty  youth  and  adults  from  six 
districts  and  provinces  met  in  Chicago 
recently  to  share  ideas  on  leadership  sem- 
inars, retreats,  and  other  forms  of  youth 
ministries  in  their  areas. 

Jake  I.  Pauls,  director  of  youth  min- 
istries for  the  Commission  on  Education, 
said  that  the  meeting  represented  not 
only  the  annual  gathering  of  the  confer- 
encewide youth  council,  but  planning  for 
youth  involvement  in  the  triennial  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  August  1974. 

The  youth  planning  group  for  the 
conference  consists  of  two  persons  each 
from  the  Eastern  District,  Central  Dis- 
trict, and  Ontario  conferences. 

Activities  of  area  youth  organizations 
include  rallies,  workshops,  leadership 
skills  seminars,  service  programs,  the 
possible  hiring  of  youth  workers  in  Man- 
itoba and  Ontario,  inter-Mennonite  co- 
operation, and  regional  youth  commit- 
tees within  the  British  Columbia  pro- 
vincial youth  organization. 

Judi  Janzen,  associate  voluntary  serv- 
ice director,  said  some  of  the  district 
cabinets  were  interested  in  setting  up 
their  own  short-term  work  camps  with 
personnel  assistance  from  the  Newton 
voluntary  service  office. 

At  the  General  Conference  next  year, 
youth  will  not  have  a separate  confer- 
ence, although  some  activities  will  be 
especially  youth-oriented. 


Celebrate  Livingstone  centenary 

David  Livingstone,  central  Africa’s  most  famed  missionary  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
died  one  hundred  years  ago  this  year.  Churches  in  Zambia,  the  modern  nation  in 
which  much  of  his  work  took  place,  are  marking  the  anniversary  with  massive 
ecumenical  celebrations.  Centennial  services  were  also  set  for  Westminster  Abbey  in 
London,  where  Livingstone  is  buried,  and  in  Scotland,  his  native  land. 


HE  MENNONITE  319 


Fires,  storm  damage 
church  buildings,  camp 

Fire  and  wind  have  recently  damaged 
two  Mennonite  church  buildings  in  Kan- 
sas and  Oklahoma  and  a Mennonite 
campground  in  Manitoba. 

On  April  13  fire  gutted  the  education 
wing  of  the  Trinity  United  Presbyterian- 
Mennonite  Church  in  Oklahoma  City. 
Part  of  the  education  wing  was  totally 
destroyed,  and  the  whole  building  had 
smoke  and  water  damage.  Services  were 
held  in  the  sanctuary  Palm  Sunday  and 
Easter,  and  Sunday  school  classes  were 
to  resume  meeting  April  29,  according 
to  Pastor  Stan  Smucker.  The  bulk  of 
Pastor  James  DeFriend’s  personal  li- 
brary and  much  of  the  church  library 
were  destroyed.  Estimates  of  damage 
range  from  $15,000  to  $30,000. 

April  16  the  main  building  at  Moose 
Lake  Mennonite  Camp  in  Manitoba 
burned  to  the  ground.  The  winterized 
building  included  a chapel,  kitchen,  and 
multipurpose  room. 

Arson  was  suspected  in  both  cases  of 
fire. 

On  April  19,  a few  hours  after  an 
inter-Mennonite  Maundy  Thursday  com- 
munion service,  about  one-fourth  of  the 
roof  blew  off  the  sanctuary  of  the  Trinity 
Mennonite  Church  in  Hillsboro,  Kansas. 
Services  were  held  Easter  Sunday  in  the 
back  part  of  the  sanctuary  and  overflow 
room.  Damage  to  the  roof  and  some  walls 
was  estimated  at  $20,000. 

The  three  damaged  buildings  were  cov- 
ered by  insurance. 

Make  if  short, 
says  broadcaster 

The  viewer  shapes  the  message,  Louis 
Farraye  said  recently  on  “Focus,”  a re- 
ligious telecast  released  the  fourth  Sun- 
day of  each  month  by  WSVA-TV  in 
Harrisonburg,  Virginia. 

Mr.  Farraye,  vice-president  of  Gil- 
more Broadcasting  Corporation,  was  par- 
ticipating in  an  anniversary  program  on 
the  subject,  “What’s  happening  in  re- 
ligious broadcasting  today?” 

Participating  with  him  were  Samuel 
Janzen,  pastor  of  the  Harrisonburg  Men- 
nonite Church  and  president  of  Menno- 
nite Board  of  Missions,  and  David  Augs- 
burger,  writer  and  radio  speaker  for 
Mennonite  Broadcasts. 

In  speaking  of  TV  messages,  Mr. 
Farraye  said,  “Nothing  will  last  long  if 
the  viewer  is  not  watching.” 

David  Augsburger  affirmed  Mr.  Far- 


raye’s  statement.  “The  speaker  must  be- 
gin where  the  listener  is,  using  words 
and  concepts  he  understands  and  apply- 
ing religion  to  slice-of-life  happenings 
that  make  sense  for  him.” 

Mr.  Augsburger  noted  that  religious 
broadcasting  began  in  the  1920s  and  was 
pretty  much  the  replaying  of  traditional 
Sunday  morning  services — song,  prayer, 
message,  offering,  and  all. 

This  held  true  for  much  of  the  1930s 
and  ’40s.  He  cited  "The  greatest  story 
ever  told”  as  an  example  of  the  creative 
type  programming  that  entered  the  scene 
during  the  1950s. 

He  noted  that  creative  religious  pro- 
gramming developed  when  programs  were 
keyed  more  to  viewer  attention  spans. 
“Many  messages  today  are  only  thirty- 
and  sixty-seconds  long,”  he  said,  noting 
that  many  Old  Testament  speakers  were 
ahead  of  us  today.  (The  twenty-third 
Psalm  is  only  thirty  seconds  long.) 

“But  we  preachers  can’t  preach  in 
thirty  or  sixty  seconds,”  Mr.  Janzen,  who 
was  serving  as  host,  objected. 

“Or  else  we  won’t,”  Mr.  Augsburger 
replied. 

Mr.  Farraye  pointed  out  that  each 
day  the  average  person  is  approached 
from  700  to  1,500  times  for  his  atten- 
tion and  asked  the  question,  “Where  will 
your  message  be  among  all  these  other 
messages?” 


He  suggested  that  if  your  message 
can  leave  only  one  lasting  impression  on  I 
the  viewer,  you  will  have  succeeded. 

“Focus”  is  a half-hour  talk  program 
that  began  five  years  ago  when  WSVA- 
TV  made  public  service  time  available 
to  the  local  religious  community. 

German  quarterly 
gets  new  writer 

Bruno  Epp  has  been  chosen  as  writer  for  | 
the  December  1973-February  1974  Ger- 
man Sunday  school  quarterly,  according  j 
to  Loris  Habegger,  general  editor  for  the 
Commission  on  Education. 

The  quarterly,  Bibel  Studien  fuer  Er- 
wachsene,  will  focus  on  the  Gospel  of 
John. 

Mr.  Habegger  said  Mr.  Epp’s  appoint- 
ment was  part  of  a new  effort  to  develop 
more  writers  of  German  Sunday  school 
material. 

Mr.  Epp,  now  a student  at  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart,  Indiana,  is  a 
native  of  Abbotsford,  British  Columbia. 

He  served  in  Paraguay  under  the  Com- 
mission on  Overseas  Mission  1954-58 
and  1959-64,  teaching  in  a high  school, 
teacher  training  school,  and  Bible  school 
and  working  with  youth  and  choirs.  In 
1965-72  he  served  in  Brazil,  where  he 
was  editor  of  the  South  American  Men- 
nonite periodical  Bibel  und  Pflug. 


Home  for  troubled  boys  opened 

A new  group  home  for  troubled  teen-age  boys  was  opened  by  MCC  ( British  Colum-  ! 
bia)  near  Abbotsford,  B.C.,  in  March.  The  $91,000  home,  known  as  Twin  Firs,  was 
built  after  the  original  home  burned  down  in  1971.  In  the  center  above  are  the  house- 
parents,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  G.  R.  Anderson.  Siegfried  Bartel  (left)  is  chairman  of  MCC  \ 
(British  Columbia) , and  Jake  Siemens  (right)  was  the  builder.  The  home  has  room 
for  nine  residents. 


320 


MAY  15,  1973 


Congregations 

Twenty-three  congregations  in  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  are  participating  in  the 
goal-setting  process  of  In-Depth  Evan- 
gelism, reported  Palmer  Becker,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries. 

Through  a one-year  contract  with  In- 
Depth  Evangelism  Associates,  Miami, 
Florida,  the  Commission  on  Home  Min- 
istries has  trained  primary  consultants 
in  each  district  or  area  conference  and 
has  been  encouraging  congregations  to 
begin  setting  goals,  using  In-Depth  Evan- 
I gelism  materials. 

“The  program  will  do  more  for  our 
| congregations  in  terms  of  long-range  re- 
sults than  anything  else  we’ve  done,”  Mr. 
Becker  said.  “I  feel  good  that  we  have 
been  emphasizing  this  during  Key  73, 
although  it  is  not  just  a one-year  em- 
| phasis.” 

The  goal-setting  process  starts  with  the 
help  of  a consultant  by  gathering  data 
; about  the  community  around  the  church, 
[graphing  the  past  performance  of  the 
[church  in  membership,  attendance,  and 
I giving,  and  administering  a twenty-ques- 
I tion  survey  to  the  congregation  on  a 
I Sunday  morning. 

The  results  of  this  gathered  informa- 
Ition  are  analyzed  by  the  congregational 
[leaders,  and  long-term  and  short-term 
[specific  goals  are  set.  Evaluation  comes 
[a  year  later. 

The  object  is  to  turn  a congregation’s 
Locus  from  programs  and  methods  to 
j ?oals. 

The  congregational  questionnaire  has 
[undergone  several  revisions  since  Gener- 
|al  Conference  Mennonite  congregations 
began  using  In-Depth  Evangelism  mate- 
rials, since  the  questionnaire  not  only 
purveys  present  attitudes  and  practices, 
lout  educates  and  brings  up  questions 
[vhich  the  congregation  may  never  have 
Disked. 


MENTAL  HEALTH  WORKERS 


! ; ntake  counselor,  day  treatment  program 
j ide,  and  occupational  therapy  assistant  at 
j feattle  Mental  Health  Institute  in  Seattle, 
i Vashington.  One  community  mental  health 
[ /orker  for  Jefferson  County  Mental  Health 
p rogram,  Arvada,  Colorado.  College  degree 
referred.  No  experience  necessary.  Volun- 
,iry  Service  support  of  room,  board,  travel, 
find  $25  a month  provided.  Write:  Personnel 
jlffice,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


across  conference  set  goals 


Thus  the  goals  set  by  several  of  the 
General  Conference  churches  resemble 
closely  the  goals  endorsed  by  In-Depth 
Evangelism:  total  evangelization,  total 
mobilization  of  the  congregation,  and  vis- 
ible unity  of  the  body  of  Christ.  The 
need  for  more  disciplined  Bible  reading 
also  shows  up  among  congregations’ 
goals. 

Grace  Mennonite  Church,  Pandora, 
Ohio,  took  the  congregational  survey 
March  4,  and  later,  representatives  of 
the  board  of  elders,  evangelism  and  mis- 
sions commission,  and  Young  People’s 
Union  helped  set  the  following  goals: 

1.  By  this  time  next  year  we  want  110 
persons  taking  time  for  personal  Bible 
reading  at  least  three  times  a week  (35 
percent  increase). 

2.  By  this  time  next  year  we  want  100 
persons  saying  they  feel  a spirit  of  love 
and  acceptance  and  a real  feeling  of 
oneness  in  our  congregation  (up  from 
68  persons  out  of  178). 

3.  By  this  time  next  year  we  want  80 
persons  saying  they  feel  able  to  share 
Christ  and  help  someone  begin  a new 
or  strengthened  relationship  with  him  by 
witnessing  (up  from  66  persons). 

Task  forces  in  the  congregation  sup- 
ported sharing-caring-in-our-homes  meet- 
ings which  are  studying  David  Augs- 
burger’s  book  Communicating  the  good 
news,  are  planning  an  every-home  visita- 
tion next  fall,  and  are  trying  to  start 
more  weekly  small  group  meetings  for 
study  and  fellowship. 

Bethesda  Mennonite  Church,  Hender- 
son, Nebraska,  has  set  as  its  goals  the 
encouragement  of  a positive  spirit  of 
oneness  through  an  every-member-visit 
program,  encouragement  of  Bible  read- 
ing and  prayer,  and  organizing  ten  to 
fifteen  small  Bible  study  groups. 

“I  feel  that  there  is  enthusiasm  in  our 
congregation  about  these  possibility 
goals  and  am  hopeful  that  we  will  benefit 
much  from  them,”  said  Ben  Sawatzky, 
associate  pastor  of  the  Bethesda  Church 
and  primary  consultant  in  the  Northern 
District  Conference. 

Mayfair  Mennonite  Church,  Saska- 
toon, Saskatchewan,  has  included  among 
its  goals  visiting  every  member  in  1973, 
involving  twelve-  to  sixteen-year-olds  in 
the  Sunday  morning  service,  outreach 
through  a personal  evangelism  class,  and 
adding  more  staff. 

First  Mennonite  Church,  Reedley, 
California,  has  set  goals  to  increase  the 
number  of  members  who  indicate  they 


have  a real  personal  relationship  with 
Jesus  Christ  and  that  that  relationship 
by  grace  is  the  basis  for  salvation,  find- 
ing interesting  and  meaningful  patterns 
of  personal  Bible  study,  adding  ten  new 
or  unchurched  families  or  individuals  to 
the  congregation  in  the  next  year,  and 
increasing  attendance  at  regular  wor- 
ship and  other  church  meetings  by  10 
percent. 

The  Hague  (Saskatchewan)  Menno- 
nite Church  wants  to  increase  personal 
Bible  reading,  have  50  percent  of  the 
congregation  involved  in  a meaningful 
new  relationship  with  someone  within 
the  congregation  or  someone  in  the  larg- 
er community,  and  increase  confidence 
in  sharing  faith  through  “how-to”  class- 
es. 

Grace  Hill  Church,  Whitewater,  Kan- 
sas, has  set  goals  in  placing  more  inner- 
city  youth  in  their  homes  in  the  Fresh 
Air  Program,  increasing  Bible  reading 
and  prayer,  adding  four  new  families  to 
the  congregation,  beginning  small  group 
Bible  studies  to  which  unchurched  neigh- 
bors might  be  invited,  and  increasing 
financial  giving. 

Norman  Schmidt,  pastor  of  the  East 
Swamp  Mennonite  Church,  Quakertown, 
Pennsylvania,  reported,  “Certainly  this 
In-Depth  Evangelism  survey  has  been 
most  helpful  as  a first  step  in  any  kind 
of  Key  73  emphasis.  We  now  have  four 
task  forces  formed  with  a total  of  about 
forty-five  people.  ...  To  me  the  survey 
was  extremely  helpful  because  it  does 
provide  a means  by  which  a church  can 
put  handles  on  the  felt  needs  and  can 
provide  a way  of  determining  priority 
goals  so  that  programs  can  be  goal-cen- 
tered.” 

“Our  study  is  going  OK,”  said  Walde- 
mar  Regier,  pastor  of  Rosthem  (Sas- 
katchewan) Mennonite  Church.  “We’re 
in  the  middle  of  sorting  out  priorities 
now.  We  are  discovering  a few  things 
we  knew  but  couldn’t  say!” 

Edward  E.  Goerzen,  pastor  of  United 
Mennonite  Church,  Mission  City,  British 
Columbia,  commented,  “I  am  confident 
that  the  goals  which  we  have  set  before 
ourselves  as  a congregation  will  be  re- 
focused and  sharpened  and  that  through 
it  all  the  energizing  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  may  take  a new  grasp  upon  us.” 

The  executive  committee  of  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries  is  evaluating 
the  In-Depth  Evangelism  program  May 
15-16  and  will  decide  whether  to  con- 
tinue the  contract  past  this  summer. 


HE  MENNONITE 


321 


Gl  benefits  for  conscientious  objectors? 

Walt  Hackman 


For  the  past  twenty  years,  conscientious 
objectors  have  been  drafted  into  civilian 
alternate  service  doing  jobs  which  con- 
tribute to  the  national  welfare.  However, 
unlike  the  GIs,  their  counterparts  who 
have  been  drafted  into  military  service, 
conscientious  objectors  do  not  receive 
any  benefits  such  as  medical  assistance, 
insurance,  loans,  deferred  interest  pay- 
ments on  federal  student  loans,  and  the 
right  to  be  reemployed  after  service  with- 
out loss  of  pay  or  seniority. 

During  these  twenty  years  a few  COs 
have  tried  to  gain  some  of  these  benefits 
but  have  not  succeeded.  As  a result  of 
recent  litigation,  this  situation  may  be 
changing. 

William  Robison  of  Fairfax,  Virginia, 
felt  that  it  was  unfair  that  GIs  got  edu- 
cational assistance  from  the  Veterans 
Administration,  but  that  he,  as  a CO 
who  performed  two  years  of  alternate 
service,  did  not.  Federal  District  Judge 
Garrity  in  Boston  who  heard  Mr.  Robi- 
son’s case  agreed  that  this  was  an  un- 
equal application  of  the  law.  In  review- 
ing the  1966  Veterans  Readjustment 
Benefit  Act  and  its  legislative  history. 
Judge  Garrity  concurred  with  Mr.  Robi- 
son’s arguments  that  the  U.S.  Congress 
intended  to  compensate  all  service  peo- 
ple for  the  disruption  of  their  educa- 
tional careers  resulting  from  the  per- 
formance of  active  duty  service  required 
of  them  by  law. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  law  or  the 
legislative  history  that  would  indicate 
Congress  intended  veterans’  educational 
benefits  to  be  given  only  to  GIs  because 
of  combat  hazards.  Rather,  this  benefit 
was  provided  to  assist  those  whose  edu- 
cation was  interrupted  by  mandatory 
service  whether  military  or  alternate. 
Judge  Garrity  ruled  that  the  failure  to 
give  COs  these  benefits  was  a denial  of 
the  constitutional  guarantee  of  equal  pro- 
tection under  the  law. 

However,  this  decision  by  a Federal 
District  Judge  in  Boston  does  not  mean 
that  COs  will  automatically  receive  vet- 
erans’ benefits.  U.S.  Government  attor- 
neys have  already  filed  an  appeal  in  the 
U.S.  Court  of  Appeals  for  the  First  Cir- 
cuit contesting  Judge  Garrity’s  decision. 
As  a result  of  this  appeal,  there  is  a 
good  likelihood  that  the  Robison  case 
will  be  brought  to  the  U.S.  Supreme 
Court  for  a final  decision.  This  would 
mean  that  a resolution  of  this  matter 


would  not  come  until  sometime  in  1974. 

Almost  simultaneous  with  the  Robison 
case  is  a similar  case  in  the  Federal  Court 
of  Northern  California  (Hernandez  vs. 
Veterans  Administration).  The  Hernan- 
dez case  has  already  been  appealed  to  the 
U.S.  Supreme  Court  as  a result  of  the 
fact  that  the  lower  court  in  its  decision 
could  not  grant  an  injunction  against 
the  Veterans  Administration  and  could 
not  order  the  Veterans  Administration 
to  pay  educational  assistance  benefits  to 
COs.  It  is  not  yet  known  whether  the 
U.S.  Supreme  Court  will  accept  the 
Hernandez  case. 

If  the  Robison  or  the  Hernandez  case 
is  heard  by  the  U.S.  Supreme  Court  and 
an  affirmative  decision  reached,  some 
Mennonite  COs  will  be  confronted  with 
the  question  of  whether  or  not  they  will 
apply  for  and  accept  these  benefits.  Many 
Mennonites  in  the  past  have  taken  the 
position  that  they  could  not  in  good 
conscience  accept  veterans’  benefits  if 
they  should  become  available.  The  Vet- 
erans Administration  is  funded  as  a part 
of  the  total  military  appropriations.  Ac- 
cepting such  benefits  would  be  accepting 
monies  voted  for  war  purposes. 

However,  the  Robison  case  now  chang- 


es the  interpretation  of  the  purpose  of 
veterans’  educational  benefits  and  thus 
changes  the  question  somewhat.  It  could 
be  argued  that  an  affirmative  decision 
in  the  Robison  case  would  further  ad- 
vance the  legal  recognition  of  COs.  On 
the  other  hand,  accepting  money  which 
is  part  of  the  larger  military  budget  is, 
in  a way,  accepting  “Caesar’s  bloody 
money.” 

One  Mennonite  student  in  Philadel- 
phia who  recently  performed  two  years 
of  alternate  service  in  Nepal  with  mcc 
is  now  applying  for  the  veterans’  educa- 
tional benefits  even  though  he  will  most 
likely  be  refused.  He  is  hoping  that  the 
U.S.  Supreme  Court  will  reach  an  af- 
firmative decision  which  will  then  make 
him  eligible  for  some  educational  as- 
sistance from  the  Veterans  Adminis- 
tration. 

The  decision  to  accept  such  educa- 
tional benefits  is  not  the  responsibility: 
only  of  those  young  men  who  are  eligible 
to  receive  the  benefits,  but  is  also  the' 
responsibility  of  the  larger  Mennonite 
brotherhood  which  must  reconcile  this 
with  its  total  witness  against  militarism,! 
war,  and  those  things  which  contribute 
to  war. 


Belgian  newsman  holds  mirror  to  American  ways 


Theo  Loir,  a Belgian  newspaper  cor- 
respondent, told  a Bluffton  College  audi- 
ence recently  that  there  is  not  a special 
xenophobia,  or  hatred  of  foreigners,  in 
Western  Europe. 

Mr.  Loir’s  topic  was  “Western  xeno- 
phobia and  the  American  public  image.” 

But  he  cited  three  major  reasons  for 
Western  Europeans’  dislike  of  the  U.S. 
One  is  that  the  size  of  the  U.S.  invites 
criticism.  Mr.  Loir  quoted  a statement 
made  by  Prime  Minister  Pierre  Trudeau 
of  Canada:  “It  is  dangerous  to  sleep 
next  to  an  elephant.” 

The  second  reason  for  dislike,  power, 
goes  along  with  size.  The  third  reason 
he  cited  was  that  the  U.S.  really  wants 
to  be  liked.  “This  desire  results  in  close 
scrutinization  by  countries  wishing  to 
become  friends.”  Mr.  Loir  said. 

He  said  the  real  animosity  falls  into 
three  categories  — political,  economic, 
and  social-human  relations.  The  Belgian 
correspondent  said  that  along  with  pow- 
er comes  arrogance. 


“It  is  hard  to  draw  a line  between  ar- 
rogance and  self-confidence,”  he  said. 
The  main  criticism  is  the  U.S.’s  “big  stick 
policy”  as  policeman  for  the  world. 

According  to  Mr.  Loir,  a more  subtle 
form  of  criticism  concerns  the  economic 
animosity.  In  Belgium,  there  are  at  least 
500  branches  of  American  companies. 
The  Belgians  welcome  the  companies’ 
presence,  but  their  complaint  is  that 
they  have  no  part  in  the  management. 
“Every  big  decision  is  made  back  in  the 
United  States.” 

A lesser  cause  of  animosity  is  in  the 
human  relations  area.  “It  seems  that 
Americans  have  been  taught  from  child- 
hood that  everything  here  is  bigger,  bet- 1 
ter,  and  nicer,”  Mr.  Loir  said. 

Things  admired  by  Western  Europeans! 
in  the  American  way  of  life  are  initia- 
tive, dynamic  approach,  efficiency,  and 
the  pushbutton  daily  life.  Qualities  dis- 
liked are  boldness,  a civilization  based 
on  the  dollar,  violence  and  lack  of  taste 
in  the  American  cuisine. 


RECORD 


Workers 


: Robert  Albrecht,  Eureka,  111.,  has  begun 
a one-year  term  of  voluntary  service  with 
i the  Mennonite  Board  of  Missions,  Elk- 
hart, Ind.  He  is  a member  of  the  Cal- 
vary Church,  Washington,  111.  He  is  a 
night  receptionist  at  La  Junta  Medical 
Center,  La  Junta,  Colo. 

Doug  and  Marilyn  Dyck,  Clearbrook, 
B.C.,  began  a three-year  assignment  with 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries  May 
1 in  Gulfport,  Miss.  They  will  work  pri- 
marily in  developing  recreation  pro- 
grams. The  Dycks  were  previously  in 
voluntary  service  in  Gulfport  1969-71. 
Doug  and  Marilyn  are  members  of  the 
Olivet  Mennonite  Mission,  Clearbrook. 

David  and  Mary  Hathaway,  Philadel- 
phia, Mo.,  began  a six-months  term  of 
voluntary  service  April  1 at  Champ  aign- 
Urbana,  111.  They  are  members  of  Pea 
Ridge  Mennonite  Church,  Palmyra,  Mo., 
where  David  served  as  pastor  for  twenty- 
eight  years.  The  Hathaways  are  serving 
as  community  workers  in  Champaign- 
Urbana.  David  has  recently  farmed  and 
worked  part  time  as  a carpenter  and 
painter.  Mary  has  worked  at  Maple  Lawn 


LOVE  AND  MARRIAGE 
David  Augsburger 


LOVING 

CARING 

HELPING 

CHERISHABLE  explores  masculinity, 
femininity,  conflict,  sexuality,  finances, 
parenthood,  leadership,  forgiveness, 
faith,  and  maturing.  A valuable  re- 
source for  people  who  are  married  or 
considering  marriage  as  well  as  pastors 
and  other  marriage  counselors. 

1 84  pages.  Cloth  - 1 707-7 : $4.95.  Paper- 
back— 1662-3:  $.95 

ORDER  FROM 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON,  KAN3AS, 

OR  BERNE,  INDIANA 


Albrecht 


D.  Dyck 


and  Beth-Haven  nursing  homes  in  Pal- 
myra and  Hannibal,  Mo.,  respectively. 
She  has  been  active  in  the  Head  Start 
program  and  the  Women’s  Missionary 
and  Service  Commission.  The  Cham- 
paign-Urbana  unit  is  jointly  sponsored 
by  the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
(General  Conference)  and  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions  (Mennonite  Church). 

Ben  David  Klaassen,  Saskatoon,  Sask., 
joined  the  Canadian  Service  Team  May 
1.  The  Canadian  Service  Team  is  a 
group  of  voluntary  service  workers  who 
have  been  working  since  September  in 
Calgary  and  Saskatoon,  helping  congre- 
gations start  service  projects.  During  the 
last  four  months  of  their  terms  of  serv- 
ice, the  volunteers  will  work  with  the 
Charleswood  Mennonite  Church  in  Win- 
nipeg (in  May)  and  the  Ottawa  Menno- 
nite Church  (June  through  August).  Mr. 
Klaassen,  a member  of  the  Nyanga 
Mennonite  Church,  Nyanga,  Zaire,  is 
the  son  of  John  and  Olga  Klaassen,  Tshi- 
kapa,  Zaire. 

Cleo  H.  Koop,  Bethesda  Church,  Hen- 
derson, Neb.,  has  become  work  super- 
visor for  First  Step  Industries,  Newton, 
Kans.,  on  a voluntary  service  basis.  First 
Step  Industries  is  a nonprofit  organiza- 
tion which  employs  men  from  the  Har- 
vey County  jail  or  men  on  probation. 
After  the  men  have  gained  a good  rec- 
ord, they  find  it  easier  to  get  regular 
employment.  Mr.  Koop,  who  will  serve 
from  three  to  five  months,  has  attended 
Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kans., 
and  is  the  son  of  C.  C.  and  Mildred 
Koop. 

Donald  Linscheid,  Aberdeen,  Idaho, 
and  Donald  R.  Schmidt,  Newton,  Kans., 
both  graduates  of  Bethel  College,  will 
each  receive  a $500  Mennonite  Mental 
Health  scholarship  for  the  1973-74  school 
year.  Both  plan  to  train  as  social  work- 
ers. Mr.  Schmidt  and  Mr.  Linscheid  both 


M.  Dyck 


D.  Hathaway 


M.  "Hathaway 


Klaassen 

served  under  mcc  for  two  years  after 
graduating  from  college. 

Betty  Lubbert  and  Rhoda  Kraft  have 
begun  work  as  secretaries  in  the  General 
Conference  central  offices  in  Newton, 
Kans.  Ms.  Lubbert  is  secretary  for  the 
Commission  on  Education.  Formerly  of 
Mars,  Pa.,  she,  her  husband,  and  their 
son  are  residents  of  Hillsboro,  Kans. 
Ms.  Kraft  of  Newton  is  secretary  in  the 
office  of  stewardship  and  promotion.  A 
native  of  Durham,  Kans.,  she  is  a mem- 
ber of  the  Church  of  God  there.  She 
has  attended  Salt  City  Business  College 
in  Hutchinson,  Kans. 

Calendar 


June  4-5  — Mennonite  Maintenance 
Association,  Goshen  College,  Goshen, 
Ind.;  Kenneth  King,  chairman. 

June  13-17 — Pacific  District  confer- 
ence, Dallas,  Ore. 

June  21-24 — Northern  District  con- 
ference, Freeman,  S.D. 

Aug.  3-9,  1974 — General  Conference 
triennial  sessions,  St.  Catharines,  Ont. 

Canadian 

June  1-3 — Songfest,  Alberta  Menno- 
nite Youth  Organization,  Tofield. 

Eastern 

June  3-8 — Bible  conference  and  begin- 
ning of  drive-in  church,  East  Swamp 
Church,  Quakertown,  Pa. 


HE  MENNONITE 


323 


Willard  and  Elma  Waltner 

Pollution!  It’s  in  everybody’s  vocabu- 
lary, and  you  meet  it  everywhere  you 
turn.  What  can  one  lone  person  do? 

Start  by  cleaning  up  your  own  habits 
first.  Next  time  you’re  tempted  to  toss  a 
soft  drink  can  out  the  car  window,  or 
drop  your  candy  bar  wrapper  and  let  it 
blow  where  it  may,  resist  that  impulse. 

Beyond  that,  you  might  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  one  young  fellow  in  South 
Dakota. 

Last  year,  as  a senior  at  Freeman 
Academy  and  Junior  College,  Rudy 
Brockmueller  was  taking  a course  in 
consumer  education.  The  instructor  as- 
signed five  books  for  outside  reading. 

“One  of  them  was  Everyman’s  guide 
to  ecological  living,”  he  recalls.  “I  read 
it  and  discovered  there  really  were  a 
number  of  things  that  I,  as  an  individual, 
could  do  to  help  clean  up  my  immediate 
environment,  including  the  pickup  of 
stuff  other  people  had  ‘littered.’  It  told 
where  to  write  for  a list  of  glass  recycling 
centers.  I did  and  discovered  there  was 
one  at  Rosemont,  Minnesota,  suburb  of 
Minneapolis.  That’s  only  about  350  miles 
from  here.  So  why  not  give  it  a try?” 

He  gave  his  pep  talk  to  a friend,  Den- 
nis Lehmann,  who  was  also  taking  the 
course.  Together  they  found  a third  en- 
thusiast, David  Ortman,  and  before  they 
knew  it,  the  trio  was  totally  committed. 
They  enlisted  the  help  of  their  school- 
mates and  community  adults  to  reduce 
pollution  in  their  own  community. 

The  pile  of  glass  behind  one  of  the 
campus  buildings  grew,  and  in  June 
1971  they  took  a load  to  Rosemont. 

When  school  began  again,  the  “three 
recyclers”  returned  as  college  freshman, 
their  enthusiasm  for  antipollution  burn- 
ing strong.  They  enlisted  the  help  of 
their  economics  teacher  in  organizing  and 
being  adviser  to  an  ecology  club,  named 
pure  (People  United  for  Recycling  and 
Ecology),  which  eventually  grew  to 
around  thirty  members. 

“We  had  no  formal  meetings  but  set 
up  a six-member  steering  committee  (in- 
cluding Rudy,  Dennis,  and  Dave)  to 
sort  of  organize  and  keep  things  going.” 


The  collection  efforts  of  the  club 
branched  out  to  include  other  items  such 
as  aluminum,  tin  cans,  copper,  maga- 
zines, newspapers. 

And  leaves.  For  many  years  the  fall 
trademark  of  the  small  town  of  Freeman 
has  been  the  pungent  smell  of  burning 
leaves,  and  on  quiet  evenings  a pall  of 
smoke  shrouded  the  place,  especially  if 
the  leaves  happened  to  be  a little  damp 
and  smouldered  instead  of  burning  quick- 
ly and  cleanly, 

“Just  the  same,  we  knew  it  was  a 
problem  and  an  annoyance,”  Dennis  said, 
“All  that  smoke!  And  when  the  cross- 
country track  fellows  tried  to  run  through 
town,  it  really  got  to  them.  We  put  a 
notice  in  the  pure  column  in  our  local 
paper  offering  to  pick  up  leaves  and  haul 
them  away  free  if  they’d  call  us.  Very 
few  people  did  at  first,  so  we  decided 
we’d  have  to  take  more  direct  action. 
After  school  hours  we’d  drive  around 
with  a pickup,  and  whenever  we  saw  a 
pile  of  leaves,  we’d  pick  them  up.  Some- 
times we  got  there  just  as  the  owner  was 
about  to  touch  a match  to  them. 

About  twenty  young  people  actively 
involved  themselves  in  the  leaf  pickup 
project  and  had  a great  time  doing  it. 
Besides  “about  every  kid  in  school  help- 
ed at  one  time  or  another,”  Dennis  said. 
They  carted  off  at  least  fifty  pickup 
loads,  well-packed,  to  a field  on  the  edge 
of  town  to  be  used  for  compost  and 
mulch  later.  They  made  a big  pile  in  fall, 
but  by  spring  they  had  shrunk  to  a frac- 
tion of  the  bulk.  Some  folks  found  them 
wonderful  mulch  between  garden  rows, 
to  keep  down  weeds,  conserve  moisture, 
and  add  humus  to  the  soil  when  they 
were  dug  in  at  the  end  of  the  season. 

The  high  point  of  the  year’s  program 
came  during  Earth  Week,  the  third  week 
in  April  1972.  Pure  declared  a local 
ecology  day,  and  with  the  cooperation 
of  the  faculty  got  a half-holiday  from 
school.  Divided  into  groups,  the  faculty 
and  students — around  100  people  in  all 
— scoured  the  alleys  and  streets  of  town, 
the  roads  bounding  the  edges,  and  the 
roads  leading  to  three  rural  area  church- 


es, hiking  approximately  twenty-five  miles 
of  ditches  with  their  bags.  They  reaped 
an  amazing  harvest  of  cans,  bottles,  and 
assorted  junk.  Car  trunks,  vans,  pickups, 
and  trucks  transported  the  walkers  and 
their  load  back  to  the  collection  center. 
But  the  job  still  was  not  finished.  The 
collection  had  to  be  sorted,  dirty  glass 
washed,  labels  removed  from  bottles,  and 
the  glass  smashed  in  fifty-gallon  steel 
drums,  and  cans  flattened. 

“The  main  thing  about  a project  of 
this  sort  is  to  inform  people  and  encour- 
age them  to  collect  their  cans,  bottles, 
paper,  and  other  ‘recyclables’  for  us,” 
the  pure  committee  says.  Glass  jars  and  ; 
bottles  should  be  washed  and  all  plastic 
or  metal  caps  removed.  Labels  can  be 
left  on.  No  window  glass  or  auto  glass 
is  wanted;  it  contains  lead  which  plugs 
up  the  recycling  machinery.  Tin  cans 
should  have  the  labels  removed — they 
won’t  melt  properly  if  the  labels  are  left 
on — and  be  washed.  Both  ends  should 
be  cut  out  and  the  cans  flattened  with 
the  ends  inside.  Soft  drink  cans,  which 
have  such  deep  ends  an  ordinary  can! 
opener  won’t  take  them,  should  be  flat- 
tened as  is.  Aluminum,  including  foil, 
or  other  metals  such  as  zinc,  copper, 
brass,  chrome — anything  a magnet  won’t 
stick  to — should  be  kept  separate.  It’s 
helpful  if  magazines  and  newspapers  are 
boxed  or  tied  into  bundles. 

The  project  has  paid  its  own  way. 
Aluminum  brings  twenty-five  cents  per 
pound;  steel  cans  (tin)  bring  a quarter 
cent  per  pound.  Glass  more  than  pays 
for  the  gas  needed  to  deliver  it. 

But  it  takes  somebody  with  energy 
and  enthusiasm  to  get  the  project  start- 
ed and  keep  it  going.  That’s  where  pure 
comes  in,  and  an  entire  South  Dakota 
community  benefits  because  one  young 
fellow  put  his  concern  over  a problem 
into  action. 

If  you  want  to  do  likewise,  you  can 
get  a list  of  glass  recycling  centers  by 
writing  to: 

Glass  Container  Manufacturing 
Institute 

330  Madison  Ave. 

New  York,  N.Y.  10017 
For  aluminum  reclamation  centers,  write  i 
to: 

Reynolds  Aluminum  Company 

Box  2346  LI 

Richmond,  Va.  23218 

The  Salvation  Army  welcomes  paper 
or  rags,  and  junk  dealers  buy  such  things 
as  copper  or  brass. 

Material  for  this  page  provided  by 
Women’s  Missionary  Association 


324  MAY  15,  1 973 


DISCUSSION 

An  evangelical  rebuttal  to  existentialism 

Harlan  D.  Unrau 


Western  society  is  demoralized.  The 
human  race  is  in  a state  of  rebellion 
against  its  Creator  as  well  as  itself.  Tra- 
ditional morals  and  customs  are  constant- 
ly being  questioned,  but  no  one  seems 
to  have  any  answers  for  today’s  dilem- 
mas. Increasing  numbers  of  people  are 
rejecting  traditional  values  in  the  hope 
of  becoming  truly  “liberated,”  but  this 
quest  has  left  many  people  in  our  so- 
ciety confused. 

For  many,  life  has  come  to  have  little 
purpose.  This  philosophy  of  despair  has 
{also  affected  large  segments  of  people 
J in  the  evangelical  church  despite  their 
I outward  professions  of  faith. 

The  foregoing  description  is  actually 
a layman’s  definition  of  one  of  the  pre- 
dominating philosophies  of  the  twentieth 
century:  existentialism.  This  philosophy 
is  reminiscent  of  the  main  theme  of  Ec- 
clesiastes in  which  the  writer  discusses 
i the  futility  of  life  apart  from  God.  Such 
I a life,  says  the  writer,  consists  of  being 
' bom,  toiling,  suffering,  experiencing  some 
•temporary  joy,  and  leaving  it  all  to  die. 

Existentialism  is  readily  evident  in 
'many  areas  of  life.  Popular  music  em- 
phasizes the  themes  of  despair,  death, 
and  the  emptiness  of  life.  In  recent 
years,  popular  literature  has  increasingly 
concerned  itself  with  the  search  for  self- 
identity  amidst  the  chaos  of  a declining 
civilization.  Motion  pictures,  with  their 
glorification  of  sex,  violence,  and  situa- 
Itional  ethics,  have  also  had  a profound 
influence  on  our  system  of  values. 

As  a philosophy  of  rebellion,  existen- 
tialism has  been  accepted  on  the  univer- 
sity campuses  across  North  America  as 
many  young  people  have  taken  up  cru- 
sades to  change  our  politico-economic 
system  through  violence  and  confronta- 
:ion  politics.  Failing  to  find  inner  satis- 
faction in  these  endeavors,  many  young 
people  have  turned  to  eastern  religions, 
drugs,  and  “black  magic”  in  their  search 
or  meaning  in  life.  A sad  commentary 
!rn  American  religious  life  is  the  fact 
:hat  many  pulpits  have  also  dismissed 
raditional  Bible  doctrines  and  have  be- 
come discussion  forums  for  social  action 
irojects  and  analyses  of  human  behavior. 

Because  existentialism  pervades  the 


very  fabric  of  our  society,  it  is  impor- 
tant that  evangelical  Christians  under- 
stand the  roots  and  historical  develop- 
ment of  this  philosophy  as  well  as  a 
proper  biblical  view  toward  it.  Only  in 
this  way  can  they  effectively  witness  to 
a dying  world. 

Taking  root  and  flourishing  in  Ger- 
many after  its  defeat  in  World  War  I 
and  in  France  during  the  German  occu- 
pation in  World  War  II,  this  philosophy 
was  the  result  of  the  swing  of  the  pen- 
dulum away  from  the  optimistic  faith 
in  progress  that  characterized  much  of 
the  nineteenth  century. 

In  the  wake  of  the  devastating  ef- 
fects of  war  in  the  twentieth  century, 
the  widely  held  belief  that  the  world 
was  getting  better  was  replaced  by  a dis- 
illusioned society  which  rejected  opti- 
mism and  increasingly  centered  its  atten- 
tion on  the  negative  aspects  of  modern 
technological  life. 

Existentialism  is  a term  used  to  de- 
scribe widely  differing  viewpoints,  but 
there  are  a number  of  common  em- 
phases that  should  be  considered.  Stress- 
ing the  importance  of  man’s  inner  life, 
this  philosophy  is  a revolt  against  the 
impersonal  nature  of  our  industrial  age. 
The  existentialist  deals  with  man’s  feel- 
ings of  alienation  and  attempts  to  cope 
with  the  problem  that  man  appears  no 
longer  to  feel  at  home  in  the  world  in 
which  he  must  make  his  home.  Thus,  the 
essence  of  this  “human  predicament”  is 
that,  according  to  the  existentialist,  man 
is  separated  from  his  real  self,  from  his 
fellowmen,  and  from  the  world  of  nature. 

Appalled  by  this  sense  of  estrange- 
ment, the  existentialist  attempts  to  find 
security  in  a chaotic  world  through  de- 
veloping self-awareness.  He  asks  many 
of  the  same  questions  that  can  be  found 
in  Ecclesiastes:  What  is  man?  Why  am 
I here?  What  is  my  ultimate  destiny?  He 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  not  only 
modern  civilization  but  also  human  ex- 
istence itself  is  threatened  in  today’s 
world.  Fearing  that  man’s  moral  values 
will  be  altered  by  our  technological  era, 
the  existentialist  asserts  that  the  funda- 
mental drive  of  man  is  to  exist  and  be 
recognized  as  an  individual.  If  man  is  so 


recognized,  he  hopefully  might  find  gen- 
uine meaning  in  life.  To  accomplish  this 
goal,  the  existentialist  emphasizes  hu- 
man experience  itself  and,  in  the  process, 
devalues  human  reason  and  discredits 
belief  in  objective  standards  of  truth. 

Existentialism  emphasizes  several  ideas 
that  are  popularly  accepted  in  contempo- 
rary society.  Man’s  freedom  and  per- 
sonal responsibility  are  stressed,  and  it 
is  asserted  that  man  has  considerable 
freedom  within  his  reach  if  he  will  but 
grasp  it.  The  existentialist  defines  free- 
dom as  the  working  out  of  the  demands 
of  one’s  inner  nature  and  expressing 
one’s  genuine  self,  and  he  believes  that  it 
is  the  moral  responsibility  of  each  per- 
son to  accept  this  challenge.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  today’s  youth,  this  idea  could 
be  expressed:  “Go  out  and  find  your 
thing  and  do  it.” 

Emphasis  is  also  placed  on  human 
weakness  and  insecurity.  Concerned  with 
man’s  sense  of  despair,  guilt,  and  death, 
the  existentialist  believes  that  anxiety 
arises  as  man  comes  to  sense  the  mean- 
inglessness of  his  life.  This  realization 
produces  a “crisis”  which  prepares  a 
person  for  the  struggle  to  find  his  own 
personal  significance. 

One  may  find  purpose  in  life  through 
faith  in  God,  according  to  theologians 
who  have  tried  to  reconcile  this  philoso- 
phy with  Christianity,  or  more  common- 
ly through  a personal  “act  of  will.”  This 
act  on  man’s  part  is  an  assertion  of  his 
own  significance  in  the  face  of  frustra- 
tion and  the  impersonality  of  modern 
civilization,  and,  thus,  he  comes  to  find 
his  reason  for  living  on  this  earth. 

From  this  brief  description  of  this 
philosophy,  it  is  apparent  that  the  Bible 
has  much  to  say  against  this  negative, 
man-centered  approach  to  life.  To  coun- 
ter this  self-centered  approach,  the  Bible 
clearly  teaches  that  God  is  to  be  the 
center  of  the  universe  and  not  man  (“The 
earth  is  the  Lord’s  and  the  fulness  there- 
of. . .”  Psalm  24:1). 

When  Jesus  told  the  Pharisees  that 
the  great  commandment  was  to  “love 
the  Lord,  thy  God,”  and  the  second  was 
to  “love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,”  he 
meant  that  man’s  primary  attention 


THE  MENNONITE 


325 


MEDITATION 


Commitment:  a two-way  street 

Twenty  years  ago  while  I was  a student  at  Bethel  College,  I attended  a wedding 
where  Peter  J.  Dyck  used  the  following  verse  as  a sermon  text:  “O  taste  and  see 
that  the  Lord  is  good,  blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  him”  (Psalm  34:8). 

As  I reflect  upon  these  words  I see  that  they  demand  a commitment  from  me.  I 
am  to  “try  out”  the  Lord.  It  calls  for  an  attitude  of  placing  my  trust  in  God,  of 
committing  my  way  into  his  hands.  Perhaps  I am  seeking  God’s  will  for  a vocation. 
Or  perhaps  I am  looking  to  him  in  the  choice  of  a school,  or  the  all  important 
selection  of  a life  mate.  Possibly  my  life  has  come  to  a crossroad.  I do  not  know  the 
way  to  choose. 

The  psalmist  said,  “Try  out  the  Lord.”  Ask  him.  Place  your  trust  in  him. 

This  is  not  the  end  of  the  matter.  God  does  not  abandon  us  after  our  commit- 
ment. He  makes  a commitment  also.  The  verse  says,  “Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth 
in  him.”  If  we  dare  to  place  our  trust  in  him,  he  reciprocates  with  a promise: 
“Blessed  is  the  man.” 

Commitment  is  a two-way  street.  When  I commit  myself  to  God,  he  also  makes 
a commitment  to  me. 

Truly  the  Lord  is  good!  Elsie  Epp 


The  unlocked  door 

Listening  ears 
Praying  hands 
Unlock  the  door. 

Welcome  Key  73! 

Ears  hear  the  desolate  cry 
Hands  unfold  God’s  key 
The  open  door  leads  to  heaven. 
Welcome  Key  73! 


The  key  is  love! 


Donna  Lehman 


should  be  given  to  his  Creator  and  fel- 
lowman  rather  than  to  personal  analysis 
(Matt.  22:36-39).  According  to  Paul, 
Christians  should  not  be  concerned  with 
alienation  in  this  world,  because  “our 
citizenship  is  in  heaven,  from  where  also 
we  look  for  the  Savior”  (Phil.  3:20). 

The  Bible  also  rejects  the  emphasis  of 
existentialism  on  human  insecurity  and 
counters  this  negativism  with  the  dy- 
namic of  the  Spirit-filled  Christian  life. 
Paul  wrote  to  Timothy  that  “God  hath 
not  given  us  the  spirit  of  fear,  but  of 
power,  and  of  love,  and  of  a sound 
mind”  (2  Tim.  1:7).  Later  in  1 John, 
we  read  that  “there  is  no  fear  in  love, 
but  perfect  love  casteth  out  fear,  be- 
cause fear  hath  punishment”  (1  John 
4:18).  Thus,  the  power  of  a Spirit-filled 
life  and  the  love  of  God  overcome  the 
frailties  of  man. 

In  many  passages,  the  Bible  opposes 
the  existentialist  belief  in  relative  stan- 
dards of  truth  and  its  emphasis  on  the 
personal  “act  of  wifi”  idea.  Combining 
an  affirmation  in  absolute  truth  with  the 
certainty  of  salvation  through  Jesus 
Christ,  John  writes  “But  these  are  writ- 
ten, that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is 
the  Christ,  the  son  of  God;  and  that  be- 
lieving ye  might  have  life  through  his 
name”  (John  20:31). 

The  existentialist  definition  of  man’s 
freedom  and  personal  responsibility  is 
challenged  by  many  Bible  verses.  The 
assertion  that  the  real  self  can  be  real- 
ized only  through  the  working  out  of 
the  demands  of  man’s  inner  self  (“doing 
one’s  own  thing”)  is  at  odds  with  Paul’s 
admonition  to  the  Galatians  to  “Stand 
fast,  therefore,  in  the  liberty  with  which 
Christ  hath  made  us  free”  (Gal.  5:1). 
Paul  expands  on  this  idea  of  freedom 
by  tying  together  the  themes  of  individual 
freedom  in  Christ  and  Christian  re- 
sponsibility to  others  in  1 Corinthians 
when  he  says,  “For  though  I am  free 
from  all  men,  yet  have  I made  myself 
servant  unto  all,  that  I might  gain  the 
more”  (1  Cor.  9:19). 

The  Christian  believer  and  the  exis- 
tentialist both  emphasize  the  importance 
of  man’s  inner  life,  but  they  differ  as  to 
the  means  and  ends  of  man’s  coming  to 
terms  with  himself.  Whereas  the  exis- 
tentialist finds  his  reason  for  living  by 
asserting  himself  in  the  face  of  a “crisis,” 
the  Bible  teaches  that  man  can  find  his 
personal  significance  only  through  Jesus 
Christ  (John  8:36). 

For  the  existentialist,  human  existence 
consists  of  an  endless  series  of  purpose- 
less experiences  that  lead  to  anxiety  and 
are  ended  by  death.  This  emphasis  on 


meaninglessness  in  life  is  countered  by 
Jesus  when  he  said,  “I  am  come  that 
they  might  have  life,  and  that  they  might 
have  it  more  abundantly”  (John  10:10). 
The  principal  purpose  of  man,  accord- 
ing to  the  existentialist,  is  the  endeavor 
of  the  individual  to  find  himself,  while 
the  chief  end  of  the  Christian  life  is  to 
live  the  “abundant  life”  by  exhibiting 
the  “fruits  of  the  Spirit”  (Gal.  5:22-23). 

Because  the  existentialist  is  primarily 
concerned  with  human  existence  and  in- 
terprets death  merely  as  the  end  of  life, 
the  afterlife  receives  little  attention.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  “blessed  hope”  of  the 
Christian  gives  him  freedom  from  anx- 
iety over  present  trials  and  fear  of  an 
uncertain  future.  Earthly  trials  are  over- 
shadowed by  the  fact  that  human  his- 


tory is  slowly  progressing  toward  the 
second  coming  of  Jesus  Christ.  This  con- 
viction that  there  is  purpose  in  the  un- 
folding of  human  events  and  the  need  to 
prepare  oneself  to  meet  his  Creator  gives 
the  Christian  encouragement  and  pur- 
pose in  times  of  stress.  Paul  voices  this 
attitude  when  he  writes  that  death  will 
be  swallowed  up  in  victory  when  “this 
mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality” 
(1  Cor.  15:54). 

Thus,  Christians  find  solace  amid  their 
contemporary  decaying  culture  by  look- 
ing forward  to  the  day  when  “God  shall 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes;  and| 
there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither 
sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there 
be  any  more  pain;  for  the  former  things 
are  passed  away”  (Rev.  21:4). 


326  MAY  15,  1973 


LETTERS 


Publish  more  on  women 

Dear  Larry  and  Lois:  The  March  20 
issue  of  The  Mennonite  is  superb!  My 
thanks  to  you  for  all  the  time  and  en- 
ergy that  was  required  to  produce  such 
an  excellent  issue.  I’m  hoping  you’ll  de- 
cide not  to  wait  a year  before  publishing 
another  “woman’s”  issue.  Wanda  Ream 
Schmidt,  417  W.  11th  St.,  Newton,  Kans. 
67114.  March  23 

Where  does  it  lead? 

Dear  Editor:  When  I canceled  my 
subscription  to  The  Canadian  Mennonite 
two  years  ago,  I wrote:  “Der  Krug  geht 
so  lange  zum  Brunnen  bis  er  bricht.” 
The  same  applies  to  The  Mennonite  to- 
day. I don’t  want  the  paper  anymore. 
Your  last  edition  (March  20  issue)  did 
“the  trick.”  Via  sex,  Vietnam,  violence, 
marches,  protests,  etc.,  etc.,  you  reached 
women  as  church  leaders,  pastors,  etc. 

For  me  that’s  the  limit.  Old-fashioned? 
Yes,  and  I am  proud  of  it.  I believe 
what  the  Bible  teaches  us,  what  our 
forefathers  believed  was  right  during 
over  400  years,  and  time  proved  was 
right. 

Women’s  liberation?  Just  take  the 
time  to  look  around.  Where  does  it 
lead?  Where  are  we  already?  Who  is 
the  benefactor?  Or,  who  suffers  most: 
the  family,  the  children,  society,  etc.? 

I thank  you  for  sending  me  The  Men- 
nonite for  so  long.  I wish  you  would 
listen  not  only  to  the  few  who  are  send- 
ing you  their  “modern”  views  and  let- 
ters but  to  the  big  silent  majority  also. 
A.  A.  Martens,  615  First  St.  East,  Sas- 
katoon, Sask.  March  28 


Issue  worth  pondering 


Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  Joyce  Shutt’s  ar- 
ticle, “The  sermon  I never  heard” 
(March  27  issue),  showed  great  percep- 
tion of  a struggle  that  many  of  us  have 
recognized.  I have  experienced  yielding 
to  the  temptation  of  not  accepting  my- 
self as  I try  to  accept  others;  of  easily 
overlooking  a “fault”  in  someone  else 
but,  when  seeing  this  same  fault  in  me, 
maximizing  it  almost  to  an  unforgive- 
able  sin,  thus  wasting  emotional  energy 
which  could  have  been  put  to  positive 
use.  I wonder  if  this  difficulty  in  achiev- 


ing a right  self-love  is  one  which  women 
experience  and  identify  with  to  a larger 
extent  than  men?  I don’t  know,  but 
Joyce  brought  into  the  open,  for  us  to 
examine,  an  issue  here  that  certainly  is 
worthy  of  pondering.  Thank  you  for 
printing  this  article.  Margaret  Weaver, 
136  N.  Spring  St.,  Bluff  ton,  Ohio  45817. 

April  7 


Double  standard 

Dear  Editor:  I found  the  articles  on 
Wounded  Knee  (April  10  issue)  very 
interesting.  How  can  a Mennonite  pub- 
lication decry  the  use  of  force  by  the 
National  Guard  and  the  fbi  and  fail  to 
condemn  the  violence  of  the  Indians? 
Double  standards  are  never  defensible. 
You  must  either  totally  reject  the  use 
of  violence  or  accept  its  use  and  conse- 
quences in  all  circumstances.  I can  see 
why  you  might  sympathize  with  the  In- 
dians’ cause;  but  why  did  you  not,  as 
supposed  pacifists,  take  a stand  against 
the  means  they  used? 

I also  wondered  after  reading  the  ar- 
ticles when  white  Americans  will  stop 
feeling  guilty  and  trying  to  pay  penance 
for  something  their  great-grandfathers 
did.  If  you  want  to  change  the  situation, 
give  your  time  and  interest.  Donating 
food,  clothing,  and  money  is  the  easy 
way  out. 

The  Mennonite  was  right  about  one 
thing.  We  have  killed  the  spirit  but  not 
the  body  of  the  native  Americans.  Our 
ancestors  did  this  through  greed  and 
arrogance.  We  are  doing  it  through  our 
ignorance.  Our  demeaning  system  of 
welfare  destroys  the  family  and  kills  in- 
itiative and  pride.  The  Indians’  depen- 
dence is,  at  times,  almost  smothering. 
True,  prejudice  is  still  very  much  alive, 
but  violence  will  not  destroy  an  attitude. 

I realize  that  Mr.  Ediger’s  visit  to 
Wounded  Knee  eminently  qualifies  him 
to  write  on  the  subject.  I’ve  only  worked 
with  Indians  for  a year  and  a half  in 
the  VS  program.  Darrell  Schapmire, 
Hammon,  Okla.  73650.  April  10 

About  letters:  To  encourage  our  read- 
ers to  express  themselves  on  a variety  of 
issues,  we  try  to  use  all  letters  submitted 
for  publication.  Unsigned  correspon- 
dence, however,  will  not  be  published, 
though  we  may  withhold  names  for  valid 
reasons  in  a special  situation.  Editor. 


Contents 


Which  is  the  real  India?  314 

Two  churches,  one  faith  316 

News  317 

Record  323 

The  recyclers  324 

An  evangelical  rebuttal  to 

existentialism  325 

Commitment:  a two-way  street 326 

The  unlocked  door  326 

Letters  327 

Jesus'  kind  of  fisherman  328 


COVER 

Holding  his  lunch  box  on  his  head,  a 
young  “untouchable1' — the  lowest  mem- 
bers of  India's  caste  system — looks  at  a 
statue  of  Mahatma  Gandhi  in  New  Delhi. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Ruth  Unrau  teaches  at  Woodstock  School, 
Mussoorie,  U.P.,  India. 

Willard  and  Elma  Waltner  are  free 
lance  writers  and  photographers  from 
Freeman,  S.D.  Their  article  appeared  orig- 
inally in  Purpose  magazine,  and  is  used 
by  permission. 

Harlan  D.  Unrau,  until  recently  a col- 
lege teacher  in  California,  is  now  an 
historian  with  the  National  Park  Service 
in  Washington,  D.C.  His  address  is  1902 
County  Rd.,  Apt.  104,  District  Heights, 
Md.  20028. 

Walt  Hackman  is  executive  secretary 
of  the  MCC  Peace  Section,  Akron,  Pa. 
17501. 

The  Meditation  writers  are  Elsie  Epp, 
Route  1,  Box  135,  Marion,  S.D.  57043, 
and  Donna  Lehman,  5111  E.  State  Blvd., 
Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  46805. 

John  H.  Yoder  originally  presented  his 
editorial  in  a class  at  the  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries,  Elkhart, 
Ind.,  in  March. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  314,  315,  319,  Religious  News 
Service;  317,  John  Taylor  (WCC). 

Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67 114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  221  1 - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


the  mennonite 


327 


Jesus'  kind  of  fisherman 

John  H.  Yoder 

The  purpose  of  a figure  of  speech  is  to  make  a 
point  more  meaningful  or  memorable  by  anchor- 
ing an  idea  in  the  broader  experience  of  our  cul- 
ture. Yet  as  we  move  from  one  culture  to  another, 
and  especially  if  we  do  this  uncritically,  that  very 
strength  of  the  figure  of  speech  can  be  trans- 
formed into  a source  of  positive  misunderstand- 
ing. To  speak  of  evangelism  as  “fishing  for  men” 
is  one  such  case. 

People  who  live  away  from  the  sea,  whether 
urban  or  rural,  when  they  think  of  a fisherman 
think  of  the  angler.  But  Jesus  spoke  about  “fish- 
ers of  men”  to  fishermen  at  the  seaside.  When 
we  uncritically  transport  this  figure  of  speech  to 
the  preaching  of  a suburban  church,  or  to  the 
Sunday  school  of  a rural  community,  how  do  we 
unconsciously  change  its  meaning? 

Jesus’  listeners  at  the  edge  of  Galilee  knew 
that  fishing  is  done  with  a net.  One  may  catch 
many  fish  or  a few,  but  in  any  case  they  are 
caught  together.  The  net  has  remained  through 
church  history  a symbol  of  the  church  as  com- 
munity. On  the  other  hand,  the  angler  catches 
one  fish  at  a time.  He  makes  that  particular  fish 
the  object  of  his  attention.  Often  the  fish  is  his 
adversary  in  a kind  of  game  of  maneuvering  to 
plant  the  hook  and  struggle  to  bring  in  the  victim. 
Are  there  not  some  dimensions  of  how  we  have 
come  to  understand  “personal  work”  which  are 
more  like  the  angler  than  they  are  like  the  fisher- 
man? 

The  fisherman  finds  his  fish  by  taking  his  net 
into  the  medium  where  the  fish  naturally  move, 
namely  the  sea.  He  gathers  them  by  being  where 
they  are,  really  present  with  the  net  which  then 
holds  them  together  and  brings  them  to  the  boat. 
The  angler  on  the  other  hand  catches  his  victim 


by  deceit.  He  dangles  before  the  fish  a fly  which 
is  not  really  a fly  or  a worm  which  hides  a hook. 
He  gets  a hold  on  the  fish  through  the  violence 
of  the  hook  and  pulls  him  out  of  his  element  by 
the  constraint  of  his  line.  The  fisherman  accepts 
and  works  with  the  sea  as  medium:  an  angler 
violates  the  stream  and  fools  the  fish. 

The  fisherman  fishes  for  a living.  His  motiva- 
tion is  the  need  of  his  family  for  support  and  of 
his  market  for  food.  The  angler  fishes  for  the 
fun  of  the  struggle,  for  the  sense  of  victory  in 
finding  a bait  that  will  lure  the  fish  and  (espe- 
cially for  some  categories  which  are  called  “sport 
fishing”)  the  thrill  of  the  combat.  Often  he  will 
not  eat  the  fish:  sometimes  he  will  even  throw  it 
back  to  the  sea;  for  the  enjoyment  lies  in  the 
struggle  itself.  Or  he  may  have  it  stuffed  to  hang 
on  his  wall  as  a trophy.  Are  there  not  times  when 
the  focus  in  evangelism  comes  to  be  more  on 
bringing  them  in  than  on  keeping  them?  More 
on  the  victory  of  having  won  one  than  on  the  joy 
of  ongoing  fellowship  with  the  newly  won  brother 
or  sister? 

Whether  the  angler  whom  we  consider  typical 
be  the  farm  boy  going  down  to  the  creek  or  the 
prosperous  suburbanite  taking  a weekend  off  to 
fight  with  a trout  or  a tarpon,  the  entire  enter- 
prise is  thus  more  a recreation  and  a sport  than 
it  is  a building  of  community  and  an  essential  for 
survival.  Fishing  is  an  alternative  to  real  life, 
not  a source  of  sustenance. 

It  might  take  us  a good  way  down  the  path  to 
an  understanding  of  the  theology  and  practice  of 
evangelism,  if  every  time  we  repeat  that  Jesus 
called  us  to  be  “fishers  of  men,”  we  were  to 
remember  to  add,  “and  not  anglers.” 


The 

Mennonite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:21  MAY  2 2,  1973 


I fM 


“You  CARRY  WEIGHT  around,”  my  broth- 
er chuckled,  “as  if  you  were  paid  for  it 
by  the  ton.”  For  a girl  of  thirteen,  that 
by  anyone’s  standard,  is  no  compliment. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  areas  of  in- 
temperance among  Christians  is  that  of 
avoirdupois.  Which,  being  interpreted, 
means  overweight.  Which,  being  inter- 
preted again,  for  most  people  means 
simply  too  much  food.  Not  so  simple, 
however,  are  the  reasons  we  “disciplined 
ones”  (who  of  all  people  have  available 
the  power  of  the  Spirit  to  overcome  the 
sins  of  the  flesh)  have  fallen  prey  to  the 
pressures  of  a culture  which  promotes 
and  pampers  self-indulgence. 

On  second  thought,  when  we’ve  re- 
sisted drinking  and  dancing,  profanity 
and  pornography,  and  have  succumbed 
to  the  more  acceptable  sins  of  material- 
ism, hypocrisy,  greed,  and  pride,  over- 
eating is  really  a very  innocent  sort  of 
transgression.  Or  is  it? 

North  Americans  are  virtually  eating 
themselves  to  death.  This  is  the  opinion 
of  Edgar  S.  Gordon,  professor  of  med- 
icine at  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 
Said  Dr.  Gordon,  who  also  heads  his 
university’s  metabolism  and  endocrinol- 
ogy clinic:  “Obesity  today  is  the  most 
formidable  threat  to  good  health,  not 
only  on  this  continent  but  in  all  occi- 
dental countries  of  the  earth.  It  is  the 
most  important  single  killing  disease  in 
all  these  nations.” 

The  doctor  is  right.  Eating  is  no  longer 
a matter  of  three  meals  a day.  It  is  a 
continuous  process,  like  breathing.  No 
matter  what  else  we’re  doing — watching 
TV  or  sports,  visiting  friends  or  the  zoo, 
reading  or  writing,  working  or  playing, 
we  must  accompany  it  with  eating.  We 
nibble  on  the  run,  in  between  meals,  and 
in  place  of  meals.  North  Americans  are 
popping  tidbits  into  their  mouths  at  the 
rate  of  $2  billion  in  supermarket  sales 
a year!  And  we’re  creating  what  grocery 
merchandisers  call  a “marketing  mir- 
acle”— the  booming,  expensive,  and  prof- 
itable business  of  constant  snacking,  get- 
ting fatter  and  flabbier  all  the  while.  We 
buy  products  we  don’t  need,  advertised 
by  commercials  we  don’t  believe,  put- 
ting on  pounds  we  don’t  want. 

“The  best  thing  that  could  happen  to 
us  in  North  America  today,”  Dr.  Gor- 
don concludes,  “is  an  onset  of  grinding 
austerity,  a shortage  of  food,  and  the 
need  to  go  back  to  work  hard  with  our 
hands.” 

To  give  you  an  idea  of  how  your 
weight  would  rate  with  him,  the  good 
doctor  tells  the  middle-aged  it  would  be 


There  is  something  incongruous,  almost  obnoxious,  about  asking  God  to  , 
bless  buttered  rolls  and  pecan  pie  at  10:30  p.m.,  when  none  of  us,  little 
or  large,  need  them. 


best  if  they  carried  between  five  and  ten 
pounds  less  than  they  did  when  they 
were  twenty-two  years  old. 

Until  adulthood,  I never  felt  guilty 
about  my  weight.  In  comparison  to  the 
constant  current  preoccupation  with  cal- 
ories and  grams,  waistlines  and  thigh 
measurements,  I was,  in  fact,  relatively 
unconcerned  about  overweight. 

Only  when  I began  to  analyze  my 
eating  patterns  and  my  motives  did  I 
begin  to  see  how  food  became  a substi- 
tute for  success,  work,  or  recreation, 
and  compensation  for  loneliness,  disap- 
pointment, and  frustration.  Sometimes, 
l undisciplined  eating  corresponded  with 
an  undisciplined  inner  spiritual  life. 

The  lack  of  discipline  in  our  diets  is 
only  one  facet  of  an  undisciplined  cul- 
ture shared  by  fatties  and  skinnies  alike. 
We  choose  the  path  of  least  resistance 
| whether  it’s  turning  off  the  television 
set  when  unwholesome  pictures  flash  on 

■ the  screen  or  turning  down  a second 
piece  of  cake  after  dinner. 

Far  from  the  command  to  “exhort, 

[ rebuke,  reprove”  one  another,  we  en- 
courage indulgence  by  serving  a dozen 
different  dainties  and  using  banquets  as 
bait  to  increase  attendance  and  raise 
j church  funds.  Who  knows  what  sins  have 
been  sinned  by  Christians  at  church 
| suppers?  The  Apostle  Paul  certainly  was 
i aware  of  some  when  he  wrote  1 Cor- 
inthians 1 1 . 

U.S.  Mennonites  have  largely  left  the 
still-prevalent  Canadian  custom  of  re- 
| turning  thanks  before  between-meal 
I snacks.  At  such  times  I’m  more  com- 
j fortable  south  of  the  border.  There  is 
something  incongruous,  almost  obnox- 
ious, about  asking  God  to  bless  buttered 

■ rolls  and  pecan  pie  at  10:30  p.m.  when 
| none  of  us,  little  or  large,  need  them. 

One  reason  the  divers  and  sundry 
J diets  described  and  prescribed  in  daily 
I papers  and  monthly  magazines  do  not 
i faze  our  fat  is  this  simple  fact:  obesity 
I (like  sinuses,  ulcers,  headaches,  high 
i blood  pressure,  and  about  80  percent 
I of  our  other  ailments)  is  not  a purely 
physical  condition.  The  body  is  not  an 
entity  in  itself,  apart  from  the  mind  and 
emotions.  For  disciples  of  Christ,  more- 
over, discipline  includes  a spiritual  di- 
mension. When  Paul  commands  us  to 
do  everything  to  the  glory  of  God,  he 
specifically  mentions  eating.  Here,  as 
with  stewardship  of  time,  intellect,  and 
| money,  we  know  the  facts,  we  acknowl- 
| edge  our  responsibility,  the  spirit  is  will- 
ing, but  the  flesh  is  weak, 
j Overeating,  fortunately,  is  one  sin  that 
is  highly  visible.  Unlike  racism,  selfish- 


ness, or  pride,  obesity  cannot  be  hidden. 
We  may  stuff  ourselves  in  secret,  but  the 
fat  will  be  there  for  all  the  world  to  see. 
For  this  reason,  the  obese  may  be  more 
sensitive  to  statistics  which  tell  us  that 
10,000  people  die  daily  of  malnutrition, 
and  be  more  generous  in  their  response. 
Overweight  may  even  be  the  “thorn  in 
the  flesh”  which  keeps  some  of  us  from 
the  more  subtle  sin  of  undue  pride  in 
appearance. 

Weight  consciousness  for  most  women 
stems  more  from  concern  over  hiplines 
than  health.  We  resist  indulgence  pro- 
moted by  advertisements  only  because 
other  ads  cater  to  our  pride,  selling  Ayds, 
tops,  spas,  and  fashions-to-size-12. 

Peter  Klassen,  in  an  editorial  of  the 
MB  herald,  says  he  is  convinced  that  we 
would  have  only  about  half  as  many 
different  Mennonite  denominations  today 
if  our  forefathers  had  learned  to  play 
together  before  they  sat  down  to  dog- 
matic discussions. 

“God  made  a good  part  of  us  phys- 
ical,” Mr.  Klassen  continues,  “and  we 
are  too  slow  to  realize  the  spiritual  di- 
mensions that  are  unlocked  through  ef- 
fective use  of  that  part  of  us.  We  have 
admitted  the  benefits  of  Magengemein- 
schaft  at  conference  sessions,  but  hesi- 
tate to  go  beyond  that.”  Perhaps  we 
should  substitute  “jogging  breaks”  for 
coffee  breaks  occasionally. 

For  a few  “heavies,”  overweight  is  a 
purely  physical  problem.  For  most  it’s 
also  psychological.  For  Christians,  in- 
temperance of  any  kind,  and  whatever 
the  cause,  is  also  spiritual.  The  Spirit 
who  sets  us  free  from  restrictions  and 
taboos  reminds  us  of  accompanying  re- 
sponsibilities as  long  as  we  are  in  the 
flesh. 

“Freedom,”  writes  Waldon  Howard, 
editor  of  Faith  at  work,  is  not  simply  a 
door  through  which  we  walk  once  and 
for  all.  It  is  a gift  that  can  be  lost  or 
lived  into.”  So  the  decision  to  diet  is  not 
a once-for-all  decision.  It’s  a bite-by-bite 
renunciation,  which  to  the  faithful,  lasts 
for  all  of  life. 

I am  not  unaware  of  the  blessings  of 
communion  when  fellowship-in-depth  re- 
sults from  a shared  meal,  of  coffee 
breaks  which  break  down  barriers  of 
timidity,  of  a welcome  warmed  by  tea 
and  toast.  The  Hebrew  concept  of  iden- 
tification with  those  with  whom  we  break 
bread  is  not  enhanced,  however,  but  in 
danger  of  being  obliterated  by  our  need 
to  fill  in  the  blanks  with  too  much  food. 

As  a hearty  eater,  easily  hypnotized 
by  food,  I must  remind  myself  contin- 
ually that: 


, THE  MENNONITE  331 


1.  Spiritual  emptiness  can  never  be 
filled  with  physical  food. 

2.  Whatever  the  psychological  causes 
that  gnaw  inside  (hostility,  envy,  bore- 
dom, insecurity,  frustration,  impatience), 
none  will  diminish  even  though  I feed 
myself  into  a stupor. 

3.  The  many  plump  pilgrims  whose 
unselfish  generosity  has  blessed  my  life 
and  whose  Christ-likeness  has  inspired 
me  have  undoubtedly  coped  with  and 
conquered  temptations  more  formidable 
but  less  obvious  than  obesity. 

4.  Christ  accepts  me  just  as  I am,  and 

oh  wonderful  truth — can  renew  my 

mind,  thereby  giving  power  and  perse- 
verance to  renew  my  body. 

To  the  slender  and  the  stout  I would 
add: 

—Being  overweight  does  not  neces- 
sarily indicate  indulgence  in  excessive 
food  expense.  Skinny  “gourmets”  may 
be  more  wasteful  than  “gourmands”  who 
have  buns  for  breakfast,  sandwiches  for 
lunch,  and  vereneki  for  supper. 

— The  svelte  hostess  who  delights  in 
displaying  her  culinary  arts  must  share 
in  the  transgression  of  stout  saints  who 
sample  generous  slices  of  banana  cream 
pie. 

— There  are  few  areas  where  the  pres- 
sure of  our  culture  is  more  powerful 
than  in  that  of  self-indulgence,  and  few 
Christians  are  ready  to  respond  with 
the  radical  self-denial  necessary  to  a 
truly  Christian  life  style. 

When  we  recognize  the  psychospiritual 
basis  of  our  weight  problem,  a walk 
toward  weight  control  might  include  the 
following  steps : 

Step  1.  Face  a full-length  mirror  and 
the  fact  that  you  are  too  fat. 

Step  2.  Be  willing  to  accept  God’s 
help.  Turn  your  problem  over  to  him 
and  ask  him  every  morning  for  a gen- 
erous measure  of  discipline. 

Step  3.  Find  and  face  the  reasons 
why  you  overeat.  The  when  of  indul- 
gence may  well  contain  the  why. 

Step  4.  Accept  the  fact  that  a disci- 
plined eating  pattern  must  be  maintained 
indefinitely. 

Step  5.  A new  way  of  life  can  result 
from  new  emotional  habit  patterns.  Use 
prayer  and  meditation  to  help  you  win 
the  battle. 

“Coffee?”  I asked  Jim. 

“No  thanks,”  he  replied.  “I  don’t  even 
smoke.” 

I chuckled  then.  Now,  when  increasing 
numbers  of  medical  surveys  report  the 
health  hazards  of  that  “Christian”  bev- 
erage, I don’t  even  smile.  As  a matter  of 
fact  . . . But  that’s  another  problem. 


The  fat  is  in  youp  head 

Charlie  W.  Shedd 

Below  are  two  meditations  from  Mr.  Shedd’ s book,  The  fat  is  in  your  head  ( Word  Books,  Waco,  Texas),  in  which  he  tries  to 
provide  some  food  for  thought  to  people  headed  for  the  refrigerator.  The  book  contains  a series  of  forty  articles  and  prayers 
intended  for  daily  reading. 


To  move  a mountain 

. . if  you  have  faith  as  a grain  of 
mustard  seed,  you  will  say  to  this  moun- 
tain, ‘Move  hence  to  yonder  place,’  and 
it  will  move”  (Matt.  17:20,  rsv). 

Are  you  one  of  the  overweight  mil- 
lions living  life  in  quiet  desperation? 

Then  you’ve  got  company. 

Medics  tell  us  too  many  pounds  is  the 
nation’s  number  one  health  problem.  By 
their  statistics  more  than  one  hundred 
million  Americans  weigh  too  much. 
That’s  half  the  population.  And  thirty 
million  of  these,  they  say,  are  obese. 
Where  we  are  in  this  picture  depends  on 
whose  figures  we  accept.  But  after  put- 
ting them  all  together,  it  averages  out 
like  this:  If  we  carry  10  percent  more 
than  we  should,  we’re  overweight;  20 
percent  classifies  us  obese. 

Yet  this  one  fact  stands:  What’s  com- 
ing off  the  exterior  isn’t  as  important  as 
what’s  going  on  inside. 


Fifteen  years  and  120  pounds  ago,  I 
dropped  to  my  knees  and  prayed: 

“Lord,  I’ve  tried  for  years  to  whip 
this  problem  of  obesity.  I’ve  been  on 
banana  diets  and  eaten  red  meat.  I’ve 
taken  pills  and  bought  reducing  belts. 
I’ve  read  books,  attended  lectures,  joined 
clubs,  enrolled  in  courses. 

“But  I’m  still  faf.  I weigh  much  too 
much.  And  I need  help. 

“In  the  Good  Book  you  promise  if 
anyone  has  enough  faith  he  can  say  to 
a mountain,  ‘Go  away,’  and  it  will  go. 
There’s  a mountain  of  flesh  on  me.  I’ve 
been  trying  to  move  it  ever  since  I was 
a boy.  I’ve  been  laughed  at.  I’ve  been 
ridiculed.  I’ve  rationalized;  I’ve  lied.  I’ve 
had  times  when  I cared  and  times  when 
I didn’t. 

“I’ve  decided  to  quit  and  promised 
I’d  be  good.  Then  we  were  invited  out, 
and  this  woman  makes  the  best  biscuits. 
I’ve  sworn  off,  and  before  I knew  it,  I 


found  myself  sitting  at  the  fountain  lap- 
ping a milk  shake. 

“Now  I mean  business.  I accept  you 
at  your  word.  Today  I say  to  this  moun- 
tain, ‘Get  moving.’  I have  faith  that  the 
two  of  us  can  move  it  together.  This  is 
the  big  surrender.  I’m  turning  my  body 
over  to  you  once  and  for  all.  I can’t 
manage  it  alone.  From  this  day  on,  I’ll 
eat  what  you  tell  me  to  eat  and  live  how 
you  want  me  to  live.  Amen.” 

I don’t  hear  voices  like  some  of  my 
friends,  but  I get  the  message.  And  this 
time  the  message  was:  You’ve  come  to 
the  right  place,  the  prayer  of  commit- 
ment. This  is  the  prayer  where  we  sur- 
render the  chisel.  Now  we  quit  carving  u 
away  at  our  wants.  We  turn  the  tools  ! 
over  to  God  to  shape  us  his  way. 

There  may  be  a few  for  whom  the  i 
problem  is  purely  physical,  but  not  for  I 
most  of  us.  For  us  the  fat  is  in  our  head 
and  the  cure  is  in  our  soul. 


That  knock  on  the  back  to 


“But  now  that  you  have  come  to  know 
God,  . . . how  can  you  turn  back  again 
. . . ?”  (Gal.  4:9,  rsv). 


Most  of  us  heavies  have  been  down 
this  road  ten  thousand  times:  We  turned 
our  problem  over  to  God.  We  really  did. 
We  meant  every  word  of  our  surrender. 
But  then  one  day  we  went  knocking  on 
his  back  door  to  ask  for  its  return. 

And  he  gave  it  to  us. 

The  amazing  courtesy  of  God  is  beau- 
tiful. Extra  beautiful.  Wonderful,  won- 
derful liberty.  But  with  a problem  like 
ours,  his  very  goodness  exposes  us  to 
danger.  He  never  forces  us,  never  keeps 
us  waiting.  Whenever  we  wish  to  renege 
on  our  surrender,  God  treats  us  with 


dignity.  Temporary?  Permanent?  It’s  our 
decision. 

I always  tremble  a bit  when  I hear 
someone  say,  “I’m  a Christian.”  Nothing 
the  matter  with  that  if  it  means,  “I’m 
working  at  it  with  God’s  help.”  But  for 
us  this  “working  at  it”  must  be  the  life 
style. 

Three  times  daily  we  are  faced  with 
the  test.  Or,  to  be  exact,  it’s  three  dozen 
times  or  300.  Every  time  we  pass  the 
refrigerator,  the  bakery,  the  vending  ma- 
chine, there’s  that  test  again. 

Sometimes  it  would  be  so  much  easier 
if  the  Lord  set  our  plate  and  limited  the 
selections.  This  much  to  eat,  and  only 
this.  That’s  it  for  today.  No  more.  Sal- 
ads. Juices.  Vegetables.  Meats.  You’ve 
had  it.  Now  run  along  and  be  good.  But 


always  and  forever  he  gives  us  this  one 
thing  more:  Freedom  to  do  it  our  way 
or  his. 

“How  can  you  turn  back  again?”  One 
reason  is  that  our  Creator  made  us  for 
living  on  two  levels.  Below  our  aware- 
ness there  is  another  life  going  on.  And 
down  under  we  do  no  small  part  of  our 
business.  Being  the  way  God  made  us, 
the  threat  is  forever  there.  Two  minds— 
awareness,  unawareness. 

So  what  is  the  answer? 

We  can  begin  right  here  with  a double 
surrender.  We  can  thank  God  for  God. 
Because  he  is  like  he  is,  we  can  knock 
on  his  door  again.  And  he  will  welcome 
us.  Any  time. 

For  the  obese  and  overweight  this  is 
the  good  news. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  iCa ns.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  6/114. 


332 


MAY  22,  1973 


Spectator  or  participant? 

Getting  involved  in 
aggressive  evangelism 


Jerry  Regier 

Every  autumn  weekend  the  stadiums 
of  America  are  filled  with  80,000  spec- 
tators who  are  desperately  in  need  of 
exercise  watching  twenty-two  men  on 
i the  field  who  are  desperately  in  need 
of  rest.  For  many,  Christianity  is  just 
like  that  football  game.  It  has  become 
a spectator  sport. 

Is  this  very  much  unlike  our  churches? 
The  majority  of  work  is  done  by  the 
pastor  and  a handful  of  committed  peo- 
ple. The  task  facing  all  of  us  is  how 
can  we  get  the  spectators  to  become  ac- 
tive participants. 

Why  are  we  involved  as  spectators 
instead  of  active  participants? 

I have  found  that  the  average  Chris- 
tian is  not  sharing  his  faith  actively  and 
as  a way  of  life  for  one  of  several  rea- 
, sons: 

—He  is  not  aware  of  the  power  avail- 
able through  the  ministry  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  his  life  (Acts  1:8). 

— He  is  afraid  of  what  men  will 
think  of  him  (Prov.  29:25). 

— He  is  not  convinced  that  the  type 
of  life  he  is  living  is  worth  exporting. 

— He  does  not  understand  that  gen- 
uine love  for  a person  will  give  to  that 
person  what  he  needs  and  not  only  what 
he  wants. 

— He  doesn’t  know  how  to  share  his 
faith. 

Your  approach  is  aggressive  evange- 
i lism.  What  do  you  mean  by  aggressive 
j evangelism? 

“Agressive”  is  related  to  going,  not 
to  the  results.  We  believe  in  aggressive 
evangelism.  Maybe  we  should  use  a dif- 
ferent word  than  “aggressive”  (connotes 
' aggression,  force,  etc.),  but  to  us  it  sim- 
ply means  we  go — we  do  it.  We  do  not 
i wait  for  people  to  come  to  us,  but  rather 
| we  take  the  initiative  and  go  to  them. 
We  do  not  wait  for  a certain  impression 
from  God,  for  he  has  already  command- 
ed us  to  “Go  therefore  and  make  dis- 
I ciples  of  all  the  nations  . . .”  (Matt.  28: 
19  nasb  ) . A person  cannot  become  a 
(disciple  until  he  receives  Christ.  He  can- 
not grow  until  he  is  bom. 

“Aggressive”  is  giving  people  an  op- 
portunity to  respond.  Have  you  ever 


tried  to  sell  something?  Can  you  imagine 
giving  your  sales  pitch,  relating  all  that 
your  product  can  do  for  the  person,  and 
then  not  asking  him  to  buy?  Unthink- 
able! In  the  same  way,  we  take  the  ini- 
tiative and  ask  people  to  respond.  We 
do  not  become  “spiritual  scalp”  oriented. 
We  rather  are  oriented  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  who  draws  men  to  the  Savior. 
We  are  simply  God’s  tool  to  present 
them  with  the  opportunity.  Many  have 
not  received  Christ  because  no  one  has 
ever  asked  them  to  receive  him. 

“Aggressive”  is  expecting  results.  The 
major  blight  of  Christianity  throughout 
the  centuries  has  been  unbelief.  It  is  our 
unbelief  that  has  impeded  the  progress 
of  the  good  news  for  hundreds  of  years. 
In  Matthew  13:58  we  are  told  that  Jesus 
did  not  perform  many  mighty  works  in 
his  home  country  because  of  their  un- 
belief. 

Aggressive  evangelism  is  sharing  the 
message  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  and  leaving  the  results 
to  God.  Only  God,  through  the  power 
of  his  Spirit,  can  effect  results,  no  mat- 
ter which  method  is  used. 

Recently  while  at  the  University  of 
Maryland,  a friend  and  I had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  share  the  Four  Spiritual  Laws 
with  Mike,  a freshman.  As  we  concluded 
the  booklet,  I asked  him  if  he  would 
like  to  invite  Christ  into  his  life  and 
begin  this  great  adventure  of  the  Chris- 
tian life.  He  was  eager  to  pray  and  did. 
The  next  day  as  we  met  to  talk,  he  was 
overwhelmed  about  God’s  forgiveness  of 
his  sins. 

This  is  not  an  isolated  experience. 
Men  and  women  throughout  the  world 
are  hungry  for  God.  They  desire  to  know 
his  love  and  forgiveness.  As  you  and  I 
initiate  contact  with  them,  many  of  them 
are  ready  to  receive  Christ. 

Can  presentations  like  the  Four  Spir- 
itual Laws  booklet  become  too  mechan- 
ical? 

Yes,  this  can  easily  happen.  It  is  only 
a tool.  It  is  not  the  only  tool  and  is 
never  presented  as  the  only  method  to 
lead  a person  to  Christ.  The  gospel,  as 
contained  in  the  Four  Spiritual  Laws 
booklet,  must  always  be  shared  with 


genuine  love  for  the  person.  This  love 
is  expressed  (1)  in  the  fact  that  you 
care  enough  to  tell  him  what  he  needs 
in  order  for  him  to  have  a personal  re- 
lationship with  God  through  Jesus  Christ, 
and  (2)  in  your  attitude  of  friendliness 
toward  him  as  a person.  True  friendship 
and  genuine  love  must  involve  both  of 
the  foregoing  expressions  and  not  just 
the  latter. 

Is  it  important  for  a Christian  to 
share  Christ  with  others  by  his  actions 
as  well  as  taking  the  initiative  verbally? 

Yes,  it  is  a command  to  all  Christians 
to  share  the  good  news  of  God’s  love 
and  forgiveness  with  the  people  of  the 
world.  We  must  do  this  by  word  and 
deed,  by  talk  and  life.  Let’s  face  it,  if 
our  walk  does  not  match  our  talk,  then 
our  talk  is  a lie.  However,  if  we  do  not 
talk  much  about  our  walk,  then  how 
can  others  respond  to  the  message  of 
Christ? 

Arnold  Toynbee,  the  historian,  said, 
“Most  men  have  not  rejected  Christian- 
ity, but  only  a caricature  of  it.”  Many 
have  written  off  Christ  in  the  name  of 
religion.  We  must  tell  them  that  Christ, 
true  Christianity,  is  different. 

It  is  the  hypocrisy  of  religion  that 
has  kept  so  many  from  receiving  Jesus 
Christ;  but  as  these  groping  individuals 
are  presented  with  the  simple  claims  and 
message  of  Jesus,  God’s  son,  they  re- 
spond. There  is  no  guile  nor  hypocrisy 
in  Jesus.  As  we  point  men  and  women 
to  him  (instead  of  to  people,  of  whom 
it  is  said,  “there  is  none  righteous,  not 
even  one”  Rom.  3:10  nasb),  we  will  see 
countless  numbers  of  men  and  women 
respond  and  have  their  lives  and  life 
styles  transformed. 

In  summary,  aggressive  evangelism  is 
related  to  going — taking  the  initiative — 
and  not  to  the  results.  We  do  not  force 
people  to  become  Christians.  To  brow- 
beat a person  into  a decision  for  Christ 
is  not  aggressive  evangelism — it  is  spir- 
itual imperialism,  which  cannot  be  justi- 
fied scripturally.  I would  like  to  suggest, 
and  pray,  that  each  one  of  us  endeavor 
in  this  year  of  Key  73  to  be  an  active 
part  of  Christianity,  rather  than  just  a 
spectator. 


! 


THE  MENNONITE 


333 


NEWS 


Central  District  looks  at  abortion  issues 


Small  groups  were  again  used  extensively 
for  decision  making  and  discussion  by 
this  year’s  Central  District  convention, 
held  April  26-28  on  the  Goshen  College 
campus. 

Twenty-nine  groups,  each  consisting 
of  about  nine  delegates  and  guests,  dis- 
cussed questions  about  life  termination 
(focusing  especially  on  abortion),  a min- 
istry to  offenders,  and  other  issues  of 
their  own  choosing. 

Don  Steelberg  of  the  program  com- 
mittee, in  answering  objections  which 
had  been  raised  about  the  small  group 
approach,  said,  “It  is  possible  for  leader- 
ship to  come  from  the  platform,  but 
we’re  happier  when  it  comes  from  our 
midst.”  The  small  group  technique,  he 
said,  is  not  an  absence  of  leadership. 
It  is  the  utilization  of  insights  and  re- 
sources available  from  within  the  con- 
ference itself. 

Mr.  Steelberg,  who  is  pastor  of  the 
First  Mennonite  Church  in  Wadsworth, 
Ohio,  explained  in  an  interview  that  the 
program  committee’s  aim  was  not  neces- 
sarily to  come  up  with  definitive  answers 
to  complex  questions  but  to  provide  con- 
gregations with  models  on  ways  of  han- 
dling difficult  and  sometimes  controver- 
sial issues  in  a spirit  of  brotherhood. 

The  convention  planners’  failure  to 
schedule  “structured”  prayer  and  wor- 
ship at  the  beginning  of  the  conference 
caught  the  attention  of  some  small 
groups.  They  later  called  for  a cessation 
of  the  conference’s  business  to  spend 
some  time  in  prayer. 

The  suggestion  to  interject  a period 
of  prayer  in  the  midst  of  the  plenary 
session  evoked  a lively  exchange.  Some 
endorsed  the  proposal  enthusiastically. 
Others,  while  reaffirming  their  beliefs  in 
the  importance  of  prayer,  regretted  the 
“judgmental”  tone  in  which  the  call  for 
prayer  had  come.  They  stated  that  the 
polarization  which  was  caused  by  the 
way  in  which  the  suggestion  came  to 
the  floor  made  it  difficult  for  the  dele- 
gates to  pray  in  a spirit  of  unity. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  exchange, 
the  chairman  asked  each  small  group  to 
respond  to  the  request  for  prayer  in 
whichever  way  it  thought  most  appro- 
priate. 


The  “life  management”  question  re- 
ceived major  attention  at  the  conven- 
tion. Erland  Waltner,  speaking  on  the 
topic  “Biblical  perspectives  on  life  man- 
agement issues,”  noted  that  “Jesus  Christ 
is  the  Lord  of  life,  not  only  of  the  prayer 
life  of  the  Christian,  not  only  of  the 
ecclesiastical  life  of  the  congregation, 
but  all  of  human  life  from  before  the 
cradle  until  after  the  grave.” 

Pointing  to  the  new  developments  in 
this  country’s  approach  to  abortion  and 
other  life  termination  questions,  Mr. 
Waltner  said,  “Since  the  Supreme  Court 
ruling  is  now  a current  reality  on  the 
abortion  issue,  should  not  the  church 
concentrate  its  energies  and  time  . . . 
on  seeking  alternatives  to  abortion?  This 
would  include  becoming  more  serious 
on  eliminating  the  alleged  ‘need’  for 
abortion  in  our  society.  This,  in  turn, 
might  include  helping  to  change  atti- 
tudes especially  in  the  area  of  male  ir- 
responsibility with  reference  to  men’s 
contribution  to  abortion  problems,  the 
changing  of  the  secretive  and  privatistic 
climate  in  which  these  problems  are 
usually  faced,  and  beyond  this  lifting 
the  whole  matter  of  responsibility  in  the 
sex  area  to  a new  level  of  accountability. 
This  is  to  help  overcome  the  excessive 
permissiveness  which  now  characterizes 
this  dimension  of  our  life.” 

The  small  groups  varied  in  their  re- 
sponses to  two  case  histories  which  de- 
scribed situations  in  which  abortion  was 
considered  an  option.  A number  of 
groups  stated  that  abortions  should  not 
be  resorted  to  under  any  except  the 
most  dire  circumstances.  Several  groups 
suggested  that  more  husbands  should 
consider  undergoing  vasectomies.  Al- 
though leaning  toward  a somewhat  more 
liberalized  stance  on  abortion,  one  group 
reported  that  it  was  alarmed  at  the  long- 
range  implications  that  such  a position 
might  have  on  other  life  management 
situations,  such  as  the  treatment  of  old 
and  handicapped  persons. 

Chet  Raber  of  the  Oaklawn  Psychi- 
atric Center  staff,  who  served  as  the 
convention’s  small  group  process  leader, 
summarized  the  groups’  reports  by  ask- 
ing: If  it  is  never  right  to  take  life,  is 
it  ever  right  to  make  life?  He  also  under- 


scored the  need  for  concerned  persons 
to  give  greater  support  to  people  who 
are  experiencing  crisis.  He  noted  how 
easy  it  is  for  a convention  to  talk  about 
an  issue  without  making  hard  decisions. 

After  hearing  a panel’s  presentation 
on  the  penal  system  and  the  offender, 
the  conference  voted  to  allocate  $2,000 
to  its  peace  and  service  committee  to 
plan  some  more  regional  seminars  of 
this  type  which  it  cosponsored  in  Goshen 
and  Bluffton  during  the  past  winter.  The 
committee  will  also  make  information 
available  to  congregations  and  indivi- 
duals on  how  they  can  become  more 
involved  in  the  offender  ministry. 

Although  the  conference  was  able  to 
consider  only  a few  of  them,  most  of 
the  other  issues  suggested  for  discussion 
by  the  delegates  dealt  with  questions 
concerning  the  quality  of  life:  family 
relationships,  the  abuse  of  drugs  and 
alcohol,  the  meaning  of  spirituality,  etc. 

A private  member’s  resolution  calling 
for  a thorough  discussion  of  some  of  the 
rural  people’s  problems  at  next  year’s 
meeting  was  narrowly  defeated  in  a 
voice  vote  after  it  was  pointed  out  that 
this  type  of  motion  tied  the  program 
committee’s  hands  too  much.  The  con- 
cern about  farm  problems  was  kept  alive, 
however,  by  asking  the  peace  and  serv- 
ice committee  to  put  the  issue  on  its 
agenda. 

A resolution  to  move  the  conference’s 
future  annual  conventions  forward  one 
month  to  accommodate  the  farm  folk 
was  approved. 

The  nine  committees  and  institutions 
which  are  related  to  the  Central  District 
reported  to  smaller  interest  groups  at 
seventy-five-minute  “hearings.” 

At  the  missions  hearing,  most  interest 
centered  on  church  extension.  The  com- 
mittee shared  the  names  of  urban  com- 
mittees in  five  states  which  are  being 
investigated  as  possible  locations  for  one 
or  two  new  home  churches.  The  General 
Conference  will  be  invited  to  assist  in 
feasibility  studies  and  to  help  get  the 
new  groups  started. 

The  conference’s  new  president  is 
Lloyd  L.  Ramseyer,  who  is  interim  pas- 
tor of  the  Grace  Mennonite  Church, 
Pandora,  Ohio.  He  succeeds  Larry  Voth. 


334 


MAY  22,  1973 


Community  lost  or  community  found? 


Conferences  on  Christian  community 
used  to  use  the  word  “preserve”  with 
"community”;  now  the  word  is  “search,” 
said  John  A.  Lapp,  in  summarizing  the 
Mennonite  Conference  on  Christian 
Community  May  3-5  at  the  St.  Jacobs 
(Ontario)  Mennonite  Church. 

The  conference,  the  first  since  1965, 

[ was  sponsored  by  the  Mennonite  Com- 
munity Association,  an  ad  hoc  group 
which  grew  out  of  the  (Old)  Menno- 
nite Church  in  the  1940s.  Whatever 
kind  of  Christian  community  that  had 
been  discussed  in  the  twenty  years  of 
conferences  previous  to  that — perhaps 
the  community  based  on  common  an- 
cestry or  rural  geography — was  gone 
now,  conference  participants  said. 

The  basis  for  Christian  community 
had  to  be  “reformulated,”  but  no  one 
. could  agree  exactly  what  form  the  new 
■ Mennonite  community  should  take.  A 
few  representatives  of  intentional  com- 
munities were  present,  but  not  everyone 
was  ready  to  embrace  that  form  of  com- 
munity. House  churches  and  local  con- 
gregations as  vehicles  for  community 
were  examined  less  cautiously. 

The  lack  of  agreement  on  what  con- 
stituted the  new  Mennonite  community 
was  symbolized  by  the  discussion,  which 
| focused  on  community  lost  rather  than 
j on  testimonies  of  community  found. 

The  barrier  to  community  most  dis- 
j cussed  was  ethnicism. 

Several  black,  Mexican-American,  and 
(less  visibly  and  audibly)  Anglo-Ameri- 
can Mennonites  pointed  out  that  Men- 
nonites  of  German-Swiss-Dutch  back- 
l ground  need  to  include  minorities  in 
I decision  making  if  real  community  is  to 
exist. 

“You  are  responsible  to  meet  the  needs 
. of  the  minority  community  with  which 
I you  have  said  you  have  the  good  news 
to  share,”  said  John  Ventura,  Denver. 

Economic  inequities  between  whites 
and  minority  groups  are  a barrier  to 


community,  several  people  pointed  out. 

Hubert  Brown  commented  that  the 
inclusion  of  black  Mennonites  “can  help 
white  brethren  to  acquire  soul  in  the 
new  Mennonite  community.” 

Menno  Wiebe,  Winnipeg,  said  Men- 
nonites of  German  background  are  suf- 
fering from  a case  of  ethnic  shame.  “The 
question  of  Mennonites  is  not  to  forsake 
an  ethnic  identity  in  favor  of  a supposed 
nonethnic  body  of  neutral  Christians. 
All  authentic  Christian  expression  must 
take  into  consideration  the  roots  out  of 
which  its  people  grow.”  But  he  added 
that  a reformulation  of  Mennonite  peo- 
plehood  will  include  new  people. 

Calvin  Redekop,  Goshen,  Indiana, 
pointed  out  the  paradox  of  reconciling 
community  with  racial  pluralism.  “Com- 
munion creates  ethnicism,  and  ethnicism 
is  the  basis  out  of  which  community 
can  come.” 

The  program  committee  had  planned 
to  spend  at  least  a whole  afternoon  on 
ethnicism,  but  the  evening’s  discussion 
of  sexism  as  a barrier  to  community  was 
an  unplanned  addition  to  the  program. 

Emma  LaRoche,  Goshen  College  stu- 
dent, who  had  been  invited  to  appear 
on  a panel  but  could  not  come  because 
of  illness,  sent  a letter  to  the  conference 
expressing  her  concern  that  true  com- 
munity could  not  exist  when  women 
were  relegated  to  subservient  roles.  Jo- 
anna Wiebe,  Wichita,  appealed  for  more 
participation  of  women  in  decision  mak- 
ing in  the  church.  Other  women  pointed 
out  the  predominantly  male  character 
of  the  conference  itself. 

Other  speakers  included  Willard  Swart- 
ley,  Harrisonburg,  Virginia,  on  the  bib- 
lical basis  for  Christian  community; 
members  of  the  Conrad  Grebel  College 
faculty  on  “Searching  for  Christian  com- 
munity: Satan’s  seductions”;  and  Ralph 
Lebold,  London,  Ontario,  on  “The  local 
congregation.” 

Group  discussion  on  Saturday  morn- 


ing concerned  the  house  church,  inten- 
tional communities,  Mennonites  in  ur- 
ban communities,  the  Mennonite  church 
and  the  roles  of  women,  and  “Menno- 
nite community:  political  involvement 

and  social  change.” 

During  the  conference,  the  Mennonite 
Community  Association  held  its  first  bus- 
iness meeting  in  twelve  years,  elected 
three  new  members  of  the  board  of 
directors  (including  a woman,  Catharine 
Mumaw,  and  a General  Conference  rep- 
resentative, J.  Winfield  Fretz),  and  de- 
cided to  hold  another  conference  in  a 
year.  Conference-goers  instructed  the 
association  to  keep  free  from  bureau- 
cratic ties,  while  still  cooperating  with 
conference  agencies,  and  to  keep  the  as- 
sociation inter-Mennonite.  Members  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  and  Mennonite  Brethren  Church 
participated  in  the  conference  in  signifi- 
cant numbers  for  the  first  time. 

Part  of  the  tension  of  this  conference, 
sa»d  Mr.  Lapp  in  his  wrap-up,  was  that 
all  the  groups  with  different  reasons  for 
coming  to  the  conference  were  not  sort- 
ed out.  Some,  he  said,  had  a personal 
longing  to  belong  to  something.  Some 
came  to  find  out  how  to  build  or  enrich 
a community.  Some  already  had  a strong 
sense  of  community  and  wanted  to  share 
this,  test  it,  and  reformulate.  Others 
wanted  to  develop  communities  for  the 
1980s. 

Major  issues  for  the  future,  he  said, 
include: 

— defining  community  in  a technologi- 
cal society. 

— being  more  hardheaded  in  recog- 
nizing that  which  prevents  community. 

— hearts  and  heads  don’t  always  go 
together. 

— realizing  that  people  are  more  re- 
liable than  things. 

— finding  the  relation  of  communities 
to  each  other  and  sensing  a new  sectar- 
ian commitment  as  countercommunity. 


Willard  Swartley  . . . 
; Man  was  created  as  a 
| communal  being. 


Paul  Erb  . . . Now  the 
rural  situation  is  not 
even  worthy  of  remark. 


Menno  Wiebe  . . . Men- 
nonites should  not  for- 
sake an  ethnic  identity. 


Hubert  Brown  . . . We 
can  help  white  breth- 
ren to  acquire  soul. 


John  Lapp  . . . What 
did  we  mean  by  com- 
munity? 


THE  MENNONITE  335 


Lower  percentage  of  Mennonites  in  college 


From  left,  Frank  Ward,  John  Lapp,  and  Virgil  Brenneman  confer  at  the  inter- 
Mennonite  Student  Services  committee  meeting  in  Rosemont,  Illinois. 


The  percentage  of  Mennonite  college- 
age  youth  attending  college  or  university 
has  been  decreasing  over  the  last  five 
years,  reported  Virgil  J.  Brenneman  re- 
cently to  the  inter-Mennonite  Student 
Services  annual  meeting. 

Mennonites  in  undergraduate  studies 
for  baccalaureate  degrees  in  1972  repre- 
sented 27  percent  of  the  Mennonite  col- 
lege-age population,  whereas  in  1967 
the  figure  was  34  percent,  according  to 
statistics  compiled  by  the  Mennonite 
Board  of  Education,  Goshen,  Indiana, 
for  students  related  to  the  Mennonite 
Church  (MC). 

According  to  recently  released  U.S. 
Bureau  of  the  Census  statistics,  the  per- 
centage of  young  men  entering  college 
has  declined  from  approximately  45  per- 
cent in  1969  to  36  percent  in  1972.  The 
female  student  population  entering  col- 
lege in  1972  was  essentially  the  same 
as  three  years  before,  the  report  notes. 

The  percentage  of  all  Mennonite  youth 
(MC)  in  post-secondary  education  (e.g., 
nurses  training,  graduate  studies,  tech- 
nical schools)  represented  32  percent  of 
the  Mennonite  college-age  population  in 
1972  and  43  percent  in  1967.  The  num- 
ber of  full-time  Mennonite  graduate  stu- 
dents declined  from  a high  of  399  in 
1967  to  231  in  1972,  according  to  a 
recent  Board  of  Education  report. 

Probable  reasons  cited  for  the  national 
pattern  of  declining  college  enrollments 
included:  1)  most  of  the  increase  in 
student  population  in  the  last  decade 
hid  a percentage  decrease  at  a time  of 
rapid  increase  in  the  general  population, 
2)  lower  lottery  projections  of  the  past 
several  years  with  fewer  men  staying  in 
school,  3)  more  persons  going  to  college 
late,  and  4)  cost. 

The  committees  and  regional  coordi- 
nators identified  several  areas  of  interest 
in  relating  to  the  “Mennonite  diaspora” 
on  campus  and  in  noncampus  settings. 
They  raised  the  functional  question : 
“Elow  can  we  be  better  ministers  in  the 
student-young  adult  world”  (i.e.,  career 
planning,  bridging  generational  gaps, 
identifying  worth  of  formal  education)? 

A highlight  of  the  sessions  was  the 
Friday  evening  meeting  with  representa- 
tives of  the  Peoples  Christian  Coalition 
of  Evanston,  Illinois.  The  discussion  cen- 
tered on  questions  of  mission  in  our  day. 

Thirty  members  make  up  the  fellow- 
ship which  operates  as  a Christian  com- 
mune endeavoring  to  be  “in”  and  not 
“of”  the  world.  Some  members  are  stu- 


dents or  recent  graduates  living  in  two 
locations. 

One  member  articulated  the  purpose 
of  the  group:  “What  is  most  needed  is 
a band  of  Christians  who  take  the  gospel 
seriously  and  apply  values  and  priorities 
of  the  kingdom  across  the  board,  bring- 
ing judgment  to  bear  on  contemporary 
movements  and  forces  which  shape  life 
today.” 

The  coalition  finds  campus  life  turned 
inward,  evident  in  a changing  student 
mood  of  accommodation,  apathy,  and 
self-indulgence — doing  one’s  own  thing. 

Students  have  been  overwhelmed,  a 
spokesman  said.  “Five  years  ago  there 
were  signs  of  hope  and  activity  on  the 
campus,  today  it  is  a sign  of  the  mean- 
inglessness of  society.” 

Creativeness  in  rediscovering  the  spir- 
itual vitality  of  life  comes  in  the  com- 
munal and  contemplative  context,  an- 
other campus  observer  noted.  The  group 
publishes  The  post-American,  the  “voice 
of  the  People’s  Christian  Coalition.” 

The  committees  reviewed  the  coopera- 
tive Summer  Graduate  Student  Seminar 
and  student  publication,  forum.  Both 
were  rated  highly  as  means  for  commu- 
nicating with  and  among  students-young 
adults.  Forum  is  being  offered  by  paid 
subscription  to  others  at  $2.00  for  seven 
issues. 

Student  ministers  or  regional  coordi- 


nators (all  part-time)  who  participated 
in  the  conjoint  meeting  included  A1  Enns- 
( Mennonite  Brethren)  Waterloo,  Ontar-  , 
io;  Wesley  Mast  (Mennonite  Church) 
Philadelphia;  Vern  Ratzlaff  (Mennonite) 
Brethren)  Winnipeg;  Jim  Reimer  (Gen-! 
eral  Conference  Mennonite  Church)fj 
Toronto,  Ontario;  and  John  Shearer 
(Mennonite  Church)  Waterloo. 

Probe  peace  speeches 
mailed  to  Key  73  committees 

The  booklet,  “Evangelism:  good  news  or 
bad  news,”  published  by  the  Mennonite 
Central  Committee  Peace  Section  has 
been  mailed  to  the  Key  73  executives 
and  central  committee  members  by  the 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

Malcolm  Wenger,  chm  staff  member 
in  evangelism,  said  chm  took  responsi- 
bility for  the  mailing  for  the  Peace  Sec-! 
tion,  since  chm  has  membership  on  the 
Key  73  central  committee. 

The  booklet  contains  three  speeches 
relating  peace  and  evangelism,  presented 
at  Probe  72,  an  inter-Mennonite  consul- 
tation on  evangelism. 

The  letter  to  the  Key  73  committee 
members  from  Mr.  Wenger  appeals  tc 
the  third  objective  of  Key  73:  “to  appl} 
the  message  and  meaning  of  Jesus  Chrisl 
to  the  issues  shaping  man  and  his  so- 
ciety in  order  that  they  may  be  resolved.’ 


336 


MAY  22,  1973 


CHM  reference  council 
okays  interim  poverty  monies 

The  poverty  projects  reference  council 
of  the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
has  decided  that  the  commission  should 
continue  to  search  for  a consultant- 
grantsman  who  would  help  local  con- 
gregations and  other  groups  to  develop 
poverty  projects  and  find  funding  for 
them. 

Until  such  a person  can  be  employed, 
however,  the  reference  council  has  ap- 
proved the  use  of  $18,000  of  poverty 
projects  money  for  use  by  four  program 
areas  of  the  commission.  Over  half  the 
money — $10,000 — would  go  to  new  proj- 
ects in  Indian  ministries  designed  to  get 
at  the  root  causes  of  poverty.  Smaller 
amounts  would  be  used  for  new  poverty 
projects  in  radio-television  ($2,000),  vol- 
untary service  ($3,000),  and  peace  and 
social  concerns  ($3,000). 

Each  of  these  four  departments  will 
be  responsible  for  finding  projects  ap- 
propriate for  these  funds.  The  funds  will 
not  be  used  to  beef  up  existing  projects. 

The  commission  has  been  hunting 
since  February  for  a consultant-grants- 
man  to  do  research  on  poverty,  become 
acquainted  with  private  and  government 
funding  sources,  and  help  congregations, 
clusters  of  congregations,  or  other  in- 
terested persons  to  develop  programs 
which  could  attract  such  funding. 

The  reference  council  felt  that  $27,- 
500,  the  amount  budgeted  by  chm  for 
poverty  projects  this  year,  could  be  mul- 
tiplied to  $250,000  through  grants  from 
foundations,  industries,  government,  and 
individuals.  Chm  poverty  money,  in  ad- 
dition to  paying  a consultant-grants- 
man,  could  be  used  as  seed  money  or 
matching  money  for  grants. 

The  reference  council  also  decided 
that  the  consultant-grantsman  should  be 
hired  full  time,  rather  than  shared  with 
another  Mennonite  agency,  as  had  been 
suggested  earlier. 

Also  approved  was  a set  of  guidelines 
for  chm  poverty  projects.  The  guidelines 
are  essentially  the  same  as  the  Poverty 
Fund  guidelines,  but  have  been  adapted 
for  the  chm  strategy  of  hiring  a con- 
sultant-grantsman. The  old  Poverty  Fund 
steering  committee  gave  grants  directly. 

The  guidelines  give  priority  to  those 
programs  which: 

— blend  evangelism  and  service. 

— have  potential  for  affecting  social 
change,  developing  project  models,  or 
attracting  new  sources  of  funds. 

— involve  the  target  population  in 
planning  and  operation  of  the  projects. 


— incorporate  Christian  - Mennonite 
human  resources  as  well  as  financial  re- 
sources. 

— reflect  phasing  out  of  chm  support 
and  introduction  of  other  support  to 
assure  continuance  of  the  project  if  de- 
sirable. 

Members  of  the  reference  council  are 
Larry  Voth  (chairman),  Lawrence  Hart, 
Orlo  Kaufman,  Fred  Liechty,  and  Mar- 
tha Nickel. 


Cornelia  Lehn 

Cornelia  Lehn  will  teach 
one  semester  at  CMBC 

Cornelia  Lehn,  director  of  children’s 
work  for  the  Commission  on  Education, 
will  teach  a course  at  Canadian  Menno- 
nite Bible  College  in  Winnipeg  this  fall 
and  conduct  workshops  in  children’s  ed- 
ucation in  Winnipeg  churches. 

At  the  invitation  of  cmbc  and  on  the 
approval  of  the  coe  Department  of 
Christian  Education,  Ms.  Lehn  will  join 
the  staff  of  cmbc  from  September  to 
December  while  continuing  some  respon- 
sibilities with  the  commission. 

She  will  continue  to  serve  as  house 
editor  for  Rejoice!  and  as  associate  edi- 
tor of  On  the  line  and  to  take  care  of 
some  special  projects.  In  connection  with 
cmbc,  she  will  teach  one  course  with 
Helmut  Harder,  cmbc  professor  of  the- 
ology and  Christian  education,  and  will 
conduct  workshops  in  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  churches  in  Winni- 
peg. Final  arrangements  are  yet  to  be 
worked  out. 

Ms.  Lehn’s  assignment  in  Winnipeg 
is  part  of  a larger  effort  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Christian  Education  to  facilitate 
dialog  between  the  commission  and  col- 
lege and  seminary  personnel  involved  in 
Christian  education. 

The  department  proposed  at  its  meet- 
ing April  30-May  1 that  coe  staff  in- 
vestigate the  possibility  of  a consultation 
with  college-seminary  educators  on  the 
content  of  the  new  Anabaptist  curricu- 
lum for  use  in  church  school  classes. 

In  other  action  the  department: 

— evaluated  “Project  Teach,”  a week- 
long  teachers’  workshop  in  March  spon- 


sored jointly  by  coe,  Mennonite  Pub- 
lishing House,  Bethel  College,  and  Hess- 
ton  College.  The  department  approved 
another  “Project  Teach”  within  the  next 
year. 

— approved  the  formation  of  an  inter- 
generational  poverty  education  team  to 
visit  conference  churches.  The  commis- 
sion budgeted  $5,000  in  additional  funds 
this  year  for  poverty  education.  The  team 
would  probably  not  begin  functioning 
until  fall. 

— suggested  a membership  class  sem- 
inar later  this  year. 

— okayed  a family  camp  to  help  fam- 
ilies with  Christian  education  in  the 
home.  Date  and  place  are  yet  to  be  con- 
firmed. 

— approved  the  request  of  lake  I. 
Pauls,  director  of  youth  ministries,  to 
work  four-fifths  time.  However,  the  de- 
partment emphasized  that  this  did  not 
imply  a reduction  of  concern  for  ade- 
quate staff  in  youth  ministries.  The  com- 
mission may  hire  some  additional  pro- 
fessional services. 

A new  member  of  the  department  at 
this  meeting  was  Mary  Lou  Cummings 
of  the  West  Swamp  Mennonite  Church, 
Quakertown,  Pennsylvania. 

Bethel  social  work  program 
involves  field  experiences 

An  experience-oriented  program  in  sor 
cial  work  is  completing  its  first  year  as 
a full-fledged  department  at  Bethel  Col- 
lege. 

One  of  the  introductory  projects  avail- 
able to  students  considering  a career  in 
the  social  work  and  social  service  fields 
involves  residing  as  staff  at  Elm  St. 
House.  Elm  St.  House,  a transitional 
living  facility  in  Newton,  Kansas,  is  an 
extension  of  the  Meadowlark  Homestead 
program.  Arlen  Epp,  a 1968  Bethel  grad- 
uate, directs  and  coordinates  the  house 
program. 

The  six  Bethel  students  who  live  at 
Elm  St.  House  each  semester  are  re- 
sponsible for  providing  residents  with 
the  kinds  of  support  they  may  need, 
including  helping  them  find  jobs  and 
work  through  difficulties  encountered  at 
work  and  helping  them  to  express  their 
emotions  appropriately.  The  staff  also 
help  residents  define  and  take  the  re- 
sponsibilities demanded  in  community 
living  so  that  they  can  adjust  more  read- 
ily to  the  demands  placed  on  them  in 
community  life. 

To  date,  seventy-nine  persons  have 
taken  one  or  more  courses  in  the  social 
work  area. 


THE  MENNONITE 


337 


I 


Evangelism , social  issues  concern  NAE 


“Only  a burning  heart  and  a helping 
hand  will  win  our  world  to  Christ,”  said 
Myron  F.  Boyd  in  his  presidential  ad- 
dress to  the  annual  convention  of  the 
National  Association  of  Evangelicals, 
May  1-3  in  Portland,  Oregon. 

He  rebuked  evangelicals  for  so  often 
neglecting  social  concern,  while  com- 
mending their  proclaiming  the  gospel. 
He  pointed  to  the  great  evangelical  so- 
cial reformers  of  the  past  as  examples 
for  today:  Wilberforce,  Finney,  Moody, 
and  William  Booth. 

“I  am  deeply  bothered  by  the  very 
visible  fact  that  today’s  modern  Chris- 
tian seems  afraid  to  express  Christian 
love,”  declared  Bob  Harrison,  Portland 
black  pastor.  He  further  told  the  nae 
delegates,  “I  am  also  bothered  by  the 
fact  that  it  has  taken  a bunch  of  hippies 
— unwashed  and  antisocial — to  drive 
home  to  us  that  they  (in  their  uninhib- 
ited, anti-institutional  way)  are  more 
free  to  express  love  (even  a trite,  shal- 
low love)  than  are  those  who  make  up 
the  membership  of  the  Christian  church.” 
He  challenged  his  1,300  hearers  to  dem- 
onstrate Christian  love  by  visiting  their 
“brothers  in  need”  in  prisons,  labor 
camps,  and  neglected  homes. 

Yet  evangelism  was  the  pervasive  top- 
ic of  the  three-day  conference.  Nathan 
Bailey,  president  of  the  Christian  and 
Missionary  Alliance,  early  in  the  confer- 
ence stated,  “Is  it  going  to  be  business  as 
usual,  or  are  we  going  to  be  committed 
to  a fresh  proclamation  in  these  times 
when  the  world  is  ripe  for  the  appeal  of 
the  gospel?” 

David  Breese,  Hillsboro,  Kansas, 
closed  the  conference  by  stating  that  we 
are  living  in  the  time  of  the  decline  of 
western  civilization,  yet  saying,  “We  are 
also  living  in  the  day  of  unprecedented 
evangelical  opportunity.” 

A drama,  “Ten  miles  to  Jericho,”  on 
Wednesday  evening  was  matched  by  the 
unscheduled  drama  of  several  conflicts 
between  the  nae  resolution  committee 
and  the  social  concern  commission.  Mar- 
tin Schrag  of  Messiah  College  spoke  out 
against  the  implied  approval  of  the  Viet- 
nam conflict  in  a statement  about  vet- 
erans’ rights.  A resolution  favoring  cap- 
ital punishment,  passed  without  dissent 
last  year,  was  up  for  reaffirmation  this 
year.  After  an  eloquent  plea  from  the 
floor  that  statistics  show  no  deterrent  to 
crime  through  capital  punishment,  this 
year’s  resolution  barely  passed  on  a voice 
vote. 


Other  resolutions  called  for  integrity 
in  government,  opposed  abortion  on  de- 
mand, and  supported  “the  rights  of  re- 
ligious institutions  with  respect  to  em- 
ployment of  personnel  of  their  own  per- 
suasion.” An  amnesty  resolution  urged 
Congress  to  pass  such  legislation  as  need- 
ed to  assure  fair  and  impartial  treatment 
of  “those  who,  though  sincere,  have  bro- 
ken the  law.”  It  did,  however,  recognize 
the  rights  of  conscientious  objectors. 

A position  paper  presented  and  passed 
said  in  part,  “Evangelicals  do  have  a 
responsibility  for  their  nation  under  the 
mandates  of  Christian  love:  to  run  for 
office,  to  be  active  at  the  local  level,  to 
be  vocal  on  great  issues,  to  stand  for 
God  and  his  truth  in  every  relationship 
of  life,  and  to  do  so  within  the  freedoms 
guaranteed  by  the  constitution.” 

The  commissions  and  affiliates,  as  usu- 
al, provided  the  most  creativity.  The 
higher  education  commission  heard  that 
too  many  Christian  educators  have  lost 
their  sense  of  mission  and  are  more  in- 
terested in  “gaining  status  on  the  totem 
pole.”  A report  on  Key  73  to  the  evan- 
gelism and  home  missions  association 
indicated  that  the  nationwide  evange- 
listic effort  was  making  unprecedented 
breakthroughs  — despite  limitations  in 
funding  and  critics  on  the  right  and  left, 
including  the  Jews.  According  to  the  re- 
port more  than  150  groups  are  pledged 
to  reach  millions  in  North  America  with 
the  gospel. 

Robert  Girard,  author  of  Brethren, 

Indian  religion  may  have 

The  American  Indian,  whose  culture  was 
almost  destroyed  by  the  white  man  who 
brought  a sophisticated  religion  to  “save” 
him  from  his  barbarism,  may  all  the 
time  have  held  the  key  to  the  survival 
of  his  conqueror  and  the  foreign  culture. 

So  argued  theologians  who  are  spe- 
cialists in  American  Indian  religions. 
They  addressed  an  American  Academy 
of  Religion  group  recently  at  a congress 
of  some  3,000  biblical  scholars  in  Los 
Angeles. 

Professor  Ake  Hultkrantz  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Stockholm  and  Professor  J. 
W.  E.  Newberry,  University  of  Sudbury, 
Ontario,  discussed  the  religion  of  the 
American  Indian,  which  they  agreed  pro- 
vided in  its  concept  of  the  wholeness  of 
man  with  nature  a forgotten  key  to  a 
viable  theology  for  modern  man. 

Indian  religion  also  is  valuable,  said 


hang  loose,  told  the  evangelical  church-  | 
men  that  his  church  had  ceased  to  be 
a one-man  show.  His  people  are  “dis-|‘ 
covering  an  excitement  in  realizing  that 
they  have  a real  place  in  the  ministry  i 
of  the  church.”  “God  does  not  live  in 
church,”  Mr.  Girard  stated.  The  mem-:' 
bers  have  moved  out  into  the  neighbor-  f 1 
hood,  with  a proliferation  of  home  j 
groups. 

Strategy  groups  discussed  manage-! 
ment,  independent  churches,  involving  i 
young  adults,  and  breakthroughs  in  the  j 
evangelical  foreign  missions  association. 

The  National  Association  of  Evangel-  ; 
icals  has  a membership  of  thirty-three : 
denominations,  representing  some  36,000  , 
churches.  Member  groups  include  the : 
Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  Brethren 
in  Christ  Church,  and  the  Evangelical ; | 
Mennonite  Church  (Fort  Wayne).  Indi-^ 
vidual  and  congregational  membership  \ 
is  possible  and  includes  several  congre- > 
gations  of  the  General  Conference  Men-  a 
nonite  Church. 

George  Willms,  Newton,  Kansas,  pub-: 
lisher,  was  honored  as  layman  of  the : 
year  by  nae  for  his  long  service  in  the  ( < 
Newton  community,  in  the  Western  Dis-jl 
trict  Conference,  and  as  printer  of  nae’s  ? i 
official  publication,  United  evangelical  Ll 
action,  since  its  founding  nearly  thirty  ji 
years  ago. 

Myron  F.  Boyd,  Free  Methodist  bish-; 
op,  continues  as  nae  president.  Paul  E. 
Toms,  Boston,  was  elected  first  vice-! 
president.  Heinz  Janzen 

held  key  for  present 

Mr.  Hultkrantz,  in  opening  a window  to 
the  stone-age  faith  through  which  pre-( 
sumably  all  sophisticated  religions  of  thej 
world  have  developed,  and  as  such  war-1 
rants  scrutiny  and  more  profound  study, 
on  the  part  of  modern  theologians. 

“Indian  religion  must  take  its  rightful 
place  as  one  of  the  great  religious  tra-j 
ditions,”  he  said.  “It  is  no  finished  chap-| 
ter  but  a continuing  phenomenon  of  ouri 
times.” 

He  further  stated  that  the  remaining! 
Indian  people  are  caught  and  tom  be- 
tween two  cultures.  “What  is  needed  is 
a recognition  on  the  part  of  the  church 
that  the  native  concepts  were  and  are 
basically  religious  ones,  that  they  hold 
truth  which  they  were  expressing  in 
their  own  way  when  the  white  man  fell 
upon  them,  but  that  the  invaders  were ; 
blind  to  what  they  found.” 


MAY  22,  1973 


338 


Making  things  work  in  Bangladesh  fields 


The  following  report  was  written  by 
! Maynard  Shelly,  MCC  worker  in  Bangla- 
desh. 

When  he  came  to  the  farm  school  in 
Bangladesh,  A1  Geiser  found  a threshing 
1 machine  imported  from  Japan  standing 
idle. 

Nearby,  women  were  beating  rice 
straw  with  sticks  and  throwing  the  grain 
into  the  air  with  bamboo  trays  to  win- 
now out  the  chaff. 

“Why  not  use  the  threshing  machine?” 
asked  Al. 

“It  doesn’t  work  and  no  one  can  make 
it  work,”  he  was  told. 

“We’ll  see,”  said  Al,  confident  that 
he  would  get  it  going. 

Making  things  work  is  Al’s  stock  in 
trade  whether  it  is  on  the  job  for  Kidron 
i Electric,  a good-sized  plumbing  and  heat- 
ing firm  near  his  home  town  of  Apple 
Creek,  Ohio;  teaching  in  a vocational 
; school  in  Korea;  or  building  a mobile 
home  in  Pakistan. 

While  working  for  the  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  in  Pakistan,  where  he 
finished  up  four  years  of  service  in  1971, 
he  built  a threshing  machine  which 
“didn’t  work  too  badly  if  I must  say  so 
myself”  and  which  was  an  improvement 
over  machines  available  on  the  local  mar- 
ket “which  were  more  hammer  mill 
than  threshing  machine.” 

Al  came  to  Bangladesh  last  summer 
for  a second  term  of  overseas  service 
after  spending  a year  back  in  Ohio.  “I 
got  tired  of  fixing  garbage  disposals  and 
dishwashers”  which  he  sees  as  “some 
of  the  most  glaring  inequities”  in  a world 
where  so  many  people  don’t  even  have 
enough  food. 

Al  is  now  teaching  young  farmers  in 
Bangladesh  how  to  operate  and  main- 
tain power  tillers  so  that  they  will  be 
able  to  cultivate  more  intensively  their 
small  fields  and  grow  the  increasing 
, amount  of  food  so  urgently  needed  by 
the  75  million  people  who  make  Bangla- 
desh one  of  the  most  densely  populated 
countries  in  the  world.  Squeezing  more 
food  out  of  the  available  land  is  a major 
goal  of  the  work  of  mcc  which  has  a 
team  of  nine  people  developing  pro- 
, grams  to  build  crop  yields. 

Working  with  three  Bengali  mechanic- 
instructors,  Al  takes  twenty  men  through 
I a five-months  course  that  teaches  them 
to  analyze  engine  problems  before  tak- 
ing the  machine  apart,  an  improvement 
over  the  let’s-open-it-and-see  approach. 


Al’s  class  is  part  of  an  agriculture 
training  program  sponsored  by  a French 
Canadian  Catholic  missionary  society  in 
the  southern  district  of  Barisal  in  the 
village  of  Padrishibpur,  where  Portu- 
guese missionaries  came  almost  four  hun- 
dred years  ago.  From  the  centuries-old 
white  church  on  the  bank  of  the  village’s 
small  river  it  is  only  a short  walk  to  the 
workshop  where  Al  gives  instruction  on 
what  to  do  with  a power  tiller’s  diesel 
engine  when  dirt  in  the  fuel  line  is  sus- 
pected. “First,  check  the  filters  in  the 
fuel  line,”  he  says,  speaking  Bengali, 
which  he  learned  quickly  because  it  is 
much  like  the  Urdu  language  he  picked 
up  in  Pakistan. 

Trainees  coming  to  Padrishibpur  also 
receive  lessons  in  crop  and  farm  man- 
agement from  a Filipino  agriculturist. 
Students  go  into  the  field,  level  the 
ground,  weed  vegetables,  and  transplant 
seedbeds  to  learn  firsthand  new  ways 
and  methods  of  growing  food. 

He  finds  new  ways  to  improve  farm- 


ing with  the  equipment  available.  Look- 
ing at  the  power  tillers  being  used  on  the 
mission’s  demonstration  farm  where  po- 
tatoes are  being  grown  during  the  dry, 
cool  winter  months,  he  discovered  that 
they  could  be  fitted  with  a ridging  at- 
tachment that  would  build  the  potato 
rows  up  eight  inches,  making  irrigation 
more  efficient. 

And  looking  at  the  Japanese  threshing 
machine,  he  found  that  with  a bit  of 
adjustment  and  asking  the  farmers  to  cut 
their  rice  with  longer  stems  up  to  thirty 
inches,  the  thresher  would  work  smooth- 
ly- 

Padrishibpur,  which  is  Al’s  adopted 
home,  is  an  isolated  village  at  land’s 
end  by  western  standards.  It  is  thirty 
miles  by  river  to  Barisal,  the  nearest 
town  with  stores  and  a motion  picture 
theater. 

But  in  Bangladesh,  as  in  Pakistan 
where  he  lived  in  a village  for  eight 
months,  Al  prefers  to  live  where  people 
live  whom  he  can  help. 


Al  Geiser,  left,  MCC  volunteer  in  Bangladesh,  and  Ben- 
gali men  work  on  an  irrigation  pump.  ^ 


HE  MENNONITE 


339 


RECORD 


Ministers 


Pramode  Rain,  a 1973  graduate  of  Union 
Biblical  Seminary,  Yeotmal,  India,  be- 
came pastor  of  the  Korba  (India)  Men- 
nonite  Church  April  1 . A native  of  Kor- 
ba and  Champa,  he  is  the  youngest  man 
to  begin  a pastorate  in  the  Bharatiya 
Mennonite  Church  Conference. 


Ram  Weaver 


S.  Douglas  Weaver  has  begun  as  pas- 
tor of  the  Bethel  Community  Church, 
Santa  Fe  Springs,  Calif.  He  has  been 
serving  as  assistant  pastor  of  the  South 
Bay  Baptist  Church,  Torrance,  Calif.  He 
is  a Christian  education  consultant  for 
Gospel  Light  Publications,  Glendale, 
Calif.  Mr.  Weaver  holds  a master  of 
religious  education  degree  from  Con- 
servative Baptist  Theological  Seminary, 
Denver. 

Workers 


Jeanette  L.  Koop  Flickinger,  Monroe, 
Wash.,  began  one  year  of  voluntary 
service  May  2 in  Hamilton,  Ont.  She 
will  work  in  an  earning  position  as  a 
medical  receptionist  and  also  assist  in 
the  programs  of  the  Welcome  Inn,  the 
community  center  which  operates  out  of 

HELP^WANTED~'*^ 


DAY-CARE  WORKERS 

Male  and  female  day-care  workers  or  Head 
Start  aides  needed  beginning  summer  or  fall. 
Locations:  Champaign,  Illinois;  Elkhart, 

Indiana;  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana;  Hammon, 
Oklahoma;  Hutchinson,  Kansas;  Liberal, 
Kansas;  Markham,  Illinois;  Oklahoma  City, 
Oklahoma;  Phoenix,  Arizona;  Wichita,  Kan- 
sas. High  school  diploma  required.  No  expe- 
rience necessary.  Voluntary  Service  support 
of  room,  board,  travel,  and  $25  a month 
provided.  Write:  Personnel  Office,  Box  347, 
Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


the  VS  unit  house.  Members  of  the  vol- 
untary service  unit  share  earnings  so  that 
some  can  work  in  positions  which  offer 
no  salary.  Ms.  Flickinger,  a member  of 
Monroe  Community  Chapel,  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Robert  and  Mildred  Koop  of 
Monroe.  Jeanette  has  attended  Eastern 
Washington  State  College,  Cheney, 
Wash.,  and  received  the  medical  as- 
sistant certificate  from  Northwest  Col- 
lege, Kirkland,  Wash.,  in  1972. 

Amelia  Irene  Lehl,  Portland  (Ore.) 
Mennonite  Church,  has  begun  a one- 
year  term  of  voluntary  service  as  a com- 
munity worker  in  Champaign-Urbana, 
111.  She  is  a 1972  graduate  of  Metro- 
politan Learning  Center,  Portland.  The 
Champaign-Urbana  voluntary  service  unit 
is  locally  sponsored  by  the  First  Menno- 
nite Church,  a member  of  both  the 
Mennonite  Church  and  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church.  Voluntary 
service  projects  include  day  care,  drug 
abuse  counseling,  tutoring  for  high  school 
equivalency  exams,  and  medical  services. 


Lehl 

Bernie  Neufeld,  Winnipeg,  has  been 
appointed  music  instructor  by  the  Cana- 
dian Mennonite  Bible  College  for  the 
coming  year.  Mr.  Neufeld,  who  holds 
an  MA  in  choral  literature  from  the 
University  of  Iowa,  has  previously  taught 
at  Westgate  Mennonite  Collegiate,  Win- 
nipeg, and  Mennonite  Collegiate  Insti- 
tute, Gretna,  Man. 

Rodney  Sawatzky  has  been  appointed 
as  a part-time  instructor  in  history  by 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College.  He 
is  currently  completing  work  on  his  doc- 
torate at  Princeton  University.  He  has 
received  a Canada  Council  grant  for  re- 
searching Mennonite  historiography.  Pri- 
or to  his  earlier  three  years  of  teaching 
at  cmbc  (1967-70),  he  spent  a year  as 
instructor  at  Menno  Bible  Institute,  Dids- 
bury,  Alta. 

Leon  Stauffer,  Salunga,  Pa.,  has  been 
appointed  general  secretary  of  Eastern 
Mennonite  Board  of  Missions  and  Char- 
ities. He  had  previously  been  appointed 
secretary  of  the  Eastern  Board.  In  both 
positions  he  succeeds  Ira  J.  Buckwalter. 
As  secretary,  Mr.  Stauffer  will  act  as  a 


legal  officer  of  the  Eastern  Board.  As  I 
general  secretary  he  will  serve  as  admin-  ^ 
istrative  head  of  staff.  He  came  to  the  j| 
Salunga  headquarters  in  1966  and  has  j 
served  as  assistant  voluntary  service  di-  s| 
rector,  voluntary  service  director,  and  ' 
associate  general  secretary.  He  is  a 1964 
graduate  of  Penn  State  University  and  j 
is  a candidate  for  a master’s  degree  in  ,r 
counseling  from  Millersville  State  Col-  ]' 
lege. 

Audiovisuals 



Amnesty  or  exile,  a new  black-and-white  i 
documentary  movie  sponsored  by  the 
Interfaith  Committee  on  Draft  and  Mil- 
itary Information,  is  available  from  mcc  ' 
Peace  Section. 

The  film  attempts  to  provide  an  under-  ' 
standing  of  the  estimated  500,000  pris-  jl 
oners,  exiles,  and  veterans  who  would  : 
benefit  from  a general  amnesty  given  i| 
by  the  United  States. 

The  film  presents  the  complex  issue  of  j| 
amnesty  through  a series  of  excerpts  1 
from  interviews  with  draft  and  military  ‘ 
exiles,  military  personnel  in  the  United  ! 
States,  and  Pentagon  representatives,  and  j 
through  selections  from  hearings  on  am-  ; 
nesty  in  Congress. 

A guide,  including  background  infor-  j 
mation,  discussion  questions,  and  a bib-  i 
liography,  accompanies  the  thirty-five-  * 
minute  film. 

Write  Audiovisual  Department,  mcc, 
Akron,  Pennsylvania  17501. 

Calendar 


June  14-17 — Pacific  District  confer- 
ence, Dallas,  Ore. 

June  21-24 — Northern  District  con- 
ference, Freeman,  S.D. 

July  7-11 — Annual  sessions  of  Con- 
ference of  Mennonites  in  Canada,  Ed- 
monton, Alta. 

Aug.  3-9,  1974 — General  Conference 
triennial  sessions,  St.  Catharines,  Ont. 

Canadian 

June  1-3 — Songfest,  Alberta  Menno- 
nite Youth  Organization,  Tofield. 

Eastern 

June  2-3 — Seventieth  anniversary  cele- 
bration and  mortgage  burning,  First 
Church,  Allentown,  Pa. 

June  3-8— Bible  conference  and  be- 
ginning of  drive-in  church,  East  Swamp 
Church,  Quakertown,  Pa. 

Western 

May  25-28 — Mennonite  Camping  As- 
sociation conference.  Deer  Creek  Chris- 
tian Camp,  Pine,  Colo. 


340 


MAY  22,  1973 


REVIEW 


The  rural  church  in  a seductive  culture 


; Rural  ministry  in  the  changing  commu- 
I nity,  by  Rockwell  C.  Smith  ( Abingdon 
Press,  Nashville,  1971,  $5.00)  is  re- 
' viewed  by  Walter  Neufeld,  pastor  &f  the 
Eden  Mennonite  Church,  Moundridge, 
Kansas. 

This  book  is  an  attempt  by  the  author 
to  understand  the  many  ways  in  which 
the  modern  rural  church  is  affected  by 
the  society  and  culture  in  which  it  lives. 
It  describes  the  context  within  which  the 
rural  church  must  interact  with  a mod- 
em, hostile,  and  in  some  ways,  a seduc- 
. ing  culture.  He  concludes  that  there  is 
a vital  role  for  the  modern  rural  church 
in  a changing  world,  provided  that  the 
: rural  church  and  its  pastor  come  to  a 
i rather  sophisticated  sociological  knowl- 
edge of  community  and  group  processes. 

He  indicates  that  the  mobility  of  peo- 
ple in  modem  times  and  the  consequent 
urbanization  of  so  many  people  who 
formerly  had  roots  in  rural  life,  has  had 
a marked  negative  effect  upon  identity 
and  self-confidence  in  the  spiritual  pil- 
grimage. He  strongly  suggests  that  ur- 
banization, though  it  provides  vast  re- 
sources of  personnel  and  wealth  in  a 
small  geographic  area,  nevertheless  de- 
prives rather  than  enriches  the  rural  peo- 
ple that  it  affects.  One  reason  is  that 
this  has  brought  “radical  change”  as  a 
way  of  life  to  an  area  which  finds  rad- 
| ical  change  foreign  and  strange. 

There  has  been,  in  recent  years,  a 
radical  multiplication  of  power  in  the 
hands  of  men.  Thus  the  traditional  and 
I rational  norms  of  control  no  longer  seem 
relevant.  Man  stands  alone  without  sig- 
I nificant  guidance  at  the  point  of  his 
, newly  achieved  power.  He  does  not 
know  how  to  use  this  power  or  how  to 
: prevent  others  from  using  it  against  him. 

At  the  same  time  that  man  has  gained 
| this  power  (which  now  becomes  a threat 
to  him),  his  mobility  has  separated  him 
I from  his  fellows,  thus  removing  a context 
1 of  security  that  rural  people  had  felt 
until  now.  This  has  made  man  at  the 
1 same  time  powerful  and  lonely,  and 
I therefore  subject  to  many  fears.  In  the 
!i  resulting  search  for  security,  modem 
i man  has  accepted  the  regimentation  of 
l his  common  life  at  the  loss  of  some  of 
I the  very  basic  freedoms. 


The  author  invites  consideration  of 
some  basic  principles  for  pastors  and 
churches  who  desire  to  make  the  effort 
to  understand  the  circumstances  in  which 
they  must  live.  He  proceeds  with  a dis- 
cussion of  eleven  basic  concepts  which 
were  chosen  by  members  of  the  Rural 
Sociological  Society  as  being  “of  major 
importance  for  a pastor  serving  a town 
and  country  church.” 

The  author  proposes  that  “knowledge” 
in  these  areas  becomes  “power”  for  the 
pastor  and  the  congregation  that  can 
make  them  relevant  to  the  everyday 
life  of  the  people  in  the  church  and  in 
the  community.  A congregation  is  never 
“educated”  but  must  always  continue  to 
learn  and  to  seek  to  understand  the  so- 

Published 

Twelve  becoming  by  C.  J.  Dyck,  the  bi- 
ographies of  twelve  Mennonites  of  the 
past  and  present,  will  be  published  by 
Faith  and  Life  Press,  Newton,  Kansas, 
June  1. 

Frank  Ward,  executive  secretary  of 
the  Commission  on  Education,  said  the 
book  was  intended  for  use  by  study 
groups,  church  classes,  and  families  with 
children  junior  age  and  below. 

“I  think  C.  J.  Dyck  has  done  a fine 
job  of  gathering  historical  material  and 
writing  so  the  book  is  usable  for  a wide 
variety  of  age  groups,”  Mr.  Ward  said. 

Included  in  the  book  are  biographies 
not  only  of  General  Conference  Men- 
nonites, but  of  those  in  the  Mennonite 
Church  and  Mennonite  Brethren  Church. 

The  twelve  biographies  are  of  Menno 
Simons,  Christopher  Dock,  Johann  Cor- 
nies,  Johann  Oberholzer,  David  Toews, 
C.  K.  Klassen,  Nicolai  Siemens,  Harold 
S.  Bender,  Joe  Walks  Along,  Ngongo 
David,  Lena  Graber,  and  Suhadiweko 
Djojodihardjo. 

Price  will  be  $2.95  when  ordered  in 
bulk  through  General  Conference  con- 
gregations, $4.50  in  bookstores. 

Accompanying  the  book  will  be  a 
study  guide  written  by  Bertha  Harder, 
Elkhart,  Indiana.  The  study  guide  will 
be  available  by  September. 

C.  J.  Dyck,  author  of  the  book,  is 
professor  of  historical  theology  at  Men- 
nonite Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart. 


ciety  and  world  in  which  we  live,  with 
the  hope  of  becoming  more  effectively 
human  in  our  communities. 

The  author  concludes  by  suggesting 
that  there  are  two  main  options  for 
modem  man.  Power,  mobility,  aliena- 
tion, and  fear  may  accelerate  and  bring 
on  those  forces  that  destroy  our  stability 
to  a degree  where  we  make  the  ultimate 
appeal  to  nuclear  destruction.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  we  can  skillfully  cope  with 
the  powers  of  fear  and  alienation,  we 
may  yet  succeed  in  managing  change 
so  that  we  can  realize  for  ourselves  and 
all  mankind  the  tremendous  potential 
which  exists  in  modem  society. 

I found  this  review  of  sociological 
processes  refreshing.  I believe  that  the 
book  has  a special  relevance  to  the 
Mennonite  church,  because  we  are  still 
very  rural  in  spirit  and  makeup,  if  not 
in  geography.  Further,  it  has  relevance 
to  congregations  that  would  like  to  take 
a prophetic  stance  in  relationship  to  the 
mobility,  alienation,  insecurity,  and  vio- 
lence that  have  become  everyday  reali- 
ties for  all  of  us. 


ROSANNA  OF  THE  AMISH 

J.  W.  Yoder 

NOW  IN  PAPERBACK 

This  is  the  thrilling  true  story  of 
Rosanna  McGonegal,  an  Irish  Cath- 
olic baby  girl,  who  came  into  the  care 
of  an  unmarried  Amish  lady,  Eliza- 
beth Yoder. 

Irv  addition  to  telling  an  interesting 
story,  this  book  gives  an  honest  sym- 
pathetic, and  straightforward  account 
of  the  religious,  social,  and  economic 
customs  of  the  Amish. 

Paperback.  1714-X:  $1.25 

ORDER  FROM 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON,  KANSAS, 

OR  BERNE,  INDIANA 


Kstfe*- 


THE  MENNONITE 


341 


ters  meditation 


Praying  for  our  nation 


The  gift 


O God, 

here  we  are  at  church  again. 

We  come  here  every  Sunday. 

Somehow  it  makes  the  week  go  better. 

Renew  us,  O God. 

We  sit  and  daydream 

planning  for  the  week. 

O God,  wake  us! 

You  gave  us  a priceless  gift — 

Eternal  life! 

We  took  the  package 
years  ago 

when  our  name  was  added  to 
the  church  membership. 

When  will  we  open  it, 

and  see  how  precious  it  is, 
and  want  to  share  it  as  you  directed? 

Darlene  Schroeder 


Dear  Editor:  Tonight  I listened  to  the 
president  explain  his  relation  to  the 
Watergate  scandal.  I had  hoped  that 
under  the  sobering  weight  of  this  tragedy 
the  president  would  make  a simple, 
humble  statement  and  like  King  David 
might  have  simply  said,  “I  have  sinned 
against  the  Lord”  and  the  nation.  I had 
hoped  for  too  much. 

Deeply  troubled  as  I am  about  the 
monumental  evil  which  has  been  found 
in  the  president’s  inner  circle,  I do  not 
see  this  as  unique  to  this  administration. 
It  is  cut  of  the  same  fabric  of  evil  to  be 
found  among  “the  best  and  the  bright- 
est” men  around  Kennedy  and  Johnson 
who  led  us  with  a chain  of  falsehoods 
into  the  most  shameful  war  in  United 
States  history. 

And  yet,  during  these  recent  weeks 
I have  found  a new  pride  in  our  Amer- 
ican political  system,  suggested  by  such 
evidences  as  these: 

— That  a twenty-four-year-old  night 
watchman  was  alert  and  did  his  duty. 

— that  a conservative  Republican  sen- 
ator from  Arizona  had  the  courage  to 
declare,  “There’s  a smell  to  it.  Let’s  get 
rid  of  the  smell.” 

— that  a North  Carolina  senator  and 
his  senatorial  investigatory  committee 
could  not  be  frightened  off  by  an  At- 
torney General  with  his  arrogant  asser- 
tion of  presidential  power. 

— that  two  reporters  from  a much- 
abused  newspaper  have  been  able  to 
dig  out  facts  that  all  the  president’s  spe- 
cial investigators  could  not  find. 

— that  a federal  district  judge  has  been 
insisting  that  the  president’s  men  shall 
be  brought  to  justice. 

— that  a pastor  on  Easter  with  the 
presidential  family  present  spoke  of  King 
Agrippa:  “for  the  king  knoweth  of  these 
things.  . . .” 

I am  praying  tonight- — -a  prayer  of 
gratitude  and  encouragement  for  the 
press,  the  American  judiciary,  and  the 
American  Congress — all  of  these  cour- 
ageous expressions  of  a nation’s  con- 
science. I am  also  praying  for  our  nation 
— hurt  and  betrayed — but  a nation  with 
a capacity  to  face  ugly  truth  and  to  re- 
cover with  confidence  from  tragedy. 

I am  also  praying  for  Richard  Nixon. 

I pray  that  he  might  think  of  us  more 
highly  as  an  American  people.  I fear 


he  has  underestimated  our  capacity  as 
a people  to  accept  and  recover  from 
shocking  truth. 

Tonight  after  the  president’s  broadcast 
I read  these  lines  in  the  Washington 
news — gospel  insights  in  a secular  news- 
paper! 

“As  Mont  St.  Michel  and  Chartres 
came  to  symbolize  medieval  man’s  abid- 
ing search  for  fulfillment  through  obedi- 
ence to  God’s  will,  so  Watergate  has 
become  the  tawdry  emblem  of  a culture 
which  measures  men  by  what  they  have 
rather  than  by  what  they  are.  . . . 

“Our  tawdriness  . . . destruction  lies 
in  the  path  we  are  following.  . . . 

“So,  if  the  worst  is  true,  perhaps  it 
will  shake  us  to  our  very  core.  And  it 
will  require  a tremor  of  that  magnitude 
to  dislodge  us  from  the  amoral  no-man’s- 
land  we  presently  occupy.” 

This  newspaperman  suggests  that  the 
tragedy  of  Watergate  may  be  a tragedy 
in  each  of  our  lives — a bit  of  Watergate 
in  each  of  us,  “I  have  sinned  against 
the  Lord.”  I have  sinned — 

— when  I allow  the  end  to  justify  the 
means.  . . . 

— when  I am  more  loyal  to  my  close- 
in  buddies — the  Haldemans,  the  Ehrlich- 
mans,  the  Deans — than  to  the  people 

— when  I seek  to  justify  my  sins  by 
saying  that  others  are  doing  it  or  have 
done  it  too.  . . . 


— when  I say  that  my  sins  are  minor 
(mistakes  of  zealotry)  and  that  there 
are  bigger  issues  to  which  I must  address 
myself.  . . . 

— when  I refuse  to  face  the  scandall 
in  my  life  and  just  hope  it  will  all  go 
away.  . . . 

— when  I am  so  obsessed  with  success 
in  the  ways  of  this  world  that  I trample 
on  others  and  violate  human  values.  . . . 

And  so  I am  praying  tonight  for  Rich- 
ard Nixon,  the  nation,  and  myself. 

We  are  in  deep  trouble.  For  those  of 
us  who  believe  in  penitence  and  for- 
giveness, there  is  hope.  Robert  Kreider, 
Bluff  ton,  Ohio  45817.  April  30 

Mind-blowing  exercise 

Dear  Larry:  Dan  U.  Dalke’s  letter 
(April  17  issue)  gives  excellent  oppor- 
tunity for  a consciousness-raising  exer- 
cise for  both  men  and  women. 

In  place  of  words  denoting  maleness, 
use  female  terms.  In  place  of  female, 
use  male.  For  example,  Mr.  Dalke’s  com- 
ments, “The  wife’s  responsibility  is  to 
submit  to  the  head  of  the  marriage,  her 
husband.  The  woman  was  created  for 
the  man,  not  the  man  for  the  woman,” 
would  be  reread  as  follows:  “The  hus- 
band’s responsibility  is  to  submit  to  the 
head  of  the  marriage,  his  wife.  The  man 
was  created  for  the  woman,  not  the 
woman  for  the  man.” 


342  MAY  22,  1973 


If  you  feel  into  this  exercise  and  stay 
with  your  feelings,  you  will  experience 
a startling  mind  reaction  whether  you 
are  male  or  female.  Let  your  feelings 
absorb  you.  Here  is  another  instance: 
“I’m  sorry,  gentlemen,  but  as  far  as 
leadership  and  responsibility,  it’s  a wom- 
an’s world,  and  God  is  not  “Our  heaven- 
ly Father!”  Really  blows  your  mind, 
doesn’t  it? 


What  if  it  were  really  to  happen? 
What  if  woman  did  unto  man  as  it  is 
done  to  her? 

Thank  you  for  Joyce  Shutt’s  “The 
sermon  I never  heard.”  I enjoy  reading 
The  Mennonite.  Lois  Kemrer  Eckman, 
516  Capri  Rd.,  Lancaster,  Pa.  17603. 

April  18 


Should  man  rule  regardless? 

Dear  Editor:  God  is  a Spirit  and  they 
that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth — John  4:24.  Is  reve- 
[ lation  of  truth  and  spirit  an  inherent 
quality  determined  whether  man  or  wom- 
j an? 

There  are  many  cases  where  certainly 
the  spirit  of  the  male  is  not  in  accord 
with  God’s  as  much  as  the  woman’s. 


1 household  regardless? 

Rachel  had  other  plans  than  Isaac, 
and  Jacob  (Rachel’s  plan)  was  the  cho- 
i sen  of  God.  E.  R.  Moser,  Bluff  ton,  Ohio 
45817.  April  18 

Resisters  deserve  honor 

(Dear  Editor:  The  American  Govern- 
jment  should  grant  amnesty  to  those 
Americans  who  refused  to  participate  in 
the  Vietnam  War. 

The  truth  is  that  all  American  opin- 
ion opposing  American  participation  in 
the  Vietnam  War  modified,  to  some  ex- 
tent, American  participation  in  that  war 
and  had  it  not  been  for  this  opposition 
there  would  have  been  no  limit  to  Amer- 
ican efforts  to  win  that  war — even  to, 
and  including,  use  of  America’s  nuclear 
arsenal  — and  this  is  true  despite  any 
alaims  of  less  rational  and  perceptive 
\mericans  to  the  contrary. 

Thus,  to  America’s  Vietnam  War  re- 
gisters the  entire  human  race  is  greatly 
ndebted.  Except  for  them  the  planet 
Tarth  would  now  be  the  scene  of  the 
lesolation  following  a nuclear  war. 

By  the  actions  of  those  resisting  the 
/ietnam  War — American  and  foreign — 
he  human  race  has  been  given  another 
ahance  to  look  around  and  seek  anew 
he  way  to  avoid  nuclear  holocaust. 


The  Vietnam  War  resisters  played  by 
far  the  most  useful  American  role  in  the 
Vietnam  War  as  a chastened  and  intel- 
lectually awakened  American  Govern- 
ment at  some  future  time  publicly  will 
concede. 

Vietnam  War  resisters  deserve  not 
only  amnesty  but  also  the  highest  honors 
the  American  people  can  bestow.  Der- 
wood  M.  Dudley,  Campbelltown,  N.Y. 
14821.  April  14 

Price  tag  for  amnesty 

To  the  Editor:  I have  felt  led  to  reply 
to  the  article  on  amnesty  (April  24  is- 
sue) entitled  “A  multicolored  problem.” 
I feel  Mr.  Sack  has  given  us  a lot  of 
good  thought  material.  He  has  said  it 
just  as  it  is. 

I,  too,  am  willing  for  these  young 
men  to  be  granted  amnesty,  providing 
they  would  be  willing  to  render  some 
kind  of  constructive  service  to  this  coun- 
try for  a reasonable  time.  I wish  these 
young  men  had  not  chosen  the  route  they 
did.  Surely  they  did  not  weigh  all  conse- 
quences. Our  government  is  quite  fair  in 
that  it  offers  these  young  men  an  alterna- 
tive service  to  perform. 

I would  like  here  to  point  out  one 
specific  truth  which  I feel  many  have 
been  overlooking.  It  is  this:  Freedom  is 
not  free;  it  has  a price  tag  on  it.  If  free- 
dom didn’t  cost  anybody  anything,  it 
probably  wouldn’t  be  worth  having.  I 
would  like  to  remind  the  young  men 
who  chose  the  freedom  in  Canada  or 
elsewhere  of  the  price  they  are  now 
paying  for  that  freedom. 

Yes,  I am  quite  aware  that  one’s 
Christian  conscience  comes  ahead  of  pa- 
triotism to  one’s  country,  but  I am  sure 
those  who  chose  the  alternate  service 
could  maintain  their  Christianity  in  clear 
conscience.  Many  of  the  prisoners  who 
returned  said  it  was  only  by  the  help  and 
grace  of  God  that  they  were  able  to 
endure  and  survive.  God  hears  his  chil- 
dren in  all  circumstances.  Adrien  Lehe, 
Route  1,  Goodland,  Ind.  47948. 

May  2 


About  letters:  To  encourage  our  read- 
ers to  express  themselves  on  a variety  of 
issues,  we  try  to  use  all  letters  submitted 
for  publication.  Unsigned  correspon- 
dence, however,  will  not  be  published, 
though  we  may  withhold  names  for  valid 
reasons  in  a special  situation.  Editor. 


Contents 


Comfort  me  with  something  creamy  330 


The  fat  is  in  your  head  332 

Spectator  or  participant?  333 

News  334 

Record  340 

The  rural  church  in  a seductive 

culture  341 

Letters  342 

The  gift  342 

The  participative  creation  344 


COVER 

"Best  friends” 

CONTRIBUTORS 

LaVerna  Klippenstein  is  a free-lance 
writer  from  Gretna,  Manitoba. 

Jerry  Regier,  Mid-Atlantic  area  di- 
rector for  Campus  Crusade  for  Christ 
International,  worked  on  the  campuses 
of  the  Universities  of  Texas,  Nebraska, 
and  Michigan  State  for  five  years  before 
being  transferred  to  his  present  post  in 
Silver  Spring,  Md. 

Darlene  Schroeder's  address  is  Route 
3,  Box  101,  Hillsboro,  Kans.  67063. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Bob  Van  Lindt  (RNS);  330,  Ken- 
neth Janzen;  336,  Mennonite  Board  of 
Missions;  339,  Dan  Zehr,  MCC. 

The  articles  on  322,  taken  from  the  book 
The  Fat  Is  in  Your  Head,  by  Charlie  W. 
Shedd,  Word  Books,  Publisher,  Waco, 
Texas,  © 1972  by  Charlie  W.  Shedd 
and  the  Abundance  Foundation,  are  used 
by  permission. 


Mertnonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


'HE  MENNONITE 


343 


The  participative  creation 

A creative  worship  team  sponsored  by  the 
Commission  on  Education  has  just  finished  a 
second  year  of  working  with  local  congregations 
and  other  church-related  groups  to  create  music 
and  drama  primarily  for  the  worship  service. 

The  term  “creative  worship”  might  have  made 
some  people  defensive  about  their  traditional 
patterns  of  worship.  But  out  of  the  twenty-some 
groups  with  which  the  team  worked,  almost  all 
received  positive  response  from  other  members 
of  the  congregations. 

Lyle  Preheim  and  Darnell  Laut,  the  team  mem- 
bers this  year,  attribute  part  of  their  success  to 
the  choice  of  biblical  themes.  But  they  say  the 
reason  for  most  of  the  success  has  been  the  fact 
that,  in  each  place  the  team  went,  local  people 
chose  the  theme,  wrote  the  drama  and  the  music 
themselves,  and  then  performed  it. 

Intentionally,  the  team  did  not  come  in  with 
a prepackaged  script.  They  came  with  a method 
— letting  people  participate  in  the  creation  of  the 
production  and  letting  them  realize  that  they,  too, 
had  creative  abilities. 

The  key  to  acceptance  of  the  production  by 
the  rest  of  the  congregation  was  the  full  partici- 
pation of  people  the  congregation  knew  and 
trusted. 

In  addition,  the  best  successes  were  with  inter- 
generational  groups,  the  team  said.  Homogenous 
groups  of  teen-agers  or  pastors  did  not  produce 
the  creativity  found  when  people  of  different  ages 
and  opinions  clashed  and  emerged  with  a com- 
mon product. 

The  experience  of  the  worship  team  has  some- 
thing to  say  to  other  areas  of  congregational  life 
and  perhaps  to  the  conference  as  well. 

Ill  feelings  result  when  new  ideas  are  introduced 


by  someone  “who  knows  what’s  best  for  you 
people.”  Harmony  comes  when  a wide  spectrum 
of  people  have  the  opportunity  to  participate  in 
decision  making  and  can,  themselves,  create  the 
new  out  of  the  old. 

Allowing  participation,  even  of  dissenters,  does 
not  mean  pretending  there  is  no  disagreement. 
Diversity  is  real.  The  point  is  that  diversity  is  not 
to  be  feared.  It  is  to  be  relished  for  the  creativity 
and  prophetic  witness  it  can  produce. 

It  is  easy  to  fear  those  with  different  beliefs 
about  the  Holy  Spirit  or  those  who  use  a different 
religious  vocabulary  or  those  with  different  life 
styles  or  those  with  a different  amount  of  courage 
to  do  what  is  unpopular  or  those  with  a different 
cultural  background  or  those  of  a different  sex  or 
generation  or  nationality. 

But  diversity  within  the  body  of  Christ  is  to  be 
accepted  and  used  to  its  best  advantage. 

There  are  difficulties  with  allowing  everyone 
to  participate  in  decision  making. 

— Decisions  take  longer  when  everyone  has 
the  opportunity  to  express  an  opinion.  Some  peo- 
ple want  to  be  coaxed  to  participate.  Others  mo- 
nopolize the  time. 

— Conflict  is  impossible  to  avoid.  But  conflict 
constructively  met  is  preferable  to  conflict  buried 
beneath  the  smoke  of  superficial  unity. 

— It’s  harder  to  preserve  the  status  quo,  espe- 
cially if  the  status  quo  has  been  preserved  by  a 
few  in  authority. 

The  result,  after  people  can  listen  and  respond 
to  each  other,  will  be  a more  open  atmosphere 
where  differences  and  unity  alike  can  be  recog- 
nized and  programs  can  proceed  without  rebellion 
or  disgruntled  acquiescence,  lj 


OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:22  MAY  2 9,  1973 


Jesus 

comi  ng  back 


This  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up 
from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come 
in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go 
into  heaven  (Acts  1:11). 


Waldo  E.  Harder 


The  return  of  the  Lord  Jesus  has  intrigued  students  of 
the  Bible  down  through  the  centuries.  It  is  taught  in  the 
Old  Testament,  by  Jesus  himself  in  the  Gospels,  preached 
by  the  apostles  in  Acts,  taught  and  elaborated  in  the 
epistles,  graphically  described  in  Revelation,  ending  with 
Jesus’  own  promise,  “Surely  I come  quickly.” 

Yet  this  “blessed  hope”  probably  has  been  more  mis- 
understood than  any  other  major  teaching  of  the  Word, 
ridiculed  by  some  because  of  its  controversial  nature, 
since  it  is  an  event  that  is  still  in  the  future.  With  arbi- 
trary date-setting  like  1844  by  the  Millerites  in  Russia, 
1914  by  Jehovah’s  Witnesses,  1945,  1947,  19  ?,  2000  ad 
infinitum,  or  rash  identification  of  nations,  events,  and 
personalities,  e.g.  Caesar,  Napoleon,  Hitler,  or  Mussolini 
as  Antichrist,  the  doctrine  has  been  brought  into  ill  re- 
pute in  some  circles.  Others  have  avoided  it  in  their 
teaching  and  thereby  robbed  Christians  of  the  blessedness 
of  this  hope.  Gratefully,  the  teaching  is  once  again  com- 
ing to  the  fore  and,  hopefully,  upon  thorough  scriptural 
authority  without  some  of  the  earlier  excesses. 

The  return  of  its  Lord  is  the  greatest  event  awaited 
by  the  church.  But  why?  To  put  on  a spectacular  show 
for  the  world?  Hardly.  To  demonstrate  to  the  world 
powers  and  rulers  who  is  the  master  of  the  universe?  Not 
really.  Then  why  is  he  coming? 

Jesus  is  coming  back  again  to  fulfill  his  promises.  He 
repeatedly  stated,  “I  will  come  again,”  “The  Son  of  man 
cometh,”  “when  the  Son  of  man  shall  come.”  The  entire 
Olivet  discourse  recorded  in  Matthew  24  centers  on  his 
return  and  then  is  illustrated  by  the  three  parables  of 
Matthew  25:  the  ten  virgins,  the  talents,  and  the  sheep 
and  the  goats. 

His  upper  room  discourse  recorded  in  John  13-17  con- 
tains a section  expressly  stating  it  in  chapter  14.  The  last 
question  asked  him  by  his  disciples  as  recorded  in  Acts 
1:6  was  not  answered  by  our  Lord,  but  by  the  angels  as 
he  disappeared  in  the  clouds,  “This  same  Jesus  which  is 
taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like 
manner  as  ye  have  seen  him  go  into  heaven”  (Acts  1:11). 

Jesus  is  coming  to  complete  our  redemption.  The  sal- 
vation Christ  came  to  bring  has  many  facets,  like  a jewel 
carefully  cut  and  polished.  It  involves  the  new  birth  or 
new  life  residing  within  us,  and  our  new  standing  before 
God  as  a result  of  the  guilt  of  sin  being  removed  and  the 


righteousness  of  Christ  being  reckoned  to  our  account. 
It  has  brought  us  into  the  family  of  God  as  full-fledged 
sons  and  coheirs  with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  and 
it  has  set  us  apart  as  belonging  totally  to  God  and  sepa- 
rated from  the  world.  But  is  that  all?  Is  the  plan  of  sal- 
vation simply  a story  of  the  past,  which  God  proposed 
before  the  foundations  of  the  world  were  laid,  and  which 
he  accomplished  in  the  God-man,  Christ,  who  came  to 
live  on  earth,  to  die,  and  to  rise  again  nearly  2,000  years 
ago?  Is  salvation  just  in  the  present  when  I put  my  trust 
in  him  and  become  the  new  creation  described  above? 
Is  that  all?  No. 

There  is  yet  another  chapter  to  be  written,  entitled, 
“The  blessed  hope,”  which  begins  with  “the  rapture” 
when  “the  trumpet  shall  sound,”  “the  dead  in  Christ  shal 
rise,”  the  living  saints  changed  “in  a moment,  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye,”  when  “we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we 
shall  see  him  as  he  is”  and  he  will  share  with  us  his  glory. 

Paul  states  that  if  Christ  did  not  arise  and  that  Chris- 
tians do  not  arise,  we  are  the  most  miserable  of  men 
But  to  the  contrary,  the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  brings 
to  a glorious  climax  the  total  program  of  our  redemption 
our  glorification  with  him  throughout  all  eternity. 

The  predictions  in  the  Old  Testament  of  the  coming 
of  the  Messiah,  we  now  see  clearly,  came  in  two  stages: 
first  in  humility  to  redeem  mankind  from  sin  by  dying 
on  the  cross,  and  secondly,  at  some  future  date  to  return 
in  glory.  Similarly,  the  second  coming  has  two  aspects  oi 
stages:  his  coming  for  the  church,  called  the  rapture,  ant 
his  coming  with  the  saints,  commonly  called  the  revela- 
tion. The  following  purposes  of  his  coming,  we  believe 
take  place  after  his  revelation. 

Jesus  is  coming  to  complete  God’s  program  for  tht 
Jew.  One  of  history’s  strangest  enigmas  is  the  Jew.  Foi 
nearly  3,000  years  he  has  enjoyed  the  special  blessing  an< 
protection  of  God,  while  being  repeatedly  subjected  t( 
attempted  destruction  and  extinction.  (Esther  3 and  Hitlei 
during  World  War  II  are  examples.)  Now,  after  nearlj 
1,900  years  of  being  a vagabond  on  earth,  our  generatioi 
witnessed  a modem  miracle  in  1948  when  the  Jewisl 
nation  was  reestablished  in  the  land  of  Palestine. 

Abraham,  the  father  of  the  Jewish  nation,  was  chosei 
by  God  to  be  a special  channel  of  blessing  through  whon 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  Throughou 


346 


MAY  29,  197: 


the  Old  Testament,  as  well  as  in  the  New,  God  has  given 

mTm£rjmirSf5  t0  the  Jew  that  UP  to  the  Present  remain 
unfulfilled.  Has  he  forgotten  these  or  the  Jew  himself? 
Not  at  all. 

The  prophets  frequently  speak  of  the  regathering  of 
Israel  after  having  been  dispersed  among  the  nations 
An  interesting  reference  occurs  in  Isaiah  11:11,  which 
says,  The  Lord  shall  set  his  hand  again  the  second  time 
to  recover  the  remnant  of  his  people.  . . .”  The  context 
of  this  in  verse  10  connects  this  with  the  “root  of  Jesse,” 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  first  gathering  took  place  at 
the  command  of  Cyrus  in  516  b.c.  and  thereafter.  The 
second  regathering  is  associated  with  the  coming  of  Jesus, 
obviously  not  at  his  first  coming,  for  they  were  shortly 
thereafter  dispersed  in  a.d.  70,  but  at  his  return. 


In  the  writings  of  Paul  we  also  have  a reference  to  the 
Jew  in  the  course  of  the  ages.  It  is  found  in  Romans  11: 
25-26.  After  discussing  the  place  of  Israel  as  related  to 
salvation  by  grace  through  faith,  he  arrives  at  a conclusion 
near  the  end  of  this  section  “that  blindness  in  part  is 
happened  to  Israel,  until  the  fullness  of  the  Gentiles  be 
come  in.  And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved:  as  it  is  written, 
There  shall  come  out  of  Zion  the  deliverer,  and  shall 
turn  away  ungodliness  from  Jacob.’  ” 


This,  I believe,  is  what  Zechariah  refers  to  when  he 
predicts,  “They  shall  look  upon  me  whom  they  have 
pierced,  and  they  shall  mourn  for  him  as  one  moumeth 
for  his  only  son  . . .”  (Zech.  12:10).  It  is  then  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  set  up  his  millennial  reign  as  king 
of  the  Jews  in  which  he  will  rule  the  nations  with  a rod 
of  iron  with  justice  and  equity. 

Jesus  is  coming  to  culminate  the  course  of  the  ages. 
Scripture  is  replete  with  teaching  about  the  blessings  of 
an  eternity  with  God  and  also  with  the  teaching  of  the 
judgment  of  the  lost  and  their  punishment.  But  it  is  not 
until  the  last  book  in  the  Bible  that  the  time  sequence  is 
clearly  spelled  out  for  us.  The  saved  have  already  been 
raised,  and  living  Christians  have  been  changed  at  the 
rapture  and  have  been  judged  for  their  works  at  the  judg- 
ment seat  of  Christ  (2  Cor.  5:10).  In  Revelation  20:5 
it  speaks  of  this  first  resurrection,  but  also  states  that  “the 
rest  of  the  dead  live  not  again  until  the  thousand  years 
were  finished.”  But  when  they  are  raised,  they  stand 
before  God  at  the  great  white  throne  to  be  judged,  and 
not  having  their  names  written  in  the  Book  of  Life,  are 
cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  where  the  devil,  the  beast,  and 
the  false  prophet  are. 

But  this  is  not  the  end.  The  last  two  chapters  of  Revela- 
tion give  us  an  account  of  the  new  heaven  and  the  new 
earth,  for  the  original  ones  have  passed  away.  Then  in 
an  attempted  description  in  which  human  language  is 
utterly  inadequate,  we  are  told  of  the  beauty  and  glory 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  prepared  by  the  Lord  Jesus  for 
his  own  (John  14:2).  The  glory  and  light  of  it  is  the 
presence  of  God  and  the  Lamb  being  there  in  person. 
In  contrast  to  the  earthly  vale,  there  are  no  tears,  death, 
sorrow,  crying,  nor  pain.  The  satisfaction  of  it  is  described 
by  the  “pure  river  of  water  of  life”  and  the  trees  bearing 
twelve  manner  of  fruits. 


Jesus  brings  the  message  to  a close  with  the  words, 
“Surely,  I come  quickly.”  This  is  at  once  a promise,  a 
warning,  and  an  exhortation.  It  remains  for  you  and  me 
to  echo  with  John  in  joy  and  adoration,  “Even  so  come. 
Lord  Jesus!” 


THE  MENNONITE 


347 


“I’ll  bet  that  you  can’t  guess  who  is 
coming  to  visit  us!”  I said  to  our  three 
sons  on  our  way  home  from  church  one 
Sunday  morning.  The  guesses  were  the 
usual  ones  — Grandad  and  Grandma, 
Aunt  Janice,  Oscar  and  Ella.  I kept 
shaking  my  head. 

“One  more  guess,”  I finally  said.  “In 
the  announcements  this  morning,  Pastor 
Fast  said  that  this  person  is  coming  to 
speak  to  our  church  next  weekend.” 

“I  know,”  Stephen,  the  oldest  said, 
“Orlando  Waltner  is  coming.  I’ll  bet  that 
you  thought  that  1 wasn’t  listening,  but 
I was.  Is  he  going  to  stay  at  our  house?” 

“Daddy  asked  the  pastor  if  we  could 
pick  him  up  from  the  airport  next  Sat- 
urday. Then  Pastor  Fast  asked  if  we 
wanted  to  have  him  as  our  house  guest 
and  I said  that  either  we  or  Oscar  and 
Ella ” 

“He’s  going  to  stay  at  our  house,” 
Tom,  the  middle  boy,  said  emphatically 
to  end  all  further  questions  about  where 
Orlando  was  going  to  stay. 

“That’s  right,”  the  other  boys  agreed. 

As  the  boys  talked  excitedly  about 
whose  bedroom  Orlando  would  use  and 
what  special  things  we  should  have  to 
eat,  my  mind  went  back  to  our  first  visit 
with  Orlando.  Then  we  didn’t  know  him 
and  he  didn’t  stay  at  our  house.  At  that 
time,  Orlando  Waltner  was  only  a signa- 
ture at  the  end  of  a number  of  letters 
he  had  written  to  us  as  executive  secre- 
tary of  the  General  Conference.  On  that 
occasion  he  also  arrived  on  a Saturday. 

The  reason  that  brought  him  to  Ore- 
gon then  was  not  a pleasant  one.  No  one 
in  our  community  felt  that  he  could  be 
of  any  service.  All  that  he  had  promised 
in  his  letters  was  that  he  would  try  to 
help.  But  a promise  like  that  doesn’t 
always  mean  that  it  is  possible.  We  were 
having  internal  trouble  in  our  church. 
Since  General  Conference  churches  are 
autonomous  by  nature,  all  he  could  really 
do  was  to  try  to  bring  about  some  kind 
of  a reconciliation  by  providing  an  at- 
mosphere in  which  the  people  of  op- 
posing viewpoints  could  communicate. 

There  is  no  easy  way  to  help  a people 
involved  in  a conflict  situation  within 
a church.  These  problems  are  the  results 
of  long  periods  of  undercurrent  dissatis- 
faction, where  people  have  ignored  their 
differences  and  hoped  that  they  would 
disappear  if  not  disturbed.  Finally,  how- 
ever, the  anger,  hostility,  fear,  and  hate 
creep  into  the  open  and  explode.  At  the 
same  time  the  people  are  also  burdened 
with  fear  of  others,  of  themselves,  and 
of  things  which  they  don’t  understand. 
Added  to  this  is  the  fear  of  being  wrong, 


h0  i 

manmno 
came  to  reconci  e 


LaVernae  J.  Dick 


Orlando  Waltner,  left,  a member  of  the  Senior  Citizens  Service  Project 
administered  by  the  Family  Service  and  Mental  Health  Center  of  South 
Cook  County,  Chicago  Heights,  Illinois,  and  Elmer  DeBois,  president  of  the 
Markham  Senior  Citizens  Club,  discuss  details  of  the  Bremen  Township 
Senior  Citizens  Organization,  of  which  Mr.  DeBois  is  vice-chairman.  Mr. 
Waltner  joined  the  Senior  Citizen  Service  Project  in  September  1971,  when 
the  Chicago  Heights  Mental  Health  Center  initiated  programs  to  help  senior 
persons  in  their  special  needs.  Before  1971,  Mr.  Waltner  served  as  a misr 
sionary  in  India  for  fifteen  years  and  for  six  years  as  executive  secretary  of 
the  General  Conference.  He  will  terminate  his  work  in  Markham  this  spring. 


348 


MAY  29,  1973 1 


Orlando  knew  that  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation,  which  he  must  assume  if 
this  congregation  was  not  to  be  destroy- 
ed, was  not  only  a human  process  of 
bringing  about  an  uneasy  truce  between 
persons.  He  was  aware  that  it  could  not 
be  legislated  or  handed  down  in  rules. 
Neither  he  nor  anyone  else  could  order 
peace  into  existence.  Reconciliation 
would  only  come  when  each  person 
within  the  group  would  accept  his  re- 
sponsibility from  God  as  a believer. 

In  the  Sunday  morning  sermon  he  laid 
the  groundwork  for  the  reconciliation 
that  he  hoped  would  take  place.  Al- 
though it  happened  almost  ten  years  ago 
and  I’ve  heard  hundreds  of  undoubtedly 
equally  good  sermons  since  then,  I’ve 
not  forgotten  the  sermon  he  preached 
that  day.  He  did  not  accuse  us  of  failing. 
There  had  already  been  too  much  of 
that.  He  assumed  that  we  were  all  be- 
lievers, and  his  sermon  centered  around 
the  three  ways  a Christian’s  love  is  ex- 
pressed. First  of  all,  he  said,  that  the 
believer  loves  God.  Then,  he  has  love 
for  others,  the  world.  Love  is  complete, 
however,  when  there  is  love  for  the 
brotherhood. 

Somewhere  in  the  middle  of  the  ser- 
mon he  introduced  the  word  “frontier” 
to  us  and  explained  that  he  was  using 
it  to  mean  the  no-man’s-land  between 
two  countries,  such  as  the  uninhabited 
strip  between  East  and  West  Germany. 
He  talked  about  the  fact  that  there  are 
frontiers  which  the  believer  must  pass 
through  and  that  it  is  possible  to  do  so 
with  God’s  help. 

He  didn’t  say  that  we  as  a brother- 
hood had  frontiers  to  cross.  But  we  did. 
He  didn’t  say  that  it  was  not  possible 
for  us  because  we  weren’t  really  depend- 
ing upon  God  to  help  us.  But  it  was. 
All  he  did  that  day  was  to  sow  some 
seeds  for  future  thought  and  he  depend- 
ed upon  the  Holy  Spirit  to  do  the  rest. 

Laying  the  groundwork  was  only  the 
beginning  of  Orlando’s  involvement  in 
the  process  of  reconciliation.  Lines  of 
i communication  needed  to  be  reestab- 
lished between  the  factions  of  the  broth- 
erhood. 

First  of  all,  he  and  Lyman  Hofstetter, 
the  Pacific  District’s  home  mission  rep- 
resentative who  was  helping  him,  in- 
vited key  people  from  both  sides  to  come 


together  for  several  dialog  sessions. 

These  were  not  easy  meetings  to  mod- 
erate because  there  were  so  many  pent- 
up  feelings.  They  were  released  in  the 
form  of  accusations  against  each  other 
and,  at  times,  against  him.  However,  it 
was  during  these  meetings  that  the  peo- 
ple discovered  some  new  dimensions 
about  themselves  and  others. 

Orlando  also  helped  reestablish  com- 
munication by  listening  in  an  attitude  of 
caring.  That  week  he  spent  hours  and 
hours  and  drank  endless  cups  of  coffee 
listening  to  person  after  person  pour  out 
his  hurts,  concerns,  and  frustrations.  To 
help  them,  his  listening  took  the  form 
of  acceptance  while,  at  the  same  time, 
pointing  out  some  other  areas  they  had 
missed  which  might  help  them  to  under- 
stand what  was  happening.  It  was  very 
tiring  emotionally. 

In  some  ways  that  week  seemed  like 
an  eternity  and  in  other  ways  the  time 
for  Orlando  to  draw  up  his  recommenda- 
tions to  the  congregation  came  far  too 
soon.  He  spent  that  Friday  afternoon 
writing  and  tearing  up  reports.  He  was 
not  satisfied  even  when  he  had  to  call 
the  report  finished.  He  had  come  to  a 
people  who  were  deeply  hurt.  He  could 
not  give  either  side  what  they  wanted 
without  destroying  the  congregation  he 
had  come  to  save.  Some  solution  had 
to  be  found  so  that  cooperation  of  every 
individual  toward  the  common  goal  of 
maintaining  a brotherhood  would  be 
made  easier  instead  of  more  difficult. 

That  evening,  when  the  moderator 
asked  for  his  report,  Orlando  acknowl- 
edged that  he  had  not  been  able  to  do 
what  they  undoubtedly  had  wanted. 
There  could  be  no  winners  or  losers. 
Everyone  had  suffered  from  the  anguish 
of  this  conflict.  It  would  not  help  for 
either  group  to  give  the  other  a set  of 
rules  for  their  conduct.  But  the  situation 
could  be  eased  if  each  person  accepted 
the  challenge  of  bringing  out  the  best 
characteristics  in  the  other.  This  would 
give  all  persons  in  the  brotherhood  the 
opportunity  to  develop  self-disciplined, 
inner-directed,  self-initiated,  and  respon- 
sible behavior  toward  God  and  each 
other. 

The  solution  that  he  presented  was  a 
difficult  task  and  he  was  right  when  he 
said  that  it  was  probably  far  from  what 


each  person  had  expected.  But  more  im- 
portant than  that,  he  left  behind  that 
evening,  the  courage  to  carry  on  and 
work  diligently  for  a peaceable  resolu- 
tion of  our  problems.  The  next  day  he 
was  gone. 

As  often  happens  in  this  kind  of  a 
situation,  Orlando’s  purpose  and  his  ac- 
tions in  our  church  community  were  not 
understood  by  all.  When  others  in  the 
brotherhood  wanted  to  know  what  had 
been  said,  he  explained  that  such  knowl- 
edge would  not  help  the  situation.  By 
doing  it  this  way,  he  carried  his  own 
grief  and  disappointment  at  their  actions. 
Rather  than  pour  out  his  resentment  by 
making  accusations  or  letting  others 
know  what  had  transpired,  he  let  all  go 
free.  In  this  way,  he  shared  again  by 
showing  us  how  a sin  can  die. 

Over  the  span  of  his  lifetime,  life  has 
dealt  Orlando  Waltner  many  serious 
blows.  He  has  not  always  been  success- 
ful nor  have  his  efforts  in  other  situa- 
tions always  been  understood  and  appre- 
ciated. When  this  happens  to  some  peo- 
ple they  become  bitter  and  lash  out  by 
condemning  other  people’s  failures  in  an 
effort  to  justify  their  own. 

But  that  has  not  been  the  way  Or- 
lando Waltner  has  reacted.  Perhaps  he 
feels  as  deeply  as  he  does  for  other 
deeply  hurt  people  because  he  has  first 
discovered  his  own  inadequacy  in  some 
situations  and  admitted  his  own  culpa- 
bility to  some  degree.  This  has  helped 
him  to  tear  down  self-love  and  some  of 
self-pride  which  stands  in  the  way  of 
outgoing  compassion.  His  experiences 
have  expanded  his  compassion  and  have 
helped  him  to  enter  into  the  experiences 
of  others  with  great  and  tender  em- 
pathy. He  has  been  able  to  demonstrate 
by  his  own  life  that  what  happens  within 
a person  is  far  more  important  than 
what  happens  to  him. 

“And  when  is  Orlando  coming  to  din- 
ner at  our  house?”  I ask. 

“It  can’t  be  too  soon,”  the  boys  shout. 
“We’ll  even  make  homemade  ice  cream.” 

In  the  midst  of  excitement  that  pre- 
vails whenever  we  are  expecting  a guest, 
fhey  know  that  when  Orlando  Waltner 
comes  there  will  be  tranquility,  too.  For 
he  brings  it  with  him  whenever  he  comes 
and  bestows  it  as  a gift  to  all  who  will 
receive. 


SN,°N,'TE  ,0  W‘TS'  t!?ehi  mo,iv<Jt®'  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holv  Spirit 

a rch  ttnd-drs"  ^aeae  £raVrthN^  "E  *"£7,  ^ ^ °!  N°rth  *"»•  671 ,7.  by  the  General  Boa*  of 

x on  e?  L P05!?9?  at  North  Newtonians.  671 1 7.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year,  $10.50,  two  years,  $15.50  three  years,  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 

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fHE  MENNONITE  349 


NEWS 


■ 


Eastern  District  follows  traditional  format 


Although  participants  at  last  year’s  East- 
ern District  Conference  sessions  express- 
ed enthusiastic  and  positive  reactions  to 
the  scheduling  of  small  interest  groups 
during  the  course  of  the  sessions,  the 
program  committee  this  year  planned  a 
program  which  followed  the  traditional 
lines  of  the  past — reports,  speaker,  etc. 
to  the  entire  delegation. 

The  175th  conference  sessions  hosted 
May  3-6  by  the  Hereford  Church,  Bally, 
Pennsylvania,  reaped  the  benefits  of  last 
year’s  small  group  approach  in  the  fel- 
lowship and  friendliness  of  delegates  and 
also  in  the  outgrowth  of  one  of  the  small 
groups  into  In-Depth  Evangelism,  in 
which  five  Eastern  District  congrega- 
tions—Richfield,  Hereford,  East  Swamp, 
Indian  Valley,  Church  of  the  Good  Sa- 
maritans, Mennonite — are  now  involved 
at  varying  degrees.  This  formalized  pro- 
gram of  goal  setting  for  congregations 
is  concerned  with  finding  out  where  a 
congregation  is  and  then  moving  out 
from  that  point  to  include  the  entire  con- 
gregation individually  equipped  to  pre- 
sent lesus  Christ  to  the  community. 
Most  of  the  churches  reported  similar 
needs  to  establish  Bible  reading  and  pray- 
er as  daily  habits,  to  develop  a closeness 
between  members,  and  to  learn  skills  to 
witness  effectively  of  their  faith. 

Palmer  Becker,  executive  secretary  of 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries, 
gave  examples  of  five  congregations  in 
the  U.S.  and  Canada  which  also  became 


involved  in  the  In-Depth  study  and  set 
goals  to  meet  their  needs. 

Norriton  Community  Church  work 
will  be  phased  out  as  soon  as  possible. 
Thirteen  persons  who  recently  made  con- 
fessions of  faith  will  be  followed  up, 
but  the  building  will  be  sold  and  Charles 
App,  a part-time  worker  while  at  sem- 
inary, will  find  a permanent  position. 
The  missions  committee  will  be  looking 
for  ways  to  develop  outreach  in  other 
areas — $1,500  in  the  budget  has  been 
allocated  for  this  purpose. 

A resolution  was  passed  to  proceed 
with  the  establishment  of  community 
residences  for  the  retarded  using  full 
funding  by  the  Pennsylvania  Office  of 
Mental  Retardation.  The  committee  will 
offer  to  cooperate  with  Indian  Creek 
Haven  (Franconia  Conference)  and 
form  an  inter-Mennonite  corporation  for 
this  purpose.  If  cooperation  is  not  pos- 
sible, the  Eastern  District  will  proceed 
on  its  own.  This  committee  has  been 
working  on  this  problem  for  several 
years. 

A multipurpose  building  will  be  con- 
structed at  Men-O-Lan  as  soon  as  the 
Board  of  Managers  has  $30,000,  or  al- 
most half  the  proposed  cost;  Eastern 
District  Conference  young  people  will 
be  asked  to  solicit  for  funds  in  the 
churches. 

Ben  Sprunger,  Bluffton  College  presi- 
dent, announced  the  cooperative  church- 
college  leadership  grant  program.  This 


program  would  provide  equal  funds  (not 
to  exceed  tuition,  room  and  board  fees, 
total  $3,100)  from  the  college  and  spon- 
soring church.  Student  aid  resources  are 
a major  limiting  factor  in  enrolling  high- 
ly desirable  students  at  Bluffton,  and 
through  this  joint  arrangement  both 
sponsoring  organizations  would  be  con- 
tributing to  the  development  of  the 
church  mission,  namely  education  of  its 
youth  as  experienced  through  our  Men- 
nonite heritage  and  values. 

Some  discussion  ensued  on  the  includ- 
ing of  deaconesses  in  a constitution  pol- 
ity revision.  The  Christian  education  fund 
was  discussed  and  work  will  be  done 
to  make  the  amount  available  to  stu- 
dents more  realistic  with  today’s  cost  of 
living.  Ordinances  instead  of  sacraments 
will  remain  in  the  constitution  regarding 
baptism,  marriage,  and  Lord’s  Supper, 
in  keeping  with  the  Anabaptist  teaching 
on  the  difference  in  terms. 

Frederick  Mennonite  Home  will  be 
used  from  this  time  on  to  designate  the 
home  for  the  aging  and  nursing  center 
at  Frederick,  controlled  by  the  Eastern 
District. 

Crossroads  Community  Center  was  al- 
located $1,500  over  last  year’s  budget. 
The  center  had  requested  $3,000  addi- 
tional. 

Floyd  Bartel,  Gary  Stenson,  and  El- 
mer Mumbauer  were  reelected  president, 
vice-president,  and  treasurer,  respective- 
ly. Marjorie  Geissinger 


Medical  aid  goes  to  Hanoi  through  Friends 


Representatives  of  the  American  Friends 
Service  Committee  delivered  $20,600  in 
heart  surgery  equipment  for  the  Viet 
Due  teaching  hospital  in  Hanoi  and  for 
the  Vietnamese  Red  Cross  in  April.  This 
is  another  in  a series  of  such  afsc  ship- 
ments over  the  past  several  years  to  ci- 
vilian medical  centers  in  North  Vietnam. 

Mennonite  Central  Committee  has 
supported  these  civilian  relief  efforts,  pro- 
viding $10,000  of  contributed  funds  for 
a 1972  shipment  and  $15,000  for  this 
most  recent  one. 

The  executive  secretary  of  the  afsc, 
Bronson  P.  Clark,  who  with  three  other 
Quaker  representatives  visited  Hanoi 


April  14-21,  reported  that  the  people 
there  are  rebuilding  homes,  plants,  and 
public  buildings  with  their  bare  hands. 

“Housing  is  their  first  priority.  They 
are  building  simple  one-room  houses  to 
meet  the  housing  emergency  caused  by 
the  bombing  and  are  having  to  use 
thatched  roofs  even  in  cities  because  of 
the  lack  of  supplies,”  Mr.  Clark  said. 

Mr.  Clark  and  his  companions  also 
visited  Haiphong  and  the  provincial  cap- 
ital of  Hong  Gai,  a city  which  he  said 
was  literally  destroyed  by  United  States 
bombing.  “As  an  American,”  he.  said, 
“I  was  impressed  by  the  pinpoint  ac- 
curacy of  the  bombing.  The  air  force 


took  out  what  it  wanted  to  and  that  in- 
cluded homes,  schools,  and  hospitals. 
The  American  people  have  been  misled 
about  what  the  air  force  was  doing;  it 
was  punishing  people,  leveling  targets 
that  included  schools  and  hospitals.” 

Mr.  Clark  said  the  North  Vietnamese 
medical  specialists  now  feel  that  the} 
have  definitely  established  a link  betweer 
United  States  defoliants  and  an  alarming 
spread  of  liver  cancer  in  Vietnam.  These 
Vietnamese  specialists  believe  that  dioxin 
a long-lasting,  cancer-producing  by-prod- 
uct in  the  defoliants,  has  been  absorbed 
by  fish  and  shellfish  and  is  now  going! 
into  the  Vietnamese  diet. 


350 


MAY  29,  197 


Custodio  and  Maria  struggle  against  poverty 


Custodio  Lins  (right),  who  lives  in  Amaraji  in  northeastern  Brazil,  examines  an  eight- 
week-old  hybrid  broiler  which  is  part  of  a flock  which  MCC  has  helped  him  to 
procure.  On  the  left  is  Don  Ranck,  author  of  the  article  on  this  page. 


The  director  of  the  MCC  program  in 
Brazil,  Don  Ranck,  has  prepared  this 
report. 

Northeast  Brazil  is  known  for  its  exten- 
sive poverty.  The  rural  masses  in  the 
humid  coastal  region  depend  on  sugar- 
cane for  their  primary  source  of  work. 
Those  who  plant,  hoe,  and  harvest  sugar- 
cane are  extremely  poor. 

Custodio  Lins  and  his  wife  by  com- 
mon law,  Maria,  are  residents  of  Amar- 
aji, a municipality  nestled  in  the  rolling 
hills  seventy  miles  southwest  of  Recife, 
the  state  capital.  The  Lins  live  in  a hum- 
ble mud-and-brick  home  on  a once  pros- 
perous sugarcane  plantation.  Their  home 
is  five  miles  from  the  only  town  in  the 
100-square-mile  municipality,  where 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  has  placed 
seven  volunteers  in  the  past  four  years. 

Custodio  and  Maria  are  over  sixty-five 
years  old  and  have  lived  in  poverty  all 
their  lives.  They  have  three  children. 
The  oldest,  a forty-five-year-old  taxi  driv- 
er, lives  in  Recife.  A twenty-six-year-old 
mentally  deficient  son  and  a fifteen-year- 
old  daughter  both  live  at  home.  The 
family  makes  its  meager  living  working 
in  the  sugarcane  fields,  growing  bananas, 
and  doing  odd  jobs  on  the  sugar  planta- 
tion. Besides  caring  for  her  own  home, 
Maria  has  been  cooking  and  cleaning 
occasionally  for  the  absentee  landowner. 

In  1970  Mr.  Lins  heard  about  mcc 
loans  for  farmers.  He  talked  to  volun- 
teers Tom  Lehman  and  Gene  Troyer 
about  starting  a poultry  project.  Tom, 
Gene,  and  the  Linses  planned  a small 
project  requiring  a loan  of  $30,  the 
equivalent  of  one  week’s  pay  for  Custo- 
dio or  his  son  if  they  worked  six  long 
days  in  the  sugarcane  fields.  The  project 
proposal  was  approved  by  the  Amaraji 
Agricultural  Loan  Committee,  a group 
of  four  Amaraji  residents  and  Tom  Leh- 
man. 

Neither  chicks  nor  high  protein  chick- 
en feed  were  available  in  Amaraji,  so 
Tom  and  Gene  bought  them  in  Recife 
and  delivered  them.  That  began  a series 
of  loans  which  were  continued  by  sub- 
sequent mcc  workers,  Don  Ranck  and 
Rodney  Peters. 

Eventually  Custodio  and  Maria  took 
a loan  to  build  a new  chickenhouse  for 
200  broilers  or  1 00  laying  hens,  the  max- 
imum they  could  raise  and  market  suc- 
Icessfully.  Attempts  were  made  to  en- 
tourage several  Amaraji  residents  to  sell 
high  protein  feed  and  chicks  so  that 


families  who  were  buying  and  raising 
chickens  could  continue  to  do  so  after 
the  North  Americans  left  the  area. 

After  many  months  of  painstaking 
encouragement,  a businessman  finally 
agreed  to  sell  the  feed  in  his  store.  A 
twenty-three-year-old  man  who  had  vol- 
untarily helped  with  the  project  for  al- 
most a year  agreed  to  accept  the  risk 
of  buying,  delivering,  vaccinating,  and 
medicating  the  chickens. 

But  there  are  problems  to  face.  The 
Lins  family  lives  miles  out  of  town  and 
sometimes  has  difficulty  marketing  the 
birds  or  the  eggs  at  a profit.  The  store- 
owner  may  raise  the  price  of  the  feed. 
The  person  who  delivers  the  chicks  may 
decide  to  quit  or  raise  his  prices  or  fail 
to  keep  vaccine  and  medicines  on  hand. 
The  capital  to  continue  buying  chicks 
or  feed  may  run  out.  There  is  no  bank 
or  loan  agency  within  thirty  miles  of 
Amaraji,  and  sickness  or  accidental  in- 
jury can  soon  wipe  out  the  small  savings 
that  even  a thrifty  person  is  able  to  ac- 
cumulate. But  the  chances,  nevertheless, 
seemed  good  that  the  project  would  sur- 
vive. 

One  of  the  most  common  and  difficult 
problems  for  any  poor  person,  the  dan- 


ger of  sickness  or  an  accident,  finally 
struck  the  Lins  family.  Maria  fell  on  the 
slippery  mud  outside  her  home  and  broke 
her  hip.  After  a lengthy  stay  at  the  hos- 
pital and  at  the  home  of  her  son  in 
Recife,  she  returned  home.  The  pain 
was  almost  too  much  for  her  to  bear. 
Gradually  the  pain  subsided  and  she 
wanted  to  walk.  But  she  had  no  crutches. 

A strong,  light  wood  was  needed  and 
some  skill  in  designing  them.  But  no 
one,  it  seemed,  could  make  a pair  of 
crutches.  Finally  Custodio  came  to  us 
and  reluctantly  asked  if  we  could  ge" 
some  crutches  for  Maria.  He  was  afraid 
she  would  lose  her  will  to  live,  stop  eat- 
ing, and  die.  Yet  he  was  reluctant  to 
ask  for  assistance. 

With  the  help  of  some  friends  in  Can- 
ada and  the  United  States  who  sent  spe- 
cial gifts  for  us  to  use  as  we  saw  fit,  we 
bought  adjustable  aluminum  crutches  for 
Maria.  She  was  overjoyed.  She  was  able 
to  learn  to  walk  again  and  to  help  pro- 
vide for  her  family. 

Custodio  and  Maria  are  not  the  talka- 
tive types  but  the  simple  words  they  say 
convey  a deep  gratitude.  Their  simple 
message  is,  “Thanks  be  to  God  that  he 
sent  you  to  this  place.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


351 


Alberta  Conference  told  to  "make  disciples" 


“As  you  go  , make  disciples”  was 

the  theme  for  the  annual  sessions  of  the 
Mennonite  Conference  of  Alberta  April 
27-28  in  Coaldale. 

Gary  Harder  told  the  conference  that 
newer  translations  of  Matthew  28  em- 
phasize the  making  of  disciples  rather 
than  the  going.  The  church  is  sent,  he 
said.  All  are  sent  to  make  disciples  as 
they  move  through  their  daily  lives.  The 
verse  is  not  an  admonishment  to  a few 
individuals  to  go  to  foreign  lands,  but 
to  each  one  in  his  or  her  situation. 

The  conference  did  hear  discussions 
of  going  to  foreign  lands,  however,  in 
the  messages  of  Howard  Habegger,  ex- 
ecutive secretary  of  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission. 

Speaking  on  2 Corinthians  4:5-7,  Mr. 
Habegger  said  that  the  treasure  remains 
the  same,  but  the  vessels  must  change. 
One  of  the  old  mission  vessels  which 
must  be  discarded  is  western  culture. 
Sixty  years  ago  the  gospel  was  carried 
to  Africa  and  India  with  a western  point 
of  view,  western  clothes,  musical  instru- 
ments, and  hymnbooks. 

The  gospel  can  be  communicated 
through  different  forms,  but  must  be 
relevant  to  the  culture  of  the  native  peo- 
ple, he  said.  Paternalism  must  be  taken 
out  of  the  Christian  message. 

Waldo  Neufeld,  director  of  Faith  and 
Life  Radio  and  Television  for  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries,  told  the 
assembly  that  people  in  North  America 
spend  more  time  watching  television  than 
all  other  activity,  with  the  exception  of 
sleeping. 

He  said  the  long  half-hour  religious 
programs  are  shown  early  Sunday  morn- 
ing, when  only  the  church-going  people 
are  up.  Hence,  these  programs  do  not 
reach  the  people  who  need  them  most. 

TV  stations  are  insisting  that  religious 
broadcasting  be  on  an  interdenomina- 
tional basis.  The  documentary  approach 
seems  to  be  more  acceptable  to  the  gen- 
eral public  than  sermons.  Open-line  pro- 
grams are  of  interest  to  many.  Short 
spot  announcements,  set  in  everyday  life 
situations  with  a final  punch  line  leading 
to  God,  are  perhaps  the  most  effective, 
the  most  useful,  Mr.  Neufeld  said. 

In  conference  action,  the  Alberta  Con- 
ference adopted  a 1973  budget  of 
$38,230. 

The  present  home  for  the  aged  is  filled 
to  capacity,  and  the  Calgary  churches 
are  building  a senior  citizens’  residence 
of  self-contained  units. 


The  itenerant  minister  for  the  con- 
ference reported  that  he  had  visited  many 
families  who  live  isolated  from  Menno- 
nite churches  and  communities.  He  said 
these  families,  as  well  as  many  non- 
Mennonite  people,  need  the  services  of 
a pastor  on  a more  frequent  basis.  The 
conference  accepted  a motion  to  ask  the 
missions  committee  to  work  out  a course 
of  action  and  present  it  to  the  next  coun- 
cil meeting. 

Enrollment  at  Rosthern  Junior  College 
(a  secondary  school)  has  increased  by 


In  mid-February  the  dollar  tumbled  in 
value.  This  was  a week  after  Council  of 
Commissions  meetings  at  which  time  the 
annual  budget  of  the  General  Conference 
is  adopted.  What  does  this  mean?  How 
is  it  affecting  us?  Where  is  it  hurting 
most? 

The  effect  of  devaluation  is  felt  pri- 
marily in  our  overseas  programs.  Our 
dollar  simply  buys  fewer  Japanese  yens, 
new  Taiwan  dollars,  etc.  of  the  coun- 
tries where  we  have  mission  programs. 
The  major  imbalance  is  with  Japan.  The 
dollar  is  devaluated  10  percent  while 
the  yen  was  allowed  to  float.  By  the 
end  of  February  the  yen  was  worth  at 
least  16  percent  more  with  respect  to 
the  dollar.  The  conference  budgeted 
$21,813  for  work  in  Japan.  It  will  likely 
take  $3,500  more  than  was  anticipated. 
The  Taiwan  budget  calls  for  about  $60,- 
360  and  will  call  for  an  additional 
$3,000.  In  addition,  salaries  for  mission- 
aries will  have  to  be  adjusted. 

The  Civil  Aeronautics  Board  has  ap- 
proved an  agreement  that  allows  trans- 
atlantic air  fares  to  rise  because  of  the 
dollar  devaluation.  For  flights  originat- 
ing in  the  United  States,  the  adjustment 
will  amount  to  an  increase  of  6 percent. 
Increases  of  2 to  12  percent  will  apply 
to  traffic  headed  for  the  United  States 
from  Europe,  Africa,  and  Asia.  It  will 
thus  cost  more  to  bring  missionaries 
home  for  furlough  and  return  them  to 
place  of  service. 

Will  the  dollar  be  devalued  further? 
No  one  can  be  sure.  As  long  as  the 
United  States  and  its  citizens  spend  more 
abroad  than  other  countries  or  their 
peoples  are  willing  to  spend  in  the  United 
States,  pressures  will  continue  to  push 
down  the  value  of  the  dollar.  A balance 
of  payments  must  be  restored. 

The  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 


30  percent  during  the  1972-73  term. 
Plans  are  under  way  to  build  new  resi- 
dences. 

Swift  Current  Bible  Institute  has  an 
enrollment  of  fifty-three  students,  with 
nine  in  practical  work  assignments. 

The  Alberta  Women’s  Missions  Con- 
ference was  held  simultaneously  with 
the  delegate  conference.  The  women’s 
conference’s  total  income  for  1972  was 
$28,151,  divided  almost  equally  between 
missions  and  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee. Ann  Harder 


is  meeting  in  June.  At  that  time  it  will 
be  imperative  that  the  commission  try 
to  ascertain:  1 ) whether  the  dollar  has 
been  strengthened  or  weakened  further 
with  respect  to  other  foreign  currencies 
since  February  and  2)  whether  support 
from  our  churches  and  individual  donors 
is  high  enough  to  cover  the  actual  and 
anticipated  devaluation  loss.  William  L. 
Friesen 

Words  & deeds 

Church  membership  in  the  U.S.  during 

1972  reached  the  lowest  ebb  in  institu- 
tional growth  since  the  Civil  War  era 
over  a century  ago,  according  to  the 

1973  Yearbook  of  American  and  Ca- 
nadian Churches.  Statistics  compiled  by 
the  National  Council  of  Churches  from 
223  U.S.  denominations  showed  the  to- 
tal on  the  nation’s  religious  rolls  at 
131,389,642 — an  increase  of  one-fiftieth 
of  1 percent.  With  population  growth  set 
at  about  1 percent  annually,  the  propor- 
tion of  persons  affiliated  with  churches 
and  synagogues  slipped  from  63.2  per- 
cent of  the  population  to  62.4  percent. 
Church  attendance  also  continued  a 
thirteen-year  decline  last  year,  slipping 
from  42  to  40  percent.  In  the  peak  year 
of  1955  it  was  49  percent.  Religion  in 
the  U.S.  remains  highly  segregated,  the 
yearbook  reported,  with  some  90  per- 
cent of  black  Christians — 14.4  million — 
belonging  to  mostly  black  denominations. 
The  other  10  percent  of  black  members 
are  scattered  in  mostly  white  denomina- 
tions. 


Dollar  devaluation  — where  it  hurts 


352 


MAY  29.  1973 


The  legacy  of  David  Livingstone , the  renovator 


The  following  report  has  been  written  by 
James  Juhnke,  MCC  director  in  Bots- 
wana. 

On  a small  rise  near  the  Kolobeng  River 
in  Botswana  is  the  place  where  pioneer 
missionary  David  Livingstone  worked 
and  preached  among  the  Bakwena  tribe 
for  several  years  in  the  mid-nineteenth- 
century.  It  is  a favorite  picnic  spot  for 
mcc  workers  in  Botswana.  Today  there 
remain  only  a few  foundation  stones 
marking  the  outline  of  Livingstone’s 
house  and  the  school  where  his  wife, 
Mary  Moffatt,  taught  the  Bakwena  chil- 
dren. 

We  do  well  to  return  to  the  Living- 
stone legacy  in  our  anxious  times.  Al- 
though it  is  a hundred  years  since  the 
world  famous  doctor,  missionary,  and 
explorer  died,  we  westerners  who  would 
proclaim  the  gospel  to  all  nations  are 
Livingstone’s  companions.  His  path 
breaking  can  point  the  way  for  us. 

It  was  a dynamic  and  self-confident 
western  Christendom  which  sent  forth 
Dr.  Livingstone  and  hundreds  of  mission- 
aries like  him  to  preach  where  man  had 
never  heard  of  Christ.  There  was  evan- 
gelical revival  in  England.  The  church 
and  her  growing  missions  program  were 
winning  the  commitment  of  the  age’s 
outstanding  leaders.  There  was  peace 
among  the  nations — no  major  multi- 
national European  wars  in  the  century 
from  the  defeat  of  Napoleon  to  World 
War  I.  Industry  and  commerce  were 
growing  rapidly.  Old  oppressive  institu- 
tions, such  as  human  slavery,  were 
crumbling  before  the  onslaught  of  ben- 
evolent reform.  New  worlds  were  being 
discovered  and  conquered. 


This  was  all  God’s  work,  men  of  that 
age  believed.  The  church  was  working 
with,  not  against,  the  great  tide  of  cul- 
tural, economic,  and  political  forces  of 
the  day.  Dr.  Livingstone  described  the 
vision  in  his  African  journal  in  1855: 
“We  are  forwarding  that  great  move- 
ment which  God  is  carrying  on  for 
the  renovation  of  the  world.  We  are 
parts  of  the  machinery  he  employs, 
but  not  exclusive  parts,  for  all  who 
are  engaged  in  ameliorating  the  con- 
dition of  our  race  are  fellow-workers, 
cooperators  with  God — sanitary  re- 
formers and  clergy  of  all  sorts,  the 
soldiers  at  Sebastapol  and  sailors  on 
the  coast  of  Africa,  inventors  of  the 
telegraphs  and  steam  engines,  pro- 
moters of  emigration  and  of  prison  re- 
form.” 

The  church  in  its  mission,  David  Liv- 
ingstone believed,  should  be  in  the  van- 
guard of  this  grand  task  of  renovating 
the  world.  Missionaries  should  pave  the 
way.  Once  when  an  elephant  hunter 
passed  through  Livingstone’s  mission  out- 
post among  the  Botswana  on  the  way  to 
uncharted  interior  regions,  the  mission- 
ary scolded  himself  for  allowing  someone 
else  to  get  on  ahead. 

The  African  continent  itself,  however, 
proved  perversely  unsuited  to  Living- 
stone’s grand  design  for  commerce  and 
Christianity. 

Despite  his  many  setbacks,  Livingstone 
remained  throughout  his  life  an  affirmer 
of  the  world,  of  life,  and  of  Christ.  It 
is  perhaps  from  this  boundless  affirma- 
tion and  comprehensive  vision  that  we 
can  learn  from  the  great  missionary  a 
hundred  years  after  his  death. 

Our  imaginations  and  our  energies 


have  been  intimidated  by  the  earthshak- 
ing upheavals  of  our  time.  Worldwide 
warfare  has  taught  us  the  demonic  na- 
ture of  national  politics.  Imperial  eco- 
nomic exploitation  has  eroded  the  hopes 
that  commerce  could  be  a benevolent 
force.  A gulf  has  separated  the  sacred 
from  the  secular,  and  the  church  seems 
ready  to  limit  its  vision  to  narrow  “spir- 
itual” concerns  and  to  leave  the  real 
action  in  the  world  to  governments  and 
corporations. 

There  is  truly  no  returning  to  Living- 
stone’s world  or  to  his  ethos.  From  our 
perspective,  his  attitude  toward  the 
“heathen”  is  shockingly  paternalistic. 
Nor  need  we  accept  those  of  his  ideas 
which  we  today  rightly  reject  as  naive — 
such  as  the  notion  that  African  sloth, 
ignorance,  and  nakedness  were  evils  to 
be  simply  remedied  by  European  com- 
merce and  colonization.  We  fortunately 
now  can  see  that  the  darkness  of  idol- 
atry and  heathenism  is  as  deeply  rooted 
in  our  own  culture  as  in  any  to  which 
we  go. 

But  we  would  do  well  to  appropriate 
Livingstone’s  confidence  that  God  is  at 
work  to  renovate  the  world  and  that  we 
can  have  a part  in  this  great  effort.  That 
faith  need  not  depend  upon  certainty 
that  the  kingdom  of  justice  and  peace 
is  around  the  corner.  Certainly  that  part 
of  Africa  in  which  missionary  Living- 
stone toiled  is  today  deeply  afflicted  by 
demons  of  apartheid,  poverty,  and  idol- 
atry which  will  not  soon  be  exorcised. 
But  we  can  still  expand  our  vision  to 
affirm  with  Livingstone  that  God  loved 
this  world  and  that  he  has  given  us  the 
power  to  be  obedient  servants  in  the 
world. 


Below  is  the  site  of  Livingstone’s  house  and  the  school  where  his  wife  taught  Bakwena  children  in  Botswana 


Baptism  in  Moscow 

Twenty-eight  new  converts  were  baptized  at  the  Moscow  Baptist  Church  in  the  first 
of  four  or  five  baptismal  services  planned  for  1973.  More  than  two  thousand  persons 
crowded  into  the  1,200-seat  church  for  the  service.  Among  the  candidates  for  bap- 
tism was  Debora  Dewala  Diaomadji  of  the  Republic  of  Chad,  a predominantly 
Musilm  and  animist  country  in  Central  Africa,  who  is  in  the  USSR  as  a student  at 
the  Moscow  Medical  Institute. 


New  government  sanctions 
against  churches  in  Zaire 

Church-state  relations  in  Zaire  entered  a 
new  phase  this  month  with  the  publica- 
tion of  a communique  from  the  Depart- 
ment of  Political  Affairs  which  ordered 
an  end  to  the  activities  of  the  permanent 
committee  of  Roman  Catholic  bishops 
and  forbade  all  religious  meetings  with 
the  exception  of  mass  and  confession. 
Other  religious  gatherings  are  regarded 
as  clandestine  and  therefore  illegal. 

Furthermore,  it  is  stipulated  that  meet- 
ings can  only  be  held  “within  the  frame- 
work of  the  activities  of  the  Popular 
Movement  of  the  Revolution  and  the 
jmpr,”  its  youth  branch.  Severe  punish- 
ment will  be  meted  out  to  those  who 
disregard  the  decision  of  the  political 
bureau. 

The  latest  action  is  in  line  with  earlier 
decisions  affecting  the  churches.  Last 
November  the  government  disbanded 
church  youth  groups,  and  the  beginning 
of  March  it  suspended  thirty-one  reli- 
gious journals. 

Jehovah’s  Witnesses 
banned  in  Kenya 

Kenya  is  the  second  African  country  to 
ban  the  Jehovah’s  Witnesses.  The  ban- 
ning order  published  in  the  government 
gazette  listed  six  other  sects  and  societies 
also  prohibited. 

Earlier  this  spring  Minister  of  Home 
Affairs  Daniel  Arap  Moi  said  freedom 
of  worship  was  enshrined  in  the  Kenyan 
constitution.  But  “there  is  no  room  in 
Kenya  for  those  who  create  panic  in  the 
country  under  the  pretext  of  religion.” 

First  country  to  ban  the  Witnesses 
was  Malawi,  from  which  thousands  fled 
to  neighboring  Zambia  claiming  they 
had  been  persecuted  and  beaten. 

Four  dissident  Baptists 
sentenced  in  Russia 

A court  in  Byelorussia  has  sentenced 
four  “evangelical”  Baptists  to  prison 
terms  for  giving  children  illegal  religious 
instruction,  according  to  the  newspaper 
Sovetskaya  Byelorussia.  The  four  are 
Lidiya  Korzhanets,  Nina  Masyuk,  Yev- 
geni Silchukov,  and  Ivan  Trukhan.  They 
had  been  tried  in  Soligorsk. 

Although  all  religious  communities  are 
required  by  law  to  register  with  the 
state,  the  four  belonged  to  an  unregister- 
ed sect.  Mr.  Silchukov  had  served  a pris- 
on term  beginning  in  1967  for  encourag- 
ing Baptists  to  break  the  law. 


Rutschmans  will  serve 
in  Bolivia  for  summer 

LaVeme  and  Harriet  Rutschman,  teach- 
ers at  Freeman  Junior  College,  Freeman, 
South  Dakota,  will  go  to  Bolivia  this 
summer  as  mission  volunteers  under  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  and 
Mennonite  Board  of  Missions. 

At  the  invitation  of  the  Argentine 
missions  committee,  the  Rutschmans  will 
serve  with  Jose  and  Soledad  Godoy  in 
the  Santa  Cruz  area  of  Bolivia. 

The  Godoys  have  been  in  Bolivia  for 
two  years  under  the  auspices  of  the  Ar- 
gentine missions  committee,  involved  in 
Bible  teaching,  evangelism,  sewing  class- 
es, and  the  overseeing  of  eight  to  ten 
house  groups.  Both  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission  (General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church)  and  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions  (Mennonite  Church) 
have  provided  modest  financial  assistance 
to  this  work. 

The  Rutschmans  will  leave  for  Bolivia 
in  late  May  and  return  in  late  August. 

They  previously  served  under  the  Com- 
mission on  Overseas  Mission  and  its 
predecessor  in  Colombia  from  1947  to 
1955  and  from  1956  to  1968  in  Uru- 
guay, where  LaVeme  was  professor  of 
Old  Testament  at  the  Mennonite  sem- 
inary in  Montevideo. 

Last  summer  the  Rutschmans  worked 


in  South  Texas  under  the  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions. 

As  mission  volunteers,  a new  category 
of  mission  workers,  the  Rutschmans  will 
not  be  salaried,  but  their  expenses  of 
travel,  lodging,  etc.,  will  be  covered. 

Howard  Habegger,  com  executive  sec- 
retary, commented,  “I  am  pleased  that 
com  will  have  a more  direct  personal  in- 
volvement in  the  mission  work  in  Bo- 
livia even  for  this  short  time.” 

Eldon  Graber  survives 
bus  accident  in  Africa 

Eldon  Graber,  Freeman,  South  Dakota, 
sustained  only  minor  cuts  and  bruises 
when  the  Nigerian  Airways  bus  he  was 
riding  dropped  twenty-five  feet  from  a 
narrow  bridge,  overturned,  and  landed 
on  its  top  in  more  than  six  feet  of  water, 
fourteen  miles  south  of  Kano,  Nigeria. 

The  incident  occurred  April  1 when 
Mr.  Graber  was  en  route  to  the  First  Af- 
rican Regional  Conference  of  the  Inter- 
national Association  for  Cross-Cultural 
Psychology  in  Ibadan. 

The  driver  and  one  passenger  were 
killed.  Four  passengers  were  seriously 
injured.  After  assisting  his  fellow  trav- 
elers and  reclaiming  his  baggage,  Mr. 
Graber  was  able  to  continue  his  journey 
to  Ibadan  the  following  day. 


354 


MAY  29,  1973 


MMHS  concerned  about  retardation,  offender 


The  semiannual  meeting  of  Mennonite 
Mental  Health  Services,  including  an  ed- 
ucational program  and  a business  session, 
was  held  April  13-14  at  Oaklawn  Psy- 
chiatric Center,  Elkhart,  Indiana. 

The  first  day  the  mmhs  board  and 
representatives  of  the  affiliated  centers 
and  hospitals  met  with  Oaklawn  staff 
members  in  a “miniversity.”  Information 
and  sharing  sessions  were  offered  on 
Oaklawn’s  new  rehabilitation  program, 
the  center’s  organization,  its  clinical  pro- 
grams, the  management  information  sys- 
tem, services  to  children,  community  re- 
lationships, and  major  issues  and  prob- 
lems. 

The  business  session  included  reports 
on  major  new  areas  where  mmhs  is  in- 
volved, particularly  mental  retardation, 
offender  ministries,  and  services  to  Para- 
guay. 

The  board  approved  a set  of  objec- 
tives in  mental  retardation.  The  objec- 
tives call  for  further  efforts  in  the  fol- 
lowing areas : 

— to  provide  information  on  retarda- 


A Christian  education  workshop  for 
church  and  Sunday  school  teachers  will 
be  offered  by  Bluffton  College  June 
18-22. 

Burton  G.  Yost,  chairman  of  the  col- 
lege s religion  department,  has  announced 
that  Juanita  Winters,  director  of  Chris- 
tian education  at  a United  Methodist 
congregation  in  Findlay,  Ohio,  and 


The  Mennonite  Medical  Association 
(mma)  invited  several  Mennonite  theo- 
logians to  sit  down  with  medical  doctors 
earlier  this  month  to  discuss  abortion. 
The  theme  of  the  seminar  was  “A  the- 
ology of  life  and  human  values.” 

The  two-day  seminar  in  Chicago  was 
designed  to  serve  as  a prelude  to  a larger 
MMA-sponsored  meeting  on  the  same 
theme  in  autumn.  The  date  and  the  place 
of  that  meeting  will  be  announced  later. 

The  four  theologians  who  made  pre- 
sentations to  Chicago  seminar  were  Paul 
Lederach,  Scottdale,  Pennsylvania;  John 
R.  Mumaw,  Harrisonburg,  Virginia; 
Vem  Ratzlaff,  Winnipeg;  and  John  H. 
Yoder,  Elkhart,  Indiana.  A medical  doc- 
tor responded  to  each  of  the  papers  be- 
fore the  group  engaged  in  open  discus- 
sion. 


tion  for  the  churches  in  the  conference; 

— to  broaden  services  to  congrega- 
tions by  making  available  consultants 
and  specialists  in  retardation; 

— to  give  greater  consideration  to 
camping  and  retreats  for  the  retarded; 

— to  develop  a philosophy  statement 
to  guide  churches  and  agencies  as  they 
work  in  behalf  of  the  retarded; 

— to  plan  a seminar  for  those  working 
with  the  mentally  retarded; 

— and  to  consider  staffing  a specialist 
in  retardation  who  for  an  initial  term 
of  two  years  can  take  leadership  in  edu- 
cation consultation  and  promotion 
among  mcc  constituent  groups. 

Mmhs  also  decided  to  focus  attention 
on  services  to  youth  in  trouble  with  the 
law  or  potentially  so.  The  agency  plans 
to  develop  fraternal  relationships  with 
a number  of  Canadian  and  United  States 
programs  which  work  with  youthful  of- 
fenders or  emotionally  disturbed.  A 
workshop  for  these  institutions  is  plan- 
ned for  the  spring  of  1974.  An  advisory 
committee  of  board  members  and  other 


interested  persons  is  to  be  appointed  to 
guide  the  program  for  youthful  offenders. 

Vernon  Neufeld,  director  of  mmhs, 
reported  that  the  extension  of  mental 
health  services  to  Paraguay  is  proceeding 
satisfactorily.  Gerhard  Friesen  of  Winni- 
peg is  currently  serving  as  consultant  in 
activities  and  occupational  therapy  at 
the  national  mental  hospital.  This  sum- 
mer John  and  Betty  Bergey  are  sched- 
uled to  join  him  as  consultants  in  psy- 
chiatric nursing  and  public  health  nurs- 
ing respectively  for  a period  of  one  year. 
Merrill  Raber  of  Prairie  View  will  work 
this  summer  with  private  and  public 
agencies  in  Asuncion  in  areas  related  to 
mental  health,  in  cooperation  with  the 
Kansas-Paraguay  Partners  of  the  Alli- 
ance. John  Kroeker,  also  of  Prairie  View, 
will  spend  the  summer  working  among 
the  Mennonite  colonies  as  a mental 
health  educator. 

Incumbent  mmhs  officers  were  reelect- 
ed for  another  year.  Now  serving  are 
Luke  Birky,  chairman;  Elmer  Ediger, 
vice-chairman;  Charles  Neff,  MD,  sec- 
retary; and  William  Zuercher,  treasurer. 

Doctors  propose  “right 
to  die”  statements 

A recommendation  that  healthy  persons 
be  permitted  to  give  their  physicians 
“right  to  die”  statements  to  be  used  if 
they  should  contract  a terminal  illness 
has  been  adopted  by  the  Connecticut 
State  Medical  Society’s  House  of  Dele- 
gates. 

The  resolution,  which  will  be  offered 
for  approval  at  the  national  convention 
of  the  American  Medical  Association 
in  June,  suggests  that  a healthy  person 
be  permitted  to  sign  a statement  asking 
that  no  “artificial  means  or  heroic  mea- 
sures” be  used  to  keep  him  alive  if  he 
contracted  a terminal  “physical,  mental, 
or  spiritual”  disease  and  was  unable  to 
make  such  a decision  at  that  time. 

According  to  William  R.  Richards, 
executive  director  of  the  society,  such  a 
statement  would  not  be  legally  binding 
on  a doctor  and  would  probably  not  be 
able  to  shield  a doctor  from  a malprac- 
tice suit  if  he  complied  with  the  request 
and  was  later  sued  by  the  patient’s  fam- 
ily. 

He  added,  however,  that  such  a docu- 
ment could  be  useful  as  a general  guide 
to  physicians  and  family  members  in 
deciding  how  to  deal  with  such  a situ- 
ation. 


Christian  education  seminar  planned  for  Bluffton 


MDs  invite  theologians  to  discuss  abortion 


Frank  Ward,  executive  secretary  of  the 
General  Conference’s  Commission  on 
Education,  will  lead  the  seminars. 

Mr.  Yost  said  the  workshop  will  pro- 
vide opportunities  to  learn  about  meth- 
ods and  materials,  to  engage  in  teaching- 
learning experiences,  to  share  viewpoints 
and  experiences,  and  to  see  new  possi- 
bilities in  Christian  education. 


Since  this  discussion  was  seen  as  prep- 
aratory for  the  larger  meeting  in  autumn, 
no  findings  or  recommendations  were 
drawn  up.  The  mood  of  the  meeting, 
however,  reflected  a rejection  of  abortion 
in  all  but  such  cases  where  the  mother’s 
life  is  in  jeopardy.  It  was  further  noted 
that  advances  in  medical  know-how  have 
greatly  reduced  the  number  of  cases 
where  the  mother’s  life  is  in  danger. 

Only  four  of  the  twenty-two  partici- 
pants were  women,  and  they  did  not 
participate  actively  in  the  discussion. 

The  Mennonite  Medical  Association, 
although  inter-Mennonite  in  its  intent 
and  structure,  draws  its  membership  pri- 
marily from  the  (Old)  Mennonite 
Church.  No  General  Conference  doc- 
tors or  theologians  were  at  the  May  4-5 
seminar. 


THE  MENNONITE 


355 


Guide  to  oral  history 
collection  published 

A guide  to  the  Schowalter  Oral  History 
Collection  on  World  War  I conscien- 
tious objection  has  recently  been  pub- 
lished by  Bethel  College. 

Titled  Voices  against  war,  the  book 
was  edited  by  Keith  L.  Sprunger,  James 
C.  Juhnke,  and  John  D.  Waltner. 

The  guide  is  an  index  to  the  collection 
of  some  273  interviews  which  have  been 
recorded  on  tapes  since  the  beginning 
of  the  oral  history  project  in  1968.  The 
collection  is  housed  in  the  Mennonite 
Library  and  Archives. 

While  the  largest  number  of  the  inter- 
views were  with  persons  living  in  Kan- 
sas, interviews  were  also  conducted  in 
fourteen  other  states  and  four  Canadian 
provinces. 

Much  of  the  interviewing  was  done 
by  Bethel  students  who  were  senior  fel- 
lows in  the  history  department. 

This  oral  history  project  was  made 
possible  by  a grant  from  the  Schowalter 
Foundation,  Newton,  to  support  a col- 
lection on  conscientious  objection.  A 
second  grant  in  1972  has  made  possible 
the  publication  of  this  index  and  also  a 
further  expansion  of  the  scope  of  the 
collection  to  include  relief,  mental  health, 
and  service  aspects  of  Mennonite  church- 
es since  World  War  I. 

Travel  service  reports 
$68,000  profit  in  1972 

Menno  Travel  Service  has  just  concluded 
one  of  the  most  encouraging  years  in 
its  history,  according  to  Edgar  Stoesz, 
mts’s  executive  vice-president.  Sales  in 
the  eight  branch  offices  in  the  United 
States  and  Africa  increased  by  more  than 
two  million  dollars,  an  increase  of  27 
percent  of  1971  sales. 

The  Kinshasa,  Zaire,  branch  became 
the  first  mts  branch  to  exceed  annual 
sales  of  two  million  dollars,  an  increase 
of  64  percent.  The  New  York  branch, 
established  in  1970,  reported  a 90  per- 
cent increase  with  sales  of  $1,330,230. 
The  Goshen,  Indiana,  and  Nairobi,  Ken- 
ya branches  also  exceeded  sales  of  one 
million  dollars. 

Mts  was  established  in  1947  as  a 
service  department  of  the  Mennonite 
Central  Committee.  It  was  reorganized 
as  a stock  company  in  1968.  Mts  stock 
is  owned  by  five  Mennonite  mission 
boards,  mcc,  and  a number  of  private 
investors. 

Mts’s  net  profit  in  1972  was  $67,972. 
No  stockholders’  dividend  was  declared, 


however,  because  of  previous  losses  and 
the  need  for  more  operating  capital. 

At  the  annual  stockholders’  meeting 
April  13  in  Chicago,  all  twelve  directors 
were  reelected  to  one-year  terms.  Offi- 
cers elected  were:  president,  A.  P.  Hall- 
man; executive  vice-president,  Edgar 
Stoesz;  secretary,  Howard  D.  Raid;  and 
treasurer,  Ralph  Gunden. 

Guidelines  available  on  aid 
to  foreign  students 

The  Council  of  (Mennonite)  Mission 
Board  Secretaries  and  the  Mennonite 
Central  Committee  have  adopted  a pol- 
icy concerning  aid  to  international  stu- 
dents studying  in  North  America  or 
other  places  outside  the  students’  native 
country. 

The  statement  is  intended  to  highlight 
the  changing  international  student  scene 
and  provide  guidance  in  counseling  pros- 
pective students. 

The  policy  statement  suggests  that 
scholarships  and  financial  assistance  be 
given  primarily  for  graduate  rather  than 
undergraduate  study.  The  student  should 
normally  have  completed  the  highest 
level  of  education  available  in  his  own 
country.  Normally  a student  should  not 
be  away  from  his  home  country  for 
longer  than  two  years.  Objective  screen- 
ing regarding  language  competence,  ma- 
turity, spiritual  commitment,  academic 
potential,  and  the  need  for  job  training 
is  desirable.  The  students  shall  have  the 
official  endorsement  of  the  local  congre- 
gation and  national  conference  of  which 
he  is  a part.  And  student  candidates  with 
several  years’  experience  in  their  own 
church,  and  committed  to  return,  are 
most  desirable. 


The  pamphlet  also  includes  a brief 
review  of  the  problems  of  nonreturn 
of  international  students,  the  “brain 
drain,”  psychological  fallout,  and  educa- 
tional supply  and  demand.  The  role  of 
mission  and  service  agencies  is  noted. 

Combs  noted  that  the  number  of  in- 
ternational students  coming  to  Canada 
and  the  United  States  has  dramatically 
increased  since  1945.  In  1970,  nearly 
100,000  students  from  Asia,  Africa,  and  1 
Latin  America  were  studying  in  the 
United  States  alone. 

Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  1 
missionaries  and  service  workers  have  1 
been  widely  involved  in  counseling  stu-  1 
dent  applicants. 

The  complete  statement  is  available 
on  request  from  the  General  Conference  1 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  or 
Mennonite  Central  Committee. 

I 

l 

LeRoy  Kennel  is  seminary 
commencement  speaker 

LeRoy  Kennel,  a professor  of  commu-  1 
nications  at  Bethany  Theological  Sem-  ' 
inary,  Oak  Brook,  Illinois,  gave  the  com-  s 
mencement  address  for  the  Associated  s 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  May  25.  1 

An  alumnus  of  Goshen  Biblical  Sem-  1 
inary,  Mr.  Kennel  served  for  several  * 
years  as  pastor  of  the  Lombard  Menno-  5 
nite  Church,  Lombard,  Illinois,  and  later  i 
moved  into  seminary  teaching. 

The  Associated  Seminaries  community  1 
gathered  for  a commissioning  service  on 
May  24.  Those  who  are  leaving  the 
seminaries  for  service  appointments  were  ■! 
recognized  at  this  service. 

Twenty-two  seniors  graduated  from  » 
the  Associated  Seminaries  this  year.  n 


WANTFn*  ^ POVERTY  PROJECTS 
¥Vnn  I LU.  CONSULTANT/GRANTSMAN 


The  Commission  on  Home  Ministries  is 
groups  develop  poverty  projects  in 

Your  task  would  include  . . . 


accepting  applications  for  a person  to  help  congregations  and  community 
North'  America.  Are  YOU  that  person? 


• Research 

Exploring  resources  to  help  break  the  cycle  of  poverty 

• Project  Development 

Helping  churches  and  community  groups  initiate  projects  that  alleviate  poverty. 

• Grant  Writing 

Preparing  proposals  that  may  generate  up  to  one-fourth  million  dollars 
annually  from  a variety  of  granting  agencies 


Applicants  send  resume'  to 

CHM 
Box  347 

Newton,  Kansas  67114 


MAY  29,  1973,1 


356 


Musical  drama  on  Revelation  staged  in  Goessel 


A musical  drama  on  the  Book  of  Reve- 
lation, written  and  produced  by  local 
church  members,  was  presented  Easter 
weekend  by  the  three  Goessel,  Kansas, 
area  Mennonite  churches  — Alexander- 
wohl  Mennonite  Church,  Goessel  Men- 
nonite Church,  and  Tabor  Mennonite 
Church.  The  idea  for  the  drama  grew 
out  of  a common  study  of  the  book  by 
the  congregations,  and  planning  for  the 
drama  was  facilitated  by  Lyle  Preheim 
and  Darnell  Laut,  a creative  worship 
team  sponsored  by  the  Commission  on 
Education.  Reviewing  the  presentation 
is  John  A.  Esau,  a minister  at  the  Bethel 
College  Mennonite  Church,  North  New- 
ton, Kansas,  and  teacher  of  a New  Tes- 
tament class  at  the  college  which  has 
been  studying  Revelation. 

Eschatology  is  the  latest  religious  fad. 
It  is,  of  course,  not  a new  concern  in 
the  history  of  the  church;  the  concern 
with  the  end  of  times  has  been  around 
since  the  beginning  of  time  as  man  has 
sought  to  penetrate  both  backwards  to 
an  unknowable  past  and  forward  to  an 
equally  unknowable  future.  The  Book 
of  Revelation  has  always  been  the  fertile 
ground  out  of  which  has  come  an  end- 
less series  of  interpretations,  subject  only 
to  the  peculiar  religious  biases  of  the 
interpreter  and  the  period  of  history  in 
which  he  lives  and  works. 

So  what  would  the  three  Mennonite 
churches  of  Goessel,  Kansas,  do  with 
the  Book  of  Revelation  in  an  age  when 
i an  endless  array  of  movies,  books,  and 
records  are  being  marketed  to  play  on 
the  fears  of  sincere  people?  In  a commu- 
nity project  begun  over  a year  ago,  mem- 
bers of  the  Goessel,  Tabor,  and  Alex- 
anderwohl  churches  used  the  Good  Fri- 
iday-Easter  weekend  as  an  appropriate 
time  to  present  “The  drama  of  Revela- 
tion.” 

What  came  through  was  a sane  and 
sober  interpretation  of  this  controversial 
Mew  Testament  book.  Instead  of  indulg- 
ing in  theological  fantasies  or  speculation 
about  the  order  of  events  to  come,  the 
aasic  interpretation  began  with  an  at- 
empt  to  understand  the  experience  of 
he  early  Christian  church  struggling  to 
■urvive  in  the  hostile  society  of  the  Ro- 
nan  empire.  In  place  of  contrived  fear, 
ohn  was  portrayed  as  the  concerned 
aastor  seeking  to  bring  hope  to  people 
vho  had  already  had  too  many  reasons 
o be  afraid. 

And  more  than  that,  John’s  message 


then  and  now  was  to  give  moral  courage 
to  live  faithfully  as  disciples  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  a society  that  was  making 
obedience  difficult.  Christians  could  rest 
assured  that  ultimate  justice  belonged  to 
God  for  those  who  had  given  the  ulti- 
mate witness  in  martyrdom.  “In  the  end 
— God.”  That  says  it  all. 

The  issues  of  Revelation  were  not 
alone  those  of  a.d.  100  nor  were  they 
limited  to  the  Christian  community  in 
the  Roman  empire.  Very  rightly,  the 
writers  of  this  dramatic  interpretation 
reached  back  to  Moses  and  Amos  as  the 
people  of  God  confronted  the  Egyptian 
enslavement  and  the  oppression  from 
within  their  own  society.  And  from  a.d. 
100  they  reached  forward  to  the  Ana- 
baptist Reformation — most  appropriately 
relating  the  accounts  of  the  Martyrs’ 
mirror  to  the  experiences  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse. But  they  did  not  stop  there;  the 
themes  of  Revelation  are  those  of  our 
own  apocalyptic  age  with  the  militaristic 
and  oppressive  forces  in  western  society. 

By  use  of  slides  and  movies  we  were 
made  aware  that  the  message  of  Reve- 
lation is  contemporary  and  that  the 
judgment  of  God  continues  in  our  own 
time.  “Your  punishment  will  be  to  live 
in  the  polluted  air  of  our  cities,  to  drink 
the  polluted  water,  to  witness  the  death 
of  wildlife,  the  depletion  of  coal  and  oil. 
You  will  live  in  that  prison  until  you 
repair  the  earth  and  till  it  as  you  were 
commanded  to  do.  This  punishment  you 
have  brought  upon  yourself.” 

Judgment  is  one  theme  of  Revelation; 
but  it  is  always  balanced  by  the  theme 
of  hope.  The  music,  original  composi- 
tions for  this  presentation,  provided  that 
balance.  Based  on  themes  from  the  wor- 
ship scenes  of  John’s  visions,  the  chorus, 
accompanied  by  a variety  of  instru- 
ments, comes  through  with  affirmations 
of  God  and  the  Lamb.  Though  the  mu- 
sic was  good,  it  was  surprisingly  tradi- 
tional; certainly  Revelation  might  have 
suggested  a little  more  flair  and  contem- 
porary idioms. 

While  they  called  the  presentation 
“The  drama  of  Revelation,”  it  lacked 
the  cohesion  and  intensity  of  good 
drama.  Technically  it  was  more  of  a 
pageant  than  a drama.  In  fact,  that  is 
the  format  of  the  book  of  Revelation 
itself;  intuitively  they  were  true  to  the 
text. 

As  always  in  the  church  the  concern 
for  maximum  community  participation 
is  in  competition  with  the  concern  for 


the  highest  quality  in  presentation  and 
production.  It  is  the  struggle  between 
simply  being  an  observer  or  being  a 
participant  and  between  the  amateur 
versus  the  professional.  Ultimately  we 
need  both  experiences.  The  fact  that  the 
Goessel  community  chose  maximum  in- 
volvement (about  200  persons,  I under- 
stand) is  probably  to  their  credit.  When 
one  contemplates  the  significance  of  the 
broadly-based  learning  experience  which 
this  event  provided,  the  uneven  acting 
can  for  once  be  overlooked. 

To  all  those  who  provided  the  inspira- 
tion and  to  all  those  who  worked  for 
over  a year  to  do  something  surprising 
in  biblical  interpretation  we  are  grateful. 
I hope  they  do  it  again.  It  is  an  idea 
which  other  communities  could  also  use. 

One  final  word,  I understand  the  rea- 
sons why  they  chose  the  local  high  school 
gymnasium  to  stage  the  production,  but 
something  within  me  says  that  this  form 
of  multimedia  ought  to  be  explored 
within  the  church  sanctuary. 

Meditations  published 

Meditations  by  Ward  Shelly  which  have 
appeared  in  The  Mennonite  during  the 
past  five  years  have  been  published  in 
a forty-five-page  booklet  by  the  author. 

The  collection  of  gleanings  and  ob- 
servations is  entitled,  What  thou  seest, 
write  in  a book  (Rev.  1:11). 

Mr.  Shelly’s  writings  draw  heavily  on 
his  many  encounters  and  observations 
during  thirty  years  in  the  ministry  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Illinois.  He  is  currently 
the  pastor  of  Calvary  Mennonite  Church, 
Washington,  Illinois. 

The  booklet,  priced  at  $1.50,  is  avail- 
able from  the  Faith  and  Life  bookstores. 


HE  MENNONITE 


357 


REVIEW 


The  gathering  of  the  ungifted 


The  gathering  of  the  ungifted:  Toward 
a dialog  on  Christian  identity,  by  John 
Meagher  ( Herder  and  Herder,  New 
York,  1972,  $5.95)  is  reviewed  by  Harry 
Huebner,  a faculty  member  at  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College. 


Many  of  us  do  not  have  the  faith  to 
remove  mountains,  yet  we  have  faith.  We 
do  not  have  faith  like  a mustard  seed, 
but  like  a mini-mustard  seed.  In  relation 
to  the  “faithed”  Abraham  and  Elijah, 
we  are  “ungifted.”  We  sometimes  have 


What  is  a “gift  annuity”?  It  is  the  gift  of  money  or  property  to  a charitable 
organization.  The  charitable  organization  issues  a contract  agreeing  to  pay  to 
the  donor  usually  semiannually,  a given  amount  depending  on  the  donors 
age.  This  is  paid  to  the  donor  until  he  or  she  dies.  Often  |oint  contracts  are 

written  to  cover  the  life  of  donor  and  spouse. 

Does  the  General  Conference  have  an  achve  annu.ty  program  The  Con 

ference  has  written  annuity  contracts  since  1924  or  longer.  It  has 
$200,000  in  its  life  annuity  account  at  present.  f c|0se 

What  are  the  tax  implications?  Depending  on  age  and  other  factors,  do 
to  one-half  of  the  amount  donated  may  be  claimed  as  a contribution  to  c y 
in  the  year  given.  Also,  roughly  two-thirds  of  the  annual  income  is  tax-exempt. 
(We  calculate  this  for  the  donor  after  all  particulars  are  known.)  .. 

Can  the  Conference  guarantee  the  semiannual  payments?  The  ent,re  annu.ty 
fund  is  invested  in  banks  and  should  be  at  least  as  secure  as  the  banks.  The 
Conference  has  never  defaulted  on  semiannual  annuity  payments. 

What  rate  does  the  Conference  pay?  The  Conference  uses  the  rate  schedule 
put  out  by  the  Committee  on  Gift  Annuities.  At  age  eighty,  the  rate  8^ 

percent,  and  at  age  eighty-six  and  over,  the  rate  is  10  percent  on  single  life 

C° Send  us  your  name,  address,  and  age  or  ages,  and  we  will  send  full  par- 
ticulars. You  will  be  under  no  obligation. 


Name- 


Address- 


Age  (Ages) 


Mail  to:  William  L.  Friesen,  conference  treasurer 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


honest  doubts  and  occasionally  cannot 
reconcile  our  thoughts  and  feelings  with 
the  Christian  faith.  John  Meagher  at- 
tempts to  show  that  such  ungiftedness 
is  not  unchristian,  moreover,  that  the 
ungifted  play  an  important  role  in  the 
building  of  God’s  kingdom.  He  does  this 
by  reflecting  on  the  nature  of  ungifted- 
ness and  by  providing  a new  interpre- 
tation of  Christian  truth  and  its  relation 
to  the  church. 

Those  of  us  who  admit  our  ungifted- 
ness do  so  because  we  are  honest  enough 
to  see  that  an  entirely  objective  basis  for 
religious  knowledge  is  impossible.  Our 
doubts  arise  when  rival  views  like  the 
sciences,  the  humanities,  or  other  reli- 
gions creep  into  our  world  to  claim  su- 
premacy. And  we  almost  fall  into  total 
disbelief  when  it  becomes  apparent  that 
there  is  also  “good  news”  outside  of 
Christianity.  This  means  that  the  Chris- 
tian claims  are  not  absolute  as  they  were 
thought  to  be,  and  this  frightens  us  and 
leads  us  to  disbelief. 

Mr.  Meagher  points  out  that  we  do 
well  to  note  that  while  the  lack  of  total 
objectivity  of  the  Christian  claim  brings 
about  ungiftedness,  it  is  also  precisely 
in  this  context  in  which  ungiftedness 
becomes  meaningful.  Ungiftedness  is  in- 
compatible with  an  absolute  claim,  but 
if  the  Christian  claim  is  in  some  sense 
less  than  absolute,  then  there  is  legiti- 
mate room  for  honest  doubt.  In  fact, 
honest  doubters  may  become  a very 
important  part  of  the  way  to  truth. 

But  in  what  sense  does  Mr.  Meagher 
speak  of  the  Christian  claim  as  less  than 
absolute?  Many  contemporary  theolo- 
gians have  said  that  a credible  theology 
must  take  seriously  the  historical  and 
cultural  context  in  which  every  man  finds 
himself.  It  is  this  context  which  deter- 
mines, to  some  extent,  his  understanding 
of  the  faith.  Some  theologians  have  there- 
fore suggested  that  the  only  way  to  get 
to  the  absolute  is  to  strip  Christianity 
of  all  historical  and  cultural  influences — 
to  demythologize  and  discover  a “brass 
tacks  Christianity.” 

But  Mr.  Meagher  says  that  this  leads 
to  serious  difficulties,  because  any  at- 
tempt to  articulate  and  communicate 
such  a basic  underlying  claim  would 
make  it  less  than  absolute,  since  such 
communication  would  be  done  by  hu- 


AAAY  29,  1973 


i 


358 


mans  with  particular  backgrounds  and 
histories.  Therefore  a completely  objec- 
tive understanding  of  the  Christian  faith 
is  impossible.  To  understand  God  abso- 
lutely, as  he  really  is,  is  at  best  the  good 
fortune  of  the  angels.  Men  cannot  do  so. 

But  we  must  resist  inferring  from  this 
that  all  is  lost.  As  the  author  points  out, 
simply  because  total  objectivity  is  not 
attainable,  it  doesn’t  follow  that  we 
must  revert  to  total  subjectivity  or  rela- 
tivism. Such  has  been  the  thinking  of 
many,  but  it  has  proven  quite  unhelpful 
and  it  has  no  logical  basis.  They  have 
sought  in  vain  for  a common  objective 
“what”  and  have  disregarded  the  “how.” 
Yet  the  “how”  and  the  “what”  are  close- 
ly interrelated,  and  when  we  look  for 
Christian  truth  they  need  to  be  held 
together.  In  other  words,  the  medium 
is  part  of  the  message.  But  just  because 
this  is  so,  it  doesn’t  follow  that  there  is 
no  message  at  all,  even  though  the  mes- 
sage will  not  be  entirely  objective.  It 
does  mean,  however,  that  the  Christian 
message  can  only  be  understood  through 
and  will  hence  be  affected  by  a medium. 
And  since  we  use  different  media — we 
have  different  histories  and  cultures — 
the  message  will  come  through  different- 
ly- 

But  how  can  this  lead  us  to  a non- 
absolute Christian  truth  in  which  there 
is  a place  for  the  ungifted?  John  Meag- 


her suggests  some  guidelines.  First,  we 
must  be  honest  with  ourselves  and  our 
histories,  as  well  as  with  others  and 
their  histories.  Second,  we  must  be  open 
to  the  future  in  the  hope  and  trust  that 
God  will  work  out  his  truth  if  we  but 
love  one  another  as  he  has  commanded 
us.  When  this  is  done  well,  the  people 
in  the  gathering  (the  church),  whether 
gifted  or  not  “affirm  one  another  so 
solidly  and  loyally  that  they  become  one 
another  . . . the  gathering  approaches 
the  realizing  of  one  of  its  greatest  se- 
crets: its  capacity  to  be,  in  all  its  multi- 
plicity a single  inexhaustible  person 
. . .”  (p.  131).  It  is  in  this  way  that 
faithed  and  unfaithed,  strong  and  weak, 
graced  and  ungraced,  gifted  and  un- 
gifted need  each  other,  and  together, 
although  different,  build  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

By  way  of  evaluation,  let  me  say  that 
Mr.  Meagher  has  done  a good  job  in 
treating  an  important  topic.  At  places 
where  his  thesis  demanded  some  philo- 
sophical groundwork,  he  manages  to 
provide  that  quite  nonacademically.  This 
has  some  disadvantages  in  itself,  such  as 
a lack  of  detailed  argumentation,  but 
one  must  remember  that  his  is  not  a 
book  especially  for  the  academically 
“gifted.”  But  it  is  enlightening  and  en- 
tertaining for  both  the  gifted  and  the 
ungifted. 


Contents 

Jesus  is  coming  back  346 

The  man  who  came  to  reconcile  . . 348 

News  350 

The  gathering  of  the  ungifted  358 

Communion  hymn  359 

The  real  Rita  Joe  360 

COVER 

The  Ascension,  by  Arthur  W.  Heintzel- 

man  (American  artist,  1892-  ),  from 

the  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ross  W.  Sloniker  Col- 
lection of  Twentieth-Century  Biblical  and 
Religious  Prints. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Waldo  E.  Harder,  past-president  of  Grace 
Bible  Institute,  Omaha,  Neb.,  has  once 
again  returned  to  Zaire  as  an  Africa  Inter- 
Mennonite  Mission  worker.  His  address  is 
B.P.  1,  Tshikapa,  Rep.  of  Zaire. 

LaVernae  J.  Dick  is  a free-lance  writer 
from  Dallas,  Ore.  97338. 

Winifred  Waltner's  address  is  2806 
Benham  Ave.,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 

Menno  Wiebe  is  executive  secretary  of 
Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission,  the  Canadian 
Conference's  ministry  among  Canada's 
native  people.  His  office  is  at  600  Shaftes- 
bury Blvd.,  Winnipeg  R3P  0M4. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  RNS;  347,  The  Ascension,  by 
Andrew  Mantegna,  RNS;  348,  Holler's 
Studio,  Harvey,  III.;  351,  Rodney  Peters, 
MCC;  353,  Burton  Buller,  MCC;  354,  RNS. 


MEDITATION 


Communion  hymn 

Jesus  is  here! 

0 if  my  eyes 

could  tear  apart  the  veiling  skies, 
what  joyous  start 
would  wake  my  heart, 
my  glorious  Lord! 

Lord,  thou  art  here! 

My  heart  sees  thee, 
knows  that  thou  seest 
even  me. 

1 am  forgiven,  accepted,  loved 
by  thee,  my  Lord. 


Winifred  Waltner 


The  above  hymn  is  to  be  sung  to  the  tune  of  “My  God  and  Father  while  I stray.”) 


Meimonite 


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Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


HE  MENNONITE 


359 


The  real  Rita  Joe 


Menno  Wiebe 

Twice  the  Royal  Winnipeg  Ballet  has  performed 
The  ecstasy  of  Rita  Joe  for  Winnipeg  audiences. 
There  have  also  been  performances  in  Ottawa, 
Vancouver,  and  a number  of  U.S.  cities.  The  bal- 
let features  an  Indian  girl  who  comes  to  the  city 
and  gets  caught  in  a cycle  of  prostitution,  disease, 
and  rejection. 

In  less  royal  style,  Winnipeg’s  Main  Street 
hotels  sometimes  become  the  scenes  of  real  Rita 
Joe  dramas,  raw  and  ugly. 

I hadn’t  been  to  this  inner  part  of  the  city  for 
awhile  and  had  begun  conveniently  to  forget  the 
scenes  of  human  disintegration  which  are  drama- 
tized almost  nightly.  One  evening,  while  waiting 
for  my  daughter’s  unscheduled  music  lesson  to 
finish,  I took  a quick  little  drive  to  Main  Street 
to  consult  a friend  at  the  Indian-Metis  Friendship 
Center. 

What  I found  was  something  else.  Across  the 
street  from  the  center,  I was  grabbed  by  a woman 
who  had  dashed  out  of  a pub  seeking  protection. 
A second  woman  jumped  out  after  her,  ripped  the 
fleeing  girl  from  me  and  hurled  her  to  the  side- 
walk, smashing  her  head  down  on  the  cement. 
The  attacker  spewed  a steady  stream  of  demean- 
ing sexual  insults  and  kicked  her  victim  in  the 
face  until  the  blood  flowed  freely  over  her  eyes, 
out  of  her  nose  and  mouth. 

I finally  stepped  between  the  two,  and  the  at- 
tacker fled  back  into  the  hotel.  Although  I thought 
the  street  and  sidewalk  were  empty,  I now  dis- 
covered that  the  scene  was  being  watched  from 
the  windows  of  the  hotel.  The  only  obstruction 
preventing  a full  view  of  the  scene  was  the  Union 
Gospel  Mission’s  sign,  “Christ  died  for  your  sins.” 
At  least  two  men  and  several  women  shouted, 
“Leave  her  alone!”  They  yelled  at  both  women, 
addressing  them  by  their  first  names.  A number 
of  men  also  watched  from  their  cars  along  the 
curb.  One  of  them  got  out  and  helped  me  lift  the 
beaten  woman  to  her  feet.  As  we  tried  U>  assist 
her,  there  were  more  voices  from  the  upper  gal- 
lery, “Leave  her  alone!” 

The  girls  from  the  windows  also  used  the  occa- 
sion to  invite  us  to  come  upstairs  and  “dance”  a 
little.  The  injured  woman  stumbled  to  the  car  of 
the  man  who  had  assisted  me,  and  I walked  back 
to  my  own  car  and  returned  to  await  my  daughter 
at  the  music  teacher’s  suburban  home. 


As  I come  and  go  to  and  from  work,  golfing, 
hockey  games,  concerts,  and  church  meetings,  I 
take  a route  that  bypasses  Main  Street.  Or  at  least 
I don’t  usually  stop  to  participate  in  Main  Street 
life.  Almost  I had  become  immune  to  these  di- 
mensions of  Winnipeg’s  reality.  I have  learned  to 
keep  myself  pure  from  such  dirty  life. 

To  witness  the  low  ebb  of  humanity  is  indeed 
a reminder  not  to  allow  peoplehood  to  deteriorate 
to  the  point  where  nothing  matters  anymore.  The 
two  girls  in  the  violent  scrap  were  Indian  girls. 
So  were  the  cheerleaders  upstairs.  All  the  men 
who  stood  by  as  observers  seemed  to  be  whites. 
When  a people’s  pride  goes,  everything  goes. 

Winnipeg’s  Main  Street  hotels  collect  rejected 
Indian  people.  They  have  no  other  place  to  go — 
not  after  deterioration  has  penetrated  the  depth  of 
their  collective  soul.  For  Indian  girls,  prostitution 
offers  one  of  the  few  ways  of  attracting  white 
society. 

To  provide  hope  for  a people  who  are  disinte- 
grated into  a nonpeople  is  much  more  than  a 
nostalgic  yearning  for  Indian  peoples  who  once 
belonged  to  a proud  nation.  Rebuilding  a people 
is  no  cultural  luxury.  It  belongs  to  the  heart  of 
the  Christian  message.  To  call  stranded  individ- 
uals out  of  the  perplexing  darkness  of  rejection 
into  a new  life  in  Jesus  Christ,  to  pray  for  the 
spirit  of  God  to  breathe  new  life  into  a valley  of 
scattered  dead  bones,  to  put  together  the  disas- 
sembled components  of  a people’s  life  is  indeed 
the  Christian  church’s  mission.  Hanging  a neon 
sign  about  Christ  over  a people’s  misery  is  no 
answer. 

Some  of  us  are  asking  for  a bigger  understand- 
ing on  the  part  of  churches  to  undergird  us  in 
bringing  a gospel  of  real,  not  metaphorical,  hope 
to  a people  whose  degradation  is  part  of  our  own 
doing. 

Rita  Joe  is  a reality.  The  streets  of  North 
American  cities  and  towns  are  being  walked  by 
many  Rita  Joes.  Few  dare  to  walk  with  them. 
And  what  happens  between  the  ballet  performers 
and  their  sophisticated  concert  hall  audiences  has 
about  as  much  to  do  with  the  ugly  Main  Street 
events  as  the  sloganized  Christ  which  is  exalted 
weekly  before  sophisticated  congregations  in  the 
many  churches  of  the  city.  Jesus  who  is  out  of 
reach  for  the  rejected  is  no  Jesus  at  all. 


Mel  Schmidt 


First  plank 


As  God’s  prisoner,  then,  I beg  you  to 
live  lives  worthy  of  your  high  calling. 
Accept  life  with  humility  and  patience, 
making  allowances  for  one  another  be- 
cause you  love  one  another.  Make  it  your 
aim  to  be  at  one  in  the  Spirit,  and  you 
will  inevitably  be  at  peace  with  one  an- 
other. You  all  belong  to  one  body,  of 
which  there  is  one  Spirit,  just  as  you  all 
experienced  one  calling  to  one  hope. 
There  is  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  bap- 
tism, one  God,  one  Father  of  us  all, 
who  is  the  one  over  all,  the  one  working 
through  all,  and  the  one  living  in  all. 

The  implications  of  the  above  state- 
ment are  clear  and  inescapable.  I believe 
that  the  Christian  church  is  the  main 
hope  for  today  where  all  of  the  “gaps” 
we  experience  in  the  world  can  be 
bridged.  If  we  merely  repeat  here  the 
gaps  that  already  exist  out  there,  we  are 
not  doing  ourselves  or  anyone  else  any 
good.  In  other  words,  we  are  a fellow- 
ship, not  a club.  Let  the  differences  be 
clear.  In  church  we  expect  to  associate 
with  people  different  from  ourselves. 
We  do  not  expect  everyone  to  be  the 
same  age,  belong  to  the  same  economic 
bracket,  and  wear  the  same  kind  of 
clothes  and  hair  styles. 

However.  The  other  side  of  the  coin 
is  the  unity  which  makes  diversity  pos- 
sible. The  only  reason  we  are  enabled 
to  have  diversity  is  oneness  in  spirit. 
Paul  expresses  it  profoundly:  “You  all 
belong  to  one  body,  of  which  there  is 
one  spirit,  just  as  you  experienced  one 
calling  to  one  hope.”  Somehow  we  must 
make  clear  that  our  coming  together  is 
based  only  upon  our  commitment  to 
Christ  and  the  hope  we  share  in  him. 
It  is  our  common  loyalty  to  Christ  that 


FMIIfUMtt 


KMHNbII»1 


keeps  our  apartness  together  and  gives 
us  unity  in  diversity. 


Second  plank 


Naturally  there  are  different  gifts  and 
functions;  individually  grace  is  given  to 
us  in  different  ways  out  of  the  rich  di- 
versity of  Christ’s  giving.  . . . His  “gifts 
unto  men”  were  varied.  Some  he  made 
his  messengers,  some  prophets,  some 
preachers  of  the  gospel;  to  some  he  gave 
the  power  to  guide  and  teach  his  people. 
His  gifts  were  made  that  Christians  might 
be  properly  equipped  for  their  service, 
that  the  whole  body  might  be  built  up 
until  the  time  comes  when,  in  the  unity 
of  common  faith  and  common  knowl- 
edge of  the  Son  of  God,  we  arrive  at 
real  maturity — that  measure  of  develop- 
ment which  we  call  “the  fulness  of 
Christ.” 


There  are  several  things  to  be  said 
concerning  gifts  of  the  Spirit.  First,  the 
church  evokes  the  gifts.  The  Church  off 
the  Savior  in  Washington,  D.C.,  for 
example,  has  structured  its  whole  con- 
gregational life  around  evoking  the  gifts! 
of  various  persons,  and  then  finding  ways ! 
in  which  those  gifts  can  be  put  to  use  in 
the  work  of  the  kingdom. 

The  second  thing  to  note  about  gifts' 
is  the  richness  of  diversity.  No  gift  (oi 
talent)  is  too  insignificant  to  be  used." 
It  is  also  a safe  bet  to  say  that  no  gift 
that  has  been  given  to  any  member  of' 
the  human  race  is  such  that  it  cannoi 
be  used  for  God.  Any  gift  that  has  been 
given  to  man  can  also  be  given  back  tel 
God.  It  is  a beautiful  experience  to  run 
across  some  person  who  is  willing  to  use 
his  or  her  gifts  in  the  work  of  the  king- 
dom. 


Susie  Muller,  one  of  the  charter  mem- 
bers of  the  Lorraine  Avenue  congrega- 
tion in  Wichita,  spent  years  making  hun- 
dreds of  comforters  which  were  given 
away  to  the  needy.  One  elderly  man  in 
our  church  makes  doll  furniture  for 
children  at  Christmas.  You  should  visit 
his  garage  sometime  in  autumn  and  see 
all  the  activity.  I met  a man  recently  who 
uses  his  chess-playing  ability  as  a way 
to  relate  to  prisoners. 

The  third  thing  that  must  be  said 
about  gifts  is  that  they  are  not  given  to 
individuals,  but  to  the  building  up  of  the 
■body  of  Christ.  Paul  notes  it  is  a distinct 
sign  of  “maturity”  or  “fullness  in 
>•  Christ”  when  these  various  gifts  are 
given  for  his  work.  Modem  psychology 
would  support  such  a perspective,  for  it 
‘is  assumed  that  one  sign  of  maturity  and 
growth  in  the  individual  is  the  ability  of 
the  person  to  employ  his  talents  and 
put  his  gifts  to  work  in  unselfish  ways. 

Third  plank 

So  that  we  may  no  longer  be  children, 
ossed  to  and  fro  and  carried  about 
with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  by  the  cun- 
ling  of  men,  by  their  craftiness  in  deceit- 
‘ul  wiles.  Rather,  speaking  the  truth  in 
ove,  we  are  to  grow  up  in  every  way 
nto  him  who  is  the  head,  into  Christ, 
rom  whom  the  whole  body,  joined  and 
:nit  together  by  every  joint  with  which 
t is  supplied,  when  each  part  is  working 
iroperly,  makes  bodily  growth  and  up- 
uilds  itself  in  love. 

Nothing  could  be  more  relevant  in 
aday  s world  than  such  an  organic  de- 
cription  of  this  body  which  we  call  the 
hurch.  It  is  a body  which  grows  and 
pbuilds  itself  in  love,  becoming  mature 
nd  therefore  not  subject  to  the  winds 
f faddism  and  the  blasts  of  bandwagon 
ieologies. 


One  such  wind,  which  will  without  a 
doubt  grow  stronger  in  the  next  few 
years  as  this  nation  heads  towards  its 
bicentennial  in  1976,  is  the  nationalist 
religion  which  would  seek  to  wrap  Chris- 
tianity in  a cloak  of  red,  white,  and 
blue.  Millions  of  copies  of  Norman  Vin- 
cent Peale’s  latest  booklet  One  nation 
under  God  are  being  circulated  in  public 
schools.  Mr.  Peale  notes  that  our  money 
bears  witness  to  the  fact  that  ours  is  a 
God-founded  nation,  and  that  America 
at  war  is  a natural  counterpart  of  our 
religious  faith.  “When  we  remember  the 
Alamo  where  Davy  Crockett  died,”  writes 
Mr.  Peale,  “we  should  also  remember 
that  the  building  was  not  a fort — it  was 
a Christian  mission.” 

Will  the  church  be  tossed  to  and  fro 
like  a feather  in  the  wind,  or  will  we  be 
anchored  to  the  rock  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  and  loyalty  to  him  above  all  other 
loyalties? 

Fourth  plank 

Therefore,  putting  away  falsehood,  let 
every  one  speak  the  truth  with  his  neigh- 
bor, for  we  are  members  of  one  another. 
Be  angry  but  do  not  sin;  do  not  let  the 
sun  go  down  on  your  anger,  and  give  no 
opportunity  to  the  devil.  Let  all  bitter- 
ness and  wrath  and  anger  and  clamor 
and  slander  be  put  away  from  you,  with 
all  malice,  and  be  kind  to  one  another, 
tenderhearted,  forgiving  one  another,  as 
God  in  Christ  forgave  you. 

Such  a plank  certainly  speaks  power- 
fully for  itself.  Within  one  sentence  we 
are  enjoined  to  “be  angry,  but  do  not 
sin.”  And  within  the  same  paragraph, 
we  are  told  to  “let  all  bitterness  and 
wrath  and  anger  ...  be  put  away  from 
you.”  It  seems  a contradiction,  but  the 
resolution  of  anger  is  the  important 
point. 


The  tremendous  implications  of  “being 
members  one  of  another”  are  obvious 
for  Paul,  since  according  to  him,  such 
a relationship  allows  for  complete  hon- 
esty and  even  (would  you  believe)  an- 
ger. The  church  is  or  should  be  one 
place  in  the  world  where  it  is  safe  to  be 
both  honest  and  angry.  There  is  a keen 
psychological  insight  in  the  words:  “Be 
angry  and  sin  not,”  for  that  does  not 
give  us  license  to  vent  our  spleen  on  just 
anything.  We  must  take  account  of  our 
motives  in  being  angry.  And  note  that 
beautiful  phrase:  “Do  not  let  the  sun 
go  down  on  your  anger.”  As  is  common 
knowledge  nowadays,  the  repression  of 
anger  and  hostility  is  probably  the  great- 
est enemy  of  fellowship  as  well  as  self- 
development. To  let  the  anger  come  out 
rather  than  letting  the  sun  go  down  is 
one  of  the  basic  principles  of  human 
interaction.  Facilities  like  Prairie  View 
Mental  Health  Center  are  built  just  to 
help  people  do  that. 

I wanted  to  share  with  you  the  fact 
that  Ephesians  4 came  through  to  me 
with  great  power  and  meaning  as  I was 
dreaming  about  what  our  congregational 
life  of  the  future  might  look  like.  Here 
is  a description  of  church  life  that  has 
fantastic  implications  and  a great  depth 
of  insight.  The  chapter  opens  with  the 
affirmation  of  the  commonality  of  belief 
and  commitment — the  affirmation  that  it 
is  the  oneness  of  God  in  Christ  that 
holds  the  body  in  unity  and  permits  such 
a thing  as  diversity.  The  chapter  closes 
with  a statement  about  human  relation- 
ships that  result  from  such  a commit- 
ment, and  I wish  to  close  with  that 
statement  also: 

Be  kind  to  one  another,  tenderheart- 
ed, forgiving  one  another,  as  God  in 
Christ  forgave  you. 


'ne  of  the  winds  which  will  be  testing  the  American  churches 

i a particular  way  during  the  coming  years,  as  the  United  States 

oproaches  its  bicentenary  in  1976,  is  the  wind  of  nationalism. 

he  temptation  for  the  churches,  says  Mel  Schmidt, 

ill  be  to  wrap  Christianity  in  a cloak  of  red,  white,  and  blue. 


iE  MENNONITE 


363 


“Few  concerns  have  so  gripped  the  imagination  of  Christians  in  the  West,” 
says  Warner  A.  Hutchinson,  general  secretary  of  the  American  Bible  So- 
ciety, “as  the  need  for  Scriptures  in  the  countries  behind  the  Iron  Cur- 
tain.” The  American  Bible  Society  record  reports  that  during  the  past  three 
years  one  million,  four  hundred  thousand  copies  of  Scripture  have  been 
distributed  in  Eastern  Europe.  The  following  article,  which  gives  details 
of  what  is  happening  in  five  countries,  is  a condensation  of  a story  which 
appeared  in  the  March  issue  of  the  ABS  record. 


“My  mother  told  us  some  Bible  stories 
she  remembered  from  her  childhood. 
I wanted  to  have  a Bible  and  prayed 
for  it.  And  a miracle  happened — after 
a few  days  my  brother  brought  home 
a Bible.  Now  I know  God  cares  for  me 
. . . . That  evening  I knelt  at  my  bed 
and  committed  myself  to  Jesus  Christ. 
From  this  time  my  heart  has  been  full 
of  peace.” 

The  letter  above  is  only  one  of  the 
many  received  each  year  at  the  office 
of  the  Bible  Society  in  Poland.  It  was 
written  by  a boy  from  a small  village 
who  wanted  to  thank  the  Bible  Society 
for  making  it  possible  for  him  to  have 
a copy  of  God’s  Word. 

The  Bible  is  alive  and  speaking  to 
millions  of  hungry  souls  in  Eastern  Eu- 
rope. It  is  reaching  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  Christians  each  year  through 
the  efforts  of  Bible  societies  and  other 
Christian  agencies  in  these  countries  and 
the  United  Bible  Societies  continue  to 
provide  translation  and  production  as- 
sistance in  many  previously  “closed 
lands.” 

A Ibania. 

There  is  only  one  country  of  Eastern 
Europe— Albania — in  which  there  is  no 
recognized  Bible  work  or  formal  distri- 
bution efforts.  Albania  is  officially  an 
atheistic  state  in  which  all  religious 
practice  is  against  the  law.  However, 
Albanian  is  also  spoken  across  the  bor- 
der in  Yugoslavia.  There,  a Baptist  pas- 
tor has  completed  translating  the  Gospel 
of  Luke  into  Albanian  and  is  now  work- 
ing on  the  rest  of  the  New  Testament. 

Czechoslovakia. 

A Czech  Christian  recently  told  a 
Bible  Society  representative,  “In  all  my 
forty-five  years  of  experience  I have 
never  before  seen  such  a situation  where 
everyone  I speak  to  wants  a Bible.  While 
I was  in  a Prague  bookstore,  a student 
came  in  and  asked  for  a Bible.  Receiv- 
ing a negative  reply  he  was  about  to 


leave  when  my  companion  stopped  him 
and  asked,  ‘Are  you  a believer?’  ‘No,’ 
answered  the  young  man,  ‘but,  I do 
want  to  know  what  the  Bible  teaches.’  ” 

In  late  fall  1972,  Blahoslav,  the  pub- 
lishing house  and  bookstore  of  the  Czech- 
oslovak Hussite  Church,  reported  that 
they  now  have  enough  copies  in  stock 
of  the  pocket  Kralice  Bible  printed  in 
Finland,  the  Czech  family  Bible,  and 
the  Zilka  version  of  the  New  Testament 
to  meet  most  of  their  demands. 

But  these  older  translations  do  not 
usually  meet  the  needs  of  the  younger 
generation.  The  entire  Bible  therefore 
is  being  newly  translated  into  both 
Czech  and  Slovak,  with  several  sections 
of  the  Czech  Old  Testament  already 
published.  Translation  of  the  Czech  New 
Testament  is  complete  except  for  Acts, 
Hebrews,  and  Revelation,  and  produc- 
tion of  30,000  copies  of  the  four  Gos- 
pels is  proceeding.  Production  of  the 
entire  Bible  in  the  new  translation  is 
hoped  for  in  1975. 

In  July  1972  the  government  gave 
permission  for  the  importation  of  2,500 
large-print  Czech  Bibles  offered  to  the 
Czechoslovak  Bible  work  by  the  United 
Bible  Societies  for  distribution  among 
old  people  and  those  with  poor  eye- 
sight, and  for  use  as  pulpit  Bibles.  This 
import  license  follows  licenses  given 
for  41,000  Bibles  in  1970  and  70,000  in 
1971. 

In  Slovakia  the  new  translation  of  the 
New  Testament  and  Psalms  in  Slovak 
was  published  in  1970  (30,000  copies) 
and  was  widely  accepted.  Trial  editions 
of  the  Old  Testament,  or  parts  thereof, 
have  been  prepared  to  test  the  reactions 
of  the  churches  to  the  translation.  A 
group  of  Lutheran  translators  is  respon- 
sible for  the  project,  but  members  of 
other  Christian  bodies  are  given  oppor- 
tunities to  comment  on  the  translation 
as  it  progresses. 

The  production  of  Scriptures  in  Czech- 


oslovakia was  sporadic  and  modest  untilj 
1968.  Since  then,  however,  30,00C 
Slovak  Bibles,  30,000  Slovak  New  Testa- 
ments with  Psalms,  20,000  Zilka  New 
Testaments,  14,000  sections  of  the  Czecl 
Old  Testament  translation,  and  20,00C 
Czech  family  Bibles  have  been  publishec 
for  a total  of  114,000  Scriptures. 

Hungary. 

The  unique  ability  of  the  Bible  tc 
change  people’s  lives  is  dramatically  il 
lustrated  by  the  experience  of  a retiree- 
army  sergeant  in  Hungary  who  reported 
“Before  I had  a Bible  I spent  my  pen 
sion,  which  I received  as  a retired  ser 
geant,  upon  liquor.  Naturally  I wa 
often  quarrelsome  and  my  dear  wif( 
had  to  run  away  several  times.  Our 
family  life  was  nothing  less  than  a hel 
on  earth.  But  thanks  to  God  since  yoi 
came  and  brought  the  Bible  to  us,  every 
thing  is  changed.  The  wine  made  m< 
drunk,  but  the  Word  of  God  made  m< 
sober.  The  Bible  gave  me  back  not  onb 
my  health  but  my  common  sense.  . . .’ 

Hungary  is  one  of  the  countries  o 
Eastern  Europe  where  Scripture  pro 
duction  has  continued  throughout  th< 
postwar  period.  Between  1949  and  1968 
220,000  New  Testaments  and  Bible 
were  produced  on  paper  provided  by  thi 
United  Bible  Societies.  Paper  sent  durinj 
1971  made  possible  the  printing  of  25,00( 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit, 
it  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennomte 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6  00  per  year.  Editorial 
-office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  6/114. 


364 


JUNE  5,  1971 


pocket  Bibles  which  have  just  come  off 
the  press  in  Budapest.  An  edition  of 
5,000  family  Bibles  was  also  printed 
recently.  The  ubs  is  now  sending  paper 
to  Budapest  for  the  production  of  an- 
l other  10,000  pocket  Bibles.  The  United 
Bible  Societies  also  pays  the  customs 
duties  on  the  paper  it  supplies. 

The  tremendous  interest  in  the  Bible 
throughout  Hungary  was  stimulated  in 
part  by  the  Kossuth  station  of  the  Hun- 
garian radio  which  broadcast  a series  of 
ten  lectures  at  two-week  intervals  under 
the  title,  “The  world  of  the  Bible.”  The 
leading  reporter  of  the  series  told  his 
j audience  in  the  introductory  program 
that  in  view  of  the  significance  of  the 
Bible  in  cultural  history,  a basic  knowl- 
edge of  the  Bible  is  indispensable  for 
everybody.  . . . 

Scripture  distribution  throughout  Hun- 
gary in  1971  amounted  to  11,800  pocket 
Bibles,  1,002  family  Bibles,  and  4,043 
; New  Testaments,  a woefully  inadequate 
number  but  with  continued  prayer  and 
support  we  will  see  it  grow.  Scriptures 
[ were  also  produced  in  Hungary  for  ex- 
[ port,  including  5,000  Bibles  to  Slovakia, 

[ 3,000  to  Yugoslavia,  and  568  to  Ro- 
| mania. 

A new  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
Hungarian  has  been  under  way  for  many 
years.  It  is  intended  to  augment  the 
classical  translation  of  Karoly,  which 
has  a prestige  similar  to  that  accorded 
the  King  James  Version  in  English  and 
[ is  actually  twenty-one  years  older.  . . . 
j Poland. 

A well-known  Polish  writer  and  pub- 
licist was  asked  the  question,  “What  is 
the  most  popular  book  of  the  year?” 
He  said,  “The  Bible  in  the  Wujek  ver- 
sion. It  is  translated  into  such  good  Po- 
lish that  it  seems  somewhat  like  alcohol 
— the  more  you  take  the  more  you  like 
it!  The  question  had  considerable  force 
Mn  the  rapidly  developing  Polish  situation 
where  illiteracy  is  being  banished  and 
there  is  a rapid  growth  in  popularization 
of  education. 

Organized  Bible  work  has  been  car- 
ried on  uninterruptedly  in  Poland  since 
1816.  In  the  years  immediately  following 
World  War  II,  however,  most  of  the 
Scriptures  distributed  throughout  Poland 
lad  to  be  imported  as  local  production 
•vas  limited.  But  slow  freight  shipments 
md  time-consuming  customs  clearances 
>ften  resulted  in  inadequate  supplies 
vhich  hindered  promotion  of  meaningful 
listribution  programs. 

In  1969,  when  the  opportunity  to  pub- 
ish  the  Scriptures  locally  was  providen- 
ially  opened,  arrangements  were  made 


with  a printing  house  near  Warsaw  to 
produce  100,000  Gospel  portions.  These 
were  made  available  for  distribution 
early  in  1972.  Another  printer  in  War- 
saw produced  20,000  copies  of  the  New 
Testament  with  Psalms  between  Sep- 
tember 1971  and  March  1972.  Ten  thou- 
sand additional  copies  of  the  same  New 
Testament  were  printed  by  the  same 
firm  in  paperback  and  released  in  July 
1972. 

With  supplies  no  longer  a problem, 
the  Bible  Society  is  making  excellent  use 
of  all  its  distribution  channels  and  en- 
couraging churches  to  engage  in  vigorous 
Scripture  evangelism.  Distribution  has 
increased  by  53  percent  over  the  past 
three  years  and  is  carried  on  mainly 
from  the  Bible  Society  bookstore  in  War- 
saw, based  on  orders  from  churches,  in- 
stitutions, libraries,  and  individuals.  The 
society  also  carries  on  a large  mail  order 
business.  An  average  of  120,000  to 
140,000  Scriptures  are  distributed  an- 
nually. Stocks  at  the  Bible  House  in 
Warsaw  include  Scriptures  in  many  lan- 
guages. 

A new  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
Polish  was  started  in  1949,  with  the  New 
Testament  first  appearing  in  print  in 
1966.  Translation  of  the  entire  Bible  has 
now  been  completed  and  production  is 
scheduled  to  start  in  Warsaw  this  year. 

Soviet  Union. 

Proof  that  the  Bible  is  living  in  Rus- 
sia has  been  documented  by  no  less  an 
official  source  than  Izvestia,  the  well- 
known  and  authoritative  Moscow  news- 
paper. A recent  article  describing  an 
interview  with  a young  woman  suggests 
that  the  flame  of  faith  still  burns  in  many 
hearts. 

The  Izvestia  reporter  tells  the  story. 
“Seated  on  a bench  in  the  boulevard, 

I saw  a neat  looking  young  woman  with 
a baby  in  her  arms.  Sitting  down  beside 
her,  I glanced  at  the  book  she  was  read- 
ing. It  was  the  New  Testament.  ‘An  in- 
teresting book?’  I asked  her.  The  woman 
looked  at  me  rather  startled.  ‘It  is  a 
holy  book,’  she  replied.  This  is  how  our 
conversation  began.  That  evening  I vis- 
ited her  in  her  home.  It  was  a tiny  room 
with  hardly  space  for  a table,  a bed,  and 
the  baby’s  cot.  Zhenia  is  her  name  and 
she  is  a cashier.  She  has  three  children 
and  hardly  manages  to  live  on  the  little 
she  earns.  Her  father  was  a shoemaker 
and  her  mother  a laundress.  Twenty- 
seven  years  old,  she  has  not  had  much 
education.  Her  husband  is  dead.  In  her 
youth  she  was  a member  of  the  Kom- 
somol (the  Communist  League  of 
Youth),  where  she  wanted  to  learn  about 


the  origin  of  life,  why  we  live,  and  where 
we  are  going.  She  got  no  satisfaction. 
Her  answers  were  put  off,  but  eventually 
she  was  informed  that  everything  was 
matter.  There  was  no  hereafter!  Man 
had  no  soul!  She  was  told  that  her 
mother  was  just  matter  and  so  was  she 
and  there  was  nothing  more  except  a 
vibration.  ‘Horrible!’  she  exclaimed.  ‘And 
now  you  know  the  origin  of  everything?’ 
I asked.  ‘Yes,  now  I know,’  she  replied 
in  a quiet  voice.” 

The  correspondent  who  reported  the 
above  incident  in  Izvestia  sought  to  point 
out  to  her  how  ridiculous  religion  was 
but  she  listened  unmoved.  “Everything 
is  vanity  except  the  gospel,”  she  said. 
“The  gospel  is  like  a cool  well,  full  of 
stillness.  In  it  I find  rest  from  the  desires 
of  the  world.”  She  had  the  Scriptures. 
In  the  midst  of  the  dialectic  materialism 
of  Russia,  she  had  become  wise  unto 
salvation. 

These  common  concerns  of  people  in 
all  countries  to  have  the  Scriptures  in 
languages  they  can  easily  understand 
have  been  the  means  of  building  rela- 
tionships between  the  Bible  Societies  and 
the  churches  and  responsible  agencies  of 
the  churches  within  the  Soviet  Union. 

Y ugoslavia. 

Of  all  the  countries  of  Eastern  Eu- 
rope, Scripture  distribution  has  shown 
the  most  startling  increases  in  Yugo- 
slavia. In  1970  total  distribution  of  Scrip- 
tures amounted  to  19,478  copies.  This 
number  was  almost  doubled  in  1971  to 
reach  36,760  copies.  In  1972  distribution 
reached  68,016  copies.  Besides  the  Bible 
Shop  in  Belgrade,  Bibles  are  available 
in  eight  state  bookstores  in  Yugoslavia. 
Production  of  Bibles  in  the  country’s 
various  languages  is  carried  on  locally. 

Yugoslavia  is  one  of  the  three  Eastern 
European  countries  where  Bible  work 
was  not  closed  down  as  a result  of  gov- 
ernment policy.  The  Bible  bookstore  has 
remained  open  and  a standing  import 
license  has  made  possible  a steady  flow 
of  Scriptures  into  Yugoslavia.  Since  the 
end  of  World  War  II  approximately 
20,000  Scriptures  have  been  imported 
into  Yugoslavia  annually.  . . . 

Production  of  Yugoslav  Scriptures  was 
carried  out  in  England  until  1971.  Be- 
cause of  the  many  translation  projects 
under  way,  it  was  considered  more  effec- 
tive to  produce  the  copies  locally  if  at 
all  possible.  Under  an  agreement  be- 
tween the  United  Bible  Societies  and 
the  Yugoslav  state  company  nolit,  a 
decision  was  made  in  1971  to  transfer 
production  of  all  Yugoslav  Scriptures 
to  Yugoslavia. 


HE  MENNONITE 


365 


NEWS 


1 


Indians  want  to  make  own  decisions ; mistakes 


Gayle  Gerber  Koontz 

“Wounded  Knee  was  the  most  heavily 
armed  situation  I’ve  ever  walked  into,” 
said  John  Adams,  principal  negotiator 
at  the  Pine  Ridge  Reservation,  to  a 
group  of  forty-three  Mennonites  and 
Brethren  in  Christ  in  Washington,  D.C., 
April  30.  The  group  had  gathered  for 
a mind-stretching  and  planning  session 
in  response  to  concerns  about  North 
American  Indians. 

“I  believe  the  guns  came  as  a last 
resort  on  the  part  of  people  who  had 
been  trying  to  resolve  critical  issues,” 
continued  Mr.  Adams.  He  is  an  expert 
in  crisis  negotiation  with  experience  at 
the  Chicago  Democratic  convention, 
Kent  State,  and  the  Attica  prison  riots. 
As  a representative  of  Christian  church- 
es in  the  United  States,  he  served  as 
a physical  communication  link  between 
the  occupants  of  Wounded  Knee  and  the 
federal  government  forces. 

One  of  the  critical  issues  at  Wounded 
Knee  concerns  tribal  authority,  a ques- 
tion that  continues  to  split  many  tribes. 
In  1934  the  U.S.  Government,  hoping 
to  clarify  tribal  leadership,  imposed  a 
uniform  system  of  government  on  most 
Indian  tribes.  Unfortunately  the  new 
democratically  elected  tribal  councils 
were  styled  in  the  white  man’s  way  and 
ignored  centuries-old  methods  of  tribal 
government.  Some  conflicts,  including 
Wounded  Knee,  grew  in  part  from 
mixed-blood  Indians  on  tribal  councils 
ruling  over  full-blood  Indians. 

Gaps  between  tribal  councils  and  In- 
dians who  didn’t  accept  them  were  ac- 
centuated in  subsequent  years  by  the 
federal  government’s  increasing  the  pow- 
er and  financial  resources  of  the  councils. 
Some  tribal  councils  have  not  been  re- 
sponsive or  accountable  to  their  people; 
others  are  charged  with  misuse  of  power 
or  funds. 

The  Indians  have  other  causes  for  bit- 
terness. More  than  380  broken  treaties 
and  continuing  discrimination  and  in- 
action on  the  part  of  the  government 
have  resulted  in  poverty,  self-hate,  and 
alcoholism,  and  high  arrest,  school  drop- 
out, and  suicide  rates  for  Indians. 

“It  is  necessary  to  do  everything  pos- 
sible not  to  let  strategizing  and  armed 


assault  have  their  sway  at  Wounded 
Knee,”  said  Mr.  Adams.  “We  don’t 
want  Wounded  Knee  to  be  a situation 
where  one  people  is  forced  to  submis- 
sion and  issues  that  must  be  dealt  with 
sensitively  are  bulldozed  through.” 

To  avoid  increasing  desperation  that 
comes  with  starvation  and  to  keep  the 
negotiations  humane,  the  church  staff  at 
Wounded  Knee  took  food  to  Indians  in 
the  occupied  area. 

May  6 a ceasd-fire  was  signed  at 
Wounded  Knee.  The  dynamics  of  the 
situation  are  complex;  both  Indians  and 
whites  have  mixed  feelings  about  Wound- 
ed Knee.  However,  one  positive  aspect 
of  the  confrontation  is  that  it  drew  pub- 
lic attention  to  the  problems  and  des- 
perate needs  of  Indian  people. 

“Wounded  Knee  is  symbolic  of  the 
frustration  and  anger  of  the  Indian  com- 
munity,” explained  LaDonna  Harris,  who 
also  spoke  at  the  inter-Mennonite  sem- 
inar on  Indians.  Ms.  Harris  is  the  Co- 
manche president  of  Americans  for  In- 
dian Opportunity  and  wife  of  former 
Senator  Fred  Harris  of  Oklahoma. 

More  than  a dozen  Indian  and  Anglo 
resource  persons  experienced  in  Indian 
education,  legal  rights,  natural  resource 
development,  offender  rehabilitation,  and 
government  bureaucracy  shared  Ms.  Har- 


Ada  Deer,  chairman  of  the  Menominee 
tribe  in  Wisconsin,  was  one  of  the  In- 
dian leaders  who  spoke  to  the  Menno- 
nite  seminar  in  Washington,  D.C.  She 
believes  in  restoration  instead  of  termi- 
nation for  U.S.  tribal  groups. 


ris’  feeling  that  it  is  time  for  Indians  to  i 
make  their  own  decisions  and  mistakes.  I , 
In  1924  Indians  were  the  last  people  to  i j 
be  granted  United  States  citizenship 
rights.  Many  schools,  health  programs,  ; 
development  projects,  and  social  services  ! 
for  Indians  are  still  white-dominated.  | 

“We  want  the  right  to  be  different,”  ] 
concluded  Ms.  Harris.  “Let  us  be  differ- ; 
ent  but  be  a part  of  America,  a part  of 
your  school,  and  a part  of  your  church.”  jt 

Most  of  the  seminar  participants  were 
white  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
missionaries  and  church  and  agency  rep-  i 
resentatives.  “I’m  here  partly  because  ? 
I’m  beginning  to  realize  I’m  an  enemy  ; 
of  the  American  Indian  and  I want  to  !, 
change  that,”  said  Peter  Ediger,  pastor  jl 
of  the  Arvada  Mennonite  Church  near 
Denver. 

Several  Indian  Christians,  including 
Elijah  McKay,  Winnipeg,  Manitoba;?! 
Ethelou  Yazzie,  Chinle,  Arizona;  Cecil  j 
Werito,  Bloomfield,  New  Mexico;  and 
Lawrence  Hart,  Clinton,  Oklahoma,  add-j 
ed  their  perspective. 

Ethelou  Yazzie,  director  of  the  experi- 
mental bilingual  Rough  Rock  Demon- j 
stration  School,  was  particularly  con-; 
cerned  about  what  white  education  has 
done  to  Navajo  people.  Only  twenty! 
schools  in  the  United  States  are  Indian; 
controlled.  Of  279,000  Indian  children! 
in  school,  only  4,000  attend  the  schools 
run  by  Indians.  The  large  majority  at- 
tend public  schools  or  the  even  more  so- 
cially disorienting  government  boarding 
schools. 

“When  a six-year-old  child  comes  to  j 
an  Anglo  school  he  meets  new  language,! 
art,  values,  and  social  patterns.  What’ 
about  the  traditions  he  leaves  at  home?; 
Which  way  is  he  to  go?”  asked  Ms. 
Yazzie. 

Menno  Wiebe,  a Canadian,  reflected | 
on  what  Mennonites  have  learned  work-1 
ing  with  Indian  people  in  Canada.  “We! 
have  learned  that  the  gospel  is  not  a 
package  you  can  simply  extract  from  one 
culture  and  implant  into  another.  Indian 
people  have  been  a mirror  for  us.  We 
Mennonites  have  seen  our  own  deep! 
roots  in  culture.  We  have  learned  that!, 
the  gospel  we  preached  and  the  gospel 


“The  history  of  Indian  affairs  is  not  much  different  now  than 
it  was  100  years  ago,”  said  Philleo  Nash  ( white-bearded  man, 
second  from  right),  an  anthropologist  and  former  commissioner 


of  the  U.S.  Bureau  of  Indian  affairs.  Dr.  Nash  was  addressing 
a Mennonite-sponsored  seminar  in  Washington,  D C.,  attended 
by  forty-three  persons  from  the  U.S.,  Canada,  and  Paraguay. 


the  Indians  heard  was  different.  We 
learned  rebirth  involves  more  than  the 
soul.  Rebirth  means  new  life,  making 
mistakes,  and  taking  risks.” 

Leslie  Francisco,  pastor  of  the  Calvary 
Mennonite  Church,  Hampton,  Virgmia, 
noted  that  69  to  70  percent  of  Menno- 
ntte  church  resources  are  going  overseas. 
Christ  told  his  disciples  to  begin  with 
Jerusalem,  their  home,  and  then  go  else- 
where. 

Emerging  concerns  of  seminar  partici- 
pants stated  in  a general  resolution,  in- 


cluded 1 ) educating  constituent  church- 
es about  Indian  concerns,  culture,  reli- 
gion, and  values,  2)  applying  more 
church  financial  and  personnel  resources 
to  needs  in  Indian  education,  advocacy 
and  legal  counsel,  economic  develop- 
ment, and  social  and  physical  health,  3) 
recommending  an  inter-Mennonite  staff 
person  to  facilitate  understanding  be- 
tween Indians  and  non-Indian  Menno- 
mtes,  4)  including  Indian  experience  in 
Mennonite  planning  for  the  1976  cen- 
tennial celebrations. 


Mcc  (Canada)  is  planning  a similar 
consultation  on  Indians  later  this  year. 
An  August  meeting  of  American  In- 
dian Mennonites  in  the  Midwest  will 
hopefully  give  more  concrete  direction 
to  use  of  Mennonite  resources. 

"We  have  been  working  with  Navajo 
Indians  for  twenty-five  years,”  said  Mar- 
ion Heisey,  a Brethren  in  Christ  mis- 
sionary in  New  Mexico.  “We  realize  the 
next  twenty-five  years  must  be  different. 
We  hope  to  learn  new  strategies  for  our 
ministry.” 


Racial  background  doesn't  determine  theology 

Dan  Shenk 


“We  have  observed  in  this  consultation 
that  theological  differences  among  us 
are  not  ethnically  conditioned.” 

This  statement  concluded  the  findings 
I of  the  summary  panel  which  were  read 
I at  the  close  of  the  cross-cultural  theologi- 
cal consultation  held  in  Chicago  recently. 

The  statement  reflects  the  feeling 
which  emerged  during  the  two-day  pro- 
ceedings that  theological  differences, 
though  they  do  exist  in  today’s  Menno- 
nite church,  cannot  be  categorized  ac- 
cording to  ethnic  or  racial  background. 

The  cross-cultural  consultation  was  the 
first  of  its  kind  ever  held  in  the  Menno- 
nite Church.  Fifty  invited  persons  at- 
tended. Racial  representation  was  nearly 
equal:  about  twenty-five  minority  per- 
sons (black  and  Spanish-speaking)  met 
Mth  twenty-five  “majority”  persons 
(white). 

The  meeting  was  cosponsored  by  the 
Minority  Ministries  Council  of  the  Men- 


nonite Church,  Elkhart,  Indiana,  and 
the  Mennonite  General  Board. 

Nine  papers  had  been  prepared  before- 
hand by  representatives  of  each  of  the 
three  major  cultural  strands  in  the  Men- 
nonite Church — Spanish-speaking,  black, 
and  white.  The  papers  dealt  with  the 
nature  of  the  church,  the  church’s  role 
in  social  issues,  and  the  gospel’s  relation- 
ship to  culture. 

Following  each  set  of  three  presenta- 
tions, the  participants  formed  eight  trans- 
cultural  discussion  groups. 

It  was  noted  that  the  papers  written 
by  whites  tended  toward  the  idealistic, 
while  those  written  by  blacks  and  Span- 
ish-speaking persons  looked  at  the 
church’s  mission  more  practically. 

The  question  was  raised:  Is  program 
discussion  part  of  the  agenda?  The  peo- 
ple responded  that  it  was — whereupon 
ten  specific  suggestions  regarding  church 
programs  and  priorities  were  raised  from 


the  floor.  The  understanding  emerged 
that  these  recommendations  would  be 
sent  to  the  appropriate  church  agencies. 

The  list  included  Spanish  literature 
(writers  and  translators),  cross-cultural 
education,  minority  representation  on  a 
larger  scale  in  church  administration, 
utilization  of  wealthy  persons  for  eco- 
nomic development  in  minority  commu- 
nities, leadership  development,  a strategy 
for  church  extension  and  development, 
recruitment  and  housing  of  minority  stu- 
dents, and  financial  support  for  pastors. 

Why  the  emphasis  on  the  practical 
instead  of  the  theological?  Neftali  Torres, 
Elkhart,  offered  at  least  a partial  expla- 
nation: “Most  minority  people  have  a 
big  educational  disadvantage  when  it 
comes  to  theology.  Concerning  this  con- 
sultation, that  word  ‘theological’  has 
bothered  me  from  the  start.  Therefore, 
we  discuss  things  that  are  affecting  us 
right  now — where  we  live  and  work.” 


HE  MENNONITE 


367 


House  churches  grow  in  Waterloo 


“We  wanted  to  develop  a church  life  in 
which  we  would  not  feel  so  isolated,” 
said  Walter  Klaassen  of  Waterloo,  On- 
tario. 

The  result  of  his  feelings  and  those 
of  a dozen  others  was  the  formation  of 
a house  church. 

Now,  four  years  later,  the  original 
house  church  has  become  five,  with  a 
total  membership  of  sixty  to  seventy  peo- 
ple who  are  looking  for  the  fellowship 
and  meaning  they  could  not  find  in  more 
traditional  churches. 

We  had  a growing  dissatisfaction  with 
what  we  had  experienced  in  twenty 
years  of  church  going,  said  Mr.  Klaassen. 
We  were  visitors  wherever  we  went,  al- 
though we  were  members. 

The  Mennonite  congregations  in  Wa- 
terloo were  strongly  ethnically  oriented, 
a special  problem  for  his  wife  who  is 
not  of  Mennonite  ancestry. 

A group  of  people  in  the  Waterloo- 
Kitchener  area  who  felt  much  the  same 
way  about  their  present  church  life  be- 
gan talking  about  starting  a house 
church.  Some  dropped  out  because  there 
would  be  no  Sunday  school  for  their 
children,  but  about  a dozen  chose  to 
stay  with  the  idea. 

When  the  group  became  too  large  it 
divided  into  two  groups,  and  last  Sep- 


Local  church  action  on  the  problems  of 
the  aging  may  begin  as  a result  of  two 
seminars,  sponsored  by  the  Western  Dis- 
trict Conference  and  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries  May  4 and  6 in  Mound- 
ridge,  Kansas,  and  Cordell,  Oklahoma. 

H.  A.  Fast,  North  Newton,  Kansas, 
chm  consultant  on  the  aging,  said  that 
the  meetings  had  good  representation  of 
the  young,  the  middle-aged,  the  old, 
women,  ministers,  and  representatives  of 
church  boards. 

He  said  Moundridge  and  Hesston, 
Kansas,  representatives  have  appointed 
a person  or  persons  to  follow  through 
on  some  of  the  ideas  presented  at  the 
seminar  in  Moundridge. 

“That  I find  hopeful,”  he  said.  “The 
key  to  any  meaningful  program  lies  with 
the  community’s  facing  this  as  a common 
problem.  You  can’t  go  to  a community 
and  say,  ‘Here’s  a program.  Accept  it.’ 
Churches  need  to  join  hands  in  programs 
with  the  aging.” 

Similar  seminars  are  being  offered  to 


tember  they  divided  again,  this  time  into 
five  groups.  One  group  has  bought  a 
house,  where  some  of  its  members  live. 

The  individual  house  churches  meet 
weekly,  usually  on  Sunday  evening  so 
that  members  who  want  can  attend  oth- 
er churches  in  the  morning.  Their  mem- 
bership, however,  is  in  the  house  church- 
es. 

All  groups  do  not  have  the  same  for- 
mat. 

“Our  group,”  said  Mr.  Klaassen, 
“spends  the  first  hour  in  Bible  study 
and  the  second  hour  in  sharing,  singing, 
planning,  and  deciding  about  finances. 
Occasionally  we  have  the  Lord’s  Supper. 
The  group  is  more  strongly  study-ori- 
ented than  some  others.” 

Once  a month,  representatives  of  the 
five  house  churches  meet  together. 

There  are  occasional  larger  gatherings 
of  all  members  of  the  house  churches, 
but  the  structure  of  these  gatherings  is 
presently  in  flux,  Mr.  Klaassen  said. 

Some  disagree  about  the  form  of  the 
larger  assemblies.  Some  feel  the  gather- 
ings should  be  more  formal;  others  are 
not  eager  to  reinstate  the  forms  of  wor- 
ship from  which  they  thought  they  were 
escaping. 

The  house  churches  have  made  no 
moves  toward  economic  community,  but 


other  communities  in  the  Western  Dis- 
trict. 

Some  of  the  issues  raised  at  the  sem- 
inars were: 

— Ninety-four  percent  of  older  people 
live  in  their  own  homes,  not  in  nursing 
homes. 

— Older  people  need  to  learn  to  play. 
This  is  difficult  at  age  sixty-five  if  worth 
is  always  connected  with  work. 

— All  older  people  should  not  be  put 
in  the  same  category. 

— Older  people  need  to  maintain  hu- 
man dignity. 

— One  option  is  a telephone  contact 
program:  a family  adopting  grandpar- 
ents, a big  brother  or  big  sister  program, 
or  older  people  checking  up  on  each 
other. 

— Meals  on  Wheels  helps  those  who 
cannot  cook  for  themselves. 

— Older  people  are  an  untapped  re- 
source for  a variety  of  volunteer  services. 

— Sunday  school  and  study  classes 
could  be  intergenerational. 


“we  have  laid  our  own  financial  situa-  f 
tions  on  the  table,”  Mr.  Klaassen  said. 
“As  a whole,  we  contribute  to  various 
things  in  the  community,  Mennonite  J 
Central  Committee,  Indian  causes,  and  I 
a local  effort  to  provide  free  medical  ad-  I 
vice. 

Although  a number  of  Mennonites  J 
participate  in  the  house  churches,  the  1 
groups  do  not  think  of  themselves  as  1 
Mennonite. 

“But  the  form  and  what  we  do  is  I 
very  much  in  the  historical  Mennonite 
tradition,”  said  Mr.  Klaassen. 

There  has  been  some  discussion  on  1 
how  the  house  churches  relate  to  the  i 
larger  Mennonite  congregations,  but  j 
members  of  the  house  churches — not 
nearly  all  Mennonite — do  not  have  the  '■ 
same  interest  in  finding  out  how  they 
relate  to  Mennonite  churches. 

“Our  house  church  is  more  than  half 
of  non-Mennonite  background,”  said  Mr. 
Klaassen.  “We  are  very  mixed — ethnical- 
ly, racially,  and  nationally.” 

Most  of  the  members  are  related  to  \ 
the  academic  community  in  Waterloo  as  ; 
students  or  former  students.  Mr.  Klaas-  I 
sen  is  a professor  at  Conrad  Grebel  Col-  j 
lege  at  the  University  of  Waterloo,  as 
is  John  Miller,  another  early  member 
of  one  of  the  house  churches. 

aging  concerns 

— A community  could  form  an  inter-  i 
generational  council. 

Parallel  seen  between  U.S. 
and  pre-Fascist  Germany 

A professor  of  Old  Testament  at  the 
Pittsburgh  Theological  Seminary  says  | 
America  may  be  dangerously  close  to 
the  conditions  which  produced  fascism 
in  Germany. 

H.  Eberhard  Von  Waldow,  who  thirty 
years  ago  was  a tank  commander  in  the 
German  Panzers,  warned  that  “what 
made  Hitler  possible  in  Germany  was 
not  bad  Germans  but  rather  a general 
state  of  the  nation  which  could  develop 
anywhere  in  the  world.” 

He  put  America  in  a similar  situation 
today  and  saw  what  he  believes  are 
possible  parallels  between  pre-Fascist 
Germany  and  the  current  situation  in  the  | 
U.S.,  including  apathy,  sloganism,  and  , 
superpatriotism.  , 


Communities  urged  to  work  on 


368 


JUNE  5,  1973 


I 


Japanese  church  takes  charge  of  mission  work 


The  General  Conference  Mennonite  Mis- 
sion in  Japan  has  officially  dissolved  as 
the  orgam'zaticn  d;recting  mission  work 
in  that  country,  and  the  Japanese  church 
conference  will  take  over  administration 
of  the  work. 

The  changes  came  about  recently  as 
the  result  of  a memo  of  understanding 


between  the  mission  and  the  Kyushu 
Mennonite  Church  Conference. 

As  of  last  February,  the  missionaries’ 
periodic  meetings  will  decide  only  those 
problems  in  the  area  of  children’s  edu- 
cation, missionary  housing,  transporta- 
tion, fellowship,  language  study,  and  ac- 
tivities outside  the  sphere  of  the  Kyushu 


conference,  most  of  whose  congregations 
are  on  the  southern  island  of  Kyushu. 

The  church  conference  will  be  in 
charge  of  all  evangelism  and  assignment 
of  missionaries  and  other  church  workers. 

“This  is  a significant  step  in  mission- 
church  relations,”  said  Verney  Unruh, 
secretary  for  Asia  for  the  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission.  “Our  work  in  Japan 
is  now  entirely  under  the  church  con- 
ference.” 

The  dissolving  of  the  mission  as  an 
organization  was  proposed  by  the  mis- 
sionaries in  December  and  adopted  in 
February  by  the  church  conference. 

Mr.  Unruh  compared  the  new  rela- 
tionship in  Japan  to  the  fusion  of  church 
and  mission  in  Zaire  in  1971,  although 
the  change  in  Japan  was  not  accompa- 
nied by  ceremony  and  special  visits. 

The  church  conference  recently  added 
its  first  congregation  outside  Kyushu — 
the  Baba  Cho  Church  in  Kobe. 

Emma  Richards’  ordination 
approved,  scheduled  in  June 

Emma  Richards,  installed  last  October 
as  copastor  of  the  Lombard  Mennonite 
Church,  Lombard,  Illinois,  with  her  hus- 
band Joe,  will  be  ordained  by  the  con- 
gregation on  June  17. 

The  congregation  had  requested  last 
year  that  the  Illinois  Conference,  of 
which  it  is  a member,  approve  Ms.  Rich- 
ards’ ordination.  The  conference  instead 
licensed  her  and  took  the  matter  under 
study. 

At  the  conference’s  annual  meeting 
in  April  this  year,  the  conference  ap- 
proved the  congregation’s  request  to  or- 
dain Ms.  Richards  and  approved  a paper 
on  ordination  presented  by  the  study 
committee. 

The  discussion  of  ordination  of  wom- 
en was  the  major  item  on  the  confer- 
ence’s agenda,  Ms.  Richards  said,  and 
her  ordination  was  approved  with  only 
three  dissenting  votes. 

The  ordination  service  itself  will  be 
a simple  affair,  part  of  a regular  Sunday 
morning  worship  service.  Robert  Har- 
nish  and  Jack  Staffer  will  represent  the 
Illinois  Conference  at  the  ordination.  The 
Illinois  Conference  is  affiliated  with  the 
Mennonite  Church. 

The  Richardses  spent  twelve  years  in 
Japan  under  the  Mennonite  Board  of 
Missions  before  returning  to  North 
America  in  1966.  Both  teach  full  time 
and  serve  the  congregation  part  time. 


Staff  will  coordinate  Northwest  workshops 


Can  congregational  leaders  coordinate 
their  often  independent  and  overlapping 
efforts?  This  question  will  be  explored 
June  13-17  at  three  Northwest  workshops 
conducted  by  staff  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church.  The 
sessions  also  aim  to  help  local  leaders 
to  focus  on  common  purposes  basic  to 
congregational  life. 

The  first  workshop  is  slated  for  6:30 
p.m.,  June  13,  to  noon,  June  14,  at 
Grace  Mennonite  Church,  Dallas,  Ore- 
gon, for  delegates  to  the  Pacific  District 
Conference  as  well  as  area  churches.  The 
second,  at  Columbia  Bible  Institute, 
Clearbrook,  British  Columbia,  will  be 
9 a.m.  to  4 p.m.,  June  16,  for  Fraser 
Valley  Mennonite  churches.  The  third, 
for  Vancouver  churches,  will  involve 
the  resource  leaders  in  the  Sunday  schools 
and  morning  worship  services.  An  after- 
noon session,  2:30-5:30,  is  scheduled 
June  17  at  the  First  United  Mennonite 
Church. 


Heinz  Janzen,  general  secretary  of  the 
General  Conference,  will  introduce  the 
sessions.  Palmer  Becker,  executive  sec- 
retary of  the  Commission  on  Home  Min- 
istries, will  discuss  the  concept  of  goal 
setting  and  resources  for  evangelism. 
Howard  Habegger,  executive  secretary 
of  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
will  share  resources  availab’e  to  congre- 
gations for  mission  education.  Lester 
Janzen,  stewardship  secretary,  will  pre- 
sent stewardship  principles  and  materi- 
als. Frank  Ward,  executive  secretary  of 
the  Commission  on  Education,  will  share 
new  concepts  for  making  Christian  edu- 
cation more  effective  in  the  local  church. 

Paul  Roth,  president  of  the  Pacific 
District  Conference,  is  serving  as  local 
coordinator  for  the  Oregon  sessions.  Del- 
mer  Epp,  secretary  of  the  Christian  edu- 
cation committee  of  the  Conference  of 
Mennonites  in  British  Columbia,  is  co- 
ordinating the  Clearbrook  and  Vancouv- 
er meetings. 


Medical  personnel  form  gospel  team 


4 group  of  about  forty  staff  and  students  at  Mennonite  Christian  Hospital,  Hwalien, 
latwan  has  formed  a “gospel  team ” to  acquaint  churches  with  the  opportunities  of 
he  medical  ministry.  The  plan  is  to  give  a program  in  one  of  the  Hwalien  churches 
one  Sunday  a month.  The  team  reports  it  already  has  enough  invitations  for  over 
i year.  Above,  a quartet  from  the  team  sings  in  a local  church. 


HE  MENNONITE 


369 


New  health  posts  created  in  rural  Bolivia 


Frieda  Schellenberg,  a nurse  from  Wat- 
rous,  Saskatchewan,  with  her  Bolivian 
counterpart,  Rafaela  Suruby,  have  com- 
pleted another  nine-months  health  course 
in  five  rural  Bolivian  villages.  On  March 
2,  ten  men  and  six  women  graduated 
as  village  health  promoters.  The  five  vil- 
lages are  the  present  homes  of  mcc 
teachers  Dennis  and  Wilma  Peachey, 
Murry  Luft,  Larry  Stuckey,  and  Butch 
Gerbrandt,  and  former  teachers  Ray  and 
Mary  Kratz. 

Because  of  the  isolated  location  of 
the  rural  villages  and  the  lack  of  facili- 
ties and  drugs,  Bolivian  nurses  do  not 
want  to  live  in  these  villages.  So  three 
years  ago  the  mcc  nurses  changed  their 
program.  Instead  of  running  a health 
clinic  where  they  only  took  care  of  the 
sick,  the  nurses  began  traveling  to  the 
isolated  villages.  They  prepared  a health 
course  to  teach  villagers  how  to  take 
care  of  their  own  sick. 

The  new  program  begins  with  a health 
committee  from  each  village.  This  com- 
mittee elects  residents  of  the  village  to 
take  the  course.  The  course  has  four 
areas  of  study:  first  aid,  diagnosis  and 
treatment  of  common  diseases,  midwif- 
ery, and  community  health. 

The  village  has  to  build  a small  health 
post  and  a medicine  cabinet.  Mcc  pro- 
vides the  first  stock  of  medicine.  The 
health  promoters  use  the  money  from 
the  sale  of  these  medicines  and  office 
calls  to  replenish  their  stock.  Each  health 
post  is  also  given  some  basic  equipment. 

Graduation  day  for  the  sixteen  health 
promoters  was  an  important  day.  The 
president  of  the  health  committee,  Frieda 


Four  health  promoters  in  the  village  of  Rancho  Nuevo,  Bolivia,  have  just  received 
certificates  of  graduation  from  nurse  Frieda  Schellenberg  (right). 


Schellenberg,  and  mcc  director  Dale  Lin- 
senmeyer  spoke  to  the  people  of  the 
promoters’  village.  Frieda  also  presented 
the  promoters  with  uniforms  and  cer- 
tificates of  graduation. 

“To  take  this  course  was  a difficult 
step  in  my  life,”  one  graduating  health 
promoter  said.  Some  felt  that  he  should 
take  care  of  his  family  and  farm  and 
not  study  so  much.  Frieda  said  the 
course  was  difficult  for  him,  but  he 
graduated  with  the  top  mark  on  the 
final  exam. 

Frieda  has  been  with  the  health  pro- 
gram in  Bolivia  for  six  years.  Many 
refer  to  her  as  “doctor.”  Frieda  is  pres- 
ently on  a study  leave  for  one  year  at 
the  Mennonite  seminary  in  Montevideo, 


Uruguay.  She  plans  to  return  to  Bolivia 
to  continue  in  the  administration  of  the 
health  program.  Jeanne  Loucks,  Phyllis 
Dorsing,  and  Doreen  Braun  are  pres- 
ently giving  this  same  health  course  in 
rural  Bolivian  villages. 


Boys  Village  unit 
closed  after  22  years 


Kingman  interchurch  meetings  bring  new  spirit 


Bethany  Mennonite  and  First  Presby- 
terian churches  of  Kingman,  Kansas, 
have  reported  new  enthusiasm  as  a 
result  of  six  evenings  of  evangelistic 
meetings  in  April. 

No  outside  speakers  were  brought  in. 
The  pastors  wanted  to  do  this,  they  said, 
because  they  realized  that  what  they 
said  they  would  have  to  live  with  in  the 
weeks  to  come. 

The  meetings  were  the  first  time  in 
several  years  for  the  Presbyterians  to 
participate  in  an  evangelistic  program 
and  the  first  time  for  the  Mennonites 
to  work  in  this  way  with  another  de- 
nomination. 

The  pastors  said,  “The  people  who 
shared  in  these  services  will  never  be 


quite  the  same  again.  Denominational 
barriers  came  tumbling  down.  We  proved 
to  ourselves  and  to  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity that  being  a Mennonite  or  a 
Presbyterian  was  not  a hindrance.  Rath- 
er, we  are  all  members  of  the  kingdom 
of  God.  One  man  came  to  worship  the 
next  Sunday  morning  and  said,  ‘Are  we 
making  plans  for  more  churches  to  be 
involved  in  this  kind  of  thing  next 
year?’  ” 

The  high  points  of  the  services,  the 
pastors  reported,  were  the  prayer  circles 
formed  at  the  end  of  the  services. 

After  the  closing  benediction,  a wom- 
an in  her  late  eighties  said,  “For  six 
years  I have  been  praying  for  meetings 
like  this.” 


After  twenty-two'  years  of  involvement  at 
Boys  Village,  Smithville,  Ohio,  mcc 
will  discontinue  its  program  there  in 
August. 

Boys  Village  was  founded  in  1946  by 
a Methodist  minister  who  saw  the  need 
for  a rural  setting  where  boys  in  need  of 
a home  could  receive  adequate  care. 
Over  118  mcc  volunteers  have  worked 
on  the  127-acre  farm  as  secretaries,  me- 
chanics, farm  and  dairy  managers,  and 
maintenance  and  recreational  workers. 

The  village,  a private,  nonaffiliated 
treatment  center,  has  a capacity  for  sixty 
emotionally  disturbed  boys. 

Because  of  the  therapeutic  nature  of 
the  farm,  it  was  operating  at  a loss.  The 
administration,  in  order  to  correct  the 
situation,  decided  to  rent  the  farm  to 
someone  in  the  community.  Since  the 
therapeutic  purpose  of  the  farm  has  been 
changed,  and  mcc  is  facing  a personnel 
shortage  elsewhere,  withdrawal  from  the 
village  is  an  attempt  at  constructive  con- 
traction. 

The  four  mcc  volunteers  presently  at 
Boys  Village  will  be  terminating  or  re- 
assigned to  other  areas  of  mcc  involve- 
ment. 


370 


JUNE  5,  1973 


I? 


RECORD 


Ministers 


Elmer  Ensz  has  resigned  as  pastor  of  the 
Bethel  Lustre  Church  at  Frazer,  Mont., 
and  the  Bethel  Church  at  Wolf  Point, 
Mont. 

Leonard  A.  Epp,  Parkhill,  Ont.,  for- 
mer pastor  of  the  Grace  Mennonite 
Church  in  Steinbach,  Man.,  will  become 
pastor  of  the  Waterloo-Kitchener  United 
Mennonite  Church  in  September. 

Walter  Goering  has  been  called  to 
serve  one-fourth  time  as  assistant  pastor 
of  First  Church,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  begin- 
ning in  January.  Becky  Koerner  will  be 
assistant  to  the  pastor  at  three-fourths 
time,  beginning  July  1. 

David  Neufeld,  who  is  currently  serv- 
ing as  pastor  of  the  Kitchener-Waterloo 
(Ont.)  United  Mennonite  Church,  will 
assume  pastoral  duties  at  the  North  Bat- 
tleford  (Sask.)  Church  this  summer.  The 
North  Battleford  congregation  has  asked 
Mr.  Neufeld  to  devote  major  attention 
to  a ministry  to  the  native  peoples  in 
the  community.  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mis- 
sion is  providing  both  consultative  and 
financial  support  to  this  new  undertaking. 

Workers 


George  C.  and  Hilda  Bartel  will  termi- 
nate their  short-term  assignment  in  Tai- 
wan on  June  9.  George  has  been  serving 
as  a medical  doctor  at  Mennonite  Chris- 
tian Hospital  in  Hwalien,  Taiwan,  since 
1970.  The  Bartels  are  members  of  the 
Prince  of  Peace  Church,  Richmond,  B.C., 
and  will  be  taking  up  residence  in  Brit- 
ish Columbia. 

Otto  and  Elaine  Dirks , workers  under 
he  General  Conference  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission,  will  begin  a furlough 
rom  work  in  Taiwan  on  June  9.  They 
aegan  serving  in  Taiwan  in  1968  in  evan- 
gelism and  church  planting.  They  will 
>e  living  in  the  Kitchener-Waterloo,  Ont., 
trea  for  a year,  then  studying  one  quar- 
er  at  the  School  of  World  Missions, 
■uller  Theological  Seminary,  Pasadena, 
Jalif.  The  Dirkses  are  members  of  the 
'irst  Church,  Lima,  Ohio. 

Lola  M.  Friesen  has  joined  the  staff 
'f  Mennonite  Board  of  Missions,  Elk- 
lart,  Ind.,  as  assistant  deputation  coordi- 
nator. She  is  married  to  Jacob  T.  Frie- 
en.  They  are  members  of  the  Hively 
| we.  Church,  Elkhart. 


Lloyd  Mackey,  who  has  contributed 
occasional  articles  to  The  Mennonite 
from  British  Columbia,  joined  the  staff 
of  the  United  Church  observer  in  Tor- 
onto June  1. 

Harry  E.  Martens,  Elkhart,  Ind.,  and 
Edwin  M.  and  Sadie  Ratzlaff  Harms, 
Wichita,  received  Bethel  College’s  Dis- 
tinguished Alumnus  Award  this  year.  It 
is  given  “in  recognition  of  notable  con- 
tribution to  mankind  and  loyal  service 
to  alma  mater.”  Virginia  Toews  Stucky, 
Wichita,  received  the  Distinguished 
Achievement  Award  for  her  work  in 
dietetics  and  nutrition.  The  latter  award 
was  recently  added  to  the  awards  pro- 
gram achievements  in  a specific  area. 

Lorraine  Schroeder,  worker  under  the 
General  Conference  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission,  is  spending  three 


months  in  Los  Angeles  until  June  21, 
before  returning  to  teach  in  India.  She 
has  been  a teacher  at  the  Beacon  School 
in  Korba.  Her  new  assignment  will  be 
teaching  at  Woodstock  School  in  Mus- 
soorie.  She  is  a member  of  the  Immanuel 
Church,  Downey,  Calif. 

J.  Wendell  and  Norma  Wiens,  workers 
under  the  General  Conference  Commis- 
sion on  Overseas  Mission,  will  begin  a 
year’s  furlough  June  23.  Mr.  Wiens,  a 
medical  doctor,  served  as  medical  su- 
perintendent of  the  Sewa  Bhawan  Hos- 
pital, Jagdeeshpur,  India,  until  turning 
over  his  responsibilities  to  an  Indian 
doctor,  E.  S.  K.  Arthur,  in  January. 
The  Wienses  will  live  in  Moundridge, 
Kans.,  during  their  furlough.  They  are 
members  of  the  Rainbow  Boulevard 
Church,  Kansas  City,  Kans. 


Conference  budget 

$2,250,000 
2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 
1,000,000 

750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


Over-all  receipts  in  April  almost  exactly  equaled  receipts  in  April  of  last  year.  The 
total  in  each  case  was  slightly  over  $167,000.  For  the  year  thus  far  we  are  $77,000 
ahead  of  last  year  at  the  same  time.  This  means  29.8  percent  of  budget,  compared 
with  28.3  percent  last  year. 

The  commissions  continue  to  live  within  budget,  and  bank  borrowing  has  not 
yet  been  necessary.  The  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  will  likely  find  it  most 
difficult  to  stay  within  budget  on  spending  because  of  the  effect  of  dollar  devalua- 
tion on  overseas  programs.  Your  increased  and  continued  support  is  greatly  appre- 
ciated by  employees  and  elected  officials  whom  you  have  charged  with  carrying 
out  the  varied  program  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite  Church.  Wm.  L. 
Friesen,  conference  treasurer 


J FMAMJ  J ASON 


HE  MENNONITE 


371 


Through  Family  Life  TV  Spots  We 

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worry.  I love  you  too.  Bye. 


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still  love  me.  Maybe  God 
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Home  Church. 


372 


JUNE  5,  1973 


REVIEW 

Brother  Sun,  Sister  Moon 

James  Arnold 


Only  three  great  films  have  been 
made  about  saints,  and  they  have  been 
rather  remote  and  inaccessible. 

Now  at  last  we  have  a fourth — Franco 
Zeffirelli’s  Brother  Sun,  Sister  Moon, 
about  the  young  Francis  of  Assisi. 

It  makes  Francis,  in  all  his  attractive 
innocence,  accessible  at  last  to  the  vast 
movie-going  youth  audience  around  the 
world. 

Zeffirelh,  known  chiefly  as  an  inter- 
preter of  Shakespeare  and  creator  of  the 
outrageously  beautiful  film  of  Romeo 
and  Juliet,  has  found  much  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Little  Poor  Man  to  remind  him 
of  the  best  impulses  of  today’s  youth. 

He  has  underlined  these  qualities  in 
a poetic  and  romantic  film  of  stunning 
visual  beauty. 

The  movie  has  taste  and  dignity,  but 
lightly,  in  keeping  with  Francis’  buoyant, 
disarming  personality. 

Brother  Sun  is  a lyric,  a suitable  trib- 
ute to  a man  whose  life  was  a poem. 

The  earlier  great  “saint”  films  were 
Dreyer’s  Joan  of  Arc  (1928),  Clockhe’s 
Monsieur  Vincent  (1947),  and  Bresson’s 
Joan  of  Arc  (1962). 

The  Dreyer  film  was  silent,  and  the 
others  are  available  only  in  subtitled 
English.  All  were  in  black  and  white. 
Zeffirelli’s  film  is  in  color,  and  the  largely 
English  cast  speaks  in  its  own  language. 

It  makes  the  others  look  like  museum 
pieces. 

Francis  emerges  as  a gentle  young 
reformer,  a twelfth-century  protester 
against  all  the  forces  in  society  and 
church  that  seemed  anti-Christian  and 
antihuman. 

The  call  is  to  simplicity,  a return  to 
basics,  to  the  real  things  of  this  world. 
Nature,  of  course,  and  poverty,  person- 
to-person  charity,  an  end  to  all  forms  of 
arrogance  and  exploitation. 

To  possess  nothing  is  to  be  truly  free, 
like  the  lark. 

Francis  is,  above  all,  for  enjoyment 
of  God’s  magnificent  universe,  in  which 
> he  is  brother  to  each  flower,  stone,  ani- 
I mal,  and  planet,  as  well  as  to  each  man. 

It  is  a pure  childlike  joy  in  things  that 
puts  the  world’s  sweaty  hedonism  to 
| shame. 

Predictably,  his  society  calls  him  mad. 


What  sane  man  spends  his  days  walk- 
ing amid  the  wildfiowers,  or  brushing 
his  palm  against  the  high  grass? 

Who  would  give  away  all  his  mer- 
chant-father’s fabrics,  the  profits  of  a 
lifetime,  or  weep  at  the  sight  of  workers 
laboring  in  the  heat  and  darkness  of  a 
dye  cellar,  and  lead  them  out  into  the 
sun?  (Francis,  who  loathed  money  and 
commerce,  is  the  most  un-American  of 
saints.) 

Who  but  a lunatic  would  stand,  pub- 
licly disowned  by  his  father,  in  the 
square  before  the  bishop  and  remove  all 
his  clothes  and  give  them  away,  too,  so 
that  he  could  be  truly  “born  again”? 

The  famous  Franciscan  nude  scene 
can  finally  be  played,  and  the  director’s 
innocence  in  staging  it  is  a match  for 
the  saint’s. 

The  modem  parallels  are  painfully 
clear.  The  businessman  father  who  does 
not  understand  and  blames  his  too  cul- 
tured, too  doting  wife. 

Why  will  the  spoiled  son  not  do  what 
they  expect? 

Why  won’t  he  fall  in  love  with  Clare, 
instead  of  encouraging  her  to  join  that 
commune  that  is  souring  the  city’s  youth 
and  virility? 

Why  doesn’t  he  tolerate  the  solemn 
old  Mass,  with  rich  and  poor  segregated, 
and  the  image  of  Jesus  crucified  as  a 
bejewelled  king,  his  eyes  closed  to  the 
world? 

There  is  the  comfortable  bishop,  friend 
of  the  civil  powers,  who  blesses  the 
knights  on  their  way  to  war. 

There  are  the  young  people  who  waste 
themselves  in  despair  and  debauchery, 
blaming  the  uncertainty  of  the  times. 

After  all,  what  affluent  young  man 
freely  chooses  companionship  with  the 
lepers,  the  elderly,  the  retarded,  the  gro- 
tesque, and  deformed,  when  he  could 
write  a check  to  the  United  Fund? 

Zeffirelli’s  finest  scene,  a fitting  climax, 
is  the  historic  confrontation  of  the  two 
churches — Francis  and  his  barefoot  fri- 
ars meeting  the  brilliant  Pope  Innocent 
III  (Alec  Guinness) — set  in  the  awe- 
some Monreale  Cathedral  in  Sicily. 

The  Pope  seems  literally  mounted  in 
heaven,  surrounded  by  guards  and  choirs 
and  banks  of  bishops. 


The  sequence  is  unforgettably  moving, 
from  Francis’  sadly  gentle  reading  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  (“See  the 
lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow  . . .”) 
to  the  great  Pope’s  kissing  of  the  be- 
wildered saint’s  unclean  feet. 

One  may  object  that  it’s  all  a bit  too 
beautiful.  The  young  English  people  who 
play  Francis  and  Clare  (Graham  Faulk- 
ner, Judi  Bowker)  are  as  exquisite  as 
Romeo  and  Juliet — and  their  open  air 
hospital  is  located  near  a smashing  wa- 
terfall. 

But  I’ve  said  this  is  a poem.  In  such 
a film,  the  image  is  a metaphor  for  the 
inexpressible  beauty  no  camera  can  pho- 
tograph. 

The  film  avoids  all  the  usual  com- 
mercial cheating  in  religious  flicks.  There 
are  no  sexy  scenes  from  Francis’  loose 
early  life,  no  gory  moments  of  bloody 
combat  in  the  Crusades. 

Francis  doesn’t  get  any  extraneous 
show  biz  help. 

The  lovable  thing  about  Francis,  of 
course,  is  that  he  doesn’t  tell  you  so 
much  as  show  you.  He  is,  and  acts,  what 
he  preaches. 

For  an  artist  like  Zeffirelli,  he  is  an 
ideal  film  subject,  and  the  usual  movie 
is  awash  with  the  usual  glories  of  ro- 
mance— sunsets  and  moonrises,  romps 
through  color-soaked  fields  and  woods, 
backed  by  gentle  folkish  ballads  com- 
posed and  sung  by  Donovan — here  used 
in  the  service  of  Christ’s  basic  message. 

A love  story  of  the  spirit,  it  occurs 
in  a universe  of  sensual  beauty. 

In  1973,  it’s  almost  too  much. 

One  suspects  Francis  would  have  liked 
it. 

It’s  his  kind  of  surprise,  and  one  can 
hear  again  his  delighted  laughter  echoing 
down  the  cobblestones  of  the  centuries. 

Audiovisuals 

Faith-in-action  is  a thirty-minute  color 
film  about  Christians  in  the  North  Amer- 
ican church.  It  shows  people  who  have 
found  meaning  in  life  by  putting  faith 
into  action.  The  film  may  be  rented  for 
$25  from  the  Audiovisual  Library,  Box 
347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


THE  MENNONITE 


373 


MEDITATION 


Soul-sorrow 

Mary  Rempel 
Oh  Ego, 

how  many  times  must  you, 

in  your  impatience, 

usurp  the  stage  center, 

exposing  your  conceited  selfishness, 

and  have  to  be  humiliated 

by  being  called  backstage 

— forgiven,  too,  thank  God! — 

before  you  learn 

your  proper  role? 

Until  the  drama  ends? 


May  I ask  a few  questions.  Lord? 

Do  YOU  KNOW  how  much  it  hurts  to  discover  that  your  child  has  serious  flaws  in 
his  body? 

Why  did  we  choose  this  one  who  dashed  our  hopes  of  having  a normal  child? 

How  did  it  happen  that  this  child  from  a remote  island  village  came  into  our 
lives  and  therefore  had  access  to  man’s  most  advanced  techniques  in  dealing  with 
handicaps? 

Do  you  feel  hurt  when  your  children  live  lives  handicapped  by  self-will, 
sin,  and  complacency? 

Why  did  you  choose  us  to  be  your  children? 

Were  we  born  and  raised  in  settings  which  exposed  us  to  your  self-giving 
love  and  life-giving  truth  for  a purpose? 

Do  you  expect  us  to  make  good  use  of  these  advantages? 

What  kind  of  person  would  I be  if  I had  not  been  forced  to  enter  this  “world 
of  the  handicapped”? 

Do  we  have  to  be  so  intimately  involved  with  that  “world”  before  we  are  truly 
aware  of  such  persons? 

Can  we  really  understand  and  enter  into  the  lives  of  people  without  feeling  their 
hurts? 

Why  are  we  so  indifferent  and  apathetic  about  the  real  needs  of  the  poor,  the 
oppressed,  the  bombed,  the  drugged,  the  lonely? 

Are  we  afraid  that  our  comfortable,  normal  world  will  suddenly  become  disturbed 
and  painful? 

Why  did  you  enter  so  fully  into  the  life  of  man  when  you  knew  it  would 
mean  heartache,  suffering,  and  death? 

Does  love  always  involve  hurting? 

How  is  it  possible  that  some  persons  with  terribly  marred  bodies  can  have  such 
beautiful  personalities  and  whole  minds? 

How  does  it  feel  to  have  the  “real  you”  imprisoned  in  such  a relentless  confine- 
ment? 

Are  we  all  handicapped  in  some  way — intellectually,  socially,  psychologically, 
spiritually? 

What  are  my  handicaps,  Lord? 

Will  you  free  us  from  all  of  these  confining  chains  and  help  us  to  be  the 
complete  "being”  that  you  intend  for  us  to  be? 

Are  our  spirits  imprisoned  in  this  world  of  flesh  and  blood  and  things 
to  the  extent  that  we  hamper  your  spirit  within  us? 

What  effect  does  this  son  have  on  the  lives  of  his  brother  and  sister? 

Do  I see  signs  of  unusual  maturity,  empathy,  and  helpfulness  in  their  lives? 

Have  we  grown  because  of  the  presence  of  this  person  in  our  home? 

Can  I ever  learn  to  live  with  the  angry  feelings  and  deep  sense  of  frustration 
which  his  handicaps  create  for  me? 

Is  it  correct  to  assume  that  a life  of  ", smooth  sailing,”  prosperity,  and 
success  will  bring  us  closer  to  you? 

Why  do  we  need  the  “ refiner’s  fire”  to  get  our  lives  into  the  right  shape? 

Can  you  understand  our  tears  of  joy  upon  seeing  this  six-year-old  son  stand 
alone  for  the  first  time  for  the  amazing  span  of  ten  seconds? 

Why  are  we  so  thrilled  to  see  him  write  his  name,  recite  the  alphabet,  and  count 
backward  from  ten  to  one? 

How  can  he  have  such  a joyful,  winsome  personality  in  the  face  of  his  frustrations? 

Do  we  take  the  achievements  and  growth  of  our  “normal”  children  too  much 
for  granted? 

Why  do  we  take  our  good  health  and  normal  intelligence  for  granted, 
Lord? 

Are  our  "large”  expenditures  of  energy  and  many  accomplishments  worth 
more  in  your  sight  than  the  "mite”  of  achievement  of  this  handicapped  one? 

How  can  we  stand  before  you  and  say,  "By  my  efforts  have  I accomplished 
this.  1 am  the  master  of  my  fate”? 


’ 


i 

r 

i 

I 

a 

1 

e 

t 

li 

i 


374 


JUNE  5,  1973 


These  are  some  of  the  questions  raised  by  our  experiences  with  our  son.  Thanks 
for  listening,  Lord. 

Thank  you,  son,  for  stretching  our  lives  and  our  minds. 

Eleanor  Kaufman 


LETTERS 


Free  press? 

Dear  Larry:  Here  is  a reprint  from  a 
recent  article  in  a Moscow  newspaper  en- 
titled, “What  makes  the  Soviet  press 
Soviet?”  I think  it  will  be  beneficial  for 
the  readers  of  The  Mennonite  to  hear 
what  “they”  have  to  say  for  themselves, 
and  how  we  as  Christians  will  reply  to 
, their  moral  imperative. 

“Our  papers  and  magazines  begrudge 
no  space  for  a description  of  the  feelings 
: of  a ploughman  walking  through  a moon- 
t lit  field  after  a long  day’s  work;  for  the 
lyrical  panorama  unfolding  before  an 
erector  working  on  a skyscraper;  the 
conveying  of  the  thoughts  of  an  aircraft 
I designer  or  a schoolteacher.  But  one 
I will  look  in  vain  in  our  publications  for 
I,  the  stories  about  the  carryings  on  of  the 
‘golden  youth,’  the  ravings  of  drug  ad- 
| diets,  the  adventures  of  sexual  perverts. 
Open  eroticism,  indulgence  in  violence 
and  sadism — everything  that  is  meant  to 
arouse  base  instincts  in  human  beings — 

I is  kept  out  of  Soviet  press.  If  this  is 
why  our  press  is  labeled  by  some  west- 
I emers  ‘humdrum’  and  ‘dull,’  we  are  all 
, for  it.  The  objective  of  our  socialist  so- 
ciety  is  to  foster  a fondness  for  work 
and  a high  standard  of  morality  and 
! ethics  in  the  younger  generation. 

“Our  adversaries  claim  that  our  press 
is  not  ‘free,’  unlike  the  western  press. 
This  is  precisely  where  everything  is 
turned  topsy-turvy.  We  have  good 
grounds  for  declaring  that  the  Soviet 
press  is  free  in  the  highest  and  true  sense 
of  the  word.  It  is  free  to  praise  and  af- 
[ firm  whatever  is  good  and  pure  in  a 
human  being.  It  is  free  from  indulging 
in  unseemly  things,  in  propaganda  of 
racial  or  national  superiority,  the  cult 
of  violence.  The  Soviet  press  praises 
honest  work  for  the  benefit  of  society 
and  inculcates  deep  scorn  for  anyone 
| lining  his  pockets  through  somebody 
else’s  work,  for  the  ‘charms’  of  private 
enterprise.  Let  fathers  and  mothers  in 
the  USA  and  Britain,  in  India  and  Bur- 
ma, in  Egypt  and  Nigeria,  in  Chile  and 
the  Argentine  — wherever  people  wish 
their  children  to  be  happy — say  which 


freedom  of  the  press  they  prefer. 

“Real  freedom  is  bound  to  presuppose 
absence  of  freedom  for  antisocial  ele- 
ments and  antisocial  actions.  The  free- 
dom and  the  democratic  character  of 
Soviet  press  is  a direct  consequence  of 
the  press  in  a socialist  state  serving  the 
needs  of  the  working  people.”  Francisco 
del  Valle,  Goshen,  Ind.  May  8 

Spiritual  awakening  needed 

Dear  Editor:  Enclosed  is  an  article 
entitled,  “Vietnam:  our  peace  in  Christ,” 
from  the  February  1973  issue  of  the 
Catholic  worker.  After  I read  the  article 
I was  so  moved  with  compassion  for 
the  people  of  Vietnam,  especially  the 
prisoners  who  have  no  hope  in  sight  for 
their  release.  And  there  are  many  who 
are  sick,  wounded,  and  crippled  who 
need  help.  The  situation  is  so  sad  that 
I had  to  pray  for  guidance.  I am  glad 
we  Mennonites  are  helping  to  bring  re- 
lief, but  I feel  that  we  can  do  more. 

I think  our  people  need  to  read  such 
an  article  since  our  country  has  waged 
so  many  wars  and  inflicted  so  much 
sorrow  and  hate  all  over  the  world,  and 
we  here  at  home  have  never  experienced 
anything  like  it.  We  do  not  know  what 
war  is.  This  is  a tragedy  that  few  of 
us  understand.  We  need  a spiritual  awak- 
ening. J.  P.  Baehr,  Schowalter  Villa, 
Hesston,  Kans.  67062.  April  20 

Editor's  note : We  cannot  reprint  the 
entire  article  by  Pat  Jordan  as  Mr. 
Baehr  suggests;  here  is  a portion  of  it: 
“No,  we  do  not  find  ourselves  joyful 
at  the  news  of  ‘peace.’  The  conflict 
continues  in  much  of  Indochina,  and  it 
is  the  poor  who  suffer,  not  ourselves. 
In  Vietnam  itself  the  cease-fire  agree- 
ment makes  little  effort  to  protect  po- 
litical prisoners  and  neutralists  who  have 
opposed  the  war  all  along.  . . . No,  joy 
will  only  come  when  all  the  hidden 
forms  of  violence  have  been  rooted  out, 
when  we  seek  forgiveness  from  our 
brothers  and  the  Lord.  . . . Joy  will  come 
from  a change  of  heart,  a change  in  our 
way  of  life.  . . .” 


Contents 


Four  planks  from  Ephesians  4 362 

The  Bible  is  alive  and  speaking  to 

millions  in  Eastern  Europe  364 

News  366 

Record  37 1 

Brother  Sun,  Sister  Moon  373 

Soul-sorrow  374 

May  I ask  a few  questions.  Lord?  374 

Letters  375 

Laying  up  more  bricks  and  mortar  376 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Mel  Schmidt  is  pastor  of  the  Lorraine 
Avenue  Church,  Wichita,  Kans.  67211. 
The  presentation  on  Ephesians  4 was  a 
sermon  he  preached  to  his  congregation 
earlier  this  year. 

Gayle  Gerber  Koontz  is  information 
writer  for  the  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee, Akron,  Pa.  17501. 

Dan  Shenk  is  a writer-editor  in  Infor- 
mation Services  at  the  Mennonite  Board 
of  Missions,  Elkhart  46514. 

James  W.  Arnold,  who  resides  at  2239 
North  Terrace  Avenue,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 
53202,  reviews  films  regularly  for  a num- 
ber of  religious  periodicals. 

Mary  Rempel,  homemaker,  writer,  and 
now  editor  of  the  new  General  Confer- 
ence mission  paper,  Encompass,  lives  in 
Hesston,  Kans.  67062. 

Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211 — 28th  Ave. 
South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406,  is  a 
member  of  The  Mennonite's  editorial  and 
business  committee. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Bob  Van  Linda,  RNS;  362,  Russ 
Busby,  Billy  Graham  Crusade  Informa- 
tion Services;  366-67,  Gayle  Gerber 
Koontz,  MCC;  369,  COM;  370,  Kathy 
Linsenmeyer,  MCC.  The  article  on  pages 
364-65,  taken  from  the  March  issue  of 
the  American  Bible  Society  Record,  is 
used  by  permission. 

Mennonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67 1 14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor;  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 
Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS  1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


375 


Laying  up  more  bricks  and  mortar 


Church  institutions  are  beginning  to  jostle  for 
position  in  what  appears  to  be  the  start  of  a new 
round  of  edifice  building. 

In  one  province,  for  example,  church  members 
during  the  past  year  have  been  informed  that  they 
will  be  asked  to  support  three  school  building  pro- 
grams : a dormitory  for  a high  school  supported 
by  their  provincial  conference,  a college-confer- 
ence building  on  the  Bible  college  campus,  and  a 
library  at  the  seminary.  The  total  outlay  for  these 
three  projects  will  be  almost  one  million  dollars, 
and  the  members  from  this  particular  province 
will  be  expected  to  contribute  an  average  of  $80 
each  toward  them. 

These  three  construction  programs  are  worth- 
while, and  their  cost  to  the  members  of  our  vari- 
ous conference  levels  will  not  be  considered  pro- 
hibitive. They  appear,  however,  to  be  only  the 
beginning  of  a new  wave  of  laying  up  bricks  and 
mortar  for  ourselves. 

Some  congregations  which  were  talking  a few 
years  ago  about  ways  and  means  of  getting  rid  of 
their  inefficiently  used  buildings  so  that  they  could 
move  into  rented  or  shared  quarters  are  now  ready 
to  consider  the  option  of  building  even  larger 
churches.  The  idealism  nurtured  by  the  financial 
belt-tightening  of  the  late  1960s  appears  to  be 
giving  way  to  a more  self-indulgent  attitude. 

Most  conference  members  would  acknowledge 
that  we  need  some  bricks  and  mortar.  We  are 
too  strongly  oriented  toward  the  sanctuary,  the 
classroom,  and  the  office  to  be  able  to  operate 
without  special  centers — with  walls,  roof,  and  a 
permanent  address — for  worship,  education,  mis- 


sion, and  other  activities  of  the  church  commu- 
nity. But  even  if  we  concede  this  point — and  it  is 
a concession,  because  our  theology  makes  much 
of  the  fact  that  the  Christian  is  to  be  a pilgrim  on 
the  move  and  that  he  is  to  be  a proponent  of  a 
simple  way  of  living — we  are  still  left  with  the  de- 
cision of  how  much  of  our  resources  we  should 
use  for  the  care  and  construction  of  our  edifices. 
It  might  be  somewhat  difficult  for  us  to  explain 
to  Taiwanese  and  Zairian  villagers  how  we  could 
approve  nearly  a million  dollars  for  three  build- 
ings for  ourselves  the  year  after  we  had  given  up 
on  trying  to  raise  a similar  amount  for  the  Pov- 
erty Fund. 

Since  the  moratorium  on  building  seems  to>  be 
over,  organizations  and  congregations  which  are 
considering  new  construction  might  ask  them- 
selves several  questions  before  they  proceed  with 
their  own  new  building: 

Why  is  it  necessary  to  build  now?  What  are 
the  other  alternatives?  Which  course  would  we 
have  taken  in  1969  when  money  was  tight?  Will 
the  congregation  or  conference  be  able  to  handle 
this  debt  a few  years  from  now  if  the  economy 
turns  down  again? 

Has  the  decision  to  proceed  with  the  building 
been  made  unilaterally,  or  has  it  been  checked 
with  other  sectors  of  the  church  to  test  its  pri- 
ority against  other  pending  programs  and  projects? 

Is  one  of  the  reasons  why  we  are  building  be- 
cause we  want  to  demonstrate  our  dynamism  to 
our  constituents  and  to  the  world?  If  the  answer 
to  this  question  is  yes,  haven’t  we  been  too  strong- 
ly influenced  by  “big  business”  philosophy?  lk 


WD  Mf/y, 


Ill- 

Meiinonite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:24  JUNE  12,  1973 


CZi22^S?^ 

If  I were  starting  my  family 
again,  says  John  Drescher,  I 
would  seek  to  use  as  many 
opportunities  as  possible 
to  give  my  child  a feeling  of 
belonging,  which  is 
essential  for  a child’s  security 
and  feeling  of  worth. 


378 


JUNE  12,  1973 


11 

l 


Jl  fattier  ref  facts: 

JfJ  were  to  start  my  family  again 

John  Drescher 


“What  have  you  learned  from  your 
own  experience  and  through  counseling 
parents?  What  should  I have  done  dif- 
ferently? I have  young  children.  If  your 
children  were  small  again  what  would 
you  do?” 

These  words  burst  from  the  burning 
heart  of  a father  sitting  across  from  me. 
He  was  suffering  the  empty,  deathlike 
feeling  a father  senses  when  his  son  has 
strayed.  He  felt  he  had  failed  as  a 
father. 

And  this  father’s  words  stay  with  me. 
Although  they  came  to  me  in  a direct 
and  blunt  way  that  day,  they  are  not 
the  words  of  a lone  father.  In  them  are 
the  questions  which  are  uppermost  in 
the  minds  of  many  parents,  if  they  take 
parenthood  seriously. 

What  has  experience  in  counseling 
taught  me?  Where  would  I put  the  em- 
phasis if  my  children  were  small  again? 
I’ve  pondered  these  questions  and  some 
things  have  surfaced. 

Love  of  child’s  mother.  If  I were 
starting  my  family  again,  I would  love 
the  mother  of  my  children  more.  That 
is,  I would  be  freer  to  let  my  children 
see  that  I love  her.  It  is  so  easy  for 
parents  to  assume  love,  to  take  each 
other  for  granted,  and  so  to  let  a dull- 
ness creep  in  which  can  dampen  the 
deepest  love. 

After  I spoke  on  family  relationships 
to  a large  group  of  fathers  and  mothers, 
a father  approached  me  and  said,  “If 
I understand  you  this  evening  you  said 
the  greatest  thing  I can  do  for  my  child 
is  to  love  his  mother.  Is  that  correct?” 

“That  is  correct,”  I answered. 

When  a child  knows  parents  love  each 
other,  there  is  a security,  stability,  and 
sacredness  about  life  which  is  gained 
in  no  other  way.  A child  who  knows 
parents  love  each  other  and  who  hears 
them  expressing  words  of  love  for  each 
other  needs  little  explanation  about 


God’s  character  of  love  or  the  beauty  of 
sex. 

To  let  my  child  know  I love  his  moth- 
er, I would  seek  to  be  faithful  in  doing 
little  loving  things  for  her.  True  love  is 
visible.  I would  show  special  kindnesses 
such  as  opening  the  car  door,  placing 
her  chair  at  the  table,  giving  her  little 
gifts  on  special  occasions,  and  writing 
her  love  letters  when  I’m  gone  from 
home.  I would  take  her  hand  as  we 
stroll  in  the  park.  And  I would  whisper 
loving  words  about  her  in  the  ears  of 
my  children.  I would  praise  her  in  the 
presence  of  my  children. 

Does  all  this  sound  sentimental?  Then 
I am  persuaded  many  families  need  more 
of  this  kind  of  sentimentalism.  Love  is 
like  a plant.  It  needs  nurture.  We  must 
do  the  things  love  dictates  or  it  will  die. 

Listen  to  my  child’s  concerns.  If  I 
were  starting  my  family  over  again,  I 
would  do  more  listening.  Most  fathers 
find  it  hard  to  listen.  We  are  busy  with 
the  burdens  of  work.  We  are  often  tired 
when  we  arrive  home  from  work.  A 
child’s  talk  seems  like  chatter  and  un- 
important. Yet  we  can  learn  so  much 
more  by  listening  than  by  talking — 
especially  from  our  children. 

I would  listen  when  my  child  shares 
his  little  hurts  and  complaints,  his  joys 
and  what  he  is  excited  about.  I remem- 
ber as  clear  as  the  day  it  happened  the 
time  my  busy  father  listened  to  me,  as 
a first  grader,  when  I came  home  fright- 
ened about  a situation  at  school.  His 
calmness  and  concern,  demonstrated  in 
listening  to  me,  relieved  my  fears.  I was 
ready  to  return  the  following  day  full 
of  courage  and  confidence.  Had  he  sim- 
ply said  my  fear  was  foolish  or  had  he 
refused  to  hear  me  out,  my  fears  would 
have  grown. 

I would  seek  to  keep  from  staring  into 
space  when  my  child  is  talking  to  me. 
I would  try  to  understand  what  my  child 


says  because  I now  believe  that  the  fa- 
ther who  listens  to  his  child,  when  he  is 
small,  will  find  that  he  will  have  a child 
who  cares  what  his  father  says  later  in 
life.  I now  believe  there  is  a vital  rela- 
tionship between  listening  to  a child’s 
concerns  when  he  is  small  and  the  ex- 
tent to  which  the  child  will  share  con- 
cerns with  his  father  when  he  is  in  his 
teens.  The  father  who  takes  time  to 
understand  what  his  child  says  when 
the  child  is  small  will  be  able  to  under- 
stand his  child  later  in  life. 

If  my  child  were  small  again,  I would 
stop  reading  the  newspaper  when  he 
wants  to  talk  with  me.  And  I would 
try  to  refrain  from  words  of  impatience 
at  the  interruption.  Such  times  can  be 
the  best  times  to  show  love  and  kindness. 

One  evening  a small  boy  tried  to  show 
his  father  a scratch  on  his  finger.  Finally 
after  repeated  attempts  to  gain  his  fa- 
ther’s attention,  the  father  stopped  read- 
ing and  said  impatiently,  “Well,  I can’t 
do  anything  about  it  can  I?”  “Yes,  Dad- 
dy,” his  small  son  said.  “You  could  have 
said,  ‘Oh.’  ” 

In  listening  I would  pay  more  careful 
attention  to  my  child’s  questions.  It  is 
estimated  the  average  child  asks  500,000 
questions  by  the  age  of  fifteen.  What  a 
privilege  for  every  parent — a half  mil- 
lion opportunities  to  share  something 
about  the  meaning  of  life. 

These  early  years  are  the  years  for 
teaching.  And  by  the  time  the  child 
reaches  fifteen,  parents  have  done  most 
of  their  teaching.  By  fifteen  the  child 
knows  what  the  parents  believe.  From 
now  on  parents’  primary  opportunity 
is  to  be  available  when  the  child  comes 
for  help. 

Give  a feeling  of  belonging.  If  I were 
starting  my  family  again,  I would  seek 
to  use  as  many  opportunities  as  possible 
to  give  my  child  a feeling  of  belonging. 
A sense  of  belonging  is  essential  for  a 


THE  MENNONITE 


379 


A father  and  his  daughters  enjoy  each  other's  company.  In  recent  years 
research  has  begun  to  appear  on  the  important  role  of  the  father  in  the 
family  and  his  effect  on  children.  Most  available  studies  agree  that  it  is  not 
enough  that  the  father  brings  home  the  money.  He  must  share  with  the 
mother  in  the  everyday  rearing  of  the  children.  Some  studies  show  that 
“ problem  children”  appear  more  frequently  in  families  where  the  father  is 
missing  or  does  not  show  the  necessary  concern  for  his  family. 


child’s  security  and  feeling  of  worth. 
And  when  a child  feels  he  belongs  in 
his  family  and  is  of  real  worth  there,  it 
is  not  a big  step  also  to  feel  accepted, 
loved,  and  of  worth  to  others  and  in 
God’s  sight. 

How  are  feelings  of  belonging  gen- 
erated? By  doing  things  together.  By 
sharing  common  concerns  and  trusting 
each  other  with  responsibilities.  Celebra- 
tions of  birthdays,  when  the  person  rath- 
er than  the  gifts  is  central,  create  a 
sense  of  belonging.  A sense  of  belonging 
is  built  into  the  child  when  prayers  are 
prayed  on  his  behalf,  when  his  opinions 
are  valued,  and  when  he  is  included  in 
the  serious  and  fun  experiences  of  the 
family. 

He  feels  he  belongs  when  he  is  in- 
vited to  be  involved  in  the  responsibility 
and  work  of  the  family.  No  part  of 
child  guidance  is  more  important  than 
assuring  the  child  by  action  and  word 
that  he  is  important  for  the  family  and 
he  has  a place  in  the  affections  of  the 
family. 

Praise  my  child.  If  I were  starting  my 
family  over  again,  I would  seek  to  be 
freer  to  express  words  of  appreciation 
and  praise.  Children  are  reprimanded 
for  making  mistakes.  But  many  children 
seldom  hear  words  of  commendation  and 
encouragement  when  they  do  a job  well 
or  exhibit  good  behavior. 

Will  Sessions,  discussing  the  topic, 
“If  I had  a teen-ager,”  says,  “I  would 
bestow  praise.  If  the  youngster  blew  a 
horn,  I would  try  to  find  at  least  one 


note  that  sounded  good  to  my  ear,  and 
I would  say  a sincere  good  word  about 
it.  If  the  school  theme  was  to  my  liking, 
I would  say  so,  hoping  that  it  would 
get  a good  grade  when  it  was  turned 
in.  If  his  choice  of  shirt  or  tie,  of  socks 
or  shoes,  or  any  other  thing  met  my 
liking,  I would  be  vocal.” 

Probably  no  other  thing  encourages 
a child  to  love  life,  to  seek  accomplish- 
ment, and  to  gain  confidence,  more  than 
proper,  sincere  praise — not  flattery  but 
honest  compliments  when  he  does  well. 

Take  more  time  with  my  child.  If  I 
were  starting  my  family  again,  I would 
plan  to  take  time  to  do  more  things 
together.  In  every  father’s  week  there 
are  168  hours.  He  probably  spends 
about  forty  hours  at  work.  Allow  anoth- 
er fifteen  hours  for  driving  to  and  from 
work  each  week,  overtime,  and  lunch. 
Set  aside  fifty-six  hours  per  week  for 
sleep.  That  leaves  a father  fifty-seven 
hours  each  week  to  spend  elsewhere. 
How  many  are  actually  spent  with  his 
family? 

A group  of  300  seventh-  and  eighth- 
grade  boys  kept  accurate  records  of  how 
much  time  their  fathers  actually  spent 
with  them  over  a two-week  period.  Most 
saw  their  father  only  at  the  dinner  table. 
A number  never  saw  their  father  for 
days  at  a time.  The  average  time  father 
and  son  were  alone  together  for  an 
entire  week  was  IV2  minutes. 

Arthur  Gordon  tells  an  interesting  ex- 
perience from  his  youth.  “When  I was 
around  thirteen  and  my  brother  was 


ten,  Father  had  promised  to  take  us  to 
the  circus.  But  at  lunch  there  was  a 
phone  call:  some  urgent  business  re- 
quired his  attention  downtown.  My 
brother  and  I braced  ourselves  for  the 
disappointment.  Then  we  heard  him 
say,  ‘No,  I won’t  be  down.  It  will  have 
to  wait.’ 

“When  he  came  back  to  the  table 
Mother  smiled.  ‘The  circus  keeps  com- 
ing back  you  know.’ 

“ ‘I  know,’  said  Father.  ‘But  child- 
hood doesn’t.’  ” 

A prominent  businessman  asked  a 
friend,  “Would  you  like  to  know  what 
I am  giving  my  son  for  Christmas?”  He 
showed  a piece  of  paper  on  which  he 
had  written:  “To  my  son:  I give  you 
one  hour  of  each  week  and  two  hours 
of  every  Sunday  to  be  used  as  you  wish.” 

Laugh  more  with  my  child.  If  I were 
to  start  my  family  again,  I would  laugh 
more.  That’s  right.  I would  laugh  more 
with  my  child.  Oscar  Wilde  wrote:  “The 
best  way  to  make  children  good  is  to 
make  them  happy.”  I see  now  that  I 
was  much  too  serious.  While  my  children 
loved  to  laugh,  I often  must  have  con- 
veyed the  idea  that  being  a parent  was 
painful. 

I remember  when  I laughed  with  my 
children — at  the  humorous  plays  they 
put  on  for  the  family,  at  the  funny 
stories  shared  from  school,  at  the  times 
I fell  for  their  tricks  and  catch  questions. 

I recall  the  squeals  of  delight  when  I 
laughed  with  them  and  shared  in  their 
stunts  on  the  lawn  or  living  room  floor. 
And  I remember  the  times  they  were 
told  of  these  experiences  with  joyful 
expressions,  years  later.  I know  when  I 
laughed  with  my  children  our  love  was 
enlarged  and  the  door  was  open  for 
doing  many  other  things  together. 


In  answer  to  the  father  who  sat  across 
the  table,  I’ve  jotted  down  these  reflec- 
tions. Like  most  important  experiences 
in  life,  none  of  these  are  great  ideas  or 
difficult  to  remember.  These  simple  sug- 
gestions, however,  can  make  relation- 
ships with  our  children  more  meaningful 
and  shape  the  future  of  a child  more 
than  great  things  which  demand  a great 
deal  of  money  or  exceptional  ingenuity. 
Somehow  we  manage  enough  muscle  to 
handle  the  big  things  of  life  but  forget 
that  life  is  largely  made  up  of  little 
things.  So  a father’s  faithfulness  in  the 
small  things  of  life  determines  to  a great 
degree  the  happiness  of  the  home. 


IMS  excepnb7:;“;hL7ingVJ^  and^^  f ,OV°  °"d  freedom  '«<*'  Stance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spi, 

Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  af^rth  Ne^on  Kans  67117 ^ Subscriol^  S ^ T °^h  NeWt0"'  ^ 671 ,7'  by  ,he  General  Board  of  fhe  General  Conference  Mennoni 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,  ConaTa  ’ R3P  Sm4 BuLss S ?22  M^in  a 1?'  °"S  ^ ?-50i  ,w0  *15'50  ^ Veors;  foreign.  $6.00  per  year.  Editori 

Business  office.  722  Mam  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  6711 


I 


380 


JUNE  12,  1973 


NEWS 


CHM  will  continue  goal-setting 

A second  year  of  consultation  services  took  action  in  the  areas  of  Indian  min- 


from  In-Depth  Evangelism  Associates 
has  been  approved  by  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries  executive  committee 
at  its  spring  meeting  May  15-16  in  Chi- 
cago. 

The  commission,  through  the  district 
and  area  conferences,  has  been  using 
In-Depth  Evangelism  materials  to  help 
local  congregations  set  goals.  About  thir- 
ty General  Conference  congregations 
have  participated  in  the  last  year. 

The  chm  executive  committee  has 
authorized  its  staff  to  negotiate  another 
year  of  consultation  services  from  In- 
Depth  Evangelism,  “with  the  understand- 
ing that  chm  continue  to  exercise  dis- 
cernment regarding  the  theological  as- 
sumptions involved.” 

Throughout  the  past  year,  chm  and 
In-Depth  Evangelism  have  been  revising 
particularly  the  questionnaire  presented 
to  congregations  in  the  goal-setting  pro- 
cess. Palmer  Becker  and  Malcolm  Weng- 
er of  chm  staff  have  recently  talked  with 
In-Depth  Evangelism  staff  concerning 
more  revisions  of  the  questionnaire  and 
revision  of  other  materials. 

The  chm  executive  committee  also 

Fresno  church 

Mennonite  Community  Church,  Fresno, 
California,  is  one  of  five  local  congrega- 
tions participating  in  Project  Understand- 
ing, funded  by  the  Irwin-Sweeny-Miller 
Foundation  to  help  participating  church- 
es to  understand  minority  cultures,  over- 
come their  own  prejudices,  and  serve 
East  Fresno. 

George  Stoneback,  pastor  at  the  Men- 
nonite Community  Church,  said  Fresno 
is  one  of  several  northern  California 
cities  in  which  the  project  is  being  fund- 
ed. 

Directed  by  lames  Walter  of  the  Amer- 
ican Baptist  Seminary  of  the  West  in 
Berkeley,  Project  Understanding  is  train- 
ing ten  seminary  interns  who  will  begin 
work  with  ecumenical  clusters  of  church- 
es in  September. 

The  two  interns,  or  field  staff,  assigned 
to  Fresno  until  May  1974  will  work 
with  Mennonite  Community  Church, 


istries,  communications,  and  the  family. 

The  executive  committee  asked  Mal- 
colm Wenger,  secretary  for  Indian  min- 
istries, and  Menno  Wiebe,  vice-chairman 
of  the  commission,  to  begin  work  for  a 
position  paper  on  the  relationships  of 
w’hite  Mennonites  and  North  American 
Indians  to  be  presented  to  the  commis- 
sion next  February  and  possibly  to  the 
General  Conference  lor  action  at  the 
1974  sessions. 

The  executive  committee  envisioned 
research  for  the  position  paper  on  how 
North  American  land  got  from  Indian 
hands  to  Mennonite  hands  in  the  nine- 
teenth century. 

The  position  paper  would  serve  as  an 
educational  tool  for  white  Mennonites 
and  would  be  distributed  widely,  per- 
haps in  abbreviated  form,  at  Mennonite 
centennial  celebrations  in  1974. 

The  paper  could  also  serve  as  a basis 
for  discussion  with  Indian  brothers  and 
sisters,  according  to  Mr.  Becker,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  the  commission. 

In  the  area  of  communications,  Rudy 
Regehr,  chairman  of  the  Faith  and  Life 
Radio  and  Television  committee,  brought 

to  work  on  race 

East  Princeton  Baptist  Church,  Grace 
and  Sierra  Vista  United  Methodist 
churches,  and  Zion  United  Church  of 
Christ.  St.  John’s  Cathedral  and  the 
Fresno  Metropolitan  Ministry  are  also 
related  to  the  program. 

Project  Understanding  does  not  have 
a set  program  for  the  local  churches. 
The  field  staff  will  be  facilitators,  helping 
local  clergy  and  laity  develop  their  own 
strategy  for  dealing  with  problems  related 
to  racial  cooperation  in  their  own 
churches  and  communities. 

Mr.  Stoneback  said  a number  of  other 
joint  projects  are  being  planned  by  the 
cluster  churches  plus  three  others:  St. 
Mary’s  Episcopal  Church,  Grace  Luther- 
an Church,  and  Easterby-Knox  United 
Presbyterian  Church. 

“When  I first  came  to  Fresno  we  had 
three  churches  that  combined  for  Thanks- 
giving and  Good  Friday,”  said  Mr. 


program 

up  the  idea  of  the  committee’s  becoming 
the  Division  of  Communication  for  the 
conference,  to  be  a service  agency  paral- 
lel to  the  Division  of  Administration.  His 
concern  was  that  flrt  expertise  also  be 
available  to  other  commissions  besides 
chm. 

The  chm  executive  committee  decided, 
however,  to  ask  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission  and  the  Commission 
on  Education  to  appoint  one  representa- 
tive each  to  the  flrt  committee. 

The  chm  executive  committee  also 
supported  the  formation  of  a task  force 
on  the  family  and  marriage  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  Commission  on  Education. 
The  task  force,  to  be  based  in  Winni- 
peg, would  work  on  how  to  make  mar- 
riages more  creative,  how  to  deal  with 
marital  conflict,  and  how  the  conference 
could  be  a resource  in  this  area. 

The  executive  committee  also  gave 
strong  support  to  further  work  on  an 
inter-Mennonite  peace  film. 

Judi  Janzen,  associate  director  of  vol- 
untary service,  will  go  from  full  time  to 
half  time  this  fall,  with  major  respon- 
sibility for  summer  service  and  orienta- 
tion of  volunteers. 

relations 

Stoneback.  “Now  there  are  eight.  We  are 
starting  to  have  a few  evening  services 
together,  and  we  pastors  meet  every 
few  weeks  for  fellowship  and  planning 
over  a sack  lunch.  We  hope  that  several 
of  these  churches  will  cosponsor  a Viet- 
namese dinner.” 

An  April  29  evening  service  included 
a discussion  on  facing  death,  the  “mod- 
ern obscenity.” 

The  Vietnam  dinner  was  scheduled 
for  May  20  under  the  sponsorship  of 
several  churches  and  the  Ad  Hoc  Com- 
mittee for  Peace  and  Freedom.  On  May 
21  the  cluster  churches  cooperating  in 
Project  Understanding  had  planned  a 
joint  carry-in  supper  to  get  better  ac- 
quainted. 

Suggestions  for  more  cooperation  in 
the  fall  have  included  a joint  adult  edu- 
cation project,  possibly  a six-session 
course. 


THE  MENNONITE 


381 


Singing  was  an  important  part  of  the  festival.  Above  participants  sing/ pray,  “ Fill  my  cup,  Lord.” 

Holy  Spirit  festival  attracts  over  2,000 


The  following  report  on  this  year’s  Fes- 
tival of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  Goshen , In- 
diana, was  prepared  by  David  Hiebert. 
The  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Sem- 
inaries and  the  Central  District  Confer- 
ence were  two  of  the  six  sponsors  of  the 
event. 

The  three-day  Festival  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
held  on  the  Goshen  College  campus  in 
early  May  attracted  over  2,300  people 
to  the  Saturday  evening  session  and  had 
1,711  people  registered.  A large  number 
of  Canadians,  305,  were  in  attendance, 
and  the  percentage  of  young  people  was 
greater  than  the  planners  had  expected. 

The  festival  began  Friday  evening, 
May  11,  with  a message  from  J.  Rodman 
Williams  of  Anaheim,  California,  en- 
titled, “The  domination  of  the  Spirit.” 
After  the  message,  the  cbs  film,  “Follow- 
ing the  Spirit,”  told  the  story  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  of  the  Redeemer  in 
Houston,  Texas.  It  was  an  experiment 
that  grew  from  a group  of  five  families 
to  a series  of  households  that  totaled 
about  450  persons. 

Follow-up  on  the  film  was  provided 
Saturday  morning  by  Jerry  Barker  from 
Detroit.  He  gave  a personal  account  as 
a person  in  one  of  the  original  five  fam- 
ilies at  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer.  He 
described  a hunger  to  experience  the 


fellowship  of  the  Lord  that  began  ten 
years  ago.  They  found  the  Lord  calling 
them  to  a new  life  together.  It  was  in 
taking  people  into  their  homes  to  be 
constant  ministers  that  they  found  the 
secret  of  discerning  and  cultivating  gifts. 
Gifts  are  given  in  the  context  of  koino- 
nia.  Christians  cannot  reach  the  fullness 
of  Jesus  Christ  by  themselves,  but  as 
gifts  come  to  the  community  they  are 
empowered  to  reveal  Jesus. 

The  Saturday  afternoon  talk  by  J. 
Lawrence  Burkholder,  president  of  Go- 
shen College,  was  entitled,  “The  Spirit 
leading  in  ethical  decision  making.” 

David  Shank  from  Genval,  Belgium, 
began  a series  of  three  talks  Saturday 
evening.  Some  of  his  major  points  in- 
cluded the  fact  that  technology  and  prop- 
aganda must  be  included  in  the  forces 
of  this  world  that  are  teaming  up  with 
the  powers  of  darkness.  They  are  now 
running  out  of  control,  carrying  Chris- 
tians with  them. 

On  the  subject  of  witnessing,  Mr.  Shank 
said  that  the  Spirit  would  empower 
Christians  to  determine  the  time,  place, 
and  method  that  should  be  used  in  wit- 
nessing. The  witness  must  discern  that 
under  the  Holy  Spirit’s  guidance  some- 
thing needs  to  be  said  now. 

In  the  Saturday  afternoon  session,  Jo- 
sephine M.  Ford  from  the  University  of 


Notre  Dame  summarized  what  the  Spirit 
is  doing  in  Catholic  communities.  She 
stated  that  the  Pentecostal  movement’s 
growth  has  been  the  most  rapid  in  the 
Catholic  Church.  It  has  spread  in  a 
variety  of  ways  to  all  countries.  Even  in 
Ireland,  Catholics  and  Protestants  have 
been  brought  together  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Dr.  Ford  noted  three  trends  in  the 
movement:  1)  people  gathered  in  cove- 
nant communities  similar  to  the  Corin- 
thian or  early  Acts  churches;  2)  a more 
mystical  type  of  person  who  goes  to  a 
house  of  prayer  for  a period  of  time 
and  then  goes  back  to  live  in  a parish; 
3)  transients  who  enter  the  movement, 
then  go  back  and  make  a contribution 
in  some  other  area  of  church  life. 

In  the  Catholic  Church,  Ms.  Ford 
credited  the  movement  with  such  changes 
as  married  men  being  ordained  as  dea- 
cons and  the  change  to  using  English 
Scripture.  Many  areas  that  were  ne- 
glected are  now  being  filled  with  love 
and  concern. 

Singing  was  an  important  part  of  the 
festival.  The  songbook  from  last  year 
was  reprinted,  and  singing  began  as 
much  as  fifteen  minutes  before  the  sched- 
uled starting  time  of  the  sessions.  Sev- 
eral local  singing  groups  performed. 

The  small  “search  and  share  groups” 
met  four  times.  Persons  could  choose 


JUNE  12,  1973 


382 


Spirit's  role 
is  stressed 


Young  people  participated  actively  in  the  festival.  The  persons  shown  above  at- 
tended the  Saturday  evening  concert.  The  girls  are  wearing  (Old)  Mennonite  prayer 
coverings. 


The  Spirit’s  role  in  congregational  life, 
in  resolving  conflict,  and  in  becoming 
j whole  persons,  and  the  understanding  of 
! the  Spirit’s  person  and  work  were  major 
themes  of  the  Holy  Spirit  Festival’s 
“searching  and  sharing.” 

Forty-one  “search  and  share”  groups 
were  offered,  most  of  them  four  times. 
Reports  from  the  groups  contained  ex- 
amples of  the  Spirit’s  bringing  new 
power  and  openness  to  persons  and  to 
congregations,  and  removing  the  drab- 
ness and  routine  of  life  and  the  remote- 
ness of  God. 

• In  the  Spirit-filled  marriage  group, 
the  commitment  of  husband  and  wife 
and  the  oneness  of  two  in  marriage  was 
! compared  to  the  commitment  between 
an  individual  and  God  and  the  oneness 
with  Christ.  Complete  oneness  is  a goal 
that  Christian  marriage  partners  are  al- 
ways in  the  process  of  meeting. 

Submission  in  marriage  and  in  the 
relationship  of  an  individual  and  God 
was  defined  as  giving  oneself  to  the 
other.  Although  submission  is  sometimes 
viewed  as  a weakness,  submitting  or  giv- 
ing oneself  to  God  and  to  the  marriage 
I partner  is  really  a strength. 

Important  factors  of  a Spirit-filled  mar- 
j riage  are  companionship,  complementa- 
tion, and  communication.  Each  partner 
must  strive  to  meet  the  spiritual,  psycho- 
logical, and  physical  needs  of  the  other. 


subjects  that  ranged  from  the  role  of 
women  to  biblical  demonology. 

In  these  groups  it  became  evident 
that  there  is  tension  in  many  local  con- 
gregations. One  tension  was  between  the 
free  Pentecostals  and  the  inflexibility  of 
the  church  structure.  A second  tension 
that  came  out  was  the  conflict  between 
the  desire  to  know  and  discipline  the 
brother  and  the  excessive  size  of  many 
congregations. 

The  comparison  between  last  year’s 
festival  and  the  current  activities  was 
made  many  times.  Some  persons  felt 
that  the  high  of  last  year  had  become  a 
kind  of  digging  in  with  the  saints.  Yet, 
during  the  final  open  mike  period,  when 
anyone  could  speak,  a significant  num- 
ber realized  that  the  problem  of  sharing 
the  faith  and  living  with  power  would 
be  harder  tomorrow  when  they  wouldn’t 
be  reinforced  by  the  presence  of  2,000 
like-minded  persons. 


O In  “The  role  of  women,”  the  group 
first  turned  to  the  Genesis  account  that 
male  and  female  were  created  in  the 
image  of  God  to  have  dominion  over 
all  the  earth.  After  the  fall,  male  domi- 
nation and  rigid  sex  roles  characterized 
the  relationship  between  man  and  wom- 
an. 

Jesus  Christ  restored  equality  because 
in  Christ — Jews  and  Gentiles,  slave  and 
free,  men  and  women — are  one. 

Roles  must  be  defined  as  human  roles 
and  men  and  women  must  work  for  fill- 
ing roles  together  in  the  family,  in  the 


congregation,  and  in  other  institutions. 

9 In  the  session,  “Responding  to  so- 
ciety’s hurts,”  the  group  stressed  that 
the  Bible  directs  Christians  to  go  about 
doing  good  to  help  the  poor,  the  blind, 
the  prisoners,  and  the  oppressed  in  the 
world.  Spirit-filled  Christians  must  min- 
ister to  both  the  spiritual  and  physical, 
and  not  just  to  one  or  the  other. 

God  has  given  each  person  a talent 
which  is  part  of  the  whole,  and  Christ 
brings  all  talents  together  for  the  work 
of  the  Spirit.  Persons  cannot  just  be 
zealous  to  do  what  the  Bible  directs, 
but  have  patience  to  do  things  God’s 
way. 

® In  a fourth  group,  “Affluence  and 
life  in  the  Spirit,”  the  distinction  be- 
tween having  wealth,  which  is  permitted 
in  the  Bible,  and  loving  wealth,  which 
is  described  as  the  root  of  all  evil,  was 
discussed.  It  was  pointed  out  that  Jesus 
said  that  persons  should  not  make  in- 
creased possessions  their  goal. 

Such  a goal  is  futile  because  posses- 
sions cannot  be  taken  along  after  death. 
The  goal  is  dangerous  because  seeking 
possessions  constitutes  a major  stumbling 
block  to  discipleship.  And  the  goal  is 
unnecessary  because  spiritual  fellowship 
with  God’s  people  brings  more  security 
than  wealth  does. 


Leonard  Wiebe,  pastor  of  the  Maplewood 
Mennonite  congregation  in  Fort  Wayne, 
Indiana,  was  the  chairman  of  this  year’s 
festival. 


THE  MENNONITE 


383 


Mini-Probe  meetings  possible  at  end  of  year 


Mini-Probe  consultations  on  regional  or 
community  levels  later  this  year  have 
been  suggested  by  the  Home  Ministries 
Council,  an  interdenominational  group 
to  coordinate  Mennonite  mission  and 
service  work  in  North  America. 

The  council,  which  met  in  Chicago 
May  16-17,  asked  its  executive  commit- 
tee to  do  further  planning  for  gatherings 
similar  to  Probe  72,  the  mass  inter-Men- 
nonite  consultation  on  evangelism  last 
year,  but  on  a regional  or  community 
level.  The  date  would  probably  coincide 
with  Phase  VI  of  Key  73,  a time  of 
commitment  and  celebration.  Conveners 
would  be  appointed  in  each  area  with  a 
cluster  of  Mennonite  congregations. 

The  idea  of  another  continentwide  in- 
ter-Mennonite  meeting,  perhaps  in  1975, 
will  be  on  the  agenda  at  the  Home  Min- 
istries Council’s  fall  1973  or  spring  1974 
meetings. 

The  council  agreed  that  Mennonites 
need  something  like  Probe  which  would 
combine  study  and  celebration  of  what 
is  happening  in  congregations,  but  would 
focus  specifically  on  the  “genius  of  the 
Mennonites.” 

We  see  value  in  developing  forms  for 
exchange  of  experiences  from  our  evan- 
gelical witness,  the  council  said. 


The  council  spent  a whole  evening 
with  two  former  members  of  the  Probe 
72  executive  committee,  Norman  Der- 
stine  and  Roy  Just,  discussing  evange- 
lism and  the  relationship  of  word  and 
deed. 

Compartmentalization  of  evangelism 
into  preevangelism  caring,  direct  evan- 
gelism verbalization,  and  postevangelism 
discipleship  was  rejected.  The  group 
agreed  it  didn’t  look  to  voluntary  service 
units  to  do  preevangelism  and  churches 
to  do  direct  evangelism. 

During  vigorous  discussion,  there  were 
calls  for  more  Bible  study  to  establish 
a firmer  foundation  tor  evangelism  ef- 
forts and  also  calls  for  obedience  to 
what  the  church  already  knows. 

“I  can’t  understand  how  Mennonites 
can  talk  about  evangelism  and  God’s 
love  and  then  turn  right  around  and  vote 
for  government  policies  that  repress  the 
poor,”  said  John  Ventura,  Denver. 

Palmer  Becker,  executive  secretary  of 
the  General  Conference  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries,  summarized,  “The  es- 
sence of  the  gospel,  of  the  church,  and 
of  evangelism  is  to  be  found  in  agape 
love.  Neither  eloquent  words  nor  noble 
deeds  amount  to  anything  if  they  are 
not  rooted  in  agape.” 


“For  ten  years  I have  waited  for  this  i t 
time  when  we  could  be  so  open  with 
each  other,”  said  Dwight  Wiebe  of  Men-Wl 
nonite  Brethren  Missions/ Services,  Hills-  Ij 
boro,  Kansas. 

The  Home  Ministries  Council  also 
asked  Mennonite  Central  Committee  to 
take  more  responsibility  in  Indian  min- 
istries. Mcc  was  asked  to  be  in  conversa- 
tion with  Mennonite  denominational  of- 
fices on  new  legislation  concerning  In- 
dians, location  of  human  resources  that 
could  be  helpful  to  denominational  pro- 
grams, and  providing  a channel  of  com- 
munication among  conferences  involved 
in  Indian  ministries. 

The  council  also  agreed  to  a yearly 
consultation  of  staff  persons  involved 
in  offender  ministries,  probably  meeting 
in  conjunction  with  the  Home  Ministries 
Council. 

The  Home  Ministries  Council  includes  ; 
representatives  from  Mennonite  Central  j 
Committee,  General  Conference  Men-  | 
nonite  Church,  Mennonite  Brethren  i 
Church,  Conservative  Mennonite  Church,  ; 
Mennonite  Church,  and  Brethren  in  , 
Christ  Church. 

About  forty  persons  attended  the  May 
meeting.  The  council’s  next  meeting  will  1 
be  October  24-25.  ] 


New  paper  for  pastors 


gets  boost 


i 

i 


A bimonthly  newsletter  to  pastors  will 
be  reinstated,  according  to  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  General  Board  of  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church. 

The  executive  committee,  which  met 
in  Chicago  May  14-15,  said  the  news- 
letter, similar  to  the  Conference  visitor, 
which  was  abolished  in  1971,  would  in- 
clude brief  notices  of  workshops  and 
other  helps  for  the  congregation. 

Conference  staff  had  sent  out  a trial 
Conference  visitor  in  March  with  a sur- 
vey for  pastors.  Those  who  returned  the 
survey  were  in  favor  10  to  1 of  starting 
such  a paper  again. 

The  suggestion  to  reinstate  the  Con- 
ference visitor  originated  in  the  Commis- 
sion on  Education  in  February,  and  a 
survey  of  the  need  for  such  a paper 
was  approved  by  the  General  Board.  A 
final  decision  will  be  made  at  the  Gen- 
eral Board  meeting  in  August. 

In  other  action,  the  General  Board 
executive  committee: 

— instructed  the  Division  of  Admin- 


istration to  work  at  a comprehensive 
study  of  salary  scales  to  bring  to  the 
August  meeting. 

— heard  a report  from  the  committee 
on  the  ministry  concerning  the  position 
paper  on  ordination.  Some  executive 
committee  members  noted  the  tension 
in  the  paper  between  the  priesthood  of 
all  believers  and  the  New  Testament  and 
Anabaptist  practice  of  setting  apart  cer- 
tain leadership  people. 

At  its  meeting  August  16-17,  probably 
in  Wichita,  the  General  Board  will  work 
on  setting  goals  for  the  General  Con- 
ference, with  input  by  board  members 
and  a few  special  resource  people. 

The  General  Board  will  deal  with 
four  main  issues  in  the  conference,  said 
Heinz  Janzen,  general  secretary.  The  is- 
sues are  family  and  home,  the  shape  of 
the  congregation,  Canadian-U.S.  rela- 
tions within  the  conference,  artff  how 
the  conference  can  work  at  theological 
dialog. 

“Presently  no  special  agency  is  ap- 
pointed to  discuss  subjects  like  intention- 


al communities  or  the  charismatic  move- 
ment,” Mr.  Janzen  said. 

i 

Nominations  wanted 
for  1974  conference 

■f 

The  nominating  committee  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  is  looking  for  sugges- 
tions on  who  should  run  for  General 
Conference  offices  and  commission  seats. 

Heinz  Janzen,  general  secretary,  said  [_ 
the  nominating  committee  would  meet 
late  this  year  to  draw  up  a list  of  persons 
to  be  nominated  at  the  triennial  sessions 
of  the  General  Conference  August  3-9, 
1974,  in  St.  Catharines,  Ontario. 

Those  whose  terms  will  end  in  1974 
and  those  who  are  eligible  for  reelection 
can  be  ascertained  from  the  conference’s 
Handbook  of  information,  published  an-  t 
nually. 

Suggestions  for  nominations  may  be  I 
sent  to  Heinz  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton,  f 
Kansas  67114.  ^ 


384 


JUNE  12,  1973  fHi 


— 

CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


June  19,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 


From  the  Bible . . . 

For  none  of  us  lives  for  himself 
only,  none  of  us  dies  for  himself 
only;  if  we  live,  it  is  for  the  Lord 
that  we  live,  and  if  we  die,  it  is  for 
the  Lord  that  we  die.  Whether  we 
live  or  die,  then,  we  belong  to  the 
Lord.  For  Christ  died  and  rose  to 
life  in  order  to  be  the  Lord  of  the 
living  and  of  the  dead.  You,  then — 
why  do  you  pass  judgment  on  your 
brother?  And  you — why  do  you  de- 
spise your  brother?  All  of  us  will 
stand  before  God,  to  be  judged  by 
him.  For  the  Scripture  says,  “As  I 
live,  says  the  Lord,  everyone  will 
kneel  before  me,  and  everyone  will 
declare  that  I am  God.”  Every  one 
of  us,  then,  will  have  to  give  an 
account  of  himself  to  God. 

Romans  14:7-12 

Everything  you  do  or  say,  then, 
should  be  done  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  as  you  give  thanks 
through  him  to  God  the  Father. 

Colossians  3:1 7 


"Jesus  is  Lord 

Biblical  perspectives 
on  life  management  issues 

As  a Christian  community  which  seeks 
to  do  its  thinking,  its  discerning,  and  de- 
cision making  in  the  presence  of  the 
Word,  we  select  two  familiar  passages 
to  begin  these  reflections.  The  first  is 
Romans  14:7-12  (rsv).  The  second  is 
Colossians  3:17  (rsv). 

The  issues  which  lie  behind  these  bib- 
lical statements  were  different  from  the 
particular  issues  of  life  management  we 
think  of  today,  but  there  are  some  sim- 
ilarities and  the  perspectives  are  rele- 
vant and  applicable  now.  The  issues  then 
were  also  controversial.  They  involved 
matters  of  conscience  on  which  sincere 
Christians  differed.  The  basic  perspec- 
tive, however,  is  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Lord  of  life,  not  only  of  the  prayer  life 
of  the  Christian,  not  only  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical life  of  the  congregation,  but  of 
all  human  life  from  before  the  cradle 
until  after  the  grave.  From  the  very 
beginning  of  earthly  human  life,  when- 
ever that  is,  to  the  end  of  the  earthly 
pilgrimage  and  beyond  it,  Christ  is  af- 
firmed to  be  Lord  of  the  living  and  of 
the  dead.  No  aspect  of  life  is  excluded 
from  this  lordship.  In  everything  we  do 
in  word  or  in  deed,  we  do  all  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  to  the  glory 
of  God. 

Until  my  recent  sabbatical  year,  life 
management  issues  seemed  rather  re- 
moved from  my  seminary  desk.  Then 
came  a rapid  succession  of  encounters 
with  literal  life-and-death  issues  which 
are  part  of  the  life  management  dis- 
cussions. In  clinical  pastoral  education 
I was  daily  with  the  hospitalized  and 
was  prodded  to  reflect  on  what  was 
going  on  inside  of  them  and  inside  of 
me  as  well  as  outside  of  us. 

Here  was  John,  whose  kidneys  gave 
out  in  the  middle  years  before  his  family 


of  life" 


Dr.  Erland  Waltner,  president  of  Associated  Men- 
nonite  Biblical  Seminaries,  Elkhart,  Indiana,  pre- 
sented the  main  address  at  conference  repro- 
duced here. 

was  even  grown  up,  and  who  then  had 
a kidney  transplant  at  Ann  Arbor  at 
a cost  of  $38,000.  John  survived  the 
operation  but  then  his  body  began  to 
reject  the  foreign  kidney.  That’s  when 
I came  into  the  picture.  What  now? 
My  task  was  to  feel  with  him  and  to 
think  with  him  about  the  alternatives. 
I discovered  that  John  did  have  some 
thoughts  and  feelings  about  living  with 
an  organ  transplanted  from  another  per- 
son who  had  died  in  some  kind  of  acci- 
dent. What  should  he  do  now?  Try  an- 
other kidney  transplant,  if  available? 
Try  to  live  on  the  kidney  machine  by 
hemodialysis?  I learned  to  know  several 
people  who,  like  John,  were  doing  that 
for  a while  at  the  cost  of  several  hun- 
dred dollars  per  week.  Or  should  he  ac- 
cept death  as  the  best  alternative?  Since 
there  were  obviously  not  going  to  be 
enough  kidneys  to  transplant,  nor  enough 
kidney  machines  to  go  around  to  all  the 
people  needing  them,  I discovered  that 
I was  gradually  becoming  a part  of  a 
team  trying  to  make  some  dreadfully 
hard  decisions,  namely,  who  get  to  live 
and  who  must  be  allowed  to  die. 


ANNUAL  CONFERENCE  EDITION 


'HE  MENNON1TE  A-l 


Dr.  Chester  Raber,  director  of  education  at  Oak- 
lawn  Psychiatric  Center,  guided  group  partici- 
pation and  the  worship  at  opening  session  of 
conference. 


Donald  Steelberg,  chairman  of 
program  committee  and  pastor 
of  First  Mennonite  Church, 
Wadsworth,  Ohio,  consults  with 
Erland  Waltner. 


Dr.  Raber  and  Larry  Voth,  president  of  confer- 
ence, worked  together  closely. 


There  was  Leona,  the  Jehovah’s  Wit- 
ness, a young  mother  also  dying  of  a 
kidney  ailment,  but  refusing  blood  trans- 
fusions on  alleged  religious  and  con- 
science grounds.  The  issues  were  made 
perfectly  clear  to  her  and  to  me  since 
I was  serving  as  a kind  of  chaplain.  The 
doctors  were  urging  me  to  try  to  change 
her  mind.  We  talked  about  it  but  she 
signed  the  written  statement  refusing 
the  transfusion  and  freeing  the  hospital 
and  the  medical  team  of  any  legal  re- 
sponsibility for  her  death.  She  died 
rather  than  violate  what  she  held  to  be 
a matter  of  conscience. 

Then  there  were  the  many  geriatric 
patients  who  wanted  so  desperately  to 
die  and  who  would  try  to  inveigle  nurses 
and  at  times  even  the  chaplain  into  some 
kind  of  cooperation  to  help  them  get  rid 
of  that  machinery  beside  their  beds 
which  was  keeping  them  alive  and  pro- 
longed their  sufferirig  and  delaying  un- 
duly, they  felt,  their  God-given  right 
to  die. 

It  was  in  encounters  like  these  which 
our  people  in  the  health  professions  deal 
with  every  day  that  issues  of  life  man- 
agement became  very  vivid  and  real  to 
me. 

What  we  mean  by  life 
management  issues 

The  issues  of  life  management  are 
varied  and  complex  but  those  we  are 
thinking  about  here  cluster  around  the 
beginnings  of  life  and  the  end  of  life. 
Those  clustering  around  the  beginning 
of  life  would  include  such  matters  as 
family  planning,  including  the  use  of 
contraceptives;  the  issue  of  artificial  in- 
semination; the  issue  of  gene  manipula- 
tion; and  the  issue  of  terminating  preg- 
nancy, commonly  called  abortion. 

Those  centering  around  the  mainte- 
nance and  end  of  life  would  include  the 
prevention  of  suicide,  the  treatment  of 
persons  who  have  attempted  suicide  un- 
successfully, the  issue  of  organ  trans- 
plants to  prolong  life,  and  on  the  other 
side,  the  issue  of  euthanasia,  whether 
in  its  positive  or  negative  forms.  Eutha- 
nasia as  Marilynn  Strayer  has  helpfully 
elaborated,  means  literally  “good  or  hap- 
py death.”  Some  would  call  this  “death 
with  dignity.”  Others  call  it  “mercy 
killing.”  Positive  euthanasia,  favored  by 
very  few,  means  some  kind  of  supportive 
participation  in  the  death  process.  We 
would  say  helping  someone  desiring  it 
to  die.  Negative  euthanasia  means  the 
withdrawal  of  the  life-sustaining  means 
and  processes  at  some  point  in  an  irre- 
versible terminal  illness  when  the  delay 


I 


I 


of  death  can  only  be  a prolongation  of 
suffering. 

It  is  clear  that  in  a conference  like 
this  we  cannot  possibly  discuss  each  of 
these  life-and-death  issues,  but  it  is  im- 
portant for  us  to  recognize  that  when  we 
start  talking  about  abortion  we  are  iden- 
tifying only  one  in  a large  cluster  of 
issues.  Persons  in  the  health  professions 
are  constantly  confronted  with  difficult 
decisions  in  such  matters.  The  church 
often  withdraws  to  a comfortable  dis- 
tance except  when  we  may  be  frightened 
by  the  implications  of  some  new  pat- 
terns moving  either  in  the  direction  of 
more  restrictions  or  greater  liberaliza- 
tion. If  Jesus  Christ  is  indeed  the  Lord 
over  all  of  human  life,  then  none  of  the 
issues  that  we  have  listed  are  outside 
the  scope  of  Christian  concern. 

One  of  our  problems  has  been  that 
these  are  issues  which  we  may  talk  about 
very  privately,  perhaps  in  our  bedrooms, 
but  cannot  talk  about  in  the  more  open 
family  circle  nor  in  the  larger  Christian 
community.  We  may  plead  that  these 
matters  are  too  private  or  that  they  in- 
volve professional  competence  whfch  we 
do  not  have.  On  the  other  hand  each  of 
us  has  feelings  about  such  matters  and 
we  have  reactions  to  positions  which 
others  are  taking.  One  of  the  purposes 
of  this  topic  on  this  conference  program 
is  to  make  us  aware  that  these  are  dis- 
cussible and  that  Christians  carry  a re- 
sponsibility to  think  about  them  and 
to  become  a discerning  community  with 
reference  to  the  spiritual  and  ethical  is- 
sues that  they  involve. 


i 


i 


Some  underlying  observations 


With  a vast  literature  available  on 
life  management  issues,  both  in  periodi- 
cal and  book  form,  I will  not  attempt 
here  to  elaborate  what  you  are  well  able 
to  read  for  yourselves  and  ought  to  read 
on  this  subject.  Let  me  identify,  how- 
ever, briefly  a number  of  observations 
from  these  available  written  resources. 

The  first  is  the  observation  that  there 
is  a difference  of  judgment  on  the  ques- 
tion as  to  precisely  when  human  life 
begins  and  when  it  ends.  On  the  hotly 
debated  issue  of  abortion  laws,  it  makes 
a significant  difference  as  to  whether  i 
we  conceive  of  human  life  beginning  at 
the  time  of  birth  (when  breathing  be- 
gins), the  time  of  viability  (when  the 
fetus  can  survive  outside  of  the  uterus), 
the  beginning  of  brain  activity  in  the  ! 
fetus  (approximately  the  seventh  week 
of  pregnancy),  or  at  the  time  of  con- 
ception itself.  These  alternatives  and  ; 
some  of  their  implications,  you  may  re- 


A-2 


JUNE  19,  1973 


Registering  guests:  Verna  Weaver,  Betty  Jo  Boshart,  and  John 
Bechtel,  general  chairman. 


, Food  line 


call,  were  identified  by  Gayle  and  Ted 
Koontz  in  their  article  on  abortion  in 
the  recent  Central  District  reporter. 

Likewise,  however,  there  is  a question 
as  to  precisely  when  death  occurs.  Is  it 
to  be  linked  with  the  cessation  of  breath- 
ing, with  the  cessation  of  heart  activity, 
or  with  the  cessation  of  brain  activity? 
A current  trend  is  to  use  brain  activity 
as  the  real  test.  To  some  it  may  be  a 
new  thought  that  human  death  takes 
place  in  stages  and  that  different  aspects 
of  man  may  die  at  different  times.  This 
kind  of  question  has  special  meaning  in 
relation  to  the  question  of  organ  trans- 
plants. We  may  have  wondered  how  it 
is  possible  to  take  a living  organ  from 
the  body  of  a dead  person.  Broadly,  of 
course,  we  recognize  the  importance  of 
professional  competence  on  ruling  that 
death  has  actually  occurred.  But  this 
reminds  us  again  that  we  tend  to  refer 
questions  of  this  kind  to  the  health  pro- 
fessions rather  than  grapple  with  the 
basic  issues  involved  for  ourselves. 

A second  observation  is  that  the  loca- 
tion of  decision-making  responsibility  has 
become  a complex  issue.  Who  is  it  that 
should  really  decide  on  the  propriety  of 
a particular  abortion,  for  example,  or 
on  an  undue  delay  of  death  resulting 
in  unnecessary  prolonged  human  suffer- 
ing? In  the  case  of  abortion  there  are 
those  who  press  hard  the  position  that 
this  is  primarily,  if  not  solely,  to  be  the 
decision  of  the  woman,  in  consultation, 
to  be  sure,  with  her  doctor. 

In  the  case  of  the  “prolongation  of 
life”  especially  in  geriatric  cases,  another 
ethical  system  seems  to  prevail.  There 
this  kind  of  decision  is  commonly  re- 
moved from  the  patient  and  is  left  either 
to  the  discretion  of  the  doctor,  the  med- 
ical team,  or  perchance  to  a joint  deci- 
sion made  between  the  doctor  and  the 
family. 

In  the  most  recent  issue  of  the  Chris- 
tian century  Professor  C.  Eric  Lincoln 
of  Union  Theological  Seminary  of  New 
York  writes  on  “Why  I reversed  my 
stand  on  laissez-faire  abortion.”  Here  is 
an  intriguing  confession  on  the  part  of 
a person  who  six  years  ago  helped  to 
provide  theological  support  for  a liberali- 
zation of  abortion  laws  but  who  now  on 
seeing  how  this  works  in  practice,  ab- 
hors the  “bloodletting”  which  has  re- 
sulted. He  recognizes  that  the  liberali- 
zation of  these  laws  has  led  to  regret- 
table abuse  of  something  which  was  in- 
tended to  be  socially  humanizing  and 
liberating.  Strikingly  in  this  article  he 
deplores  both  the  “bloodletting”  in  Viet- 
nam (military  activity)  and  the  “blood- 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-3 


Chet  Raber  and  small  group 


out  of  the  rut  of  a privatistic  matter. 

A fourth  observation  has  to  do  with 
the  role  of  laws  themselves  in  relation 
to  the  morals  of  a religiously  pluralistic 
society.  Not  always  in  the  discussions 
have  we  distinguished  clearly  enough  be- 
tween the  Christian  ethic  community  or 
even  the  ethics  of  a particular  Christian 
community,  let  us  say  of  pacifist  per- 
suasion, and  the  laws  which  are  made  to 
govern  a large  society  made  up  of  both 
Christians  and  non-Christians,  of  paci- 
fists and  nonpacifists. 

It  is  one  thing  to  ask  what  should  a 
Christian  woman  do  who  has  become  un- 
willingly pregnant  either  through  crim- 
inal rape  or  an  unplanned  situation  with- 
in the  marriage  bond.  It  is  another  thing 
to  ask  what  laws  should  govern  the 
medical  profession  in  serving  the  needs 
of  pregnant  women  whether  Christian 
or  non-Christian,  rich  or  poor,  healthy 
or  unhealthy. 

That  laws  have  been  used  to  seek  to 
control  human  behavior  at  broad  socially 
acceptable  levels  is  granted,  but  whether 
Christians  and  especially  one  particular 
group  of  Christians  should  seek  to  im- 
pose their  understanding  of  morality  on 
a larger  society  by  means  of  law  be- 
comes another  kind  of  issue. 

Basic  biblical  perspectives 

What  then  are  the  basic  biblical  per- 
spectives which  throw  light  on  some  of 
these  life  management  issues?  Of  these 
I would  identify  three,  namely,  (1)  the 
biblical  view  of  the  sacredness  of  human 
life,  (2)  the  biblical  view  of  the  nature 
and  bounds  of  human  freedom,  and  (3) 
the  biblical  view  of  human  accounta- 
bility. All  three  of  these  are  implicit  in 
the  biblical  passage  with  which  we  began 
these  reflections  and  all  three  are  writ- 
ten largely  in  the  pages  of  both  Old  and 
New  Testaments. 

The  biblical  view  of  the  sacredness  of 
human  life. 

The  Bible  affirms  throughout  that  hu- 
man life  has  its  ultimate  origin  in  God 
and  that  it  returns  to  God.  In  a pro- 
found sense  man  belongs  to  God  who 


- 


m. 


Eunice  Jackso 


letting”  involved  in  abortion  (medical 
activity).  He  says,  “In  our  continuing 
retreat  from  responsibility,  we  are  too 
ready  to  wipe  out  the  consequences  of 
our  private  and  our  public  acts  with  a 
shrug  and  resort  to  blood.  But  there  are 
consequences  to  human  behavior — eco- 
nomic, political,  social,  psychological, 
and  sexual;  and  neither  the  bayonet  nor 
the  scalpel  is  the  ideal  means  of  setting 
things  straight.” 

Such  second  thoughts  on  the  part  of 
those  who  in  idealism  helped  to  bring 
about  the  new  liberal  climate  on  abor- 
tion ought  not  to  be  taken  lightly  in  our 
own  reflections  on  this  matter. 

A third  observation  is  that  discussions 
on  life  management  issues  often  get  con- 
fused because  they  are  unclear  about 
individual  “roles,  rights,  and  responsi- 
bilities” which  different  persons  in  a 
situation  may  have.  In  the  case  of  an 
abortion  there  is  the  woman  who  is 
pregnant.  There  is  the  doctor.  There  is 
also  the  fetus,  whether  thought  of  as 
a “potential  person”  or  as  a “real  per- 
son” not  yet  able  to  represent  him  or 
herself.  But  beyond  this,  as  Professor 
Lincoln  points  out,  pregnancy  does  not 
take  place  without  a man.  Why  is  it 
that  discussions  on  abortions  have  in- 
volved so  little  the  role  and  the  respon- 
sibility (and  possibly  also  the  rights)  of 
the  man  contributing  to  this  situation? 
Also  left  out  of  the  picture  has  been  the 
rest  of  the  family,  whether  parents,  other 
children,  or  other  persons  closely  re- 
lated. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  situation,  too 
little  attention  has  been  given  to  the 
role,  the  rights,  and  the  responsibilities 
of  nurses  who  have  been  drawn  into  the 
aborting  process,  sometimes  with  a trau- 
matic sense  of  guilt  and  revulsion.  Psy- 
chological studies  are  far  from  complete 
or  convincing  on  the  psychological  im- 
pact of  abortion,  but  the  cases  of  trauma 
for  nurses  involved  are  by  no  means 
few  nor  insignificant.  Why  has  this  not 
been  given  more  consideration?  Vem 
Ratzlaff  in  his  comments  on  abortion 
published  in  the  January  issue  of  forum 
is  helpful  in  taking  seriously  the  social 
or  public  meaning  of  abortion,  lifting  it 


Robert  Hartzler 


MCC  display  bo 


Harry  Martens 
Roy  Kaufman's  daughter 


Edward  Stucky 


Jacob  Friesen,  Bruno  Penner,  Ward  Shelly  at 
hearing. 


Chet  Raber  and  Ben  Sprunger,  presi- 
dent of  Bluffton  College. 


George  Dick 


has  both  created  him  and  redeemed  him 
through  Jesus  Christ.  Life  is  both  a gift 
and  a trust  over  which  man  exercises  a 
stewardship.  Genesis  tells  us  that  “the 
Lord  God  formed  man  of  dust  from  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils 
the  breath  of  life;  and  man  became  a 
living  being”  (Gen.  2:7).  The  Hebrew 
word  nephesh  used  here  implies  “the 
idea  of  a deep  unshakable  unity  of  the 
living  being.”  Biblically,  human  life  is 
seen  in  its  wholeness  rather  than  in 
terms  of  separable  parts.  Another  He- 
brew word  used  to  denote  human  life, 
hayyim,  is  almost  always  used  in  the 
plural,  emphasizing  the  notion  that  hu- 
man life  is  to  be  seen  in  fulness  and 
intensity.  This  lifts  human  life  above  the 
level  of  mere  “biological  existence.”  It 
means  in  a profound  sense  that  biological 
existence  is  not  what  the  Bible  sees  as 
true  human  life.  Judeo-Christian  con- 
cern, therefore,  can  never  be  satisfied 
simply  with  keeping  persons  alive.  It 
must  be  concerned  about  their  wholeness 
and  fullness  as  a part  of  the  divine  in- 
tention of  humanity.  The  high  value 
placed  on  human  life  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  expressed  also  in  the  command- 
ment “Thou  shall  not  kill  (murder).” 

This  perspective  is  further  reflected 
in  the  New  Testament  where  three 
Greek  words  for  life  are  used,  namely, 
zoe,  the  more  common  and  general  term 
for  life;  psyche,  which  translates  the 
Hebrew  nephesh,  meaning  “the  breath 
of  life,”;  and  bios,  the  least  frequent, 
which  views  human  life  in  terms  of  its 
modes,  its  circumstances,  and  its  re- 
sources. 

The  New  Testament  reaffirms  that 
God  alone  is  the  dispenser  and  sustainer 
of  life,  but  that  it  is  his  intention  that 
man  shall  experience  the  wholeness  of 
life  which  includes  communion  with  him. 
This  is  possible  through  a faith/love 
participation  in  him  who  said,  “I  am 
come  that  they  might  have  life  and  that 
they  might  have  it  more  abundantly” 
(John  10:10).  “I  am  the  resurrection 
and  the  life,  he  that  believeth  on  me 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live, 
and  whoever  lives  and  believes  on  me 
shall  never  die”  (John  11:25). 

All  of  this  adds  up  to  a strong  affirma- 


Betty  Jo  Boshart,  secretary;  Paul  Goering,  host 
pastor. 


tion  of  the  high  value  which  the  divine 
perspective,  as  perceived  in  Scripture, 
places  on  human  life.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Bible  does  not  imprison  the  meaning 
of  earthly  existence  within  the  bounds 
of  the  “threescore  years  and  ten”  of  an 
earthly  pilgrimage.  This  is  the  gloriously 
liberating  theology  of  the  resurrection. 
Certainly  the  concept  of  life  beyond  the 
confines  of  earthly  human  existence  has 
tremendous  significance  for  our  thinking 
about  life  and  death  issues. 

The  biblical  view  of  the  nature  and 
bounds  of  human  freedom. 

The  Bible  sees  human  life  as  endowed 
with  the  capacity  of  choice.  Man  is  seen 
as  intended  for  freedom.  This  freedom, 
however,  is  not  absolute.  To  speak  of 
human  freedom  is  not  to  say,  from  the 
biblical  point  of  view,  that  each  human 
being  is  totally  free  to  do  what  in  a given 
moment  or  situation  he  may  feel  like 
doing. 

The  Bible  then,  along  with  B.  F.  Skin- 
ner in  Beyond  dignity  and  freedom,  re- 
jects romantic  notions  about  human  free- 
dom which  turn  out  to  be  unrealistic 
and  frequently  destructive.  Pursuing  a 
completely  different  alternative  than 
Skinner,  however,  the  biblical  view  sees 
freedom  to  be  found  in  God,  in  a dis- 
cernment and  in  doing  of  his  will,  thus 
transcending  the  confines  of  self-decep- 
tive self-centeredness.  Again  in  line  with 
this  the  New  Testament  presents  the  way 
to  true  human  freedom  to  be  participa- 
tion in  Jesus  Christ  in  discipleship.  It 
was  he  who  said  to  those  who  believed 
in  him,  “If  you  continue  in  my  word, 
you  are  truly  my  disciples,  and  you  will 
know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  will  make 
you  free”  (John  8:31-32). 

This  human  freedom  in  Christ,  how- 
ever, is  understood  not  only  as  a “free- 
dom from”  all  that  binds,  but  it  is  un- 
derstood as  “freedom  for”  the  service 
of  God  and  man  (Gal.  5:13,  1 Peter 
2:16). 

When  we  seek  to  discuss  life  manage- 

Continued  on  p.  12 


John  Burke,  Jr. 


Composite  of  three  funds 

Performance  1972 


Ann  Arbor,  Mich. 

Apostolic,  Trenton,  Ohio 
Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo. 

Bethel,  Pekin,  111. 

Boynton,  Hopedale,  111. 

Calvary,  Washington,  111. 
Carlock,  111. 

Comins,  Mich. 

Community,  Markham,  Dl. 
Congerville,  111. 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio 
Eicher,  Wayland,  Iowa 
Eighth  St.,  Goshen,  Ind. 

First,  Berne,  Ind. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio 
First,  Champaign-Urbana,  111. 
First,  Chicago,  111. 

First,  Lima,  Ohio 
First,  Nappanee,  Ind. 

First,  Normal,  111. 

First,  Sugarcreek,  Ohio 
First,  Wadsworth,  Ohio 
Flanagan,  Dl. 

Grace,  Chicago,  111. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio 
Hively  Ave.,  Elkhart,  Ind. 
Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 
Meadows,  111. 

Neil  Ave.,  Columbus,  Ohio 
North  Danvers,  Danvers,  111. 
Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio 
Pleasant  Oaks,  Middlebury,  Ind. 
Pulaski,  Pulaski,  Iowa 
Salem,  Kidron,  Ohio 
Silver  St.,  Goshen,  Ind. 

St.  Paul,  Pandora,  Ohio 
Summerfleld,  111. 

Summit  Christian  Fellowship, 
Barbarton,  Ohio 
Tiskilwa,  111. 

Topeka,  Ind. 

United,  Peoria,  HI. 

Wayland,  Iowa 
Zion,  Donnellson,  Iowa 
Zion,  Goodland,  Ind. 


TOTALS 


General 

Fund 


477.49 

239.40 

110.55 

1,800.00 

623.00 

554.80 

300.20 


250.00 

1,467.00 

5,250.33 

2,203.75 


480.00 

1.170.00 

1.032.00 

1.180.00 
311.60 

136.20 
1,641.60 

456.00 

515.00 
809.40 

283.00 

794.20 

1.505.00 

368.00 
1,182.40 

1.045.00 

450.00 
423.05 

200.00 

75.00 

350.21 

760.00 

200.00 

1.255.00 

900.00 

190.00 


$30,344.18 


Missions 


$ 150.00 

259.34 

284.00 
549.25 

2,665.50 

1,057.00 

300.00 
278.63 

3.00 

451.69 

1,751.87 

5,797.93 

1,126.86 


372.00 

550.00 
1,805.17 
1,000.00 

1.450.00 

369.00 

2.244.00 

540.00 

700.00 
646.42 

1,674.35 

436.50 

1,363.50 

900.00 

560.00 
186.66 

300.00 

86.75 

285.10 

897.25 

813.57 

305.38 


$32,154.72 


Camp 

Friedenswald 


221.00 

107.95 

721.10 

250.00 

276.50 


320.70 

1,168.16 

1,549.29 

746.09 


250.00 
1,429.21 

350.00 
1,209.15 

149.50 

954.91 

420.00 

475.00 
389.70 

127.66 

339.30 

112.63 

705.00 

528.00 


90.30 

147.51 

315.00 

233.35 

164.50 


Tofal 


$ 150.00 

736.83 
744.40 
767.75 
5,186.60 
623.00 
1,861.80 
876.70 
278.63 
3.00 
1,022.39 
4,387.03 
12,597.55 
4,076.70 


372.00 
1,280.00 
4,404.38 

2.382.00 
3,839.15 

830.10 

136.20 

4.840.51 

1.416.00 

1.690.00 

1.845.52 

283.00 
2,596.21 

1.505.00 
1,143.80 

2.658.53 

2.650.00 

1.538.00 
603.71 

500.00 

161.75 

440.51 

1,192.61 

515.00 
2,152.2  5 
1,946.92 

659.88 


$13,751.71  $76,350.41 


Yearbook  1972 


ing  actions  were  taken  on  behalf  of  the 


Central  District  Conference: 

1.  Property  at  7243  Ashland  Avenue, 
Chicago  (“Youth  center”)  was  sold 
to  the  Baptist  Conference. 

2.  Woodlawn  Church  building,  Chicago, 
was  sold  to  the  South  Side  Missionary 
Baptist  Church,  whose  church  build- 
ing had  been  destroyed  by  fire. 
$13,650. 

3.  Peoria  Gospel  Church  payments  have 
been  received  on  schedule,  although 
the  property  is  subleased  by  the  j 
original  purchasers. 

4.  First  Mennonite  Ch/urch,  Chicago,  jj 
parsonage  was  rented  out  following 
termination  of  Pastor  Arthur  Jackson. 

5.  Repairs  authorized  to  the  4606  Wood- 
lawn,  Chicago,  apartment  building. 
All  three  apartments  are  rented  pres- 
ently. 

All  actions  were  taken  in  consultation 
with  the  conference  executive  committee 
and  local  responsible  persons.  La  Mar 
Reichert  and  Leslie  Lehman. 


A-6 


JUNE  19,  1973 


Missions  committee  reports 


During  the  past  few  years,  the  number 
of  churches  receiving  financial  aid  has 
decreased  because  some  have  become 
self-supporting  and  at  other  locations 
work  has  terminated  or  the  sponsoring 
person  has  left.  Other  work  has  been 
supported  and  areas  of  new  work  ex- 
plored. 

Campus  ministry.  We  continue  to  sup- 
port the  Champaign,  Illinois,  Menno- 
nite  Church  as  well  as  the  Neil  Ave. 
Mennonite  Church  in  Columbus,  Ohio. 
Both  of  these  churches  have  dual  finan- 
cial support  of  the  Central  District  and 
supporting  agencies  of  the  Mennonite 
General  Conference  Church  (Old  Men- 
nonite). Both  churches  are  located  in 
cities  where  large  universities  are  lo- 
cated. Both  attempt  to  have  meaningful 
outreach  and  dialog  with  Mennonite  and 
other  students  on  campus.  In  both  cases 
our  support  is  designated  as  support  to 
the  minister  so  that  he  can  allocate  part 
j of  his  time  for  student  contact  and  rela- 
tionships. Again  in  both  churches  the 
fellowship  is  basically  self-supporting. 
The  fellowships  are  not  large  but  have 
a meaningful  ministry.  Because  in  most 
instances  students  are  transient  residents, 
the  turnover  rate  of  participating  mem- 
bers is  high  and  attendance  fluctuates 
according  to  the  number  of  students 
t wishing  to  become  involved  in  the  life 
of  the  church. 

Markham.  For  several  years  Markham 
has  been  able  to  carry  the  financial  load 
as  far  as  their  local  church  budget  was 
concerned.  The  church  was,  however, 
encumbered  with  a sizable  debt  on  its 
church  building.  The  missions  committee 
felt  it  would  be  helpful  if  our  portion 
of  support  would  go  for  debt  reduction 
and  let  the  congregational  support  go 
for  church  program.  During  the  year 
the  debt  has  been  reduced  to  about 
$8,000.  If  giving  continues  to  be  good 
we  believe  we  can  retire  this  debt  dur- 
ing 1973. 

First  Mennonite,  Chicago.  In  Septem- 
ber Arthur  Jackson,  terminated  this  pas- 
toral responsibility  at  the  First  Menno- 
nite Church.  The  group  was  quite  small 
but  did  not  want  to  disband  nor  loose 
their  Mennonite  identity  nor  close  their 
affiliation  with  the  Central  District.  They 
have  called  John  H.  Burke  to  serve  as 
their  pastor.  Mr.  Burke,  though  of  Bap- 
tist background,  is  also  interested  in 
maintaining  a Mennonite  witness  at 
First.  Mr.  Burke  has  a full-time  job  and 
gives  weekends  for  pastoral  leadership. 


Attendance  is  up  and  we  hope  will  con- 
tinue to  grow.  Because  Mr.  Burke  is 
working  part  time  our  subsidy  to  the 
church  is  decreased. 

During  1973  we  will  be  supporting 
two  additional  projects.  We  will  be  as- 
suming $2,500  support  for  the  campus 
pastor,  Bluffton  College.  During  the  past 
two  years  the  Wadsworth  Mennonite 
Church  has  helped  support  a seminary 
student  pastor  at  the  college.  Tentative 
college  plans  call  for  a broader  local 
church  support  for  a campus  pastor  to 
involve  as  many  churches  as  possible 
from  both  the  Central  and  Eastern  dis- 
tricts. We  contemplate  a three-year  di- 
minishing support  until  this  broader  base 
support  develops. 

Partly  Dave  coffeehouse  ministry.  For 
about  seven  years  the  personnel  of  the 
coffeehouse  has  had  meaningful  contact 
with  many  young  people  of  the  Elkhart 
area.  At  present  one  full-time  and  a 
half-time  person  are  working  to  give 
leadership  to  the  work.  Support  has 
come  from  local  supporting  churches 
and  supporting  individuals.  Some  income 
is  also  generated  from  the  coffeehouse. 
The  missions  committee  responded  to 
their  request  for  help  by  designating 
$1,000  in  1973  to  be  used  to  help  sup- 
port a seminary  student  or  other  person 
to  enable  them  to  continue  their  out- 
reach. 

The  evangelism  task  force  of  the  mis- 
sions committee  has  again  sponsored  the 
evangelism  weekend  at  Camp  Friedens- 
wald.  Attendance  was  down  from  the 
previous  year  primarily  because  of  diffi- 
culty with  scheduling.  A similar  pro- 
gram is  planned  for  1973.  In  addition, 
the  task  force  sponsored  by  Dave  Whit- 
ermore,  who  brought  a Key  73  empha- 
sis at  meetings  at  Fort  Wayne,  Bluffton, 
Columbus,  and  Carlock. 

New  work.  Considerable  time  was 
spent  trying  to  decide  the  location  and 
method  of  additional  work.  Should  it  be 
traditional  by  calling  a man  and  send- 
ing him  to  a designated  area?  Should  we 
encourage  house  fellowships?  Should  we 
try  to  help  the  local  congregations  in 
their  outreach?  Should  we  call  people 
from  congregations  to  go  out  to  plant 
new  churches?  Should  we  urge  interested 
persons  in  strategic  locations  to  become 
self-supporting  pastors  and  try  to  draw 
together  a fellowship?  Should  we  co- 
operate with  other  Mennonite  groups 
(e.g.  (Old)  Mennonite,  mcc)?  If  we 
support  new  work,  where  should  it  be? 


Harry  Yoder,  Russel  Oyer 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  Howard  Culp,  Faith  and  Life 
bookstore. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-7 


During  1972  the  missions  committee 
commissioned  Stan  Bohn  to  do  a study 
on  the  feasibility  of  Cincinnati.  Stan  did 
this  and  his  findings  were  given  to  the 
committee.  Stan  has  also  had  contact 
with  interested  persons  in  St.  Louis  and 
this  remains  a possibility.  The  missions 
committee  is  planning  for  Dave  Whiter- 
more  to  embark  on  “Operation  Paul.” 
We  have  asked  Dave  to  spend  part  of 


his  time  for  a six-months  period  to  visit 
ten  to  fifteen  cities  in  our  Central  Dis- 
trict area,  to  visit  interested  persons  and 
see  if  by  these  visits  the  nucleus  for  a 
new  fellowship  can  crystalize. 

We  welcome  your  questions  about  the 
activity  of  the  missions  committee.  We 
also  welcome  your  counsel  and  advice 
as  new  work  is  considered. 


Chicago  pastors,  Alvin  Voth,  John  Burke,  and 
Larry  Voth. 


Lola  Friesen,  Ellene  Miller,  Rose  Diller,  Vernon  Sprunger,  Gerald  Stucky, 
Laura  Oyer. 


Mammie  Burke,  Ruth  Morgan,  Eunice  Jackson,  John  Burke 


Missions  budget  1973 

First  Mennonite  Church,  Chicago $ 4,800 

First  Mennonite  Church,  Champaign-Urbana  3,000 

Ohio  University  campus  ministry  (Neil  Ave.  Mennonite  Church) l’sOO 

Bluffton  College  campus  ministry  2 500 

Partly  Dave  teen-age  youth  ministry  1,000 

Operation  “Paul”  4 000 

Markham  “Debt  free  in  73”  7 000 

New  work  7 000 

Evangelism  task  force  ’200 


Dr.  and  Mrs.  S.  F.  Pannabecker 


$31,600 


JUNE  19,  1973  jf 


A-8 


Friedenswald 


Phyllis  Baumgartner 


Peace  and  service  committee 
questions  invisible  war 

For  a number  of  years  the  war  in  the 
southeast  Asia  has  been  a major  concern 
of  the  peace  and  service  committee.  Now 
that  this  conflict  is  being  phased  out,  we 
are  also  changing  our  priorities  and  re- 
directing our  energies.  With  no  more 
draft  calls,  for  example,  our  support  of 
draft  counseling  is  no  longer  needed. 

Or  is  it?  In  the  fiscal  year  1972,  there 
were  952  Junior  rotc  units  operating 
in  local  high  schools.  This  means  that 
142,000  boys,  aged  14  to  18,  were  being 
taught  military  discipline  and  the  efficient 
use  of  weapons.  Is  this  an  acceptable 
alternative  to  the  draft?  Should  our  draft 
counseling  be  enlarged  and  extended  so 
that  we  have  a Peacemaker  Corps  for 
every  rotc  unit? 

The  way  of  peace  is  a continuing 
search  for  a way  of  fife.  Our  traditional 
nonresistant  stance  must  move  as  society 
moves,  or  we  will  lose  our  effective  wit- 
ness. Peace  is  a continuing  search  for 
a way  of  life.  Our  traditional  nonresistant 
stance  must  move  as  society  moves,  or 
we  will  lose  our  effective  witness.  Peace 
committees  are  still  necessary,  even 
when  there  is  no  visible  war. 

Six  cabins  winterized, 
new  land  cleared 

Things  happened  at  Camp  Friedenswald 
this  past  year!  Enrollment  was  up  during 
1972,  with  largest  increases  shown  in  the 
youth  summer  retreats  and  rental  groups. 
Over-all  attendance  increased  by  1,500 
groups  over  1972  to  a total  of  6,286.  This 
represents  135  groups  accommodated 
and  over  50,000  meals  served.  One  new 
innovation  in  the  summer  program  was 


Friedenswald  hearing  led  by  Lucretia  Wilson 


the  people’s  retreat  near  the  end  of 
summer  which  was  open  to  all  age 
groups. 

For  more  functional  use  of  the  camp’s 
facilities  year  round,  six  cabins  in  the 
girls’  area  were  winterized  with  small 
gas  heaters  and  fireplaces.  The  bath- 
house was  also  winterized,  a new  well 
drilled,  and  new  underground  wiring 
was  installed  in  this  area.  In  the  kitchen 
a deep-fat  fryer  was  installed  (donated 
by  the  wma  societies  of  the  conference), 
and  new  boats  were  added  at  the  beach. 
A gift  of  140  five-inch  foam  mattresses 
puts  all  the  beds  in  good  condition.  Re- 
cently erected  for  the  storage  of  main- 
tenance equipment  was  a new  24  x 30 
steel  building. 

The  new  acreage  purchased  last  year 
has  become  a part  of  the  camp  program 
with  selected  clearing  and  trail  making. 
The  clearing  of  about  ten  acres  that  had 
been  marl  pit  was  cleared,  and  seeding 
and  landscaping  are  planned  for  the  fu- 
ture. 

Youth  ministry  important, 
says  education  committee 

We  feel  youth  ministries  are  a very  im- 
portant part  of  our  committee  assign- 
ment. You  are  all  aware  that  several 
years  ago  the  district  ypu  cabinet  was 
dissolved  and  a concept  of  area  coordi- 
nators was  developed.  We  feel  this  con- 
cept is  good  but  due  to  geography,  time 
scheduling,  budget,  etc.  we  feel  a sense 
of  failure  in  this  area.  However,  we  are 
making  a concerted  effort  and  giving  this 
top  priority  in  1973. 

Ben  Rahn  is  our  district  youth  min- 
istry coordinator  with  the  following  area 
coordinators:  eastern  Ohio,  Mr.  and 

Mrs.  Bruce  Kind;  western  Ohio,  George 
Leppert;  Indiana,  Floyd  Quenzer;  Illi- 
nois, Don  Nester;  and  Iowa,  Dick  Kas- 
senbaum. 

The  weekend  of  April  7 our  commit- 
tee sponsored  a married  couples’  retreat 
at  Camp  Friedenswald.  We  feel  a sig- 
nificant part  of  Christian  education  must 
focus  upon  family  life.  The  relationships 
(or  lack  of  relationships)  in  the  home 
affect  nearly  all  other  activities  in  our 
lives  either  positively  or  negatively.  The 
strength  of  the  Christian  home  rests  on 
the  growing  love-sharing  relationship  of 
father  and  mother.  Those  attending  these 
retreats  report  with  enthusiasm  their  dis- 
covery of  deeper  levels  of  sharing  and 
renewal  in  their  home  and  personal  re- 
lationships. Another  such  retreat  is 
scheduled  for  the  weekend  of  March 
10,  1974. 


THE  MENNONITE  A-9 


Conference  minister  cites  spiritual  growth 


Jacob  T.  Friesen 

On  the  walls  of  my  mother’s  kitchen 
on  the  farm  were  the  embroidered 
words,  “He  cares.”  These  words  gather 
up  the  compassion  of  one  “who  went 
about  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  king- 
dom.” 

God  cares!  That  is  the  good  news. 
God  cares  enough  to  do  something  about 
it.  That  is  the  good  news  of  Jesus 
Christ.  “Jesus  had  compassion  and  heal- 
ed them”  (Matt.  14:4).  There  can  be 
no  doubt  about  the  goal  Jesus  had  for 
his  life. 

“The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me. 

He  has  anointed  me  to  preach  the 
good  news  to  the  poor. 

He  has  sent  me  to  proclaim  liberty 
to  the  captives  and  recovery  of  sight  to 
the  blind. 

To  set  free  the  oppressed, 

To  announce  the  year  when  the  Lord 
will  save  his  people”  (Luke  4:18-19). 
What  is  your  life  goal?  Is  this  evident 
in  your  priorities?  Are  your  special  gifts 
utilized  to  reach  your  priority  goals? 

The  phrase  evangelism-that-cares  has 
given  me  a new  perspective  on  the  good 
news.  The  word-deed  of  the  Bible  can 
be  translated  into  “sharing-caring.”  Shar- 
ing the  good  news  includes  caring  for 
the  whole  person.  Persons  who  have  dis- 
covered the  wholeness  of  Jesus  may  be- 
come models  of  the  Jesus  kind  of  whole- 
ness. A few  of  the  many  sounds  in  this 
symphony  of  wholeness  are:  compas- 
sion, kindness,  lowliness,  meekness,  and 
patience,  forbearing  one  another,  forgiv- 
ing each  other,”  as  the  Lord  has  for- 
given you,  so  you  also  must  forgive  and 
above  all  these,  put  on  love,  which  binds 
everything  together  in  perfect  harmony” 
(Col.  3:12-14). 


Evangelism-that-cares — goal 
setting  and  Key  73 

A large  number  of  congregations  have 
accepted  goal-setting  as  a handle  to  plug 
into  Key  73.  Many  program  ideas  are 
being  implemented  in  each  successive 
phase  of  Key  73.  Evangelism-that-cares 
— goal  setting  is  a tool  to  assist  a local 
congregation  to  take  an  intelligent  and 
honest  look  at  the  community,  the 
church’s  past  performance,  and  present 
membership  needs  as  the  basis  for  for- 


mulating specific  and  measurable  possi- 
bility goals  of  where  God  wants  the 
membership  to  be  one  year  from  now. 

Church  planting  is  a natural  and  nec- 
essary part  of  the  sharing-caring  com- 
munity of  faith.  The  General  Conference 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries  has 
asked  David  Whitermore  to  give  time 
assisting  districts  and  local  congregations 
to  develop  not  only  a “come  and  see” 
witness  strategy  but  a “go  and  live  with” 
strategy.  We  need  to  spawn  satellite 
congregations  of  concern  where  people 
live  and  hurt  or  where  a nucleus  of  con- 
cerned Christians  are  ready  to  become 
a house  church.  Key  73  can  become  the 
launching  date  for  a new  creative  strat- 
egy of  church  planting. 


Living,  active  congregations 

This  is  more  than  a motto.  God  is  at 
work  in  very  specific  ways  in  the  con- 
gregations of  the  Central  District.  Sun- 
day morning  worship  is  no  longer  busi- 
ness as  usual.  There  is  a great  deal  of 
searching  and  sharing  to  make  this  hour 
increasingly  meaningful.  Lay  involve- 
ment is  the  rule  rather  than  the  excep- 
tion. Open  sharing  is  creating  stronger 
feelings  of  identity  and  trust.  Youth  is 
often  involved.  Children’s  needs  are  not 
forgotten. 

Congregations  are  becoming  aware  of 
the  people  who  hurt.  Individuals  and 
groups  are  taking  initiative  to  visit  the 
local  jail  and  are  speaking  with  respon- 
sible people  in  the  community. 

Evidence  of  Christian  concern  is  seen 
in  renovation  of  abandoned  school  build- 
ings for  community  youth  programs; 
volunteers  for  probation;  the  local  ywca 
building,  instead  of  being  demolished,  be- 
comes the  center  for  helping  hurting  peo- 
ple; healing  services  for  personal  spiritual 
wholeness;  families  become  temporary 
foster  homes  for  welfare  children  wait- 
ing for  adoption;  and  ministry  to  the  sen- 
ior citizens.  Beyond  the  traditional  gather- 
ings of  our  local  congregations  there  is 
a vast  network  of  concerned  involve- 
ment which  gives  evidence  of  God  at 
work  through  persons  who  care.  Further 
testimony  is  recorded  in  the  “living,  ac- 
tive congregations”  section  of  the  Re- 
porter. 


Jacob  Friesen,  conference  minister 


Marriage  enrichment 

■ 

Many  sectors  of  the  Christian  church 
are  providing  small  group  experiences 
as  weekend  retreats  or  seminars  helping 
newly  married  as  well  as  long-time  mar- 
ried adults  examine  their  relationship 
and  discover  new  growing  edges  both 
for  personal  spiritual  maturity  and  en- 
riched family  living. 

One  district  of  our  General  Confer- 
ence sponsored  a series  of  marriage  en- 
richment seminars  in  the  district  with 
a resource  person  present.  Our  district 
has  planned  one  each  year  at  Camp 
Friedenswald.  This  unique  and  renewing 
experience  should  become  a part  of  ev- 
ery husband  and  wife. 

This  year  has  been  one  of  adjustment 
and  opening  of  new  relationships  of  trust 
for  my  family.  We  have  appreciated  the 
prayers  and  expressions  of  interest  from 
so  many  of  the  people  in  our  district. 

I am  deeply  grateful  for  the  opportunity 
to  serve  as  your  conference  minister. 
May  I assure  you  that  your  counsel  and 
criticism  are  appreciated.  I am  painfully 
aware  of  unfulfilled  expectations.  May 
God  grant  to  each  of  us  the  spirit  of 
patient  love,  and  creative  adventure  as 
we  seek  to  do  God’s  work  in  the  name 
of  his  son,  Jesus  Christ. 


JUNE  19,  1973 


r 


A-10 


Offender  ministry  statement 


The  offender  ministry  statement  to  cen- 
tral district  conference  by  executive  com- 
mittee in  consultation  with  the  CD 
peace  and  service  committee  reads  as 
follows: 

1.  That  we  as  a district  conference 
focus  our  offender  ministry  in  local  or 
regional  areas  rather  than  on  a confer- 
encewide level. 

2.  That  we  seek  inter-Mennonite  and 
interchurch  cooperation  in  our  offender 
ministry  whenever  possible. 

3.  That  we  help  to  identify  and  make 
available  leadership  to  gather  informa- 
tion for  local  and  regional  groups  in- 
terested in  developing  a ministry  to  the 
offender.  This  short-term  leadership  to 
be  financed  from  district  funds. 

4.  That  the  peace  and  service  com- 
mittee is  prepared  to  assist  local  or  re- 
gional groups  in  planning  an  offender 
ministry  seminar. 


5.  That  the  peace  and  service  com- 
mittee, through  the  conference  office, 
will  be  an  information  center  for  persons 
interested  in  any  aspect  of  offender  min- 
istry. 

In  light  of  the  report  by  executive  com- 
mittee in  consultation  with  the  Central 
District  peace  and  service  committee  be 
it  resolved  that  the  district: 

1)  Plan  and  develop  three  or  more 
regional  seminars  or  programs  in  1973- 
74  concerning  offender  ministry. 

2)  Research  and  develop  information 
concerning  resources  and  programs 
available  to  congregations  and  persons 
ready  to  help  develop  offender  ministry. 

3)  Establish  a list  of  local  persons 
interested  in  starting  and  working  in 
offender  ministries. 

4)  Allocate  up  to  $2,000  to  imple- 
ment and  develop  the  above  resolutions. 


L.  L.  Ramseyer,  pastor  and 
president-elect 


Alice  Ruth  Ramseyer 


Marcella,  Abe  Wiebe,  Edward  Burkhalter,  Larry  Kehler 


Dining  hall 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-l  1 


From  p.  5 

ment  issues  in  a Christian  community 
from  biblical  perspectives  and  deal 
with  the  question  of  “human  rights” 
whether  in  relation  to  birth  or  in  relation 
to  death,  we  will  be  informed  and  helped 
by  this  biblical  understanding  of  human 
freedom. 


The  biblical  view  of  human 
accountability 

The  counterpart  of  human  freedom  is 
human  responsibility.  This,  too,  is  recog- 
nized and  emphasized  in  the  passage  in 
Romans  14  and  throughout  the  entire 
Bible.  While  God  always  remains  God 
and  man  is  not  to  assume  the  role  of 
God,  or  to  “play  God,”  he  is  nevertheless 
entrusted  with  serious  responsibilities  for 
which  he  is  held  accountable. 

It  is  possible  for  him  to  view  his  re- 
sponsibilities lightly  and  to  become  pre- 
sumptuous or  glib  in  the  way  that  he 
exercises  responsibility.  On  the  other 
hand,  God,  having  entrusted  the  freedom 
of  choice,  including  the  capacity  to  de- 
velop science  and  art,  looks  to  man  to 
take  seriously  the  role  of  seeking  to  un- 
derstand and  to  fulfill  the  intention  of 
God  with  reference  to  the  physical,  the 
emotional,  as  well  as  the  spiritual  well- 
being of  man.  In  this  area  medical  sci- 
ence and  the  healing  arts  have  a tremen- 
dously significant  role.  What  may  ap- 
pear superficially  to  be  “playing  God” 
may  in  fact  turn  out  to  be  the  most  se- 
rious kind  of  response  to  divinely  en- 
trusted human  responsibility. 

Our  doctors,  our  nurses,  and  our  other 
therapists,  ought  not  to  be  abandoned 
by  the  rest  of  the  Christian  community 
to  struggle  with  life  management  issues 
alone.  The  Christian  community  ought 
not  only  to  be  clients  and  patients,  and 
at  times  critics,  but  also  a resource  for 
the  discernment  of  the  particular  ways 
in  which  in  the  new  situations  that  we 
confront,  medically,  legally,  and  socially, 
we  can  fulfill  our  responsibilities  as  the 
church  in  society  in  our  time. 

Conclusion 

To  close  these  reflections,  I would 
raise  one  further  thought  for  our  dis- 
cussion. Since  the  Supreme  Court  ruling 
is  now  a part  of  current  reality  on  the 
abortion  issue,  should  not  the  church 


concentrate  its  energies  and  time  not  so 
much  on  debating  the  morality  of  the 
new  posture  but  more  on  seeking  al- 
ternatives to  abortion?  This  would  in- 
clude becoming  more  serious  on  elim- 
inating the  alleged  “need”  for  abortion 
in  our  society.  This  in  turn  might  in- 
clude helping  to  change  attitudes  espe- 
cially in  the  area  of  male  irresponsibility 
with  reference  to  their  contribution  to 
abortion  problems,  the  changing  of  the 
secretive  and  privatistic  climate  in  which 
these  problems  are  usually  faced,  and 
beyond  this  lifting  the  whole  matter  of 
responsibility  in  the  sex  area  to  a new 
level  of  accountability. 

R.  F.  R.  Gardner,  in  his  book,  Abor- 
tion: the  personal  dilemma,  closes  his 
discussion  with  a description  of  Birth- 
right, a Christian  organization  in  Canada. 
It  defines  itself  as  “an  emergency  preg- 
nancy service,  a private  nonsectarian 
organization  operating  as  a crisis  center, 
where  any  girl  or  woman  distressed  by 
an  unwanted  pregnancy  can  find  help 
as  near  as  the  nearest  telephone.”  Its 
basic  creed  is:  “It  is  the  right  of  every 
pregnant  woman  to  give  birth  and  the 
right  of  every  child  to  be  bom.”  Help 
consists  in  readiness  to  arrange  for  med- 
ical and,  if  necessary,  psychiatric  care 
and  to  provide  other  information  and 
services  necessary.  Since  this  organiza- 
tion opened  in  Toronto  in  1968  in  the 
first  two  and  a half  years  it  gave  help 
to  5,000  girls  and  women.  By  June  1971 
there  were  fifty  centers  in  the  U.S.  The 
founder  and  director,  Louise  Summer- 
hill,  writes,  “All  of  us  who  work  in 
Birthright  office  are  acutely  aware  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  our  midst.  And  we  know 
from  these  miracles  of  grace  and  rebirth 
that  we  encounter  daily  in  the  lives  of 
those  who  come  to  us  that  the  Creator 
and  Sanctifier  of  human  life  is  inspiring 
us.  Again  and  again  he  shows  us  that 
there  are  solutions  to  unwanted  preg- 
nancies.” 

Gardner  states  that  he  is  personally 
convinced  that  there  is  a real  place  for 
abortion  in  some  cases,  but  that  the 
direction  taken  by  an  organization  like 
Birthright  provides  another  alternative 
which  the  church  might  well  pursue  in 
our  time. 

It  is  in  taking  these  biblical  perspec- 
tives that  the  concerns  of  Key  73  and 
of  a conference  on  life  management  con- 
verge. Our  task  as  a church  is  to  share 
the  liberation  of  Jesus  Christ  with  all. 


! 

AMBS  optimistic; 

Growth  continues 

j 

Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminar- 
ies report  continued  growth  as  outlined 
below. 

— Spring  semester  enrollment  has 
climbed  to  110  as  compared  with  103  ; 
in  the  fall  semester  and  96  last  year,  i 
Fifty-four  of  the  present  total  are  in  ! 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary. 

— January  interterm  activities  brought  : 
the  ministry  of  mbs  faculty  members, 
especially  Jacob  J.  Enz  at  Freeman, 
South  Dakota,  and  Orlando  Schmidt  at  i 
Newton,  Kansas;  Beatrice,  Nebraska; 
and  Mountain  Lake,  Minnesota,  to  an 
unusually  large  number  of  off-campus  ? 
persons. 

• — Elkhart  seminary  housing  is  filled  r 
to  capacity  most  of  the  time,  prompting 
the  mbs  board  to  launch  a new  study 
of  campus  land  use  in  relation  to  hous- 
ing needs. 

— 'The  growth  of  the  ambs  library 
now  calls  for  expansion  which  has  been  > 
authorized  by  both  the  Goshen  Biblical  I 
Seminary  and  the  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary  boards.  The  target  date  for 
completion  is  1975  when  mbs  will  have  ; 
its  thirtieth  anniversary.  A fund-raising  ( 
goal  of  $400,000  has  been  approved,  to 
be  shared  equally  by  the  two  seminaries.  I 

The  total  of  $36,584  contributed  by 
the  Central  District  Conference  during 
1972,  compares  with  $38,875  in  1971 
and  $31,642  in  1970.  We  are  deeply 
grateful  for  all  these  contributions. 

The  contributions  budget  for  1973  is 
$173,000  which  is  5 percent  higher  than  i 
in  1972.  In  addition,  the  mbs  board  has  | 
authorized  a capital  funds  goal  of  $200,- 
000  for  1973-75  to  make  possible  library  ' 
Expansion. 

The  Central  District  Conference  stu- 
dents in  attendance  during  1972-73  are: 
Wendall  Badertscher  (Orrville,  Ohio), 
Ruth  Ann  Bixler  (Kidron,  Ohio),  Ra- 
chel Hilty  Friesen  and  Neal  Blough 
(Bluffton,  Ohio),  Richard  Bucher  (Pan- 
dora, Ohio),  Virgil  Gerber  (Dalton, 
Ohio),  James  Gundy  (Graymont,  Ohio), 
Robert  Guth  (Eureka,  Illinois),  Joseph 
Sprunger  (Berne,  Indiana),  and  Harry 
Spaeth  (Nappanee,  Indiana),  who  is  in 
the  St.  Joseph  Valley  clinical  pastoral  ft 
education  program  this  year. 


From  left  to  right  are  Mary  Berkshire,  Olga 

Martens,  and  two  unidentified  men.  Wendell  Baditscher  leading 


Conference  evaluation 


What  I didn’t  like 

Fragmentation  . . . Too  many  topics  . . . 
Too  little  worship  and  prayer  and  praise 
. . . Awkward  prayer  discussion  . . . 
Lack  of  special  music  or  good  music 
. . . Openings  lacked  meditation  and 
prayer  . . . Absence  of  the  recognition 
of  our  dependence  upon  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  guidance  . . . Nothing  was  clarified 
how  “issues”  could  become  more  mean- 
ingful individually  ...  Sat  too  long  . . . 
That  it  didn’t  begin  with  prayer  . . . 
Not  enough  time  for  fellowship  . . . The 
fact  that  Christ  wasn’t  thought  of  as 
being  central  in  our  conference  . . . Too 
many  issues  ...  I liked  it  ...  I ques- 
tion whether  the  issue  of  prayer  concern 
and  spiritual  awareness  was  adequately 
handled  . . . Subject  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
Lord  not  adequately  dealt  with  . . . 
Lack  of  any  other  people  on  the  execu- 
tive and  up  on  the  platform  to  help  con- 
duct meetings  ...  A little  annoyed  by 
the  pettiness  of  not  having  prayer  . . . 
The  missionary  discussion  was  least  val- 
uable . . . Group  too  large  and  not 
enough  understanding  of  problem  . . . 
Morning  session  on  the  offender  ...  Do 
it  again  . . . Small  group  process  seemed 
too  contrived  . . . Heated  feelings  over 
prayer  . . . How  can  we  talk  of  recon- 
ciliation to  the  world?  Maybe  we  ought 
to  discuss  that  . . . Groups  floundered 
. . . Instructions  vague  . . . Could  only 
attend  two  evenings  ...  Too  much  small 
group  can  be  boring  . . . Not  enough 
time  ...  Too  many  issues — I’m  ex- 
hausted ...  It  had  to  close  . . . That 
prayer  and  God’s  word  did  not  get  their 
rightful  place  in  our  worship  . . . Too 
much  on  the  subjects — not  the  eternal 


answers  to  the  problems  underlying — 
namely  the  power  and  blood  of  Christ 
. . . Holy  Spirit  omitted  from  the  pulpit 
. . . Voluntary  prayer  groups  . . . The 
inability  to  do  anything  really  concerning 
the  issues  at  hand  . . . Overdoing  small 
groups  . . . Some  people  drove  hundreds 
of  miles  for  inspiration,  input,  etc.,  and 
then  to  have  leaders  get  hung  up  on 
praying  together  because  not  everyone 
might  not  feel  like  it  was  unbelievable 
. . . Too  much  sharing  ... 

What  I appreciated 

Waltner’s  talk,  small  group  discussion 
on  abortion  . . . Small  groups  . . . Fel- 
lowship with  other  Christians  . . . open 
discussion  and  sharing  . . . Missions  . . . 
Evening  with  Bob  and  Alice  R.  Ram- 
seyer  . . . The  warmth  and  fellowship 
felt  in  spite  of  differences  . . . Mission- 
ary sermon  was  tremendous  . . . Abor- 
tion discussion  . . . Airing  of  issues  on 
prayer  question  . . . Small  groups  . . . 
Thursday  evening  with  Chet  Raber  ... 
Keeping  to  the  schedule  . . . Happy  for 
the  hymns  . . . Small  groups  getting  ac- 
quainted . . . Sharing  time  at  coffee  after 
sessions  . . . Get  acquainted  with  new 
people  . . . Good  job  . . . Meals  . . . 
Orderliness  and  well-planned  facilities 
. . . Food  was  fabulous  . . . Youth  night 
was  greatly  enjoyable,  especially  all  the 
North  Danvers  Mennonite  young  people 
. . . I liked  youth  night  . . . Good  lead- 
ership . . . Enjoyed  it  thoroughly  . . . 
Friday  evening  . . . Leading  of  the  Spirit 
in  the  small  groups  . . . Leadership  of 
Chet  Raber  . . . Friday  afternoon  shar- 
ing of  concerns  was  good  and  healthy 
input  of  clear  differences  ...  I liked 


Below,  Paul  Goering,  Ben  Sprunger  before  men’s  meeting.  In  right  corner,  Elsie  Steelberg,  Ben 
Sprunger,  Mary  Beth  Berkshire,  and  Gordon  Neuenschwander  engage  in  discussion  at  break. 


singing  and  the  worship  . . . Ben  Sprung- 
er’s  informative  talk  to  the  men.  . . Dis- 
cussion on  missions  . . . Friendliness  and 
openness  . . . Freedom  to  express  con- 
cern on  “prayer”  . . . Liked  joint  men’s 
and  women’s  meeting  . . . Prayer  (spon- 
taneous) after  the  discussion  on  prayer 
...  It  really  had  meaning,  beginning 
with  Triads  . . . My  roommate.  . . . 

Suggested  changes 

Take  one  topic  and  get  into  it  more 
deeply  so  we  feel  prepared  to  take  con- 
crete steps  . . . Include  more  fellowship 
in  Christ  . . . Not  too  sure  small  dis- 
cussion groups  are  the  answer  to  a 
meaningful  conference.  Keep  small 
groups  . . . More  devotions  ...  A little 
more  formal  reporting  . . . More  im- 
portant issues  than  abortion  to  be  a part 
of  our  conference  . . . More  spiritual  em- 
phasis . . . Professional  guidance  and 
direction  given  at  mass  meeting  . . . 
The  change  from  an  “obedience”  ori- 
ented approach  to  one  on  commitment 
with  integrity  . . . Perhaps  better  bal- 
ance between  social  concern  and  piety 
or  inner  spiritual  life  issues  with  more 
emphasis  on  the  latter  . . . More  sing- 
ing . . . The  pendulum  has  swung  too 
far  toward  no  reports.  Can’t  we  swing 
this  back  a little  . . . Don’t  feed  us  so 
much.  More  structured  . . . Shorter  ses- 
sions . . . Breakfast  not  so  early  . . . 
Inspirational  messages  . . . Definite  dis- 
cussions . . . More  resource  persons  . . . 
More  Bible  study  and  prayer  . . . Hap- 
pier and  more  contemporary  singing  . . . 
More  speakers  . . . Better  balance  be- 
tween devotional,  inspirational  input  and 
discussion  of  “issues”  . . . Continue  small 
groups  . . . More  planning  for  action 
. . . Church  instead  of  college  campus 
. . . One  great  planned  worship  service 
. . . Personally,  I like  small  groups  and 
I believe  this  year  was  the  best — but 
there  are  many  people  who  did  not  at- 
tend because  of  this — should  the  pro- 
gram be  varied  to  help  this  insecurity? 

. . . Deep  search  why  we  are  not  in- 
creasing in  members. 


E MENNONITE 


A- 13 


Bluffton  College 
needs  campus  pastor 

Increasingly,  our  students  are  becoming 
more  involved  in  small  group  fellow- 
ships. At  this  time  in  the  history  of 
our  culture  and  society,  we  are  most 
in  need  of  a campus  pastor  who  can 
coordinate,  cultivate,  counsel,  and  min- 
ister to  over  thirty  campus  groups  as 
well  as  innumerable  individual  needs. 
We  wish  to  thank  the  First  Mennonite 
Church  of  Wadsworth  for  providing  for 
the  past  two  years  the  salary  for  Richard 
Moman,  our  campus  pastor.  Their  sup- 
port enabled  us  to  evaluate  both  the 
need  for  and  the  value  of  having  a 
campus  pastor.  We  are  convinced  that 
his  services  are  salutary.  Since  the  funds 
from  the  Wadsworth  Church  were  for 
the  trial  period  only,  we  invite  both  the 
Central  and  Eastern  districts  to  con- 
sider providing  support  for  a full-time 
campus  pastor. 

Oaklawn  Center  continues 
with  congregational  support 

From  Central  District  sources  the  Oak- 
lawn  Center  received  1972  contributions 
amounting  to  $2,928,  bring  to  $81,365 
the  total  which  this  conference  has  in- 
vested in  the  Oaklawn  Center  to  date. 
It  is  important  to  note  that  unless  con- 
tinued contributions  and  grants  are  re- 
ceived by  the  Oaklawn  Center,  the  min- 
istry provided  by  the  center  will  cer- 
tainly be  limited.  By  budgeting  relatively 
small  amounts  all  congregations  could 
contribute  significantly  to  the  work  of 
the  Oaklawn  Center  and  help  assure  the 
continued  striving  toward  the  goal  of 
wiping  out  the  devastating  problems  as- 
sociated with  emotional  disturbance.  The 
continued  interest  and  participation  of 
the  Central  District  Conference  in  this 
program  are  of  very  great  importance. 

The  program  by  which  any  Menno- 
nite from  any  geographical  source  is  ad- 
mitted to  the  Oaklawn  Center  on  an 
ability-to-pay  basis  has  continued.  Dur- 
ing 1972  this  program  was  increasingly 
utilized  and  required  nearly  $3,800  to 
finance  compared  with  about  $2,000  in 
the  previous  year.  The  source  of  the 
funds  which  allows  this  program  to  op- 
erate is,  of  course,  the  contributions 
which  have  been  made  over  the  years 
from  various  Mennonite  congregations 
and  conferences. 


Central  District  Conference 
budget  (1973  fiscal  year) 


Genera / Fund  expenditures 


Conference  Minister  and  Office* 

Education-publication  committee 

Salary 

$ 8,500. 

Office  supplies,  postage 

25.  , 

Housing  and 

Travel 

400.  ’ 

utilities  allowance 

3,000. 

Committee  work 

300.  k 

Pension 

900. 

REPORTER 

4,500.  | 

Continuing  education 

200. 

Conference  and  retreats 

350.  1 

Health  insurance 

325. 

Youth  work 

800.  | 

Travel 

2,000. 

*Secretary 

2,000. 

$ 6,375. 

*Workmen’s  compensation 

85. 

* Office  supplies,  postage 

1,300. 

*Office,  rental,  and  phone 

1,200. 

Historical:  committee 

* Equipment,  repairs,  ins. 

250. 

Travel  and  committee  worck 

150.  ' 

$19,760. 

Peace  and  service  committee 

Executive  committee 

Washington  seminar 

650. 

Office  supplies,  postage,  phone  50. 

II  offender  seminar 

100. 

Travel 

400. 

Youth  scholarships 

175. 

Committee  work 

100. 

Draft  counseling 

100. 

Offender  ministry 

800. 

$ 550 

Involvement  for 

comm,  members 

200.  [ 

Peace  and  service  promotion 

Ministerial  committee 

at  Camp  Friedenswald 

100.  1 

Project  Equality 

175.  | 

Travel,  lodging,  meals 

250. 

Committee  travel 

700. 

Committee  work 

50. 

In-service  training 

500. 

$ 3,000. 

$ 800. 

Total 

$32,135.  1; 

Program  committee 

Suggested  share  per  member 

Travel,  lodging,  meals 

100. 

General  fund 

4.00 

Annual  conference 

400. 

Missions  committee 

4.50  j 

Annual  conf.  publications 

1,000. 

Camp  Friedenswald 

3.50 

$ 1,500. 

$12.00 

WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


dens,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ.” 
(Gal.  6:2) 

WMA  conference  report 

There  were  forty  societies  represented 
at  the  seventeenth  annual  business  meet- 
■ ing  of  cdwma.  This  meeting  was  held 
on  April  27  at  the  Goshen  College  cam- 
pus. About  160  women  and  twenty-two 
missionary  guests  enjoyed  a buffet  sup- 
per and  were  given  a warm  welcome 
by  Mrs.  Gerald  Kreider,  president  of 
the  Eighth  St.  wma. 

Mary  Troyer  presided  at  the  business 
meeting.  A report  booklet  containing 
j reports  of  all  officers  and  several  other 
institutions,  was  given  to  each  person 
present.  Minireports  were  given  by  Mrs. 
James  Moser,  ymw  sponsor;  Mrs.  Lyle 
Troyer,  CD  projects  advisor;  Mrs.  Leo- 
nard Yoder,  GC  projects  advisor;  and 
Mrs.  John  Bertsche,  CD  advisor.  Jane 
Voth  reported  on  the  work  of  the  Mark- 
ham nursery,  and  Richard  Ramseyer  gave 
a report  on  Bluffton  College. 

The  offering  taken  at  the  meeting  went 
' to  missions.  The  following  officers  were 
elected: 

President — Mrs.  Robert  (Lois)  Krei- 
der, Bluffton,  Ohio 

Treasurer — Mrs.  Dale  (Norma)  Yo- 
I der,  Goshen,  Indiana 

Bluffton  College  advisory  council — 
\ Mrs.  Alden  (Doris)  Bohn,  Elkhart,  In- 
| diana,  and  Mrs.  Stanley  (Jonita)  Clem- 
| ens,  Normal,  Illinois 

I (We  would  like  to  thank  those  who  have 
i served  so  faithfully  during  the  past  years. 

! Those  retiring  from  office  this  year  are 
, Mary  Troyer,  president;  Rose  Marie 
S Diller,  treasurer;  and  Marjorie  Baum 
j and  Kay  Larimer,  Bluffton  College  ad- 
visory council.) 

Following  the  business  meeting,  we 


went  to  the  auditorium  for  the  evening 
service.  Robert  and  Alice  Ruth  Ram- 
seyer directed  our  thoughts  for  medita- 
tion and  later  discussions. 

Mrs.  Ramseyer  read  from  Philippians 
2:5-11.  She  pointed  out  that  we  are 
servants  because  Jesus  was  a servant. 
He  is  our  example.  Without  love,  ser- 
vanthood  is  meaningless.  She  said  that 
often  missionaries  cannot  use  the  tal- 
ents they  have  but  must  be  willing  to 
stay  in  the  background  or  learn  new 
talents  in  order  to  be  a servant. 

Mr.  Ramseyer  led  us  in  examining 
what  it  means  when  we  say  “Jesus  Christ 
is  Lord.”  Our  understanding  is  limited 
because  of  our  experiences.  We  need  to 
teach  others  about  Jesus  Christ  but  we 
must  allow  ourselves  to  be  taught  by 
other  Christians  around  the  world. 

During  the  second  part  of  the  eve- 
ning we  broke  into  small  groups.  One  or 
two  missionary  guests  were  present  in 
each  of  these  groups.  This  gave  us  op- 
portunity to  share  with  them,  and  they 
could  also  inform  us  of  their  experiences 
and  concerns. 

As  we  again  returned  to  the  larger 
group,  we  sang  together  “Ye  servants 
of  God,”  and  Robert  Ramseyer  closed 
the  meeting  with  prayer. 

A gift  that  keeps  on  giving 

“If  you  cannot  help  us  older  women  in 
Zaire,  could  you  at  least  help  our  girls 
to  receive  a better  education  than  we 
had?”  This  was  the  plea  of  Mme.  Kakesa 
Samuel,  who  together  with  her  husband 
was  a Zairian  delegate  to  the  sixtieth 
anniversary  of  the  Congo  Inland  Mission 
(now  Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission). 

The  Women’s  Missionary  Association 
is  working  on  both  of  Mme.  Kakesa’s 
requests.  For  some  years  the  women  of 
Zaire  have  voiced  a wish  for  a “foyer” 
(pronounced  foy-ya)  or  home  economics 
training  center.  Here  they  could  receive 
instruction  in  foods  and  nutrition,  sew- 
ing, child  care,  and  family  living.  The 
wma  leaders  were  open  to  this  request, 
but  did  not  wish  to  give  everything  they 
needed  to  them  without  seeing  some  ini- 
tiative on  their  part.  The  arrangement 
was  made  that  the  women  in  each  dis- 
trict were  to  contribute  one  half  of  the 
funds  for  a sewing  machine  before  they 
could  become  eligible  for  a “foyer”  in 
their  area.  Reports  have  come  that  en- 
thusiasm is  high  and  thirteen  areas  have 
met  these  requirements.  Some  of  the 
groups  are  already  conducting  “hand 
sewing”  classes  in  preparation  for  the 
time  when  their  machine  will  arrive. 

One  group  decided  to  stage  a show, 


modeling  their  hand-sewn  garments  for 
the  other  women  in  their  area.  When 
the  men  heard  about  this,  they  insisted 
that  they  be  included  and  that  the  show- 
ing take  place  on  Sunday  morning  before 
church.  The  men  were  as  excited  as  the 
women  about  their  wives’  accomplish- 
ments. 

Technical  skills  are  a coveted  posses- 
sion, and  sharing  skills  is  an  act  of  gen- 
erosity rather  foreign  to  Zairian  culture. 
However,  each  woman  attending  the 
“foyer”  will  be  encouraged  to  teach  an- 
other woman  the  skills  she  has  learned. 

Presently  curriculum  is  being  prepared 
in  the  areas  of  marriage  and  children’s 
diseases  as  well  as  related  topics. 

Mme.  Kakesa’s  dream  for  education 
for  the  girls  is  also  becoming  a reality, 
and  you  are  making  it  possible.  Con- 
struction on  a building  for  a girls’  school 
is  planned  for  this  summer  at  Nyanga. 
This  building  will  contain  classrooms  as 
there  are  already  buildings  there  that 
can  be  renovated  for  dormitory  space. 
Long-range  plans  view  this  school  as 
having  a four-year  course  which  would 
give  the  graduating  students  a well- 
rounded  education  and  a recognized, 
much  coveted  diploma.  Girls  must  have 
had  six  grades  of  primary  school  and 
two  years  preparatory  school  as  a pre- 
requisite for  enrolling  in  this  course. 
Frieda  Guengerich,  LaVema  Dick,  and 
Gennie  Bertsche  will  serve  as  the 
school’s  first  teachers. 

This  year  the  General  Conference 
wma  sent  $500  through  aimm  to  help 
the  women  of  Zaire  begin  their  own 
“foyers”  and  $5,000  toward  the  con- 
struction of  a new  girls’  school  at  Nyanga. 
More  funds  will  be  needed  to  complete 
the  building,  furnish  it,  and  provide  sup- 
plies for  the  school. 

You  are  presently  contributing  to  the 
Zairian  “foyers”  and  the  new  girls’  school 
by  sending  your  Section  II  contributions 
(called  “additional  projects”)  to  the 
wma  office  in  Newton.  Any  additional 
funds  your  group  might  wish  to  con- 
tribute may  be  sent  to  Newton  desig- 
nated for  this  purpose. 

This  is  only  a start  in  education  for 
the  Zairian  women.  The  results  will  come 
slowly.  But  helping  the  women  of  Zaire 
to  help  themselves  and  their  families 
will  give  them  dignity  and  self-realiza- 
tion instead  of  dependence  and  a feeling 
of  indebtedness.  This  is  a gift  that  will 
keep  on  giving.  Evelyn  Bertsche,  district 
advisor. 

Material  for  this  page  may  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Donald  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, III.  61701. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A- 15 


VITAL  STATISTICS 


BIRTHS 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  to  the  Daniel 
Baumgartners,  Becky  Jo,  March  31. 

Carlock,  111.:  to  the  Mike  Millers, 
Sara  Jane,  March  23. 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Dar- 
rell Elkins,  Douglas  Eugene,  March  4. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thomas  A.  Lehman,  Kathryn  Laura, 
March  21;  to  the  Alan  Friskneys,  Scott 
Andrew,  April  4;  to  the  Henry  Brauns, 
Timothy  Paul,  April  8. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Tom 
Lehmans,  Kathryn  Laura,  April  10;  to 
the  John  Neuenschwanders,  Nathan 
Chad,  March  25. 

First,  Nappanee,  Ind.:  to  the  Lon 
Schmuckers,  Christy  Ann,  Feb.  9. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  the  Thomas 
Schultzes,  twins,  Kurt  Allen  and  Kristi 
Sue,  March  31. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  to  the 
Dennis  Beachys,  twin  boys,  Aaron  Den- 
nis and  Eric  Jay,  April  5. 

Neil  Ave.,  Columbus,  Ohio:  to  the 
Owen  Millers,  Anthony  Ray,  Feb.  19. 

Salem,  Kidron,  Ohio:  to  the  Jack 
Norrs,  Cheryl  Lorraine,  March  29. 

United  Peoria,  111.:  to  the  Kevin  Os- 
walds, Sean  Douglas,  Feb.  25. 

Way  land,  Iowa:  to  the  Leland  Gra- 
bers,  Jarod  Leland,  Jan.  13. 

Zion,  Donnellson,  Iowa:  to  the  David 
Petersens,  Laura  Beth,  March  12;  to  the 
Garold  Woodleys,  Bryan  Lee,  March  12. 

MARRIAGES 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  Nancy  Elliott  and 
Michael  Forest,  March  18. 

Carlock,  111.:  Steve  Beyer  and  Sandra 
Whitby,  March  19. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Esther  Kreider 
and  William  Eash,  April  14. 

First,  Sugarcreek,  Ohio:  Anna  Mutsch- 
elknaus  and  Clay  Schrock,  March  17. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  JoAnn  Weeks 
and  George  Farling,  March  25;  Elnora 
Suter  and  Clement  Suter,  March  31. 

Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio:  Linda 
Beechy  and  Hans  Houshower,  April  14. 

Pulaski,  Pulaski,  Iowa:  Keith  Amstutz 
and  Gail  Knapp;  Gary  Ray  Knapp  and 
Diane  Kay  Payne,  April  14. 

Salem,  Kidron,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Amos  Romey,  April  7. 

United  Peoria,  111.:  Denise  Hopper 
and  William  Lawrence,  March  9;  Carla 


Unzicker  and  Paul  Griffith,  March  10. 

Zion,  Donnellson,  Iowa:  Ginny  Jabour 
and  Joe  Tweedy,  March  17. 

ANNIVERSARIES 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ralph  Steiner,  Sr.,  March  25,  50th;  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Elam  Welty,  April  1,  50th. 

Zion,  Donnellson,  Iowa:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Leonard  Fett,  March  25,  50th. 


DEATHS 

Eighth  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  Mrs.  Harve 
Corbin,  Feb.  25. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Mrs.  John  Am- 
stutz, March;  William  Boice,  March  2; 
Herbert  Burdg,  March;  Kerry  Egly,  Ap- 
ril; Roy  Kirchgofer,  March  5;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Thomas  G.  Lehman,  March;  Mrs. 
Bertha  Moser,  March  7;  James  Mussel- 
man,  April;  David  J.  Schwartz,  March 
9;  Walter  Welty,  March. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Dora  Kirchofer, 
March  3;  Mrs.  Sylvan  Lehman,  April; 
Laura  Smith,  March. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  Chester  Miller, 
March  9. 

First,  Sugarcreek,  Ohio:  Hylpa  Mae 
Miller,  March  18. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Orville  Lugi- 
bihl,  March  18. 

Salem,  Kidron,  Ohio:  Roy  Kirchhofer, 
March  20. 

United,  Peoria,  HI.:  Elizabeth  Culp, 
March  13. 

Wayland,  Iowa:  John  V.  Kauffman, 
Feb.  8. 


NEW  MEMBERS 

Calvary,  Washington,  111.:  Ronald 

Springer,  Veronica  Dyer,  Scott  Gundy, 
Scott  Risser,  Kendra  Wind,  Andy  Strub- 
har,  Paul  Kinsinger,  Susan  Pfeffinger, 
Deborah  Faner,  Diane  Faner. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  Basil  Arbuckle, 
Mary  Ann  Barker,  Paul  Miller,  Howard 
and  Esther  Burton,  Bruce  and  Ben  Som- 
mer, Rodney  and  Deanne  Frey  (asso- 
ciate). 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  Mike 
and  Dorothy  Emberly,  Ken  and  Char- 
lene ReLue. 

Wayland,  Iowa:  James  and  Wanda 
Brooks,  Royce  and  Carla  Leichty,  War- 
ren and  Dorothy  Schwerin. 


“Woman’s  role  in 
today’s  society’ 


This  is  the  theme  of  the  seminar  beinj 
planned  for  the  annual  women’s  retrea 
at  Camp  Friedenswald.  Plan  now  to  b<{ 
present  on  September  14-16  when  Mar 
garet  Showalter  will  be  sharing  with  usj 
and  leading  our  discussion  on  this  sub 
ject.  Mrs.  Showalter  is  a housewife,  for 
mer  schoolteacher,  and  mother  fron 
Indian  Springs,  Indiana,  and  has  beer 
traveling  and  lecturing  for  some  time 
with  the  national  organization  of  Chris 
tian  Dynamics.  Watch  for  more  informa- 
tion in  next  month’s  issue  of  the  Re- 
porter. 


Election  results 


President 

Lloyd  L.  Ramseyer,  Bluffton,  Ohio 
Vice  President 

Joan  Wiebe,  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana 
Treasurer 

Marlyn  Fast,  Elkhart,  Indiana 
Secretary 

Harry  Spaeth,  Nappanee,  Indiana 
Trustee 

Homer  Garber,  Fortuna,  Missouri 
Ministerial  committee 

Phyllis  Bamugartner,  Berne,  Indiana 
David  Habegger,  Elkhart,  Indiana 
(unexpired  term) 

Program  committee 

Robert  Kreider,  Bluffton,  Ohio 
Missions  committee 

A1  Bauman,  Columbus,  Ohio 
John  Bertsche,  Normal,  Illinois 
Robert  Ramseyer,  Elkhart,  Indiana 
(unexpired  term) 

Peace  and  service  committee 

Nick  Kassebaum,  Wayland,  Iowa 
Robert  Liechty,  Berne,  Indiana 
Lyle  Troyer,  Archbold,  Ohio 
Education  and  publication  committee 
Jerri  Sue  Baumgartner,  Fortuna,  Mis- 
souri (unexpired  term) 

Richard  Reimer,  Smithville,  Ohio 
Ken  Schwartzentraub,  Elkhart,  Indiana 
Historical  committee 

Merl  Lehman,  Kidron,  Ohio 
Camp  Friedenswald  committee 
Fred  Amstutz,  Bluffton,  Ohio 
Warren  Habegger,  Berne,  Indiana 
Max  Sprunger,  Elkhart,  Indiana 
(unexpired  term) 

Lucretia  Wilson,  Ashland,  Ohio 
Bluffton  College  trustee 

Rose  M.  Differ,  Kidron,  Ohio 


Material  for  the  Central  District  Reporter  should 
be  sent  to:  Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant 

Plain,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


A- 16 


JUNE  19,  1973: 


— 

Interchurch  group  plans  for  prison  project 


Newton  last  January.  The  seminar  rec- 
ommended starting  the  M-2  program  at 
ksir.  The  M-2  program  started  in  Seattle 
and  has  spread  across  the  United  States 
and  Canada.  A program  based  in  Kansas 
City  secures  volunteers  to  visit  men  in 
the  prison  at  Lansing,  Kansas. 

The  present  offender  committee,  chair- 
ed by  Virgil  Claassen,  Newton,  includes 
official  and  unofficial  representation  from 
the  Western  District  Conference  of  the 
General  Conference  Mennonite  Church, 
South  Central  Conference  of  the  Men- 
nonite Church,  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church,  Beachy  Amish  Mennonite 
Church,  Conservative  Mennonite  Church, 
and  Church  of  God  in  Christ,  Menno- 
nite. The  committee  is  also  open  to  non- 
Mennonites. 

In  addition  to  his  work  helping  to 
organize  the  M-2  program,  Mr.  Gaeddert 
will  find  what  services  in  the  area  are 
available  to  the  offender,  find  how  these 
programs  interrelate,  fit  volunteers  into 
the  programs,  or  start  new  programs  if 
necessary.  His  job  began  May  1. 

Colleges  hire  writer 
for  centennial  drama 

The  Mennonite  colleges  of  Kansas — - 
Bethel  of  Newton,  Tabor  of  Hillsboro, 
and  Hesston  Junior  College  of  Hesston — 
are  coordinating  plans  for  a major  cele- 
bration in  1974.  The  year  marks  the 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  coming  of 
the  Mennonites  to  Kansas. 

A dramatic  production  will  be  the 
prime  event  scheduled  by  the  tricollege 
coordinating  committee.  Urie  Bender  has 
been  commissioned  to  write  the  script. 
Mr.  Bender  moved  to  Kansas  in  May 
to  spend  time  researching  and  writing 
the  drama. 

The  centennial  drama  will  be  presented 
in  several  places.  The  season,  beginning 
in  late  summer  of  1974,  will  run  through 
the  fall  and  winter.  The  cast  will  be  made 
up  of  students  attending  the  three  col- 
leges and  interested  people  in  the  Men- 
nonite communities  of  the  state. 

The  general  goal  of  the  centennial 
activities  is  to  recount  historical  events 
which  have  influenced  the  Mennonites. 
Further  goals  are  offering  public  thanks- 
giving for  the  privileges  of  worshiping, 
working,  and  serving  in  a free  society 
and  celebrating  God’s  love  and  goodness. 

The  Hesston  Foundation  of  Hesston, 
Kansas,  has  contributed  $5,000  to  sup- 
port this  effort. 


was  scheduled  June  3 at  the  Metropoli- 
tan Baptist  Church  in  Wichita. 

Providing  about  half-time  staff  assist- 
ance in  starting  the  M-2  program  is 
Albert  Gaeddert  of  Newton,  Kansas,  em- 
ployed by  the  Interfaith  Offender  Con- 
cerns Committee,  based  in  central  Kan- 
sas. 

The  committee  grew  out  of  an  inter- 
Mennonite  seminar  on  the  offender  in 


Peewee  prisoner 

A South  Vietnamese  youngster,  who  went  to  prison  when  Saigon  authorities  arrested 
I his  mother  for  alleged  subversive  activities,  looks  up  at  towering  guards  and  their 
i weapons  at  Bien  Hoa  Air  Base  near  Saigon.  He  and  his  mother  were  among  civilian 
detainees  exchanged  in  one  of  the  current  rounds  of  prisoner  swaps. 


i First  steps  toward  a volunteer  visitation 
program  at  Kansas  State  Industrial  Re- 
, formatory  have  been  taken  with  a mass 
; meeting  of  interested  persons  in  June 
j and  the  employment  of  an  executive 
secretary  for  the  Interfaith  Offender  Con- 
cerns Committee. 

An  interdenominational  meeting  of 
those  interested  in  starting  an  M-2  (Man- 
i to-Man)  program  at  ksir  in  Hutchinson 


THE  MENNONITE 
k 


385 


Mexico  consultation  scheduled 


Workers  in  Mexico  from  seven  Menno- 
nite  agencies  will  be  invited  to  come  to- 
gether for  the  first  time  in  a consultation 
planned  for  1974. 

The  decision  to  call  such  a consulta- 
tion was  made  May  15  by  a group  of 
Mennonite  mission  and  service  admini- 
strators with  work  in  Mexico  and  was 
encouraged  by  the  (Mennonite)  Council 
of  Mission  Board  Secretaries  (combs), 
which  met  a day  later. 

The  group,  a task  force  of  combs,  in- 
cluded Henry  P.  Yoder,  secretary  for 
missions  of  the  Franconia  Conference; 
Vernon  Wiebe,  executive  secretary  of 
Mennonite  Brethren  Missions/ Services; 
Howard  Habegger,  executive  secretary 
of  the  General  Conference  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission;  Lubin  Jantzen,  com 
staff  member;  and  Dan  Peters,  com  mis- 
sionary in  Mexico,  now  on  furlough  in 
Gretna,  Manitoba. 

The  task  force  discovered  that  the 
seven  Mennonite  agencies  with  work  in 
Mexico  have  more  than  fifty  mission  and 
service  workers  there,  both  long-term 
and  short-term.  But  the  workers  are  sepa- 
rated by  long  distances  and  have  done 
little  joint  planning. 

The  1974  consultation  would  bring 
together  nationals,  missionary  workers, 
and  mission  executives  for  a retreat  ex- 

Constitution  committee 
will  meet  in  June 

The  constitution  committee  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church  will 
meet  June  11-12  in  Newton,  Kansas,  to 
deal  with  a number  of  major  concerns. 

One  issue  will  be  the  Division  of 
Communication,  called  for  in  the  con- 
stitution adopted  in  1968  but  never  or- 
ganized. 

Also  under  discussion  will  be  where 
to  lodge  theological  concerns  in  the  con- 
ference structure.  Should  there  be  a 
Commission  on  Faith  and  Order? 

And  where  should  ministerial  concerns 
be  lodged?  In  the  1968  constitution,  such 
concerns  were  under  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries,  but  the  committee  on 
the  ministry  is  now  under  the  General 
Board. 

Other  agenda  items  will  include  sem- 
inary representation  on  the  General 
Board,  representation  from  the  Wom- 
en’s Missionary  Association  on  the  com- 
missions, and  relations  between  the  Com- 
mission on  Education  and  the  Commis- 
sion on  Home  Ministries. 


perience  with  Bible  study  and  general 
consultation. 

The  task  force  also  discussed  missionary 
role  and  identity,  the  legal  status  of  work- 
ers, and  Mexico’s  relation  to  jelam, 
the  Latin  American  radio-television  com- 
munications committee. 

June  23  tour  will  retrace 
Russian  delegates’  route 

A tour  partially  retracing  the  route  of 
the  Mennonite  delegation  from  Russia 
which  visited  Manitoba  in  June  1873 
has  been  arranged  for  Saturday,  June  23. 

Sponsored  by  the  Manitoba  Mennonite 
Centennial  Committee,  this  “historical 
safari”  will  begin  with  a public  cere- 


Gene  Stoltzfus,  student  at  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries,  Elkhart, 
Indiana,  has  been  appointed  voluntary 
service  director  for  a three-year  term, 
beginning  July  23. 

His  duties  under  the  General  Confer- 
ence Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
will  include  developing  jobs  for  volun- 
teers together  with  local  congregations 
and  groups,  and  finding  and  placing  vol- 
unteers. The  voluntary  service  program 
will  continue  to  operate  under  its  present 
model,  with  voluntary  service  units  as- 
sisting congregations  in  mission  and 
service. 

Mr.  Stoltzfus  comes  to  the  voluntary 
service  position  with  experience  in  vol- 
unteer agencies.  From  1963  to  1967  he 
served  under  International  Voluntary 
Services  in  Vietnam  as  associate  director, 
interim  director,  team  leader,  and  vol- 
unteer. 

Since  that  time  he  has  been  deputy 
director  of  the  Vietnam  Education  Proj- 
ect of  the  United  Methodist  Board  of 
Christian  Social  Concerns,  chief  staff  of- 
ficer for  the  American  Committee  on 
Political  and  Religious  Freedoms  in  In- 
dochina, consultant  to  the  Peace  Corps 
and  International  Voluntary  Services, 
program  director  for  International  Vol- 
untary Services  in  Washington,  D.C., 
and  coordinator  and  developer  of  the 
Indochina  Mobile  Education  Project. 

Mr.  Stoltzfus  holds  a BA  in  sociology 
from  Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Indiana, 
and  an  MA  in  international  affairs  from 
American  University,  Washington,  D.C. 
He  studied  at  Goshen  Biblical  Seminary 


mony  at  the  Upper  Fort  Garry  gate, 
Winnipeg,  starting  at  9 a.m. 

Included  in  the  tour  will  be  visits  to 
Winnipeg’s  Museum  of  Man  and  Nature, 
Lower  Fort  Garry,  the  old  Hudson  Bay 
store  at  St.  Anne,  and  the  Mennonite 
village  museum  north  of  Steinbach. 

Persons  wishing  to  participate  in  the 
tour  will  need  to  provide  their  own 
transportation  and  food.  The  centennial 
committee  will  provide  guides.  The  com- 
mittee anticipates  that  the  tour  will  con- 
clude at  about  6 p.m. 

The  original  delegation  arrived  in  Win- 
nipeg on  June  17,  1873.  They  met  with 
Lieutenant  Governor  Green  and  Pre- 
mier H.  J.  Clark.  During  their  first  four 
days  here,  June  18-21,  the  delegation 
visited  the  area  east  of  the  Red  River. 
And  from  June  21  to  July  1 they  toured 
the  area  west  of  Winnipeg. 


1962-63  and  resumed  studies  toward  the 
master  of  divinity  degree  at  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  in  1972- 
73. 

Words  & deeds 


Coretta  Scott  King,  president  of  the 
Martin  Luther  King  Foundation,  has  an- 
nounced the  start  of  a major  new  effort 
to  bring  the  film  King:  a filmed  record 
. . . Montgomery  to  Memphis  into 
churches  across  America.  Mrs.  King  said, 
“This  year,  the  fifth  anniversary  of  the 
death  of  my  husband,  our  major  concern 
is  the  church  community  from  which 
Dr.  King  drew  so  much  of  his  support, 
and  to  which  he  dedicated  his  life.”  Start- 
ing Sept.  1,  as  part  of  the  effort  to  in- 
volve many  churches,  the  booking  fee 
for  the  film  will  be  cut  almost  50  per- 
cent. In  addition,  churches  may  now 
use  the  film  to  raise  funds  by  charging 
admission,  and  retaining  all  money 
raised.  King  was  conceived  by  the  noted 
producer  Ely  Landau,  who  enlisted  the 
cooperation  of  the  film  industry  and  the 
religious  community  to  produce  and  dis- 
tribute the  film  as  a noncommercial  en- 
terprise. The  film  had  its  premiere  in 
1970,  when  it  was  shown  simultaneously 
in  300  cities  to  an  audience  of  half  a 
million.  Later  it  was  nominated  for  an 
Academy  Award  as  the  best  documen- 
tary of  the  year.  Information  on  rental 
arrangements  is  available  from  the  Mar- 
tin Luther  King  Foundation,  140  West 
57th  Street,  New  York  10019. 


Gene  Stoltzfus  named  voluntary  service  director 


386 


JUNE  12,  1973 


REVIEW 


The  Amish  in  Canada 


The  Amish  in  Canada,  by  Orland  Ging- 
erich  ( Conrad  Press,  Waterloo,  Ontario, 
1972,  244  pp.,  $7.95;  pb.  $5.95)  is  re- 
viewed by  J.  Winfield  Fretz,  president 
of  Conrad  Grebel  College  and  sociology 
professor  at  the  University  of  Waterloo. 

Until  the  recent  appearance  of  The 
Amish  in  Canada  there  was  practically 
nothing  written  on  this  subject  except 
as  footnotes  to  articles  or  books  on  the 
Amish  in  the  United  States.  Orland 
Gingerich’s  new  volume  therefore  pro- 
vides the  much  needed  social  history  of 
the  Amish  in  Ontario,  which  is  the  only 
province  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
where  Amish  are  located. 

It  is  significant  to  note  that,  unlike 

Peace  assembly  lectures 
reprinted  in  pamphlets 

Two  presentations  made  at  the  1972 
Peace  Assembly  are  now  available  from 
the  mcc  Peace  Section  in  pamphlet 
form. 

Ideology  of  growth,  a twelve-page 
pamphlet  which  challenges  growth,  is 
based  on  a lecture  presented  by  Henry 
Rempel,  professor  of  economics  at  the 
University  of  Manitoba.  Single  copies 
are  free.  Bulk  orders  cost  $5.00  per 
hundred. 

Render  to  Caesar  or  to  God,  by  Mar- 
lin Jeschke,  looks  at  the  biblical  material 
on  the  Christian’s  obligation  to  the  state. 
Copies  are  available  free. 

i Published 


Additional  help  for  those  working  on 
Key  73  programs  is  found  in  the  re- 
I cently  published  Congregational  resource 
book  supplement,  prepared  under  the  di- 
| rection  of  the  Key  73  executive  com- 
i mittee.  The  supplement  contains  plans 
j for  a local  congregational  strategy  sem- 
inar plus  special  helps  in  Scripture  dis- 
tribution and  Bible  study  programs.  Also 
included  are  ideas  for  a fair  ministry, 
Impact  Weeks,  and  brief  supplements  to 
the  materials  on  Phases  IV  and  VI  of 
i the  Key  73  program  calendar.  The  sup- 
plement is  available  for  $2.00  from  Faith 
1 and  Life  Bookstore,  Box  347,  Newton, 
Kans.  67114. 


the  coming  of  the  early  Mennonites  to 
Canada  from  eastern  Pennsylvania,  the 
Amish  in  Ontario  came  directly  from 
Bavaria  to  Ontario.  There  was  no  mass 
migration  of  Amish  from  Pennsylvania 
to  Ontario. 

Mr.  Gingerich’s  book  provides  a host 
of  historical  information  about  the  Am- 
ish, their  origin  as  a separate  people,  and 
a clear  account  of  the  major  divisions 
as  well  as  the  story  of  the  growth  of 
each  congregation. 

A valuable  aspect  of  The  Amish  of 
Canada  is  the  author’s  sensitivity  to  the 
influence  of  culture  on  the  Amish.  He 
is  careful  to  relate  this  influence  in  terms 
of  how  it  shaped  the  Amish  church  or- 
ganization and  its  program  of  activity 
over  the  150  years  of  the  group’s  history. 
The  following  chapter  headings  illustrate 
this  sensitivity  to  cultural  influence: 

“New  institutions  and  programs,”  “Is- 
sues of  church  and  state,”  “The  un- 
changing old  order,”  “The  ever  changing 
new  order.” 

The  book  contains  twelve  chapters 
plus  an  appendix  which  includes  a few 
bibliographical  references,  a list  of  con- 
gregations and  dates  of  ordinations  of 


deacons,  ministers,  and  bishops,  and  the 
constitution  and  rules  of  discipline  of 
the  Ontario  Amish  Mennonite  Confer- 
ence, as  well  as  a summary  of  the  state- 
ments of  the  more  recently  organized 
Western  Ontario  Mennonite  Conference. 

The  book  is  interestingly  written  and 
easily  read  by  the  layman.  The  author, 
while  a bishop  in  his  own  conference, 
has  nevertheless  written  this  historical 
account  with  clarity  and  objectivity.  In 
view  of  the  scarcity  of  accurate  informa- 
tion about  the  Amish  in  Ontario,  it 
would  seem  that  this  book  would  have 
an  extremely  wide  circulation.  It  is  most 
appropriate  that  it  was  produced  during 
the  sesquicentennial  year  of  this  Amish 
Mennonite  group.  A variety  of  well-cho- 
sen photographs  as  well  as  an  attractive 
and  imaginative  cover  design,  enhance 
the  value  of  this  book.  The  newly  estab- 
lished Conrad  Press  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated on  its  high-class  publication. 

Many  readers  may  regret  that  the  bib- 
liography is  so  brief.  Serious  students 
of  history  and  sociology  especially  will 
be  disappointed.  Those  familiar  with  the 
facts  regarding  the  scarcity  of  sources, 
however,  can  sympathize  with  the  author. 


MCSGROP 

i 


Your  total  CROP  contributions,  when  designated 
for  MCC,  will  support  your  overseas  MCC  emergency 
relief  and  development  programs. 


GIVE  HUNGRY  PEOPLE  A CHANCE 
FOR  A CHANGE 


• THE  MENNONITE 


387 


RECORD 


Ministers 


Richard  Bright,  a 1973  graduate  of  Men- 
nonite  Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind., 
will  become  pastor  of  the  Apostolic 
Church,  Trenton,  Ohio,  this  summer. 

Leonard  Epp,  Parkhill,  Ont.,  will  be- 
come pastor  of  the  Waterloo-Kitchener 
(Ont.)  Church,  in  August.  He  is  a 
1967  graduate  of  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind.,  and  has  been 
pastor  of  the  Grace  Church,  Steinbach, 
Man. 

Glenn  Esh  has  resigned  as  pastor  of 
the  Neil  Ave.  Church,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

Barry  Horner  will  become  pastor  of 
the  Emmanuel  Church,  Salem,  Ore.,  July 
1.  He  is  a recent  graduate  of  Conserva- 
tive Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  Port- 
land, Ore.,  and  is  a native  of  Australia. 

Ernest  Neufeld,  pastor  of  First  Church, 
Allentown,  Pa.,  will  become  pastor  of 
First  Church,  Phoenix,  Ariz.,  Aug.  1. 

Edward  J.  Wiebe,  until  recently  pastor 
of  the  Bethel  Community  Church,  Santa 
Fe  Springs,  Calif.,  has  become  admini- 
strator of  the  Pleasant  View  Home  for 
the  Aged,  Inman,  Kans.  He  has  held 
previous  pastorates  at  West  New  Hope- 
dale  Church,  Ringwood,  Okla.;  Zoar 
Church,  Goltry,  Okla.;  and  Mount  Oli- 
vet Church,  Huron,  S.D. 

Workers 


Curt  and  Olga  Claassen,  workers  un- 
der the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion, will  begin  furlough  July  21,  living 
near  Whitewater,  Kans.  The  Claassens 
have  been  involved  in  evangelism  and 
church  planting  in  Korba,  India,  and 
have  served  four  terms  with  com  since 
1945.  They  are  members  of  the  Swiss 
Mennonite  Church,  Whitewater,  Kans. 

Fred  and  Viola  Ediger,  missionaries 
under  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion, are  beginning  a two-year  furlough. 
Missionaries  since  1953,  they  have  spent 
their  latest  term  in  evangelism  and  teach- 
ing English  in  Tokyo,  Japan.  The  Edigers 
will  spend  September  through  January 
at  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart, 
Ind.  The  rest  of  their  furlough  will  be 
spent  in  Saskatchewan.  Fred  is  a mem- 
ber of  the  North  Star  Church,  Drake, 
Sask.;  Viola  is  a member  of  the  Inman 
(Kans.)  Church. 


Madeleine  Enns,  teacher  of  mission- 
ary children  in  Hwalien,  Taiwan,  for 
three  years,  terminated  her  services 
with  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion May  29.  She  is  a member  of  the 
Arnaud  (Man.)  Mennonite  Church. 

Carl  and  Hilda  Epp,  workers  under 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
have  completed  language  school  and  will 
begin  work  at  Mennonite  Christian  Hos- 
pital, Hwalien,  Taiwan,  at  the  end  of 
June.  Carl  is  a medical  doctor.  He  is 
a member  of  the  Mount  Royal  Church, 
Saskatoon,  Sask.  Hilda  is  a member  of 
the  Bergthaler  Church,  Winkler,  Man. 

Philip  Epp  has  begun  a two-year  term 
of  service  with  mcc  at  the  North  Newton 
material  aid  center  in  Kansas.  He  is 
working  as  a packer.  Philip  attended 
Swift  Current  Bible  Institute.  He  is  the 
son  of  John  and  Helena  Epp,  Loreburn, 
Sask.,  and  a member  of  the  Mayfair 
Church,  Saskatoon. 

Mary  Beth  Landis  has  begun  a two- 
year  term  of  service  with  mcc  in  Atlanta, 
Ga.  She  is  working  as  a secretary  in 
Menno  House,  which  serves  as  the  cen- 
ter for  mcc  VS  involvement  in  the  city. 
Menno  House  functions  as  an  office,  a 
meeting  place  for  unit  activities,  and  as 
a storage,  laundry,  and  hair-cutting  facil- 
ity. Mary  Beth  attended  Bluffton  College 
and  Lansdale  School  of  Business.  She 
is  the  daughter  of  Ernest  and  Kathryn 
Landis,  Souderton,  Pa.,  and  a member 
of  Zion  Church,  Souderton. 

A'tbualungu  Ganuma  G.N.,  who  con- 
ducts services  at  the  new  Mennonite 
church  in  Kinshasa,  Zaire,  has  been 
elected  general  secretary  of  the  De- 
partment of  Diaconia,  the  relief  and 
service  agency  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  Zaire  (ecz).  The  Zaire  Protestant 
Relief  Agency  comes  under  his  jurisdic- 
tion. He  is  a former  student  at  Freeman 


Junior  College,  Freeman,  S.D. 

Leroy  D.  Saner  has  been  named  aca- 
demic dean  of  Freeman  Junior  College. 
He  has  had  seven  years  of  experience 
with  the  school  as  English  professor. 

Sheldon  and  Marietta  Sawatzky,  work- 
ers under  the  General  Conference  Com- 
mission on  Overseas  Mission,  have  com- 
pleted a second  year  of  language  study 
in  Taichung,  Taiwan,  and  have  been 
assigned  by  the  church  evangelism  com- 
mittee in  Taiwan  to  work  in  an  intern- 
ship program  under  Mark  Chen  at  the 
Ta-tung  Church  in  Taipei.  Following  the 
internship  year,  they  will  be  assigned  to 
work  in  some  new  area  of  outreach  in 
the  greater  Taipei  area.  The  Sawatzkys 
are  members  of  the  Pine  Grove  Church, 
Bowmansville,  Pa. 

Wilmer  and  Kenlyn  Sprunger,  workers 
under  Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission, 
will  begin  a year’s  furlough  July  15. 
Wilmer  taught  industrial  arts  at  a school 
for  boys  at  Ndjoka  Punda,  Zaire.  The 
Sprungers  have  served  two  terms  in 
Zaire  since  1964.  Wilmer  is  a member 
of  First  Church,  Wadsworth,  Ohio,  and 
Kenlyn  is  a member  of  First  Church, 
Berne,  Ind. 

Walter  and  Ruth  Unrau  will  terminate 
their  assignments  with  the  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission  Aug.  1.  They  have 
served  since  1970  at  Woodstock  School, 
Mussoorie,  India — Walter  as  business 
manager  and  Ruth  as  a teacher.  The  Un- 
raus  are  members  of  the  Bethel  College 
Church,  North  Newton,  Kans.,  and  will 
live  in  North  Newton. 

Adrian  Voran  has  begun  a thirty- 
months  term  of  service  with  mcc  in 
Zaire.  He  will  be  working  in  agriculture. 
Adrian  attended  Hutchinson  Junior  Col- 
lege. He  is  the  son  of  Delmar  and  Viola 
Voran,  Kingman,  Kans.,  and  a member 
of  the  Kingman  Church. 


388 


JUNE  12,  1973 


LETTERS 


[Thanks  for  family  issue 

I Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  Meetinghouse  4 

I (May  8 issue),  with  its  emphasis  on  the 
family,  is  excellent!  I wish  to  commend 
the  staffs  of  Gospel  herald  and  The  Men- 
nonite  for  this  cooperative  venture. 

Since  so  much  trivia  has  split  our 
[denominations  into  factions  and  various 
[groups  throughout  the  years,  it  is  grat- 
ifying to  have  this  communication  and 
[cooperative  effort  before  our  church 
constituency.  Margaret  Hilty,  110  South 
High  St.,  Pandora,  Ohio  45877.  May  16 

The  fall  of  idealism 

| Dear  Editor:  One  of  the  April  17  edi- 
torials suggests  that  waning  interest  in 
voluntary  service  programs  may  indicate 
a change  in  the  church’s  strength  and 
vitality.  Rather,  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
concerns  of  youth  about  the  church  in 
the  1970s  have  only  changed  form.  Most 
youth  are  interested  in  the  church,  but 
in  different  ways  than  in  the  1960s.  Con- 
sequently, the  church  must  rethink  its 
program  priorities  to  include  youth  in 
the  1970s  in  the  life  of  the  church. 

1A  major  factor  in  the  decline  of  vol- 
untary service  applicants  (among  youth) 
may  well  be  the  passing  of  the  “baby 
boom”  years.  This  impact  is  being  felt 
equally  among  private  and  public  col- 
leges across  the  U.S.  as  their  enroll- 
ments actually  decrease. 

Secondly,  and  my  point  for  discussion 
here,  is  the  fall  of  idealism  of  the  1960s 
and  the  increasing  diversity  of  choices 
available  to  young  people  today.  The 
idealism  of  the  1960s  was  based  upon 
a “people,  cause,  and  service”  orienta- 
tion, and  was  closely  tied  with  getting 
a BA  degree  in  a service  occupation, 
such  as  teaching  or  the  ministry.  The 
traditional  Mennonite  answer  to  this 
type  of  calling  was  to  get  a Mennonite 


Wanted  for  July  1,  1973,  a Chris- 
tian couple  for  Carmel  House 
Group  Home.  This  is  an  MCC 
(Saskatchewan)  project.  We  have 
five  boys  and  pay  good  wages.  Ap- 
ply to  Henry  Wiebe,  717  Bedford 
Road,  Saskatoon,  Sask.  Phone  (306) 
244-7572. 


college  degree  and/or  enter  voluntary 
service. 

However,  idealists  have  found  that 
problems  (such  as  poverty)  are  not  so 
easily  solved  as  they  had  hoped  and  are 
somewhat  disillusioned.  The  fall  of  ideal- 
ism in  addition  to  the  glut  of  the  labor 
market  for  higher  educated  people  has 
forced  idealists  to  shift  their  concerns. 

The  ’70s  have  brought  an  inward 
searching  and  a realism  about  the  world. 
(The  rise  of  popularity  of  Key  72/73, 
although  not  personally  attractive,  may 
support  such  a hypothesis.)  Many  youths 
are  choosing  technical,  professional,  or 
business  careers,  typically  nonservice 
occupations.  Many  Mennonite  youth  do 
not  continue  their  education.  Mennonite 
young  people  are  developing  highly  di- 
versified and  individual  sets  of  interests. 
Rather  than  “help,”  one  wants  to  find 
a niche,  to  be  employed,  and  to  learn 
to  be  as  compassionate  as  possible  with- 
in that  small  niche. 

Thus,  due  to  the  passing  of  the  baby 
boom,  and  due  to  a fall  of  idealism  and 
an  increase  in  the  diversification  of  Men- 
nonite life  styles,  voluntary  service  may 
have  lost  some  of  its  relevancy  as  a 
meaningful  choice.  This  change  in  de- 
mand makes  no  judgment  on  the  vitality 
of  the  church,  but  rather  expresses  the 
lowered  popularity  of  a church  program 
caused  by  a change  in  constituency  char- 
acteristics. 

What  is  the  role  of  the  church  in  the 
’70s?  J.  L.  Burkholder  in  “The  new  Men- 
nonite community”  (February  issue  of 
forum)  refers  to  the  fact  that  many 
Mennonites  migrate  to  an  urban  area 
as  individuals  and  move  to  the  city  for 
personal  reasons  — education,  business, 
etc.  A model  is  emerging  as  to  the  role 
of  the  Mennonite  church  in  urban  areas. 
But  there  is  no  parallel  positive  model 
of  church  involvement  for  young  people 
who  do  not  further  their  education, 
who  work  in  home  communities,  or  who 
further  their  education  at  non-Menno- 
nite-related  colleges.  These  youth  are 
also  migrating  outside  of  traditional  Men- 
nonite paths  as  individuals  and  for  per- 
sonal reasons. 

How  can  the  church  be  relevant  to 
highly  diversified  sets  of  individuals  in 
varying  occupations?  One  does  not  want 
to  hear  the  simplicity  of  our  Sunday 
school  years,  “Be  good  and  do  a good 


job  at  work.  . . On  the  other  hand, 
the  voluntary  service  rationale  and  ideal- 
ism need  to  be  replaced  by  a theology 
of  inner  strength,  positiveness,  and  indi- 
vidual worth.  The  “quiet  of  the  land” 
must  learn  to  speak  with  their  voices  in 
strong,  intelligent,  yet  nonauthoritarian 
ways.  Mennonite  youth,  either  in  the 
city  or  returning  home  in  varying  careers, 
are  now  quite  by  themselves  and  must 
assert  basic  convictions  on  an  individual 
basis. 

For  individual  Mennonite  youth, 
meaningful  church  involvement  may  ex- 
ist only  in  day-to-day  life — in  doing  cer- 
tain tasks  or  in  relating  to  certain  people. 
For  others,  a useful  church  program  may 
need  to  be  occupationally  oriented.  For 
some,  any  organizational  participation 
is  a drag.  Mennonite  youth  attending 
non-Mennonite  schools  have  different 
needs  than  those  youth  not  furthering 
their  education.  Mennonite  youth  in 
schools  may  be  most  likely  to  read  and 
benefit  from  The  Mennonite,  forum,  or 
other  written  material  of  varying  intel- 
lectual and  theological  viewpoints. 

Clearly,  voluntary  service  should  re- 
main as  a church  program,  although  per- 
haps on  a smaller  basis,  for  those  ideal- 
istic and  realistic  people  of  all  age 
groups.  However,  the  decline  of  volun- 
tary service  also  presents  an  opportunity 
to  discuss  the  broader  implications  of 
the  role  of  the  Mennonite  church  for  all 
Mennonite  young  people.  Pamela  Neff, 
275  Jones  Graduate  Tower,  101  Curl 
Drive,  Columbus,  Ohio  43210. 

Important  praying  to  do 

Dear  Larry:  We  Mennonites  of  the 
United  States  have  some  important  pray- 
ing to  do  as  we  follow  the  biblical  in- 
junction to  “pray  for  those  in  authority.” 
During  the  recent  election,  some  said, 
“How  could  a Mennonite  possibly  vote 
for  McGovern?”  He  seemingly  lacked 
solid  direction,  mishandled  his  vice-pres- 
ident, and  seemingly  wanted  to  sell  us 
out  militarily.  And  there  were  those  who 
said,  “How  could  a Mennonite  possibly 
vote  for  Nixon,  with  his  military  stance 
and  his  demand  that  the  citizens  of  the 
U.S.  give  unquestioning  obedience?”  He 
seemed  to  be  gathering  more  and  more 
power  to  himself. 

Now,  with  the  Watergate  break-in, 


(HE  MENNONITE 


389 


we  have  found  where  a party  permitted 
and  used  something  illegal,  in  spite  of 
all  the  demands  for  “law  and  order.” 
We  don’t  know  where  the  investigation 
will  lead,  but  isn’t  it  important  that  we 
pray  for  wisdom  and  guidance?  Both 
McGovern  and  Nixon  were  men  who 
had  failings — and  they  both  had  their 
strengths— and  we  can’t  give  blind  al- 
legiance, without  some  sort  of  under- 
standing of  the  human  characteristics  of 
both  men. 

We  Mennonite  Christians  need  to  pray 
with  great  compassion  and  understand- 
ing for  the  leaders  in  our  two  major 
parties,  and  also  for  those  in  some  of 
the  other  parties  who  are  crying  for  a 
voice  to  be  heard,  too.  They  must  all 
stand  before  the  perfect  righteousness 
of  God  alone,  and  we  must  remain  free 
of  unseeing  support  and  be  able  to  ask 
questions  when  and  where  they  are  im- 
portant. Harold  Thiessen,  1412  Third  St., 
Snohomish,  Wash.  98290.  May  12 

When  the  women  were  silent 

Dear  Editor:  A tongue-in-cheek  re- 
sponse to  the  Max  Krause  letter  in  the 
April  10  issue.  I had  an  unusual  dream 
the  other  night.  It  began  as  our  church 
service  was  just  about  over  and  our  pas- 
tor asked  if  anyone  wanted  to  share  any 
problems  with  the  congregation.  I check- 
ed the  bulletin  and  it  didn’t  say  anything 
about  “Sharing  problem  time,”  but  may- 
be the  typist  forgot  this  item.  Usually 
we  follow  the  bulletin  and  stand,  sit, 
sing,  give  our  offerings,  and  sleep  when- 
ever the  bulletin  tells  us  to  do  so.  Just 
to  make  sure  I wasn’t  sleeping  at  the 
wrong  time,  I whispered  into  my  wife’s 
ear  that  she  should  pinch  me.  I remem- 
bered too  late  that  today  my  wife  was 
babysitting  in  the  nursery,  and  it  was 
really  the  pastor’s  wife  sitting  next  to 
me. 

Rather  embarrassed,  I responded  to 
the  pastor’s  invitation,  “Hey,  Rev,  there 
is  something  bugging  me.”  He  invited 
me  to  come  forward.  Looking  the  con- 
gregation straight  in  the  eye,  I said, 
“From  now  on,  I wish  all  you  women 
v/ould  henceforth  be  quiet  and  silent  in 
our  church.”  The  organist  began  to  play 
the  doxology,  before  I was  through  tell- 
ing them  some  of  my  other  problems. 
All  the  women  ignored  me  after  the 
service.  I couldn’t  understand  why. 

On  Wednesday  evening,  the  phone 
rang  and  one  of  the  two  men  in  the 
choir  wanted  to  know  if  I could  sing 
soprano.  Being  curious,  I asked  why, 
and  he  replied  they  needed  some  so- 


pranos because  none  of  the  women 
showed  up  for  choir  rehearsal.  He  also 
mentioned  that  the  choir  director  left 
a note  saying  that  she  would  be  quiet 
henceforth  and  would  not  even  wave 
her  hands  to  lead  the  choir. 

About  five  minutes  after  my  class 
started  on  the  following  Sunday,  my 
daughter  came  into  our  room  and  said 
that  her  teacher  wasn’t  present.  I told 
her  to  sit  with  the  kindergarten  class. 
She  returned  one  minute  later  and  told 
me  that  they  had  no  teacher  either. 
“Well,  try  the  first  and  second  grade 
class.”  “Sorry,  Dad,  no  teacher  there.” 
“How  about  the  third  and  fourth  grade 
room?”  Again  she  returned  and  said, 
“No  teacher.”  In  desperation,  we  sug- 
gested grades  five  and  six.  Back  she 
came  again  and  replied,  “No  teacher.” 
By  this  time  she  was  tired  from  running 
back  and  forth,  so  I told  her  she  could 
stay  in  our  class. 

So  we  ended  up  with  all  the  children 
from  kindergarten  through  to  the  sixth 
grade  in  our  class  and  they  nearly  drove 
me  up  the  wall.  In  fact,  we  had  a rather 
difficult  time  keeping  them  under  control 
during  my  interesting  fifty-nine-minute 
lecture. 

I couldn’t  figure  out  where  all  the 
women  teachers  were  that  morning.  Af- 
ter lunch  I turned  to  Genesis  45  for  help. 
I called  up  all  of  our  women  teachers 
and  reminded  them  how  Joseph  forgave 
his  brothers.  Some  of  them  hung  up  on 
me.  Sure  am  glad  to  find  out  about  their 
heathen  attitude  and  must  remember  to 
tell  the  Christian  education  committee 
about  this  before  these  teachers  get  re- 
appointed for  another  year. 

After  Sunday  school,  we  went  to  the 
hall  to  get  our  church  bulletins,  but 
none  were  on  the  table.  Our  pastor  said 


something  about  all  our  women  typists 
having  Excedrin  headaches  no.  229  on 
Wednesday,  Thursday,  Friday,  and  Sat- 
urday, and  therefore  there  were  no  bul- 
letins. I had  asked  the  pastor  to  an- 
nounce about  the  father  and  son  ban- 
quet next  Saturday  night.  On  the  way 
to  the  sanctuary,  the  president  of  the 
Women’s  Missionary  Society  passed  me 
and  I asked  her  what  the  women  were 
serving  at  our  banquet,  and  she  replied, 
“Cold  tongue.”  I was  sure  we  had  or- 
dered roast  beef  but  maybe  our  chair- 
man changed  his  mind  because  of  the 
meat  boycott. 

The  church  service  was  a little  hectic 
since  we  were  unable  to  follow  our 
bulletins.  People  were  sitting  and  stand- 
ing at  the  wrong  time.  One  of  our  ush- 
ers, sitting  up  front,  had  to  go  to  the 
bathroom  and  as  he  walked  down  the 
aisle,  people  were  handing  their  offering 
envelopes  to  him. 

After  church  service,  I stopped  by  the 
library  to  get  some  books  for  next  week’s 
Sunday  school  lesson.  The  library  was 
a mess.  Like  all  men,  I have  trouble 
finding  socks  in  my  bureau  drawer,  but 
this  was  ridiculous.  None  of  the  re- 
turned books  had  been  refiled  for  the 
past  two  weeks.  Our  librarian  was  pass- 
ing by  and  I asked  her  if  she  had  any 
reference  books  on  forgiveness.  After 
rummaging  through  the  books  for  fifteen 
minutes,  she  finally  located  one.  I sug- 
gested that  she  should  take  it  home  and  I 
read  it,  and  that’s  when  she  threw  the( 
book  at  me. 

After  dinner,  we  were  discussing  the  j 
pastor’s  sermon  when  the  phone  started 
to  ring.  I was  just  about  ready  to  answer 
it  when  I woke  up.  The  alarm  clock 
was  ringing.  Harold  Shelly,  229  N.  Scenic 
St.,  Allentown,  Pa.  18104.  April  21 


MEDITATION 


My  father 


For  years  I had  a grudge  against  God.  I didn’t  talk  about  it  to  anyone,  and  I tried 
to  keep  it  hidden  even  from  myself,  but  I knew  it  was  there,  and  it  surfaced  often 
enough  to  make  me  miserable. 

It  began  when  I was  a child,  and  it  centered  around  the  crucifixion  story.  I loved 
Jesus,  and  I couldn’t  feel  right  toward  God  because  he  was  the  one  who  made  Jesus 
die  on  the  cross.  To  make  matters  more  awful  and  complicated,  it  was  really  all  my 
fault.  Because  I was  sinful  (that  meant  I was  bad)  somebody  had  to  be  punished. 
And  God  punished  Jesus  instead  of  me.  Because  Jesus  had  died,  God  could  forgive 
me  and  I wouldn’t  need  to  be  punished.  God  did  this  because  he  loved  me,  I was 
told.  Wasn’t  it  wonderful  that  God  loved  me  so  much! 

But  I couldn’t  see  that  that  was  love,  God  making  Jesus  die  instead  of  punishing 


I 


1 


JUNE  12,  -973 


390 


ne.  It  wasn’t  forgiveness  either,  because  if  Jesus  had  paid  for  my  wrongdoing,  things 
were  square  between  God  and  me,  and  he  wasn’t  forgiving  me  anything.  It  wasn  t 
even  justice,  his  punishing  someone  else  in  my  place.  If  he  had  given  me  a choice,  I 
would  have  said  I didn’t  want  him  to  make  Jesus  die  because  I had  been  bad.  I 
would  much  rather  have  had  him  punish  me,  even  though  I wasn’t  at  all  sure  exactly 
what  I was  supposed  to  be  punished  for. 

Even  after  I was  grown  up  and  mature  enough  to  realize  how  distorted  my  childish 
interpretation  of  the  cross  had  been,  and  after  I had  begun  to  fathom  the  real  mean- 
ing of  “God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  to  himself”  (2  Cor.  5:19),  my  feel- 
ing toward  God  did  not  really  change.  I could  not  feel  that  God  loved  me.  Neither 
could  I feel  any  love  for  God. 

But  I knew  I was  supposed  to  love  God.  Everyone  was  supposed  to  love  God.  So 
I pretended  that  I did,  and  sometimes  the  pretense  was  good  enough  so  that  I almost 
fooled  even  myself.  But  not  quite.  Deep  down  inside  I still  knew  that  what  I felt 
towards  God  was  not  love,  but  resentment  and  guilt. 

I’m  sure  now  that  through  all  of  the  years  of  my  young  adulthood  God  must 
have  been  persistently  and  patiently  and  lovingly  trying  to  reveal  himself  to  me.  But 
when  the  breakthrough  came,  it  came  suddenly  and  unexpectedly. 

I was  teaching  kindergarten  at  the  time.  One  evening  I was  reading  an  article 
which  pointed  out  how  important  it  was  for  a child  to  feel  loved  and  accepted  by 
his  teacher  at  all  times  as  an  individual  of  worth  in  his  own  right,  not  to  be  loved  and 
i accepted  only  when  he  was  good,  and  rejected  when  he  did  something  wrong. 

The  child’s  undesirable  behavior  needed  to  be  corrected,  of  course,  but  it  was 
■important  that  even  when  disciplinary  actions  were  necessary,  the  teacher  should 
continue  to  love,  accept,  and  try  to  understand  the  child  as  a person. 

The  meditation  in  the  booklet  I used  for  my  devotionals  that  evening  happened  to 
■ center  around  the  story  of  the  prodigal  son  and  his  father’s  attitude  toward  him 
when  he  returned  home. 

Fatherly  love  was  a familiar  concept  to  me.  I had  enjoyed  the  love  of  my  earthly 
father.  Papa  was  a kind,  gentle  man  who  loved  his  children  dearly.  He  punished  us 
at  times,  of  course,  and  I can  even  remember  a few  times  when  he  lost  his  temper 
or  his  patience.  But  I cannot  remember  ever  doing  anything  or  refraining  from  doing 
something  because  of  fear  of  Papa’s  punishment.  Rather,  the  motivation  or  the 
deterrent  was  the  knowledge  of  Papa’s  love  for  me. 

The  thought  that  he  might  reject  me  or  stop  loving  me  if  I was  bad  never  entered 
my  mind.  On  the  contrary,  I can  remember  feeling  deeply  and  certainly,  even  when 
I was  a child,  that  nothing  I could  possibly  do,  no  matter  how  bad  it  might  be,  would 
make  Papa  or  Mama,  or  any  of  the  rest  of  my  family,  stop  loving  me. 

As  I sat  there  thinking  about  the  article  I had  been  reading,  and  about  the  prod- 
igal son’s  father  and  Papa,  a thought  struck  me,  vividly  and  forcefully. 

“Why,  that  is  what  God  is  like!” 

God  is  like  Papa  was,  only  more  so,  infinitely  more  so!  God  is  like  the  ideally 
understanding  and  loving  teacher,  but  perfectly  so,  for  his  nature  is  love. 

Words  I had  heard  all  of  my  life  suddenly  took  on  a new  meaning  for  me. 

God  is  my  father.  God  loves  me.  God  understands  me.  God  accepts  me — always, 
all  of  the  time,  no  matter  what  I do.  I don’t  have  to  comprehend  his  love  or  even 
feel  it;  I don’t  have  to  merit  it;  I can’t  earn  it.  It  just  is,  for  God  is  love! 

The  emotional  impact  of  the  experience  was  so  strong  that  I jumped  to  my  feet 
and  walked  around  the  room,  literally  shouting  my  thanksgiving  and  happiness. 

A number  of  years  have  passed  since  that  evening  when  I first  recognized  my 
Father,  but  the  joy  and  wonder  of  it  continue  to  add  a warm  glow  of  inner  peace 
and  security  to  all  of  my  life.  Amelia  Mueller 

No  end  to  war 


There  should  be 

No  end  to  a war  . . . 

Because  there  should  be 
No  start  to  one. 

Barry  Bartel 


I 


Contents 


A father  reflects  378 

News  381 

Record  387 

The  Amish  in  Canada  388 

Letters  389 

My  father  390 

No  end  to  war  391 

New  circles  of  fellowship  392 

The  happiness  of  pursuit  392 


CONTRIBUTORS 

John  Drescher  is  editor  of  Gospel  Herald, 
Scottdale,  Pa.  15683.  He  will  become 
pastor  of  the  Scottdale  Mennonite  Church 
this  summer. 

Amelia  Mueller's  address  is  604  North 
St.,  Halstead,  Kans.  67056. 

Barry  Bartel  lives  at  910  Belleview, 
La  Junta,  Colo.  81050. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  David  S.  Strickler,  Box  54,  New- 
ville.  Pa.  17241;  378,  Bob  Taylor,  604 
North  Cook,  Cordell,  Okla.  73632;  380, 
385,  RNS;  382-83,  David  Hiebert,  1202 
S.  1 1th  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.  46526. 


Mennonite 


Editorial  office;  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 
Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  Assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


391 


New  circles  of  fellowship 

Mennonite  Disaster  Service  gets  a warm,  four- 
page  embrace  in  the  May  issue  of  Sign,  a national 
Catholic  publication.  In  an  article  entitled,  “Take 
my  hand,”  the  magazine  lavishes  praise  on  the 
mds  volunteers  who  went  to  Rapid  City,  South 
Dakota,  last  summer  to  help  that  community  get 
itself  together  after  the  disastrous  and  unprece- 
dented floods  which  swept  through  the  Black 
Hills  a year  ago. 

One  of  the  by-products  of  this  disaster  service 
operation  was  the  opportunity  it  gave  to  volun- 
teers to  become  acquainted  with  persons  from 
other  denominations,  including  Catholics.  “Many 
gained  a new  appreciation  of  those  whose  Chris- 
tianity finds  an  expression  different  from  their 
own,”  says  the  Sign  story. 

We  relate  this  experience  here  as  an  example 
of  the  many  ways  in  which  relationships  are  quiet- 
ly and  informally  being  built  between  people  from 
different  denominations.  Many  other  recent  illus- 
trations could  be  related  to  underscore  this  point, 
but  we  will  add  only  two  additional  ones  here. 

In  1970  Larry  Voth,  pastor  of  the  Community 
Mennonite  Church,  Markham,  Illinois,  was  in- 
vited also  to  become  pastor  of  the  fading  United 
Church  of  Christ  congregation  in  that  commu- 
nity. He  accepted.  The  two  churches  have  main- 

The  happiness  of  pursuit 

The  U.S.  Declaration  of  Independence  states 
that  the  country’s  citizens  have  the  right  to  “life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.”  A Jewish 
rabbi  from  New  York  state,  Robert  A.  Rothman, 
writing  in  a recent  issue  of  Liberty,  suggests  that 
we  should  turn  the  last  part  of  the  phrase  around 
and  place  our  emphasis  on  “the  happiness  of  pur- 
suit.” 

North  Americans  are  bullish  on  happiness. 
Everyone  wants  it.  To  have  a “fun”  time  is  one 
of  our  major  preoccupations. 

But  the  happy  man  is  not  one  who  gets  every- 
thing he  sets  his  mind  on.  The  pursuit  of  happiness 
often  becomes  a nightmarish  stumbling  from  one 
vain  effort  at  self-gratification  to  another.  The 
naked  clamoring  for  happiness  becomes  a mean- 
ingless exercise  if  it  is  aimed  at  selfish  goals. 

“I  believe  that  happiness  is  unworthy  of  being 
sought,”  writes  Rabbi  Rothman.  “If  we  seek  for 
happiness  as  the  end  and  aim  of  our  existence, 


tained  their  denominational  ties,  but  cooperate 
closely  in  their  ministries  in  Markham. 

A.D.,  the  award-winning  national  publication 
of  the  United  Church  of  Christ  and  the  United 
Presbyterians,  gave  these  two  small  congregations 
nationwide  exposure  with  a feature  article  in  its 
May  issue.  A five-page  spread,  entitled  “Shared 
hope  at  city’s  edge,”  traces  the  development  of  the 
churches’  sheltered  care  workshop,  day-care  cen- 
ter, and  other  community  services. 

Larry  Voth  is  leaving  Markham  this  summer  to 
take  a position  with  Bethel  College.  Ed  Springer, 
currently  pastor  of  the  Boynton  Mennonite  Church 
at  Hopedale,  Illinois,  will  succeed  Mr.  Voth  as 
pastor  of  both  Markham  congregations. 

In  Winnipeg,  the  Charleswood  United  and 
Mennonite  churches  will  be  holding  joint  services 
during  all  of  July  and  August.  They  are  planning 
a breakfast  in  the  park  one  Sunday  and  one  or 
two  outdoor  services  as  part  of  the  series  of  com- 
bined meetings.  This  will  be  the  second  year  that 
these  two  congregations  are  cooperating  in  this 
way. 

The  blessings  in  all  three  of  these  cases  are 
flowing  both  into  and  out  of  the  Mennonite 
churches.  Let  us  praise  God  for  the  new  circle  of 
fellowship  into  which  he  is  helping  us  to  move,  lk 


or  even  as  the  recompense  for  our  struggle  and 
suffering,  we  must  expect  to  be  disappointed.  It  is 
not  the  purpose  of  life  that  we  be  happy,  but  that 
we  matter.  It  is  not  the  pursuit  of  happiness  but 
rather  the  happiness  of  pursuit  to  which  we  must 
aspire.” 

John’s  Gospel  quotes  Jesus  as  giving  the  fol- 
lowing counsel  to  his  disciples  in  the  upper  room 
after  he  had  given  them  some  parting  directives 
and  washed  their  feet:  “If  you  know  these  things, 
happy  are  you  if  you  do  them.” 

An  Oriental  sage  who  was  a contemporary  of 
Jesus,  when  asked  the  secret  of  happiness,  said, 
“Happiness  is  what  I experience  when  a child 
starts  out  on  the  road  that  I have  pointed  out 
after  he  has  asked  me  the  direction.” 

“Man’s  gladness,”  concludes  Dr.  Rothman, 
“can  never  be  in  the  taking  and  the  holding  but 
in  the  doing  and  the  striving,  the  building  and  the 
living.”  lk 


The 

Meimoiiite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


Frank  Epp 

The  times  are  not  good.  Opportunities 
for  jobs  are  scarce.  Success  is  no  longer 
guaranteed.  But  in  spite  of  these  difficulties,  this  year’s  college 
graduates  and  all  who  take  the  lordship  of  Christ  seriously  are  urged  to 
say  yes  to  tomorrow.  Frank  H.  Epp’s  article,  which  begins  on 
the  next  page,  is  an  abbreviated  version  of  his  commencement 
address  at  Bethel  College  this  spring. 


/ . ' 


There  will  be  no  “greening  of  Amer- 
ica” says  a May  magazine.  Conscious- 
ness III  has  been  replaced  by  Conscious- 
ness IV,  which  is  no  consciousness  at 
all,  for  “the  cleaning  wind”  of  “the  new 
generation”  has  been  succeeded  by  apathy 
and  indifference. 

Nihilism,  said  Newsweek  in  its  first 
cover  story  of  the  year,  is  once  again 
becoming  a psychological  state  of  mind 
and  a philosophy  of  life.  One  can  hear 
it  being  said:  “Never  put  off  until  tomor- 
row what  you  can  avoid  altogether.” 
Once  a people  fiddled  while  Rome  burn- 
ed. Now  they  just  turn  on  their  soap 
operas. 

Saying  yes  in  limes  not  exceptionally 
good.  If  all  this  is  true,  what  instruc- 
tion do  we  have  for  this  year’s  college 
seniors?  In  days  gone  by,  commence- 


ment speakers  would  send  graduates  on 
their  way  by  painting  the  future  beau- 
tiful and  bright.  Say  yes  to  the  future, 
they  were  advised,  because  the  times  are 
exceptionally  good,  the  opportunities  are 
unusually  great,  and  success  is  guaran- 
teed. 

But  today  the  times  are  not  excep- 
tionally good.  On  the  contrary,  in  many 
ways  they  are  exceptionally  bad.  It  is 
hard  to  believe,  I know,  when  one  lives 
carpeted  by  so  much  green  grass  and 
surrounded  by  every  kind  of  prosperity, 
when  overhead  the  skies  are  always  blue 
and  the  horizons  are  so  wide  that  one 
can  see  forever. 

As  we  travel  from  time  to  time  to 
various  parts  of  the  United  States,  we 
never  cease  to  marvel  at  so  complete  a 
development  of  the  land  and  so  grand  a 
complex  of  social  institutions  to  serve 
the  welfare  of  man.  Churches,  schools, 
libraries,  publishing  houses,  and  treat- 
ment centers  for  every  illness,  as  numer- 
ous as  the  sand  on  the  sea.  Farmlands, 
fruitlands,  parklands,  forests,  hills,  and 
valleys  spreading  in  endless  splendor  in 
every  direction. 

It  is  not  hard  to  believe  why  they 
called  America  God’s  promised  land  and 


its  citizens  God’s  chosen  people,  a peo- 
ple with  a manifest  destiny,  the  best 
hope  for  mankind  everywhere. 

Something  went  wrong,  however,  in 
the  Garden  of  Eden  and  probably  long 
before  Watergate,  beginning  perhaps  at 
those  very  times  when  chosenness  trans- 
lated itself  into  Herrenvolk,  when  mani- 
fest destiny  turned  out  to  be  not  a help- 
ing hand  for  the  needy  but  the  grasping 
hand  of  the  greedy,  and  when  inter- 
national partnership  began  to  express 
itself  as  a world  policemanship. 

Quite  frankly,  seen  from  a distance, 
Watergate  was  no  surprise,  except  per- 
haps in  its  magnitude.  What  has  now 
been  exposed  on  the  domestic  scene  was 
obvious  long  ago  and  more  seriously  al- 
ready in  foreign  policy,  where  lies  were 
endlessly  heaped  upon  lies  from  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  domino  theory  to  the 
current  carpet  bombing  of  Cambodia. 

Deception,  it  seems,  has  become  a way 
of  government.  I remember  how  shocked 
the  nation  was  nearly  twenty  years  ago 
when  President  Eisenhower  reversed  him- 
self on  the  Francis  Powers  U-2  incident 
in  Russia,  thereby  admitting  to  untruth 
in  the  first  place.  A society  which  but  a 
short  while  ago  would  not  easily  tolerate 
a lie  now  is  no  longer  sure  it  can  survive 
the  full  disclosure  of  truth.  One  can  hear 
people  admitting  to  a malignancy  but  at 
the  same  time  insisting  that  the  tumor  i 
is  now  so  integrated  with  the  tissue  that  i 
radical  surgery  must  not  be  attempted. ' 
This  means,  of  course,  that  people  would 
rather  slip  slowly  into  a coma  and  death  ; 
than  to  take  upon  themselves  the  pain- ! 
ful  risks  of  living. 

The  times  are  not  good  because  men 
and  governments  do  not  behave  too  well 
when  their  backs  are  up  against  the  wall, 
when  their  power  is  defied,  and  their  | 
honor  threatened.  Nor  are  they  likely  to  j 
act  like  civil  gentlemen  when  their  en- 
ergy runs  short,  their  trade  isn’t  balanced, 
their  dollar  remains  devalued,  and  their 
standard  of  living  is  placed  in  jeopardy,  j 
No,  indeed,  we  know  now  that  they  can  ij 
and  will  bomb  the  world  at  will,  asking  : 
no  constitution  and  no  congress,  yet  al- jl 
ways  invoking  the  blessing  of  God. 

As  the  Mafia  godfather  in  The  god-  iil 
father  movie  turns  to  the  priest  to  speak  j , 
pious  liturgies  at  appropriate  times  and  j 
to  baptize  his  babies,  even  while  he  1* 
schemes,  robs,  and  murders,  so  godfather  | 
governments  and  cultures  turn  to  reli-  I 
gion  to  put  halos  on  their  evil  deeds.  I 
Or  to  hide  them.  When  Christianity,  be  I 
it  liberal,  evangelical,  or  fundamentalist,  I 
becomes  the  vehicle  of  civil  religion,  it  I 
makes  a people  blind,  easily  deceived.  I 


Washington's  Watergate  office-apartment  complex  has  become  the  symbol 
of  corruption  and  deceit  in  a nation  which  but  a short  while  ago  would  not 
easily  tolerate  a lie.  Now,  demonstrating  how  exceptionally  bad  the  times  are 
in  America,  people  are  wondering  if  the  nation  can  survive  the  full  dis- 
closure of  the  truth. 


394 


JUNE  19,  1973 


I 


: The  bombing  by  the  government  be- 
comes less  barbaric,  perhaps  it  is  even 
music  to  their  ears. 

Sometimes  it  seems  that  renewal  move- 
ments hope  to  save  all  our  souls  with- 
out ever  addressing  the  soul  of  a nation 
of  which  they  have  all  become  a part,  to 
, make  us  all  feel  good  again  without 
^ confronting  that  which  makes  all  of  us 
[feel  so  bad,  to  camouflage  with  smooth 
! and  comprehensive  strategy  a weak  if 
not  bankrupt  theology. 

I’m  not  asking  you  to  say  yes  to  tomor- 
row because  the  times  are  exceptionally 
! good  but  rather  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
they  are  exceptionally  bad. 

In  the  words  of  the  holy  Scriptures 
for  today:  “Brace  yourself,  Jeremiah, 
i stand  up  and  speak  to  them.  . . . This 
day  I make  you  a fortified  city,  a pillar 
of  iron,  a wall  of  bronze,  to  stand  fast 
against  the  whole  land,  against  the  kings 
; and  princes  of  Judah,  its  priests  and  its 
people”  (Jer.  1:17-18). 

God  calls  forth  his  best,  most  willing 
servants  not  when  times  are  exceptionally 
i good  but  rather  when  they  are  otherwise. 

He  sends  his  sons  as  his  saviors  when  the 
; world  most  needs  saving.  When  the  times 
are  darkest,  he  provides  light  that  is 
brightest.  When  apathy  begins  to  en- 
velop a whole  nation,  he  has  already 
begun  to  activate  its  future  leaders. 

The  worst  of  times  from  one  perspec- 
tive are  often  the  best  of  times  from  an- 
other vantage  point.  What  seems  impos- 
, sible  is  not  impossible  at  all  though  it 
may  sometimes  take  a little  longer. 

Say  yes  when  opportunities  are  scarce. 
Say  yes  to  tomorrow  even  when  the 
times  are  not  exceptionally  good.  Diffi- 
culty is  no  excuse  for  apathy,  not  even 
when  the  opportunities  are  not  unusually 
great. 

You  have  been  told,  no  doubt,  quite 
frequently  that  a college  education  opens 
the  doors  to  great  opportunities,  usually 
meaning  the  professions,  to  be  exercised 
at  home  and  abroad.  But  I do  not  find  it 


in  me  to  activate  you  on  those  terms. 
First,  a college  degree,  or  even  a PhD, 
is  not  a guarantee  for  a good  job,  as 
the  Carnegie  Commission  on  Higher  Ed- 
ucation recently  pointed  out.  The  whole 
relationship  of  higher  education  and  work 
appears  to  be  undergoing  a fundamental 
change. 

The  second  reason  is  that  the  other 
countries  will  not  absorb  the  surplus 
much  longer.  In  Canada  hard.y  a day 
goes  by  in  which  some  journalist  hasn’t 
counted  the  number  of  U.S.  professors 
at  Canadian  universities  and  concluded 
that  the  percentage  is  too  high.  The  same 
is  becoming  true  elsewhere  in  the  world. 
You  and  we  are  not  as  much  needed, 
and,  if  still  needed,  not  as  much  wanted. 

Thirdly,  the  professions,  like  the  cor- 
porations, the  unions,  and  political  estab- 
lishments, are  seeking  their  own  good. 
There  was  a time  when  the  professions 
were  there  to  serve  the  people,  but  now 
it  often  seems  that  the  people  are  there 
to  serve  the  professions. 

Still  I ask  you  to  say  yes  to  tomorrow. 
It  may  not  beckon  us  with  great  jobs, 
but  it  does  call  us  with  great  needs  that 
remain  unmet,  with  new  ministries  that 
must  be  pioneered.  Such  services  as 
teaching,  writing,  painting,  music  making, 
and  preaching  were  not  socially  recog- 
nized in  their  beginnings.  The  work  to 
which  Jeremiah  was  called — “I  appoint- 
ed you  a prophet  to  the  nations” — has 
still  not  been  recognized.  And  I pray  to 
God,  it  never  will  be,  because  human 
recognition  so  often  destroys  divine  mis- 
sion. 

There  may  not  be  an  opening  for  you 
if  your  eye  is  on  the  professions,  but 
there  surely  will  be  if  your  mind  is  set 
on  serving  the  best  interests  of  the  peo- 
ple. And  you  don’t  have  to  go  abroad 
to  help  the  world.  From  my  travels  in 
many  lands  I have  become  convinced 
that  many  of  the  world’s  problems  can- 
not be  solved,  except  they  be  solved  in 
the  political,  economic,  military,  and  re- 


ligious capitals  of  the  western  world. 
The  best  way  to  help  the  Cambodians 
now  is  not  to  send  Band-aids  but  to  re- 
call the  bombers.  And  working  for  fairer 
foreign  trade  at  home  is  the  best  con- 
tribution we  can  make  to  foreign  aid 
abroad. 

You  don’t  always  have  to  fit  in  voca- 
tionally. Indeed,  one  shouldn’t  fit  in,  not 
within  and  not  without  the  recognized 
professions.  A society  becomes  sterile 
and  noncreative  the  moment  everybody 
fits  in,  when  everything  falls  into  place, 
when  everything  can  be  programmed  on 
the  computer,  and  when  everybody  meets 
all  the  role  expectations. 

I know  it’s  hard  to  be  creatively  dif- 
ferent, because  people  are  asking  you 
what  you  are  going  to  be  and  how  much 
money  you  are  going  to  make  and  where 
and  how  soon  you’re  going  to  settle 
down. 

Six  years  ago  I gave  up  maverick  news- 
paper work  and  other  unrecognized  ac- 
tivity. We  settled  in  Ottawa,  our  nation’s 
capital,  a city  filled  with  civil  servants, 
all  with  their  slots  and  pecking  orders 
well  defined.  I was  going  to  be  a min- 
ister, a part-time  worker  for  the  mcc 
Peace  Section,  and  otherwise  engage  in 
unclassified  activity,  which  in  moments 
of  highest  respectability  I referred  to  as 
free-lancing. 

Free-lancing  was  harder  on  my  family 
than  on  me,  and  one  day  my  daughter 
asked  me  in  tears:  “Dad,  what  shall  we 
say  when  our  friends  ask:  ‘Is  your  dad 
in  the  army,  navy,  or  air  force?’  ” I 
shared  the  question  with  my  church 
chairman,  also  a civil  servant,  and  being 
somewhat  unconventional  in  both  those 
roles,  he  said:  “Tell  your  daughter  to 
tell  her  friends:  ‘Our  dad  takes  on  all 
three!’  ” 

Well,  it  wasn’t  quite  that  way,  but  life’s 
deepest  satisfactions,  greatest  creativity, 
and  most  lasting  service  can  sometimes 
be  found  outside  the  professional  game 
plan,  outside  predetermined  roles,  out- 


The  relationship  of  higher  education  and  work  appears  to  be  undergoing  a 
fundamental  change,  says  Frank  Epp.  A college  degree,  or  even  a PhD,  is  no 
longer  a guarantee  for  a good  fob. 


Life's  deepest  satisfactions,  greatest  creativity,  and  most  lasting  service  can 
sometimes  be  found  outside  the  professional  game  plan,  outside  the  established 
social  slots,  salary  scales,  and  securities.  What  matters  most  is  the  calling  from, 
and  placement  by,  God.  Above,  a volunteer,  who  has  given  up  a teaching  career, 
works  with  a troubled  teen-ager  at  an  emergency  resource  home  in  Kentucky. 


side  the  established  social  slots,  salary 
scales,  and  professional  securities.  What 
matters  most  is  the  calling  from,  and 
placement  by,  God.  As  he  spoke  to  Jere- 
miah, so  he  also  speaks  to  us: 

“I  put  my  words  into  your  mouth. 
This  day  I give  you  authority  over  na- 
tions and  kingdoms,  to  pull  down  and 
to  uproot,  to  destroy  and  to  demolish, 
to  build  and  to  plant”  (Jer.  1:9-10). 

There  are  many  people,  of  course, 
who  experienced  a calling  that  went  far 
beyond  the  definition  and  expectations 
of  society,  be  that  inside  or  outside  of 
the  established  professions.  They  include 
people  like  Harry  and  Olga  Martens  and 
Doc  and  Sadie  Harms,  who  were  honored 
this  year  by  Bethel  College;  Ralph  Nader, 
crusader  on  behalf  of  consumers;  jour- 
nalists Woodward  and  Bernstein,  winners 
of  a Pulitzer  for  the  Washington  post; 
and  scores  of  others. 

Saying  yes  when  success  isn’t  guar- 
anteed. I can  hear  some  of  the  gradu- 
ates responding  to  the  new  vocation  of 
the  callings  of  God  in  our  time,  saying 
yes  when  times  are  bad  and  when  oppor- 
tunities are  not  good  and  finding  their 
own  way  of  serving  the  world,  hoping 
to  be  Albert  Schweitzers,  Harry  Mar- 
tenses,  and  Ralph  Naders. 

However,  I must  discourage  you  once 
again.  On  the  new  terms  we  cannot  give 
you  the  guarantees  of  the  past. 


In  critical  times  like  these,  a turning 
around  for  society  doesn’t  come  easy. 
Beginnings  are  always  hard.  Innovations 
are  always  ridiculed.  A first  generation 
of  pioneers  must  often  go  to  its  grave 
not  tasting  the  fruits  of  its  labors  except 
by  faith.  The  people  from  Russia  who 
100  years  ago  settled  these  prairies  for 
the  first  time  saw  today’s  prosperity 
only  distantly.  The  leaders  who  started 
Bethel  College  eighty-five  years  ago  knew 
only  that  in  the  opinion  of  their  kins- 
men they  were  setting  a monument  to 
Mennonitische  Torheit  (Mennonite  fol- 
ly)- 

And  other  fools  there  have  been 
aplenty.  Alexander  Bell  was  called  a 
fool  when  he  exhibited  his  telephone  in 
Philadelphia.  McCormick’s  first  reaper 
was  derided  the  country  over  as  a cross 
between  a chariot,  a wheelbarrow,  and 
a flying  machine.  The  crowds  laughed 
at  Madame  Curie  as  she  sorted  through 
tons  of  waste  material  in  search  of  ra- 
dium. 

The  Anabaptists  were  burned  at  the 
stake  because  they  were  “heretics”  and 
“friends  of  the  hated  Turks.”  Martin 
Luther  King,  Jr.,  minister  of  the  gospel 
and  social  reformer  par  excellence,  was 
called  a communist.  And  you  know  what 
they  called  the  front  line  of  protesters 
against  the  Indochina  War. 

When  Ernest  Shackleton,  the  explorer 


of  Antarctica,  needed  men  for  his  jour- 
neys, he  placed  the  following  advertise- 
ment in  a London  newspaper:  “Men 
wanted  for  hazardous  journey.  Small 
wages,  bitter  cold,  long  months  of  com- 
plete darkness,  constant  danger,  safe  re- 
turn doubtful.”  All  he  could  promise  re- 
cruits was  “honor  and  recognition  in 
case  of  success.” 

When  God  needed  a prophet  in  the 
days  of  kings  Josiah,  Jehoiakim,  and  1 
Zedekiah,  he  said:  “Brace  yourself,  Jer- 
emiah. . . . They  will  make  war  on  you.” 
But  he  also  said,  they  “shall  not  over- 
come you,  for  I am  with  you  and  will 
keep  you  safe.” 

On  these  terms  we  also  speak  to  you. 
The  times  are  not  exceptionally  good 
and  getting  worse.  The  opportunities  are 
not  unusually  great  and  getting  less.  Suc- 
cess cannot  be  guaranteed;  on  the  con- 
trary, for  the  frontliners  failure  can  al- 
most certainly  be  predicted.  But  it  will 
not  be  the  failure  of  eternity. 

Those  who  say  yes  to  the  struggles 
of  tomorrow  will  know  the  words  of 
Paul:  “What  can  separate  us  from  the 
love  of  Christ?  Can  affliction  or  hard- 
ship? Can  persecution,  hunger,  naked- 
ness, peril,  or  the  sword?  ‘We  are  being 
done  to  death  for  thy  sake  all  day  long,’ 
as  Scripture  says;  ‘we  have  been  treated 
like  sheep  for  slaughter’ — and  yet,  in 
spite  of  all,  overwhelming  victory 
through  him  who  loved  us.  For  I am  con- 
vinced that  there  is  nothing  in  death  I 
or  life,  in  the  realm  of  spirits  or  super-f 
human  powers  in  the  world  as  it  is  or; 
the  world  as  it  shall  be,  in  the  forces  i 
of  the  universe,  in  heights  or  depths — ‘ 
nothing  in  all  creation  that  can  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  JesusS 
our  Lord”  (Rom.  8:35-39). 

And  with  the  Lord  himself  you  will 
say  when  they  move  in  to  destroy  you, 
“After  three  days  I will  rise  again.”  And 
you  will! 

My  message  can  be  summarized  by 
the  work  of  a Mennonite  artist,  Gerald 
Loewen,  who  used  familiar  objects  in 
a recent  Winnipeg  exhibition  to  illustrate! 
the  meaning  of  our  times:  rusty  barbed, 
wire,  broken  and  rotting  fence  posts', 
and  on  one  of  the  posts  a small  green 
shoot.  I don’t  know  his  application,  but 
for  me  the  barbed  wire  is  the  Indochina 
War  and  all  it  represents,  the  rotting 
post  is  Watergate  and  all  it  represents! 
and  the  sprig  of  green  is  the  class  of 
1973 — if  that  class  says  yes. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


JUNE  19,  1973, 


396 


NEWS 

Coal  or  culture:  issue  for  Northern  Cheyennes 


The  coal-rich  Northern  Cheyenne  res- 
ervation in  southeastern  Montana  could 
become  another  Appalachia,  stripmined 
beyond  recognition,  or  another  Black 
Mesa,  whose  coal-burning  plants  darken 
the  skies  of  the  Four  Corners  area  of 
New  Mexico,  Arizona,  Colorado,  and 
Utah. 

That  is  the  fear  of  many  people  on 
the  Northern  Cheyenne  reservation,  and 
that  is  one  of  the  reasons  the  Northern 
Cheyenne  tribal  council  has  recently 
voted  to  ask  the  U.S.  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  to  cancel  the  coal  leases  already 
granted  on  the  reservation. 

Many  Northern  Cheyenne  people  fear 
not  only  the  damage  to  the  land  and  air, 
but  the  damage  to  their  culture. 

“We  are  selling  more  than  coal,”  said 
Ted  Rising  Sun,  chairman  of  the  Busby 
school  board  on  the  reservation,  quoted 


in  the  Billings  gazette.  “We  are  selling 
our  way  of  life.” 

On  the  415,000  acres  of  the  Northern 
Cheyenne  reservation  are  2,600  Chey- 
ennes. There  are  four  small  towns:  Lame 
Deer  (the  largest),  Ashland,  Busby,  and 
Birney.  All  four  towns  have  Mennonite 
churches.  Income  is  primarily  from  cat- 
tle, timber,  and  some  employment  in 
factories  and  government  agencies. 

Of  these  415,000  acres,  more  than 
half  (about  231,000  acres)  are  being 
prospected  by  five  coal  companies  in- 
terested in  strip  mining.  It  is  estimated 
that  two  billion  tons  of  coal  lie  beneath 
the  surface  on  the  reservation. 

The  type  of  coal,  too,  is  in  particular 
demand.  Its  sulphur  content  is  lower 
than  coals  mined  in  the  East,  and  that 
would  make  it  easier  to  meet  federal 
air  pollution  standards. 


Some  coal  is  already  being  mined  just 
off  the  reservation.  Fifteen  to  twenty 
miles  north  of  Lame  Deer,  Peabody  Coal 
Co.,  a subsidiary  of  Kennecott  Copper 
Corporation,  is  operating  a coal  plant. 

Peabody  is  the  only  company  which 
already  holds  a permit  to  mine,  and  this 
on  16,035  acres. 

The  tribal  council  would  like  to  can- 
cel this  lease  to  Peabody  because,  the 
council  feels,  the  Bureau  of  Indian  Af- 
fairs did  not  fully  safeguard  the  tribe’s 
rights  when  the  lease  was  granted. 

“The  provision  in  the  lease  regarding 
reclamation  of  the  land  is  very  weak. 
In  fact,  it  almost  leaves  the  decision 
about  reclaiming  up  to  the  coal  com- 
pany,” said  George  Crossland,  an  Osage 
lawyer  from  the  Indian  Legal  Informa- 
tion Development  Services,  representing 
the  tribe  in  Washington,  D.C. 


The  coal  strip  mine  below,  located  just  north  of  the  reservation  away  from  this  site  is  the  strip  mine  of  the  Peabody  Coal  Co. 
near  Colstrip,  Montana,  is  typical  of  operations  which  might  One  of  the  principal  areas  of  dispute  between  the  tribe  and  the 
be  started  on  the  Northern  Cheyenne  reservation.  A few  miles  coal  companies  is  reclamation  of  land. 


Mr.  Crossland  said  the  tribe  has  re- 
quested Secretary  of  the  Interior  Rogers 
Morton  to  cancel  the  coal  lease  with 
Peabody. 

“I  expect  the  secretary  will  reply  in 
a week  or  two,”  said  Mr.  Crossland, 
“saying  he  does  not  have  the  authority 
to  cancel  the  lease.  Then  the  tribe  will 
go  to  court.” 

The  claim  is  that  the  Bureau  of  Indian 
Affairs  did  not  keep  the  tribe  adequately 
informed  of  developments  before  the 
lease  was  granted  and  that  the  bia  has 
exhibited  a lax  attitude. 

The  Native  American  Rights  Fund  in 
Boulder,  Colorado,  at  the  request  of  the 
tribe's  mineral  committee,  is  drafting  a 
set  of  stringent  codes  that  would  pro- 
tect the  reservation  land  and  tribal  life 
against  possible  abuse  by  the  coal  com- 
panies and  the  bia. 

The  Northern  Cheyennes  express  mixed 
reactions  to  strip  mining  on  the  reserva- 
tion, according  to  Jeanine  Briggs  of  Was- 
saja,  a monthly  newspaper  published  by 
the  American  Indian  Historical  Society. 


The  coal  would  bring  millions  of  dol- 
lars to  the  tribe,  she  said,  but  it  would 
also  damage  reservation  land  and  impose 
possible  adverse  effects  on  tribal  life.  To 
many  of  the  Northern  Cheyenne,  tribal 
life,  which  also  includes  the  land  where- 
upon the  continuation  of  that  life  is  as- 
sured, is  of  far  greater  importance  than 
money. 

Tom  Gardner,  Cheyenne  community 
action  director,  explained,  “We  see  pros- 
perity from  the  coal,  but  we  also  see 
many  thousands  of  white  people — per- 
haps 30,000  miners  and  technicians  and 
the  people  to  serve  them,  when  we  are 
only  a few  thousand.  We  see  a popula- 
tion explosion  with  bars,  beer  taverns, 
and  discrimination  against  our  people.” 

Other  estimates  of  the  number  of 
whites  the  coal  development  might  bring 
vary,  but  the  feeling  is  the  same. 

Ted  Rising  Sun  said,  “If  we  have  an 
influx  of  6,000  to  8,000  people,  the  power 
structure  will  change.  We  will  be  a mi- 
nority in  our  own  land.  We  will  lose 
control.” 


Kenneth  LaFever,  a rancher,  warned, 
“These  people  coming  onto  the  reserva- 
tion won’t  have  the  same  needs  and 
goals  that  the  people  here  have  now.” 
Not  everyone  on  the  reservation  is 
as  vocal  against  the  coal  mining.  George 
Cady,  a white  Lame  Deer  businessman, 
said,  “They  have  to  mine  the  coal.  The 
nation  needs  the  energy.” 

Others  see  it  as  a job  opportunity. 

But,  said  the  Gazette,  in  three  days 
on  the  reservation  a reporter  found  only 
a scattered  few  who  were  anxious  to 
see  the  coal  companies  move  in. 

Coal  development  on  the  reservation 
may  be  inevitable.  No  one  seems  to  be 
trying  to  block  the  mining  entirely.  The 
question  is  the  price. 

The  Northern  Cheyennes  are  saying, 
the  coal  companies  must  pay  for  the  ; 
damage  they  do  to  our  land  and  our  1 
life,  and  they  must  reclaim  the  land. 

Or  perhaps,  suggested  James  Shoulder-  , 
blade,  a member  of  the  tribal  council, 
the  coal  mines  should  be  operated  by 
the  tribe  itself. 


Canadian  groups  cooperate  in  book  evangelism 


Mennonites  in  Canada  are  enthusiastic 
about  bookrack  evangelism  and  are  ac- 
tively cooperating  to  sponsor  the  Choice 
Books  paperback  ministry,  according  to 
Ron  Yoder,  who  recently  toured  four 
Canadian  provinces. 

Mr.  Yoder  is  director  of  the  religious 
paperback  ministry  coordinated  by  Men- 
nonite  Broadcasts,  the  mass  communi- 
cations arm  of  Mennonite  Board  of  Mis- 
sions. 

Mr.  Yoder  also  discovered  that  the 
program  in  these  provinces  has  a slightly 
different  focus  than  in  most  of  the  other 
areas  where  the  bookrack  ministry  is 
operating. 

“Canada  is  a big  place,”  he  said.  “And 
many  of  the  racks  are  located  in  rural 
areas.” 

He  noted  that  the  size  of  the  land  area 
and  the  sparseness  of  population  makes 
inter-Mennonite  cooperation  desirable. 

In  reaching  the  outlying  areas  with 
religious  paperbacks,  Mr.  Yoder  noted 
that  the  churches  are  “fulfilling  real 
needs  because  of  the  lack  of  religious 
materials  in  such  areas.” 

The  potential  market  for  religious 
paperback  books  in  Canada  is  great. 
“More  than  half  of  the  population  of 
Manitoba  lives  in  one  city,”  he  said. 
“And  when  you  can  reach  half  the  pop- 
ulation of  a vast  province  in  one  city, 
you  have  a tremendous  market  poten- 


tial.” A similar  situation  exists  in  Alberta 
where  more  than  half  of  the  population 
lives  in  the  cities  of  Edmonton  and  Cal- 
gary. 

He  noted  that  one  of  the  difficulties 
in  reaching  this  potential  market  is  the 
lack  of  religious  paperback  materials 
published  in  Canada. 

There  is  some  demand  for  books  in 
German  and  French  for  use  in  cities 
with  large  German-  and  French-speaking 
populations. 

In  Manitoba,  the  Mennonite  Brethren, 
General  Conference  Mennonite,  and 
Evangelical  Mennonite  churches  and  the 
United  Church  of  Canada  are  cooperat- 
ing to  sponsor  bookrack  evangelism.  The 
program  has  been  operating  for  several 
years  now  and  has  realized  a significant 
growth.  In  1971,  4,876  books  were  dis- 
tributed through  the  program  on  fifteen 
racks.  By  1972  this  had  doubled,  with 
9,738  books  being  sold  in  the  province 
on  thirty-seven  racks. 

The  sponsoring  churches  have  formed 
an  ad  hoc  committee  to  provide  super- 
vision for  the  program.  The  committee 
aims  to  double  their  book  volume  during 
1973. 

The  Choice  Books  program  in  Sas- 
katchewan is  just  getting  started.  The 
program  here  is  sponsored  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  and  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren churches. 


The  General  Conference  and  Menno- 
nite Brethren  churches  in  Alberta  are 
also  cooperating  to  sponsor  bookrack 
evangelism.  By  the  end  of  1972,  ten 
racks  were  operating  throughout  the  prov- 
ince. While  in  the  ski  resort  town  of 
Banff,  Mr.  Yoder  helped  to  place  a rack 
in  a local  drug  store. 

The  program  in  British  Columbia, 
sponsored  by  the  United  Mennonite  Con- 
ference, is  also  just  getting  started  with 
several  racks  in  place. 

Henry  Poettcker  will 
visit  Indonesia,  too 

Henry  Poettcker,  president  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church  and 
president  of  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible 
College  in  Winnipeg,  has  added  Indo- 
nesia to  his  itinerary  for  a year  in  Asia. 

Mr.  Poettcker  will  visit  Indonesia  Aug- 
ust 20  to  September  25,  making  fraternal 
visits  to  the  churches  of  Indonesia  and 
teaching  some  special  courses  at  the 
awks  seminary  in  Pati.  He  goes  to  In- 
donesia at  the  invitation  of  Mennonite 
Central  Committee. 

The  Indonesian  visit  will  follow  a sum- 
mer in  Japan,  conducting  seminars  and 
workshops  for  pastors.  In  October  Mr. 
Poettcker  will  begin  nine  months  of 
teaching  at  two  Presbyterian  seminaries 
in  Taiwan. 


398 


JUNE  19,  1973 


New  Gulfport  congregation  considered 


Mennonites  ought  to  have  a congrega- 
tion on  the  site  of  the  former  Crossroads 
Mennonite  Church  in  Gulport,  Missis- 
sippi. This  was  the  consensus  of  an  inter- 
Mennonite  group  of  conference  staff  and 
Gulf  Coast  area  people  who  met  May  26 
for  joint  planning  on  the  total  work  of 
I Mennonites  in  that  area. 

I The  group  asked  the  South  Central 
Conference  of  the  Mennonite  Church 
to  take  leadership  in  starting  the  new 
| congregation,  but  it  was  understood  that 
[ the  South  Central  Conference  would 
, call  on  other  conferences  to  participate 
I as  well,  particularly  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church,  which  sponsors 
I a voluntary  service  unit  in  Gulfport. 

The  Western  District  Conference  of 
the  General  Conference  will  be  discuss- 
I ing  the  matter  of  the  new  congregation, 
i which  would  probably  be  started  in  six 
I months  to  a year. 

The  Gulf  Coast  Conference,  an  un- 
J official  inter-Mennonite  fellowship  of 
I Mennonite  churches  in  Louisiana  and 
Mississippi,  has  appointed  a three-person 
advisory  committee  for  the  new  congre- 
, gation,  consisting  of  Lester  Horst,  pas- 


tor of  the  nearby  Gulfhaven  Mennonite 
Church;  J.  Dea  Williams,  member  of 
the  board  of  the  former  Crossroads 
Church;  and  Orlo  Kaufman,  General 
Conference  Commission  on  Home  Min- 
istries staff  person  in  Gulfport. 

The  May  26  planning  session  for  Gulf 
Coast  Mennonite  work  took  place  at 
Pine  Lake  Camp,  near  Meridian,  Mis- 
sissippi, and  included  representatives 
from  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  Ohio  and  Eastern  Conference, 
Conservative  Mennonite  Conference, 
Mennonite  Central  Committee,  Menno- 
nite Board  of  Missions,  South  Central 
Conference,  and  area  churches. 

The  meeting  also  discussed  Pine  Lake 
Camp,  operated  by  the  Gulf  Coast 
churches.  Volunteers  Bill  and  Barbara 
Baughman  were  given  freedom  to  devel- 
op programs  for  non-Mennonite  area 
people,  and  some  additional  maintenance 
staff — perhaps  a voluntary  service  per- 
son— may  be  added  next  spring.  There 
are  also  plans  to  winterize  the  lodge,  de- 
velop a parking  area,  deepen  the  lake, 
and  construct  a new  building. 

Other  discussions  concerned  establish- 


ment of  a Mennonite  fellowship  at  Hat- 
tiesburg, Mississippi,  where  several  Men- 
nonites attend  Mississippi  Southern  Uni- 
versity. 

Transfer  of  Gulfport 
community  center  planned 

A community  center  in  Gulfport,  Missis- 
sippi, is  scheduled  to  be  transferred 
from  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  to  the  Good  Deeds  Association, 
a locally  operated,  community  service 
organization. 

Negotiations  are  under  way  concerning 
the  exact  purchase  price. 

The  community  center,  swimming  pool, 
library,  and  recreation  programs  were 
started  by  voluntary  service  workers  at 
Camp  Landon  in  North  Gulfport  and, 
over  the  years,  have  been  turned  over 
to  community  control  through  the  Good 
Deeds  Association. 

Voluntary  service  workers  still  con- 
duct Bible  classes,  and  Orlo  Kaufman, 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries  worker, 
is  heavily  involved  in  family  crisis  coun- 
seling. 


Russian  Christians  evaluate  western  church 


I Christians  in  the  West  are  dead,  accord- 
ing to  a number  of  people  from  the 
Union  of  Soviet  Socialist  Republics  who 
attended  the  Licht  im  Osten  mission 
conference  in  Korntal,  Germany,  this 
spring.  Licht  im  Osten  is  an  independent 
mission  organization  serving  Slavic-speak- 
ing people. 

The  brethren  making  this  evaluation 
of  Christianity  in  the  West  were  among 
the  ninety  persons  permitted  to  leave 
the  USSR  during  the  past  couple  of 
years  for  citizenship  in  West  Germany. 

Because  of  the  growing  political  ties 
between  the  USSR  and  West  Germany, 
Russian  citizens  from  German  back- 
ground may  apply  for  a permanent  visa 
to  West  Germany,  reports  Vasil  Magal, 
speaker  on  Voice  of  a friend,  a Menno- 
nite Broadcasts  radio  release,  and  Slavic 
, missionary  worker  in  western  Europe. 

Mr.  Magal,  a native  Russian,  attended 
the  Korntal  conference  and  provided 
the  main  message  in  the  Russian-language 
meeting. 

During  the  meeting,  several  of  the 
newly  arrived  Russian  emigrants  gave 
testimonies  from  their  experiences  and 
from  the  Word  of  God. 

Among  those  Russians  immigrating  to 


West  Germany  during  the  past  several 
years  were  several  families  of  Mennonite 
background. 

During  the  three-day  conference,  a 
staff  member  of  Trans  World  Radio  in 
Monte  Carlo  spoke  about  the  wide  min- 
istry of  radio  among  the  Russian-speak- 


ing people,  especially  in  Russia  and  Si- 
beria. From  five  to  seven  million  persons 
are  estimated  to  listen  to  the  broadcasts. 

The  people  from  the  USSR  said  they 
all  listened  to  these  broadcasts  and  sug- 
gested there  are  not  enough  such  pro- 
grams, especially  for  youth  and  children. 


Manitoba  premier  asks  for  meeting 


Representatives  of  the  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  (Manitoba)  met  with 
Manitoba’s  premier,  Ed  Schreyer,  May 
29  at  the  premier’s  request  to  discuss 
mcc’s  expanding  work  with  offenders. 

Mcc  (Manitoba),  which  is  planning 
to  start  a counseling  and  job  training 
program  for  people  who  have  served 
time  in  prison  or  who  are  on  probation, 
recently  made  a request  to  the  Manitoba 
Government  for  office  space  in  Winni- 
peg’s downtown  business  district.  The 
request  was  granted  without  much  de- 
lay, but  the  concept  which  motivated 
mcc’s  offender  services  so  intrigued  the 
premier  that  he  asked  for  a meeting  to 
find  out  more  about  it.  Mcc  (Manitoba) 
has  operated  a probation  hostel  since 
1972. 


The  provincial  government  has  agreed 
to  make  900  square  feet  of  street-level 
office  space  available  to  mcc.  The  office 
is  located  on  Donald  St.,  a block  north 
of  the  downtown  Eaton’s  store  in  Win- 
nipeg. The  space  will  be  rent  free,  but 
mcc  will  cover  the  cost  of  utilities  and 
some  renovations.  It  is  expected  that 
the  office  will  be  ready  for  occupancy 
by  July  1. 

The  three  members  of  the  mcc  dele- 
gation were  C.  N.  Friesen,  director  of 
the  new  program;  Arthur  Driedger,  ex- 
ecutive secretary  of  mcc  (Manitoba); 
and  Larry  Kehler,  chairman  of  the  pro- 
vincial peace  and  social  concerns  com- 
mittee, which  administers  the  offender 
program. 


THE  MENNONITE 


399 


New  front  in  the  battle  with  militarism 

Gayle  and  Ted  Koontz 


One  of  the  newest  fronts  in  the  Chris- 
tian peacemaker’s  struggle  with  milita- 
rism is  the  rapidly  expanding  high  school 
Junior  Reserve  Officer  Training  Corps 
( jrotc  ) program.  By  this  fall  the  pres- 
ent ceiling  of  1,200  jrotc  units  will  be 
reached,  and  the  military  is  taking  action 
to  raise  the  ceiling  to  1,800  units. 

The  growth  of  high  school  jrotc  units 
from  254  to  1,200  between  the  mid- 
1960s  and  1973  was  begun  by  the  rotc 
Vitalization  Act  of  1964. 

The  Army,  Navy,  Air  Force,  and  Ma- 
rines claim  that  their  three-  or  four-year 
jrotc  programs  are  primarily  for  cit- 
izenship training.  The  Marine  jrotc 
program,  for  example,  aims  to  develop 
responsible  citizens,  to  strengthen  char- 
acter and  self-discipline,  to  promote  un- 
derstanding of  national  security  needs, 
“and  to  develop  respect  for  and  an  un- 
derstanding of  the  need  for  constituted 
authority  in  a democratic  society.” 

Because  of  Vietnam  and  the  end  of 
the  use  of  the  draft,  the  armed  forces 
must  polish  their  image  to  attract  new 
personnel.  Jrotc,  which  is  directed  at 
impressionable  fourteen-  to  eighteen- 
year-old  youth,  seeks  to  do  this.  Instruc- 
tion in  military  history  emphasizes  the 
glorious  role  of  the  military  in  United 
States  life.  Good  citizenship  seems  to  be 
judged  primarily  by  unquestioning  obedi- 
ence to  governmental  authority  and  by 
participation  in  or  support  of  the  mili- 
tary. 

Although  jrotc  does  not  “officially” 
have  a recruitment  rationale,  the  mili- 
tary notes  that  it  does  expand  students’ 
career  choices.  A prime  example  the 
Air  Force  gives  is  its  “aerospace  educa- 
tion” program. 

The  program  gives  little  preparation 
useful  in  other  than  military  jobs.  Forty 
percent  of  the  150,000  jrotc  partici- 
pants continue  in  military  affiliations  of 
one  type  or  another  following  high 
school.  Some  people  question  whether 
expanding  career  options  through  this 
kind  of  high  school  program  is  a legiti- 
mate function  of  the  military.  Other 
professional  organizations  do  not  run 
equivalent  courses  although  the  career 
options  available  through  other  profes- 
sions may  be  much  brighter. 

A summary  of  the  Marine  jrotc 
course  of  instruction  is  found  in  the 
Draft  counselors  newsletter,  No.  2,  1973: 

“Cadets  in  Marine  Corps  jrotc  nor- 


mally participate  in  an  hour  of  military 
instruction  each  school  day.  About  one- 
third  of  the  total  time  is  spent  in  marks- 
manship training.  Each  high  school  cadet 
must  learn  how  to  use  and  must  practice 
with  the  following  weapons:  the  .22-cal- 
iber automatic  rifle,  the  .45-caliber  mil- 
itary pistol,  the  M-l,  the  M-14,  and  the 
M-16 

“Most  of  the  cadet’s  jrotc  time, 
though,  is  spent  in  training  in  leadership, 
military  history  and  organization,  and 
drill.  . . . Students  learn  how  to  perform 
duties  of  military  police,  including  ‘in- 
ternal security’  work  and  arresting  ‘ci- 
vilians committing  offenses  in  areas  un- 
der military  control.  Cadets  study  the 
‘responsibilities  of  citizenship,’  including 
‘recognizing  un-American  propaganda’; 
all  these  ‘duties’  are  discussed  under  the 
general  heading  of  ‘preservation  of  the 
American  Government.’  ” 

Although  most  of  the  cost  for  jrotc 
training  is  borne  by  the  military,  each 
unit  in  a school  costs  the  local  school 
system  at  least  the  equivalent  of  a regu- 
lar teacher  s salary.  Most  of  the  money 
is  used  to  subsidize  the  salaries  of  the 
two  instructors  who  are  assigned  to  each 
unit. 

Instructors  are  retired  or  semiretired 
military  men  who  are  not  required  to 
have  teaching  degrees,  although  one  of 
them  is  generally  required  to  have  the 
equivalent  of  college  training.  The  school 
must  also  provide  classroom,  storage, 
and  drill  space. 

What  are  the  benefits  of  participation 
in  jrotc  which  attract  students?  Status, 
wearing  an  official  uniform,  and  being 
allowed  to  supervise  other  students  in 
hall  patrol  are  some  of  the  psychological 
rewards.  Scholarship  awards  and  credit 
for  Senior  (college)  rotc  and  the  fact 
that  jrotc  participation  involves  no  mil- 
itary obligation  are  more  practical  in- 
ducements. There  are  also  subtle  pres- 
sures including  the  influence  of  parents 
or  friends,  and  the  fact  that  in  some 
schools  participation  in  extracurricular 
activities  such  as  band  are  contingent  on 
enrollment  in  jrotc. 

The  expansion  of  high  school  jrotc 
has  not  been  without  opponents.  In  New 
York,  the  state  legislature  recently  voted 
to  prohibit  the  use  of  funds  for  jrotc 
programs  in  New  York  public  schools. 

Mennonites  joined  others  in  Des 
Moines,  Iowa,  to  protest  the  entrance  of 


jrotc  into  the  city  schools,  but  an  ex- 
perimental unit  was  introduced  in  spite 
of  their  opposition.  Citizen  resistance 
(including  a Mennonite  church)  to  jrotc 
programs  in  Salem,  Oregon,  and  Hagers- 
town, Maryland,  successfully  prevented 
the  introduction  of  jrotc  into  their 
school  systems.  Since  each  jrotc  pro- 
gram must  be  approved  by  the  school 
board,  local  opposition  can  be  effectively 
mounted  if  school  boards  and  committee 
meetings  are  carefully  monitored. 

A conception  of  citizenship  which 
emphasizes  unquestioning  obedience  in- 
stead of  responsible  participation  and 
criticism  has  no  place  in  democratic 
society.  An  “education”  which  fosters 
unquestioning  obedience  to  authority 
rather  than  critical  inquiry  does  not  de- 
serve the  name.  Spending  scarce  school 
funds  on  jrotc  programs  is  simply  mis- 
management of  public  monies. 

Jrotc  builds  a society  of  adults  who 
are  trained  to  use  weapons  in  tight  sit- 
uations. Graduates  tend  to  advocate 
forceful  solutions  to  community,  na- 
tional, and  international  conflicts.  Such 
solutions  polarize  people  rather  than 
work  to  reconcile  the  differences  at  the 
roots  of  problems. 

Christians  seek  to  be  reconciling  agents 
in  the  world.  If  we  take  seriously  Jesus’ 
attitude,  “Love  your  enemies,”  we  can 
hardly  sit  quietly  by  while  a program 
that  teaches  attitudes  and  methods  for 
destruction  of  “enemies”  spreads  into 
more  of  the  nation’s  high  schools. 

Though  the  use  of  the  draft  is  ending, 
the  militarization  of  our  society  con- 
tinues. The  expansion  of  jrotc  is  merely 
one  example,  but  it  is  one  against  which 
meaningful  action  can  be  taken  in  many 
communities. 


KINGS  VIEW’S 

25TH  ANNIVERSARY 
HOMECOMING 

CELEBRATION 

August  11,  1973 

WE  NEED  ADDRESSES  OF 
ALL  PREVIOUS  EMPLOYEES 

PLAN  YOUR  VACATION 
IN  CALIFORNIA 
WRITE:  BOX  512 

REEDLEY,  CA  93654 


* 


> 

\ 

| 

- 


400 


JUNE  19,  1973 


MAF  — flying  servant  of  the  church 


Marion  Preheim 

Many  remember  the  dramatic  story  of 
the  conversion  of  the  Auca  Indians  in 
: Ecuador  and  the  crisis  in  the  Congo 
(now  Zaire)  after  independence.  Yet 
how  many  recall  the  part  played  by  the 
i Missionary  Aviation  Fellowship  in  these 
and  other  events? 

Although  mcc  and  Mennonite  mission 
personnel  use  maf  services  regularly,  not 
many  know  how  essential  it  is  to  our 
overseas  work  in  the  countries  where 
maf  has  programs. 

Missionary  Aviation  Fellowship  start- 
ed in  the  mid- 1940s  in  the  United  States. 
It  now  has  programs  in  Mexico,  Nica- 
ragua, Colombia,  Honduras,  Ecuador, 
Venezuela,  Surinam,  Brazil,  Kenya,  Eth- 
iopia,  Rhodesia,  Zaire,  Laos,  Afghan- 
' istan,  and  the  Indonesian  islands  of  Kali- 
mantan and  West  Irian. 

Maf’s  stated  purpose  is  to  plant  and 
build  the  church.  It  considers  itself  a 
partner  of  the  missions  and  churches 
they  serve. 

The  organization  sets  high  standards 
1 for  any  candidates  it  accepts.  A pilot 
must  have  a commercial  license  and  in- 
strument rating,  flying  time  of  400  hours 
to  his  credit  and  a college  or  Bible  insti- 
tute degree.  If  he  attended  a liberal  arts 
! college,  he  must  have  at  least  fifteen  se- 
mester hours  of  Bible.  If  he  studied  at 
a Bible  institute,  he  must  have  at  least 
thirty-five  semester  hours  of  liberal  arts 
subjects. 

In  addition,  a pilot  must  have  an  A 
and  P mechanics  license  for  both  power 
plants  and  airframes.  Normally  this  takes 
up  to  two  full  years  of  schooling  to  ac- 
quire. 

Maf  looks  for  persons  committed  to 
serve  Christ  and  to  follow  the  Holy 
Spirit’s  leading.  It  generally  expects  both 
husband  and  wife  to  contribute  to  the 
functioning  of  the  program. 

Because  of  the  demanding  work,  maf 
. assesses  whether  candidates  can  with- 
stand the  rigors  of  life  overseas  and 
' have  the  facility  to  learn  another  lan- 
guage and  culture.  In  an  operation  where 
people  are  so  dependent  on  each  other, 
they  want  persons  who  work  well  on  a 
team. 

Even  though  I knew  that  maf  flew 
mcc  and  mission  personnel  overseas,  it 
I was  not  until  I moved  into  a neighbor- 
i hood  in  Kinshasa,  Zaire,  where  three 
1 maf  families  live,  that  the  name  came 
: alive  for  me. 


Roy  and  Katie  Parsons,  director  and 
bookkeeper  for  MAF’s  Africa  operations. 


Roy  and  Katie  Parsons  make  Kinshasa 
their  home.  He  serves  as  director  for  all 
the  Africa  programs  and  she  is  the 
bookkeeper.  I was  curious  as  to  how 
they  became  involved  in  maf.  That’s 
how  I found  out  about  their  role  in  the 
ministry  to  the  Auca  Indians  in  Ecuador. 

The  Parsonses  first  became  interested 
in  maf  through  Nate  Saint,  the  maf  pi- 
lot who  was  attempting  to  reach  the 
Aucas  in  Ecuador.  The  Aucas  were  a 
band  of  people  with  whom  no  one  had 
previously  made  friendly  contact. 

Mr.  Saint  visited  in  Katie’s  home  dur- 
ing a speaking  tour  of  the  United  States. 
“In  the  conversation  that  evening  Roy 
told  him  of  his  interest  in  amateur  flying. 
Roy  and  I were  engaged  and  we  told 
him  of  our  pledge  to  serve  as  mission- 
aries in  the  Congo,”  recalls  Mrs.  Parsons. 

“Nate  suggested  that  Roy  turn  his 
flying  ability  over  to  the  Lord  and  see 
what  he  would  do  with  it.  . . . We  finally 
decided  to  do  just  that.” 

When  the  Parsonses  were  ready  to 
serve  in  1957,  no  program  existed  in 
Congo.  Ironically,  they  received  a call 
to  replace  Nate  Saint,  for  in  1956  the 
Auca  Indians  had  killed  Nate  and  mis- 
sionary Jim  Elliott. 


“We  arrived,”  Mrs.  Parsons  states, 
“the  day  Nate  Saint’s  sister,  Marg,  and 
Betty  Elliot,  Jim’s  wife,  began  a five-day 
walk  into  the  jungle  to  contact  the  Aucas. 
They  were  able  to  live  among  them  and 
stayed  in  two  years.  Roy  flew  in  sup- 
plies to  them.  As  you  know,  during  this 
time  the  two  women  led  the  Aucas  to 
love  Christ.” 

Many  know  the  story  of  the  two  wom- 
en but  few  will  probably  recall  the  pilot 
who  sustained  them  during  that  time. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  operation  here 
in  Zaire  during  the  crisis  after  indepen- 
dence in  1960.  Maf  pilots  played  a big 
role  in  bringing  in  medical  aid.  Areas 
where  missionaries  and  government  per- 
sonnel had  been  evacuated  were  left 
without  doctors  and  nurses. 

The  need  for  medical  assistance 
brought  maf  to  Zaire.  Usually  maf  takes 
up  to  several  years  to  investigate  a new 
program.  Most  often  they  begin  a pro- 
gram to  reach  “the  few,”  those  so  iso- 
lated that  they  have  never  heard  of 
Christ  and  can  only  do  so  through  air 
contacts. 

“Operation  Doctor”  initiated  the  pro- 
gram in  Zaire.  In  January  1961,  six 
months  after  independence,  another  of 
our  neighbors,  June  and  Wes  Eisemann, 
moved  into  Kinshasa  along  with  the 
John  Strashes.  Housing  was  scarce  and 
conditions  unstable.  Soon,  however,  they 
set  up  their  operation  and  the  men  began 
flying  medical  personnel  over  the  vast, 
dense  grasslands  and  jungles.  June  Eise- 
mann kept  up  the  radio  communication, 
which  is  so  essential  to  the  flying  opera- 
tion. 

After  six  months  the  program  broad- 
ened to  include  regular  air  service  to 
churches  and  missions  because  of  the 
insecurity  and  deteriorating  road  condi- 
tions. Prior  to  this  time  the  missionaries 
had  traveled  overland. 

In  1964,  another  crisis  occurred.  Or- 
ganized bands  of  disillusioned  Congolese 
youth  suddenly  emerged  from  secret  bush 
training  areas  to  terrorize  Kwilu  Prov- 
ince. 

“I  was  listening  to  the  radio  (maf) 
at  my  regular  6:30  hour  in  the  morn- 
ing,” Mrs.  Eisemann  recalls.  “Word  came 
that  three  Catholic  priests  had  been 
killed.”  The  priests  lived  ten  miles  from 
the  Mennonite  mission  station  at  Mukedi. 

“Then  the  Mukedi  missionaries  radi- 
oed that  they  might  need  evacuation. 


THE  MENNONITE 


401 


Larry  Bit  beck,  is  the  chief  MAF  pilot 
flying  out  of  Kinshasa,  Zaire. 


Wes  Eisemann,  is  relief  pilot  and  parts  supplier  for  Zaire.  In  his  off-duty  hours  he 
teaches  an  adult  Bible  class  in  Kinshasa. 


They  also  asked  that  Wes  fly  over  their 
station  at  Kandala  en  route  to  Mukedi. 
The  Kandala  station  had  received  its 
new  radio  several  days  earlier,  but  the 
missionaries  had  not  heard  from  them.” 

Flying  over  Kandala,  Wes  Eisemann 
saw  a blackened  ruin.  The  missionaries 
were  standing  unharmed  in  front  of  the 
dispensary,  which  had  not  been  put  to 
the  torch.  Since  there  was  no  airstrip  at 
Kandala,  Wes  Eisemann  radioed  the 
United  Nations  Command  which  dis- 
patched helicopters  to  evacuate  Loyal 
Schmidt,  Charles  Sprunger,  James 
Bertsche,  the  Elarold  Grabers,  and  Sel- 
ma Unruh. 

Both  maf  pilots  Wes  Eisemann  and 
Gordon  Fairly  spent  the  rest  of  the  day 
evacuating  missionary  personnel  from 
Mukedi:  the  Peter  Buller  family,  Elda 
Hiebert,  the  Charles  Sprunger  family, 
the  Harvey  Barkman  family,  and  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Nichol.  They  also  rescued  six 
Roman  Catholic  nuns. 

Eight  days  after  the  first  killings,  Wes 
Eisemann  cabled  his  headquarters  in  Ful- 
lertown,  California:  “SEVENTY-FIVE 
PROTESTANT  MISSIONARIES  PLUS 
CHILDREN  EVACUATED.  TWO 
MISSING,  ONE  KILLED,  FOUR  STA- 
TIONS DESTROYED.  U.N.  COPTERS 
REACHING  STATIONS  WITHOUT 
STRIPS.” 

By  early  February  when  the  terror 
subsided,  they  had  rescued  over  100  mis- 
sionaries and  their  children. 

Maf  also  responded  to  other  kinds  of 
emergencies.  In  1967,  June  Eisemann 
received  an  SOS  from  Tshikapa  that  a 
man  had  died  in  a motorcycle  accident 
and  two  others  needed  transport  to  a 
hospital. 

Skirting  a storm,  the  pilot  whom  she 


contacted  flew  in.  He  found  both  men 
hemorrhaging.  One  of  them  had  a badly 
disfigured  face.  En  route  to  the  hospital 
the  plane  hit  a tropical  storm  and  was 
grounded  for  an  hour  five  miles  from 
the  hospital. 

When  they  arrived,  the  missionary 
doctor  assessed  that  they  needed  the 
services  of  a new  missionary  dentist  and 
oral  surgeon.  The  doctors  saved  the  two 
men’s  lives  and  the  dentist  saved  the  one 
man  from  a life  of  disfigurement. 

Most  of  maf’s  work  is  not  in  crises. 
Much  of  it  is  essential  but  routine. 

At  the  present  time  Larry  Bubeck  is 
the  main  pilot  out  of  Kinshasa.  His  wife, 
Janean,  operates  the  radio  for  maf  Zaire. 
The  radio  calls  and  flight  schedule  re- 
flect what  maf  continues  to  do. 

Janean  Bubeck  receives  calls  to  ar- 
range travel  plans  for  church  workers, 
to  see  about  equipment  and  supplies 
needed  in  the  interior,  to  take  care  of 
emergency  and  other  medical  needs,  and 
to  deliver  various  kinds  of  messages  con- 
nected with  church  work. 


About  half  of  the  time  Larry  Bubeck 
transports  church  leaders,  both  expatri!. 
ate  and  Zairois.  Air  transport  makes  it; 
possible  to  reach  places  in  an  hour  ot  1 
two  that  would  otherwise  take  days  or 
weeks  to  reach  on  the  ground. 

Mrs.  Bubeck  keeps  a daily  log  of  ail 
radio  calls  which  she  receives.  During! 
the  month  of  January  1973,  references! 
to  fifteen  Mennonite  workers  (eight  mis- 
sionaries, three  Paxmen,  and  four  mcc 
workers)  appear  in  the  log.  Arrange- 
ments for  Menno  Travel  Service  num- 
bered ten. 

A daily  flight  often  includes  delivering 
mail,  food,  and  equipment.  During  Jan- 
uary the  log  book  showed  arrangements 
for  a shipment  of  baby  chicks  to  an  agri- 
culture program,  a request  for  a com- 
plete generator  or  diesel  landrover,  and 
inquiries  for  household  supplies. 

The  log  recorded  a number  of  med 
ical  cases  during  that  month.  Calls  asked 
for  help  in  the  cases  of  a strangulated 
hernia,  a grounding  accident,  and  a 
damaged  aortic  valve  which  needed  a 


Moundridge,  Kansas,  will  host  Zairian  family 


Kidinda  Shandungo,  a Zairian  teacher 
now  studying  at  George  Peabody  Col- 
lege, Nashville,  Tennessee,  will  spend 
the  last  half  of  the  summer  in  Mound- 
ridge, Kansas. 

James  Gingerich,  pastor  of  the  First 
Mennonite  Church  of  Christian,  Mound- 
ridge, said  Mr.  Kidinda,  his  wife,  and 
their  three  children  would  come  to 
Moundridge  July  15  and  live  in  the 
home  of  a family  who  will  be  gone  for 
custom  wheat  cutting. 

The  visit  is  sponsored  by  three  Mound- 
ridge Mennonite  congregations:  First 


Church  of  Christian,  West  Zion,  and 
Eden. 

Mr.  Gingerich  said  the  Kidindas’  visit 
would  expose  the  congregations  to  their 
mission  program  in  Zaire  and  would 
expose  the  Kidindas  to  a Mennonite 
community  in  North  America.  Mound- 
ridge, population  1,200,  is  predominantly 
Mennonite. 

Mr.  Kidinda,  sponsored  by  the  Africa 
Inter-Mennonite  Mission,  is  studying  to- 
ward a master’s  degree  in  administrative 
education.  He  began  studies  in  Septem- 
ber 1972. 


< 


402 


JUNE  19,  1973 


r 


Janean  Bubeck,  left,  is  the  MAF  radio  operator  for  Zaire.  June  Eisemann,  right,  is 
relief  operator  and  parts  supplier  for  the  country. 


: specialist’s  attention.  One  call  asked  for 
maf  to  arrange  flying  a relative  home 
because  of  illness  in  the  family. 

Besides  the  flying  activity,  Larry  spends 
a large  amount  of  time  maintaining  his 
plane.  During  January,  while  out  on  a 
flight,  he  noticed  his  magneto  needed 
to  be  replaced.  Because  of  the  radio 
communications,  his  wife  was  able  to 
■find  someone  to  fly  it  to  him  so  that 
| he  could  make  the  necessary  repairs  and 
; return  home. 

Besides  the  regular  work  of  piloting 
1 and  maintaining  radio  contact,  maf  al- 
jlows  its  workers  to  use  their  individual 
gifts  in  other  ways.  Wes  Eisemann,  for 
• example,  serves  as  relief  pilot  for  Larry 
Bubeck  and  parts  supplier  for  maf  Zaire, 
but  he  also  spends  some  time  preparing 
for  and  teaching  Bible  to  Zairois  in  Kin- 
i shasa,  thus  putting  his  seminary  training 
to  good  advantage.  Mary  Bowers,  pilot 
I in  Kananga,  Zaire,  is  working  on  Chris- 
' tian  audiovisuals  for  use  in  Zaire. 

Maf  wives  serve  in  various  ways, 
; such  as  bookkeepers,  radio  operators, 


teachers  for  workers  and  missionary 
children,  parts  suppliers,  and  hostesses 
for  travelers  and  other  maf  workers. 

Their  fellowship  includes  workers 
from  a variety  of  church  backgrounds. 


In  Zaire  they  now  have  four  Mennonite 
Brethren  couples:  George  and  Kathy 

Wall,  Ernie  and  Eva  Doerksen,  Hank 
and  Raija  Warkentin,  and  Everett  and 
Terry  Dirks. 


Asians  seek  to  learn  from  West's  mistakes 


“Clean”  industrialization,  development 
1 “weariness,”  technology  relevant  for  Asia 
and  debt  repayment  emerged  as  main 
concerns  of  a four-day  conference  on 
“The  scientific,  technological,  and  social 
' revolutions  in  Asian  perspective”  held 
j in  Malaysia  this  spring. 

Forty-five  Asian  scientists,  technolo- 
j gists,  social  scientists,  and  theologians 
attended. 

Asian  nations,  like  their  western  men- 
tors, have  pursued  growth  and  assumed 
that  self-reliance  and  social  justice  would 
automatically  follow,  said  Samuel  L. 
Parmar,  conference  chairman. 

“This  has  not  happened.  And  it  is 
not  likely  to  happen  unless  we  shift  our 
emphasis  and  consider  social  justice  and 
self-reliance  as  causes  rather  than  con- 
sequences of  growth,”  he  said. 

Malaysia’s  minister  of  technology  and 
, research,  Datuk  Ong  Kee  Hui,  pointed 
i out  that  “developing  countries  face  the 
1 dilemma  of  losing  investment  if  they 
1 adopt  stringent  environmental  measures.” 
But  he  continued:  “We  can  and  must 
learn  from  the  mistakes  of  the  advanced 
countries  and  use  technology  to  pre- 

• serve  the  environment.” 

The  burdens  of  debt  repayment  and 
I its  crippling  effects  on  Asian  develop- 

• ment  efforts  were  also  highlighted.  The 
■ conference  called  for  “an  immediate 
; moratorium”  on  debt  repayments  and 


new  arrangements  for  the  orderly  settle- 
ment of  all  foreign  debts. 

“When  rich  and  powerful  nations  do 
not  agree  to  meaningful  terms,”  the  con- 
ference report  stated,  “Asian  societies 
should  immediately  freeze  all  debt  re- 
payments ...  as  a legitimate  reparation 
for  past  exploitation  and  prevent  further 
draining  of  resources.” 

Creation  of  a common  Asian  currency 
or  a Payment  Union  could  remove  the 
dependence  on  the  dollar  or  sterling 
countries,  the  conference  suggested.  Yet 
Asian  nations  “must  also  end  internal 
exploitation  of  the  poor  by  the  rich 
within  their  own  boundaries  by  more 
equitable  distribution  policies.” 

Condemning  the  wastefulness  of  the 
“mini-armaments  race  and  modern  wea- 
ponry,” the  participants  called  on  Asian 
nations  to  develop  mutual  confidence 
and  a climate  of  peace  as  a necessary 
condition  for  their  development  and 
self-reliance.  “This  will  ensure  against 
wars  by  proxy  of  the  powerful  nations 
on  Asian  soil  and  remove  Asia  from  the 
area  of  military  competition  and  con- 
frontation.” 

The  fundamental  goals  of  development 
in  Asia  should  be  human  goals  that  em- 
phasize human  dignity,  freedom,  and 
integrity,  it  was  stressed.  . . Repudia- 
tion of  development  that  emphasizes  ma- 
terialistic goals  is  not  an  escape  into 


hopeless  moralism  but  rather  a positive 
emphasis  on  more  humane  concepts  of 
the  quality  of  life.” 

A strong  plea  was  made  for  Asian 
nations  to  select  and  adopt  the  tech- 
nology consistent  with  their  concept  of 
the  quality  of  life  suitable  to  their  own 
cultural,  human,  and  natural  environ- 
ments. 

Addressing  the  Christian  churches,  the 
conference  affirmed  “the  urgent  need 
for  an  Asian  theology  of  man  and  so- 
ciety, nature  and  technology  that  could 
make  a contribution  to  the  discussion  of 
theology  in  the  ecumenical  setting.”  Also 
needed  is  a comprehension  of  the  tech- 
nological mind. 

The  participants  asked  for  a serious 
study  of  the  foreign  debt  burdens  im- 
posed on  the  Asian  nations  both  by  aid, 
trade,  and  private  investment.  On  the 
basis  of  the  findings,  churches  and  action 
groups  could  then  do  intensive  public 
education  in  each  nation. 

The  churches  have  the  responsibility 
for: 

— exemplifying  simpler  patterns  of 
consumption  to  provide  models; 

— educating  the  policy-makers  in  the 
socially  desirable  goals  of  development; 

— experimenting  and  investing  in  a 
type  of  technology  that  could  furnish 
the  pattern  for  communities  seeking  sim- 
pler consumption  patterns. 


THE  MENNONITE 


403 


D.  Friesen 


Schmidt 


Schrag 


James  Gundy,  student  at  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind.,  will 
become  pastor  of  the  Burrton  (Kans.) 
Church  in  August.  He  has  taught  math- 
ematics in  secondary  schools  in  Ontario 
and  Illinois  and  in  1967  was  pastor  of 
the  Tiskilwa  (111.)  Church. 

Kenneth  Peterson  is  summer  assistant 
pastor  at  First  Church,  Aberdeen,  Idaho. 
He  is  a member  of  Alberta  Community 
Church,  Portland,  Ore.,  and  a recent 
graduate  of  Western  Evangelical  Semi- 
nary. 


Workers 


Dorothy  Nickel  Friesen,  Elkhart,  Ind., 
has  resigned  as  editor  of  forum,  a mag- 
azine for  university  students  and  young 
adults  published  seven  times  a year  by 
the  Commission  on  Education  of  the 
General  Conference  and  the  Student 
Services  division  of  the  Mennonite 
Church.  She  had  held  the  part-time  po- 
sition for  two  years. 

Daniel  Hertzler,  Scottdale,  Pa.,  has 
been  appointed  editor  of  Gospel  herald. 
He  will  resign  his  position  as  editor  of 
Christian  living,  but  continue  as  head 
of  the  periodical  division  for  Mennonite 
Publishing  House. 

Kabangy  Djeke  Shapasa,  general  sec- 
retary of  the  Zaire  Mennonite  Commu- 
nity, has  been  elected  vice-moderator  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  in  Zaire  (ecz). 
Ecz  is  the  nationwide  Protestant  division 
of  churches  recognized  by  the  Zairian 
Government. 

Paul  A.  Schmidt,  Lorraine  Ave. 
Church,  Wichita,  Kans.,  was  to  join  the 
Elkhart,  Ind.,  voluntary  service  unit  June 
1.  In  Elkhart  he  will  serve  for  two  years 
in  a rehabilitation  center  for  the  blind. 
Paul  has  attended  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton,  Kans.,  and  is  the  son  of  Walter 
and  Esther  Schmidt.  The  Elkhart,  Ind., 
voluntary  service  unit  is  a part  of  the 
voluntary  service  program  of  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church  through 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

Myron  Schrag,  pastor  of  the  Faith 
Church,  Newton,  Kans.,  has  been  ap- 
pointed chaplain  of  Woodstock  School, 
Mussoorie,  India.  He  and  his  family  will 
leave  for  the  three-year  assignment  un- 
der the  General  Conference  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission  as  soon  as  their 
visas  are  approved,  probably  Sept.  1. 
As  chaplain  of  Woodstock  School,  Mr. 


Schrag  will  have  charge  of  the  religious 
program  of  the  school,  including  Sunday 
services;  counsel  with  students  on  a 
personal  basis;  and  perhaps  teach  a 
course  in  Bible.  Woodstock  School,  lo- 
cated in  northern  India,  is  attended  pri- 
marily by  children  of  missionaries  of  a 
number  of  denominations,  although  In- 
dian children  also  attend.  Mr.  Schrag 
has  been  at  the  Faith  Church  since  Aug- 
ust 1967. 

Wesley  Tieszen,  First  Church,  Aber- 
deen, Idaho,  will  do  voluntary  service 
this  summer  at  the  National  Institutes  of 
Health,  Bethesda,  Maryland.  He  was  a 
sophomore  at  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton,  Kans.,  this  past  year. 

Ministers 


Kenneth  Bauman,  former  missionary  in 
India,  will  become  pastor  of  the  First 
Church,  Berne,  Ind.  He  began  work  in 
India  in  1954  and  served  as  president 
of  Yeotmal  Biblical  Seminary  there  from 
1968  to  1972.  Mr.  Bauman  replaces 
Gordon  Neuenschwander,  who  has  re- 
signed as  pastor  of  the  congregation,  ef- 
fective July  22.  Mr.  Neuenschwander 
came  to  the  Berne  church  in  1956  as 
summer  assistant  and  has  since  served 
as  assistant  pastor,  interim  pastor,  and 
pastor. 

Lome  Friesen,  a 1972  graduate  of  As 
sociated  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries 
who  has  been  involved  in  the  clinical 
pastoral  education  program  in  an  Ap- 
palachian Regional  Hospital  in  eastern 
Kentucky  for  the  past  year,  will  become 
a chaplain  at  Long  Spruce  in  northern 
Manitoba,  starting  this  summer.  Long 
Spruce  is  a new  hydroelectric  project 
on  the  Nelson  River.  Mr.  Friesen  was 
hired  by  an  interchurch  chaplaincy  com- 
mittee, of  which  the  Conference  of  Men- 
nonites  in  Canada  is  a member. 


Audiovisuals 


War  crimes:  U.S.  priorities  and  mili- 

tary force  is  the  title  of  a media  kit  ! 
including  a filmstrip,  recording,  script, 
four-session  study  guide,  and  resource  ; i 
booklet.  The  kit  not  only  identifies  war  ; 
crimes,  but  also  examines  the  assump- 
tions that  permit  war  crimes,  the  results  | 
of  these  assumptions,  and  new  directions  I 
for  national  priorities.  Rental  is  $2.00 
from  the  Audiovisual  Library,  Box  347,  ! 
Newton,  Kan.  67114. 

Calendar 

. . : : 

July  7-11 — Annual  sessions  of  the 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada, 
Edmonton,  Alta. 

Aug.  16-17 — General  Board  midyear 
sessions,  Wichita,  Kans. 

Aug.  18-28 — Graduate  summer  sem- 
inar, Youth  Village,  White  Pigeon,  Mich. 

Oct.  19-21 — Western  District  annual 
sessions,  Clinton,  Okla. 

Aug.  3-9,  1974 — General  Conference 
triennial  sessions,  St.  Catharines,  Ont. 

Canadian 

July  14-31 — Study  conference  on 
Christian  education,  Winnipeg. 

July  29-Aug.  4 — Native  camp,  Men- 
nonite Pioneer  Mission,  Camp  Assiniboia, 
Man. 


Wanted  for  July  1,  1973,  a Chris- 
tian couple  for  Carmel  House 
Group  Home.  This  is  an  MCC 
(Saskatchewan)  project.  We  have 
five  boys  and  pay  good  wages.  Ap- 
ply to  Henry  Wiebe,  717  Bedford 
Road,  Saskatoon,  Sask.  Phone  (306) 
244-7572. 


404 


JUNE  19,  1973 


Celia  Hilty 


In  the  summer  of  1962,  just  after 
graduation  from  Bluffton  College,  our 
daughter  Judy  left  for  East  Africa  on  a 
three-year  assignment  with  the  first  con- 
tingent of  the  newly-formed  Teachers 
Abroad  Program.  I watched  her  leave, 
not  with  misgiving,  but  with  an  inex- 
pressible yearning  to  go  along,  unseen, 
to  this  strange  land.  I wanted  to  know 
how  it  was  there. 

Obviously,  I couldn’t  do  that;  instead 
I pored  over  our  map  of  the  world,  mea- 
suring, comparing,  wondering.  Africa — 
a continent  into  which  the  United  States 
could  easily  fit  twice;  a land  in  which 
our  nights  were  days  for  them  and  our 
winters  were  summers.  It  was  an  alien 
country,  strange  and  unfamiliar. 

Before  long  a letter  came  from  Dodo- 
ma, Tanganyika  (now  Tanzania).  This 
time  I got  out  a large  map  of  Africa. 
There  it  was — Dodoma — just  a speck  on 
a thin  red  line  representing  the  Cairo  to 
Cape  Town  road,  the  only  continuous 
thoroughfare  winding  down  across  the 
vast  stretches  from  north  to  south.  Judy’s 
new  home  had  a name  now  but  was  still 
impersonal,  just  a place. 

As  the  letters,  enthusiastic  and  de- 
scriptive, continued  to  come  each  week, 
some  of  the  strangeness  and  distance  be- 
gan to  disappear.  We  learned  that  Judy 
was  teaching  at  Msalato  Secondary 
School,  six  miles  from  Dodoma,  in  the 
East  African  bush  country.  A boarding 
school  for  girls,  it  was  still  in  the  build- 
ing stage,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Anglican  church  of  Australia. 

The  first  tenuous  threads  of  communi- 
cation grew  and  strengthened  until  the 


urge  to  go  see  for  ourselves  became  ir- 
resistible. In  August  1964  we  flew  to 
Tanganyika  for  a month’s  visit.  Long 
before  the  month  was  up  we’d  fallen  in 
love  with  Africa.  A new  world  was 
opened  to  us,  and  we  came  home  know- 
ing in  a small  measure  how  it  really  was. 

But  let  us  look  at  our  question,  How 
could  you  let  them  go?  It  was  frequently 
difficult,  sometimes  impossible  to  give  an 
adequate  answer,  perhaps  more  so  be- 
cause our  four  children  were  all  girls. 
(At  the  time  of  this  writing,  all  four 
have  lived  overseas  at  one  time  or  an- 
other; two  of  them  are  there  now  for 
the  second  time.) 

In  1952  our  oldest  daughter,  then 
fourteen,  spent  part  of  her  summer  at 
the  Woodlawn  Church  in  Chicago  as  a 
teacher’s  aide  in  their  Bible  school  pro- 
gram. Since  that  time  the  national  and 
international  scenes  have  changed  dras- 
tically. The  world  has  grown  smaller — 
and  larger.  People  travel  more  freely  in 
a freer  world.  Values  and  concepts 
change,  and  we  change  with  them.  What 
may  have  seemed  unusual  ten  or  twenty 
years  ago  has  become  commonplace  to- 
day. Despite  all  this,  I’d  venture  to  say 
that  for  mothers  the  question  still  stands, 
as  it  must  have  from  time  immemorial. 

I’ve  never  pretended  to  know  all  the 
answers;  in  fact,  I’m  a bit  wary  of  advice 
from  one  who  does.  As  I try  to  evaluate 
our  question  now,  from  the  advantages 
of  hindsight,  a twofold  philosophy  seems 
relevant:  first,  when  children  are  ready 
to  go  out  on  their  own,  it  is  their  right 
to  do  so.  And  second,  it  is  up  to  us,  as 
parents,  to  help  them  grow  into  individ- 
uals who  will  be  able  to  go.  For  the 
latter  I can  offer  no  infallible  guidelines. 
Learning  basic  principles  of  right  and 
wrong  is  intrinsically  important;  not  less 
so  are  respect  and  concern  for  the  other 
person.  He,  too,  has  his  rights.  In  the 
end,  each  child  still  makes  his  own 
choices,  and  this  we  must  be  ready  to 
accept. 

The  basis  for  all  this  questioning  is, 
I’m  sure,  fear — that  specter  with  many 
faces.  Fear  of  the  physical — danger  in 
traveling,  accident,  and  illness  far  from 
home — is  most  easily  answered.  Man  has 
always  lived  with  danger  and  always 
will.  This  must  be  faced  realistically 
and  accepted.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
a real  concern,  and  I don’t  mean  to 
minimize  it.  Who  of  us  does  not,  in  un- 
easy, wakeful  hours,  turn  to  God  in 
prayer  and  find  comfort?  And  who  of 
us  is  not  always  profoundly  grateful  for 
news  of  each  safe  landing  and  for  reports 
that  all  is  well? 


A less  tangible  fear  is  that  of  the  un- 
known, an  area  in  which  one’s  imagina- 
tion could  run  rampant.  I’m  sure  this 
has  lessened  greatly  in  the  last  decade 
as  more  and  more  of  us  travel  and  learn 
that  people  are  people  the  world  over. 
Visiting  your  children  in  faraway  places 
is  therapeutic. 

By  far  the  most  subtle  fear  is  that  of 
loneliness.  It’s  not  easy  to  live  with.  It 
never  really  leaves  and  can  confront 
you  at  the  most  unexpected  times.  For 
those  of  us  who  grew  up  in  a rural, 
home-centered  society,  the  vacant  chair, 
or  chairs,  in  the  family  circle  can  at 
times  look  very  empty  indeed.  Even  hard- 
er to  bear  is  knowing  that  your  child,  far 
from  home  and  alone  for  the  first  time, 
can  experience  some  frightening  bouts  of 
homesickness.  For  this,  communication 
is  a splendid  antidote.  Your  child  needs 
to  know  you  are  with  him.  A telephone 
call,  tape  recording,  cablegram,  picture 
postcard,  or  airmail  letter  can  give  a 
tremendous  lift! 

In  much  of  the  dialog  on  this  ques- 
tion I sensed,  rather  than  heard  expressed, 
the  fear  that  your  child  will  grow  away 
from  you  and  that  you  will  have  little 
in  common  when  he  returns.  This  need 
not  necessarily  be.  Try  acquainting  your- 
self with  the  country  to  which  he’s  gone. 
Read  about  the  people  and  their  cul- 
ture. There  are  many  good,  illustrated 
books,  magazines,  and  periodicals  avail- 
able. Follow  the  daily  news  report;  keep 
informed  as  much  as  possible.  When  op- 
portunity affords,  as  it  often  does,  talk 
with  people  who’ve  been  there.  They’ll 
gladly  answer  your  questions  and  share 
some  of  their  experiences.  One  day  you 
will  suddenly  realize  that  time  and  dis- 
tance cannot  really  separate  you  from 
your  child — if  you  won’t  let  them. 

The  closing  lines  of  Edna  St.  Vincent 
Millay’s  poem,  “Renascence,”  express 
this  better  than  I can: 

The  world  stands  out  on  either  side 
No  wider  than  the  heart  is  wide; 

Above  the  world  is  stretched  the  sky — 

No  higher  than  the  soul  is  high. 

The  heart  can  push  the  sea  and  land 
Farther  away  on  either  hand; 

The  soul  can  split  the  sky  in  two, 

And  let  the  face  of  God  shine  through. 

But  East  and  West  will  pinch  the  heart 
That  cannot  keep  them  pushed  apart; 

And  he  whose  soul  is  flat — the  sky 
Will  cave  in  on  him  by  and  by. 

Material  for  this  page  provided  by 
Women’s  Missionary  Association. 


| THE  MENNONITE  405 


REVIEW 

Biblical  foundations  for  Christian  worship 


Biblical  foundations  for  Christian  wor- 
ship, by  Millard  Lind  ( Herald  Press, 
Scottdale,  Pennsylvania,  $.95)  is  reviewed 
by  John  Esau,  a minister  at  the  Bethel 
College  Church,  North  Newton,  Kansas. 

It  is  now  1973.  A Vietnam  cease-fire 
has  been  signed,  and  however  tentative- 
ly it  is  being  put  into  effect,  it  still  of- 
fers a ray  of  hope  to  the  world. 

But  looking  back  to  the  days  of  the 
height  of  American  involvement  in  that 
war,  I recall  a number  of  experiences  of 
worship  which  brought  to  reality  the  type 
of  worship  Millard  Lind  describes  in  his 
recent  booklet,  Biblical  foundations  for 
Christian  worship. 

During  those  years  I had  participated 
in  a number  of  marches  and  protests 
with  the  high  optimism  that  if  only  a 
few  more  would  join  the  efforts  to  stop 
the  war  it  certainly  would  cease.  As  it 
turned  out  multitudes  did  join,  but  the 
war  ground  on  and  on — almost  as  though 
to  confirm  the  rejoinders  of  our  national 
leadership  that  the  protests  prolonged 
rather  than  shortened  the  conflict. 

Slowly  a kind  of  disillusionment  set- 
tled on  me — both  with  those  who  con- 
tinued the  war  through  positions  of 
power  that  proved  immune  to  protest, 
but  also  with  the  protests  themselves. 
Power  seemed  to  be  an  ambivalent  quan- 
tity. 

It  was  about  that  time  I recall  attend- 
ing a number  of  ecumenical  services  of 
worship  planned  in  relation  to  the  con- 
cern for  peace.  Covertly  they  were  no 
doubt  themselves  means  of  protest  against 
the  war,  but  more  than  that  was  in- 
volved. I recall  feeling  a strong  sense  of 
religious  affirmation  in  those  services. 
What  I was  saying  by  my  participation 
was:  “God  is  God — Christ  is  Lord — he 
is  the  ruler  of  history  and  his  rule  is 
just.  ‘Why  do  the  nations  rage  and  the 
peoples  plot  in  vain?’  ” 

It  was  for  me  the  “theopolitical”  hour 
—the  religious  affirmation  of  trust  in  God 
rather  than  in  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world.  Looked  at  in  one  way  it  was  the 
most  irrelevant  thing  possible — to  wor- 
ship and  affirm  faith  when  the  apparent- 
ly relevant  thing  was  political  action. 

But  for  me  it  was  not  so.  I continued, 


albeit  with  diminishing  enthusiasm,  to 
write  letters,  to  march,  to  work  within 
the  system,  and  I would  still  do  so  to- 
day. However,  looking  back,  I am  more 
impressed  with  the  relevance  of  those 
experiences  of  worship  in  which  we  as 
a community  of  faith  affirmed  our  com- 
mitment to  the  kingdom  of  God  as  over 
against  the  kingdoms  of  this  world. 

I have  never  before  or  since  sung  with 
such  fervent  emotion  and  commitment 
the  words  of  James  Russell  Lowell: 
Though  the  cause  of  evil  prosper,  yet 
’tis  truth  alone  is  strong. 

Though  her  portion  be  the  scaffold,  and 
upon  the  throne  be  wrong. 

Yet  that  scaffold  sways  the  future,  and, 
behind  the  dim  unknown, 


Standeth  God  within  the  shadow  keeping 

watch  above  his  own. 

In  such  moments  worship  did  not 
need  to  be  contrived  to  some  imagined 
format  of  celebration  or  contemporary 
relevance.  Participation  was  in  being! 
there  rather  than  in  saying  what  I want-i 
ed  to  say.  Dialog  was  a flowing  of  in-| 
ternal  and  spiritual  communication  rath- 
er  than  a technique.  Most  of  all,  thel 
presence  of  God  among  the  faithful  was1 
a reality  intuitively  felt  through  old  forms: 
of  liturgy  rather  than  through  some  adap- 
tation of  the  television  variety  show. 

I say  all  of  this  to  affirm  the  vitality 
of  “theopolitical  worship”  as  Millard! 
Lind  defines  it  from  biblical  history.  But 
also  I mean  to  suggest  that  much  of  so-! 


A story  of  special  interest  with  a wealth 
of  authentic  details  on  Amish  life  style 
and  customs. 

Experience  with  JONATHAN  his  feel- 
ings as  he  is  torn  between  the  Amish  tra- 
ditions and  the  world  around  him.  The 
way  JONATHAN  comes  to  terms  with  his 
tradition  is  an  inspiring  story  with  spe- 
cial interest  for  many  readers. 

Cloth,  $5.95. 


ORDER  FROM: 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON,  KANSAS, 

OR  BERNE,  INDIANA 


THE  SEARCHING  STORY  OF  AN  AMISH 


BOY  AND  HIS  PEOPLE 


JONATHAN 

by  Dan  Neidermyer 


406 


JUNE  19,  1973 


:alled  “contemporary  worship'’  as  now 
?eing  practiced  in  our  churches  is  being 
done  for  effect  and  lacks  both  integrity 
ind  vitality.  We  need  new  forms  and 
even  new  content  to  our  worship,  but  it 
s time  we  begin  to  discern  the  difference 
oetween  genuine  relevance  and  contrived 
form  of  faddism. 

Mr.  Lind  helps  to  point  in  the  right 


direction.  He  does  not  say  all  there  is  to 
be  said  about  worship.  His  references 
to  the  changing  character  of  religion- 
culture,  church-state  relationships  lack 
clarity  and  deserve  more  careful  analy- 
sis. But  the  point  he  makes  is  both  help- 
ful and  urgent,  perhaps  more  so  as  we 
move  in  new  forms  of  post-Vietnam  civil 
religion. 


MEDITATION 


Thank  you  for  wieners  and  carrots 

How  can  you  explain  God  to  a two-year-old  who  can’t  even  get  his  toilet  training 
straight?  Fortunately,  in  the  Judeo-Christian  tradition  you  don’t  have  to.  In  fact,  to 
do  so  would  be  heresy,  for  concepts  are  explained,  proved,  and  disproved.  God  is 
experienced. 

When  Moses  asked  God  for  his  identification,  the  reply  was  Yahweh,  which  trans- 
lated is,  “I  am  who  I am.”  He  amplified  by  saying  that  he  was  “the  Lord,  the  God 
of  your  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob” 
clearly  an  identification  of  “isness”  and  experience.  Moses  didn’t  seem  to  feel  that 
he  was  in  any  position  to  dispute  the  point,  and  though  the  argumentative  powers  of 
a two-year-old  are  great,  the  chances  are  good  that  he  won’t  either.  He  will  prob- 
ably accept  the  isness  of  God  as  readily  as  he  accepts  the  wind  on  a hot  summer  day. 
He  will  do  so  if  he  is  given  the  opportunity  to  interact  with  God. 

Although  we  of  more  sophistication  can  experience  God  in  many  ways,  the  toddler 
can  best  become  acquainted  with  God  through  mealtime  thanksgiving. 

Such  an  introduction  is  theologically  appropriate,  for  thanksgiving  implies  the 
primary  tenet  of  the  faith — the  creator-creature  relationship.  It  also  is  a practical 
approach  since  the  child  has  already  begun  to  grasp  the  meaning  of  gratitude 
through  his  family  experiences. 

Of  course,  it  is  much  easier  for  him  to  see  what  his  mother  had  to  do  with  the 
food  on  his  plate  than  the  part  God  played  in  getting  it  there.  But  don’t  feel  that 
you  must  explain  all  that — not  in  the  beginning.  Give  him  the  opportunity  to  be- 
come aware  of  God,  to  talk  to  God.  Then  let  your  explanations  be  paced  by  the 
child’s  own  questions,  going  no  farther  than  he  demands. 

You  can  help  the  child  focus  on  mealtime  thanksgiving  by  offering  your  own 
thanks  for  specific  things.  Regular  prayers,  such  as,  “Thank  you  for  this  food  and 
all  our  daily  blessings,”  may  be  richly  symbolic  for  you,  but  for  the  child  they  may 
have  little  more  significance  than  “Mary  had  a little  lamb;  its  fleece  was  white  as 
snow.”  On  the  other  hand,  “Thank  you  for  the  wieners  and  the  carrots  and  the  fun 
we  had  in  the  sandbox  this  morning”  does  mean  something  to  him. 

Offer  some  of  these  specific  prayers  for  a few  days  and  then  ask  your  child  to  join 
you.  He  probably  will  have  caught  the  spirit  and  form  so  that  he  will  add  his  own 
items  such  as  running  the  cleaner  and  going  out  to  get  the  mail. 

It  won’t  go  well  every  day.  Nothing  about  a two-year-old  is  consistent.  There  will 
be  days  when  he  refuses  to  say  thanks  because  he  is  not  on  good  terms  with  you,  or 
perhaps  because  he  just  doesn’t  feel  grateful.  Don’t  worry  and  don’t  insist.  He’ll  re- 
gain his  thankful  spirit  one  day,  perhaps  in  the  middle  of  a peanut  butter  and  jelly 
sandwich. 

To  be  sure,  teaching  a child  to  say  thanks  to  God  at  mealtime  is  a simple  begin- 
ning to  the  complex  interaction  of  man  and  God.  Let  him  enjoy  this  simplicity 
affordable  in  childhood.  Soon  enough  he’ll  be  hurled  by  manhood  into  a more  sophis- 
ticated search  for  God,  which  may  take  him  into  patristics,  theology,  or  perhaps  even 
existentialism.  But  if  he’s  lucky,  he’ll  digest  the  great  thoughts,  new  and  old,  and 
scramble  his  way  back  to  saying  to  the  living  God,  “Thank  you  for  the  wieners  and 
the  carrots  and  the  good  time  we  had  this  morning.”  Ann  Music  Streetman 


THE  MENNONITE 

407 

Contents 


Say  yes  to  tomorrow  393 

News  397 

Record  404 

How  could  you  let  them  go?  405 

Biblical  foundations  for 

Christian  worship  406 

Thank  you  for  wieners  and  carrots  407 

Toward  a practical  Anabaptist 

theology  of  evangelism  408 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Frank  H.  Epp,  president-elect  of  Conrad 
Grebel  College,  Waterloo,  Ont.,  was 
Bethel  College's  commencement  speaker 
this  spring.  The  feature  article  in  this 
issue  is  a somewhat  abridged  version  of 
his  speech. 

Gayle  and  Ted  Koontz  are  both  em- 
ployed by  Mennonite  Central  Committee, 
Akron,  Pa.  17501.  Gayle  is  a writer  and 
Ted  is  associate  executive  secretary  of 
the  Peace  Section. 

Marion  Preheim,  B.P.  3101,  Kinshasa- 
Ngombe,  Zaire,  is  a free-lance  writer. 
Her  husband,  Vern,  is  director  of  the 
MCC  program  in  Zaire. 

Celia  Hilty's  address  is  Route  2,  Box 
177,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817. 

Ann  Music  Streetman,  this  week's  med- 
itation writer,  lives  at  1609  Sangamon 
Dr.,  Champaign,  III.  61820. 

Palmer  Becker  is  executive  secretary 
of  the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries, 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  John  Hiebert;  394,  RNS;  395, 
Rick  Smolan,  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle, 
Pa.  17013;  396,  Jim  Wright,  RNS;  401- 
403,  Marion  Preheim. 


Meimonite 


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Toward  a practical  Anabaptist  theology  of  evangelism 

Palmer  Becker 


Our  Anabaptist  forefathers  did  not  conduct 
evangelistic  crusades  or  visitation  programs  as  we 
know  them.  But  they  were  the  best  evangelists  in 
Europe  during  the  sixteenth  century.  They  were 
able  to  win  thousands  to  a meaningful  relationship 
to  Christ. 

Was  it  their  beliefs  that  enabled  them  to  per- 
form in  this  way?  Was  it  their  situation?  What  is 
it  that  we  Mennonites  might  strengthen  or  re- 
cover so  that  we  might  become  more  faithful 
evangelists? 

I would  like  to  respond  to  a number  of  ques- 
tions which  I feel  are  basic  as  we  develop  a the- 
ology of  evangelism-that-cares  in  relationship  to 
Key  73  and  our  present  situation. 

What  is  the  purpose  of  the  church?  Sharing 
God’s  love,  the  gospel,  with  every  person  in  the 
world  is  the  purpose  of  the  church.  The  central 
purpose  is  not  nurture.  Sunday  school,  worship, 
and  service  programs  are  for  the  purpose  of 
sharing  God’s  love. 

Whom  does  a local  church  try  to  evangelize? 
Christians  need  to  share  God’s  caring  and  dis- 
cerning love  with  persons  in  three  circles:  with 
each  other  in  the  church  through  congregational 
care,  with  persons  in  the  community  through 
local  outreach,  and  with  distant  persons  in  the 
world  through  unselfish  mission  and  service. 

What  are  the  needs  of  persons  in  our  world? 
Persons  do  not  have  only  physical  and  spiritual 
needs  as  traditionally  understood.  Concepts,  com- 
mitments, and  relationships  that  give  meaning  to 
life  are  also  needed.  Just  as  Jesus  did,  evangelism- 
that-cares  should  begin  at  the  point  of  a person’s 
deepest  need.  A certain  diagnosis  of  a person’s 
need  is  necessary  before  the  gospel  is  shared. 

What  is  the  gospel?  Gospel  is  good  news.  It  is 
primarily  a relationship  rather  than  a plan,  a doc- 
trine, or  good  advice.  The  good  news  is  that  God 
has  extended  an  offer  to  us  and  to  all  people. 
The  offer  is  forgiveness  and  love.  The  offer  brings 
healing  relationships  in  personal,  community,  and 
international  affairs.  The  gospel  comes  to  us  pri- 
marily through  Jesus  Christ  and  through  those  re- 
lated to  him. 

Does  an  evangelist  who  cares  need  to  talk 
about  Jesus?  Deeds  and  actions  make  up  most  of 
what  we  call  communication.  Only  about  7 
percent  of  communication  is  in  the  actual  words. 


But  good  deeds  and  actions  are  not  sufficient  to 
communicate  the  gospel  in  its  totality.  No  one 
can  live  good  enough  to  tell  the  whole  story.  Any- 
one who  says  that  his  life  and  actions  are  a suf- 
ficient witness  to  Jesus  Christ  is  self-righteous. 
Deeds  and  actions  can  only  point  to  the  source 
of  new  life.  Evangelists  who  care  need  to  tell 
verbally  what  God  has  done  through  Jesus  Christ 
and  his  followers. 

What  is  the  result  of  evangelism-that-cares? 
Evangelism-that-cares  will  bring  persons  into  cove- 
nant communities  or  small  groups  where  there  is 
radical  obedience  to  Jesus  Christ.  Converts  to  the 
group  will  be  able  to  say,  “These  people  care 
about  me!”  “I  have  the  power  to  care  about  oth- 
ers!” The  purpose  of  the  church  and  of  evan- 
gelism is  to  bring  tens  of  thousands  of  these  cove- 
nant communities  or  small  groups  into  being. 
They,  like  Jesus,  are  the  bodies  of  Christ.  These 
bodies  are  the  most  viable  form  for  bringing  love 
and  justice  to  all  people. 

When  is  a person  evangelized?  A person  is 
evangelized  when  he  has  surrendered  as  much  of 
himself  as  he  knows  to  as  much  of  Christ  as  he 
can  understand.  As  a person  grows  in  his  under- 
standing of  himself  and  of  Christ,  repeated  sur- 
renders are  necessary. 

What  changes  will  evangelism  bring  to  a per- 
son’s life?  Evangelism-that-cares  has  the  poten- 
tial for  changing  all  of  life.  Wholeness  will  be 
offered  to  every  area  of  his  being.  If  he  is  phys- 
ically or  mentally  ill,  his  new  relationships  will 
offer  help.  If  he  is  rebellious  or  confused,  they 
will  seek  to  offer  wholeness  and  healing.  The 
good  news  of  relationships  with  God  and  people 
will  help  a person  to  be  the  individual  God  meant 
him  to  be! 

Is  the  church  attempting  an  impossible  task? 
Going  to  the  moon  seemed  like  an  impossible 
task.  Four  hundred  thousand  persons  and  24 
billion  dollars  were  mobilized  and  it  became  a 
reality.  There  are  millions  of  Christians.  They  are 
equipped  with  numerous  gifts.  We  can  share  God’s 
gracious  offer  with  the  world!  It  is  a matter  of 
priority  and  obedience. 

As  Mennonites  we  do  not  need  to  look  for  a 
new  theology  of  evangelism.  The  Anabaptist 
theology  of  covenant  needs  only  to  be  applied 
in  practical  and  caring  ways. 


This  week  is  the  first  anniversary  of  the  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission's  significant  Goals,  Priorities,  and  Strategy  (GPS)  confer- 
ence in  North  Park,  Illinois.  During  the  past  year  we  have  carried 
a number  of  items  which  grew  out  of  that  meeting,  including  mis- 
sionary James  Bertsche’s  article,  “Watershed  issue  in  missions” 
( November  14,  1972,  issue).  Dr.  Waltner’s  presentation  was  one  of 
two  he  made  at  the  GPS  meeting. 


If  missionary  purpose  has  to  do  with 
the  broader  intentions  of  God  for  the 
task  of  the  church  in  the  world,  then 
missionary  goals  have  to  do  with  more 
limited,  more  precise,  and  more  con- 
crete outcomes  which  are  being  pursued. 

The  idea  of  a goal  comes  basically 
from  the  imagery  of  athletics.  Accord- 
ing to  the  dictionary  definition,  a goal 
has  to  do  with  a limit  or  a boundary.  It 
is  the  mark  toward  which  the  athletes 
run,  knowing  that  when  they  have  crossed 
it,  they  have  finished  the  race.  It  is  a 
station,  or  an  area,  or  a basket,  or  a 
cage  to  which  or  into  which  the  con- 
testants seek  to  bring  the  ball  or  the 
puck.  In  any  athletic  game  the  goal 
needs  to  be  clearly  identified  and  the 
participants  seek  to  move  toward  that 
goal  even  against  the  resistance  and  the 
confusion  which  the  opponents  may  gen- 
erate. 

Three  current  models.  Current  discus- 
sions on  the  church’s  missionary  goals 
tend  to  follow  one  of  three  basic  mod- 
els. Broadly,  we  may  designate  these 
models  as  (1)  person-centered,  (2) 
church-centered,  and  (3)  kingdom-cen- 
tered. 


The  person-centered  model  focuses  on 
the  conversion  and  spiritual  nurture  of 
individual  persons  as  a primary  goal  of 
missions.  The  gospel  is  proclaimed  either 
through  public  preaching  or  through 
person-to-person  witnessing.  The  desired 
outcome  is  that  individuals  accept  Jesus 
Christ  as  personal  Savior  and  Lord,  ex- 
periencing thus  the  new  life  in  Christ, 
entering  into  a new  relationship  with 
God  and  with  other  persons. 

The  new  man  in  Christ  is  expected  to 
grow,  to  maintain  a living  personal  re- 
lationship with  Christ,  and  to  become 
concerned  and  active  in  winning  other 
individual  persons  to  Christ.  Success  in 
achieving  this  goal  is  measured  by  the 
number  of  individuals  who  have  pro- 
fessed conversion  to  Christian  faith,  by 
the  transformation  of  their  personal  lives, 
and  by  their  zeal  and  activity  in  winning 
others  to  Christ. 

The  church-centered  model  focuses  on 
the  planting  of  churches  or  the  building 
of  congregations.  Here  the  emphasis  is 
not  only  on  bringing  persons  to  faith  in 
Christ  but  also  on  bringing  them  into 
the  community  of  faith,  the  believers’ 
church,  the  people  of  God.  Here  special 


attention  is  given  to  relationships  of  love,  i 
reconciliation,  and  mutual  responsibility 
among  the  believers.  There  is  concern 
about  group  process,  about  structures  of 
relationship  and  leadership  patterns  as 
well  as  about  the  individual’s  personal 
relationship  to  God. 

As  a missionary  goal,  the  church- 
centered  model  would  seek  the  establish- 
ment of  “living,  active  congregations” — 
truly  alive  in  Christ,  but  also  responsibly 
active  for  Christ  in  ministering  within 
the  brotherhood  and  beyond.  This  model 
at  its  best  insists  that  such  congregations 
be  self-propagating,  giving  birth  to  new 
congregations  as  a proper  expression  of 
their  faithfulness  to  Jesus  Christ. 

The  kingdom-centered  model  is  more 
difficult  to  describe  because  its  goals  are 
more  diffuse  and  because  there  seems  to 
be  more  diversity  of  form  within  this 
general  model. 

One  form  of  this  model  seeks  the 
Christianization  of  society,  either  in  the 
old  Constantinian  terms  of  a corpus 
christianum  or  in  later  Protestant  and 
Puritan  terms  seeking  to  shape  and  re- 
shape the  life  of  a society  and  control 
its  morality  by  the  use  of  law  and  some- 
times, if  need  be,  by  the  application  of 
force  to  gain  compliance  with  the  law. 
It  tries  to  make  people  “behave  like 
Christians”  by  whatever  means  may  be 
necessary. 

A more  secular  form  of  the  same 
basic  model  would  talk  of  the  humaniza- 
tion of  society.  Here  the  concern  is  to 
universalize  such  values  as  human  free-  j 
dom  and  social  justice,  doing  this  not 
so  much  in  the  name  of  Christianity  but 


Erland  Waltner 


in  the  new 
TE/mmem  church 


410 


JUNE  26,  1973 


■ 

debate.  We  cannot  here  deal  with  de- 
tails of  this  discussion.  Decisive  enough 
for  most  of  us  is  the  fact  that  Jesus  did 
gather  a group  of  disciples  around  him- 
self, that  he  taught  them  how  to  pray 
and  to  live  and  to  witness,  and  that  he 
entrusted  to  them  in  a profound  sense 
the  work  he  had  begun. 

On  the  basis  of  Matthew  16  and  18, 
Jesus  spoke  explicitly  of  “building  his 
church”  (Matt.  16:18),  and  while  he 
was  aware  of  problems  which  would 
arise  within  the  church  and  from  outside 
of  it,  he  declared,  “Where  two  or  three 
are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there 
am  I in  the  midst  of  them”  (Matt.  18: 
20). 

Beyond  this,  the  Matthean  version  of 
the  Great  Commission  to  make  disciples 
of  all  nations,  “baptizing  them  in  the 
name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and 
of  the  Holy  Spirit”  and  teaching  them 
to  “observe  all  things  that  I have  com- 
manded,” certainly  seems  to  go  beyond 
an  individualistic  or  privatistic  concept 
of  what  he  desired  to  take  place. 

The  Book  of  Acts,  however,  and  the 
epistles  give  us  an  even  clearer  biblical 
basis  for  church-centered  missionary 
goals.  Luke  portrays  dramatically  how, 
filled  and  empowered  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  early  church  came  into  being  and 
grew  “in  Jerusalem,  in  Judea,  and  Sa- 
maria, and  to  the  uttermost  part  of  the 
earth”  as  a result  of  the  faithful  witness 
to  Jesus  Christ.  Especially  instructive  are 
the  descriptions  of  the  formation  of  the 
church  at  Jerusalem  (1-3)  and  then  the 
church  at  Antioch  (11)  which  became 
the  missionary  launching  pad  for  the 


“Out  of  our  own  ecclesiastical  heritage 
as  a believers’  church,”  writes  Erland 
Waltner,  “we  have  developed  an  affinity 
for  the  church-centered  model.”  But  Dr. 
Waltner  goes  on  to  propose  that  those 
who  adopt  this  model  to  achieve  the 
New  Testament’s  missionary  goals  must 
also  take  seriously  some  of  the  basic  ele- 
ments in  the  person-centered  and  king- 
dom-centered models.  “We  must  be  con- 
cerned about  personal  conversion,  per- 
sonal growth,  and  personal  fulfillment,” 
he  says,  . . On  the  other  hand,  church 
planting  and  building  can  be  faithful  to 
the  New  Testament  only  when  it  results 
in  churches  which  are  witnessing  and 
serving  in  the  world.” 


more  in  a process  of  permitting  all  men 
to  become  what  they  are  capable  of  be- 
coming. In  this  model  there  is  much  con- 
cern about  the  problems  of  poverty,  eco- 
logical pollution,  population  pressures, 
and  peace  and  war. 

The  focus  of  attention  is  not  first  of 
all  the  individual  person  or  the  commu- 
nity of  believers,  but  the  world,  both  in 
the  sense  of  mankind  and  also  in  the 
sense  of  the  environment  in  which  man 
lives.  In  its  more  extreme  forms,  social 
action  replaces  evangelism,  and  a the- 
j ology  of  revolution  replaces  a theology 
of  grace. 

A third  version  of  kingdom-centered 
missionary  goals  emphasizes  the  escha- 
tological character  of  the  kingdom.  Here 
the  goal  broadly  is  to  prepare  for  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom,  for  the  reign  of 
God  among  the  nations.  This  preparation, 
however,  is  not  so  much  a matter  of 
social  activism  as  it  is  a matter  of  an- 
nouncing to  the  world  what  is  happen- 
ing. Here  there  is  again  an  emphasis  on 
prophetic  proclamation,  with  both  judg- 
ment and  hope  for  mankind,  but  not 
with  a focus  on  individual  conversions 
as  in  the  person-centered  model  men- 
tioned above.  The  basic  concern  is  pro- 
phetic witness. 

Biblical  roots.  Having  introduced  these 
three  models,  we  look  now  to  the  New 
Testament  to  see  the  biblical  roots.  It  is 
soon  evident  that  all  three  are  based  on 
certain  ways  of  reading  the  Bible  and 
that  each  has  its  ardent  and  sincere  ad- 
vocates. 

Reading  the  New  Testament  careful- 
ly would  certainly  make  us  aware  that 


both  Jesus  and  the  apostles  of  the  early 
church  were  deeply  concerned  about  the 
welfare  of  individual  persons  and  their 
conversion  to  Christian  faith.  The  gospel 
records  portray  Jesus  as  one  who  gave 
himself  unstintingly  to  troubled  persons 
such  as  ostracized  Zacchaeus,  searching 
Nicodemus,  blind  Bartimaeus,  grieving 
Mary  and  Martha,  and  the  many  many 
anonymous  persons  whom  he  healed  and 
taught,  as  well  as  the  disciples  whom  he 
called  one  by  one.  The  three  parables 
in  Luke  of  the  lost  sheep,  the  lost  coin, 
and  the  lost  son  focus  sharply  on  the 
concern  of  God  for  the  individual,  speak- 
ing of  the  “joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner 
that  repents.” 

Likewise  the  early  church  as  por- 
trayed in  Acts  and  reflected  in  the  epistles 
took  individual  persons  seriously.  The 
Acts  record  elaborates  the  ministry  to  a 
lame  man  at  the  gate  of  the  temple,  de- 
tails the  conversion  of  the  Ethiopian 
eunuch  (Acts  8)  and  of  Cornelius  (Acts 
10-11),  and  reports  for  us  three  times 
the  conversion  of  Saul  (Acts  9,  22,  26). 

The  Pauline  letters  also  reflect  a re- 
markable concern  for  individuals  with 
the  numerous  personal  greetings  and  ad- 
monitions. Missionary  goals  which  are 
faithful  to  those  of  Jesus  and  the  early 
church  dare  not  ignore  the  person-cen- 
tered dimensions  of  the  New  Testament. 
To  dismiss  such  concerns  as  sentimental- 
ly pietistic  or  narrowly  privatistic,  is  cer- 
tainly to  miss  the  New  Testament  gos- 
pel on  this  point. 

The  extent  to  which  Jesus  was  con- 
cerned about  church  planting  and  con- 
gregation building  is  indeed  a subject  of 


planting  of  churches  through  Asia  Minor 
and  later  in  Greece.  That  Paul  was 
concerned  for  more  than  individual  con- 
verts is  clear  from  his  appointment  of 
elders  in  the  communities  where  there 
were  believers  (Acts  14:23).  Moreover, 
his  letters,  some  more  than  others,  are 
clearly  concerned  with  the  formation  and 
building  up  of  the  congregations,  as  at 
Corinth  for  example.  Without  question 
church  planting  or  congregation  building 
was  one  of  the  missionary  goals  of  the 
Apostle  Paul  in  his  ministry. 

But  what  about  witnessing  to  the  com- 
ing of  the  kingdom  of  God,  a kingdom 
of  peace  and  of  righteousness,  by  doing 
work  of  the  kingdom? 

Here,  too,  quickly  come  to  mind  the 
words  of  Jesus  at  the  opening  of  his 
ministry,  “The  time  is  fulfilled,  and  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand,  repent  and 
believe  the  gospel”  (Mark  1:15).  Again 
perusal  of  the  teaching  and  preaching 
ministry  of  Jesus  will  make  clear  that 
Jesus  was  emphatic  in  declaring  the  in- 
break of  God’s  rule  among  men.  In  him 
a new  age  had  dawned.  In  him  the  pro- 
phetic dreams  were  fulfilled.  His  ministry 
to  the  demon  possessed  was  evidence. 
“If  I by  the  finger  of  God  cast  out  de- 
mons, then  the  kingdom  of  God  has  come 
upon  you”  (Lk.  11:20). 

Moreover,  his  teaching  about  the 

meaning  of  the  kingdom  clearly  had 
ethical,  social,  and  political  overtones. 
The  temptation  of  Jesus,  his  identification 
with  the  oppressed  and  the  outcasts  of 
the  Palestinian  society,  his  cleansing  of 
the  temple,  his  own  witness  before  the 
civil  authorities,  as  well  as  his  death  on 
the  cross  as  an  alleged  revolutionist,  all 
have  strong  social  meanings.  That  Jesus 
was  a person  of  deep  social  and  political 
concern  is  a conclusion  hard  to  escape. 

Furthermore,  the  New  Testament  let- 
ters deal  not  only  with  so-called  theo- 
logical and  ecclesiastical  matters,  but 
also  profoundly  with  questions  of  social 
and  political  relationships,  whether  one 
reads  Romans  12-13  or  1 Peter  2.  The 
same  concerns  emerge  in  another  way 
and  at  another  level  in  the  Book  of  Reve- 
lation. 

In  the  light  of  such  a reading  of  the 
New  Testament,  how  is  one  to  escape  the 
concern  for  peace  and  righteousness 
which  is  a part  of  kingdom  language? 
Here  are  concepts  and  concerns  which 
transcend  what  happens  to  individual 
persons  and  what  happens  in  and  to  the 


One  of  the  new  features  of  the  inter- 
national church  scene  is  that  western 
churchmen  no  longer  dominate  discus- 
sions and  decisions  as  they  once  did.  A 
recent  conference  on  Salvation  Today  in 
Bangkok  brought  together  delegates  from 
sixty-nine  countries.  Above,  U Kyaw 
Than  of  Burma,  general  secretary  of  the 
East  Asia  Christian  Conference,  confers 
with  R.  J.  van  der  Veen,  a Dutch  mission 
council  executive. 

church.  Here  is  concern  for  mankind 
and  for  the  world.  John  3:16  reminds  us 
that  “God  so  loved  the  world  (not  only 
the  church)  that  he  sent  his  only  be- 
gotten Son  that  whosoever  believeth  on 
him  should  not  perish  but  have  everlast- 
ing life.” 

Church  planting  through  evangelism- 
that-cares.  What  then  comes  of  our  ques- 
tion about  missionary  goals  in  the  New 
Testament  church?  Out  of  our  own  ec- 
clesiastical heritage  as  a believers’  church, 
we  have  developed  an  affinity  for  the 
church-centered  model,  that  which  seeks 
to  plant  churches,  to  establish  congre- 
gations which  shall  be  alive  in  Christ, 
mature  in  Christ,  active  in  witness  and 
service  for  Christ  in  the  world.  They  shall 
be  the  responsible  church. 

In  view  of  the  so-called  evangelical 
and  ecumenical  polarizations,  however, 
between  those  who  promote  the  person- 
centered  model  and  those  who  promote 
the  kingdom-centered  model,  those  who 
emphasize  evangelism  and  those  who  em- 
phasize social  concern,  may  it  be  our 
role  to  recognize  that  the  church-cen- 
tered model  of  goals  also  needs  to  take 
utterly  seriously  some  basic  elements  in 
the  person-centered  model  and  some  in 
the  kingdom-centered  model? 

Is  not  church  planting  and  congrega- 
tion building  faithful  only  when  such 
communities  are  made  up  of  persons 
who  have  personally  come  to  believe  in 


our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ  and 
when  proper  attention  is  given  to  the 
spiritual  nurture  and  development  of  the 
individual  person  in  his  family  and  larger 
social  setting?  Not  only  the  kingdom- 
centered  model  but  even  the  church- 
centered  model  can  flounder  on  the  reefs 
of  neglecting  the  individual  person.  We 
must  be  concerned  about  personal  con- 
version, personal  growth,  and  personal 
fulfillment.  My  own  experience  in  clin- 
ical pastoral  education  recently,  in  which 
we  dealt  with  persons  primarily  on  a 
one-to-one  basis,  has  again  confirmed  this 
for  me,  even  as  it  has  made  me  aware  of 
the  limitations  of  the  solely  person-cen- 
tered approach. 

On  the  other  hand,  church  planting 
and  building  can  be  faithful  to  the  New 
Testament  only  when  it  results  in  church- 
es which  are  witnessing  and  serving  in 
the  world,  both  in  being  self-propagating 
— that  is  reproducing  themselves,  but 
also  in  responding  in  the  name  of  Christ’s 
reconciling  love  to  human  needs  around 
them  and  by  witnessing  to  the  whole 
will  of  God  in  the  midst  of  society. 

To  me  it  is  striking  that  in  the  Book  I 
of  Ephesians,  where  we  have  what  is 
probably  the  most  fully  developed  state- 
ment on  the  nature  of  the  church  in  the 
New  Testament,  all  three  basic  dimen- 
sions of  the  church’s  life  and  ministry 
are  either  explicit  or  implicit. 

In  Ephesians  1 we  have  the  over- 
reaching purpose  of  God  in  the  fullness 
of  time  to  unite  all  things  in  lesus  Christ. 
Then  in  the  first  part  of  chapter  2 the 
focus  is  on  the  new  man  in  Christ,  the 
individual  person  who  is  saved  by  grace 
through  faith.  Once  he  was  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins  but  now  he  is  made  alive 
in  Christ.  In  the  second  part  of  chaptei 
2 we  have  the  new  community  in  which 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  center  and  recon- 
ciler. In  chapter  3 Paul  speaks  of  his 
own  calling  and  the  calling  of  the  church 
(Eph.  3:7-10).  Here  is  a missionary 
goal  of  God  which  goes  beyond  the 
church.  This  is  kingdom  language.  This 
is  an  aspect  of  a kingdom  goal. 

For  myself  at  present  I find  the  church 
oriented  concept  most  acceptable,  but 
take  very  seriously  the  faith  and  needs 
of  individual  persons  as  well  as  recogniz 
ing  that  in  God’s  purpose  the  church 
exists  not  as  an  end  in  itself,  but  as 
God’s  witnessing  and  serving  people  in 
the  world  who  pray,  with  words  anc 
deeds,  “Thy  kingdom  come!” 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year,-  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


JUNE  26,  197C 


412 


Carroll  H.  Lee 


“Well,  honey,  are  you  set  for  another 
camp?”  Don  Peters  grinned  at  his  wife 
Helen  across  the  registration  table  at 
Sunrise  Camp. 

“It  seems  like  the  echoes  of  that  last 
group  of  boys  have  hardly  died  down,” 
Helen  smiled  back.  “Yes,  I suppose 
I’m  as  ready  as  I will  ever  be.  I just 
hope  this  next  group  will  all  have  their 
health  forms  completed  and  that  none 
of  them  will  come  down  with  measles!” 

Don  was  an  elementary  schoolteacher 
but  during  the  summer  months  he  di- 
rected a church  camp  while  his  wife 
acted  as  registrar  and  camp  nurse.  It 
was  a great  change  from  their  quiet  apart- 
ment and  ordered  lives  in  the  city,  but 
they  both  loved  working  with  children, 
even  though  they  had  none  of  their  own. 

“This  is  going  to  be  a special  camp,  at 
least  it’s  going  to  be  a special  one  for  us,” 
Don  went  on.  “I  wonder  if  we  will  recog- 
nize him?” 

“We  only  saw  him  on  the  playground,” 
Helen  replied.  “But  I’ve  thought  so  much 
about  him  it  seems  to  me.  . . .” 

Before  she  could  finish  the  sentence 
a bus  drove  through  the  gates  of  the 
camp  and  stopped.  Immediately  a crowd 
of  boys  spilled  out  its  doors,  shouting 
and  scuffling  and  pushing  to  be  first  at 
the  luggage  compartment.  The  Peterses 
strolled  over  to  meet  the  new  arrivals. 

“That’s  a lively  bunch  for  sure,”  the 
driver  grinned.  “I  thought  they  were 
going  to  burst  before  we  got  here.” 

Don  looked  past  him  to  see  another 
boy  step  from  the  bus,  looking  shy  and 
frightened.  Don  stepped  forward. 

“Hello  there,”  he  said.  “I’m  Mr.  Pet- 
ers, camp  director,  and  this  is  Mrs.  Pet- 
ers, who  is  camp  nurse.  What’s  your 
name,  young  fellow?” 

“Stevie  Martin.” 

Helen’s  eyes  found  those  of  her  hus- 
band for  a moment  and  a knowing  look 
passed  between  them. 

“I’m  glad  to  meet  you,  Stevie.  You’re 
from  MacPherson  aren’t  you?  We’d  like 
to  give  you  a special  welcome  to  Sun- 
rise Camp.” 

“Thank  you,  sir,”  Stevie  said  and  smiled 


“Do  you  think  God  has  forgotten 


about  me?”  Stevie  wondered. 


. THE  MENNONITE  413 

; 


A.  liome 


hesitatingly.  He  appeared  surprised  that 
anyone  knew  about  him  ahead  of  time. 
He  was  the  only  one  from  MacPherson, 
a home  for  boys  who  had  no  parents. 

Camp  life  quickly  settled  into  routine. 
With  his  responsibility  for  the  program, 
Don  was  kept  busy  and  Helen  had  her 
hands  full  patching  up  cuts  and  bruises, 
caring  for  bee  stings,  and  listening  to  a 
host  of  questions  each  morning.  Some 
of  the  boys,  she  knew,  were  away  from 
home  for  the  first  time  and  just  wanted 
to  talk. 

“How’s  Stevie  making  out?”  Helen 
asked  Don  after  several  days  had  gone 

by‘  ■ • r 

“Oh  he’s  beginning  to  fit  in.  A bit  of 
a loner  at  first  but  that’s  not  surprising. 
I think  he’s  enjoying  himself.  I’ve  been 
giving  him  a few  extra  swimming  lessons 
— he’s  never  swum  in  a lake  before.” 

“I  was  watching  him  this  morning  at 
mail  call,”  Helen  said.  “When  the  other 
boys  got  mail  and  rushed  to  their  cabins, 
Stevie  looked  pretty  wistful  and  wan- 
dered off  to  the  lake  shore  by  himself.” 

“It  must  be  tough  not  having  anyone 
who  will  write,”  Don  replied.  “But  Stevie 
has  a lot  of  spunk  in  him.  On  the  hike 
yesterday  he  kept  at  the  head  of  the  line 
even  though  he’s  one  of  the  smallest  boys 
here.  He  was  fascinated  by  the  beaver 
pond  and  asked  all  sorts  of  questions 
about  how  they  build  their  houses  and 
care  for  their  young.  He  told  me  he’s 
never  been  out  of  the  city  before.” 

Next  morning  Helen  saw  two  older 
boys  helping  Stevie  hobble  to  the  nurse’s 
cabin.  His  face  was  smudged  with  dust 
and  he  was  biting  his  lip  to  keep  back 
tears. 

“Why,  Stevie,  what  happened?”  Helen 
asked,  hurrying  out  to  help  him  up  the 
steps. 

“He  stepped  in  a hole  and  hurt  his 
ankle,”  one  of  the  helpers  explained. 
“He  really  took  a tumble!” 

“It’s  not  broken  but  you  have  a bad 
sprain,  Stevie,”  Helen  said  when  she  had 
examined  him.  “I’ll  put  an  elastic  ban- 
dage on  your  ankle  but  you’ll  have  to  let 
it  rest  today  instead  of  going  on  a hike. 
You  can  stay  here  and  keep  me  com- 
pany.” She  smiled  and  ran  her  fingers 
through  Stevie’s  tousled  hair. 

Stevie  sat  on  the  steps  of  the  cabin 


and  let  the  sun  warm  him  through.  He 
had  finished  the  puzzle  Helen  gave  him 
and  was  looking  about  for  something 
else  to  occupy  his  time  when  a flutter  of 
wings  and  a loud  squeaking  drew  his 
eyes  to  the  eaves  of  his  cabin.  A bird 
was  flapping  its  wings  on  the  edge  of  a 
nest  while  the  heads  of  three  young 
birds  could  be  seen,  their  mouths  open 
wide.  Mother  bird  plopped  an  insect  into 
one  mouth  and  hurried  away. 

“Swallows,”  Helen  said  from  the  door. 
“It  keeps  mother  and  father  birds  busy 
bringing  food  for  those  hungry  rascals. 
Would  you  like  some  cookies,  Stevie?” 

“Sure,  Mrs.  Peters,  that  would  be 
great.”  Stevie  was  still  watching  the 
swallow  nest. 

Helen  brought  a plate  of  cookies  and 
sat  down  beside  Stevie  to  visit  while 
they  ate.  They  were  interrupted  by  a 
chipmunk  fussing  along  the  edge  of  the 
porch.  Stevie  tossed  it  a piece  of  cookie 
which  it  snatched  up  and  quickly  raced 
away.  Soon  it  was  back  again  begging 
for  another  piece.  This  time  they  saw  it 
pop  into  a hole  in  a stump. 

“That  must  be  its  home,”  Stevie  said, 
excited  by  his  discovery.  “Do  you  think 
so,  Mrs.  Peters?” 

“Yes,  you’re  right.  It  has  some  young 
ones  in  there.  It  won’t  be  long  before 
they  are  big  enough  to  come  out  and 
play.” 

For  a while  they  sat  munching  their 
cookies.  Stevie  seemed  to  be  mulling 
something  over  in  his  mind. 

“Mrs.  Peters?” 

“Yes,  Stevie.” 

“How  do  the  birds  and  animals  learn 
to  make  their  homes  and  find  food?” 

“Why,  I guess  God  made  them  that 
way,”  Helen  smiled.  “Each  has  its  place 
in  creation.  The  swallows  live  in  the  air 
for  the  most  part  and  that’s  where  they 
find  food  for  their  young.  They  build 
their  nests  high  where  the  young  ones 
will  be  safe.  The  chipmunks  find  their 
food  on  the  ground  but  they,  too,  know 
how  to  find  a safe  place  for  their  little 
ones,  like  that  hole  in  the  stump.” 

Stevie  was  silent  again,  thinking.  Then 
he  spoke,  almost  in  a whisper.  “I  wish 
that  I had  a home  and  a mother  and 
dad  like  the  other  boys.  Do  you  think 
that  God  has  forgotten  about  me?” 

“No,  Stevie,”  Helen  said,  deeply  touch- 
ed. “God  doesn’t  forget  anyone.  You  can 
be  sure  that  he  loves  you  and  cares  for 
you.  Sometimes  when  we  think  God  does 
not  know  about  our  needs  he  is  already 
working  out  an  answer.”  She  smiled 
again  and  gave  Stevie  a hug. 

“Don,  I’ve  made  up  my  mind,”  Helen 


said  to  her  husband  that  night.  She  had 
been  telling  him  about  her  day  with 
Stevie.  “What  about  you?” 

“I  think  mine  was  made  up  the  first 
time  we  saw  him,”  Don  replied.  “You’re 
sure?” 

“Completely  sure.” 

“All  right.  I have  to  go  in  for  a load 
of  supplies  tomorrow.  I’ll  stop  by  Mac- 
Pherson and  let  them  know.” 

Stevie  was  able  to  get  around  much 
better  the  next  day.  The  boys  spent  the 
morning  doing  handcrafts  with  the  junior 
leaders  while  Don  was  away.  Helen 
found  time  to  stop  for  a chat  with  Stevie. 

“Do  you  think  God  is  still  looking 
for  a home  for  me?”  Stevie  asked. 

“I’m  sure  that  he  is,”  Helen  smiled 
and  looked  mysterious.  She  bandaged 
Stevie’s  ankle  again  and  gave  him  per- 
mission to  walk  about  camp. 

The  last  day  of  camp  came.  When 
evening  camp  fire  was  over,  Don  asked 
Stevie  to  stay  after  the  others  had  left. 
Helen  joined  them  by  the  fire. 

“When  I was  in  the  city  I went  out 
to  the  MacPherson  home,  Stevie,”  Don 
began.  “I  wanted  to  have  a talk  with 
the  director.” 

“About  me?”  Stevie  looked  surprised. 

“Yes.  Mrs.  Peters  and  I knew  all 
about  you  even  before  you  came  to  Sun- 
rise Camp.  We  know  how  much  you 
want  to  have  a home.  We  have  wanted 
something,  too,  Stevie,  and  we  were 
waiting  for  God  to  do  something  about 


it.’ 


“What  is  it  that  you  want?”  Stevie 
asked. 

“We’ve  wanted  a son  for  a long  time. 
We  have  asked  God  to  help  us  find  one 
but  it  seemed  like  he  was  taking  a long 
time.” 

“And  then  it  looked  like  he  had  an 
answer  for  us  after  all,”  Helen  put  in. 
“He  brought  all  three  of  us  together  at 
this  camp.  You  wanted  a father  and 
mother,  Stevie.  Do  you  think  we  would 
do?” 

Stevie’s  eyes  were  deep  pools  of  won- 
der. “You  mean  you  want  me  to  go  home 
with  you  ...  to  be  your  son?”  he  stam- 
mered finally. 

“Yes,  Stevie,”  Helen  said  tremulous- 
ly- 

For  a long  moment  Stevie  looked  as 
though  he  could  not  believe  it  was  true. 
He  looked  at  Don.  He  looked  at  Helen. 
Then  Helen  held  out  her  arms  and  Stevie 
ran  into  them.  Across  his  tousled  head 
Helen  looked  at  Don  through  happy 
tears.  Two  dreams  had  come  true.  They 
had  found  the  son  they  wanted,  and 
Stevie  had  found  his  home. 


414 


JUNE  26,  1973 


\mm 

Denver  housing  gets  barn-raising  treatment 


Barn  raising  is  a quality  some  say  is 
missing  in  urban  life. 

But  the  same  kind  of  activity  is  help- 
ing the  residents  of  southwest  Denver. 
They  don’t  need  bams,  but  they  do  need 
the  old  barn-raising  practice  to  help  them 
I with  their  critical  need  for  adequate  and 
| decent  housing.  Many  of  these  residents 
I are  poor,  elderly,  or  members  of  racial 
or  ethnic  minorities. 

Fulfilling  that  need  for  housing  is  the 
| objective  of  Brothers  Redevelopment, 

, Inc.,  a nonprofit,  ecumenical,  interracial 
! corporation  for  rehabilitating  houses.  It 
; adapts  the  bam-raising  practice  to  urban 
needs  by  helping  low-income  home  own- 
ers keep  their  houses  livable. 

The  operation  is  simple.  A homeowner 
who  can  supply  materials  but  can’t  meet 
the  labor  costs  to  repair  his  home  ap- 
plies to  the  housing  selection  committee 
of  Brothers  Redevelopment,  Inc.  (bri). 
If  his  house  is  chosen,  the  repair  is  done 
at  no  cost.  In  turn,  the  homeowner  of- 
fers his  services  to  the  labor  pool  which 
will  help  others  in  the  future. 

Part  of  the  impetus  for  forming  bri 
came  from  Denver’s  inter-Mennonite 
urban  ministry  program,  which  is  in- 
volved in  the  needs  of  the  west  side 
community. 

Don  Schierling,  former  urban  minister, 
explained  how  bri  came  into  being: 

• “First,  the  Mennonite  Housing  Develop- 
ment Corporation,  another  inter-Menno- 
nite organization,  had  just  completed  the 
rehabilitation  of  five  houses  under  a fed- 
eral program  for  sale  to  low-income  fam- 
ilies. Deficiencies  were  quickly  found  in 
this  approach. 

“Second,  two  individuals  in  the  com- 
munity, Joe  Giron  and  Manuel  Martinez, 
expressed  a long-felt  interest  in  finding 
ways  to  serve  their  Hispano  community. 

“We  discovered  the  roadblocks  to  re- 
modeling homes  privately  were  numer- 
ous,” Mr.  Schierling  said.  “Some  of  the 
major  obstacles  were  inability  to  qualify 
for  loans  and  the  high  labor  costs  which, 
for  an  inner-city  person,  preclude  con- 
ventional remodeling  procedures.  We  also 
j discovered  that  the  federal  program  ap- 
proach didn’t  give  much  opportunity  for 
j involving  people  who  had  the  time,  mon- 
ey, or  talent  to  help.” 


Discussion  began  to  center  around 
adapting  the  Mennonite  Disaster  Service 
concept  to  the  city,  and  a decision  was 
made  to  experiment  for  one  year.  Mr. 
Giron  and  Mr.  Martinez  became  full- 
time paid  administrators  of  bri  in  Janu- 
ary 1972. 

Since  then,  bri  has  involved  members 
of  eight  Denver  Lutheran  churches  who 
have  volunteered  time  on  weekends  and 
evenings.  Mennonites  of  Denver  and 
members  of  the  southwest  Denver  area 
also  have  been  involved  as  volunteers. 
Mds  has  tried  to  be  involved  at  least 
once  a month  in  a project.  One  mds  proj- 
ect was  the  remodeling  of  the  Santa  Fe 
Hotel  for  use  as  the  West  Side  Action 
Center  and  as  emergency  housing. 

In  its  first  year,  Brothers  Redevelop- 
ment has  repaired  or  remodeled  forty- 
five  homes  with  $48,000  worth  of  volun- 
teer time  at  an  administrative  cost  of 
$14,000.  In  the  first  four  months  of 
1973,  more  than  $24,000  of  volunteer 
time  was  contributed. 

In  the  spring  of  1972,  bri  needed  a 
person  with  specific  carpentry  skills  to 
work  full  time  in  a supervisory  capac- 
ity. Elmer  and  Ruth  Brandt  of  Goessel, 
Kansas,  came  for  a three-months  volun- 
tary service  term.  The  Brandts  returned 
in  September  for  a full  year.  Mrs.  Brandt 
has  been  active  as  a volunteer  in  the 
Inner  City  Parish  preschool. 

Bri  is  now  looking  for  a voluntary 
service  candidate  to  replace  Mr.  Brandt 
when  he  leaves  September  1 . 

“People  are  accustomed  to  shoddy, 
insensitive  work  by  general  contractors,” 
Mr.  Schierling  said.  “Elmer’s  insistence 
upon  quality  work  is  constantly  being 
discussed  and  admired  by  those  he  and 
the  volunteers  have  helped.” 

Brice  Balmer,  present  Mennonite  ur- 
ban minister,  said  bri  is  looking  for 
someone  with  good  carpentry  and  home- 
remodeling skills.  The  individuals  will 
also  need  supervisory  skill.  Four  1-W 
men  work  alternate  weeks  for  bri  and 
in  a carpentry  apprentice  program  for  a 
construction  company. 

More  information  about  the  bri  pro- 
gram is  available  from  Manuel  Martinez, 
861  Galapago  St.,  Denver  80204,  or  from 
Brice  Balmer,  First  Mennonite  Church, 


430  W.  Ninth  Ave.,  Denver  80204. 

“We  see  this  as  a significant  form  of 
service,”  said  Mr.  Balmer.  “People  are 
always  skeptical.  They  ask,  'Why  are  you 
doing  this  for  nothing?’  Our  answer  is 
that  bri  and  its  volunteers  will  help  you 
and  then  we  ask  that  you  help  us  help 
others  after  your  home  is  finished.  We  do 
this  out  of  Christian  concern  for  our 
neighbors — all  our  neighbors.” 

Medical  journals  sent 
to  North  Vietnam 

Mcc  has  subscribed  to  six  medical  and 
two  scientific  journals  for  the  Viet  Due 
Huu  Nghi  Hospital  in  Hanoi,  North 
Vietnam. 

Dr.  Ton  That  Tung  from  the  Viet  Due 
Hospital  requested  the  journals  from  John 
A.  Sullivan  and  George  Perera,  an  Amer- 
ican Friends  Service  Committee  team 
who  visited  Hanoi  a year  ago.  Mr.  Sulli- 
van and  Dr.  Perera  went  to  Hanoi  to 
deliver  medical  equipment  for  use  in 
civilian  hospitals.  In  consultation  with 
afsc,  mcc  agreed  to  provide  two-year 
subscriptions  and  one  year  of  back  issues 
of  the  medical  journals  requested. 

Several  North  Vietnamese  physicians 
mentioned  to  the  afsc  representatives 
that  they  had  limited  access  to  world 
medical  literature  and  would  appreciate 
the  latest  word  on  scientific  research 
and  new  therapies. 

Professor  Tung  requested  copies  of 
The  journal  of  the  American  Medical 
Association;  Surgery,  gynecology,  and 
obstetrics;  Surgery;  Annals  of  surgery; 
Annals  of  internal  medicine;  Archives  of 
surgery;  Scientific  American;  and  Science. 

Mennonite  physicians  also  donated 
several  back  issues  of  medical  journals. 
The  back  issues  will  be  air  freighted  to 
Hong  Kong  and  then  shipped  to  Hai- 
phong. 

Funds  received  in  the  Vietnamese 
Christmas  project  are  being  used  to  pro- 
vide the  journals. 

Mcc  has  provided  $25,000  during  the 
past  two  years  for  the  purchase  of  med- 
ical equipment  for  North  Vietnam  in 
cooperation  with  afsc. 


THE  MENNONITE 


415 


What's  STUDIPROKA  doing  these  days? 


Last  December  all  religious  broadcasting 
was  banned  in  Zaire.  Religious  period- 
icals have  been  banned,  too.  So,  what  is 
the  role  of  a Protestant  organization  de- 
signed specifically  for  radio  broadcasting? 

In  spite  of  restrictions,  Studio  Prot- 
estant du  Kasai  (studiproica)  is  still  op- 
erating, according  to  Muamba  Muken- 
geshai  Mpopola,  director.  The  gospel  is 
still  being  spread  through  tracts  and  cor- 
respondence; radio  programs  and  spot 
announcements  teach  about  marriage 
and  family  relationships;  records  and  cas- 
settes are  distributed;  and  filmstrips  are 
loaned. 

In  response  to  Tshiondo  tshici  muoyo, 
or  “Drumbeat  of  life,”  almost  6,000  let- 
ters were  received  during  1972  until  the 
government  cut  off  religious  broadcast- 
ing December  17. 

“While  we  await  some  new  arrange- 
ment from  the  government,  we  are  writ- 
ing to  people  and  answering  their  ques- 
tions by  mail,”  said  Mr.  Muamba.  “Many 
have  written  thanking  us  that  our  teach- 
ings are  written  so  they  can  review  them 
whenever  they  want  to.  Some  have  said, 
‘The  radio  was  good;  but  after  a few 
days,  its  teaching  was  lost.  Now  its  teach- 
ing is  preserved.’  Others  tell  how  our 
letters  help  guide  them  in  discussing  our 
teaching  with  their  friends.” 

Studiproka,  based  in  Kananga,  is  also 
beginning  Bible  correspondence  courses 
in  August  with  the  help  of  two  pastors. 
Mputu  Ntolo,  who  is  studying  in  Swit- 
zerland, will  return  to  work  with  French- 
language  courses,  and  Kasanda  Yarnba 
Yamba  will  work  in  Tshiluba. 

“We  hope  that  God  will  use  us  by 
these  different  means  for  the  growth  of 
his  work,”  said  Mr.  Muamba.  “Thus  even 
if  the  decree  against  teaching  the  affairs 
of  God  should  be  extended  to  the  pub- 
lic schools,  people  will  still  be  able  to 
study  the  Bible  at  their  homes.” 

One  of  the  radio  programs  still  being 
broadcast  is  Teleja  nkuambile,  or  “Let 
me  tell  you  about.  . . .”  This  program  in- 
tends to  show  people  how  to  apply  Chris- 
tian rules  to  their  marriage.  The  program 
covers  such  topics  as  premarital  sexual 
relationships,  avoiding  marriage  breakup, 
and  living  together  in  peace. 

“More  than  scolding  people  against 
divorce,  the  program  gives  people  the 
rules  necessary  to  guard  the  sacred  mar- 
riage union,”  Mr.  Muamba  explained. 
“This  program  has  many  listeners  be- 
cause it  springs  from  their  real  prob- 
lems. We  get  about  100  letters  a week 


from  listeners  asking  for  counsel  on  prob- 
lems in  their  home.  Young  people  so 
value  this  program  that  they  come  to  cur 
studio  on  their  own  to  ask  our  counsel 
on  problems  which  are  troubling  them.” 

Mr.  Muamba  also  said  the  teaching 
of  the  program  is  helping  even  prosti- 
tutes. It  tells  them  to  respect  their  bodies 
rather  than  to  sell  their  bodies  as  mer- 
chandise to  gain  spending  money. 

“Some  prostitutes  who  accepted  lesus 
asked  us  why  the  church  refuses  prosti- 
tution but  accepts  money  gained  by 
prostitution  which  is  put  in  the  offering 
plate  to  pay  the  church’s  pastors,”  he 
said. 

Another  program,  “The  happy  home,” 
also  deals  with  sex  and  marriage,  but 
in  drama  form. 

Mr.  Muamba  explained  some  of  the 
program’s  themes:  “In  unravels  the  think- 
ing of  boys  and  girls  on  sex  and  mar- 
riage. . . . This  program  also  helps  those 
with  a broken  marriage  to  understand 
the  sin  that  started  their  trouble  so  that 
they  can  correct  or  avoid  it.  It  shows 
the  advantage  of  marrying  a woman 
who  has  education.  It  shows  the  impor- 
tance of  setting  up  a family  budget  and 
sharing  with  one  another  in  matters  of 
spending  money.” 

Thirty-  and  sixty-second  spot  an- 
nouncements over  the  radio  teach  such 
things  as  how  to  avoid  a traffic  accident, 
preventative  medicine,  strengthening 
friendship,  and  interpersonal  family  re- 
lationships. 

Another  project  of  studiproka  is  the 
recording  and  reproducing  of  phono- 
graph records  and  cassette  tape  record- 
ings of  Christian  music. 

“During  the  past  year  we  had  four 
records  cut.  We  had  1,750  discs  made 
and  sold  1,300  of  them.  We  have  re- 
joiced to  see  how  people  want  the  songs 
of  God  in  their  homes.  Our  phonograph 
records  are  now  regularly  at  nightclubs, 
restaurants,  mournings,  and  other  social 
occasions,”  Mr.  Muamba  said. 

“We  have  now  prepared  seven  different 
cassette  masters  . . . and  have  sold  about 
900  cassettes.  We  have  begun  making 
trips  for  the  purpose  of  recording  good 
music.  Henry  Loewen,  Mennonite  mis- 
sionary [under  Africa  Inter-Mennonite 
Mission],  assistant  director  and  techni- 
cian of  studiproka;  Pete  Hoepner,  Meth- 
odist missionary;  and  I went  to  Lubum- 
bashi  to  record  songs  in  the  Swahili  lan- 
guage. Next  week  we  have  an  appoint- 
ment to  record  a soldiers’  choir  to  pre- 


pare a cassette  in  the  Lingala  language.! 

“By  this  means  the  ministry  of  studi- 
proka is  reaching  beyond  the  two  Tshi- 
luba-language  provinces.” 

Mr.  Muamba  hopes  to  obtain  some 
evangelical  movies  in  the  future  and! 
perhaps  produce  some  original  pictures.! 
Meanwhile,  studiproka  has  a filmstrip! 
lending  library  on  Christian  faith  and! 
morality.  Seventy  filmstrips  have  Tshi-j 
luba  and  thirty-nine  have  Otetela  narra-i 
tion.  The  films  show  the  lives  of  lesus, 
David,  Paul,  and  others. 

“Studiproka  was  established  to  broad- 
cast the  Word  of  God  over  the  air  so 
that  any  person  anywhere  might  receive 
the  bread  of  life,”  said  Mr.  Muamba. 
“It  is  true  that  today  this  opportunity  is 
no  longer  present.  But  this  does  not 
interfere  with  spreading  the  Word  of 
God.  He  has  opened  another  door  by  i 
which  they  can  hear.” 

Amnesty  program 
wins  two  Emmys 

“Duty  bound,”  an  nbc  religious  special 
that  was  aired  March  11,  won  Emmy 
Awards  for  its  executive  producer  and 
producer. 

Doris  Ann,  executive  producer,  and 
Martin  Hoade,  producer,  were  honored 
for  their  work  on  the  drama,  which 
dealt  with  the  issue  of  amnesty  for  war 
resisters. 

The  program  had  received  three  of: 
the  four  nominations  for  the  best  reli-i ' 
gious  program  in  the  1972  competition, 
which  covered  programs  broadcast  from 
March  13,  1972,  to  March  18,  1973.  Its 
director,  Martin  Hoade,  and  its  cos- 
tume designer,  John  B.  Boxer,  had  been  ' 
nominated  for  the  religious-programming 
Emmy. 


KINGS  VIEW’S 

25TH  ANNIVERSARY 
HOMECOMING 

CELEBRATION 

August  II,  1973 

WE  NEED  ADDRESSES  OF 
ALL  PREVIOUS  EMPLOYEES 

PLAN  YOUR  VACATION 
IN  CALIFORNIA 

WRITE:  BOX  512 

REEDLEY,  CA  93654 


416  JUNE  26,  1973 


hour  periods  per  day.  In  Poona,  an  industrial  city  120  miles 
from  Bombay,  the  situation  is  desperate.  Here,  a man  carrying 
water  cans  walks  across  the  dried-up  bed  of  the  River  Bihma, 
fifteen  miles  from  Poona.  The  river,  spanned  by  a bridge  at  left, 
was  once  150  yards  wide  and  up  to  fifteen  feet  deep.  The  river- 
bed is  scarred  by  huge  holes  dug  by  local  villagers  in  search  of 
water. 


A huge  area  of  India  is  facing  the  effects  of  a lack  of  water. 
Crops  have  failed,  food  and  water  rations  have  been  imposed, 
and  thousands  have  fled  the  villages  for  the  cities  in  search  of 
food.  Maharashtra  State,  with  more  than  fifty  million  inhabi- 
tants, is  by  far  the  worst  hit  area  in  the  Indian  subcontinent. 
Even  3ombay,  the  capital  city,  has  not  escaped  the  conse- 
quences of  drought.  Water  distribution  is  limited  to  two  one- 


Indians  hope  for  more  than  a ten-cent  crop 


Poor  harvests  are  a way  of  life  in  cen- 
tral India. 

“When  things  are  good,”  say  farmers 
near  Saraipali,  “we  only  get  a ten-cent 
crop.” 

Actually,  they  call  it  an  “eight-anna 
crop”  which  is  even  less  than  ten  cents. 

Of  course,  that’s  an  exaggeration — 
but  only  a modest  one.  The  plateau  land 
of  Madhya  Pradesh  is  usually  low  on 
rainfall  which  makes  it  hard  to  grow 
even  one  good  crop  of  rice  a year.  And 
when  it  does  rain,  the  water  runs  off 
too  quickly  and  doesn’t  really  wet  the 
soil  properly. 

During  the  last  several  years,  rainfall 
; has  been  below  average.  This  has  meant 
- dry  stream  beds,  thirsty  cattle,  and  farm- 
ers with  dusty  fields  that  aren’t  even 
growing  those  ten-cent  harvests. 

To  provide  both  immediate  and  long- 
'■  term  aid,  the  Mennonite  Mission  at  Sarai- 
pali asked  the  Mennonite  Christian  Serv- 
| ice  Fellowship  of  India  (mcsfi)  for 
funds  to  build  a reservoir  which  will 
I catch  and  hold  water  from  the  rainy 
season  and  distribute  it  as  needed  dur- 
i ing  the  growing  season. 


Farmers  and  their  families — including 
wives  and  children — are  now  digging  and 
carrying  earth  to  shape  a holding  basin. 
They  are  being  paid  for  their  work 
which  means  money  now  to  make  up  for 
the  harvests  lost  because  of  drought. 

The  whole  project  is  costing  about 
$1,350. 

Mcc  has  approved  $50,000  for  various 
drought  assistance  projects  in  India.  As- 
sistance is  being  carried  out  in  coopera- 
tion with  mcsfi  and  other  organizations. 

Theme  selected 
for  peace  film 

“The  way  of  peace  is  the  way  of  Jesus” 
has  been  chosen  as  the  theme  for  an 
inter-Mennonite  peace  film,  to  be  pro- 
duced in  1974. 

Representatives  of  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church,  Mennonite 
Brethren  Church,  and  Mennonite  Church 
have  been  planning  the  film,  and  partici- 
pation by  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  is 
also  possible. 

Harold  Regier,  secretary  for  peace  and 
social  concerns  for  the  General  Confer- 


3  THE  MENNONITE 


ence,  said  the  film  would  be  part  of  a 
package  of  learning  materials  to  be  used 
in  local  congregations.  Accompanying  the 
films  might  be  posters,  games,  cassette 
recordings,  and  drama  ideas. 

The  planning  committee  has  outlined 
the  objectives  of  the  film  and  is  con- 
tacting script  writers. 

Target  audience  will  be  primarily 
those  sixteen  to  twenty-five  years  old, 
but  it  is  hoped  the  film  will  stimulate 
dialog  also  with  those  over  twenty-five. 
Objectives  of  the  film  include: 

— to  invite  the  viewer  to  consider  or 
accept  the  way  of  peace  as  the  way  of 
Jesus. 

— to  challenge  the  church  to  be  a 
community  which,  because  of  its  loyalty 
to  Jesus,  will  frequently  have  priorities 
and  practices  which  are  different  from 
those  in  the  larger  society. 

— to  challenge  the  church  to  be  a 
sharing,  reconciling,  witnessing  commu- 
nity as  expressed  in  the  gospel  of  peace. 

— to  call  people  to  a life  of  faithful- 
ness to  Jesus  and  his  community  and  be 
willing  to  suffer  rather  than  compromise 
the  witness. 

—to  bring  the  church  into  dialog  on 
Scripture  and  heritage  on  the  issue  of 
peace  and  community. 


417 


Three  VS  units 

Three  voluntary  service  units  in  Geary, 
Oklahoma;  Kansas  City,  Kansas;  and 
Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  will  be  terminat- 
ed soon  by  the  General  Conference  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries. 

George  Lehman,  director  of  voluntary 
service,  said  the  closing  of  the  three 
units  had  been  influenced  by  the  overall 
shortage  of  personnel  in  voluntary  service 
units,  but  other  factors  were  also  in- 
volved. 

In  Geary,  Oklahoma,  two  volunteers 
had  been  working  in  a community  day- 
care center  during  the  past  two  years. 
In  its  beginning,  the  center  had  served 
primarily  low-income  black  and  Indian 
families.  Now  it  serves  mostly  middle- 
class  families  with  two  working  parents. 
The  center  is  also  less  closely  tied  with 
the  local  Mennonite  congregation. 

In  Minneapolis,  volunteers  have  work- 
ed for  several  years  in  the  Minneapolis 
Workhouse-Prison.  However,  recently 
there  have  been  problems  in  funding  the 


to  close 

volunteers  through  the  prison  and  dis- 
agreements with  prison  administration 
over  philosophy  of  treatment  of  prison- 
ers. Mr.  Lehman  said  that  if  the  Faith 
Mennonite  Church  in  Minneapolis  can 
design  a new  program  for  volunteers  for 
the  next  year,  volunteers  would  again 
be  placed  in  Minneapolis. 

The  Kansas  City  VS  unit  will  be 
phased  out  when  the  terms  of  the  pres- 
ent volunteers  end  in  the  fall  of  1974. 
General  Conference  VS  involvement  in 
Kansas  City  started  when  the  Poverty 
Fund  gave  grants  to  the  Crosslines  pro- 
gram, and  volunteers  were  also  working 
in  the  Rosedale  Team  Ministry,  of  which 
the  Rainbow  Blvd.  Mennonite  Church  is  a 
part.  Now,  however,  both  leadership  peo- 
ple with  which  the  VS  program  worked 
have  left  Kansas  City,  and  the  local 
congregation  has  not  given  a strong 
mandate  for  voluntary  service  to  con- 
tinue, Mr.  Lehman  said.  Present  volun- 
teers are  relating  to  Terry  Woodbury,  a 


Taiwan  congregation  dedicates  building 

Mei-Tsun  Mennonite  Church,  the  newest  Mennonite  congregation  in  Taichung, 
Taiwan,  has  recently  purchased  a building  which  serves  as  sanctuary  and  parsonage. 
Dedication  of  the  building  was  April  27.  The  congregation  began  meeting  in  the 
home  of  a deacon  of  the  Lin  Shen  Road  Mennonite  Church  in  Taichung  August  13, 
1972.  The  new  building  is  being  financed  partially  through  a U.S.  $5,000  loan  from 
Church  Extension  Services  plus  local  support  and  gifts.  Above,  church  members 
gather  for  prayer  before  entering  the  sanctuary  for  the  dedication  service. 


staff  person  with  the  new  ecumenikos  \ 
congregation,  in  which  Mennonites  co- 
operate.  Mr.  Lehman  said  the  new  con-  i 
gregation  might  want  to  relate  to  a vol-  I 
untary  service  unit  at  some  time  in  the 
future. 

Applications  for  voluntary  service  are  1 
about  25  percent  down  from  last  year,  jj 
Mr.  Lehman  did  not  anticipate  the  clos- 
ing of  any  other  voluntary  service  units; 
however,  most  units  will  probably  func- 
tion during  the  next  year  with  a mini- 
mum of  volunteers  if  present  trends  con- 
tinue. 

“The  absence  of  the  draft  in  the  U.S. 
has  had  some  effect  on  the  number  of 
applications,”  Mr.  Lehman  said.  “But 
there  are  other  factors,  too.  This  is  also 
a bad  year  for  applications  for  Menno- 
nite Central  Committee  (Canada).” 


Letter  on  peace 
observers  languishes 

A letter,  originally  drafted  for  the  Con-  i 
ference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada  in 
March  but  never  sent,  complimented  the 
Canadian  Government  for  its  participa- 
tion in  the  peace  observer  force  in  Indo- 
china and  proposed  that  civilians  be  al- 
lowed to  join  the  team. 

Written  for  the  conference  by  its  peace 
and  social  concerns  consultant,  the  let- 
ter went  through  several  drafts  and  much 
handwringing  before  it  finally  died  in  late 
May,  when  the  Canadian  Government 
announced  that  it  would  be  pulling  its 
men  out  of  Vietnam  by  the  end  of  July. 

The  portion  of  the  letter  which  caused 
the  delay  was  the  suggestion  that  Cana- 
dian Mennonites  would  be  prepared  to 
encourage  some  of  their  members  to  vol- 
unteer for  participation  in  the  peace  ob- 
server unit. 

The  letter,  addressed  to  Mitchell  Sharp 
and  James  Richardson,  the  external  af- 
fairs and  defense  ministers  in  the  Cana- 
dan  Government,  stated  it  this  way: 

“For  many  of  us  the  Vietnam  conflict 
has  long  been  a source  of  anguish  and 
frustration.  For  this  reason  ...  we 
would  like  to  know  if  there  is  anything 
we  can  do  as  civilians  who  have  dedi- 
cated ourselves  to  peacemaking.  Wouldn’t 
it  make  sense  to  also  have  people  on  the 
Canadian  team  in  Vietnam  who  have 
consistently  rejected  violence  as  a way 
of  life  and  who  have  consistently  been 
opposed  to  war?  Wouldn’t  the  presence 
of  such  civilian  observers  help  the  Viet- 
namese people  to  reach  a new  level  of 
understanding?  We  are  willing  to  engage 
in  further  discussion  on  this  matter  and 
also  to  nominate  appropriate  persons  if 


418 


JUNE  26,  1973 


this  proposal  catches  your  interest.  . . . 

“While  it  would  be  presumptuous  to 
indicate  the  number  of  persons  who  could 
perform  such  a service,  we  are  convinced 
that  there  are  a number  of  competent, 
highly  motivated  persons  who  would  vol- 
unteer for  such  an  assignment.  We  stand 
ready  to  mobilize  such  persons  if  you 
would  wish  us  to  pursue  this  matter  fur- 
ther.” 

It  is  too  late  to  send  the  letter  now. 
Should  it  have  been  sent  when  the  op- 
tion was  still  open?  Are  the  Mennonites 
of  Canada  prepared  to  carry  their  peace- 
making concerns  to  the  point  of  mediat- 
ing between  military  belligerents? 

Words  & deeds 


!‘‘The  biological  family  is  in  God’s  cre- 
ative activity;  the  spiritual  family  is  in 
God’s  redemptive  activity.  Both  are  God’s, 
and  both  are  in  his  plan.” 

In  this  Focal  Pamphlet  on  the  family, 
Paul  M.  Lederach  helps  the  reader  to 
discern  what  the  Bible  has  to  say  about 
the  family  in  our  day.  The  clear  and  ex- 
plicit approach  to  this  subject  makes  this 
twenty-fourth  Focal  Pamphlet  an  excel- 
lent study  help  for  individuals  or  groups. 
Paper,  60  cents. 

V 


ORDER  FROM: 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON,  KANSAS, 

OR  BERNE,  INDIANA 


Billy  James  Hargis  is  receiving  assistance 
from  an  unexpected  source:  the  National 
Council  of  Churches.  Mr.  Hargis,  who 
j has  been  involved  in  a decade-long  strug- 
gle to  retain  tax  exemption  for  his  or- 
ganization, is  being  aided  by  a friend-of- 
the-court  brief  from  the  ncc  and  eight 
Protestant  churches.  The  brief  contends 


that  the  Internal  Revenue  Service’s  power 
to  revoke  the  tax-exempt  status  of  a re- 
ligious organization  for  carrying  on  “sub- 
stantial” activity  to  influence  legislation 
to  support  political  candidates  is  uncon- 
stitutional. Mr.  Hargis,  who  has  been  a 
persistent  critic  of  the  ncc,  has  expressed 
appreciation  for  the  council’s  help,  but 
insists  that  his  opinion  of  it  has  not 
changed  substantially. 


The  Honduras  Mennonite  Church  has 
organized  the  first  Mennonite  Disaster 
Service  unit  outside  North  America. 
Honduras  faces  three  natural  disaster 
threats  every  year.  Floods  hit  the  north- 
west area  of  the  country  in  early  spring. 
Extreme  drought  in  the  summer  months 
is  a problem  for  the  central  and  eastern 
highlands.  In  fall  hurricanes  storm  Hon- 
duras’ east  coast.  The  Mennonites  in 
this  Central  American  country  are  fa- 
miliar with  mds  since  North  American 
units  helped  with  hurricane  recovery  in 
their  country  in  1961  and  1969.  The 
twenty  Honduras  Mennonite  congrega- 
tions, growing  out  of  the  Eastern  Men- 
nonite Board  of  Missions  and  Charities 
missionary  efforts,  will  be  divided  into 
seven  mds  regions  according  to  church 
locations.  The  Amish  community  at 
Camp  Menta  will  also  be  invited  to  be 
part  of  the  mds  effort. 


A United  Church  of  Christ  resolution 
asking  a pledge  of  “fair  employment 
practices”  in  South  Africa  went  down 
to  defeat  at  the  stockholders’  meeting 
of  Mobil  Oil  in  Chicago  recently.  The 
United  Church  got  1.5  percent  support, 
which  means  the  measure  cannot  be  in- 
troduced a second  time.  Three  percent 
is  required  for  resubmission  of  a proxy 
resolution.  Earlier,  however,  the  denom- 
ination’s Board  for  World  Ministries  re- 
ceived 4.3  percent  support  on  a chal- 
lenge asking  Continental  Oil  to  postpone 
all  oil  explorations  in  Namibia  (South- 
West  Africa)  or  adjacent  waters  under 
concessions  received  from  South  Africa, 
which  rules  Namibia  in  violation  of  Unit- 
ed Nations  mandates.  Much  of  the  three- 
and-one-half-hour  Mobil  gathering  was 
devoted  to  labor  practices  in  South  Af- 
rica. Last  year  the  United  Church  suc- 
ceeded, without  a direct  proxy  challenge, 
in  securing  disclosure  from  Mobil  on 
labor  policies  and  salaries  in  South  Af- 
rica, where  a white  minority  governs  a 
black  majority.  The  data  showed  con- 
siderable divergence  between  white  and 
black  pay  scales,  and  the  disclosure  pro- 
vided the  basis  for  the  1973  request  that 
Mobil  practice  “fair  employment.” 


The  National  Council  of  Churches,  rep- 
resenting thirty-two  Protestant  and  East- 
ern Orthodox  denominations  with  an  ag- 
gregate membership  of  forty-two  million, 
has  told  the  U.S.  Congress  it  opposes  the 
“tax  credit”  plan  for  providing  tax  aid 
to  parochial  and  private  schools.  In  a 
statement  submitted  to  the  House  ways 
and  means  committee,  which  is  consider- 
ing proposals  to  divert  up  to  $1  billion 
annually  to  parochial  and  private  schools 
through  a scheme  of  tax  credit  tuition 
reimbursements,  the  National  Council  de- 
scribed the  tax  credit  plan  as  a “dubious 
fiscal  device”  which  would  stimulate  dis- 
crimination along  racial,  cultural,  ethnic, 
and  class  lines. 


At  least  one  congregation  — Killarney 
Park  Mennonite  Brethren  in  Vancouver, 
British  Columbia — has  taken  to  heart 
recent  admonitions  from  publishers  about 
unauthorized  copying.  The  church  held 
a ceremony  to  burn  all  known  copies  of 
music  that  had  been  illegally  reproduced, 
reports  Christianity  today.  Said  Pastor 
Bob  Roxburgh:  “It  was  a question  of 
moral  versus  financial  considerations.  As 
Christians  we  were  left  with  no  other 
option.” 

Robert  Kreider  asked 
to  continue  COE  assignment 

Robert  Kreider,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  has  been 
invited  to  continue  his  part-time  assign- 
ment for  the  Department  of  Higher  Edu- 
cation until  August  1974. 

The  decision  to  extend  the  invitation 
for  another  year  was  made  June  1-2  by 
the  Department  of  Higher  Education,  a 
division  of  the  General  Conference’s 
Commission  on  Education. 

He  would  continue  to  work  on  ways 
in  which  the  commission  can  relate  to 
Mennonite  students  and  Mennonite  col- 
leges and  to  work  particularly  in  provid- 
ing some  special  consultation  for  colleges 
which  have  requested  it. 

During  the  past  year,  he  has  been 
working  one-fourth  time  for  the  Depart- 
ment of  Higher  Education,  but  this  time 
might  be  increased  to  as  much  as  40 
percent  during  the  coming  year. 

The  department  also  decided  to  begin 
using  some  of  the  services  offered  by  the 
Board  of  Education  of  the  Mennonite 
Church.  The  major  service  to  be  used 
would  be  cooperating  on  securing  statis- 
tical reports  on  college  and  university 
students  and  students  in  graduate  school. 
The  Board  of  Education  computerizes 
these  statistics.  The  cooperation  would 
begin  next  fall. 


THE  MENNONITE 


419 


Watergate:  the 


corruption  of  power 


Delton  Franz 

I take  my  text  from  the  eighth  chapter 
of  Nehemiah : “And  Ezra  the  priest 

brought  the  law  before  the  assembly — 
and  he  read  it  facing  the  square  before 
the  Water  Gate — and  the  ears  of  all  the 
people  were  attentive  to  the  book  of  the 
law.  . . Americans  need  to  have  read 
to  them  from  their  book  of  the  law.  The 
priest  in  this  case  will  have  to  be  the 
president.  He  cannot  govern  with  au- 
thority until  the  Watergate  case  is  cleared 
up.  Our  presidency  has  become  a sort 
of  monarchic  repository  of  public  virtue. 
To  discover  it  is  not  virtuous  would  be 
hard  to  bear.  John  K.  Jessup,  on  the  nbc 
“Today”  program. 

It  is  tempting,  in  observing  the  state  of 
corruption  and  deceit  that  has  permeat- 
ed the  White  House,  to  say,  “a  plague 
on  all  your  houses,”  and  to  hold  ourselves 
aloof  in  personal  self-righteousness  from 
all  of  the  strivings  of  our  government. 
But  since  both  this  nation  and  individuals 
in  its  government  stand  under  the  judg- 
ment of  God,  we  do  well  to  reflect  on 
some  of  the  meanings  that  the  excesses 
symbolized  by  the  Watergate  have  for 
the  Christian  community. 

Church  members  in  America  have  gen- 
erally trusted  their  government.  In  the 
twentieth  century  that  trust  concentrated 
itself  most  zealously  in  the  office  of  the 
president.  While  national  leadership  in 
a democratic  system  cannot  govern  ef- 
fectively without  the  broad  support  of 
the  people,  there  is  equal  danger  when 
that  trust  becomes  too  casual. 

The  excesses  of  two  administrations 
have  now  come  under  challenge.  In  the 
sixties,  a growing  number  of  citizens  be- 
came alarmed  by  the  deception  prac- 
ticed by  the  Johnson  administration  re- 
garding the  government’s  war  activities 
in  Vietnam;  it  provoked  a serious  credi- 
bility gap.  But  finally  millions  of  con- 
cerned citizens  forced  an  end  to  the  use 
of  United  States  forces  in  Vietnam,  even 
though  the  devastation  in  Southeast  Asia 
continues  in  other  ways.  Now  in  the  sev- 
enties, the  public’s  trust  in  the  Office  of 
the  President  has  again  been  undermined 
by  the  two-year-long  series  of  law-break- 
ing and  cover-up  activities  of  which  the 
Watergate  break-in  was  but  one  minor 
part. 

At  the  same  time  the  importance  of 
a free  press,  a strong  Congress,  and  an 


independent  judiciary  has  been  rediscov- 
ered. The  fact  that  these  checks  on 
abuses  of  power  by  the  White  House 
have  functioned  as  effectively  as  they 
have  is  as  surprising  as  the  breadth  and 
depth  of  the  scandals  which  they  have 
revealed.  While  our  system  has  failed 
by  allowing  such  a great  concentration 
of  power  in  one  office,  thus  inviting 
abuses,  it  has  also  succeeded  in  expos- 
ing and  correcting  those  abuses. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  failing  which 
comes  to  light  in  the  whole  affair  lies 
not  with  any  aspect  of  our  system,  but 
with  the  people  who  have  placed  so 
much  trust  in  the  president  and  who 
have  considered  as  subversive  or  un- 
patriotic any  attempts  to  check  his  pow- 
er or  change  his  policies. 

What  does  all  of  this  mean  for  the 
church?  What  should  Christians  learn 
from  the  crisis  this  government  and  so- 
ciety are  undergoing?  “There  are  appar- 
ently thousands  of  American  Christians 
who  seem  to  hold  a theory  of  politics 
appropriate  to  dutiful  slaves  in  the  late 
Roman  Empire:  ‘The  great  ones  in 

Washington  know  best.  Our  duty  is  to  be 
loyal  to  their  better  judgment’  ” ( God's 
lively  people,  by  Mark  Gibbs  and  T. 
Ralph  Morton). 

The  lessons  of  history  dare  not  be 
ignored.  That  the  churches  cannot  af- 
ford to  be  silent  and  uninformed  re- 
garding the  policies  and  trends  in  govern- 
ment was  underscored  by  one  of  the  pil- 
lars of  the  German  Confessing  Church 


which  did  resist  Hitler  in  the  1930s. 
Martin  Niemoeller  said,  “If  the  evangel- 
ical churches  of  Germany  had  been  clear- 
er in  their  own  thinking  about  what  a 
state  could  and  could  not  do  and  what 
a Christian  could  and  could  not  permit, 
the  assumption  of  power  by  National 
Socialism  (Nazism)  would  have  been 
more  effectively  resisted.” 

While  recognizing  the  damage  that 
has  been  done  to  our  government  by  this 
broad-scale  subversion  of  law  and  order, 
it  can  be  noted  that  some  good  may  also 
emerge. 

A more  cautious  estimate  of  the  Office 
of  President.  Perhaps  the  sobering  de- 
velopments surrounding  the  president  in 
recent  months  will  provide  a more  down- 
to-earth  appraisal  of  that  office  among 
the  public.  Certainly  the  church  should 
be  under  no  illusions  about  the  tempta- 
tion of  rulers  to  lord  it  over  men. 

Christians  especially  should  be  sensi- 
tive to  the  potential  of  idolatry  that 
exists  when  such  a large  part  of  one’s 
security  and  trust  is  placed  in  one  man. 
We  should  remind  ourselves  that  our 
theological  understanding  of  sin  means 
that  excessive  power  resting  with  one 
person  will  likely  be  used  for  self-serving 
and  self -justifying  purposes.  Power  shared 
by  many — the  promise  of  a democratic 
system — will  more  often  be  exercised 
with  justice  and  wisdom. 

A renewal  of  public  vigilance.  Corrup- 
tion in  high  places  increases  as  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  people  decreases.  Often 


420 


JUNE  26,  1973 


people  in  the  church  say  that  being  criti- 
cal of  presidential  decisions  is  out  of 
place  because  only  he  has  access  to  the 
necessary  information  and  the  expertise 
required  for  crucial  decisions. 

The  judgments  of  decision-makers  are 
however,  seldom  determined  as  much  by 
classified  information  or  specialized 
knowedge  as  by  broad  world  views,  un- 
derlying presuppositions  and  basic  con- 
victions. George  Reedy,  special  assistant 
to  the  late  President  Johnson,  attests  to 
this  when  he  writes:  “He  (the  president) 
must  deal  with  those  problems  for  which 
the  computer  offers  no  solution.  . . . He 
has  no  guideposts  other  than  his  own 
philosophy  and  his  intuition.  . . . That  a 
president  has  more  comprehensive  data 
available  to  him  is  true  . . . but  is  ac- 
tually irrelevant.  On  sweeping  policy  de- 
cisions ...  a president  makes  up  his 
mind  on  the  basis  of  the  same  kind  of 
information  that  is  available  to  the  aver- 
age citizen”  ( The  twilight  of  the  presi- 
dency) . 

A president’s  views  on  basic  issues 
will  more  likely  be  shaped  to  take  into 
account  the  interests  of  the  dispossessed 
if  the  voices  of  nongovernmental  groups 
are  heard.  Toward  that  end,  the  trans- 
national, humanitarian  perspective  of  the 
churches  can  have  a leveling  effect  on 
governmental  actions.  This,  of  course,  as- 
sumes that  the  churches  will  devote  the 
time  to  gather  the  necessary  facts  which 
are  available  and  that  they  recognize 
their  own  fallibility  as  well  as  that  of 
those  in  power. 

Watergate  as  a watershed  in  the  flow 
of  power.  Some  observers  in  Washing- 
ton are  seeing  the  Watergate  affair  as  a 
true  watershed  in  our  government’s  his- 
tory. After  twenty-five  years  of  political 
power  flowing  to  the  executive  branch, 
the  tide  may  now  have  turned  in  the  re- 
lationship between  the  Congress  and  the 
White  House. 

For  six  years,  the  will  of  two  presi- 
dents to  carry  on  a disastrous  and  futile 
war  in  Indochina  could  not  be  stopped 
by  an  impotent  Congress.  Now,  in  an  un- 
precedented move  on  May  1 1 , the  House 
of  Representatives  has  passed  an  amend- 
ment that  would  not  permit  the  transfer 
of  funds  to  continue  the  bombing  of 
Cambodia.  With  the  Senate  following 
suit,  it  is  apparent  that  the  misuse  of 
authority  in  the  White  House  has  prompt- 
ed the  Congress  to  assume  greater  re- 
sponsibility. 

Whether  or  not  the  courts  are  able  to 
convict  all  who  are  guilty  may  not  be 
the  most  important  consequence  of  what 
has  transpired.  If  the  poison  that  has 


fostered  in  our  society  because  of  the 
immorality  within  the  White  House  can 
be  cleansed  by  as  full  an  exposure  and 
as  fair  a judgment  of  the  wrongdoers  as 
possible,  a true  healing  of  the  land  might 
yet  occur. 

Hopefully  the  churches  can  assist  this 
healing  by  turning  from  their  tendency 
to  deify  the  presidential  office  and  to 
engage  in  nation  worship.  Now,  more 
than  ever,  we  must  pray  for  national 
leaders.  Our  prayers  must  reflect  our 
knowledge  that  God  alone  is  sovereign 
and  that  all  human  action  including  that 
of  the  president  of  the  United  States  is 
ultimately  judged  by  his  standards  of 
truth,  love,  and  justice.  We  must  pray 
that  leaders  be  given  wisdom  to  discern 
the  right  and  the  courage  to  act  on  it. 

Rising  costs  hit 
Jamaican  poor  hard 

“We  were  never  aware,  in  spite  of  all 
the  reading  we  had  done  before  we  came 
to  Jamaica,  that  there  could  be  ten  peo- 
ple living  in  such  small  shacks  as  we  see 
here,”  report  Jeffrey  and  Jeannie  Trach- 
sel,  mcc  volunteers  from  Indiana. 

“We  were  never  aware  that  so  many 
children  could  go  to  bed  hungry.  We 
never  knew  that  there  were  people  so 
hungry  they  would  be  willing  to  eat 
stuff  off  the  sidewalks. 

“According  to  Time  magazine,  home- 
town newspapers,  and  bbc  news,  the 
world  is  at  present  involved  in  some 
money  struggles.  Such  struggles  always 
seem  to  affect  the  poor  much  more  than 
the  rich,  since  rising  costs  almost  always 
mean  a rise  in  food  costs.  When  food 
costs  go  up,  the  poor  have  to  spend  pro- 
portionately more  of  their  income  to 
remain  alive.  At  the  rate  prices  are  ris- 
ing here,  many  of  the  people  cannot  af- 
ford to  eat.  Some  incomes  here  are  $10 
a month. 

“We  who  have  been  bom  and  raised 
in  the  most  prosperous  nation  in  the 
world  may  find  it  hard  to  believe  that 
such  poverty  really  exists.  Perhaps  we 
can  believe  it,  but  prefer  to  ignore  it. 
Or  we  may  feel  that  our  little  bit  would 
barely  dent  the  surface  and  we  let  some- 
one else  worry  about  it.  After  all,  we 
do  have  our  own  jobs,  families,  con- 
cerns. . . . 

“We  had  read.  We  had  heard.  We  had 
even  seen  pictures  of  poverty  in  maga- 
zines and  in  slide  presentations  of  vari- 
ous countries.  Yet,  we  were  not  aware! 
How  could  that  be?  How  could  we  have 
been  so  blind,  unfeeling,  uncaring?  How 
could  we  allow  ourselves  to  ignore  what 


we  knew?  Jamaica  is  not  the  poorest  of 
poor  countries.  Conceivably  there  are 
human  beings  in  worse  shape  than  those 
we  see  around  us  all  the  time.  To  be 
aware  is  one  thing.  To  act  is  quite  an- 
other matter.” 

Seek  creative  literary 
works  for  anthology 

Prose,  poetry,  short  stories,  and  other 
creative  literary  works  in  English,  Ger- 
man, or  Low  German  are  being  sought 
for  publication  in  a Mennonite  centen- 
nial anthology. 

Five  prizes  will  be  awarded  by  the  Man- 
itoba centennial  organization’s  anthol- 
ogy committee  for  the  best  materials  sub- 
mitted. First  prize  will  be  $250;  second, 
$100;  and  there  will  be  three  prizes  of 
$50  each. 

Materials  should  be  sent  to  George 
Epp,  Mennonite  Brethren  Bible  College, 
77  Henderson  Highway,  Winnipeg,  Man. 
The  deadline  is  October  31. 

The  anthology  is  one  of  the  projects 
being  undertaken  by  the  Manitoba  Men- 
nonite centennial  committee  to  commem- 
orate the  coming  of  the  Mennonites  to 
their  province  in  1874. 

Pressure  on  religion 
seen  easing  in  Russia 

Far  fewer  instances  of  people  jeering  at 
churchgoers  this  year  during  Easter  were 
recorded  in  the  Soviet  Union,  leading 
some  observers  to  declare  that  the  USSR 
is  easing  somewhat  its  traditional  pres- 
sure against  Christians  and  Orthodox 
believers. 

Michael  McGuire,  Moscow  correspon- 
dent for  the  Chicago  tribune’s  Press  Serv- 
ice, said  thousands  of  police,  soldiers, 
and  druzhniks  (part-time  volunteer  po- 
lice) stood  outside  churches  across  Rus- 
sia during  Orthodox  Easter  services  part- 
ly to  discourage  the  young  from  enter- 
ing and  partly  to  protect  the  rights  of 
the  believers  to  go  to  church. 

In  1961,  the  Community  Party  set  a 
target  date  of  1980 — the  thousandth  year 
of  Russian  Christendom — as  the  year  in 
which  religion  would  be  eliminated.  This 
date  is  no  longer  mentioned. 

A newspaper  edited  by  the  Commu- 
nist Youth  League  warned  that  “insults, 
violence,  and  the  forcible  closing  of 
churches,  not  only  fail  to  reduce  the 
number  of  believers  but  actually  tend 
to  increase  the  number  of  believers, 
make  clandestine  religious  groups  more 
widespread,  and  antagonize  believers 
against  the  state.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


421 


REVIEW 


The  great  reversal 


The  great  reversal:  evangelism  versus 
social  concern,  by  David  O.  Moberg  ( Lip - 
pincott,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  1972, 
194  pp.,  $5.95)  is  reviewed  by  Katie 
Funk  Wiebe,  a free-lance  writer,  Hills- 
boro, Kansas. 

If  some  Christians  seem  slow  to  grasp 
the  social  implications  of  the  gospel,  this 
failing  is  not  going  unnoticed.  Within 
evangelicalism,  voices  are  being  raised  in 
self-criticism  over  the  gap  between  words 
and  deeds,  theory  and  practice.  The  di- 
vision between  traditional  evangelism, 
which  stresses  preaching  and  personal 
evangelism,  and  social  concern  and  ac- 
tion is  unscriptural  and  must  be  brought 
together. 

Mr.  Moberg,  writing  as  an  evangelical 
social  scientist,  speaks  to  all  Christians, 
but  he  raises  his  voice  loudest  when  he 
addresses  evangelicals.  Erase  the  false 
dichotomy  which  has  developed  between 
the  evangelical  wing  of  the  church  and 
the  social  gospelers,  he  says,  for  it  has 
led  only  to  name  calling  and  the  denial 
of  the  other’s  contribution.  Recognize 
that  Christ  ministered  to  the  whole  man, 
not  only  to  his  soul  or  to  his  body. 

“The  great  reversal,”  a term  coined  by 
historian  Timothy  L.  Smith,  refers  to 
the  switchback  evangelicals  made  in  the 
early  part  of  this  century  from  evan- 
gelical social  concern  to  individualism. 
The  early  church,  both  in  England  and 
America,  was  noted  for  its  social  in- 
volvement, establishing  welfare  societies 
such  as  the  Salvation  Army,  schools  for 
immigrants,  homes  for  unwed  mothers, 
city  missions,  and  agencies  to  help  the 
poor,  the  sick,  prisoners,  and  other  needy. 
The  church  supported  legislation  to  bring 
about  social  justice. 

Then  came  the  great  reversal.  The  so- 
cial gospel  became  linked  with  liberal 
theology,  and  evangelicals,  anxious  to 
separate  themselves  from  this  group,  sep- 
arated themselves  from  social  action  also 
in  order  to  get  “back  to  first  principles.” 
The  present  controversy  is  in  essence  a 
continuation  of  the  modernist-fundamen- 
talist disagreement. 

Great  revivalist  preachers  like  Moody 
and  Sunday  preached  that  social  reform 
began  with  the  individual,  not  with  so- 
ciety. As  the  liberal  wing  dropped  the 


responsibility  of  preaching  the  gospel, 
the  evangelicals  felt  a greater  pressure 
to  do  so.  The  gap  widened. 

Other  factors  entered  the  picture,  sep- 
arating evangelicals  from  social  concern. 
America  has  always  been  characterized 
by  strong  individualism,  writes  Mr.  Mo- 
berg, and  the  individualistic  approach  to 
Christianity  seemed  to  fit  the  major 
themes  of  American  culture  much  better 
than  working  with  social  orders.  It  be- 
came easy  to  see  Americanism  as  being 
synonymous  with  Christianity. 

As  conservative  Christians  became 
more  closely  conformed  to  American 
culture  and  its  goals  of  prosperity  and 
success,  they  found  it  harder  to  see  evil 
as  inherent  in  society  and  its  systems, 
and  something  which  must  be  changed. 

But,  writes  Mr.  Moberg,  evangelicals 
are  waking  up — a little  late.  It  is  hard 
for  them  to  admit  that  social  concern  be- 
longs with  the  gospel,  but  by  studying 
the  Scriptures  and  present  situations, 
they  are  acceding  to  this  truth.  The  great 
reversal  is  being  reversed. 

David  Moberg’s  approach  to  the  prob- 
lem is  rational  and  coolheaded.  The  so- 
cial gospelers  can’t  do  the  job  without 
including  Christ’s  message  of  redemption. 
The  evangelicals  can’t  do  it  by  spiritual 
scalp  hunting.  Both  need  each  other. 
Both  should  realize  that  welfare — help- 
ing the  victims  of  social  problems  and 
corporate  evil — is  not  the  same  as  elim- 
inating the  source  of  the  misery.  It  must 
be  evangelism  plus  welfare  plus  working 
toward  social  justice. 

A worthwhile  chapter  bringing  new 
light  to  the  current  discussion  is  “Do 
evangelicals  lack  social  concern?”  (read 
compassion  and  love  for  social  concern). 
Research  leans  in  the  negative  direction. 
Strong  piety  does  not  necessarily  mean 
love  for  one’s  neighbor.  Ele  includes  a 
chapter  on  “social  sin”  with  some  support 
from  Scripture  to  prove  this  neglected 
aspect  of  evangelical  theology. 

Because  of  the  recent  development  of 
social  work  programs  in  Mennonite  col- 
leges, readers  will  find  his  discussion  of 
social  welfare  and  evangelism  helpful. 

The  book  carries  a heavy  load  of  foot- 
notes and  quoted  material,  plus  an  index 
and  critical  bibliography,  yet  remains 
very  readable  for  the  lay  person. 


Evangelicals  began  with  social  concern.; 
Why  did  they  stop?  This  book  answers! 
the  question  and  points  the  way  back.; 
The  great  Christian  word  is  “and” — 
evangelism  and  social  concern. 


Motion  picture 
opens  in  Lancaster 


The  people  of  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania, 
had  a special  ten-day  preview  of  the  film 
version  of  Happy  as  the  grass  is  green 
June  15-24.  The  thirty-one  showings  dur- 
ing this  reserved-seat  engagement  were 
arranged  by  California  producer  Burt 
Martin  as  a special  gesture  to  the  hun- 
dreds of  Lancastrians  who  helped  make 
the  film  of  this  Merle  Good  novel  pos- 
sible. Happy  as  the  grass  is  green  stars 
Geraldine  Page  {above),  Pat  Hingle, 
Graham  Beckel,  and  several  Mennonite 
actors.  The  story,  set  in  Lancaster,  is 
based  on  Mr.  Good’s  novel  published  by 
Herald  Press.  Mr.  Good  served  as  the 
film’s  associate  producer.  The  film  is 
scheduled  to  be  released  nationally  in 
the  near  future. 


422  JUNE  26,  1973 


MEDITATION 


Of  holy  days  and  holidays 

Paraphrases  of  Psalm  122 

[ was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me, 

“Let  us  go  north  to  our  cottage”; 

For  the  winter  is  over, 

the  grass  is  green, 

the  flowers  are  blooming, 

and  the  fish  and  the  mosquitoes  are  biting. 

And  now  we  are  here 

on  the  little-traveled  path  that  leads  to  our  cottage. 
3ur  cottage  is  nature  preserved, 

as  God  arranged  it  in  creation. 

This  is  where  we  come, 

we  and  others  of  common  faith, 
to  worship  in  the  sun,  under  the  shade  tree, 
in  the  clean  air,  and  beside  the  clear  water, 
as  God  meant  it  to  be. 

This  is  where  the  law  of  nature  reigns  supreme, 
uncluttered  by  man’s  creations. 

3 ray  for  the  preservation  of  cottage  country, 
vlay  those  who  love  the  wilderness  prosper, 
vfay  it  be  preserved  as  it  is, 

safe  for  our  weekend  escapes  from  progress. 

-or  the  sake  of  our  neighbors  and  family, 

I say  to  my  cottage: 

“May  silence  be  always  around  you.” 

For  the  sake  of  God’s  wilderness  cathedral, 

I pray  for  tranquillity. 

i ! was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me, 

“Let  us  go  to  the  peninsula  to  Grandma’s  house, 

for  the  weekend  is  upon  us, 

and  the  cherry  trees  are  in  blossom.” 

And  suddenly  here  we  are, 

our  feet  on  the  soft  grass  in  Grandma’s  backyard, 
with  the  fragrance  all  around, 
and  the  buns  with  jam  waiting  on  the  kitchen  table. 
Dur  family  is  in  its  haven, 

bound  tightly  together  by  ties  of  blood  and  kinship. 
| This  is  where  we  love  to  come 

with  our  children  as  often  as  possible 
to  give  our  thanks  to  our  parents, 
as  God  expects  children  to  do. 

This  is  where  we  are  accepted  as  we  are, 

and  loved  in  spite  of  our  misdeeds. 

[ hay  for  the  peace  of  the  family. 

" vfay  those  who  honor  their  parents  prosper, 
day  there  be  pleasant  memories  inside  these  four  walls, 
and  loving  care  all  your  days. 

1 7or  the  sake  of  my  children  and  their  children, 

I say  to  Grandpa  and  Grandma, 

“May  it  be  well  with  you  as  long  as  you  live. 

May  health  and  strength  be  yours 
as  long  as  God  gives  you  breath.” 


Darrell  Fast. 


Contents 


Missionary  goals  in  the 

New  Testament  church  410 

A home  for  Stevie  413 

News  415 

The  great  reversal  422 

Of  holy  days  and  holidays  423 

A hankering  for  rainbows  424 

One  world,  or  none 424 


COVER 

Baker  Lake  in  Washington  state's  North 
Cascades. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Erland  Waltner  is  president  of  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminary,  3003  Benham  Ave., 
Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 

Carroll  H.  Lee,  a free-lance  writer,  lives 
in  Summerland,  B.C. 

Delton  Franz  is  in  charge  of  the  MCC 
Peace  Section's  office  in  Washington, 
D.C.,  at  100  Maryland  Ave.  N.E. 

Darrell  Fast's  paraphrases  of  Psalm 
122  are  two  of  four  that  he  used  in  a 
service  at  the  United  Mennonite  Church, 
Toronto,  a congregation  which  he  serves 
as  pastor. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Gene  Ahrens,  168  Voorhis,  New 
Milford,  N.J.;  411,  Rohn  Engh,  Pine  Lake 
Farm,  Star  Prairie,  Wise.  54026;  412, 

417,  420,  RNS;  413,  Kellner's  Photo 
Service,  1768  Rockville  Drive,  Baldwin 
N.Y.  11510;  422,  Good  Enterprises,  Ltd., 
Lancaster,  Pa. 


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HE  MENNONITE  423 


A hankering  for  rainbows 

Where  have  all  the  rainbows  gone? 

The  clouds  of  judgment  are  rolling  in,  dark 
and  ominous,  smelling  of  impending  storm  and 
terrifying  cloudburst.  The  sun’s  rays  seem  in- 
capable of  penetrating  the  heavy  gloom  to  em- 
blazon the  leaden  sky  once  more  with  a colorful 
and  surprising  bow  of  hope. 

Do  you  not  see  the  clouds  churning  over  our 
land?  They  are  heavy  with  the  stink  of  our  pollu- 
tion. They  carry  the  sacrificial  smoke  of  the  bodies 
of  countless  innocents  whose  flesh  has  been 
seared  on  the  altar  of  our  wars.  They  contain  the 
sweet,  deadening  incense  which  we  are  burning 
to  our  nationalist  and  suburban  gods.  They  are 
laden  with  the  putrid  odor  of  our  inability  to  be- 
come morally  outraged  even  at  such  colossal  po- 
litical wrongdoings  as  the  Watergate  affair.  They 
are  gray  with  the  exhaust  fumes  of  our  pampered 
cars  and  the  excrement  of  our  industry. 

Do  you  not  hear  the  wailing  of  the  storm  warn- 
ing? An  economic  recession  is  howling  in  toward 


One  world r or  none 

When  I turn  off  the  1 1 o’clock  news, 
I glance  at  my  watch 
and  yawn,  and  it’s  off  to  bed. 
Nothing  wrong  with  that. 

But  what  about  those  babies 

crying  motherless 

outside  the  Cambodian  village? 

The  vacant  stare 

of  the  Appalachian  coal  miner 

with  only  memories  of  a job? 

The  people  subsisting  on 
Indian  reservations  in  Canada 


our  shores.  Will  our  recently  revived  interest  in 
the  programs  of  the  institutional  church  be  strong 
enough  to  withstand  a downturn  in  our  prosper- 
ity? Will  our  faith  remain  firm  in  the  face  of  the 
belt-tightening  in  our  standard  of  living  which  is 
sure  to  come? 

Don’t  blame  God  for  the  storm  that  is  threat- 
ening to  engulf  us.  It  is  clearly  a judgment  that 
we  are  wreaking  upon  ourselves.  While  there  is 
yet  time,  let  us  do  an  about-face.  The  word  from 
the  Lord  is,  “Repent!”  Let  us  turn  from  the  gods 
of  the  marketplace  and  the  public  relations  office, 
from  the  deities  of  technology  and  “defense,”  to 
the  one  true  living  God.  He  does  not  promise 
economic  prosperity  or  an  end  to  the  energy  crisis, 
nor  does  he  offer  an  easy  way  out  of  the  Water- 
gate mire,  but  he  does  assure  us  that  those  who 
are  obedient  to  his  lordship  will  be  called  his 
people,  and  they  will  see  his  glorious  rainbow 
splashed  across  the  somber  sky.  lk 


and  the  United  States, 
strangers  in  their  own  land. 

The  resettlement  areas  of  South  Africa. 
The  prisons  of  Brazil — 

They  are  part  of  my  family. 

How  will  they  sleep  tonight? 

Let  me  use 

what  little  voice  and  power  I have 
to  speak  and  act  on  their  behalf. 

For  we  have  but  one  world,  Lord, 
or  none  at  all.  Amen. 

Adapted  from  Christopher  news  notes 


The 

Mennonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:27  JULY  10,  1973 


William  Keeney 


North  Americans  may  be  tempted  to 
believe  that  because  a cease-fire  has 
been  declared  in  Vietnam,  because  U.S. 
troops  have  been  withdrawn,  and  be- 
cause the  POWs  have  returned  home, 
peace  has  arrived.  We  may  be  tempted 
to  relax  and  assume  that  the  peacemak- 
ing tasks  are  done  and  we  can  forget 
about  Indochina.  But  a number  of  un- 
finished items  remain  for  the  peace- 
maker. 

Amnesty.  Although  the  POWs  are 
now  home  from  Indochina,  the  Amer- 
ican people  have  not  been  willing  to 
grant  amnesty  to  those  who  for  reasons 
of  conscience  violated  the  law.  These 
men  may  be  in  exile,  in  prison,  or  suf- 
fering loss  of  certain  civil  rights  because 
they  found  the  Vietnam  War  abhorrent 
and  could  not  cooperate  with  the  sys- 
tem which  perpetuated  its  harm  upon 
mankind. 

Amnesty  does  not  call  for  dismissing 
the  consequences  of  all  violations  against 
the  law,  as  some  would  imply.  Amnesty 
is  a practice  with  abundant  precedent  in 
American  history.  It  has  been  granted 
even  to  those  who  took  up  arms  against 
the  government.  It  should  be  granted 
now  to  those  who  refused  to  take  up 
arms  in  what  they  believed  to  be  an 
unjust,  immoral,  and  illegal  war. 

The  draft.  In  January  Melvin  Laird 
announced  that  drafting  of  all  except 
medical  personnel  into  the  U.S.  Armed 
Forces  was  being  suspended.  We  all 
heaved  a sigh  of  relief  that  young  men 
need  no  longer  have  their  lives  arbitrarily 
disrupted. 

We  should  not,  however,  assume  that 
the  draft  can  now  be  forgotten.  The 
draft  machinery  remains  and  could  be 
used  again  very  quickly.  On  March  10 
the  list  of  priority  numbers  for  those 
who  may  be  drafted  in  1974  was  pub- 
lished in  the  newspapers. 

The  Selective  Service  Act  did  not  ex- 
pire on  June  30.  Only  the  president’s 
power  to  induct  without  congressional 
approval  expired  then.  The  Selective 
Service  System  itself  will  continue  (with 
a budget  of  $55  million  for  1974)  un- 


less Congress  acts  to  repeal  the  Selective 
Service  Act  or  cuts  off  funds  as  anti- 
draft groups  are  urging.  Unless  these 
efforts  are  successful,  registration  and 
classification  will  continue.  As  long  as 
these  continue,  new  draft  law  violators 
will  be  generated  because  some  will  re- 
fuse to  cooperate. 

In  addition,  there  are  some  indications 
that  a new  push  is  under  way  to  insti- 
tute some  form  of  national  service, 
which  could  include  women  as  well  as 
men,  especially  if  the  equal  rights  amend- 
ment becomes  law.  Even  if  in  the  pres- 
ent circumstances  such  a system  might 
only  be  for  civilian  service,  it  could 
readily  be  transformed  into  a universal 
military  service  system.  National  service 
is  in  any  case  a system  for  involuntary 
servitude  even  if  started  for  beneficial 
ends. 

Political  prisoners.  Christians  should 
be  concerned  not  only  about  people  close 
to  them.  We  should  remain  sensitive  to 
suffering  people  anywhere.  People  im- 
prisoned in  South  Vietnam  for  political 
reasons  are  a group  about  whom  we 
should  continue  to  be  aware. 

The  Thieu  Government,  quite  appar- 
ently with  the  awareness  and  at  least 
tacit  consent  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment, has  jailed  thousands.  Estimates  run 
from  tens  of  thousands  to  two  hundred 
thousand  political  prisoners.  They  are 
frequently  held  with  no  charge,  no  sen- 
tence, and  under  poor  conditions.  The 
infamous  tiger  cages  are  only  some  of 
the  worst  practices. 

The  war  goes  on.  A cease-fire  and 
withdrawal  of  American  forces  do  not 
mean  that  the  war  is  over  or  that  Amer- 
icans are  no  longer  involved. 

1.  Military  machinery.  In  the  closing 
months  before  the  cease-fire,  the  United 
States  moved  to  provide  enough  military 
hardware  to  assure  that  the  South  Viet- 
namese Government  could  carry  on  the 
war.  Airplanes  from  American  bases  all 
over  the  world  were  flown  into  Vietnam 
to  make  it  the  third  largest  air  power  in 
the  world.  We  can  be  assured  that  Amer- 
ican dollars  will  continue  to  supply  as- 


sistance for  these  planes  to  be  used  in 
pursuit  of  the  war. 

2.  Personnel  for  the  war.  While  the 
men  in  uniform  are  being  withdrawn 
from  South  Vietnam,  many  are  not  com- 
ing home.  A sizable  force  still  remains 
in  the  area,  though  not  on  South  Viet- 
namese territory.  One  report  notes  that 
45,000  are  located  in  Thailand,  for  ex- 
ample. Others  are  kept  on  carriers  or  at 
bases  where  they  can  readily  be  called 
back  to  duty  should  it  be  deemed  nec- 
essary. Still  others  are  taking  off  the  uni- 
form and  being  recruited  as  civilians  to 
go  back  to  Southeast  Asia  to  do  the  same 
jobs.  These  previous  soldiers  turned  civil- 
ians will  train  South  Vietnamese  to  use 
American  military  hardware.  They  are 
still  paid  with  U.S.  dollars. 

3.  Dollars  for  the  war.  Hopes  were 
high  that  once  America  quit  pouring 
billions  of  dollars  into  Vietnam,  money 
would  be  released  to  tackle  some  of  the 
domestic  problems.  We  are  now  told  that 
the  military  budget  will  not  go  down, 
but  up.  Some  of  the  reasons  are  that  the 
military  hardware  given  to  South  Viet- 
nam will  be  replaced,  no  doubt  at  higher 
cost  than  that  which  was  given  away.  It 
costs  more  to  hire  civilians  to  carry  on 
the  war  covertly  than  it  does  to  do  it 
with  conscripts.  And,  of  course,  the  mili- 
tary has  an  insatiable  appetite  for  big- 
ger and  better  means  of  destruction. 

4.  Deaths  of  the  war.  American  men 
are  no  longer  dying  in  Vietnam,  but  the 
dying  goes  on.  Our  bombs  have  been 
falling  on  Cambodia  at  an  unprecedent- 
ed rate.  The  Vietnamese  continue  killing 
in  their  country  with  United  States  aid. 
Some  figure  that  the  number  of  Viet- 
namese dying  has  gone  up  as  each  side 
seeks  to  establish  control  over  territory 
to  gain  power  for  the  political  struggle 
yet  to  come.  Much  of  the  death  can  be 
attributed  to  American  supplies  if  not 
to  American  men. 

The  call  for  acts  of  reconciliation  and 
reconstruction.  The  cease-fire  could  not 
heal  Vietnam  even  if  it  were  a true  cease- 
fire. It  can  only  slow  the  increase  of 
harm.  The  tragic  consequences  of  war 


426 


JULY  10.  1973 


No  peace  yet.  A Cambodian  woman  clasps  her  hands  in  a prayerful  atti- 
tude as  she  stands  amid  the  ruins  of  her  bombed-out  home  in  a village 
some  twenty  miles  south  of  Phnom  Penh. 


on  a people,  a society,  a culture,  a land 
remain. 

The  cease-fire  does  not  rebuild  the 
homes,  the  schools,  the  hospitals,  and 
the  factories  destroyed  by  more  explo- 
sive power  than  was  dumped  on  all  of 
Europe  and  Asia  in  World  War  II. 

The  cease-fire  does  not  provide  for 
the  fruit  of  legitimate  and  illegitimate 
unions  of  American  and  Vietnamese  men 
and  women.  Their  babies  are  not  brought 
back  here,  nor  are  they  cared  for  or 
wanted  in  Vietnam.  Women  who  served 
as  wives  were  not  taken  responsibly  “un- 
til death  do  us  part”  but  are  abandoned 
to  their  own  resources  as  the  troops 
come  home. 

The  cease-fire  does  not  provide  jobs 
for  those  Vietnamese  who  came  to  de- 
pend on  the  Americans  for  their  liveli- 
hood. They  will  now  be  thrown  back  on 
a war-inflated  economy.  The  social  and 
economic  problems  of  Vietnam  remain 
to  be  solved. 

Christians  with  compassion  and  a de- 
sire for  reconciliation  will  want  to  con- 
tribute to  reconstruction  of  the  country 
which  has  suffered  so  deeply.  Now  is 
not  the  time  to  forget  the  Vietnamese, 
nor  to  erase  the  war  from  our  memory. 
Rather  it  is  time  for  us  to  support  efforts 
of  reconstruction  urging  the  government 
to  invest  in  peace  as  it  has  in  war.  It  is 
time  for  us  to  contribute  to  church  agen- 
cies in  their  works  of  reconciliation. 

Love  will  continue  to  labor  to  over- 
come the  effects  of  evil  even  when  self- 
interest  is  no  longer  directly  affected. 
Those  who  are  merely  antiwar  can  relax 
their  efforts  once  the  fighting  stops  and 
the  troops  come  home. 

Christian  peacemakers  will  know  that 
they  must  continue  to  persevere  in  over- 
coming evil: 

— with  acts  of  amnesty  for  those  who 
are  still  considered  criminal, 

— with  determination  to  remove  the 
draft  which  makes  wars  so  much  easier,. 

— -with  concern  that  the  political  pris- 
oners be  set  free, 

— with  efforts  to  turn  the  swords  into 
plowshares  and  to  move  the  cease-fire  on 
to  real  peace, 

— with  acts  of  reconstruction  and  rec- 
onciliation so  that  the  wounds  of  war 
may  be  bound  up  and  healed. 

Peace  does  not  come  by  chance.  It 
comes  because  peacemakers  under  the 
lordship  of  Christ  make  it  happen  in 
conformity  to  his  will. 


THE  MENNONITE 


427 


Walton  Hackman 


The  500  U.S.  POWs  attracted 
national  attention  and  sympathy 
when  they  came  home,  but  thou- 
sands of  other  Vietnam  veterans 
received  only  an  indifferent  shrug 
when  they  returned.  Family  and 
community  hostility,  job  discrimina- 
tion, unemployment,  and  the  in- 
ability to  pay  for  a college 
education  are  a few  of  the  realities 
that  they  are  facing. 


The  Vietnam  veteran’s  world  is  like 
Humpty  Dumpty — it  can’t  be  put  back 
together  again.  As  a youngster  he  learned 
from  his  parents  that  when  he  grew  up 
he  would  be  a doctor  or  lawyer  or  pos- 
sibly even  president  of  the  country.  But 
now  that  he  has  reached  the  age  when 
he  might  begin  such  a promising  pro- 
fession, there  is  not  even  the  remotest 
hope.  Finding  any  job  seems  impossible. 

Only  five  years  ago  life  seemed  beau- 
tiful and  filled  with  opportunities.  Now 
life  holds  no  promise.  The  chances  of 
veterans  continuing  their  education  are 
remote  and  jobs  are  scarce.  Many  of 
the  men  do  not  feel  that  they  are  ac- 
cepted by  their  former  friends  and  neigh- 
bors. Often  there  is  open  hostility  toward 
them.  The  veteran  needs  constantly  to 
suppress  the  feeling  that  he  has  no  pur- 
pose in  life. 

Only  forty-eight  months  ago  these 
same  men  read  recruitment  posters  which 
told  them,  “The  Army  wants  to  join 
you,”  and  “Join  the  Navy  and  see  the 
world.”  It  didn’t  seem  to  work  out  that 
way.  The  men  first  began  to  sense  some- 
thing was  wrong  when  the  promises  of 
the  recruiting  officer  were  not  fulfilled. 
Instead  of  seeing  the  world  they  saw  boot 
camp.  Their  only  discovery  was  that 
they  had  a one-way  ticket  to  Vietnam. 
The  real  troubles  started  in  Vietnam — 
drugs,  prostitution,  and  disbelief  about 
what  the  United  States  was  doing  there. 


Uncertain  about  who  the  enemy  was, 
not  convinced  that  they  wanted  to  give 
their  lives  for  whatever  it  was  that  was 
being  defended  in  Vietnam,  and  angry 
that  they  had  been  misled  to  believe 
that  they  had  some  choice  in  the  type 
of  service  they  would  perform,  they  too 
became  victims  of  the  war.  Many  GIs 
carry  immeasurable  guilt  resulting  from 
participation  in  military  operations  they 
opposed.  But  because  they  were  eligible 
for  military  service  between  August  1964 
and  December  1972,  they  couldn’t  follow 
their  pursuits  of  happiness  as  guaranteed 
by  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

For  many  Vietnam  veterans,  return- 
ing home  was  a shock  comparable  to 
suddenly  cutting  off  the  warm  water  dur- 
ing a comfortable  shower.  There  were 
no  victory  parades,  no  celebrations,  and, 
in  most  cases,  no  recognition  of  their  re- 
turn. The  war  had  split  the  nation,  di- 
vided communities,  alienated  friends,  and 
established  tragic  divisions  within  fami- 
lies. The  nation  clearly  wanted  to  forget 
that  Vietnam  ever  happened.  Only  then 
did  it  become  apparent  to  the  veterans 
that  they  had  been  the  sacrifice. 

The  televised  arrival  of  the  500  prison- 
ers of  war  was  punctuated  with  cheers 
and  accolades  of  praise.  There  was  a 
personal  reception  by  national  television 
in  the  homes  of  most  North  Americans 
for  the  returned  POWs.  But  what  of  the 
25,000  shattered  men  who  left  their 


strength  in  a distant  battlefield?  Only 
an  ominous  silence  awaited  them. 

One  veteran  in  a hospital  ward  said, 
“When  I saw  the  POWs,  I cried.  I cried 
out  of  self-pity.  I remember  getting  off 
the  plane  when  I returned,  and  nobody 
met  me.  I envied  the  prisoners  because 
they  could  walk.  They  were  prisoners 
for  five  years  and  eight  years,  but  I am 
a prisoner  to  this  wheelchair.” 

A U.S.  senator  on  the  Senate  floor  said 
of  the  veterans’  plight: 

“Almost  three  million  Americans 
fought  in  Southeast  Asia.  Five  hundred 
came  home  in  the  bright  lights  of  tele- 
vision from  the  jails  of  North  Vietnam. 
But  50,000  others  came  home  in  coffins 
— not  to  the  cheers  of  a grateful  coun- 
try, but  to  the  bitter  tears  of  families. 
And  hundreds  of  thousands  have  come 
home  to  a dark  night  of  frustration  and 
deprivation.  They  are  free  from  the  dan- 
gers of  war,  but  not  from  the  indiffer- 
ence of  peace.  They  are  condemned  to 
undergo  (drug)  addiction,  to  forego  educa- 
tion, go  without  employment.  They  are 
among  the  best  of  America’s  young,  but 
often  haven’t  received  adequate  medical 
care  or  treatment  for  drug  addiction.  The 
nation  found  them  when  it  needed  them, 
but  now  that  we  don’t  need  them,  they 
can’t  find  the  help  they  need  from  the 
nation.  They  are  fathers  and  sons,  vet- 
erans and  citizens — and  they  are  also 
the  prisoners  of  peace.” 


428 


JULY  10,  1973 


Our  leaders  swore  that  they  would 
never  abandon  the  prisoners  of  war.  But 
they  have  neglected  the  prisoners  of 
peace. 

A study  of  St.  Louis  employers  made 
by  students  at  Southern  Illinois  Univer- 
sity shows  that  many  employers  are  re- 
luctant to  hire  Vietnam  era  veterans  “be- 
cause of  an  image  of  a drug-using,  child- 
murdering  hippie.”  Whatever  the  reasons, 
Vietnam  veterans  are  surely  discriminat- 
ed against  in  employment.  Over  300,000 
of  these  men  between  twenty  and  twenty- 
nine  were  unemployed  at  the  beginning 
of  1973. 

As  distressing  as  these  figures  are,  they 
reflect  only  the  technically  unemployed 
veteran — the  veteran  who  is  registered  at 
the  employment  office.  These  statistics 
: do  not  include  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
others  who  have  never  registered  or  who 
have  given  up  on  public  employment 
agencies.  A Harris  survey  in  1972  indi- 
cated that  the  national  unemployment 
rate  among  Vietnam  veterans  at  the  time 
i was  between  11  and  15  percent,  with 
i figures  as  high  as  21  percent  for  non- 
: white  veterans  and  31  percent  for  those 
who  were  not  high  school  graduates. 

One  quarter  of  all  Vietnam  era  veter- 
ans do  not  have  a high  school  diploma. 
Of  those,  less  than  12  percent  use  the 
GI  bill  to  pursue  further  education  or 
training.  A WW  II  veteran  interviewed 
recently  on  cbs  television  series  on  the 
plight  of  the  Vietnam  veteran  said: 

“In  the  old  days  (WW  II)  of  the  $75 
a month  that  I received  and  the  tuition, 


I wound  up  with  almost  $1,400  a year, 
and  I could  go  to  the  best  college  in  the 
land,  Harvard,  and  still  have  $100  a 
month  pocket  money.  Today  the  Viet- 
nam veteran  gets  about  $1,980  a year 
and  he  just  can’t  cut  the  mustard.  He 
cannot  pay  half  the  tuition,  let  alone  his 
subsistence.” 

The  veteran  enrollment  at  Harvard 
College  in  1947-48  was  3,300  out  of  a 
total  student  population  of  5,600.  In 
1972,  Harvard  College  enrolled  89  vet- 
erans out  of  a total  of  6,000  students. 
With  full  tuition  (including  room  and 
board)  at  most  Mennonite  colleges  ap- 
proaching $3,000  per  year,  veterans 
would  also  be  excluded. 

Many  Mennonites  might  at  first  re- 
act negatively  toward  Vietnam  War  vet- 
erans, many  of  whom  volunteered  their 
services,  though  some  were  drafted 
against  their  wishes.  But  none  of  us  can 
dismiss  lightly  our  obligation  to  those 
whose  lives  have  been  severely  or  per- 
manently damaged  as  a result  of  the 
Indochina  War.  Except  in  a few  cases, 
the  churches  have  ignored  the  Vietnam 
era  veteran.  This  is  of  course  under- 
standable. The  people  in  the  Christian 
churches  of  North  America  have  also 
been  affected  by  the  polarization  and 
disjunctions  created  by  the  war.  Many 
want  to  forget  Vietnam  and  everything 
associated  with  it.  But  the  demands  of 
the  gospel  to  love  one’s  neighbor  as 
one’s  self  will  not  permit  Christians  to 
ignore  this  part  of  binding  up  the  wounds 
of  war. 


Elizabeth  Searle  Lamb 

elusive 
as  a flake 
of  rust 
from  the 
unused 
plowshare 
and  as 
indistinct 
as  the 
melody 
unheard 
until 
it  ceases, 
do  not 
lay  hold 
of  peace 
too  roughly 

let  it  be 

let  it 

be 


THE  MENNONITE 


429 


®@WD 


Luke  Martin 


The  Mennonite  church  has  heard 
voices  suggesting  that  United  States  in- 
volvement in  Vietnam  made  impossible 
any  meaningful  proclamation  of  the  gos- 
pel. More  voices  have  said  that,  in  spite 
of  the  problems,  Christian  compassion 
called  for  the  sharing  of  the  Christian 
word  and  deed.  While  I support  this 
view,  I believe  there  are  several  issues 
the  church  cannot  ignore  as  it  seeks  to 
witness  in  Vietnam. 

One  of  these  is  the  foreignness  of  the 
gospel.  The  Christian  message  was  first 
preached  in  Vietnam  in  the  seventeenth 
century  by  Jesuit  missionaries.  Later 
missionary  work  was  carried  out  by 
various  French  orders.  Today  when  over 
10  percent  of  the  population  is  part  of 
the  Catholic  community,  many  still  re- 
fer to  Catholic  Christianity  as  the  west- 
ern (or  French)  religion.  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries have  been  in  Vietnam  for  only 
sixty  years.  Some  observers  refer  to 
evangelical  Christianity  as  the  American 
religion. 

Another  issue  is  the  entanglement  of 
the  Christian  gospel  with  political  and 
military  power.  Some  French  mission- 
aries encouraged  French  involvement  in 
Indochina.  Persecution  of  missionaries 
and  Vietnamese  Christians  provided  the 
context  for  France  to  intervene  in  the 
nineteenth  century. 

French  control  over  Indochina  meant 
preferential  treatment  for  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  church  received  large  tracts 
of  land  when  poor  peasants  defaulted 
loans.  Writing  in  1924,  Ho  Chi  Minh 
said  the  Vietnamese  peasant  “is  crucified 
on  the  bayonet  of  capitalist  civilization 
and  on  the  cross  of  prostituted  Christi- 
anity.” Even  into  the  era  of  Ngo  Dinh 
Diem,  the  church  had  great  political 
power.  Conversion  to  Catholicism  was 
the  only  sure  way  to  advancement  for 
military  officers  and  civil  servants.  All 
officer  trainees  were  required  to  attend 
mass. 

Some  Vietnamese  have  seen  a direct 
relationship  between  Protestant  mission- 
ary activity  (mainly  from  the  United 
States)  and  American  intervention  in 
Vietnam. 

Some  Protestant  missionaries  have  tried 
to  be  discreet  in  not  involving  them- 
selves in  political  issues,  but  most  have 


supported  American  intervention.  Many 
preferred  a more  aggressive  military 
policy  believing  it  would  have  led  to  a 
rapid  defeat  of  the  insurgents.  A few 
years  ago  one  missionary  privately  stat- 
ed that  the  American  president  should 
“stand  up  and  tell  the  world  that  God 
is  on  our  side.”  This,  he  said,  would 
lead  to  a rapid  conclusion  to  the  war. 

Francis  Cardinal  Spellman  made  year- 
ly visits  to  the  American  “soldiers  of 
Christ.”  Billy  Graham  also  made  visits 
to  the  GIs,  yet  he  has  always  insisted 
that  his  was  a spiritual  ministry  without 
political  significance. 

The  Christian  churches  have  been 
generally  identified  with  an  anti-Com- 
munist  position.  This  has  attracted  some 
Vietnamese  to  the  church.  But  it  is  re- 
pulsive to  others.  An  anti-Communist 
student  imprisoned  for  protesting  gov- 
ernment injustice  told  bitterly  of  one 
minister  preaching  to  them  with  apparent 
unconcern  about  the  issues  of  justice  of 
which  the  gospel  also  speaks.  A Vietnam- 
ese Christian  trying  to  present  the  gos- 
pel was  rejected  by  a young  man  who 
said,  “You  are  just  part  of  America’s 
plan  to  take  over  our  country.” 

The  overwhelmingly  destructive  Unit- 
ed States  military  power  compounded 
the  problem.  Millions  of  innocents  suf- 
fered from  this  power.  American  offi- 
cials expected  Christian  relief  agencies 
to  contribute  to  United  States  political 
objectives.  Occasionally  these  agencies 


were  asked  in  advance  to  commit  relief 
assistance  for  refugees  the  United  States 
forces  were  planning  to  “generate.” 

Some  Americans  have  seen  United 
States  involvement  in  Vietnam  as  an  op- 
portunity to  advance  the  cause  of  the 
gospel.  GI  construction  of  orphanages 
is  cited  as  one  illustration.  One  devoted 
GI  serving  on  an  aircraft  carrier  in  the 
Tonkin  Gulf  requested  gospel  tracts  and 
Bible  portions  to  send  with  jet  aircraft 
as  they  flew  on  (heir  missions  over 
North  Vietnam.  He  sa;d  he  was  con- 
cerned for  the  salvation  of  the  people! 
A Vietnamese  evangelical  church  leader, 
however,  said  United  States  intervention 
has  hindered  the  spread  of  the  gospel. 

How  should  the  church  today  respond 
in  light  of  what  has  happened?  We  are 
grateful  that  the  Vietnamese  people  and 
leaders  on  both  sides  of  the  conflict  have 
frequently  seen  the  church  ministering 
to  human  needs.  A witness  to  the  gospel 
of  Christ  is  needed  in  Vietnam.  The  al- 
ternative to  a prostituted  gospel  is  not 
simply  to  withhold  the  gospel.  The  gos- 
pel of  Christ  must  be  presented  and  re- 
ceived as  good  news.  I believe  Amer- 
ican Christians  can  have  a part  in  this. 
It  is  essential  that  we  join  with  Chris- 
tians  from  other  nations  to  proclaim  the 
gospel.  Perhaps  the  true  “offense  of  the 
gospel”  will  then  become  visible — re- 
pentance and  the  way  of  the  cross.  The 
Christian  church  dare  not  construct  arti- 
ficial barriers  to  the  gospel. 


The  Christian  witness  in  Vietnam  has  been  damaged  by  the  church’s 
complicity  in  the  war,  says  Luke  Martin,  but  the  gospel  must  continue  to 
be  presented  in  that  country  despite  past  mistakes. 


NEWS 


Live  bombs  lie  waiting  for  Viet  farmers 


Earl  Martin,  a former  MCC  volunteer 
in  Vietnam  (1966-69),  describes  the  huge 
problem  which  undetonated  munitions 
pose  in  Vietnam. 

As  Vietnamese  refugees  begin  to  trickle 
back  to  their  farms  in  the  countryside, 
they  are  facing  a serious  threat  of  in- 
jury or  death  from  fields  littered  with 
volatile  garbage — live  bombs,  dud  artil- 
lery shells,  and  undetonated  mines  and 
booby  traps.  Already  some  farmers  have 
been  killed  upon  return  to  their  homes. 

If,  as  the  U.S.  Defense  Department 
estimates,  only  1 to  2 percent  (other 
military  personnel  estimate  10  percent) 
of  ground  and  air  munitions  fail  to  ex- 
plode, the  people  of  Indochina  will  have 


Unexploded  “pineapple  bombs”  litter  the 
Vietnamese  countryside.  Small  pellets, 
intended  to  maim  or  kill  its  victims,  are 
fired  by  this  antipersonal  bomb  when 
it  explodes. 


to  contend  with  two  to  four  million  in- 
dividual bombs,  artillery  shells,  and  mor- 
tar rounds  in  their  fields  and  forests. 

No  reliable  estimates  are  available  for 
the  amounts  of  explosives  used  by  the 
armed  forces  of  North  Vietnam  and  by 
the  Provisional  Revolutionary  Govern- 
ment (prg),  commonly  known  as  the 
Viet  Cong.  The  amount  is  generally  be- 
lieved to  be  far  less  than  that  used  by 
the  United  States  and  Saigon,  who  had 
a virtually  unlimited  arsenal. 

One  weapon  Vietnamese  farmers  will 
encounter  for  generations  is  the  anti- 
personnel bomb.  This  bomb,  designed  not 
to  destroy  buildings  but  to  kill  or  injure 
people,  consists  of  a large  “mother  bomb” 
which  bursts  in  midair  dispersing  500 
baseball-sized  bomblets.  These  bomblets 
will  spew  out  several  hundred  steel  pel- 
lets in  all  directions  when  detonated. 

The  technical  problems  involved  in  a 
systematic  defusing  of  the  Vietnamese 
countryside  would  be  formidable.  The 
operations  consist  of  detecting,  uncover- 
ing, and  disarming  the  shells.  Detection 
alone  is  not  simple.  Magnetometers,  the 
most  sophisticated  detection  instruments, 
usually  cannot  distinguish  an  unexploded 
bomb  from  metal  shreds.  Wherever  duds 
exist,  exploded  shrapnel  is  also  plentiful. 
The  most  effective  way  to  discover  much 
of  the  unexploded  ordnance  will  likely 
be  visual  sighting,  although  the  human 
eye  cannot  see  what  lies  below  the  soil. 
Since  it  is  dangerous  to  disturb  explo- 
sives equipped  with  a fuse,  each  bomb 
sighted  will  have  to  be  detonated  where 
it  is. 

There  is  speculation  that  intense  heat 
from  burning  off  the  fields  during  the 
dry  season  may  trigger  some  of  the 
smaller  mines  or  antipersonnel  explosives. 
There  is  less  hope  that  this  process  would 
detonate  larger  or  buried  ordnances.  Ex- 
plosives designed  to  ignite  electrically 
or  by  sharp  pressure  also  may  be  un- 
affected by  heat. 

During  the  war,  huge  bulldozers  called 
Rome  plows  were  sometimes  driven  back 
and  forth  through  fields  to  detonate 
booby  traps.  This  method  may  be  feasible 
for  cleaning  up  farm  lands,  but  would 
be  impossible  in  wooded  areas.  The  bull- 
dozers and  their  operator  would  also  be 
vulnerable  to  large  bombs. 


Since  the  United  States  military  has 
trained  some  personnel  in  the  Army  of 
Vietnam  (arvn)  in  ordnance  disposal, 
the  Defense  Department  now  says  the 
arvn  must  take  care  of  the  live  ordnance, 
lust  how  enthusiastically  the  arvn  will 
tackle  the  job  is  open  to  serious  question. 
In  addition  to  the  high  risk  and  the  re- 
puted lack  of  motivation  of  the  arvn 
troops,  there  are  political  reasons  which 
diminish  the  prospects  of  the  Saigon  Gov- 
ernment dispatching  teams  to  the  rural 
areas.  Many  of  the  regions  hit  hardest 
by  American  bombing  and  artillery  were 
those  under  the  control  of  the  prg.  The 
authorities  in  Saigon  have  little  interest 
in  seeing  refugees  return  to  areas  under 
strong  prg  influence.  Failing  to  clear  the 
fields  and  villages  of  dangerous  weapons 
is  one  way  of  discouraging  such  refugee 
movement. 

Consultation  in  India 
probes  peace,  segregation 

A peace  consultation  was  held  in  India 
recently,  sponsored  by  Mennonite  Liter- 
ature and  Radio  Council. 

The  group  that  attended  the  meeting 
at  the  Korba  Mennonite  Church  was 
purposely  small,  but  represented  a cross 
section  of  the  Christian  community. 
Among  those  who  attended  were  three 
pastors,  five  teachers,  three  missionaries, 
and  four  laymen.  Three  of  the  group 
came  from  non-Mennonite  background. 

“What  is  peace?”  Someone  answered 
that  it  was  brotherly  love.  Someone  else 
pointed  out  that  there  are  two  aspects 
to  peace — peace  within  oneself  and  outer 
peace. 

Other  questions  included:  “Is  the 

church  the  symbol  of  peace?”  and  “What 
are  the  causes  of  disturbances  in  the 
church?” 

The  term  “segregation”  was  also  ex- 
plored. Someone  said,  “Oh  yes,  the 
church  in  certain  parts  of  India  prac- 
tices that.  Where  people  become  Chris- 
tians in  groups,  we  find  a ‘fisherman’s 
church’  or  a ‘Sudra  (low  caste)  church.’  ” 
There  was  also  a tendency  to  equate  de- 
nominationalism  with  segregation.  Ruth 
Rcitzlaff 


THE  MENNONITE 


431 


Pacific  District  congregations  share  reports 


Small  groups  at  the  Pacific  District  Conference  discuss  “church  keys,"  short  reports 
from  congregations  in  the  district  on  successes  and  problems  in  evangelism,  out- 
reach, worship,  and  Christian  education. 


Instead  of  one  conference  speaker,  the 
Pacific  District  Conference  this  year  had 
twenty  conference  speakers — twenty  lay 
persons  and  pastors  telling  what  was  hap- 
pening in  their  congregations. 

The  theme  for  the  1973  conference — 
held  June  14-17  in  Dallas,  Oregon — was 
“Church  keys.” 

The  theme,  explained  conference 
president  Paul  N.  Roth  of  Canby,  Ore- 
gon, referred  to  several  “keys”:  Key  73, 
the  keys  to  church  life,  and  the  keys  to 
outreach  and  service. 

Basic  format  for  the  conference  con- 
sisted of  committee  reports,  the  “church 
keys”  (eight-minute  reports  from  half  a 
dozen  congregations  per  session),  then 
small-group  discussions  on  the  reports. 
The  agenda  was  so  tight,  however,  that 
the  small-group  discussions  often  shrank 
from  the  scheduled  twenty  minutes  to 
five. 

Among  the  church  keys  reported  were: 

— Bethel  Mennonite  Church,  Santa  Fe 
Springs,  California,  has  seen  a 25  per- 
cent increase  in  attendance  recently  since 
it  began  concentrating  on  families  rather 
than  children  primarily. 

— Only  30  percent  of  the  members  of 
Calvary  Mennonite  Church,  Aurora, 
Oregon,  are  of  ethnic  Mennonite  origin. 

— -Emmanuel  Mennonite  Church  near 
Salem,  Oregon,  has  started  six  cottage 
Bible  study  and  prayer  meetings  during 
Key  73  and  sponsors  a community  kin- 
dergarten. 

— First  Mennonite  Church,  Reedley, 
California,  reported  on  innovative  meth- 
ods in  youth  Sunday  school  classes  and 
the  presentation  of  a play  on  Jeremiah 
in  a Sunday  morning  service. 

— Glendale  Mennonite  Church,  Lyn- 
den,  Washington,  helped  with  a barn 
raising,  distributed  New  Testaments,  and 
started  home  Bible  studies  to  reach  neigh- 
bors. 

— Grace  Mennonite  Church,  Dallas, 
Oregon,  has  a kindergarten  and  nursery 
school  in  its  building. 

— Menno  Mennonite  Church,  Ritz- 
ville,  Washington,  is  in  an  area  of  de- 
clining population  and  has  an  increasing 
proportion  of  nonresident  members. 

— Mennonite  Community  Church, 
Fresno,  California,  has  experimented 
with  a few  contemporary  worship  serv- 
ices, and  sponsors  draft  counseling  and 
a boys’  club. 

— South  Seattle  (Washington)  Menno- 
nite Church,  draws  its  members  from 
several  surrounding  towns.  Services  are 


informal,  with  high  participation  from 
the  members. 

— Orange  County  Mennonite  Fellow- 
ship, Orange,  California,  meets  in  the 
home  of  pastor  John  Kreider,  “the  cen- 
ter for  worship,  teaching,  fun,  and  coun- 
seling.” 

The  Orange  County  Fellowship,  a joint 
Mennonite  Church-General  Conference 
congregation,  was  accepted  as  a member 
of  the  Pacific  District  Conference  at  the 
1973  sessions.  Started  in  1970,  it  now 
has  twelve  members.  About  sixty  people 
are  involved  in  activities  of  the  congre- 
gation, such  as  worship,  Bible  studies, 
and  community  good  news  clubs. 

The  addition  of  the  Orange  Menno- 


nite Fellowship  brings  the  total  number 
of  churches  in  the  scattered  Pacific  Dis- 
trict Conference  to  twenty-one. 

Among  budget  changes  approved  were 
$1,400  for  the  new  voluntary  service 
unit  in  Portland,  $600  to  help  small  con- 
gregations participate  in  the  Evangelism- 
in-Depth  program,  and  deletion  of  a $500 
scholarship  for  students  preparing  for 
Christian  service  or  ministry,  since  there 
have  been  no  applications  for  the  schol- 
arship in  the  last  several  years. 

Reelected  were  Paul  N.  Roth,  presi- 
dent; Alvin  Friesen,  Reedley,  California, 
secretary;  and  Lois  Balzer,  Portland,  Ore- 
gon, treasurer.  Ted  Fast,  Dallas,  Oregon, 
was  elected  vice-president. 


Tucson  church  planting 

Nathan  and  Deborah  Oglesby,  recently 
students  at  Eastern  Mennonite  College, 
Harrisonburg,  Virginia,  will  go  to  Tuc- 
son, Arizona,  this  summer  to  start  a 
Mennonite  congregation. 

The  project  is  being  sponsored  jointly 
by  the  Pacific  District  Conference  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  and  the  Southwest  Conference 
of  the  Mennonite  Church. 

The  project  has  been  under  considera- 
tion by  the  two  conferences  for  about 
eight  years. 


to  begin 

The  Pacific  District  Conference  home 
missions  committee  reported  that  each 
year,  on  the  average,  four  to  five  Men- 
nonite families  move  into  Tucson. 

At  its  June  14-17  meeting,  the  Pacific 
District  Conference  voted  to  “affirm  its 
desire  to  establish  an  Anabaptist-evan- 
gelical witness  in  Tucson,  Arizona, 
through  church  planting”  and  to  assist 
financially  through  congregational  and 
individual  contributions,  even  though 
money  for  the  Tucson  work  is  not  in- 
cluded in  the  district’s  missions  budget. 


432 


Amendments  to  conference  bylaws  proposed 


Changes  in  the  bylaws  of  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church  — in- 
cluding two  new  divisions,  seminary  rep- 
resentation on  the  General  Board,  and 
a new  title  for  a commission  — have 
been  recommended  by  the  conference’s 
constitution  committee. 

Recommendations  of  the  committee, 
which  met  in  Newton,  Kansas,  June  11- 
12,  will  be  reviewed  by  the  General 
Board  at  its  August  meeting  and  by  all 
boards  and  commissions  before  or  during 
the  February  Council  of  Commissions. 
Final  action  will  come  at  next  February’s 
General  Board  meeting.  Bylaws  may  be 
amended  by  the  General  Board  without 
action  by  the  total  General  Conference. 

The  constitution  committee  agreed  to 
establish  a Division  of  Personnel  and 
Ministry,  which  would  cover  the  func- 
tions of  the  present  offices  of  personnel 
and  ministerial  placement.  The  1968 
constitution  places  the  function  of  min- 
isterial placement  under  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries,  but  ministerial 
placement  has  actually  been  operating 
under  the  General  Board.  The  change 
would  not  involve  more  structure  or  ad- 
ditional personnel.  Division  members 
would  be  appointed. 

In  deciding  for  the  new  division,  com- 
mittee members  said,  If  it  is  important 
to  have  a division  to  deal  with  money 
and  property  (the  Division  of  Admin- 
istration), it  is  more  important  to  have 
a division  that  deals  with  people. 

The  committee  also  wants  the  Gen- 
eral Board  to  implement  the  Division 
of  Communication,  called  for  in  the 
1968  constitution,  but  never  established. 

Initially  the  division  would  assume  the 
direction  of  two  conference  periodicals, 
The  Mennonite  and  Der  Bote,  and  the 
news  service.  The  stewardship  office 
would  not  be  included  in  the  division. 
Division  members,  to  be  appointed  by 
the  General  Board,  would  assume  the 
functions  of  the  present  editorial  com- 
mittees for  the  two  publications.  No 
new  staff  is  contemplated. 

The  committee  also  recommends  that 
the  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary  board 
j of  trustees  be  asked  to  name  one  voting 
representative  to  the  General  Board.  This 
1 recommendation  is  in  keeping  with  the 
I recommendation  of  an  ad  hoc  committee 
of  seminary  and  conference  staff. 

At  present,  the  General  Board  sets 
the  budget  for  the  seminary  and  its  pro 
; rata  share  of  undesignated  funds,  but 
the  seminary  has  no  voting  voice. 


The  committee  did  not  feel,  however, 
that  the  Women’s  Missionary  Associa- 
tion should  name  voting  members  to  the 
three  commissions.  Since  the  1972  Coun- 
cil of  Commissions,  wma  representatives 
to  some  of  the  commissions  have  tempo- 
rarily had  the  vote. 

It  is  bad  policy  for  any  interest  group 
to  have  special  representation  on  the 
commissions,  the  committee  said. 

The  committee  did  recommend  to 
the  conference’s  nominating  committee 
that  more  women  should  be  included  on 
the  ballot  to  be  presented  at  the  1974 
General  Conference. 

Two  title  changes  have  also  been  pro- 
posed. Recommended  is  a change  for 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries  to 
“Commission  on  Home  Mission.” 

The  committee  said  that  the  title 
should  be  consistent  with  that  of  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  and 
that,  in  the  minds  of  many  people,  the 
word  “mission”  still  has  great  meaning 
and  emotional  weight,  while  “ministries” 
is  a relatively  colorless  term. 

The  committee  also  considered  chang- 
ing Heinz  Janzen’s  title  from  “general 
secretary”  to  “conference  coordinator.” 
This  change  is  the  only  one  which  af- 
fects the  constitution  itself  and  would 


Miguel  Brun,  professor  at  the  Mennonite 
seminary  in  Montevideo,  Uruguay,  has 
been  released  from  prison  after  more 
than  a year  of  confinement. 

His  wife,  Katia  (Angelica),  is  also 
expected  to  be  released  soon. 

Ernst  Harder,  another  professor  at 
the  seminary,  wrote  June  7 that  Mr. 
Brun  had  been  freed  June  5 from  the 
Institution  of  Military  Detention  in  the 
City  of  Liberty.  The  Bruns  had  been 
arrested  May  20  and  21,  1972,  for  al- 
legedly giving  aid  to  Tupamaro  guerril- 
las, who  oppose  the  Uruguay  Govern- 
ment. 

They  were  held  until  August  12,  1972, 
without  charge. 

Mr.  Brun’s  freedom  is  provisional.  His 
family  was  required  to  deposit  a bond, 
and  he  must  present  himself  in  the  mili- 
tary prison  every  fifteen  days.  He  is  not 
allowed  to  travel  outside  the  capital  city 
of  Montevideo  without  permission. 
Twelve  other  men  were  released  at  the 
same  time. 

Release  documents  for  Mrs.  Brun  have 
been  signed  by  the  judge  and  several  mil- 


require  ratification  by  the  General  Con- 
ference. 

In  other  action,  the  committee  agreed: 
— that  the  Division  of  Administration 
should  simplify  its  bylaws,  which  run  to 
2 Vi  pages,  compared  to  one  paragraph 
for  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 

— that  the  Commission  on  Education 
and  the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
should  not  unite  at  this  point.  Both  al- 
ready have  a large  task,  the  committee 
said,  and  the  energy  needed  to  combine 
them  would  be  so  great,  staff  would  not 
have  time  to  do  their  jobs. 

— that  there  should  be  no  constitution- 
al change  regarding  relationships  with  the 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada. 
The  committee  encouraged  the  General 
Board  to  work  with  the  Canadian  Con- 
ference for  greater  effectiveness. 

— that  the  conference  needs  to  theolo- 
gize more  about  what  it  is  doing.  But 
there  was  no  agreement  on  how  this 
should  be  structured  in  the  conference. 

Members  of  the  constitution  commit- 
tee are  Elmer  Friesen,  minister  of  the 
Alberta  Mennonite  Church,  Portland, 
Oregon;  Jake  Hildebrand,  attorney  in 
St.  Catharines,  Ontario;  and  Ronald 
Krehbiel,  minister  of  the  Alexanderwohl 
Mennonite  Church,  Goessel,  Kansas. 


itary  officials,  and  the  final  documents 
are  expected  to  be  completed  soon. 

Mr.  Harder  said  Mr.  Brun  has  shared 
some  of  his  prison  experiences  with  the 
seminary  community  at  an  assembly  pe- 
riod, and  his  preliminary  information 
concurred  with  earlier  reports  received 
while  he  was  in  prison. 

Mr.  Brun  said  neither  he  nor  his  wife 
have  ever  been  Tupamaros.  The  only 
commitment  he  had  had  was  to  share 
his  Christian  testimony  of  peace  and 
reconciliation  with  some  of  the  Tupa- 
maro leaders. 

Mr.  Harder  said  that  Mr.  Brun  had 
suffered  much  at  the  beginning  af  his 
imprisonment,  but  more  details  could 
not  be  written  at  the  moment  in  order 
not  to  jeopardize  Mr.  Brun’s  parole. 

Future  plans  for  the  Bruns  have  not 
yet  been  decided. 

Mrs.  Brun  was  a professor  at  Cran- 
don  Institute,  a secondary  school.  The 
Bruns  are  Methodists. 

Estimates  are  that  more  than  3,000 
Uruguayans  have  been  imprisoned  un- 
der similar  conditions. 


Uruguay  seminary  professor  freed 


THE  MENNONITE 


433 


Manitoba  camp  developments  get  go-ahead 


The  Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Mani- 
toba has  set  the  wheels  in  motion  to  ex- 
pand its  camping  program  substantially 
during  the  next  few  years. 

Meeting  in  Winnipeg  for  a special 
one-day  convention  June  16  to  complete 
the  business  it  was  unable  to  finish  at 
its  annual  sessions  in  February,  the  pro- 
vincial conference  approved  a series  of 
eight  recommendations  concerning  its 
camps. 

The  decisions  it  reached  mean  that 
the  three  existing  camps — Camp  Koinonia 
in  southwestern  Manitoba,  Camp  Assini- 
boia  near  Winnipeg,  and  Moose  Lake 
camp  in  southeastern  Manitoba — will  all 
be  improved  and  winterized,  and  a task 
force  will  prepare  a proposal  for  the 
establishment  of  a wilderness  camp  near 
the  Manitoba-Ontario  border  in  the 
Whiteshell. 

The  camp  committee  projected  that 
the  expansion  and  winterization  of  its 
facilities  would  enable  it  to  recover  a 
sizable  portion  of  its  capital  and  opera- 
tional expenses  through  rentals  and  out- 
door education  contracts  with  schools 
and  other  organizations. 

The  immediate  construction  of  a new 


center  to  replace  the  chapel-kitchen 
which  burned  at  Moose  Lake  this  spring 
was  approved,  as  was  the  winterization 
of  the  main  lodge  at  Camp  Koinonia. 

Although  long-range  improvements 
have  been  approved  in  principle,  each 
new  project  will  need  to  be  brought  back 
to  the  delegates  for  specific  approval. 
One  of  these  is  the  construction  of  a 
winterized  main  lodge  at  Camp  Assini- 
boia.  Plans  and  price  tag  for  this  struc- 
ture are  expected  to  be  ready  by  1974. 

To  handle  the  management  and  de- 
velopment of  the  camp  facilities,  the  con- 
ference approved  the  formation  of  a non- 
profit corporation.  This  organization’s 
five-member  board  of  trustees  will  look 
after  such  matters  as  supervising  the  ex- 
pansion of  facilities,  making  rental 
agreements  with  outside  organizations 
which  wish  to  use  the  camps,  and  ap- 
plying for  government  grants. 

The  enlarged  scope  of  the  camping 
program,  it  was  further  proposed,  neces- 
sitated the  hiring  of  a year-round  di- 
rector. A recommendation  was  approved 
whereby  the  conference’s  youth  and 
camp  committees  will  jointly  hire  a per- 
son to  direct  the  camping  program  and 


to  serve  as  provincial  youth  worker  on  a 
50-50  arrangement. 

The  most  far-reaching  decision  made  i 
by  the  delegates  may  have  been  the 
green  light  they  gave  to  a task  force  to 
develop  plans  for  a camp  in  the  White- 
shell.  After  consulting  with  the  provin- 
cial government’s  tourism  and  cultural 
affairs  department  and  others,  the  task 
force  will  come  to  the  1974  conference 
with  an  outline  of  site  possibilities  and 
cost  estimates. 

Some  delegates  described  the  camp 
committee’s  long-range  plans  as  grandi- 
ose, and  a number  said  privately  that 
the  scheme  appears  to  be  moving  the 
conference  from  a person-centered  to  a 
facilities-centered  ministry.  But  the  vote 
on  each  phase  of  the  committee’s  plans 
received  the  support  of  a strong  ma- 
jority of  the  delegates. 

Three  other  key  decisions  were  made 
by  the  special  session.  The  conference 
will  discontinue  its  prison  chaplaincy  in  j 
mid- 1974,  establish  a full-time  marriage 
and  family  counseling  service  in  Winni- 
peg sometime  in  early  1974,  and  set  up  1 
a commission  to  study  the  conference’s 
Christian  education  needs. 


MCCand  conferences  begin  Montreal  outreach 


An  internal-Mennonite  mission  and  serv- 
ice program  will  get  under  way  in  Mon- 
treal this  summer.  It  is  the  outgrowth 
of  two  major  Mennonite  consultations 
in  Quebec  sponsored  by  mcc  (Canada) 
in  1971  and  1972. 

On  July  1 the  Mennonite  Mission 
Board  of  Ontario  and  the  mcc  will  com- 
mence a program  which  eventually  is  to 
include  a day-care  center,  boys’  and  girls’ 
clubs,  a coffeehouse  and  camping  pro- 
grams for  young  people,  women’s  meet- 
ings, remedial  education,  a ministry  to 
the  deaf,  a New  Horizons  program  for 
old  people,  and  meetings  for  Bible  study 
and  worship. 

It  will  take  at  least  a year  before 
all  of  these  programs  can  be  initiated. 
The  day-care  center,  for  example,  re- 
quires city  approval,  which  may  take  as 
much  as  a year  to  obtain. 

The  organizations  sponsoring  the  pro- 
gram are  hoping  that  a church  will 
emerge  from  this  involvement.  If  it  does, 
the  board  has  decided  that  the  Montreal 
group  should  have  the  freedom  to  de- 
velop its  own  relationship  to  the  various 
Mennonite  conferences. 


“To  help  persons  experience  a whole- 
some relationship  to  Jesus  Christ  is  an 
overarching  desire,”  said  Newton  Ging- 
rich, chairman  of  mcc  (Canada),  “but 
service  is  to  be  rendered  as  motivated  by 
God’s  love  and  the  reality  of  need  re- 
gardless of  the  recipients’  spiritual  re- 
sponse. . . . Personhood  is  extremely  im- 
portant. Although  a caring  ministry  is 
to  be  established,  it  shall  not  take  on  a 
paternalistic  nature.” 

A three-story  brick  building  has  been 
purchased  for  the  program  in  an  area 
of  Montreal  known  as  Mile  End  Zone. 
The  community,  which  is  bounded  on 
one  side  by  railway  tracks  and  on  an- 
other by  the  boundary  of  the  suburb  of 
Outremont,  has  a population  of  2,000 
people  of  Portuguese  citizenship. 

Albert  Hodder,  a missionary  in  Mon- 
treal Nord  under  the  Mennonite  Mis- 
sion Board  of  Ontario,  has  been  released 
by  his  board  to  become  director  of  the 
new  mission  and  service  program. 

A nine-member  board  of  directors, 
consisting  of  five  representatives  from  the 
Mennonite  groups  in  Montreal,  and  two 
each  from  the  Ontario  mission  board  and 


mcc  (Canada),  has  been  established  to 
administer  the  program. 

A six-months  budget  totaling  $20,675 
was  approved  by  the  directors  at  their 
meeting  in  early  June.  Mcc  (Canada) 
and  the  Ontario  mission  board  will  be 
sharing  the  operating  costs  on  a 50-50 
basis.  The  mission  board  purchased  the 
building  for  the  program,  and  mcc  will 
recruit  and  support  the  needed  volun- 
teers. 


KINGS  VIEW’S 

25TH  ANNIVERSARY 
HOMECOMING 

CELEBRATION 

August  11,  1973 

WE  NEED  ADDRESSES  OF 
ALL  PREVIOUS  EMPLOYEES 

PLAN  YOUR  VACATION 
IN  CALIFORNIA 

WRITE:  BOX  512 

REEDLEY,  CA  93654 


434 


JULY  10,  1973 


New  efforts  coming  in  S.  Africa,  Bangladesh 


The  Mennonite  witness  in  South  Africa 
received  major  consideration  at  the  an- 
nual meeting  of  mission  board  and  mcc 
administrators  in  Chicago  in  May.  Spe- 
cial guests  who  shared  in  the  discussion 
were  William  Keeney,  provost  of  Bethel 
College,  and  Lewis  Hoskins,  professor  at 
Earlham  College,  Richmond,  Indiana. 

Mr.  Hoskins,  who  is  planning  a rec- 
onciliation role  in  South  Africa,  shared 
historical  background  on  how  South  Af- 
rica developed  to  where  it  is  today.  He 
emphasized  that  great  social  changes  are 
taking  place  that  are  breaking  down  long- 
held  laws  and  traditions.  Mr.  Hoskins 

World  Conference 
presidium  to  meet 

The  presidium  of  the  Tenth  Mennonite 
World  Conference  will  meet  for  the  first 
time  July  18-19  at  the  Bienenberg  Bible 
School  near  Basel,  Switzerland,  to  re- 
organize and  plan  for  the  1977  confer- 
ence. 

C.  J.  Dyck,  Elkhart,  Indiana,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  the  Mennonite  World 
Conference,  said  one  of  the  first  items 
on  the  presidium’s  agenda  would  be  re- 
organization. Both  Mr.  Dyck  and  Er- 
land  Waltner,  president,  have  indicated 
resignation  from  their  posts,  and  other 
officers  will  be  chosen  as  well.  Most  of 
the  members  of  the  presidium  are  new. 

Another  major  issue  will  be  reshaping 
the  future  of  the  Mennonite  World  Con- 
ference. 

Although  some  people  had  wondered 
if  the  Ninth  Mennonite  World  Confer- 
ence in  Curitiba,  Brazil,  would  be  the 
last,  that  conference  body  gave  the  pre- 
sidium a mandate  to  continue  the  con- 
ference meetings,  Mr.  Dyck  said. 

Work  groups  at  the  Curitiba  confer- 
ence asked  the  Mennonite  World  Con- 
ference to  take  the  intiative  in  such  areas 
as  international  peace,  education,  and 
youth  work. 

“People  in  the  so-called  third  world 
are  eager  to  have  us  do  more  together 
with  them.  North  American  agencies  are 
more  provincial  and  concerned  with  their 
own  programs.  But  with  the  changing 
role  of  the  missionary,  there  is  a need 
for  a new  kind  of  body  to  pull  together 
Mennonites  around  the  world  in  a way 
that  mission  programs  no  longer  can.” 

Also  at  issue  will  be  the  site  of  the 
1977  conference.  Mr.  Dyck  said  the 
presidium  had  received  “several  invita- 
tions from  several  continents.” 


felt  that  this  is  a particularly  crucial 
time  for  the  peace  churches  to  help  the 
South  African  churches  understand  and 
practice  the  reconciliation  which  is  in- 
herent in  the  gospel.  He  believes  this 
can  be  done  through  working  with  lead- 
ers in  Christian  fellowship  and  education. 

Mr.  Keeney,  who  had  earlier  been  ap- 
pointed to  serve  as  a peace  missioner 
to  South  Africa  under  mcc,  also  shared 
some  of  his  concerns.  He  had  planned 
to  leave  with  his  family  for  Johannes- 
burg this  summer.  However,  a visa  ap- 
plication has  not  been  approved,  post- 
poning the  assignment  for  the  time  being. 

Instead,  Mr.  Keeney  will  work  dur- 
ing the  next  year  developing  peace  liter- 
ature for  the  mcc  Peace  Section  in  Elk- 
hart, Indiana. 

The  administrators  were  also  updated 
on  developments  for  a Mennonite  mis- 
sion to  Bangladesh.  A nine-day  explora- 
tory visit  was  made  last  November  by 
P.  J.  Malagar,  director  of  Mennonite 
Christian  Service  Fellowship  of  India 
(mcsfi),  Musa  P.  Nand,  General  Con- 
ference pastor,  and  Dan  Nickel,  Menno- 
nite Brethren  missionary  to  India.  The 
team,  accompanied  by  mcc  workers, 
Maynard  and  Griselda  Shelly,  visited 
three  main  areas:  Dacca,  the  Chittagong 
area  to  the  southeast,  and  the  Mymen- 
singh  district  in  the  north.  They  also  in- 
terviewed about  twenty  individuals  from 
a variety  of  groups  and  agencies. 

“Mennonites  are  welcome  to  begin 
work  in  Bangladesh,”  Subhas  Sangama, 
ncc  secretary,  told  the  team.  “The  time 
is  ripe  for  preaching  the  gospel.” 

The  team  was  warned  that  evangelism 
would  not  be  easy  among  the  Muslims. 
One  mission  worked  for  ninety  years 
without  seeing  a single  Muslim  commit 
his  life  to  Christ.  A Roman  Catholic  mis- 
sionary has  worked  twenty-two  years 
without  visible  results.  “Islamic  evange- 
lism will  take  all  our  God-given  resources 
to  win  one  Muslim.  ‘Chipping  the  rock’ 
would  be  descriptive  of  Islamic  evange- 
lism,” the  team  concluded. 

After  consulting  with  a number  of 
individuals,  the  team  has  recommended 
that  the  new  venture  be  identified  as  the 
Bangladesh  Mennonite  Mission.  The 
Asia  Mennonite  Conference  executive 
committee  was  to  meet  in  Indonesia  in 
June  to  consider  next  steps. 

Internationalizing  missions  was  also 
discussed,  especially  in  terms  of  involv- 
ing the  churches  of  the  third  world  in 
the  world  mission  of  the  church.  Paul 


Longacre  reported  on  mcc  experience  in 
using  international  volunteers.  At  pres- 
ent, one  from  South  America,  five  from 
Asia,  and  one  from  Africa  are  serving 
under  mcc.  This  number  is  expected  to 
grow.  The  example  of  the  Japan  Brethren 
in  Christ  and  Mennonite  churches  sup- 
porting the  Kaneko  family  as  mission- 
aries at  Radio  Station  HCJB,  Quito, 
Ecuador,  with  assistance  from  the  Men- 
nonite Board  of  Missions,  Elkhart,  was 
also  cited. 

Kenneth  Weaver,  representing  the  in- 
ter-Mennonite  television  group,  reported 
that  the  group  is  considering  a proposal 
to  provide  leadership  in  producing  a se- 
ries of  international  television  spots.  The 
administrators  encouraged  Mr.  Weaver 
to  continue  the  exploration. 

Mission  outreach  by  Mennonites  in 
Paraguay  was  discussed  by  Calvin  Rede- 
kop,  a sociologist  who  spent  a year  in 
study  and  research  in  Paraguay  last  year. 
He  cited  this  as  an  example  of  effective 
communication  of  the  gospel  across  cul- 
tural lines,  and  spoke  highly  of  the  Men- 
nonite leaders  who  caught  the  vision  of 
sharing  the  gospel  with  their  Indian 
neighbors.  Verney  Unruh 

First  resource  index 
to  be  ready  soon 

Resources  for  Sunday  school  and  other 
study  groups  in  the  local  congregation 
will  be  publicized  quarterly  through  the 
new  Christian  Education  Resource  In- 
dex (ceri),  developed  jointly  by  the 
Commission  on  Education  and  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries. 

First  mailing  of  the  index  will  be  in 
mid-July,  together  with  the  regular  quar- 
terly Sunday  school  materials. 

Loris  Habegger,  general  editor  for 
coe,  said  the  resource  mailings  would 
give  congregations  summaries  of  and  rec- 
ommendations for  courses  of  study  in 
Bible  study  groups,  Sunday  school  elec- 
tive courses,  midweek  Bible  study,  and 
other  auxiliary  educational  study  groups. 

The  summaries  will  be  sent  on  single, 
letter-size  sheets,  punched  for  a three-ring 
notebook.  Each  congregation  will  receive 
one  set  free.  Additional  copies  for  con- 
gregations will  be  available  at  $1.00  per 
set. 

Included  in  the  first  mailing  will  be 
information  on  “Moral  issues  in  the  con- 
trol of  birth,”  Anabaptism : neither  Cath- 
olic nor  Protestant,  A new  vision,  and 
Communicating  the  good  news. 


THE  MENNONITE 


435 


Colombia  Mennonites  plan  for  next  five  years 


Strengthening  of  the  church,  develop- 
ment of  church  leaders,  evangelism  and 
church  planting,  social  action,  literature 
distribution,  and  education  emerged  as 
top  priorities  for  the  Colombia  Menno- 
nite  Church  at  its  Goals-Priorities-Strat- 
egy  meeting  June  4-7  in  Cachipay,  Co- 
lombia. 

The  meeting,  patterned  after  the  Goals- 
Priorities-Strategy  study  organized  by  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  last 
summer  in  Chicago,  drew  forty-two  par- 
ticipants: representatives  of  the  five 

Mennonite  churches  in  Colombia  and 
special  resource  people. 

"The  strength  of  this  meeting  was  the 
grassroots  participation,”  said  Howard 
Habegger,  executive  secretary  of  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission,  who 
with  Henry  Gerbrandt  of  Winnipeg  was 
one  of  two  North  Americans  to  attend 
the  goal-setting  sessions. 

Attending  from  the  Colombian  Men- 
nonite churches  were  pastors,  church 
leaders,  deacons,  teachers,  women,  young 
people,  and  missionaries.  Resource  per- 
sons included  Hector  Valencia,  Presby- 
terian consultant  in  Christian  education; 
Ruperto  Velez,  Colombian  coordinator 
for  evangelism  for  sepal,  a church  serv- 
ice agency;  Saul  Villalba,  director  of  the 
Assemblies  of  God  Bible  institute  in  Bo- 
gota; and  two  Mennonite  Brethren  pas- 
tors in  Colombia. 

The  meeting  set  goals  for  the  next 
five  years.  These  goals  will  be  brought 
before  the  Colombian  church's  general 
assembly  in  July,  where  the  program 
will  be  based  on  the  conclusions  of  the 
June  GPS  meeting. 

Topping  the  list  of  priorities  was 
“Strengthening  and  developing  the 
church.”  Subgoals  under  this  priority  in- 
cluded developing  a teaching  program 


concerning  the  Holy  Spirit,  strengthen- 
ing the  unity  of  church  members  through 
small  groups,  naming  a pastoral  coun- 
selor to  visit  each  church  three  times  a 
year,  and  beginning  a teaching  program 
on  Mennonite  faith  and  doctrine. 

The  group  chided  missionaries  for  not 
giving  more  emphasis  to  Mennonite  his- 
tory and  doctrine  in  the  past. 

“We  want  to  know  what  a Menno- 
nite is,”  the  group  said.  “Perhaps  our 
missionaries  have  apologized  too  much 
for  who  we  are.” 

Priority  two  was  the  development  of 
church  leaders.  This  is  to  include  inten- 
sive renewal  courses  for  pastors.  The 
church  will  also  send  a candidate  to 
train  for  the  teaching  field  and  a candi- 
date to  train  for  the  ministry  each  year 
for  the  next  five  years. 

The  Mesa  Directiva,  the  governing 
board  for  the  Colombian  church,  was 
asked  to  plan  a retreat  at  least  twice  a 
year  for  pastors,  workers,  and  their  wives. 

Evangelism  and  the  establishment  of 
churches  was  priority  three. 

The  GPS  meeting  set  the  goal  of  estab- 
lishing five  new  churches  in  urban  cen- 
ters in  the  next  five  years.  Present 
churches  number  only  five.  However, 
Bogota  church  is  bursting  at  the  seams 
with  more  than  three  hundred  in  at- 
tendance. The  congregation  is  taking  a 
group  of  thirty  to  forty  members  to  be- 
gin a second  church,  and  missionaries 
Gerald  and  Mary  Hope  Stucky  have 
been  asked  to  begin  another  group  in  the 
north  section  of  Bogota.  The  primary  ef- 
fort will  be  in  the  cities  of  Bogota, 
Ibague,  and  Girardot. 

Each  rural  church  is  to  form  a new 
outreach  program  which  could  become 
an  organized  church  in  five  years. 

Social  action,  priority  four,  included 


Bible  teaching  on  social  action,  support 
of  the  Futuro  Juvenil  (a  social  action 
movement  among  evangelicals),  and  pro- 
motion of  a new  program  of  voluntary 
service  within  the  Colombian  churches, 
especially  among  the  youth. 

Oliva  de  Bastidas  and  Mark  Claassen 
have  been  asked  to  go  to  each  church 
in  the  next  year  to  teach  the  biblical 
concepts  on  the  necessity  of  Christian 
social  action.  Mrs.  Bastidas  has  recently 
started  the  only  old  people’s  home  in 
Bogota.  Mark  Claassen  is  a missionary 
under  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion. 

The  support  of  the  Futuro  Juvenil 
will  include  finances  and  personnel  plus 
a request  for  an  official  representative  on 
the  organization’s  board  of  directors. 

A fifth  priority  was  communication, 
or  more  specifically,  literature  and  audio- 
visual programs. 

The  group  decided  to  find  and  train  a 
Colombian  person  to  assist  John  Wiebe 
in  his  new  audiovisual  and  literature  pro- 
gram. The  group  also  asked  Mr.  Wiebe 
to  visit  all  the  churches  to  promote  the 
sale  and  use  of  Christian  literature  and 
asked  each  church  to  create  a small  li- 
brary and  to  circulate  five  books  a year 
among  all  the  members  who  can  read. 

Priority  six  was  education.  The  GPS 
meeting  asked  for  an  in-depth  study  of 
the  churches’  two  elementary  schools. 
The  group  also  wanted  the  schools  to 
seek  ways  among  former  students,  com- 
munity persons,  and  organizations  to 
sustain  the  schools,  put  them  on  a self- 
support  basis,  and  cut  back  on  North 
American  funding. 

Mr.  Habegger  said  that  many  times 
the  church  in  Colombia  has  been  prob- 
lem-oriented, and  some  at  the  GPS  meet- 
ings felt  that  too  much  time,  effort,  emo- 
tion, and  money  had  been  spent  on  solv- 
ing problems. 

But  at  this  meeting  the  group  became 
more  goal-centered  and  began  to  talk 
about  their  gifts,  resources,  and  the  pow- 
er of  the  Spirit. 

“There  is  a new  spirit  of  optimism,” 
Mr.  Habegger  said.  He  cited  an  awaken- 
ing in  Colombia,  particularly  in  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church. 

The  group  ended  the  meeting  with  a 
two-hour  evaluation  session,  singing, 
sharing,  and  an  informal  communion 
service. 

A similar  meeting  is  planned  in  1977 
to  evaluate  the  five-year  goals  set  this 
year. 


Hector  Valencia,  Presbyterian  educator,  standing,  was  a resource  person  for  the 
G oals-P riori ties-Strategy  study  of  Colombian  Mennonites.  At  far  left  is  Jaime  Caro, 
executive  secretary  of  the  Colombian  Mennonite  Church. 


436 


JULY  10,  1973 


RECORD 


Enns  Wiwcharyk 


Workers 


Paul  I.  Dyck,  former  pastor  of  the 
Altona  (Man.)  Mennonite  Church  and 
teacher  at  the  Mennonite  Collegiate  In- 
stitute, Gretna,  Man.,  has  been  appoint- 
ed administrator  of  a Mennonite-operat- 
ed  home  for  the  aged  in  Bluffton,  Ohio. 

Robert  Enns  has  begun  a three-year 
assignment  with  mcc  in  Bangladesh.  He 
is  serving  in  village  extension  work. 
Robert  received  a BTh  from  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College,  Winnipeg,  Man. 
Robert  is  the  son  of  Peter  and  Irmgard 
Enns,  Carrot  River,  Sask.,  and  a member 
of  the  Carrot  River  Church. 

Waldo  Neufeld,  Winnipeg,  acting  di- 
rector of  the  General  Conference’s  Faith 
and  Life  Radio  and  Television  ministry 
for  the  past  two  years,  has  been  ap- 
pointed director  of  the  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren’s Gospel  Light  Hour  ministries, 
beginning  this  summer.  Mr.  Neufeld 
served  flrt  during  Bernie  Wiebe’s  two- 
year  leave  of  absence  to  pursue  graduate 
studies. 

Claude  Herbert  Setzkorn,  Mohnton,  Pa., 
has  been  appointed  to  a fifteen-months 
term  as  a volunteer  in  Champaign-Ur- 
bana,  111.  Mr.  Setzkorn  joined  the  vol- 
untary service  unit  in  Champaign-Ur- 
bana  on  June  6 and  works  as  an  or- 
derly. The  Champaign-Urbana  unit  is 
sponsored  locally  by  the  First  Mennonite 
Church,  a member  of  both  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church  and  the 
Mennonite  Church.  The  voluntary  serv- 
ice program  there  is  also  sponsored  joint- 
I ly  by  the  Commission  on  Home  Minis- 
tries and  the  Mennonite  Board  of  Mis- 
sions of  the  two  denominations.  Mr.  Setz- 
kom,  a member  of  the  Bethany  Menno- 
nite Church,  East  Earl,  Pa.,  holds  a BS 
degree  in  secondary  education  from 


Kutztown  State  College,  Kutztown,  Pa. 
He  is  the  son  of  K.  H.  and  Winifred  Setz- 
korn of  Mohnton. 

Regina  Wiwcharyk,  Niagara  United 
Mennonite  Church,  Niagara-on-the-Lake, 
Ont.,  entered  voluntary  service  June  30 
in  Hamilton,  Ont.  Ms.  Wiwcharyk  will 
spend  one  year  in  an  earning  capacity 
as  a secretary  and  will  also  help  with 
youth  clubs  at  the  Welcome  Inn,  op- 
erated by  the  Hamilton  voluntary  service 
unit.  She  is  a graduate  of  Niagara  Dis- 
trict High  School  and  is  the  daughter  of 
David  and  Julia  Wiwcharyk.  The  Hamil- 
ton VS  unit  is  under  the  auspices  of  the 
voluntary  service  program  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church. 


Calendar 


July  11-12 — South  American  Confer- 
ence annual  sessions,  Asuncion,  Para- 
guay. 

July  17-18 — Mennonite  World  Con- 
ference presidium,  Bienenberg,  Switzer- 
land. 

Eastern 

Sept.  1-3 — Labor  Day  Bible  confer- 
ence, Men-O-Lan,  Pa.;  Erland  Waltner, 
speaker. 

Canadian 

July  14-31  — Study  conference  on 
Christian  education,  Winnipeg. 


Ttje  s e ’Pe  ople 

Merle  Good 


For  the  Ninth  Mennonite 
World  Conference  in  Brazil  in 
1972  Merle  Good  was  commis- 
sioned to  write  a musical  that 
would  bring  together  the  com- 
mon heritage  of  the  Mennonite 
Church  worldwide.  It  is  now 
available  in  book  form.  Through 
the  use  of  extended  parable, 
poetry,  and  photographs  vig- 
nettes of  Mennonite  history 
from  1527  to  the  present  are 
presented. 

“I  was  part  of  that  great 
international  audience  at  Curi- 
tiba, Brazil,  for  which  the  musi- 
cal drama.  These  People  Mine, 
was  written. 

“Its  universal  appeal  lay 
partly  in  the  fact  that  it  pre- 
sented so  beautifully  an  oft  for- 
gotten truth:  The  people  of  God 
are  many  peoples,  diverse  in 
their  origins,  in  their  character, 
and  in  their  particular  contribu- 
tion to  the  rest  of  mankind.” 

— Frank  H.  Epp,  President 
Conrad  Grebel  College 
Waterloo,  Ontario 

Paperback.  0-8361-1718-2:  $1.25 


ORDER  FROM 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON,  KANSAS 
OR  BERNE,  INDIANA 


THE  MENNONITE 


437 


LETTERS  MEDITATION 


Pastors  exchange  magazines 

Dear  Editor:  For  two  years  now  Mar- 
vin Schmidt,  pastor  of  Fairlawn  Menno- 
nite  Brethren  Church  here  in  Topeka, 
and  I have  been  exchanging  our  respec- 
tive denominational  papers  by  each  put- 
ting the  other’s  name  on  his  every  home 
mailing  list.  I have  really  appreciated 
The  Christian  leader  as  a window 
through  which  to  better  understand  and 
appreciate  my  fellow  Mennonites.  I high- 
ly recommend  this  practice  to  all  Men- 
nonite  pastors,  not  just  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren and  General  Conference  Mennonites. 

What  really  prompted  this  letter 
though  was  Vernon  Wiebe’s  article 
“Should  missionaries  moonlight?”  in  the 
May  29  issue  of  the  Leader.  I agree  with 
his  basic  contention  that  a missionary 
wife  ought  to  be  wife,  mother,  and  co- 
worker. But  doesn’t  that  mean  that  she 
is  already  working,  especially  if  as  a co- 
worker? Then  wouldn’t  the  answer  be 
for  the  mission  board  (whether  GC, 
MB,  OM,  etc.)  to  pay  her  a salary  as 
well?  If  the  rest  of  us  are  moonlighting 
and  our  wives  working  part  or  full  time, 
the  additional  tithe  from  this  extra  in- 
come should  be  able  to  pay  the  extra 
salaries.  Lamont  A.  Woelk,  pastor. 
Southern  Hills  Church,  511  East  37th 
St.,  Topeka,  Kans.  66605.  May  30 


Beautiful  tribute 

Dear  Larry:  Let  me  start  in  the  mid- 
dle. I have  just  decided  not  to  write  the 
article  “Second,  third,  and  fourth 
thoughts  about  Christian  education.”  I’m 
sure  this  won’t  be  a shock  to  you  since 
you  never  asked  me  to  write  it.  Nor  did 
anyone  else  for  that  matter.  You  may 
have  the  title  for  free  since  titles  come 
easy.  It’s  the  filler  that  gives  me  trouble. 

I started  this  in  the  middle,  remem- 
ber? I first  met  Frank  Ward  in  the  early 
forties.  No,  not  the  nineteen  forties,  I 
mean  I was  really  forty.  Frank  was  just 
a youngster  of  thirty-five  or  so.  I vaguely 
recall  that  he  attended  one  of  coe’s  dis- 
trict Christian  education  representatives’ 
meetings.  I never  met  Pop  Hunsberger 
at  all.  Of  course,  I heard  about  the  De- 
Soto  rumble  seat,  the  big  beefy  hand, 
the  inexpressible  feelings.  I never  ex- 
pected to  read  an  article  about  him 
(February  6 issue).  But  man,  that  was 
one  beautiful  tribute!  I read  it  three 


To  live  above  ourselves 

Lord, 

The  passage  of  time 
Leaves  yet  more  pain 
And  sorrow 
In  my  heart. 

Sadness  for  the  things  left  undone, 

The  friends  unloved, 

The  lives  unbenefited, 

The  hours  wasted, 

The  words  unspoken. 

The  struggles 
Of  day-to-day  living 
Prevent  us  from 
Fully  utilizing 
The  strength, 

The  good 
We  possess. 

To  rise  above  it. 

To  learn  to  overcome 
Our  mountainous  faults 
And  blindnesses, 

We  look  to  thee, 

For  in  humbling  ourselves 
We  gain  the  power 
To  live  above  ourselves, 

And  join  the  living 
In  boundless  love. 

Aid  us,  Lord, 

For  our  need  is  great. 

Amen. 

Mary  Beth  Berkshire 


times  before  I realized  it  was  about  Chris- 
tian education.  You  see,  my  article  would 
have  been  different  because  I can  re- 
member words  and  I do  tend  to  repeat 
them,  with  authority. 

To  state  the  obvious,  there  really 
aren’t  enough  Pop  Hunsbergers  in  the 
world.  There  probably  aren’t  even  enough 
Frank  Wards  either,  but  I don’t  suppose 
I will  ever  get  around  to  telling  him 
that.  Usually  I just  give  him  a bad  time 
about  not  writing  letters.  But  as  Kurt 
Vonnegut  says:  So  it  goes.  Carlyle 

Groves,  CCC  Literature  Bureau,  Box  28, 
Bo,  Sierra  Leone,  West  Africa.  May  31 

Fetus  needs  protection,  too 

Dear  Editor:  I’ve  read  the  articles 
“Abortion  may  be  a realistic  alternative” 
(April  17  issue)  and  “Central  District 
looks  at  abortion”  (May  22  issue).  I 


would  like  to  express  my  feelings  on 
abortion. 

This  year  I have  written  a research 
paper  on  the  topic  of  abortion.  I have 
read  many  articles  in  magazines,  books, 
and  newspapers.  I read  articles  for  abor- 
tion and  against  abortion.  I have  talked 
with  many  people  about  abortion  and 
have  heard  the  arguments  of  both  sides. 
I began  my  term  paper  with  an  open 
mind  and  no  opinion  about  it.  I felt  I 
should  obtain  all  the  knowledge  and 
facts  about  abortion  that  I could  find 
and  then  take  a stand.  I have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  abortion  is  wrong. 

Life  is  given  by  God  and  should  only 
be  taken  by  God.  Some  feel  that  a 
woman  should  have  a right  to  her  own 
body.  This  is  true,  but  a fetus  has  a 
body  of  its  own  and  a life  of  its  own 
that  no  one  should  destroy.  Others  feel 
that  abortion  is  a needed  form  of  birth 


438 


JULY  10,  1973 


control.  It  is  obvious  in  our  world  that 
contraceptives  are  needed  but  abortion 
is  not  a form  of  contraceptive.  A con- 
traceptive prevents  a life  from  beginning; 
an  abortion  destroys  a life  that  has  al- 
ready begun.  Pregnancies  due  to  rape  are 
extremely  rare;  therefore  the  great  ma- 
jority of  pregnancies  that  lead  to  abor- 
tions are  the  result  of  the  nonuse  of 
contraceptives.  Women  with  unwanted 
pregnancies  realize  too  late  that  they 
should  have  taken  precautionary  mea- 
sures before  having  intercourse.  Should 
the  child  be  killed  for  something  he  had 
no  control  over? 

We  have  become  an  immoral  nation  as 
it  is.  If  we  justify  such  actions,  what 
kind  of  people  have  we  become,  or  for 
the  future,  what  kind  of  humans  will  we 
be?  It  is  my  opinion  that  no  one  should 
be  allowed  to  play  God  by  deciding  if 
one  should  live  or  die.  The  unwanted 
child  will  always  be  with  us.  Will  we 
kill  them  and  become  more  inhuman  or 
will  we  strive  to  help  them  and  give  them 
love  and  care?  Carol  Ann  Gilliom,  R.R. 
3,  Bluffton,  Ind.  46714.  May  28 

Matthew  7: 

Watergate  version 

Everyone  who  hears  these  words 
and  does  not  do  the  truth 
is  like  a foolish  man 
who  built  his  big  White  House 
on  the  sand  of  lies  and  cover-up  of  lies 
and  the  rains  from  Watergate  poured 
down 

and  revelations  from  Watergate  flooded 
the  land 

and  winds  of  truth  blew  against  that 
house 
and  it  fell. 

Peter  J.  Ediger,  5927  Miller  St.,  Arvada, 
Colo.  80002.  June  10 

Themes  for  Meetinghouse 

Dear  Editor:  This  is  a response  to  your 
editorial,  “Meetinghouse:  time  to  evalu- 
ate” (May  8 issue). 

My  reply  to  your  first  three  questions 
is  a firm  yes.  As  for  themes  to  which 
Meetinghouse  should  be  addressing  it- 
self, I suggest: 

1.  The  preserving  and  propagating  of 
the  common,  distinctive  Anabaptist  her- 
itage and  tradition  of  doctrine,  faith,  and 
way  of  life. 

2.  Analysis  of  past  causes  of  schism 
and  separation  in  our  tradition  and  com- 
parison of  earlier  causes  with  more  re- 
cent causes  of  schism  and  separation 
among  us. 


3.  A presentation  of  origins,  growth, 
and  remaining  distinctive  characters  of 
the  Society  of  Friends,  the  Church  of 
the  Brethren,  Brethren  in  Christ,  and 
other  peace-witness  movements  of  the 
post-Reformation  period. 

4.  Review  of  historic  peace  churches’ 
influence  in  this  century  “out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  their  size.” 

5.  Prediction  of  trends  and  growing 
edges  in  both  conservative  and  less- 
conservative  polarizations  of  contempo- 
rary Mennonitism.  Titus  Lehman,  Route 
5,  Box  345,  Lebanon,  Pa.  17042.  May  29 

Morale  booster 

Dear  Betty  Becker:  I don’t  believe 
that  I have  ever  needed  a boost  for  my 
morale  more  than  I do  at  the  present 
moment,  and  your  verse  (“Wondering,” 
March  27  issue)  has  helped  in  the  re- 
newal of  that  faith  in  the  Mennonite 
doctrine.  . . . Elmer  S.  Reichart,  4141 
North  9th  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.  19140. 

‘‘Camels  to  cornfields” 
slide  set  may  be  borrowed 

“Camels  to  cornfields,”  a new  color 
and  black-and-white  slide  set  with  cas- 
sette or  reel-to-reel  taped  narration  is 
now  available  from  mcc,  Akron,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Eastern  Mennonite  Board 
of  Missions  and  Charities  (embmc)  of- 
fices, Salunga,  Pennsylvania. 

The  set  of  158  slides  evolves  around 
mcc  volunteer  James  Merryman,  who 
helps  the  impoverished  people  of  Garissa 
District  in  Kenya  start  a cooperative  or- 
ganization to  provide  self-sustaining  em- 
ployment and  food.  This  effort  has 
changed  dry  land  into  lush,  crop-produc- 
ing fields.  Destitute  people  who  lost  their 
livestock  and  homes  in  war  or  recent 
years  of  drought  have  been  changed  into 
happy  working  people  who  now  have  a 
better  diet,  housing,  and  clothing.  These 
former  refugees  now  have  a permanent 
place  to  live,  and  the  government  is 
providing  needed  medical  facilities, 
schools,  and  roads. 

This  successful  agriculture  project  is 
sponsored  by  embmc,  Oxfam,  and  mcc. 
Since  the  slide  set  was  produced  primar- 
ily for  Oxfam,  a British  nonsectarian 
funding  agency,  it  contains  no  religious 
theme.  But  the  set  is  good  for  showing 
social  change  and  what  rural  develop- 
ment can  do.  It  is  recommended  for  so- 
ciology and  international  studies  courses 
in  churches  and  colleges. 


Contents 


Not  yet  peace 426 

The  veteran — another  victim  ..  428 

Lay  hold  gently  429 

The  gospel — down  but  not  out  430 

News  431 

Record  437 

Letters  438 

To  live  above  ourselves  438 

Handles  for  lending  a hand  440 


COVER 

A small  Vietnamese  boy  cries  atop  the 
flag-draped  grave  of  his  father,  who  was 
killed  in  one  of  the  cease-fire  skirmishes. 
Wearing  a white  headband  as  a sign  of 
mourning,  the  youngster  was  visiting  the 
grave  at  a cemetery  near  Saigon. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

William  Keeney  is  provost  of  Bethel  Col- 
lege and  a member  of  the  MCC  Peace 
Section. 

Walton  Hackman  of  Akron,  Pa.  17501, 
is  executive  secretary  of  the  Peace  Sec- 
tion. 

Elizabeth  Searle  Lamb,  a poet  of  keen 
sensitivity,  lives  at  4 Washington  Square 
Village,  New  York,  N.Y.  10012. 

Luke  Martin,  a Mennonite  missionary 
in  Vietnam  since  1 962,  has  been  on  fur- 
lough during  the  past  year. 

Mary  Beth  Berkshire  is  a high  school 
student.  She  put  this  week's  Meditation 
into  the  offering  plate  at  Hively  Ave. 
Church,  Elkhart,  recently. 

Max  Ediger  serves  as  MCC's  director 
in  Vietnam. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  427,  428,  429,  and  430,  RNS; 
431,  MCC;  432,  Lois  Janzen;  436,  How- 
ard Habegger. 

Meimonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


439 


Handles  for  lending  a hand 

Max  Ediger 

The  cease-fire  was  met  in  Saigon  with  little 
celebration.  This  was  probably  not  due  so  much 
to  indifference  as  simply  to  pessimism  that  this 
cease-fire  would  be  any  different  from  all  the 
many  rumors  and  hopes  that  have  preceded  it. 
Indeed,  the  first  days  of  the  cease-fire  gave  most 
people  little  hope  of  any  positive  change.  Fight- 
ing flared  up  in  many  previously  calm  areas  and 
most  roads  in  the  country  were  suddenly  cut. 

But  now  the  situation  in  Quang  Ngai  has 
calmed  down  considerably.  Fighting  has  ceased 
although  there  are  still  skirmishes  in  a few  areas. 
Gunfire  within  the  city  is  almost  nonexistent  and 
only  occasional  artillery  fire  is  heard.  The  road 
between  Quang  Ngai  and  Saigon  is  open  and  is 
being  used  daily  by  buses  and  trucks. 

Despite  the  seeming  calm  in  the  area,  there  is 
some  concern  of  a North  Vietnamese  invasion. 
This  was  voiced  to  me  several  times.  However, 
the  concern  is  not  great  enough  to  cause  any 
change  of  daily  life. 

Refugees  are  still  staying  in  their  camps  and 
their  chances  of  returning  to  their  lands  seem 
small.  There  are  now  62,000  recorded  refugees 
in  the  province.  Of  these,  25,000  have  been  cre- 
ated since  the  cease-fire.  According  to  the  usaid 
official,  about  two-thirds  of  these  refugees  are  to 
be  resettled  in  the  next  few  months.  He  made  it 
clear,  though,  that  they  would  only  be  allowed 
to  return  to  land  which  was  clearly  under  the 
control  of  South  Vietnam. 

The  problems  facing  refugees  are  many.  They 
will  be  resettled  in  lands  filled  with  unexploded 
bombs,  mines,  grenades,  and  artillery  shells.  Plans 
for  clearing  these  lands  of  unexploded  ordnance 
have  apparently  not  been  made.  The  usaid  offi- 
cial with  whom  I spoke  seemed  to  have  given  it 
little  thought. 

There  will  also  be  the  problem  of  industrializa- 
tion once  the  country  is  safe  enough  for  big  com- 
panies to  move  in.  The  Vietnamese  people  are 
well-prepared  for  industrialization.  They  have 
been  displaced  for  many  years,  they  have  been 
forced  to  live  in  crowded  camps,  and  many  of 
them  have  gotten  jobs  with  the  American  mili- 
tary and  become  accustomed  to  the  eight-to-five 
grind.  Once  industries  can  move  into  the  country, 
they  will  find  large  concentrations  of  people  who 
can  provide  all  of  the  cheap  labor  companies 
need.  The  refugee  camps  will  not  be  broken  up, 


but  will  simply  be  changed  to  industrialized  slums. 

Where,  then,  can  the  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee fit  in?  First  of  all,  I think  we  need  to  be 
involved  now  in  the  refugee  camps  trying  to  en- 
courage the  people  to  move  back  to  their  lands. 
The  future  of  Vietnam  lies  in  its  agriculture.  The 
people,  both  old  and  young,  must  rekindle  their 
love  of  the  soil  and  return  to  their  ancestral  lands. 
We  should  be  working  with  the  people  in  the 
camps  now  so  that  when  they  can  return  to  their 
lands  we  can  go  with  them,  if  not  before  them. 
It  will  be  difficult  to  find  a way  of  service  if  we 
wait  until  after  the  people  have  returned  home. 

Also  by  encouraging  farmers  to  go  back  to  the 
countryside,  we  can  perhaps  save  them  from  be- 
coming the  cheap  labor  pawns  of  the  big  indus- 
tries. 

We  should  also  be  active  in  organizing  the 
youth  of  Vietnam  to  go  back  to  the  countryside 
to  help  in  reconstruction.  Perhaps  projects  could 
be  developed  which  would  work  somewhat  like 
Mennonite  Disaster  Service  in  North  America. 
Students  would  have  the  opportunity  to  spend 
some  of  their  free  time  working  in  various  areas 
helping  people  rebuild  their  homes  and  reculti- 
vate their  gardens. 

One  of  the  biggest  needs  is  going  to  be  to  clear 
the  land  of  unexploded  ordnance.  It  is  impossible 
to  start  agriculture  projects  in  the  countryside  as 
long  as  the  land  is  full  of  mines.  Maybe  we  should 
be  willing  to  put  our  lives  on  the  line  with  the 
Vietnamese  people  in  clearing  out  these  mines. 

We  will  want  to  continue  our  programs  with 
the  National  Protestant  Church  of  Vietnam  and 
the  Mennonite  mission  and  church.  One  such 
program,  the  cooperative  medical  project  at 
Nhatrang,  has  been  of  real  benefit  to  the  people 
of  Vietnam.  During  the  years  ahead  the  church 
should  continue  to  assume  more  responsibility  for 
the  project.  One  hope  is  that  they  will  be  able  to 
secure  a Vietnamese  doctor  for  the  hospital. 

It  is  important  for  us  at  this  time  to  keep  in 
close  contact  with  the  local  people.  They  will 
give  us  clues  to  their  biggest  needs.  We  should 
be  ready  to  open  up  community  health  teams  to 
assist  the  people  as  they  move  back.  Education 
for  the  children  should  also  be  a priority.  How- 
ever, the  people  will  express  their  own  needs, 
and  only  by  responding  to  those  needs  can  we 
be  effective. 


1 


VV 


s^OSSV 


TIia 

Meimonite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:28  JULY  2 4,  1973 


Cheyenne 
members  give 
peace  pipe  to 
Northern  District 
as  pledge 
of  lasting 
brotherhood. 


Mark  O.  Hatfield 


We  have  been  living  through  days  that 
try  the  soul  of  the  nation  and  test  the 
resiliency  of  our  republic.  All  of  us  who 
hold  positions  of  leadership,  whether  in 
the  political,  the  economic,  or  the  re- 
ligious sphere  of  life,  must  think  through 
the  meaning  of  the  tragic  affairs  that  have 
afflicted  the  highest  leadership  of  our 
nation. 

However,  we  would  always  rather  hide 
our  wounds  than  heal  them.  It  is  always 
more  comfortable  to  believe  in  the  sym- 
bols of  righteousness  than  to  acknowl- 
edge the  reality  of  evil.  This  is  especial- 
ly true  in  our  national  political  life.  And 
we  have  become  adroit  at  manipulating 
religious  impulses  in  our  land  to  sanctify 
this  political  life.  That  is  the  temptation 
of  our  “civil  religion.”  We  run  the  risk 
of  misplaced  allegiance,  if  not  idolatry, 
by  failing  to  distinguish  between  the  god 
of  an  American  civil  religion  and  the 
God  who  reveals  himself  in  the  Scrip- 
tures and  in  Jesus  Christ. 

We  want  to  believe  that  our  nation 
and  its  leaders  are  right,  just,  and  pure. 
We  want  to  put  our  country  beyond  the 
reach  of  God’s  judgment.  Why?  Because 
everything  is  so  much  simpler  then.  We 
want  to  believe,  in  the  words  printed  on 
the  back  of  our  Great  Seal,  that  “God 
hath  ordained  our  undertakings,”  and 
not  believe  that  God  also  judges  them. 

This  impulse  is  born  out  of  our  own 
lives.  We  want  to  believe  we  merit  God’s 
blessing.  How  hard  it  is  to  admit  that 
we  stand  in  need  of  God’s  forgiveness. 
We  would  rather  celebrate  Easter  than 
Good  Friday.  But  without  Good  Friday, 
there  can  be  no  Easter. 

We  must  look  to  biblical  religion — 
not  civil  religion — for  the  wisdom  to 
guide  our  lives  and  the  life  of  the  na- 


LEADERSHIP, 

POWER, 

AND  THE 
PURPOSE  OF  LIFE 


tion.  Then  we  discover  that  our  prayers 
must  begin  with  prayers  of  repentance. 
We  must  start  talking  about  sin  again — 
sin  in  our  personal  lives  and  sin  in  the 
corporate  life  of  our  country. 

Sin  is  an  old-fashioned  word  that  many 
people  think  is  irrelevant  to  this  modern 
age.  But  if  we  really  reflect  upon  the 
crisis  that  afflicts  us  at  the  national 
level,  and  the  dilemmas  in  our  own  per- 
sonal lives,  then  we  come  face  to  face 
with  the  unavoidable  reality  of  sin.  In 
the  words  of  St.  John:  “If  we  refuse  to 
admit  that  we  are  sinners,  then  we  live 
in  a world  of  illusion  and  truth  becomes 
a stranger  to  us”  ( 1 John  1:8). 

Any  of  us  in  positions  of  leadership 
find  it  terribly  difficult  to  deal  with  the 
concept  of  sin.  We  may  be  able  to  han- 
dle this  in  our  personal  lives  well  enough. 
We  have  some  idea  about  what  is  right 
and  wrong  in  our  personal  treatment  of 
others.  But  when  we  enter  our  public 
or  professional  lives,  we  tend  to  leave 
our  thoughts  about  sin  behind. 

For  a leader,  this  is  all  the  more  true. 
When  we  are  given  a position  of  leader- 
ship, it  becomes  almost  second  nature 
to  avoid  admitting  that  we  may  be 
wrong.  Confession  becomes  equated  with 
weakness.  The  urge  toward  self-vindica- 
tion becomes  enormous,  almost  over- 
powering. A politician  faces  this  tempta- 
tion in  a very  special  way,  for  somehow 
it  has  become  a political  maxim  never 
to  admit  that  one  is  wrong.  That  may 
be  wise  politics,  but  it’s  terrible  Christi- 
anity. In  fact,  it’s  the  very  opposite  of 
biblical  faith. 

Herein  lies  the  vulnerability  of  leader- 
ship. For  the  more  one  gains  power, 
whether  in  business,  economics,  govern- 
ment, or  religion,  the  greater  the  tempta- 


tion to  believe  that  he  stands  beyond  the,1 
scope  of  transcendent  judgment.  We  see 
this  especially  clearly  in  the  office  of  the!1 
presidency.  Every  man  who  has  held  that 
office  has  known  the  unbelievable  tempta- 
tion of  identifying  the  power  of  that  j, 
office  with  self-righteousness. 

When  power  becomes  the  end,  in  and  i 
of  itself,  power  will  always  corrupt.  Any 
means  that  sustains  power  becomes  justi- 
fiable. So  in  the  end  we  feel  we  can  J 
transgress  upon  the  law,  whether  man’s! 
or  God’s,  because  we  are  accountable' 
only  to  ourselves  and  our  ability  to 
wield  power. 

The  roots  of  this  temptation,  however,: 
lie  not  only  within  the  hearts  of  those 
who  aspire  to  power  but  also  within  the 
attitudes  in  each  of  us,  in  our  worship 
of  political  power.  There  is  an  idolatry  J 
of  the  presidency;  we  as  Americans  bow 
to  the  powers  and  prestige  associated 
with  that  office  in  a way  that  can  be  un- 
godly. This  makes  temptations  and  bur-* 
dens  that  fall  on  the  shoulders  of  any 
mortal  who  occupies  that  office  to  be  al- 
most unbearable,  and  corrupting. 

That  is  why  any  president  deserves 
our  compassion  and  needs  our  fervenl 
prayers.  For  in  certain  ways  he  is  vic- 
timized by  our  idolatrous  expectations,  j 
We  impose  demands  of  righteousness' 
wisdom,  and  virtue  that  no  mere  mar 
can  meet.  . t 

Often  a cultism  springs  up  around  per-' 
sonalities  of  power.  Perspective  become: 
lost  and  reality  distorted,  as  the  ego  i: 
constantly  massaged.  The  plaudits,  tht  i 
honor,  and  the  unswerving  allegiance  car. 
create  a moral  vacuum.  So  bribes  become 
referred  to  as  inappropriate  gifts.  Crime 
is  reduced  to  misguided  zeal.  Lies  be  * 
come  misspoken  words. 


But  the  fault  lies  with  us  all.  Why  do 
we  want  so  desperately  to  believe  in  man- 
centered  power?  Why  do  we  want  to 
place  such  a total  and  uncritical  faith  in 
our  institutions?  Why  does  each  one  of  us 
want  to  believe  that  God  blesses  America 
more  than  he  blesses  any  other  land? 

I believe  it  is  because  we  have  let  the 
wellsprings  of  deep  spiritual  faith  in  our 
lives  run  dry.  Man  will  always  have  a 
god.  In  Communist  countries,  where  the 
death  of  God  is  made  a tenet  of  gov- 
ernment belief,  the  leaders  and  their 
dogma  are  deified  so  they  can  be  wor- 
shiped. Man  has  an  inherent  instinct  to 
worship;  if  God  is  not  the  source  of  his 
ultimate  allegiance,  he  will  then  create 
his  own  gods.  He  will  worship  other 
people  or  his  country  or  institutions  or 
money  or  power  or  fame — and  all  of 
these  are  different  ways  of  worshiping 
himself. 

As  a people,  we  lack  the  firm  founda- 
tions of  a deep  biblical  faith  in  God;  we 
have  allowed  our  spiritual  resources  to  be 
mocked,  explained  away,  ignored,  and 
forgotten.  So  we  have  transferred  our  al- 
legiance to  other  gods — to  materialism, 
to  nationalism,  to  hedonism,  to  all  the 


modern  forms  of  idolatry  that  make 
claims  on  our  fundamental  allegiance. 

If  we  forsake  these  gods  and  also  re- 
ject the  platitudes  of  civil  religion  and 
turn  to  biblical  faith,  what  do  we  find? 
We  discover  that  our  actions,  indeed  all 
our  lives,  stand  under  God’s  judgment 
and  mercy.  We  are  accountable  to  him 
— accountable  for  the  motives  in  our 
hearts  and  accountable  for  the  condi- 
tions in  our  land.  So  our  prayers  must 
begin  with  repentance,  individual  re- 
pentance and  corporate  repentance:  “If 
my  people  . . . shall  humble  themselves 
and  pray,  and  seek  my  face,  and  turn 
from  their  wicked  ways  . . . then  I will 
forgive  their  sins  and  will  heal  their 
land”  (2  Chron.  7:14). 

The  promise  is  that  with  this  repent- 
ance and  allegiance  to  God  come  heal- 
ing, reconciliation,  and  new  life.  We  are 
made  whole  as  persons,  and  we  see  that 
the  wounds  of  the  world  can  also  be 
healed.  We  can  see  this  wholeness  of 
life  demonstrated  in  the  person  of  Christ. 
As  we  receive  for  ourselves  the  love  that 
molded  his  life,  then  our  entire  self  can 
be  transformed  and  made  new. 

Our  whole  understanding  of  leadership 


and  power  and  the  purpose  of  life  is 
then  re-created.  A source  of  ultimate  al- 
legiance beyond  the  ego  is  established  in 
our  hearts.  Then  leadership  is  seen  as 
service  to  others.  We  discover  from  the 
Scriptures  that  if  we  are  to  save  our 
lives,  we  must  lose  them;  we  must  give 
ourselves  away  for  the  sake  of  others. 

We  then  have  a standard  of  values  that 
gives  a basic  framework  of  integrity  for 
our  lives  whether  it  be  in  a business  or 
profession  or  in  political  life  in  Wash- 
ington. We  can  no  longer  seek  power  at 
any  cost;  we  can  no  longer  isolate  our- 
selves from  reality  and  vindicate  our  ac- 
tions. 

I am  convinced  that  this  is  the  only 
way  we  can  guard  against  the  vulnera- 
bility of  leadership.  I know  of  no  other 
formula  for  overcoming  the  corrupting 
influences  of  the  world’s  power  than  to 
give  our  lives  over  to  a higher  power, 
the  power  of  God’s  love.  This  can  seem 
foolish  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  But 
there  are  times  when  each  of  us  must 
choose  where  we  will  give  our  final  alle- 
giance. 

The  one  who  follows  Christ  is  a citizen 
of  a different  kingdom;  he  has  another 


Every  man  who  has  held  the  office  of  the  presidency,  says  Sen.  Hatfield, 
has  known  the  unbelievable  temptation  of  identifying  the  power  of  that 
office  with  self-righteousness.  The  roots  of  this  temptation  lie 
not  only  within  the  hearts  of  those  who  aspire  to  power  but  also  within  the 
attitudes  in  each  of  us,  in  our  worship  of  political  power. 

There  is  an  idolatry  of  the  presidency. 


master;  his  allegiance  is  to  a new  order 
from  which  he  derives  his  ways  of  think- 
ing, feeling,  and  judging.  He  therefore 
cannot  give  ultimate  allegiance  to  the 
world  and  its  way  of  operating.  His  first 
duty  is  to  be  faithful  to  the  Lord.  The 
central  life  commitment  for  a Christian 
must  be  to  the  lordship  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  following  this  life,  we  are  gripped 
by  a vision  of  the  world  and  a love  for 
all  mankind.  We  sense  the  mandate  for 
every  man  to  be  made  whole,  for  his 
physical  and  spiritual  needs  to  be  ful- 
filled and  his  gifts  to  be  expressed.  We 
see  our  swords  being  turned  into  plow- 
shares and  our  spears  into  pruning  hooks. 
“Every  valley  shall  be  exalted,  and  ev- 
ery mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made 
low;,  the  crooked  shall  be  made  straight, 
and  the  rough  places  plain”  (Isa.  40:4). 
We  want  justice  “to  roll  down  like  a 
river,”  in  the  words  of  Amos,  “and 
righteousness  like  an  ever-flowing 
stream.” 

To  the  eyes  of  conventional  politics, 
this  vision  seems  almost  irrational,  ir- 
relevant, totally  unrealistic.  But  the 
world  normally  regards  God’s  word  and 
his  truth  as  nonsense.  The  world  believes 
in  the  power  of  power;  the  one  who  fol- 
lows the  life  of  Christ  believes  in  the 
power  of  love. 

Because  of  that  love,  we  are  com- 
pelled to  give  ourselves  for  the  needs  of 
others,  to  involve  ourselves  in  the  task 
of  healing  others  and  healing  the  world. 
So  we  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  the 
world,  many  times  under  conflicting  de- 
mands and  pressures. 

Personally,  I continually  find  it  hard 
to  know  how,  at  any  given  point,  to  live 
out  this  calling.  Frequently  the  way  may 
not  be  clear  at  all.  But  when  a difficult 
choice  or  decision  is  made,  we  must  be 
open  to  wherever  we  may  be  led.  And 
then  we  must  rely  simply  on  our  faith 
rather  than  expect  human  certainty 
about  every  choice  we  make. 

But  while  we  may  not  always  know 
all  the  precise  answers  and  actions,  we 
do  know  that  leadership  is  expressed 
through  service.  We  cannot  separate  our 
allegiance  to  God  from  our  love  for  our 
fellowman. 

In  our  nation,  this  must  especially  in- 
clude a love  for  the  poor  and  the  dis- 
possessed. Here  again  it  is  so  easy  for 
us  to  neglect  the  reality  of  God’s  judg- 
ment on  us  as  a people.  We  are  tempted 
to  think  that  the  millions  of  impover- 


The  bronze  figure  of  Lincoln  is  located 
in  Washington  Cathedral  and  is  believed 
to  be  the  only  statue  of  him  ever  sculpt- 
ed in  the  attitude  of  prayer.  Executed  by 
Herbert  Houck  of  Harrisburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania, it  was  inspired  by  a tale  told  by 
his  grandfather,  who  said  he  once  dis- 
covered Lincoln  kneeling  in  the  leaves 
while  walking  through  the  fields  near 
Gettysburg. 


ished  citizens  in  our  land  are  merely  an 
unfortunate  fact  of  life.  But  God  takes 
the  suffering  of  the  poor  far  more  seri- 
ously. 

What,  for  instance,  was  the  greatest 
sin  of  the  city  of  Sodom,  which  caused 
its  destruction  by  God?  Sexual  immoral- 
ity? Listen  to  the  words  of  Ezekiel  in 
the  Old  Testament:  “This  was  the  in- 
iquity of  your  sister  Sodom:  she  and  her 
daughters  had  pride  of  wealth  and  good 
in  plenty,  comfort  and  ease,  and  yet  she 
never  helped  the  poor  and  wretched.” 
Wherever  wealth  abounds  and  the  poor 
continue  to  suffer,  we  must  confront 
God’s  judgment. 

Christ  opened  his  public  ministry  by 
rising  in  the  synagogue  and  reading  these 
words  from  Isaiah:  “The  spirit  of  the 
Lord  is  upon  me  because  he  has  anointed 
me;  he  has  sent  me  to  announce  good 
news  to  the  poor,  to  proclaim  release  for 
prisoners  and  recovery  of  sight  to  the 
blind;  to  let  the  broken  victims  go  free, 


to  proclaim  the  year  of  the  Lord’s  fa- 
vor.” And  then  Christ  began  to  speak. 
“Today,”  he  said,  “in  your  very  hearing 
this  text  has  come  true.”  If  we  are 
gripped  by  Christ’s  love,  then  we  will 
have  an  unquenchable  compassion  for 
the  poor  and  the  needy. 

The  thought  of  turning  our  national 
attention  at  appropriate  times  to  the 
need  for  repentance  should  not  be  for- 
eign to  us.  President  Abraham  Lincoln 
had  a profound  sense  of  the  sovereignty 
of  God.  He  knew  how  the  nation  stood 
accountable  to  God’s  judgment.  In  the 
midst  of  the  Civil  War,  the  U.S.  Senate 
asked  the  president  to  set  aside  a day 
for  national  prayer  and  humiliation.  That 
might  be  a very  appropriate  action  for 
the  U.S.  Senate  to  take  today.  On  April 
30,  1863,  three  months  after  the  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation  and  three  months 
before  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  composed  a proclamation 
for  a day  of  humiliation,  fasting,  and 
prayer: 

“Whereas,  it  is  the  duty  of  nations,  as 
well  as  of  men,  to  owe  their  dependence 
upon  the  overruling  power  of  God,  to 
confess  their  sins  and  transgressions  in 
humble  sorrow,  yet  with  assured  hope 
that  genuine  repentance  will  lead  to 
mercy  and  pardon,  and  to  recognize  the 
sublime  truth,  announced  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  proven  by  all  history,  that 
those  nations  only  are  blessed  whose 
God  is  the  Lord.  . . . We  have  been  the 
recipients  of  the  choicest  bounties  of 
Heaven.  We  have  been  preserved  these 
many  years  in  peace  and  prosperity.  We 
have  grown  in  numbers,  wealth,  and 
power  as  no  other  nation  has  ever  << 
grown.  But  we  have  forgotten  God.  We 
have  forgotten  the  gracious  hand  which 
preserved  us  in  peace,  and  multiplied 
and  enriched  and  strengthened  us;  and 
we  have  vainly  imagined,  in  the  deceitful- 
ness of  our  hearts,  that  all  these  blessings 
were  produced  by  some  superior  wisdom  f 
and  virtue  of  our  own.  Intoxicated  with 
unbroken  success,  we  have  become  too 
self-sufficient  to  feel  the  necessity  of  re- 
deeming and  preserving  grace,  too  proud 
to  pray  to  the  God  that  made  us. 

“It  behooves  us,  then,  to  humble  our- 
selves before  the  offended  Power,  to 
confess  our  national  sins,  and  to  pray  for 
clemency  and  forgiveness.” 

Rebuilding  the  inner  strength  of  our 
nation  today  requires  the  same  of  us, 
in  each  of  our  hearts. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  | 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite  4 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


444  JULY  24,  1973 


MEWS 

Conservatives  examine  women's  role 


Katie  Funk  Wiebe 

The  evangelical  Christian  world  took  “a 
small  step”  for  women  and  “a  giant 
leap  for  mankind”  when  the  Conserva- 
time  Baptist  Theological  Seminary  at 
Denver  chose  “Women’s  role  and  status” 
as  the  subject  of  its  second  annual  con- 
ference on  contemporary  concerns. 

This  could  be  the  first  time  Christian 
laymen  and  professionals  of  the  wider 
constituency  of  the  conservative  theo- 
logical world  have  openly  looked  at  this 
controversial  issue  which  frightens  wom- 
en, threatens  men,  and  confuses  both. 

The  conference,  held  May  29-31, 
brought  together  capable  speakers,  both 
male  and  female,  from  a variety  of  dis- 
ciplines. The  conference  did  not  establish 
any  findings,  but  simply  created  the  op- 
portunity to  examine  this  highly  volatile 
subject  from  all  aspects.  And  volatile  it 
remained  throughout  the  sessions. 

Virginia  Mollenkott,  author  and  pro- 
fessor of  English  at  William  Paterson 
College  of  New  Jersey,  introduced  the 
subject  of  the  women’s  movement  to 
show  its  validity  at  a church-related  con- 
ference. 

Women  are  the  subject  of  discrimina- 
tion and  have  been  forced  to  meet  social 
expectations  which  run  counter  to  their 
individual  personalities,  she  said.  They 
have  been  pushed  into  stereotyped  pat- 
terns of  behavior.  She  cited  statistics 
and  examples  to  prove  discrimination  in 
areas  such  as  employment,  education, 
legal  rights,  and  so  forth. 

The  Bible  has  been  called  to  support 
the  side  of  oppression  of  women  rather 
than  the  side  of  human  justice,  which 
makes  God  a supporter  of  injustice.  This 
does  not  agree  with  the  nature  of  God, 
she  said. 

The  women’s  movement  is  not  a fad. 
It  is  here  to  stay  and  is  growing  because 
more  women  are  becoming  aware  of  dis- 
crimination against  them.  The  church 
must  dialog  with  liberationists  to  learn 
what  the  issues  are,  otherwise  it  becomes 
associated  with  that  which  is  outmoded 
1 and  unworkable  in  today’s  society. 
Younger  women  are  leaving  the  church 
because  it  stresses  limitations  rather  than 
i opportunity. 

Ms.  Mollenkott’s  opener  raised  issues 


which  would  remain  in  the  forefront  to 
the  final  prayer: 

1.  Does  Scripture  actually  teach  and 
support  the  inferiority  of  women  in  the 
Genesis  creation  stories  and  other  pas- 
sages? Does  the  Bible  support  oppression 
when  it  seems  to  support  the  domination 
of  women  by  men?  By  questioning  the 
issue,  is  one  questioning  Scripture  or 
even  God  himself?  Is  a new  look  at 
Scripture  an  attempt  to  wiggle  out  of  the 
authority  of  the  Word,  or,  as  Letha 
Scanzoni,  author  and  lecturer,  said,  “Are 
Christians  failing  God  more  by  not  ques- 
tioning traditional  roles  of  women?” 

Repeatedly  listeners  were  reminded 
that  each  new  era  requires  a deeper  look 
at  the  Word  to  meet  new  changes.  Luther 
dared  to  reexamine  the  Scripture,  and 
his  new  interpretation  ushered  in  the 
Protestant  Reformation. 

2.  How  does  Bible  truth  relate  to 
culture  and  social  change?  Which  as- 
pects of  the  Bible  can  one  consider  as 
related  to  the  specific  culture  of  that 
particular  time,  for  example,  head  cov- 
erings, and  which  are  absolute  principles 
for  all  time? 

3.  What  do  the  terms  “submission” 
and  “head”  mean?  What  is  the  difference 
between  “authority”  and  “authoritarian”? 
Did  God  actually  intend  a chain  of  com- 
mand in  passages  such  as  Ephesians  5: 
23?  Christ  was  equal  to  God,  yet  sub- 
mitted to  him.  Can  people  who  are  not 
equal  submit  to  one  another?  Does  sub- 
mission imply  inferiority? 

Repeatedly  the  resource  personnel  ask- 
ed why  the  church  is  usually  several  laps 
behind  society  in  relating  to  social  change 
when  it  should  be  the  forerunner  in  pro- 
moting justice  and  truth.  They  stressed 
that  the  Bible  teaches  the  equality  of  men 
and  women  with  functional  differences, 
yet  the  church  has  veered  off  into  its 
own  interpretation  of  these  truths.  Only 
recently  have  some  denominations  even 
considered  the  equality  of  men  and  wom- 
en, and  only  because  the  human  rights 
movement  is  forcing  them  to  do  so. 

It  was  also  noted  that  too  many 
Christians  regard  the  women’s  move- 
ment as  something  to  laugh  at  and  then 
dismiss.  Any  woman  who  asks  for  a 


hearing  is  joked  about  and  labeled  a 
“women’s  libber.” 

Paul  Jewett  of  Fuller  Theological  Sem- 
inary, in  one  of  the  outstanding  pre- 
sentations of  the  conference,  explained 
Christ’s  radical  attitude  toward  women. 
Christ  never  encouraged  them  to  be 
“more  feminine”  nor  to  try  to  accept 
their  female  roles.  In  fact,  he  told  kitch- 
en-minded Martha  that  Mary  had  chosen 
the  better  part,  a truth  many  preachers 
and  housewives  find  hard  to  support. 

Jesus  never  jeered  at  women  or  made 
fun  of  their  aspirations. 

It  was  encouraging  to  note  the  con- 
cern of  all  present  for  strengthening  the 
marriage  relationship  and  the  home  and 
for  providing  for  the  needs  of  children. 
The  discussions  also  showed  clearly  the 
variety  of  positions  held  on  this  impor- 
tant issue  of  women’s  status.  It  is  serious 
enough  that  the  dialog  and  study  should 
be  continued  in  Mennonite  circles.  Cer- 
tainly it  cannot  be  disregarded,  for  as 
one  speaker  said,  “Whatever  faces  the 
women,  also  faces  the  men.” 

Southern  Baptists 
nix  women’s  movement 

At  their  116th  convention,  Southern 
Baptists  voted  to  thank  President  Nixon 
for  releasing  the  Vietnamese  prisoners 
of  war,  decried  political  corruption,  re- 
fused to  censure  Cambodian  bombing, 
and  slapped  down  women’s  liberation. 

No  bitterness  characterized  debate,  as 
at  some  sessions  in  other  years,  except 
for  a wave  of  emotion  accompanying 
the  question  of  liberated  women. 

The  resolutions  committee  asked  the 
8,600  messengers  to  “give  full  recogni- 
tion to  women  in  leadership  roles  in 
church  and  denomination  life,”  but  the 
conventioners  would  have  none  of  it. 
Led  by  Mrs.  Richard  Sappington,  a pas- 
tor’s wife  from  Houston,  the  messengers 
— mostly  male — reaffirmed  God’s  order 
of  authority  for  his  church  and  the  Chris- 
tian home,  which  Mrs.  Sappington  listed 
as  “Christ  the  head  of  every  man,  man 
the  head  of  the  woman,  and  the  children 
in  subjection  to  their  parents — in  the 
Lord.” 


rHE  MENNONITE 


445 


Montana  Cheyennes  attend  district  convention 


Indians  and  whites  met  face  to  face  in 
South  Dakota  earlier  this  summer.  This 
time  both  sides  won. 

Fifty  Northern  Cheyennes  from  Mon- 
tana attended  the  Northern  District  con- 
ference in  Freeman,  South  Dakota,  June 
21-24,  to  help  the  convention  consider 
this  year’s  theme,  “Indian  background 
and  culture.”  Led  by  Joe  Walks  Along, 
the  Cheyenne  delegation  shared  inti- 
mately about  what  it  means  for  them  to 
be  both  Christian  and  Indian. 

Prior  to  the  conference,  some  North- 
ern District  people  had  expressed  un- 
happiness about  the  selection  of  the  “In- 
dian” theme.  They  suggested  that  it  ap- 
peared to  be  a reflex  reaction  to  the  oc- 
cupation of  Wounded  Knee  earlier  this 
year,  and  that  the  conference  might  be- 
come an  apologia  for  Indian  militancy. 
These  fears  were  dispelled  once  the  pre- 
sentations began. 

Joe  Walks  Along  commenced  the  first 
of  his  group's  five  presentations  by  read- 
ing Ephesians  2:11-22,  which  speaks  of 
people  of  all  cultures  becoming  one  in 
Christ.  He  then  reassured  the  conven- 
tion, “We  are  not  here  to  agitate  or  to 
rub  the  wrong  way.  We  are  here  as 


believers  in  Christ.  . . . We  are  here  to 
pray  with  you,  and  to  visit  with  you.” 

In  the  concluding  session  he  presented 
the  new  Northern  District  president,  Har- 
old Thieszen,  with  a peace  pipe  as  a 
pledge  of  lasting  brotherhood  between 
the  Cheyenne  members  of  the  Northern 
District  and  their  white  brothers  and 
sisters  (see  cover  photo). 

The  Cheyenne  visitors  came  from  their 
four  congregations  in  eastern  Montana 
in  a chartered  bus  and  several  cars.  Al- 
though the  Northern  District  gave  them 
a grant  to  cover  a portion  of  the  cost 
of  coming,  the  Indian  guests  paid  most 
of  the  cost  themselves. 

The  conference  showed  its  appreciation 
for  the  educational,  and  inspirational  ex- 
perience by  presenting  Mr.  Walks  Along 
with  a first-run  copy  of  C.  J.  Dyck’s 
Twelve  becoming,  a new  book  contain- 
ing a dozen  biographies  of  Mennonite 
leaders  of  the  faith.  One  of  the  chap- 
ters tells  Mr.  Walks  Along's  story.  The 
warm  applause  which  followed  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  book  led  one  young  per- 
son from  the  host  congregation,  the  Sa- 
lem Mennonite  Church,  to  comment  on 
the  pleasantness  of  the  sound.  Although 


it  was  the  first  occasion  he  could  recall 
at  which  he  had  heard  applause  in  the 
sanctuary,  he  hoped  it  wouldn’t  be  the 
last  time. 

Testimonials  during  the  conference  by 
Oliver  Risingsun,  Vicky  Whiteman,  Pas- 
tor James  Shoulderblade,  and  Ted  Ris- 
ingsun demonstrated  how  the  Christian 
faith  was  not  antithetical  to  the  Indian 
way  of  life.  Ted  Risingsun,  an  articu- 
late alumnus  of  Freeman  Junior  Col- 
lege, told  the  conference  that  it  was  only 
because  of  Christ  that  he  had  been  able 
to  turn  from  a life  of  acute  alcoholism 
four  years  ago.  He  is  now  the  director 
of  a new  bilingual  school  on  the  reserva- 
tion, and  he  was  elected  by  the  confer- 
ence to  membership  on  its  peace  and 
social  concerns  committee. 

If  a better  understanding  of  the  In- 
dian people  was  the  main  agenda  item  at 
the  convention,  unity  within  the  confer- 
ence ran  a strong  second.  In  his  confer- 
ence sermon  at  the  opening  session,  Wal- 
do Kaufman,  the  outgoing  president, 
stressed  the  need  for  greater  oneness  in 
the  district. 

A report  by  a special  visitation  group 
consisting  of  the  president,  vice-president, 


There  was  much  informal  interaction  at  the  Northern  District 
conference  between  Cheyennes  and  whites.  Here  Ted  Risingsun 
{left)  visits  with  conference  delegates  during  a break  in  the 
sessions.  The  Indian  spokesmen  were  questioned  about  the 


stripmining  controversy  in  which  their  reservation  has  become 
embroiled  {see  June  19  issue),  their  attitude  toward  the 
American  Indian  Movement  {they  indicated  that  they  have 
very  ambivalent  feelings  about  AIM),  and  many  other  topics. 


and  chairman  of  the  ministerial  com- 
mittee pointed  to  a few  of  the  areas  of 
tension.  Some  had  expressed  concerns 
to  them  about  the  inroads  which  the 
“social  gospel”  seemed  to  be  making  in 
the  conference,  and  others  were  appre- 
hensive about  some  congregations’  cool- 
ness toward  the  conference.  In  this  re- 
gard, some  wondered  why  only  twenty- 
five  of  the  district’s  thirty-seven  congre- 
gations had  representatives. 

Although  the  church  visitation  report 
was  accepted  without  discussion  at  the 
first  session,  the  matter  came  up  again 
during  the  closing  session.  The  reopen- 
ing of  this  question  led  to  a series  of 
testimonials  and  confessions  which  seem- 
ed to  indicate  that  reconciliation  and 
better  understanding  are  occurring. 

Among  the  decisions  made  by  the 
delegates  was  the  approval  of  a peace 
and  social  concerns  committee  recom- 
mendation that  the  conference  become 
actively  involved  in  bookrack  evange- 
lism. The  committee  will  provide  the 
coordination,  but  the  legwork  will  need 
to  be  done  in  the  various  communities. 


The  conference  also  approved  a 
$51,430  budget  for  1973-74.  Its  income 
in  1972-73  was  $44,677.  For  the  coming 
year,  the  various  committees’  fiscal  needs 
will  be  as  follows:  home  missions  $18,- 
780,  peace  and  social  concerns  $2,400, 
Swan  Lake  retreat  $16,000,  education 
$7,750,  and  executive  committee  $6,500 

Two  persons  from  Mountain  Lake, 
Minnesota,  were  elected  to  the  executive 
for  two-year  terms.  Harold  Thieszen  is 
the  new  president,  and  Jake  A.  Dick  is 
financial  secretary. 

Out-of-district  participants  at  the  con- 
ference were  Kenneth  Bauman,  pastor- 
elect  of  the  First  Church  at  Berne,  In- 
diana, who  was  the  featured  speaker  at 
the  Mennonite  Men’s  program  Friday 
evening;  Erland  Waltner,  president  of 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary;  Heinz  Jan- 
zen,  general  secretary  of  the  General 
Conference;  Malcolm  Wenger,  of  the 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries’  staff; 
Lloyd  Fisher,  executive  secretary  of  Men- 
nonite Economic  Development  Associ- 
ates; and  Larry  Kehler,  editor  of 
The  Mennonite.  Larry  Kehler 


Abe  Krause,  Henderson,  Nebraska,  a 
member  of  both  the  district  and  General 
Conference  education  committees,  pre- 
sented an  autographed  copy  of  C.  J. 
Dyck’s  new  book,  Twelve  becoming,  to 
Joe  Walks  Along  at  the  recent  Northern 
District  sessions  in  Freeman,  South  Da- 
kota. One  of  the  chapters  in  the  book 
tells  Mr.  Walks  Along’ s story. 


Washington  family  "adopts"  jailed  man 


The  following  report  was  written  by 
Mrs.  Franklin  Toews  of  Warden,  Wash- 
ington, who,  together  with  her  husband, 
became  the  “adopted  parents”  of  a 
young  man  who  is  serving  a prison  sen- 
tence. 

Last  summer,  after  his  junior  year  at 
college,  our  son,  Gene,  was  one  of  twen- 
ty students  in  Washington  State  who 
were  invited  to  participate  in  a work- 
study  program  initiated  by  the  state  gov- 
ernment. After  intensive  training,  he  was 
sent  to  work  at  the  prison  in  Shelton, 
where  all  males  who  have  committed  a 
felon  within  the  state  are  sent  for  sen- 
tencing. 

Soon  after  he  arrived,  Gene  was  asked 
to  be  a caseworker.  A twenty-eight-year- 
old  man  was  assigned  to  him.  His  name 
was  Carl  Eddie  Olson.  Carl  and  Gene 
became  friends,  and  after  many  visits, 
Carl  tape-recorded  his  sad  life’s  story  for 
Gene.  Gene  was  with  Carl  when  he  was 
sentenced  to  the  state  penitentiary  in 
Walla  Walla. 

Gene  asked  our  pastor,  Frank  Horst, 
and  his  father  and  me  to  lend  support 
i to  Carl  during  his  incarceration.  Carl 
had  become  a Christian  while  in  jail  in 
! Seattle,  waiting  to  be  sent  to  Shelton. 
Gene  had  us  listen  to  Carl’s  story  of 
crime  and  drug  addiction.  He  also  told 


us  about  Carl’s  changed  life,  his  keen 
intellect,  his  many  hidden  talents,  and 
of  his  great  need  for  the  support  of 
Christians  from  the  outside. 

Pastor  Horst  and  we  accepted  the  chal- 
lenge. The  prison  in  Walla  Walla  is  about 
100  miles  from  our  home.  The  first  Sun- 
day of  each  month  Franklin  and  I go 
there  to  visit  Carl,  to  whom  we  have 
become  Mom  and  Dad.  Mr.  Horst  also 
calls  on  him  about  once  a month. 

Recently  I asked  Carl  if  he  would  al- 
low me  to  share  his  most  recent  letter 
to  us  with  other  people.  He  consented 
because  he  feels  he  must  do  what  he 
can  to  help  others  who  have  desperate 
needs  such  as  he  once  had.  Here  is  a 
portion  of  that  letter. 

“Dear  Mom  and  Dad  Toews:  ...  I 
am  looking  forward  to  seeing  you  this 
weekend.  I’ve  been  thinking  of  both  of 
you  a great  deal  all  month,  and  I have 
a good  many  things  to  talk  to  you  about. 

“I  can’t  wait  to  tell  you  about  one 
particular  thing  so  I will  tell  you  now. 
It  looks  as  if  I will  get  to  go  to  school 
downtown  at  the  community  college  soon. 
The  Lord  is  really  blessing  me.  The  dean 
of  the  college  called  me  into  his  office 
Monday  morning  and  told  me  he  felt  I 
should  be  given  the  opportunity,  and 
that  he  would  do  his  best  to  see  that  I 
was  allowed  to  go.  He  feels  sure  that  the 


Department  of  Vocational  Rehabilitation 
will  pay  for  everything  except  my  cloth- 
ing. That  is  going  to  present  a problem, 
since  I have  only  three  pairs  of  pants 
(well-worn  and  repeatedly  sewn),  two 
shirts,  no  socks  or  underwear  fit  to  wear, 
and  no  coat.  Fortunately,  I have  a pair 
of  shoes,  thanks  to  Gene. 

“It  seems  I’m  constantly  in  need  of 
something.  And  I have  only  my  new- 
found friends  and  loved  ones  to  turn  to. 
My  needs  used  to  be  easy  to  fill.  I would 
go  out  and  steal  them  or  money  with 
which  to  buy  them.  But  now  that  type 
of  conduct  is  behind  me,  and  Jesus  de- 
termines my  actions. 

“Sometimes  I feel  lost  and  don’t  know 
what  to  do.  Then  I say,  ‘OK,  Lord,  this 
is  too  much  for  me.  It’s  in  your  hands.’ 
He  hasn’t  failed  me  yet.  I praise  God 
every  night  for  working  the  miracle  he 
did  when  Gene  and  I met,  and  through 
Gene  I met  you. 

“In  devoting  my  life  to  Christ  I have 
decided  to  make  it  my  life’s  work  to 
show  others  who  are  like  I once  was  the 
same  things  you  have  shown  me.  . . . 

“Gene  was  up  last  Sunday.  ...  It  was 
a bad  day  for  me  because  I was  really 
depressed.  Gene  saved  the  day.  . . . 

“.  . . Keep  your  eyes  on  Jesus,  for  he 
is  the  only  way.  Your  adopted  son,  Carl 
Eddie.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


447 


House  church  becomes  nucleus  of  fellowship 


Urban  Mennonite  congregations  often 
start  with  a nucleus  of  so-called  ethnic 
Mennonites  who  have  moved  to  a city 
with  no  Mennonite  church.  Sometimes 
they  grow  by  adding  those  of  non-Men- 
nonite  background.  Sometimes  the  growth 
can  be  largely  attributed  to  migration 
of  Mennonites  from  more  rural  areas. 

One  new  Mennonite  congregation, 
however,  started  three  years  ago  with 
only  the  pastor  and  his  family.  Now  the 
Orange  County  Mennonite  Fellowship  in 
urban  Orange,  California,  has  twelve 
members,  about  sixty  participants,  and 
membership  in  the  Pacific  District  Con- 
ference— and  the  only  participants  whose 
parents  were  Mennonites  are  still  Pastor 
John  Kreider  and  his  family. 

Mr.  Kreider  moved  to  Orange  four 
years  ago  under  the  sponsorship  of  the 
Pacific  District  Conference  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church  and 
the  Southwest  Conference  of  the  Men- 
nonite Church. 

He  contacted  about  thirty  Mennonite 
families  living  in  Orange  County.  Only 
three  of  these  families  indicated  any  in- 
terest in  forming  a Mennonite  congrega- 
tion, and  the  primary  objective  of  Mr. 
Kreider  and  the  joint  committee  directing 
his  work  became  reaching  people  in  his 
neighborhood,  rather  than  corralling 
Mennonites. 

The  methods  were  a combination  of 
the  orthodox  and  the  unorthodox. 

Once  it  became  obvious  there  would 
be  few  Mennonite  families  interested  in 
the  project,  the  Kreiders  decided  on  a 
Christmas  open  house  in  their  home. 
They  prepared  formal  invitations,  knock- 
ed on  doors  up  and  down  the  street,  in- 
troduced themselves,  and  invited  their 
neighbors  to  the  open  house. 

“When  we  left  our  house,  we  were 
frightened.  We  did  not  know  what  kind 
of  reception  we  would  get,”  Mr.  Kreider 
said.  “But  the  amazing  thing  was  these 
people  received  us  with  a smile.  I don’t 
think  we  were  rejected  by  one  single 
family.  I think  they  were  shocked  really, 
thinking,  ‘Wow,  I didn’t  realize  there 
were  any  people  living  on  our  street  that 
were  really  interested  in  us  this  much. 

. . . We  just  talked  together,  got  ac- 
quainted with  each  other.  We  drank 
punch  and  ate  cookies  together.  We  felt 
like  this  was  a real  breakthrough.” 

Mr.  Kreider  tried  other  ways  of  get- 
ting acquainted  with  the  neighborhood 
— coaching  a Little  League  baseball  team, 
running  a summer  Bible  school  in  their 


home,  and  planning  a community  fun 
night  for  neighborhood  children. 

“Then  neighbors  began  to  call  us  when 
they  were  in  serious  difficulty,”  said  Mr. 
Kreider.  “A  family  across  the  street  had 
a son  who  was  in  an  accident  while  at 
school.  He  fell  on  the  asphalt  and  had  a 
concussion  and  was  rushed  to  the  hos- 
pital. His  mother  did  not  know  whom  to 
call,  then  she  suddenly  remembered  that 
the  Kreiders  might  be  available.  We 
rushed  both  her  and  the  son  to  the  hos- 
pital and  stayed  with  them  several  hours 
until  everything  was  under  control.  This 
really  meant  a lot  to  her. 

“On  the  way  to  the  hospital,  she  said, 
‘Now,  John,  I will  pay  for  the  gas  and 
take  care  of  the  expenses.’  I said,  ‘For- 
get it.  If  we  cannot  be  neighbors  and 
love  each  other,  then  we  just  as  well 
forget  all  about  it.’  It  was  not  long  until 
she  and  her  family  were  also  coming  to 
the  fellowship  at  our  weekly  Bible  stud- 
ies.” 

After  building  up  some  contacts  in 
the  neighborhood,  Mr.  Kreider  had  some 
brochures  printed  explaining  the  church- 
in-the-house  concept,  who  was  sponsor- 
ing his  work  in  Orange,  and  a historical 
statement  about  the  Mennonites.  And  he 
invited  people  to  the  Sunday  morning 
meetings. 

Sunday  morning  worship  is  an  informal 
time  of  sharing. 

“If  the  Christian  life  is  to  be  really 
meaningful,  things  have  to  happen. 
Christ  must  always  be  kept  current  in 
people’s  life  experiences,”  said  Mr.  Krei- 
der. “So  we  say,  ‘In  the  past  six  days 
what  has  God  been  doing  for  you  as  a 
person?’  Or  I might  say  something  like 
this,  ‘I  know  Jesus  is  real  because.  . . .’ 
We  sing  together.  We  do  not  sing  many 
of  the  heavy  hymns  that  the  average 
Mennonite  congregation  does.  We  sing 
the  Jesus-style  hymns,  the  hymns  that 
have  a personal  message,  such  as  ‘What 
a friend  we  have  in  Jesus.’ 

“Then  we  go  through  our  Bible  stud- 
ies. We  have  our  various  classes.  Then 
after  Bible  study,  I simply  share  about 
a ten-minute  meditation.” 

Vacation  Bible  school  continues.  There 
are  community  good  news  clubs  during 
the  school  year  for  children. 

A Bible  study  for  couples  meets  in 
the  home  of  another  member. 

“We  are  excited  about  the  house 
church  development,”  said  Mr.  Kreider. 
“We  do  not  know  whether  we  ought  to 
develop  a second  house  church,  whether 


we  ought  to  look  for  property  and  build, 
and  if  we  do  secure  property,  what  kind 
of  building  ought  to  be  built.  We  want 
to  be  sensitive  to  the  leading  of  the  Spirit 
in  these  matters.  We  want  to  keep  it 
the  ‘fellowship’  as  much  as  possible.” 

Indian  gathering 
planned  for  August 

Indian  Christians  and  interested  whites 
from  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
churches  are  being  invited  to  an  Indian 
Christian  “convention”  August  16-19  at 
the  Brethren  in  Christ  Mission,  Bloom- 
field, New  Mexico. 

The  meeting  was  decided  upon  at  the 
first  gathering  of  Indian  representatives 
from  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
churches  in  October  1972,  sponsored  by 
the  inter-Mennonite  Home  Ministries 
Council. 

Indian  families  and  individuals  are 
being  encouraged  to  come  to  get  to 
know  one  another  and  to  share  what  it 
means  to  belong  to  the  family  of  God. 
A series  of  meetings  of  this  kind  is  also 
intended  to  encourage  development  to 
responsible  Indian  churches;  to  encourage 
Indian  Christian  leadership;  to  encourage 
the  use  of  Indian  thought  forms  in  pre- 
senting the  gospel;  to  identify  social, 
spiritual,  economic,  and  political  prob- 
lems faced  by  Indians  and  work  toward 
solutions. 

MCC  annual  meeting 
will  be  in  Hillsboro 

The  January  1974  annual  meeting  of  the 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  will  be 
held  in  Hillsboro,  Kansas.  This  marks 
the  second  consecutive  year  in  which 
the  meeting  will  not  be  held  in  Chicago, 
the  site  of  these  annual  gatherings  for 
over  twenty-five  years.  In  1973  the  meet- 
ing was  held  in  Leamington,  Ontario. 

“We  have  consulted  and  are  agreed 
that  we  would  like  to  take  the  responsi- 
bility for  seeing  that  the  mcc  annual 
meeting  1974  will  be  adequately  hosted 
in  our  area,”  wrote  Vernon  R.  Wiebe, 
general  secretary  of  the  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren missions  and  service  board. 

Hillsboro  is  the  headquarters  of  the 
Mennonite  Brethren  conference  and  the 
home  of  Tabor  College  and  five  Men- 
nonite churches. 

A public  rally  on  Thursday  evening, 
January  17,  will  preceed  the  two-day 
business  session. 


448 


JULY  24,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 

..lw  OA  1 07'?  CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 


A Central  District 
dream  trip 

"Your  young  men  will  see  visions, 

your  old  men  will  dream  dreams."  Acts  2:17 

Church  leaders  joined  in  the  annual  but  rather  unique  Council  of  Committees  at 
Berne,  Indiana.  Delbert  Schrag,  longtime  pastor  in  the  United  Church  of  Christ  of 
the  Chicago  area  and  now  conference  minister  of  the  Chicago  district,  guided  the 
group  in  a goals,  priority,  and  strategy  experience. 

The  entire  group  began  with  a “dream  trip”  responding  without  inhibition  to  the 
question,  What  would  the  Central  District  be  like  if.  . . ? The  fifty-seven  responses 
were  recorded  on  sheets  of  newsprint  exactly  as  stated  and  placed  on  the  walls  for 
all  to  ponder.  They  are  printed  here  for  you  to  ponder,  and  perhaps  you  can  add 
your  own  dream  and  vision. 

Each  committee  was  then  instructed  to  select  one  dream  and  list  the  five  worst 
things  that  could  happen  if  their  dream  became  a reality  and  the  five  best  things  that 
could  happen.  Examples  of  the  committee’s  effort  also  appear  in  this  section.  The 
entire  group  was  then  asked  to  select  five  out  of  the  fifty-seven  dreams  and  arrange 
them  in  priority  with  first  priority  rated  as  five,  second  priority  four,  etc.  The  result 
was  the  selection  of  ten  directional  goals  for  our  district  as  viewed  by  the  conference 
leadership.  You  are  invited  to  arrange  in  priorities  your  five  dreams  from  the  fifty- 
seven  and  measure  your  vision  against  that  of  the  conference  leadership. 

Each  committee  was  asked  to  select  one  of  the  ten  directional  goals  and  develop  a 
program  plan  answering  the  following  specific  questions:  What  is  the  program  ob- 
jective? Who  will  carry  it  out?  When?  Action  needed  to  reach  objective?  Models  of 
action  also  appear  in  this  section. 

Moving  from  dreams  to  plan  of  action  gave  the  entire  group  an  awareness  of 
each  other  and  the  goals  toward  which  all  were  seeking  to  move.  “Where  there  is  no 
vision,  the  people  perish.”  God  has  given  our  district  both  young  men  who  see  visions 
and  old  men  who  dream  dreams,  and  daughters  who  prophesy  (speak  for  God). 

“This  is  what  I will  do  in  the  last  days,”  God  says:  “I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit 
upon  all  flesh  . . . and  whosoever  calls  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  will  be  saved” 
(Acts  2:21). 


Ten  directional  goals  for  Central  District  Conference 


1.  Congregational  excitement  over  se- 
rious discipleship. 

2.  Establishment  in  the  faith  of  chil- 
dren and  young  people  in  this  age  of 
confusion. 

3.  Involvement  and  motivation  of  all 
members. 

4.  Bringing  of  innovative  worship  ex- 
periences to  the  church. 

5.  Realization  that  people  are  more 


important  than  things. 

6.  Outreach  of  church  to  our  needs 
and  community. 

7.  Goal  setting  which  would  clarify 
and  objectify  what  churches  ought  to 
be  doing. 

8.  More  meaningful  Sunday  school 
and  worship. 

9.  Double  conference  membership. 

10.  Great  feeling  of  spiritual  renewal. 


HAPPENINGS 

Youth  Vi  I lage  to  host 
summer  graduate  seminar 

A summer  seminar  for  Mennonite  grad- 
uate students  is  being  planned  again  for 
August  18-28  at  Youth  Village  in  south- 
ern Michigan. 

Intended  for  graduate  students  and 
college  seniors  anticipating  graduate 
study,  the  seminar  provides  leadership 
training  and  theological,  biblical,  and 
Anabaptist  studies,  relating  these  to  con- 
temporary issues. 

Directed  by  Helmut  Harder,  Winni- 
peg, Manitoba,  the  seminar  will  include 
as  resource  persons  Walter  Klaassen, 
Waterloo,  Ontario;  Willard  Swartley, 
Harrisonburg,  Virginia;  and  John  Lapp, 
Goshen,  Indiana. 

Frank  Ward,  executive  secretary  of 
the  General  Conference’s  Commission 
on  Education,  said  that  the  inter-Men- 
nonite  seminar  was  one  of  the  confer- 
ence’s few  programs  for  students  in  non- 
Mennonite  institutions.  “It  is  an  impor- 
tant program,  and  I feel  good  about  the 
response  it  gets.” 

COE  asks  Kreider 
to  continue  assignment 

Robert  Kreider,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  has  been 
invited  to  continue  his  part-time  assign- 
ment for  the  Department  of  Higher  Ed- 
ucation until  August  1974. 

The  decision  to  extend  the  invitation 
for  another  year  was  made  June  1-2  by 
the  Department  of  Higher  Education,  a 
division  of  the  General  Conference’s 
Commission  on  Education. 

He  would  continue  to  work  on  ways 
in  which  the  commission  can  relate  to 
Mennonite  students  and  Mennonite  col- 
leges and  to  work  particularly  in  provid- 
ing some  special  consultation  for  colleges 
which  have  requested  it. 

During  the  past  year,  he  has  been 
working  one-fourth  time  for  the  Depart- 
ment of  Higher  Education,  but  this  time 
might  be  increased  to  as  much  as  40  per- 
cent during  the  coming  year. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A- 1 


Minneapolis  congregation 
okays  phone  tax  refusal 

Faith  Mennonite  Church  in  Minneapolis, 
Minnesota,  has  recently  voted  to  with- 
hold payments  of  the  9 percent  federal 
excise  tax  on  its  telephone  bill  “in  pro- 
test against  the  Vietnam  War  and  U.S. 
militarism.” 

The  church  council  had  discussed  the 
issue  in  November  and  January  and  had 
recommended  that  the  tax  issue  be 
brought  up  at  the  annual  business  meet- 
ing February  4.  On  that  date,  the  issue 
was  debated  during  the  Sunday  school 
hour  and  voted  on  at  the  annual  meeting 
in  the  afternoon. 

“There  was  not  complete  consensus  in 
our  case,”  said  pastor  Donald  Kaufman. 
“But  a significant  group  feels  that  this 
is  an  important  Christian  witness.” 

Mennonite  fellowship 
formed  in  St.  Louis 

Two  voluntary  service  workers  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri,  have  started  meetings 
of  Mennonites  in  the  area  who  have  been 
attending  churches  of  other  denomina- 
tions. 

Fern  Hieb,  who  along  with  her  hus- 
band Barry  has  organized  the  meetings, 
said  their  goal  was  to  see  if  people  of 
Mennonite  background  are  interested  in 
meeting  regularly  or  in  starting  a Men- 
nonite fellowship. 

Meetings  so  far  have  been  informal 
and  occasional  rather  than  regular. 

Associate  of  deferred  giving 
appointed  at  Bluffton  College 

Edward  Stucky  of  Berne,  Indiana,  has 
begun  duties  as  an  associate  in  deferred 
giving  at  Bluffton  College. 

In  the  new  position,  Mr.  Stucky  will 
be  responsible  for  identifying  and  culti- 
vating potential  deferred  giving  donors 
who  are  assigned  or  referred  to  him.  He 
will  be  responsible  for  developing  and 
promoting  programs  for  the  deferred 
giving  department.  He  will  study  federal 
and  state  legislation  affecting  the  field 
of  deferred  giving. 

Mr.  Stucky  will  be  available  to  present 
the  program  to  philanthropic  organiza- 
tions and  individuals  as  well  as  to  the 
general  constituency.  He  will  conduct 
group  meetings  and  assist  with  the  or- 
ganization of  groups  such  as  an  advisory 
council  for  deferred  giving.  He  will  re- 
port to  the  director  of  deferred  giving 
and/or  the  director  of  development  and 
public  affairs. 


Dream  trip  ponders,  what  would  CD  be  tike.  . . 


1.  If  we  could  successfully  marry 
Southern  Baptist  evangelism  and  the  Ana- 
baptist theology. 

2.  If  we  knew  for  sure  what  the  pro- 
gram of  wma  would  mean  for  the  con- 
ference. 

3.  If  we  could  use  the  word  “love” 
without  embarrassment. 

4.  If  churches  supported  the  Bluffton 
College  student  grant  program. 

5.  If  people  said,  “See  how  the  mem- 
bers of  cdc  love  each  other.” 

6.  If  everyone  realized  that  Jesus  is 
Lord  of  all  or  no  Lord  at  all. 

7.  If  we  were  willing  to  use  our  older 
members  as  resources. 

8.  If  more  leaders  stayed  in  the  land 
of  the  Philistines  rather  than  ran  to  some 
Jerusalem. 

9.  If  new  committee  members  could 
get  a quick  grasp  of  work. 

10.  If  some  pastors  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  continued  education  as  offered 
by  ministerial  committee. 

11.  If  all  our  women  enjoyed  our  aux- 
iliary meeting. 

12.  If  we  started  ten  new  churches. 

13.  If  we  could  speak  on  life  termina- 
tion (abortion)  and  other  issues. 

14.  If  we  added  240  acres  to  Camp 
Friedenswald. 

15.  If  all  of  our  congregations  dealt 
honestly  with  amnesty. 

16.  If  all  married  couples  attended 
married  couples  retreat. 

17.  If  every  congregation  selected  and 
helped  train  one  person  for  church  lead- 
ership every  five  years. 

18.  If  we  could  welcome  change. 

19.  If  our  congregation  could  learn  to 
dream.  (We  put  them  to  sleep  every 
Sunday.) 

20.  If  we  could  teach  a clearer  picture 
of  economics  to  our  youth  and  to  our- 
selves. 

21.  If  each  one  practiced  discipleship. 

22.  If  we  could  learn  what  conference 
trustee  job  is. 

23.  If  we  could  better  understand  our 
past  and  our  future. 

24.  If  80  percent  of  college  young 
people  went  to  our  institutions. 

25.  If  70  percent  of  our  members  had 
contact  inside  or  outside  with  an  offend- 
er. 

26.  If  all  young  people  had  a clear 
understanding  of  the  Christian  faith. 

27.  If  the  church  took  seriously  preach- 
ing to  the  unchurched  in  our  community. 

28.  If  we  started  a large  building  pro- 
gram at  Camp  Friedenswald. 


29.  If  every  pastor  took  advantage  of 
scholarships  provided  by  wma. 

30.  If  all  churches  practiced  active 
stewardship  program. 

31.  If  every  church  had  an  active 
Young  Mission  Workers  group. 

32.  If  all  churches  became  active  in 
the  drug  abuse  problem. 

33.  If  somehow  we  could  convert  our 
plans  into  reality. 

34.  If  we  did  all  of  these  things  for 
love  of  God  and  fellowman  and  not  out 
of  duty. 

35.  If  the  church  were  the  place  to 
reconcile  the  differences  between  cost 
of  tractors  and  cost  of  food. 

36.  If  we  had  a stronger  cdc  unity. 

37.  If  Council  of  Committees  defined 
the  purpose  of  the  conference  minister. 

38.  If  conference  gave  financial  as- 
sistance to  five  persons  to  help  in  goal 
setting. 

39.  If  we  voted  on  cd  conference  bud- 
get. 

40.  If  everyone  here  helped  us  find  a 
camp  administrator. 

41.  If  all  churches  accepted  Ben 
Sprunger’s  proposal  of  60  cents  for  cam- 
pus minister. 

42.  If  all  of  our  church  members’  ac- 
tions were  redemptive. 

43.  If  we  knew  how  to  interrupt  the 
aging  process. 

44.  If  we  could  satisfy  everyone  who 
attends  cd  Conference  next  year. 

45.  If  it  wouldn’t  snow  in  March  at 
conference. 

46.  If  we  really  showed  appreciation 
to  our  pastor  and  wife. 

47.  If  every  church  member  were  in- 
volved in  a small  group  of  10-15  persons. 

48.  If  every  church  had  an  exciting 
Christian  education  program  for  youth 
and  adults. 

49.  If  we  could  accept  differences. 

50.  If  the  talents  of  every  church 
member  were  used  to  the  fullest. 

51.  If  all  churches  became  active  in 
alcohol  abuse  problems. 

52.  If  every  good  idea  were  accepted 
in  the  local  church. 

53.  If  we  were  sensitive  to  threat  of 
civil  religion. 

54.  If  five  congregations  started  daugh- 
ter congregations. 

55.  If  we  kept  in  touch  with  college 
youth. 

56.  If  we  helped  youth  become  church 
leaders. 

57.  If  each  committee  communicated 
clearly  to  its  congregation. 


A-2  JULY  24,  1973 


One  dream— the  worst  and  best 

Missions  committee 

Dream:  If  the  conference  gave  full  support  to  five  people  to  lead  congregations  in 


goal  setting. 

The  worst  possibility 

The  best  possibility 

1.  Would  take  pastors  away  from  their 
churches. 

2.  Some  churches  do  not  want  to  be  part 
of  this. 

3.  Not  in  budget — take  funds  from  other 
things. 

4.  Could  split  congregation. 

5.  Fear  of  failure  in  not  being  able  to 
meet  goals. 

1.  Serve  as  a model. 

2.  Great  feeling  of  spiritual  renewal. 

3.  Feeling  of  success. 

4.  Force  a search  for  new  goals — ulti- 
mate dream. 

Program  committee 

Dream:  If  everyone  were  satisfied  with 

’74  Central  District  Conference. 

The  worst  possibility 

The  best  possibility 

1.  Complacency  would  develop. 

2.  Dull  and  boring. 

3.  Get  in  a rut. 

4.  Limit  growth  and  creativity. 

5.  Smugness  would  develop. 

1.  Congregational  excitement  over  seri- 
ous discipleship. 

2.  Might  discover  that  everyone  is  called 
to  this  experience. 

3.  Returning  leaven. 

4.  Might  lose  its  provincialism. 

5.  Might  realize  that  people  are  more 
important  than  things. 

Peace  and  service  committee 

Dream:  If  every  congregation  chose,  trained,  and  sponsored  one  couple  for  Chris- 
tian service  every  five  years. 

The  worst  possibility 

The  best  possibility 

1.  Lose  one  of  the  best  couples  of  the 
church. 

2.  Other  congregational  programs  would 
suffer. 

3.  What  if  no  one  would  go? 

4.  Dissension  over  choosing  personnel 
and  training  program. 

5.  “Paid  servant”  complex. 

1.  Double  conference  membership  (??) 

2.  Clarifies  and  objectifies  what  church- 
es ought  to  be  doing. 

3.  Conference  offering  a service  to  the 
churches. 

4.  Involve  and  motivate  all  members. 

5.  Get  more  people  trained  in  goal-set- 
ting process. 

Ministerial  committee 

Dream:  If  pastors  took  advantage  of  continuing  education  (in-service  training) 
offered  by  wma  and  ministerial  committee. 


The  worst  possibility 

1.  Not  enough  funds. 

2.  Too  many  innovations  in  the  church. 

3.  Pastors  move  on  to  “greener  pastures.” 

4.  Congregations  complain  pastor  is  not 
available  when  needed. 

5.  Lay  people  feel  threatened  by  enlight- 
ened pastor. 


The  best  possibility 

1.  Bring  innovative  worship  experiences 
to  the  church. 

2.  New  inspiration  and  challenge. 

3.  New  approaches  to  evangelism. 

4.  Becoming  knowledgeable  about  new 
trends  such  as  charismatic  renewal, 
healing,  social  issues,  and  small 
groups. 

5.  Sharing  frustrations,  misgivings,  vic- 
tories, and  joys  with  other  pastors. 


Stuckys  return  to  Colombia 

Gerald  and  Mary  Hope  Stucky,  whom 
many  of  us  know,  have  returned  to 
Colombia  for  the  Commission  on  Over- 
seas Mission.  They  will  be  living  in  Bo- 
gota, Colombia,  and  will  be  serving  the 
Mennonite  church  in  Colombia.  They 
will  be  working  with  church  leaders  in 
preparing  them  for  their  work  and  in 
counseling.  They  will  also  work  with 
promoting  retreats  and  interdenomina- 
tional relations. 


Balloons  celebrate  Easter 

On  this  same  Sunday  morning  the  pastor 
found  on  his  desk  before  the  worship 
hour  a paper  with  an  announcement 
which  was  read  during  the  service.  It 
said:  “As  you  leave  the  church  many 
of  you  will  be  able  to  see  the  joy  and 
love  the  junior  Sunday  school  class  has 
for  Jesus’  resurrection. 

What  did  we  see?  Balloons  tied  to  the 
car  aerials  or  door  handles  and  waving 
in  the  breeze.  On  the  balloons  were 
written  “Jesus  Is  Risen,”  “Joy,”  “Peace.” 
It  was  a beautiful  and  fitting  way  to 
witness  and  celebrate  Easter.  Carlock 
Mennonite  Church 


Walk  for  mankind  nets  $600. 

Those  who  participated  in  Walk  for 
Mankind  from  Normal  Mennonite  on 
May  26  were  Mary  Ann,  Bruce,  Christi 
and  Wally  Barker,  Cynthia  Bertsche, 
Cindy  and  Sherry  Dunn,  Lauri  and  Susie 
Kauffman,  Missi  King,  Cerdys,  Pam,  and 
Tim  Serpette,  Gary,  Sue,  and  Terri 
Stutzman,  Frank  Swanson,  Rachel  Walt- 
ner,  and  Gunther  Bercky.  Most  of  these 
completed  the  twenty-mile  walk.  Pledges 
totaled  approximately  $600. 

Erwin  C.  Goering  appointed 
Huron  Road  Hospital  director 

Erwin  C.  Goering,  director  of  develop- 
ment and  community  relations  for  Huron 
Road  Hospital,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  has 
been  elected  first  vice-president  of  the 
Ohio  Association  for  Hospital  Develop- 
ment. 

At  Huron  Road,  Mr.  Goering  is  head- 
ing a drive  for  $5  million  for  a building 
program  for  new  radiology  and  labora- 
tory facilities.  Previously  he  served  as 
vice-president  of  the  Mennonite  Hospital 
in  Bloomington,  Illinois,  where  he  suc- 
cessfully planned  and  carried  through 
a $1  million  building  program. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-3 


Central  District  1973  directory 


Members  of  the  executive  committee  seated  around  the  table  from  left  are  Marlyn 
Fast,  Homer  Garber,  LaMar  Reichert,  L.  L.  Ramseyer,  Joan  Wiebe,  and  Harry 
Spaeth. 


Executive  committee 

President: 

Lloyd  L.  Ramseyer,  448  W.  Elm,  Bluff- 
ton,  Ohio  45817  1975 

Vice-president: 

Mrs.  Joan  Wiebe,  4226  Maplecrest  Road, 
Fort  Wayne,  Indiana  46805  1975! 

Secretary: 

Harry  Spaeth,  900  W.  Market  St.,  Nap-  ' 
panee,  Indiana  46550  1974 

Treasurer: 

Marlyn  Fast,  214  Vista  Lane,  Elkhart,^ 
Indiana  46514  1974! 

Conference  Minister: 

Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant  Plain, 
Elkhart,  Indiana  46514  1975  • • 

T rustees: 

Lamar  Reichert,  Route  1,  Box  235,  Go- ' 
shen,  Indiana,  46526  1974  I 

Homer  Garber,  Fortuna,  Missouri  65034  H 

1975 


Missions  committee: 

Lynn  Liechty,  160  N.  Jefferson,  Berne, 
Indiana  46711  1974 

Mrs.  Ruth  Ramseyer,  Route  1,  Smith- 
ville,  Ohio  44677  1974 

Richard  Tschetter,  Box  238,  Pandora, 
Ohio  45877  1974 

Stanley  Bohn,  119  Church  St.,  Bluff  ton, 
Ohio  45817  1975 

Abe  Peters,  Route  3,  New  Carlisle, 
Indiana  46552  1975 

David  Suter,  16147  S.  Kedzie  Parkway, 
Markham,  Illinois  60426 — secretary 

1975 

A1  Bauman,  1951  Garvey  Road,  Colum- 
bus, Ohio  43229  1976 

John  Bertsche,  1404  W.  Walnut,  Normal, 
Illinois  61761 — chairperson  1976 
Robert  Ramseyer,  1034  Lusher,  Elkhart, 
Indiana  46514  1976 


Mission  committee  members  include  Abe  Peters,  John  Bertsche,  Ruth  Ramseyer, 
Robert  Ramseyer,  Stanley  Bohn,  and  Lynn  Liechty. 


Program  committee: 


Historical  committee: 


Ministerial  committee: 


Don  Steelberg,  Trease  Road,  Wadsworth, 
Ohio  44281 — chairperson  1974 

Mrs.  Irene  Dunn,  1015  Barton  Drive, 
Normal,  Illinois  61761 — secretary 

1975 

Robert  Kreider,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817 

1976 

Joan  Wiebe,  4226  Maplecrest  Rd.,  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana  46805 — vice-president 
Youth  representative  to  be  appointed 


S.  F.  Pannabecker,  2828  Benham  Ave., 
Elkhart,  Indiana  46514  1974 

Arman  J.  Habegger,  Pandora,  Ohio 
45877  1975 

Merl  Lehman,  Box  45,  Kidron,  Ohio 
44636  1976 

Delbert  Gratz,  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton, 
Ohio  45817 

Paul  Roten,  Mennonite  Biblical  Semi- 
nary, Elkhart,  Indiana  46514 


Glenn  Esh,  251  W.  Sixth  Ave.,  Colum- 
bus, Ohio  43201  1974 

David  Habegger,  800  E.  Hively,  Elkhart, 
Indiana  46514 — chairperson  1975 
Alvin  Kleinsasser,  Donnellson,  Iowa 
52625  1976 

Phyllis  Baumgartner,  Berne,  Indiana 
46711 — secretary  1977 


A-4 


JULY  24,  1973 


Peace  and  service  committee: 

Mrs.  Lois  Rensberger,  Route  1,  Middle- 
bury,  Indiana  46540 — chairperson 

1974 

Ellwyn  Hartzler,  W.  Washington  St.,  Box 
17,  Pandora,  Ohio  45877  (1975) 

Nick  Kassebaum,  Route  2,  Wayland, 
Iowa  52654  1974 

Don  Gundy,  22431  Main,  Woodburn, 
Indiana  46797 — treasurer  1975 

Lyle  Troyer,  Archbold,  Ohio  43502 — 
secretary  1976 

Robert  Liechty,  Berne,  Indiana  46711 
Standing  from  left  are  members  of  the  peace  and  service  committee:  Robert  Liechty,  1976 

Lyle  Troyer,  Lois  Rensberger,  Nick  Kassebaum,  and  Don  Gundy.  Not  pictured  is 
Ellwyn  Hartzler,  who  has  been  appointed  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Arthur  Jackson. 


Camp  Friedenswald 
committee: 

Joe  Sommer,  615  Sunrise  Drive,  Chenoa, 
Illinois  61726  1974 

Mrs.  Carol  Sprunger,  Route  1,  Monroe, 
Indiana  46772  1974 

Warren  Habegger,  Berne,  Indiana  46711 

1974 

David  Bertsche,  R.  1,  Chenoa,  Illinois 
61726  1975 

Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Moman,  Bluffton  Col- 
lege, Bluffton,  Ohio  45817  1975 

Floyd  Quenzer,  Middlebury,  Indiana 
46540 — Vice-chairperson  1975 

Fred  Amstutz,  Route  1,  Pandora,  Ohio 
45877 — Chairperson  1976 

Max  Sprunger,  29  Sunrise  Drive,  Elk- 
hart, Indiana  46514 — treasurer  1976 
Lucretia  Wilson,  Route  1,  Dalton,  Ohio 
44618 — secretary  1976 


Gathered  here  are  members  of  the  Camp  Friedenswald  committee.  From  left,  they 
are  Mark  and  Jane  Steinmetz,  Lucretia  Wilson,  Floyd  Quenzer,  Warren  Habegger, 
David  Bertsche,  Carol  Sprunger  and  Max  Sprunger.  Not  pictured  are  Fred  Amstutz 
and  Jess  and  Vi  Kaufman;  camp  director  and  food  and  accounting. 


The  education  and  publication  committee  members  are,  from  left,  Helen  Fretz, 
chard  Reimer,  Kathleen  Kindle,  Ben  Rahn,  Jerri  Sue  Baumgartner,  and  Kenneth 
Swartzentraub. 


Education  and  publication 
committee: 

Mrs.  Helen  Fretz,  625  S.  7th  St.,  Go- 
shen, Indiana  46526  1974 

Mrs.  Kathleen  Kindle,  212  S.  Jackson, 
Bluffton,  Ohio  46817  1974 

Jerri  Sue  Baumgartner,  Fortuna,  Mis- 
souri 65034 — secretary  1975 

Ben  Rahn,  Box  138,  Kidron,  Ohio  44636 
— chairperson  1975 

Richard  Reimer,  Smithville,  Ohio  44677 

1976 

Ken  Swartzentraub,  6 Alpine  Lane,  Elk- 
hart, Indiana  46514  1976 


IE  MENNONITE 


A-5 


Education  and  publication 
committee 

Dream:  To  help  all  children  and  young 
people  to  have  a clear  understanding  of 
the  Christian  faith. 


The  worst  possibility 

1.  Difficulty  in  agreeing  on  the  implica- 
tions of  the  Christian  faith. 

2.  The  cost  of  understanding  may  be  too 
high. 

3.  Members  may  refuse  to  wrestle  with 
an  understanding  that  may  also  result 
in  change. 

4.  The  church  might  come  in  conflict 
with  the  community. 


The  best  possibility 

1.  Children  and  young  people  would  be- 
come established  in  the  faith  in  this 
age  of  confusion. 

2.  Concern  and  involvement  in  resolv- 
ing human  problems  and  conflicts. 

3.  Strengthening  church-related  institu- 
tions. 

4.  More  meaningful  Sunday  schools  and 
worship. 

5.  Get  total  church  united  in  service. 

Letter  to  the  editor 

At  our  annual  conference  in  Goshen  we 
heard  a discussion  on  the  place  of  prayer 
in  conference  sessions.  Several  young 
persons,  supported  by  several  older  per- 
sons, expressed  displeasure  with  the  ab- 
sence of  formal  prayers  at  the  opening 
of  each  session. 

Several  ministers  voiced  their  discom- 
fort with  conventional,  formalized  pub- 
lic prayer  and  the  standardized  role  ex- 
pected of  pastors  in  giving  public  prayers. 

I sense  something  missing  from  this 
kind  of  debate  when  relative  strangers 
argue,  even  charitably,  about  faith  and 
practice  issues.  It  tends  to  be  a debate 
of  proposition  against  proposition,  ad- 
monition versus  admonition.  This  kind 
of  discussion  can  become  a “we  win, 
you  lose;  we  lose,  you  win”  debate. 

I appreciated  the  call,  at  first  appar- 
ently not  heard,  saying  in  effect,  “Let’s 
share  our  experiences  about  public  pray- 
er. Let’s  get  to  know  one  another  better 
by  hearing  from  one  another  about  pray- 
er.” 

The  parable  way,  the  story  way,  the 


experience-sharing  way,  I believe,  is  the 
biblical  way.  The  sharing  of  our  stories 
builds  fellowship,  releases  the  Spirit,  en- 
courages love  and  understanding.  After 
sharing  our  experiences,  we  may  be  ready 
for  debate  on  principles  and  propositions. 
Debate  might  then  not  be  quite  so  im- 
portant. 

If  we  start  with  propositional  debate 
on  public  prayer,  the  discussion  seems  to 

Zion  celebrates 

The  Zion  Mennonite  Church  near  Good- 
land,  Indiana,  was  organized  in  1898  by 
D.  D.  Augsperger. 

The  need  of  a new  church  was  felt 
by  many  families  with  Mennonite  back- 
ground who  had  moved  into  the  com- 
munity from  parts  of  Illinois.  These 
charter  families  under  the  leadership  of 
Mr.  Augsperger  had  great  faith  and  vi- 
sion for  which  we  are  all  forever  grate- 
ful. 

On  Sunday,  September  16,  an  all-day 
meeting  will  be  held,  with  Sunday  school 
and  church  followed  with  a basket  din- 
ner at  noon.  A special  program  is  being 
planned  for  the  afternoon.  Anyone  who 
knows  of  our  church  and  would  like  to 
come  September  16  is  most  welcome. 

In  1895,  D.  D.  Augsperger  moved  into 
this  community  coming  from  Aurora, 
Nebraska,  and  being  an  ordained  min- 
ister, organized  a Sunday  school  with 
preaching  service.  These  meetings  were 
held  in  a nearby  schoolhouse  for  three 
years. 

At  this  time  (1898)  our  present  build- 
ing was  erected  at  an  ideal  location,  al- 


be  more  rigid,  judgmental,  and  polarized.  ! 

I suspect  we  might  achieve  better  under- 
standing and  fellowship  if  we  start  with  ! 
a sharing  of  our  memories,  our  joys,  our 
hangups.  Generally  it  seems  this  can  be 
better  achieved  in  small  groups  where 
we  can  listen,  interrupt,  ask  a question,  ;j 
try  again  with  an  explanation,  and  share 
another  more  helpful  experience.  Robert  ; ( 
Kreider 

75th  year 

most  equal  distance  between  two  towns 
in  Jasper  County  in  a very  desirable 
community.  D.  D.  Augsperger  was  pastor  J 
for  ten  years.  Jacob  Sommer  was  then  I 
chosen  and  served  as  pastor  two  years,  i 
He  then  became  involved  in  gospel  mis-  j 
sion  work.  Following  the  termination  of ; ■ 
Jacob  Sommer  as  pastor,  Peter  D.  Naf-  \ 
ziger  was  called  and  served  the  church  j 
for  many  years.  Mr.  Nafziger  moved 
to  Bloomington,  Illinois,  into  mission 
work,  after  which  Aaron  Egli  of  near 
Kouts,  Indiana,  was  called  and  also  > 
served  the  church  as  pastor  for  several : 
years.  At  termination  of  Mr.  Egli  as 
pastor,  Dale  Schertz,  who  was  just  en- : 
tering  the  ministry,  was  called.  Mr. 
Schertz  came  and  is  serving  as  pastor. 

Our  church  has  served  us  and  the  i 
community  well  through  the  years.  We ! 
are  elated  with  the  recent  improvements 
in  our  building,  paneling,  new  ceiling,  j 
new  windows,  and  carpeting. 

We  are  looking  forward  to  a great 
time  of  fellowship  and  inspiration  on 
September  16  and  then  pressing  on  ini 
the  work  of  the  church.  Adrien  Lehe 


Zion  Mennonite  Church,  Goodland,  Indiana,  will  celebrate  its  75th  anniversary 
Sunday,  September  16.  It  was  built  in  1898  by  Mennonite  families  who  had  mi- 
grated from  their  communities  in  Illinois. 


A- 6 JULY  24,  1973 


WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


Theme  . . . “Bear  one  another's  burdens, 
and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ’  (Gal.  6:2) 


Friedenswalcf  seminar  examines  woman's  role 


Woman’s  role  in  today’s  society  is  a 
changing  thing.  Many  women  don’t  know 
what  their  role  is  and  have  no  goals  to 
go  by.  There  is  such  a person  as  a fas- 
cinating woman.  What  makes  her  such? 

Many  women  spend  a lifetime  trying 
to  please  other  people  and  crave  the 
other  person’s  approval.  By  changing 
this  concept  to  that  of  developing  charm, 
beauty,  thoughtfulness,  and  an  all-round 
respect  and  love  for  other  people,  women 
will  radiate  happiness.  As  she  learns  to 
become  a fascinating  woman  and  under- 
stands other  people  with  varying  moods 
and  feelings,  she  can  accept  them  as 


Material  for  this  page  should  be  servt  to  Mrs. 
Marjorie  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, III.  61701. 


they  are  and  only  tries  to  change  her- 
self. 

Margaret  Showalter,  a housewife,  for- 
mer schoolteacher,  and  mother  says 
there  is  hope  for  a beautiful  generation 
of  women — happy,  feminine,  adored,  and 
cherished.  Mrs.  Showalter  of  Indian 
Springs,  Indiana,  has  been  traveling  and 
lecturing  for  some  time  with  the  national 
organization  of  Christian  Dynamics. 

This  September  14-16  at  Camp  Fried- 
enswald,  Mrs.  Showalter  will  be  sharing 
in  a seminar  on  “The  woman’s  role  in 
today’s  society.”  Women,  students,  house- 
wives, business  women,  married  or  single 
are  invited  to  attend  this  vital  workshop. 
Plan  now  to  attend  and  share  in  the 
fellowship  and  inspiration.  Complete  the 
registration  form  on  this  page. 


A message  from  the  president 

As  a new  officer  of  our  Central  District 
wma  team,  I felt  anxious  about  the  task 
of  coordinating  our  many  efforts  at  the 
conference  level.  Then  our  executive 
committee  met  with  the  other  Central 
District  committees  at  Berne  to  help  set 
goals  for  the  conference.  This  was  ex- 
citing. I was  impressed  with  the  energy 
and  the  dedication  of  our  wma  execu- 
tive committee  as  we  wrestled  with  our 
role  in  the  total  conference  program. 
I wish  you  could  have  been  there  to 
catch  some  of  the  enthusiasm. 

We  shared  our  concerns.  And  these 
reflect  our  many  expanding  interests. 
Resources  for  creative  program  materials 
are  unlimited,  and  we  want  to  help  pro- 
vide these  to  your  societies.  Some  of 
our  groups  may  be  ready  to  take  a more 
active  role  in  offender  ministries.  Others 
will  find  ways  to  cooperate  with  Men- 
nonite  Disaster  Service — perhaps  involv- 
ing whole  families.  We  are  concerned 
about  providing  programs  of  interest  to 
younger  women  in  our  churches.  We 
must  continually  seek  to  improve  our- 
selves and  to  respect  ourselves  as  women. 

To  help  improve  communications  be- 
tween our  societies  and  the  conference 
organization,  our  officers  hope  to  visit 
many  of  your  groups  throughout  the 
year.  While  there  continue  to  be  many 
good  material  projects,  we  affirm  our 
need  to  make  our  endeavors  a growing 
spiritual  experience. 

I am  pleased  to  be  a part  of  this  ac- 
tive group  of  Mennonite  women  seeking 
to  find  God’s  will  for  us  in  our  world. 
May  we  serve  him  well.  Lois  Kreider, 
Central  District  WMA  president 


Margaret  Showalter 


1 Sew  ceiling,  paneling,  and  carpeting  have 
'ecently  changed  the  appearance  of  the 
Zion  Church  interior. 


Address 

Name 


Cost:  $12  payable  on  arrival  at  Camp  Friedenswald.  Please  mail  your  reservation 
by  September  6 to: 

Eileen  Kehler,  secretary,  Route  2,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817 

Central  District  Women’s  Missionary  Association  officers 


President— Lois  Kreider,  Route  2,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817  1975 

Vice-president — Frances  Gundy,  22431  Main,  Woodbum,  Indiana  46797  1974 

Secretary— Thelma  Augspurger,  Route  2,  Box  114,  Chenoa,  Illinois  61726  1974 

Treasurer— Norma  Yoder,  Route  2,  Box  434,  Goshen,  Indiana  46526 1975 

District  advisor— Evelyn  Bertsche,  1404  N.  Walnut,  Normal,  Illinois  61761  . . 1977 
General  Conference  projects  advisor— Pauline  Yoder,  Route  6,  Box  91, 

Goshen,  Indiana  46526  1975 

District  projects  advisor— Edna  Troyer,  Box  72,  Archbold,  Ohio  43512  1973 


Young  Mission  Workers — Glenna  Moser,  1525  Lakeview  Drive,  Berne,  Indiana  1975 
Editor— Women  at  work— Marjorie  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Bloomington, 

Illinois  61701 


HE  MENNONITE 


A -7 


VITAL  STATISTICS 


BIRTHS 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  to  the  Daniel 
Baumgartners,  Becky  Jo,  March  31. 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Mike 
Amstutzes,  Michael  Ray,  April  3;  to  the 
Richard  Heges,  Michael  Todd,  April  1; 
to  the  David  Reams,  Angela  Sarah,  Ap- 
ril 21. 

Eighth  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  the  Jon 
Detwelers,  Joshua,  May  10;  to  the  Joe 
Farrells,  Kristin  Michelle,  May  11. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  the  Jonathan 
Larsons,  Karin  Margareta,  May  9;  to 
the  Brice  Lehmans,  Tonya  Sue,  June  5; 
to  the  Neil  McGoughs,  Audra  Lee,  May 
29;  to  the  Sheldon  Mathys,  Jennifer 
Lynn,  May  7;  to  the  Denver  Neuen- 
schwanders,  Daniel  D.,  April  28;  to  the 
John  Stuckys,  twin  sons,  Matthew  Lew- 
ellyn  and  Michael  David,  May  25. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Ross  Mc- 
Intoshes,  Charissa  Therese  Brigette  Ni- 
cole, April  1 1 . 

First,  Wadsworth,  Ohio:  to  the  Ray 
Millers,  Tracy  Ann,  March  27. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  to  the 
Joe  Zehrs,  Michelle  Suzanne,  May  22. 

Neil  Ave.,  Columbus,  Ohio:  to  the 
Tom  Smiths,  Emily  Jo,  April  30. 

Pulaski,  Iowa:  to  the  Stanley  Baugh- 
mans, Lisa  Joan,  May  27;  to  the  Dennis 
Ramseyers,  Justin  William,  April  29. 

St.  John,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  the  Jeff 
Vermillions,  Joshua  Shawn,  April  11. 

Zion,  Donnellson,  Iowa:  to  the  Mar- 
shal Hulsebuses,  Mari  Anne,  April  8; 
to  the  Jerry  McCartys,  Jeremy  Lee,  April 
7. 


MARRIAGES 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  Linda  Lou  Gerlt 
and  Darrell  Wayne  Newell,  June  2. 

Carlock,  111.:  Stephen  Beyer  and  San- 
dra Kay  Whitby,  Dec.  1,  1972. 

Congerville,  111.:  Barry  Rice  and  Jane 
Grieder,  April  14. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Jean  E.  Flueckiger 
and  K.  David  Kohli,  June  10. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Beth  Dailey  and 
Wayne  Diamond,  June  9;  Sonya  Dillman 
and  Jerry  Couples,  May  5;  James  Panna- 
becker  and  Sandra  Troyer,  May  19;  Beth 
Hamman  and  Leo  Thompson,  May  19; 
Janet  Bauman  and  Leonard  Schmidt, 
May  26. 

First,  Nappanee,  Ind.:  Marla  Mullett 
and  Blake  Unger,  May  12;  Martin  E., 
Jr.  and  Kathy  Ann  Stookey,  June  1; 


Noble  and  Glada  Miller,  June  2;  Mearl 
and  Florence  Moyer,  June  7;  John  and 
Pat  Juhns,  June  12;  Darrell  and  Mary 
Ann  King,  June  13;  Guy  and  Annabelle 
Hollar,  June  20;  Wendell  and  Dorothy 
Metzler,  June  20;  Bryce  and  Sharon 
Slabaugh,  June  23;  Jack  and  Anita  Ping- 
alore,  June  28. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Nolan  Bucher 
and  Bonnie  Burkhead,  April  21;  Jill 
Crawfis  and  Jonathan  Hilty,  April  14. 

Salem,  Kidron,  Ohio:  Herbert  Himes 
and  Debra  Streb,  June  16. 

Zion,  Donnellson,  Iowa:  Janis  Wall 
and  Robert  Davidson,  April  14. 

NEW  MEMBERS 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jerry  Clark,  Mrs.  Peter  Hilty,  Daniel 
Hilty,  Becky  Jo  Baumgartner. 

Congerville,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tom 
Miller,  Mrs.  Lester  Allen,  Mrs.  Gary 
Spranger. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Mrs.  Steven  Heiser, 
Mrs.  William  McKean.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Peter  Neufeld,  Thomas  Stuber,  Mrs. 
John  W.  Sprunger. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  Susie  Kauffman, 
Pearl  Kaufman,  Kenneth,  Mary  Ann, 
and  Jeff  Baer. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  Mar- 
lene Brandenberger,  Jay  Brandenberger, 
Andrea  Warkenten. 

Way  land,  Iowa:  Cyndi  Edwards,  Mark 
Alliman,  Jane  Garrett,  Gregory  Gowey, 
Ann  Reschly,  Diana  Harvey  Rinner, 
Linda  Yoman  Roth,  Rhonda  Roth,  Vick- 
ie Roth,  Terri  Smith,  Patty  Van  Winkle, 
Sandy  Cook  Kauffman,  Jasan  Jay  Roth. 

Zion,  Goodland,  Ind.:  Roger  Sheldon, 
Rhonda  Sheldon,  Rowena  Sheldon,  Ro- 
berta Sheldon,  Randy  Taulman,  Peggy 
Taulman. 

DEATHS 

Congerville,  Congerville,  111.:  Florence 
Sharp,  May  30. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Laura  Amstutz, 
Joel  Augsburger,  Alina  Balsiger,  lima 
Caffee,  Noah  L.  Habegger,  Walter  Hilty, 
Elva  A.  Killinger,  Herman  Liechty,  Kath- 
erine Liechty,  Ira  Luginbill,  Sam  Nuss- 
baum,  Mrs.  Harold  Schlink,  M.  A. 
Thomas,  Herbert  L.  Zeiner,  and  Ken- 
neth Zimmerman. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Hallie  Althaus, 
May  15;  Keith  Kibele,  May  4. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  Mrs.  Ed  Sharp, 
May  30. 


First,  Wadsworth,  Ohio:  Mrs.  Arthur  f 
Stuver,  May  22;  Hiram  Wenger,  April. 

United,  Peoria,  111.:  Deane  William-  i 
son,  April  14. 

Way  land,  Iowa:  Mrs.  Laurence  Shaf- 
fer, April  5. 

ANNIVERSARIES 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Harvey  Egleys,  May  j 
17,  60th;  Daniel  D.  Schwartz.es,  June  12,  J 
52nd;  Howard  R.  Sprungers,  June  6,  j] 
53rd. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jesse  Smucker,  May  9,  51st. 


Your 

Answer 


“Then  whose  shall  those 
things  be?” 

I 

If  you  make  a will,  “those  things”  will 
be  whosoever’s  you  wish  and  duly  indi-  \ 
cate.  This  means  members  of  your  fam-  \ 
ily  with  equal  portions  or  special  con-  : 
siderations  for  special  reasons.  It  may 
state  whom  you  desire  to  be  responsible  i 
for  any  underage  children  and  act  as 
conservator  of  their  interests  in  case 
they  should  be  left  fatherless.  You  may 
arrange  for  and  name  the  one  who  is  to 
serve  as  executor  of  your  estate,  serving, 
if  you  wish,  without  bond,  thus  lessening 
the  deductions  levied  against  the  estate. 

Moreover,  you  can  provide  for  some 
portion  of  your  holdings  to  accrue  to 
kingdom  causes  as  you  determine,  as  a 
terminal  exercise  of  your  Christian  stew- 
ardship, and  as  a final  overt  testimony 
to  your  faith  in  and  commitment  to  God 
as  Father  indeed  and  to  his  Son  as  Savior 
and  Lord. 

H 


If  you  don’t  (Next  issue) 


Material  for  the  Central  District  Reporter  should 
be  sent  to:  Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant 

Plain,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


A-8 


JULY  24,  1973 


Volunteer  counsels  war  objectors  in  Winnipeg 


The  following  is  a portion  of  a story 
written  earlier  this  summer  by  Made- 
leine Bernier,  a religion  writer  for  the 
Winnipeg  Tribune. 

Many  Canadian  churches  see  the  U.S. 
war  objector  as  a person  in  need,  and 
for  that  reason,  give  him  help. 

War  objectors  left  their  country  and 
came  to  Canada  for  “personal  reasons,” 


Their  fathers 
are  gone 

There  are  tears  at  an  orphanage  on 
the  outskirts  of  Danang,  Vietnam.  This 
little  girl  has  the  hair,  complexion,  and 
eyes  to  indicate  that  her  father  was  a 
black  American.  There  are  a dispropor- 
tionate number  of  half-black  children  in 
South  Vietnamese  orphanages.  The  Viet- 
namese feel  that  being  half-white  isn’t 
i so  bad,  so  the  children  of  white  fathers 
| ore  often  kept  by  their  mothers.  Al- 
though many  Americans  have  indicated 
\a  desire  to  adopt  the  offspring  of  the 
American  servicemen  who  served  in  Viet- 
nam, the  channels  for  adoption  proce- 
dures are  clogged.  So  far  this  year,  only 
fifty  children  at  the  Danang  orphanage 
have  been  adopted  by  people  in  the  U.S. 
But  there  are  always  300  youngsters 
crowded  into  the  orphanage.  They  are  a 
legacy  of  the  Vietnam  War  whose  future 
offers  little  hope. 


Ron  Isaac,  a staff  worker  with  the  Win- 
nipeg committee  to  assist  war  objectors, 
said  in  an  interview.  He  said  he  didn’t 
know  what  proportion  of  the  630  war 
objectors  in  Winnipeg  are  pacifists  as  a 
matter  of  conscience. 

The  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
sponsors  Mr.  Isaac’s  services.  A former 
student  at  the  Associated  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminaries  in  Elkhart,  Indiana, 
Mr.  Isaac  was  engaged  as  a volunteer 
for  a one-year  period.  He  arrived  in 
Winnipeg  in  early  summer. 

One  church  official  described  the 
plight  of  war  objectors: 

“They  feel  they  are  hunted.  . . . They 
feel  the  cia  is  all  over.  . . . They  don’t 
see  a way  out.” 

The  needs  of  war  objectors  range 
from  housing  and  food  to  medical  atten- 
tion and  counseling  on  personal  prob- 
lems, said  Mr.  Isaac.  Some  have  been 
rejected  by  their  families. 

He  listed  three  categories  of  war  ob- 
jectors in  Winnipeg: 

— About  200,  without  landed  status, 
have  gone  underground.  It’s  illegal  for 
them  to  work.  The  committee  is  trying 
to  locate  them,  to  assist  them.  Fear  is 
the  main  reason  why  they  go  under- 
ground. Some  have  groundless  fears — 
they  don’t  know  their  rights.  Some  fear 
the  least  infraction  of  the  law  on  their 
part  may  get  them  deported.  Some  build 
up  fear  in  their  minds  because  they  are 
under  stress. 

— About  400  have  landed  immigrant 
status,  but  have  problems  such  as  adapt- 
ing to  the  Canadian  way  of  life  and  ten- 
sions with  the  family.  Some  of  them  say 
they  never  want  to  go  back  to  the  U.S., 
but  their  attitude  is  conditioned  by  the 
fact  that  they  cannot  go  back. 

— About  thirty  war  objectors  were 
“caught”  by  the  November  3,  1972,  Ca- 
nadian immigration  freeze.  Mr.  Isaac 
said  the  committee  learned  of  the  freeze 
five  hours  after  it  went  into  effect.  “They 
are  sitting  it  out,  hoping  that  the  immi- 
gration department  will  have  some  com- 
passion.” (Shortly  after  the  interview, 
the  federal  government  announced  per- 
sons in  this  situation  will  have  to  register 
within  sixty  days.) 

The  ways  the  committee  can  help  are 
varied,  said  Mr.  Isaac.  If  an  objector 
decides  to  return  to  the  U.S.,  the  com- 
mittee can  find  out  what  his  status  in 
the  U.S.  would  be  and  what  process 
must  be  followed.  For  some  it’s  quite 
simple.  For  others  the  choice  might  be 


underground  in  Canada  or  the  U.S.  The 
committee  doesn’t  tell  war  objectors  what 
to  do,  he  said,  but  points  out  the  “ram- 
ifications of  the  different  actions”  they 
might  take. 

The  needs  at  present  are  the  following, 
said  Mr.  Isaac: 

— Financial  support  for  individuals 
and  groups. 

— A list  of  homes  to  house  people  for 
a few  days,  and  especially  for  “several 
months,”  until  the  war  objectors  become 
settled.  “This  is  a critical  need.”  Hous- 
ing problems  always  seem  to  fall  on  the 
same  people  who  open  their  doors. 

— Medical  needs.  Without  legal  status, 
sick  war  objectors  can’t  get  public  health 
services. 

• — -Volunteers  on  such  committees  as 
housing,  fund  raising,  immigration,  pub- 
lic relations.  The  committee  could  use  a 
lawyer  familiar  with  immigration  laws, 
or  a law  student,  and  a public  relations 
person  right  now. 

Mr.  Isaac  is  a Canadian.  He  was  born 
near  Vancouver  but  went  to  school  for 
seven  years  in  the  U.S. 

Theological  extension 
courses  continue  in  Taiwan 

Since  Theological  Education  by  Exten- 
sion started  in  Taiwan  almost  two  years 
ago,  fifty  students  have  been  enrolled  in 
courses  on  Jeremiah,  Mark,  and  church 
growth,  according  to  Mennonite  mis- 
sionary Hugh  Sprunger,  executive  di- 
rector of  the  program. 

The  courses  use  a combination  of 
programmed  self-study  materials  and  a 
weekly  session  with  a seminary  profes- 
sor. This  allows  lay  people  to  begin  re- 
ceiving theological  training  on  the  senior- 
and  middle-school  level  even  though  they 
cannot  enroll  in  resident  seminary  pro- 
grams. 

Two  current  obstacles  to  rapid  devel- 
opment of  extension  education  in  Taiwan 
are  the  lack  of  programmed  textbooks 
in  Chinese  and  a shortage  of  extension 
class  teachers.  A workshop  in  January 
to  train  extension  teachers  has  provided 
leadership  for  a few  new  extension  cen- 
ters in  central  Taiwan. 

Organized  under  the  auspices  of  the 
interdenominational  China  Evangelical 
Seminary,  the  program  includes  students 
from  such  churches  as  Free  Methodist, 
Lutheran,  Conservative  Baptist,  Southern 
Baptist,  Quaker,  Presbyterian,  and  Chris- 
tian and  Missionary  Alliance. 


'HE  MENNONITE 


449 


Fund  raising  begins 
for  library  expansion 

The  Associated  Seminaries,  Elkhart,  have 
initiated  a library  expansion  fund-raising 
effort. 

The  goal  of  this  endeavor  is  $400,000 
to  be  gathered  over  a two-year  period, 
1973-75,  with  responsibilities  shared 
equally  between  Mennonite  Biblical  Sem- 
inary and  Goshen  Biblical  Seminary,  now 
both  located  in  Elkhart. 

The  original  Associated  Seminaries 
Library  building  was  erected  on  the  Elk- 
hart campus  in  1958  and  involved  an 
equally  shared  investment  of  funds  by 
the  two  cooperating  seminaries  from  the 
beginning.  Since  1958  the  library  hold- 
ings have  grown  rapidly  to  53,800  vol- 
umes. The  library’s  capacity  of  60,000 
volumes  has  thus  virtually  been  reached. 
This  requires  expansion  of  facilities  to 


provide  for  more  stack  space,  more  study 
rooms,  for  temperature  and  humidity 
control,  and  for  normal  library  growth. 

The  respective  seminary  boards  have 
approved  the  expansion  plans  and  have 
named  representatives  to  a library  ex- 
pansion committee,  which  is  giving  guid- 
ance to  the  development. 

Lester  E.  Janzen,  Newton,  Kansas, 
director  of  communications  for  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church,  be- 
gan his  half-time  duties  as  library  fund 
specialist  on  behalf  of  the  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminary  on  July  1.  He  will  join 
Joseph  Hertzler,  acting  president  of  Go- 
shen Biblical  Seminary,  in  leading  the 
fund-raising  effort. 

Mr.  Janzen  will  continue  to  reside  in 
Newton  and  also  carry  half-time  responsi- 
bility as  director  of  communications  for 
the  conference. 

The  library  expansion  is  the  first  sig- 


nificant capital  development  on  the  As-! 
sociated  Seminaries  campus  since  the 
construction  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  in  1965. 

New  curriculum  council 
chooses  executive  director 

Paul  Lederach,  Scottdale,  Pennsylvania, 
has  been  chosen  as  executive  director : ' 
of  the  Anabaptist  Curriculum  Project.  • 

Mr.  Lederach,  who  will  resign  his 
position  as  director  of  the  congregation- 
al literature  division  of  Mennonite  Pub- 
lishing  House,  was  selected  by  the  pub-  i] 
lishing  council  for  the  new  curriculum! 
at  its  first  meeting  May  21  in  Newton, 
Kansas. 

Erwin  Thomas,  publisher  for  the 
Brethren  in  Christ  Church,  Nappanee, 
Indiana,  was  appointed  president,  and; 
Dick  Rempel,  manager  of  Faith  and  Lifer 
Press,  Newton,  Kansas,  was  chosen  as 
secretary  of  the  publishing  council. 

The  publishing  council  consists  of  two; 
representatives  from  each  of  the  full  pub-1 
lishing  partners  of  the  curriculum:  Men- I 
nonite  Church,  General  Conference  Men-  I 
nonite  Church,  and  Brethren  in  Christ j 
Church. 

At  its  organizational  meeting,  the  pub-! 
lishing  council  set  up  a tentative  sched-i. 
ule  by  which  the  first  year’s  material 
for  the  curriculum  would  be  ready  by; 
the  fall  of  1977  and  the  remainder  of 
the  material  by  the  fall  of  1978. 

The  curriculum  might  be  graded  from 
preschool  age  through  grade  eight,  al- 
though it  may  also  include  youth  and 
adult  studies  or  be  in  intergenerational 
or  nontraditional  form. 

The  possibility  of  inter-Mennonite  cur- 
riculum development  and  publishing  was 
discussed  a year  ago  by  a number  of 
Mennonites  and  other  free  church  groups, ! 
with  the  hope  that  joint  publishing  would 
mean  better  stewardship  of  finances  and 
resources. 

Only  three  of  the  groups  at  the  first 
meeting  have  chosen  to  become  full  pub- 
lishing partners.  The  Mennonite  Church 
and  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  have  cooperated  on  graded  Sun- 1 
day  school  material  in  the  past. 

Other  groups,  such  as  the  Church  of 
the  Brethren,  may  join  the  editorial  coun- 
cil as  cooperating  users  of  the  material. 

The  editorial  council,  to  include  rep- 
resentatives of  all  groups  who  will  buy 
the  material,  as  well  as  those  who  pub- 
lish it,  will  take  up  such  matters  as 
philosophy,  type  of  curriculum,  educa- 
tional methodology,  outlining  of  lessons, 
and  editing  of  manuscripts. 


Millions  attend  Korean  meeting 

Evangelist  Billy  Graham  preaches  to  more  than  a million  people  in  YoiDo  Plaza  at 
the  closing  meeting  of  his  Seoul,  Korea,  crusade.  According  to  the  local  crusade 
executive  committee,  the  total  of  one  million,  one  hundred  thousand  people  was 
calculated  by  scientific  and  electronic  means  and  was  not  an  estimate.  During  Mr. 
Graham’s  five-day  crusade  in  Seoul,  he  preached  to  more  than  three  million  people 
altogether — breaking  the  record  total  of  his  sixteen-week  crusade  in  New  York  City 
in  1957,  which  was  2.1  million.  Associate  crusades  held  at  the  same  time  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Graham  team  in  other  parts  of  South  Korea,  drew  an  additional  1.5 
million  people. 


focuses  on  the  simple  life 


Gemeinschaft  I 

Joyce  Shutt 

Gemeinschaft  I challenged  a gathering 
of  Mennonites  and  Brethren  to  renew 
their  commitment  to  the  simple  life  of 
the  apostolic-Anabaptist  heritage.  John 
L.  Ruth  of  the  Franconia  Mennonite 
Conference  set  the  tone  of  the  two-day 
meetings  June  16  and  17  in  Harleysville, 
Pennsylvania,  when  he  said,  “We  meet 
not  to  issue  a call,  but  to  express  a need, 
to  bear  a testimony,  and  to  listen  to  an 
echo.” 

He  went  on  to  define  this  need  as  the 
reestablishment  of  Anabaptism  as  a via- 
ble alternative  life-style  for  our  members 
and  society. 

Anabaptism  with  its  emphasis  on  Ge- 
meinschaft, or  “community,”  involves  the 
finding  of  a personal  and  community 
identity  grounded  in  Christ  and  a loving 
community.  This  stands  in  stark  opposi- 
tion to  the  trends  toward  civil  religion 
and  Protestantism  that  “married  the  faith 
to  the  gross  national  product.” 

Mr.  Ruth  defined  the  simple  life  not 
as  a return  to  legalism  or  dress  codes, 
but  “the  simple  life  means  a focused  life, 
focused  so  that  life  does  not  run  in  ev- 
ery direction.”  This  does  not  mean  giv- 
ing up  the  advantages  of  technology, 
“but  when  maintaining  a boat,  summer 
cottage,  a second  car,  and  second  job 


interferes  with  basic  relationships,  it  is 
time  to  simplify  our  lives  so  that  we 
take  time  out  to  participate  in  family 
life  and  to  share  the  joys  and  bear  the 
burdens  of  our  neighbors.  The  simple 
life  means  putting  people  first  and  be- 
ing able  to  take  an  active  part  in  the 
life  and  work  of  the  church.” 

Arthur  L.  Gish  and  Isaac  Clarence 
Kulp  of  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  also 
presented  papers.  Mr.  Gish  pled  for  a 
return  to  the  disciplined  life  of  our  fore- 
fathers. 

“Sin,”  he  said,  “is  anything  that  of- 
fends or  destroys  a relationship,  be  that 
between  persons  or  between  man  and 
God.  Our  churches  have  traded  Gemein- 
schaft for  bureaucracy,  democracy,  legal- 
ism, and  voting.  Gemeinschaft  is  based 
on  decisions  arrived  at  by  consensus  and 
the  willingness  of  a fellowship  to  talk 
until  everyone  is  satisfied  with  that  de- 
cision. Divisions  occur  when  we  stop 
talking  to  each  other  and  allow  a strong 
leader  or  faction  to  force  its  will  on  the 
other  members.” 

Informality  and  hospitality  character- 
ized the  meetings.  The  rearrangement 
of  the  Indian  Creek  Church  of  the  Breth- 
ren recaptured  some  of  the  simple  wor- 
ship style  of  our  Anabaptist  forefathers. 


Holiness  tradition  looks  at  war 


Robert  Liechty 

As  a new  member  of  our  Central  Dis- 
trict peace  and  service  committee,  I 
attended  the  Seminar  on  Christian  Holi- 
ness and  the  Issues  of  War  and  Peace 
June  7-9  at  Winona  Lake,  Indiana.  The 
seminar  was  sponsored  jointly  by  the 
Peace  and  Social  Concerns  Commission 
of  the  Brethren  in  Christ  Church  and 
by  the  Christian  Holiness  Association 
Commission  on  Social  Action.  The  Holi- 
ness tradition  includes  the  Wesleyan 
Church,  Free  Methodist  Church,  Church 
of  God,  Nazarene  Church,  and  Salva- 
tion Army. 

Myron  Augsburger  of  the  Mennonite 
Church  delivered  the  opening  address, 
entitled  “Facing  the  Problem.”  He  made 
an  eloquent  case  for  biblical  nonresist- 
ance. According  to  Mr.  Augsburger, 
Dwight  L.  Moody  said  that  on  the  issue 
of  war,  he  was  like  a Quaker.  Mr.  Augs- 
burger hammered  home  that  the  current 
jidea  that  if  you  are  conservative  theo- 
logically, you  have  to  be  conservative 


politically  and  on  social  issues  was  a 
myth. 

This  address  was  followed  by  two  re- 
spondents, one  supporting  and  one  chal- 
lenging. In  my  discussion  group  the  first 
night  were  two  hawks,  two  doves,  and 
one  who  seemed  to  be  some  of  both, 
and  one  who  preferred  to  remain  in  a 
state  of  uncertainty.  Our  first  group  was 
notable  for  politeness  and  feeling  each 
other  out. 

Other  speakers  included  Richard  Tay- 
lor, Nazarene  Seminary,  who  made  a 
case  for  participation  in  war,  and  Owen 
Alderfer,  Ashland  Seminary,  who  made 
a case  for  nonparticipation. 

In  responding  to  these  two  speakers, 
Donald  Joy  of  Asbury  Seminary  com- 
mented, “I  have  spent  my  entire  lifetime 
in  communities  of  faith  where  the  Taylor 
doctrine  was  the  only  orthodoxy.  I con- 
fess that  there  are  moments  when  I 
wonder  whether  we  should  not  honestly 
label  such  a rationale  as  red-white-and- 


Pews  faced  each  other,  focusing  on  a 
deacons’  table  and  benches  at  one  side 
of  the  room.  The  congregation  knelt  to 
pray,  ate  together,  sang  unaccompanied 
in  both  English  and  German,  sometimes 
following  a leader  as  he  “lined  out”  the 
German  verses  in  the  old  tradition,  and 
wriggled  uncomfortably  on  hard  benches 
when  speeches  became  too  long. 

The  majority  of  the  participants  came 
from  the  Lancaster-Philadelphia  area, 
though  there  were  others  who  came  from 
as  far  as  Maine,  Virginia,  and  Indiana. 
A few  General  Conference  people  par- 
ticipated in  the  audience,  but  none  were 
involved  at  the  program  level.  While  over 
half  of  the  participants  were  under  thirty, 
only  a handful  came  from  local  congre- 
gations. 

Gemeinschaft  I concluded  Sunday  with 
an  evening  of  dialog  in  which  partici- 
pants voiced  the  many  unmet  needs  they 
as  individuals  experienced  in  their  own 
lives  and  fellowships.  The  prevalent  cry 
was  for  a loving,  supporting  community, 
reaffirming  Arthur  Gish’s  comment  ear- 
lier in  the  day  that  “evangelism  is  not  a 
substitute  for  discipleship.  Evangelism 
grows  hollow  when  there  is  no  Gemein- 
schaft to  which  one  can  return  or  bring 
the  convert.” 

and  peace 

blue  orthodoxy  and  admit  that  our  the- 
ology has  other  derivatives  than  God’s 
revelation  in  Scripture  and  in  Christ.” 

Mr.  Joy  was  nearly  as  devastating  on 
Mr.  Alderfer’s  long  and  careful  paper, 
stating  that  each  of  the  theology  papers 
skirted  the  “central  issues  of  the  other 
side.” 

The  highlight  of  the  four  sessions  I 
attended  was  the  plenary  discussion  which 
followed  Bishop  Paul  Ellis’  address  “The 
Christian  as  peacemaker.”  Mr.  Ellis  ar- 
gued that  pacifism  is  unrealistic  in  a sin- 
ful world.  James  Massey,  black  campus 
pastor  from  Anderson  College,  responded 
by  praising  the  realism  of  Mr.  Ellis  and 
stated  that  peacemaking  demands  ac- 
tion, sometimes  even  the  action  of  war. 
Ron  Sider,  Messiah  College,  responded 
that  our  first,  final,  and  only  loyalty  is 
to  the  kingdom  and  not  to  any  human  in- 
situation, not  even  a democracy. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  politeness  was 
put  aside  and  serious  debate  took  place. 


'HE  MENNONITE 


451 


Historical  committees 
share  centennial  ideas 

General  Conference  historians,  represent- 
atives of  district  and  provincial  histor- 
ical committees,  and  representatives  of 
historical  divisions  of  district  education 
committees  met  June  13  in  Elkhart,  In- 
diana, to  share  concerns  with  each  other 
and  the  Commission  on  Education  of  the 
General  Conference  Mennonite  Church. 

One  result  of  the  meeting  will  be  a 
regular  newssheet  of  items  of  interest  to 
historical  committees.  The  Commission 
on  Education  will  publish  the  newssheet 
on  a trial  basis  for  one  year. 

The  meeting  shared  plans  for  the  1974 
centennial  celebrations  of  the  coming  of 
Mennonites  to  the  prairie  states  and  prov- 
inces and  1976  celebrations  of  the  anni- 
versary of  the  coming  of  the  first  Men- 
nonites to  the  United  Siates,  planned  as 
countercelebratiom  to  ‘he  U.S.  Govern- 
ment bicentennial  celebrations  with  their 
accompaniment  of  civil  religion. 

Suggested  to  the  commission  for  ac- 
tion were: 

— more  attention  to  be  given  to  his- 
torical research  and  publication. 

— better  use  of  media  other  than  print, 
especially  filmstrips  on  Mennonite  his- 
tory. 

— production  of  historical  material  for 
church  membership  classes  and  elective 
Sunday  school  classes. 


— cooperation  with  the  Mennonite 
Church  in  historical  concerns. 

Frank  Ward,  coe  executive  secretary, 
said  the  commission  felt  the  Institute  of 
Mennonite  Studies  was  better  equipped 
to  do  historical  research. 

“The  commission’s  real  interest  is  in 
publishing  books  that  will  communicate 
our  heritage  to  lay  people  in  the  con- 
gregation, rather  than  be  of  interest  only 
to  scholars,”  he  said. 

“Communication”  is  topic 
for  Saskatchewan  retreat 

Fourteen  .Saskatchewan  ministers  and 
their  wives  met  at  Pike  Lake  Bible  Camp 
recently  for  a two-day  retreat. 

Among  the  topics  discussed  were  the 
content  and  value  of  the  Sunday  morn- 
ing sermon  and  the  freedom  a minister’s 
wife  needs  to  be  herself. 

Resource  person  was  Hugh  Savage, 
professor  of  psychology  at  the  University 
of  Saskatchewan,  who  dealt  with  the 
subject  of  communication. 

“These  sessions  became  more  than  lec- 
tures when  he  divided  us  into  work  groups 
and  initiated  learning  experiences.  We 
even  made  Tinkertoy  models  and  learned 
from  it,”  said  Katharine  Funk,  Drake, 
Saskatchewan. 

Sponsoring  the  retreat  was  the  educa- 
tion committee  of  the  Conference  of 
Mennonites  in  Saskatchewan. 


Words  & deeds 


Thirteen  relief  sales  in  support  of  the  ' 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  are  sched-  j 
uled  for  this  year.  Thus  far  seven  have 
been  held  in  California,  Illinois,  Kansas,  , 
Ontario,  Pennsylvania,  and  Saskatche- 
wan. The  total  net  profit  of  the  sales  ( 
to  date  is  approaching  $300,000.  Later 
this  year  sales  will  be  held  in  Michigan,  ' 
Ohio,  Illinois,  British  Columbia,  Indiana,  1 
and  Virginia. 


Some  $300,000  worth  of  farm  equip- 
ment converged  on  a farm  near  Home-  i 
wood,  Manitoba,  in  early  June,  and  five  i 
hours  later  they  had  finished  seeding  470 
acres  of  wheat  and  barley.  It  was  a serv- 
ice project  undertaken  by  the  members 
of  the  Homewood  Mennonite  Church 
on  behalf  of  their  member  families.  The  i 
church  has  undertaken  the  responsibility 
of  operating  the  farm  until  after  the  | 
harvest. 


Bethel  College,  in  order  to  recognize  the 
learning  that  occurs  through  service  ex- 
periences and  career-related  jobs  or  in- 
ternships, is  instituting  a new  formula! 
for  its  baccalaureate  degree — 110  credit' 
hours  (instead  of  the  usual  124)  plus; 
a semester  of  approved  service;  or  one ; 
summer  service  experience  may  count  as 
the  equivalent  of  four  credit  hours  (re- 
ducing required  hours  to  120).  With 
the  end  of  the  draft,  which  operated  as 
a kind  of  negative  incentive  for  recruit- 
ing volunteers  for  church-related  pro- 
grams, the  service-learning  possibility  is 
seen  as  a more  positive  incentive  to  serve. 


The  complete  Key  73  youth  outreach 
manual,  summarized  in  the  Congrega- 
tional resource  book  supplement,  is  avail- 
able from  Key  73  Youth  Outreach,  Box 
5201,  Mission  Hills,  California  91340. 
The  manual  contains  helps  in  planning  a 
Youth  Outreach  Week  for  a group  of 
cooperating  churches  or  for  a single  con- 
gregation. Half  of  the  book  is  “Content 
notes”  for  five  “Jesus  Bible  studies.” 


A twenty-one-mile  walkathon  to  collect 
funds  to  supply  food  to  the  hungry 
through  crop  was  sponsored  May  5 by 
the  Bluffton  (Ohio)  Ministerial  Associ-  1 
ation.  Rebecca  Koemer,  First  Mennonite 
Church,  Bluffton,  was  chairman  of  the 
walk.  Local  businesses  and  individuals 
sponsored  walkers  by  donating  money 
to  the  cause. 


452  JULY  24,  1973 


Smut  shops  close 

In  the  wake  of  the  U.S.  Supreme  Court  decision  on  obscenity,  a Cincinnati  “adult 
bookstore”  closed  its  doors  after  posting  its  reasons  in  the  window.  The  court  ruling 
gave  the  local  community  authority  to  judge  obscenity  and  said  that  material  does 
not  have  to  be  “utterly  without  redeeming  social  value”  to  be  declared  obscene  or 
pornographic. 


RECORD 


Calendar 


Aug.  16-19  — Mennonite-Brethren  in 
Christ  Indian  gathering,  Bloomfield,  N.M. 

Aug.  16-17 — General  Board  midyear 
meeting,  Wichita,  Kans. 

Aug.  18-28 — Graduate  summer  sem- 
inar, Youth  Village,  White  Pigeon,  Mich. 

Oct.  19-21 — Western  District  Confer- 
ence annual  sessions,  Clinton,  Okla. 
Pacific 

Oct.  12-13 — Offender  seminar,  Fresno, 
Calif. 

Workers 


Phyllis  Driver  Diller,  comedienne,  act- 
ress, and  musician,  and  J.  Winfield  Fretz, 
teacher,  scholar,  and  college  president, 
were  selected  as  the  outstanding  alumni 
af  1973  by  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton, 
Ohio. 

DaLene  Ediger,  First  Church,  Hills- 


D.  Epp  L.  Epp 


boro,  Kans.,  has  begun  full-time  work 
as  secretary  and  receptionist  in  the  cen- 
tral offices  of  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church,  Newton,  Kans.  In 
September  she  will  move  to  part-time 
work  as  secretary  in  the  office  of  stew- 
ardship and  promotion  and  continue  her 
education.  Ms.  Ediger  graduated  this 
spring  with  an  AA  degree  in  secretarial 
studies  from  Bethel  College,  North  New- 
ton, Kans.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Paul  Ediger  of  Hillsboro. 


Delvyn  G.  Epp  and  Lucille  Kroeker 
Epp  have  been  commissioned  for  a three- 
year  assignment  in  lapan  under  the  Com- 
mission on  Overseas  Mission  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church.  They 
go  to  lapan  at  the  invitation  of  the  Kyu- 
shu Mennonite  Church  Conference.  They 
will  work  with  Pastor  Takashi  Yamada 
in  a team  evangelistic  ministry  in  Kago- 
shima, a city  of  more  than  400,000  in 
southern  lapan.  They  will  be  involved  in 
language  study  from  September  through 
December.  The  remainder  of  their  time 
will  be  spent  in  teaching  English,  small 
group  Bible  study,  and  contacting  people 
on  a person-to-person  basis.  Delvyn,  a 
native  of  Henderson,  Neb.,  has  attend- 
ed Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kans., 
and  the  University  of  Nebraska  and  is  a 
1973  graduate  of  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind.  He  has  served 
three  years  in  Vietnam  under  Inter- 
national Voluntary  Service,  has  been 
camp  director  for  the  Northern  District 
Conference,  and  was  pastor  of  the  Pu- 
laski (Iowa)  Church  for  two  years.  Lucy 
has  attended  Winkler  (Manitoba)  Col- 
legiate Institute,  University  of  Manitoba, 
Goshen  College,  and  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary. 

Joseph  Hertzler,  executive  vice-presi- 
dent of  Goshen  Biblical  Seminary,  Elk- 
hart, Ind.,  has  been  appointed  acting 
president  of  the  seminary,  beginning  July 
1.  As  chief  administrator  of  GBS,  he 
will  share  in  the  work  of  the  administra- 
tive committee  which  guides  the  shared 
program  of  the  Associated  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminaries.  John  E.  Lapp,  bishop 
of  Plains  Mennonite  Church,  Lansdale, 
Pa.,  and  member  of  the  gbs  board  of 
overseers,  will  work  part  time  with  Mr. 
Hertzler  as  seminary-church  counselor. 

Beverly  Massie,  assistant  director  of 
alumni  affairs  and  public  relations  at 
Bluffton  College,  has  assumed  duties  as 
director  of  information  services.  Ms. 
Massie,  a 1971  graduate  of  Bluffton  Col- 
lege, replaces  Ron  Geiser,  who  has  ac- 
cepted the  position  of  director  of  public 
information  at  Ohio  Northern  University. 

Henry  Neufeld  has  resigned  as  pastor 
of  the  Springstein  (Man.)  Church  to 
return  to  full-time  service  with  Men- 
nonite Pioneer  Mission.  He  and  his  wife, 
Elna,  formerly  served  under  mpm  in 
Pauingassi  for  many  years. 


Conference  budget 


$2,250,000 

2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 

1,000,000 

750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


J FMAMJ  J ASOND 

lay  was  a disappointing  month  in  terms  of  dollar  support  for  General  Conference 
rograms.  Overall  receipts  were  down  by  about  $15,000,  compared  with  May  1972. 
or  the  year  we  are  still  $62,000  ahead  of  1972’s  comparable  period.  Wm.  L.  Friesen, 
onference  treasurer 


HE  MENNONITE 


453 


REVIEW 

Basic  Christian  convictions 


Basic  Christian  convictions,  by  Edmund 
G.  Kaufman  ( Bethel  College,  North  New- 
ton, Kansas,  1972,  338  pp.)  is  reviewed 
by  Henry  Poettcker,  president  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church  and 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College.  He 
is  currently  in  Asia  on  a one-year  COM 
teaching  assignment. 

In  the  introduction  to  this  book,  Er- 
land  Waltner  makes  the  comment  that 
this  book  will  be  a welcome  compendi- 
um to  Dr.  Kaufman’s  former  students, 
“bringing  back  many  experiences  and 
learnings  of  former  days.”  This  reviewer 
as  one  of  those  former  students  concurs 
with  that  statement. 

Basic  Christian  convictions  is  a book 
which  recaptures  the  content  of  a course 


Now  a Major  Motion  Picture 


happvai 
TH£  CRfl« 


HAPPY  AS  THE  GRASS 
WAS  GREEN 

by  Merle  Good 

The  story  of  two  lifestyles  crossing 
paths  in  Lancaster  County.  This  book 
has  been  called  "a  bittersweet  journey 
between  a complex  world  of  violence 
and  the  simpler  Mennonite  world  of 
peace." 

Here  is  a young  man  from  New  York 
City  in  the  Mennonite  community 
facing  a question  that  could  change  his 
life:  Can  a 20th-century  man  turn 
back  the  clock  and  have  a simpler, 
more  peaceful  life? 

128  pages.  Paperback  0-8361-1715-8: 
$.95 

ORDER  FROM 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 

V NEWTON.  KANSAS 

OR  BERNE,  INDIANA 


by  that  name  which  Edmund  G.  Kauf- 
man offered  for  many  years  while  he 
was  professor  and  president  of  Bethel 
College.  Speaking  out  of  firsthand  en- 
counter and  broad  experience  both  in 
North  America  and  abroad,  Dr.  Kauf- 
man confronts  the  issues  and  the  ques- 
tions which  relate  to  the  Christian  faith. 
He  is  fully  aware  that  the  presupposi- 
tions which  the  Christian  holds  are  often 
foreign  to  the  present  generation,  and 
that  it  is  necessary  to  be  very  explicit, 
both  in  setting  forth  those  presupposi- 
tions and  their  acceptability. 

In  ten  chapters  Dr.  Kaufman  sets 
forth  what  he  sees  as  the  salient  fea- 
tures which  one  must  consider  in  getting 
at  the  “basic”  convictions  of  Christianity. 
Chapter  one  is  a discourse  on  religion, 
“one  of  the  chief  interests  of  mankind,” 
with  its  influences,  its  varied  nature,  its 
development  and  its  diverse  expression. 

Chapters  two  to  six  deal  specifically 
with  Christianity  — the  Supreme  God 
who  is  known  as  Father,  his  act  of  crea- 
tion, man  with  his  exalted  position  and 
at  the  same  time  his  depraved  nature, 
and  God’s  continued  action  in  Jesus 
Christ  to  redeem  man  and  to  lead  him 
to  his  intended  purpose  through  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

Chapters  seven  to  ten  deal  respective- 
ly with  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the 
church  and  their  interrelatedness,  with 
the  record  of  God’s  dealings  with  men, 
the  Bible,  and  with  the  Christian’s  hope 
and  his  practical  everyday  life. 

The  book  contains  many  significant 
highlights.  The  discussion  on  knowing 
God,  page  67  f.,  is  meaningful  and  rele- 
vant. The  treatment  of  the  problem  of 
evil  shows  Dr.  Kaufman’s  ability  to  use 
language  and  to  delineate  the  issues  that 
face  man  in  statements  about  the  incar- 
nation, redemption,  Pentecost,  the  resur- 
rection, and  eternal  life. 

In  his  treatment  Dr.  Kaufman  reveals 
himself  as  one  well-versed  in  his  subject 
matter  and  capable  of  dealing  with  it. 
He  tackles  difficult  issues  and  brings  to 
them  a wealth  of  background  informa- 
tion. Constant  comparisons  of  Christi- 
anity with  other  religions  are  helpful. 
There  is  a good  blend  of  the  historical 
and  the  theological  dimensions  of  the 
Christian  faith.  One  illustration  of  this 


is  the  sketch  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  the  is 
sues  which  he  confronted,  and  the  effects 
of  Jesus’  life  and  death  on  the  faith  of 
the  Christian  church.  In  his  choice  of 
subject  matter  to  be  discussed,  the  au- 
thor has  demonstrated  how  selectivity 
and  brevity  need  not  detract  from 
meaningful  presentation. 

This  reviewer  would  raise  a question 
about  the  strong  distinction  which  Dr. 
Kaufman  makes  between  the  picture  or 
concept  of  God  which  comes  through 
from  the  two  Testaments  (chapter  two) 
To  suggest  that  the  Old  Testament  shows 
us  a God  of  justice  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment reveals  to  us  his  mercy  is  an  inade- 
quate comparison.  Norman  Snaith  in  his 
treatment  of  the  Hebrew  word  “chesed’ 
— mercy — in  the  Old  Testament,  has 
demonstrated  how  this  God  is  a cove- 
nant-making God  whose  mercy  is  bound- 
less. That  mercy  moved  him  to  intro- 
duce “chapter  two”  in  his  dealings  with 
men,  namely  the  revelation  in  Jesus 
Christ.  While  it  is  true  that  many  peopi"? 
under  the  Old  Covenant  dreaded  God 
and  his  justice,  it  is  equally  true  that 
many  experienced  his  mercy  and  ac- 
ceptance and  praised  him  for  it.  The 
strong  focus  on  the  changing  idea  of 
God  set  forth  in  the  quote  on  page  58 
is  graphic  to  be  sure,  but  needs  consider- 
able qualification  to  do  justice  to  what 
the  biblical  account  presents. 

Two  commendable  features  of  the 
book’s  layout  are  the  summary  state' 
ments  at  the  end  of  each  chapter  and 
the  accompanying  bibliography.  The  dia- 
grams which  Dr.  Kaufman  has  used  are 
helpful.  Equally  so  are  some  of  the  chron- 
ological tables  which  have  been  included 

Dr.  Kaufman’s  book  will  prove  a use- 
ful tool  to  the  student  of  the  Bible. 


454 


JULY  24,  1973  IE 


MEDITATION 


The  shepherd  psalm 

The  Lord  is  my  shepherd  (PERFECT  SALVATION) 

(Jesus  said),  I am  the  good  shepherd,  and  know  my  sheep,  and  am  known  of 
mine  (John  10:14). 

/ shall  not  want  (PERFECT  SATISFACTION) 

For  the  Lord  God  is  a sun  and  shield:  the  Lord  will  give  grace  and  glory:  no 
good  thing  will  he  withhold  from  them  that  walk  uprightly  (Psalm  84:11). 

He  maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures  (PERFECT  REST) 

(Jesus  said),  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I will 
give  you  rest  (Matthew  11:28). 

He  leadeth  me  beside  still  waters  (PERFECT  REFRESHMENT) 

And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. 
And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of 
life  freely  (Revelation  22:18). 

He  restoreth  my  soul  (PERFECT  RESTORATION) 

Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  salvation;  and  uphold  me  with  thy  free  spirit 
(Psalm  51:12). 

He  leadeth  me  in  paths  of  righteousness  (PERFECT  GUIDANCE) 

Howbeit  when  he,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  come,  he  will  guide  you  into  all  truth  . . . 
(John  16:13a). 

I will  fear  no  evil  (PERFECT  PROTECTION) 

Fear  thou  not;  for  I am  with  thee:  be  not  dismayed;  for  I am  thy  God:  I will 
strengthen  thee;  yea,  I will  help  thee;  yea,  I will  uphold  thee  with  the  right  hand 
of  my  righteousness  (Isaiah  41:10). 

Thou  art  with  me  (PERFECT  COMPANY) 

Be  strong  and  of  a good  courage,  fear  not,  nor  be  afraid  of  them:  for  the  Lord 
thy  God,  he  it  is  that  doth  go  with  thee;  he  will  not  fail  thee,  nor  forsake  thee 
(Deuteronomy  31:6). 

Thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me  (PERFECT  COMFORT) 

For  God  hath  not  appointed  us  to  wrath,  but  to  obtain  salvation  by  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  us,  that,  whether  we  wake  or  sleep,  we  should  live 
together  with  him.  Wherefore  comfort  yourselves  together,  and  edify  one  an- 
other, even  as  also  ye  do  (1  Thessalonians  5:9-11). 

Thou  preparest  a table  before  me  (PERFECT  PROVISION) 

And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  I am  the  bread  of  life:  he  that  cometh  to  me  shall 
never  hunger;  and  he  that  believeth  on  me  shall  never  thirst  (John  6:35). 

rhou  anointest  my  head  with  oil  (PERFECT  CONSECRATION) 

Now  he  which  established  us  with  you  in  Christ,  and  hath  anointed  us,  is  God; 
who  hath  also  sealed  us,  and  given  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit  in  our  hearts 
(2  Corinthians  1:21-22). 

4y  cup  runneth  over  (PERFECT  JOY) 

Now  unto  him  that  is  able  to  keep  you  from  falling,  and  to  present  you  faultless 
before  the  presence  of  his  glory  with  exceeding  joy  (Jude  24). 

roodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  me  (PERFECT  CARE) 

For  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  in  all  goodness  and  righteousness  and  truth  (Ephe- 
sians 5:9).  Grace,  mercy,  and  peace,  from  God  the  Father  and  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord  (2  Timothy  1:20). 

j will  dwell  forever  (PERFECT  DESTINY) 

Then  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  shall  be  caught  up  together  with  them  in 
the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air:  and  so  shall  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord. 
Wherefore  comfort  one  another  with  these  words  (1  Thessalonians  4:17-18). 

_ Arley  Sprunger 


Contents 

Leadership,  power,  and  the  purpose 


of  life  442 

News  445 

Record  453 

Basic  Christian  convictions  454 

The  shepherd  psalm  455 

The  real  costs  of  independent 

transportation  456 


COVER 

Joe  Walks  Along  presented  a peace  pipe 
to  Northern  District  president,  Harold 
Thieszen,  at  the  district's  recent  annual 
convention  in  the  Salem  Mennonite 
Church  in  Freeman,  South  Dakota. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Mark  O.  Hatfield  is  Republican  senator 
from  Oregon.  He  was  governor  of  Ore- 
gon 1959-66.  The  feature  article  in  this 
issue  is  adapted  from  his  remarks  at  the 
Chicago  mayor’s  prayer  breakfast  May  3. 

Katie  Funk  Wiebe's  address  is  208 
North  Jefferson,  Hillsboro,  Kans.  67063. 

Joyce  Shutt  resides  in  Ortanna,  Pa., 
and  writes  frequently  for  this  magazine. 

Robert  Liechty,  Berne,  Ind.,  is  a new 
member  of  the  Central  District's  peace 
and  social  concerns  committee. 

Arley  Sprunger  resides  at  355  Com- 
promise St.,  Berne,  Ind.  4671  1. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  446,  and  447,  Willard  Waltner, 
Freeman,  S.D.  57029;  443,  444,  449, 

450,  and  452,  Religious  News  Service. 

Thp 

Meimonite 

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Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


-\E  MENNONITE 


455 


The  real  costs  of  independent  transportation 


The  current  gasoline  shortage  in  the  U.S., 
however  artificial  it  may  be,  can  give  some  cause 
for  reflection  on  our  rate  of  consumption  of 
natural  resources  and  on  our  dependence  on  that 
most  independent  of  modes  of  transportation — 
the  automobile. 

The  family  car,  or  cars,  have  become  part  of 
the  American  dream  of  free  enterprise  and  pri- 
vacy. We  can  take  the  car  and  go  anywhere, 
anytime  it  fits  our  schedule,  with  whomever  we 
want,  taking  along  as  much  as  the  trunk  and  the 
luggage  rack  will  hold.  We  wait  on  nothing  (ex- 
cept the  traffic)  and  are  beholden  to  no  one  (ex- 
cept the  gasoline  company),  while  half-empty 
buses  roll  past  and  passenger  trains  disappear 
from  the  schedules. 

But  there  are  some  prices  to  pay  for  our  inde- 
pendence. 

To  get  more  gasoline  to  supply  our  ever-in- 
creasing demands,  we  in  North  America,  who  al- 
ready consume  more  than  our  share  of  the  world’s 
resources,  will  have  to  import  more  oil  from  other 
countries  or  begin  constructing  such  environ- 
mental hazards  as  the  Alaska  pipeline.  The  world’s 
supply  of  petroleum  is  not  infinite,  and  we  must 
control  our  use  of  energy  or  find  new,  abundant, 
inexpensive  sources  of  energy. 

There  are  ways  of  decreasing  our  demand  for 
gasoline:  sharing  cars  with  other  families,  organ- 
izing car  pools,  riding  bicycles,  walking,  hitch- 
hiking. Or  we  can  patronize  public  transportation 
and  work  to  convince  local  and  higher  levels  of 
government  to  give  priority  to  buses  and  passen- 
ger trains  instead  of  highway  construction  year 
after  year. 

Public  support  of  buses  and  trains  has  usually 
been  less  than  enthusiastic.  Most  intercity  buses 


I have  ridden  have  been  filled  with  the  young, 
the  old,  and  the  poor.  Passenger  trains,  even  those 
that  have  been  filled,  have  been  discontinued  by 
railroads  that  would  rather  make  money  from 
freight.  Those  with  cars  use  them,  and  those 
without  must  put  up  with  the  schedules  necessi- 
tated by  low  usage  of  public  transportation. 

Another,  more  compelling  reason  for  increased 
use  of  public  transportation  is  the  higher  rate  of 
deaths  in  passenger  automobiles. 

According  to  the  National  Safety  Council  sta- 
tistics for  1971,  34,200  persons  died  in  accidents 
in  passenger  automobiles  and  taxis,  130  in  bus 
accidents,  16  in  passenger  trains,  and  174  in  do- 
mestic commercial  airplanes. 

The  death  rate  per  million  passenger  miles  in 
1969-71  shows  a similar  gap  between  automo- 
biles and  public  transportation:  2.10  deaths  for 
passenger  automobiles  compared  to  0.19  for 
buses,  0.12  for  passenger  trains,  and  0.10  for 
commercial  airplanes. 

The  1971  General  Conference  spoke  to  the 
problem  of  automobile  accidents  in  its  closing 
session  in  a resolution  calling  for,  among  other 
things,  a study  of  deaths  caused  by  highway 
accidents. 

If  we  are  serious  about  affirming  life  over 
death,  we  will  not  use  the  high  rate  of  automo- 
bile deaths  as  an  excuse  for  not  criticizing  war- 
related  deaths.  We  will  take  action  to  reduce  the 
number  of  highway  deaths  as  well  as  work  for 
world  peace. 

Christians  concerned  about  responsible  use  of 
God’s  earth  and  about  decreasing  the  number  of 
traffic  deaths  will  do  something  about  private  and 
public  transportation,  even  if  the  government 
doesn’t  force  them  to  do  it.  L J 


Following  our  summer  biweekly  schedule,  our  next  issue  will  be  dated  August  7. 


Tin* 

Meiinoiiite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:29  AUGUST  7,  1973 


" •.  V ■/ 

/ v ::v:-  ‘ 7 ^ O.  ^ ?-//,/, 

■ 

August  winds 

hugging  parched,  cracked  earth 
kipping  across  wheat  stubble 
into  my  dry  soul 
st-  st-  stutter. 


There  is  a curious  problem  today  in 
the  evangelical  world — one  that  poses 
sobering  questions  for  the  church  and 
for  the  individual  believer.  The  problem 
in  brief  is  this:  a great  army  of  personal 
soul  winners  has  been  mobilized  to  reach 
the  populace  for  Christ.  They  are  earnest, 
zealous,  enthusiastic,  and  persuasive.  To 
their  credit  it  must  be  said  that  they  are 
on  the  job.  And  it  is  one  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  our  times  that  they  rack  up 


William  MacDonald 


an  astounding  number  of  conversions. 
Everything  so  far  seems  to  be  on  the 
plus  side. 

But  the  problem  is  this.  The  conver- 
sions do  not  stick.  The  fruit  does  not 
remain.  Six  months  later  there  is  nothing 
to  be  seen  for  all  the  aggressive  evan- 
gelism. The  capsule  technique  of  soul 
winning  has  produced  stillbirths. 

What  lies  at  the  back  of  all  this  mal- 
practice in  bringing  souls  to  the  birth? 
Strangely  enough  it  begins  with  the  valid 
determination  to  preach  the  pure  gospel 
of  the  grace  of  God.  We  want  to  keep 
the  message  simple — uncluttered  by  any 
suggestion  that  man  can  ever  earn  or 
deserve  eternal  life.  Justification  is  by 
faith  alone,  apart  from  the  deeds  of  the 
law.  Therefore,  the  message  is  “only 
believe.” 

From  there  we  reduce  the  message  to 
a concise  formula.  For  instance,  the 
evangelistic  process  is  cut  down  to  a 


few  basic  questions  and  answers;: 
“Do  you  believe  you  are  a sinner?” 
“Yes.” 

“Do  you  believe  Christ  died  for  sin- 
ners?” 

“Yes.” 

“Will  you  receive  him  as  your  Savior?” 
“Yes.” 

“Then  you  are  saved!” 

“I  am?” 

“Yes,  the  Bible  says  you  are  saved.” 


At  first  blush  the  method  and  the  mes- 
sage seem  above  criticism.  But  on  closer 
study  we  are  forced  to  have  second 
thoughts  and  to  conclude  that  we  have 
oversimplified  the  gospel. 

This  first  fatal  flaw  is  the  missing  em- 
phasis on  repentance.  There  can  be  no 
true  conversion  without  conviction  of 
sin.  It  is  one  thing  to  agree  that  I am 
a sinner;  it  is  quite  another  thing  to 
experience  the  convincing  ministry  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  my  life.  Unless  I have 
a Spirit-wrought  consciousness  of  my 
utterly  lost  condition,  I can  never  exer- 
cise saving  faith.  It  is  useless  to  tell  un- 
convicted sinners  to  believe  on  Jesus — 
that  message  is  only  for  those  who  know 
they  are  lost.  We  sugarcoat  the  gospel 
when  we  deemphasize  man’s  fallen  con- 
dition. With  that  kind  of  a watered-down 
message,  people  receive  the  Word  with 
joy  instead  of  with  deep  contrition.  They 
do  not  have  deep  roots,  and  though 


they  might  endure  for  a while,  they  sooi 
give  up  all  profession  when  persecution 
or  trouble  comes  (Matt.  13:21).  Wj 
have  forgotten  that  the  message  is  re 
pentance  toward  God  as  well  as  fait! 
in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

A second  serious  omission  is  a missin 
emphasis  on  the  lordship  of  Christ.  /: 
light,  jovial  mental  assent  that  Jesus  ij 
Savior  misses  the  point.  Jesus  is  firs1 
Lord,  then  Savior.  The  New  Testameni 
always  places  his  lordship  before  hi: 
saviorhood.  Do  we  present  the  full  im 
plications  of  his  lordship  to  people?  H 
always  did. 

A third  defect  in  our  message  is  ou 
tendency  to  keep  the  terms  of  disciple! 
ship  hidden  until  a decision  has  bee 
made  for  Jesus.  Our  Lord  never  did  thi;j  j 
The  message  he  preached  included  th  1 
cross  as  well  as  the  crown.  “He  neve; 
hid  his  scars  to  win  disciples.”  He  re}* 
vealed  the  worst  along  with  the  beS'  i 
then  told  his  listeners  to  count  the  cos1  ] 
We  popularize  the  message  and  promis| 
fun. 

The  result  of  all  this  is  that  we  havj 
people  believing  without  knowing  wha! 
they  believe.  In  many  cases  they  hay 
no  doctrinal  basis  for  their  decisior 
They  do  not  know  the  implications  c 
commitment  to  Christ.  They  have  neve 
experienced  the  mysterious,  miraculor 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  regeneration 

And  of  course  we  have  others  wh 
are  talked  into  a profession  becaus 
of  the  slick  salesmanship  techniques  c 
the  soul  winner.  Or  some  who  want  t 
please  the  affable,  personal  young  ma 
with  the  winning  smile.  And  some  wh 
only  want  to  get  rid  of  this  religiorj; 
interloper  who  has  intruded  on  the 
privacy.  Satan  laughs  when  these  cor 
versions  are  triumphantly  announced  o 
earth. 

I would  like  to  raise  several  questior 
that  might  lead  us  to  some  changes  i 
our  strategy  of  evangelism. 

First  of  all,  can  we  generally  expec 
people  to  make  an  intelligent  commi 
ment  to  Christ  the  first  time  they  hea 
the  gospel?  Certainly,  there  is  the  e> 
ceptional  case  where  a person  has  a 
ready  been  prepared  by  the  Holy  Spiri 
But  generally  speaking,  the  process  ir 
volves  sowing  the  seed,  watering  it,  the 
sometime  later  reaping  the  harvest.  I 
our  mania  for  instant  conversion,  we  hav 


458 


AUGUST  7,  197 


The  author,  William  MacDonald,  raises  three  questions : Can  we 
generally  expect  people  to  make  an  intelligent  commitment  to 
Christ  the  first  time  they  hear  the  gospel?  Can  a capsule  presenta- 
tion do  justice  to  so  great  a message?  Is  pressure  for  decisions 
really  scriptural? 


forgotten  that  conception,  gestation,  and 
birth  do  not  occur  on  the  same  day. 

A second  question:  can  a capsule  pre- 
sentation of  the  gospel  really  do  justice 
to  so  great  a message?  As  one  who  has 
written  several  gospel  tracts,  I confess 
to  a certain  sense  of  misgiving  in  even 
attempting  to  condense  the  good  news 
into  four  small  pages.  Would  we  not  be 
wiser  to  give  people  the  full  presentation 
as  it  is  found  in  the  Gospels,  or  in  the 
New  Testament? 

Third,  is  all  this  pressure  for  decisions 
really  scriptural?  Where  in  the  New 
Testament  were  people  ever  pressured 
into  making  a profession?  We  justify 
our  practice  by  saying  that  if  only  one 
out  of  ten  is  genuine,  it  is  worth  it.  But 
what  about  the  other  nine — disillusioned, 
bitter,  perhaps  deceived  en  route  to  hell 
by  a false  profession? 

And  I must  ask  this:  is  all  this  boast- 
ing about  conversions  really  accurate? 
You’ve  met  the  man  who  solemnly  tells 
you  of  ten  people  he  contacted  that  day 
and  all  of  them  were  saved.  A young 
doctor  testified  that  every  time  he  goes 
to  a new  city,  he  looks  in  the  phone 
book  for  people  with  his  last  name. 
Then  he  calls  them  one  by  one  and 
leads  them  through  the  four  steps  to 
salvation.  Amazingly  enough,  every  one 
of  them  opens  the  door  of  his  heart  to 
Jesus.  I don’t  want  to  doubt  the  hon- 
esty of  people  like  this,  but  am  I wrong 
in  thinking  that  they  are  extremely  na- 
ive? Where  are  all  those  people  who 
are  saved?  They  cannot  be  found. 

What  it  all  means  is  that  we  should 
seriously  reexamine  our  streamlined, 
capsule  evangelism.  We  should  be  will- 
ing to  spend  time  teaching  the  gospel, 
laying  a solid  doctrinal  foundation  for 
faith  to  rest  on.  We  should  stress  the 
necessity  of  repentance  — a complete 
about-face  with  regard  to  sin.  We  should 
stress  the  full  implications  of  the  lord- 
ship  of  Christ  and  the  conditions  of  dis- 
cipleship.  We  should  explain  what  belief 
really  involves.  We  should  be  willing  to 
wait  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  produce  gen- 
uine conviction  of  sin.  Then  we  should 
be  ready  to  lead  the  person  to  saving 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

If  we  do  this,  we’ll  have  less  astro- 
nomical figures  of  so-called  conversions, 
but  more  genuine  cases  of  spiritual  re- 
birth. 


'HE  MENNONITE  459 


Tante  Fleming’s  search 
for  identity 


Geraldine  Harder 

One  Morning  a Mrs.  Fleming  called 
us  on  the  telephone  to  ask  if  I would 
give  her  some  information  about  the 
Mennonites.  She  is  a Unitarian  although 
she  seldom  attends  church.  “I  have  been 
working  on  a genealogy,”  she  said,  “and 
have  discovered  that  I am  related  to  a 
William  Rittenhouse,  who  was  a Menno- 
nite  minister  in  Germantown,  Pennsyl- 
vania.” I could  tell  her  that  he  was  the 
first  pastor  of  the  first  Mennonite  meet- 
inghouse in  America. 

Since  that  phone  call  there  have  been 
various  meetings.  We  have  talked  oc- 
casionally on  the  telephone  and  visited 
in  Tante  Fleming’s  home.  (She  likes  to 
be  called  “Tante.”) 

Louise  Becker  Fleming  did  not  know 
her  father.  Fie  had  been  ill  and  died 
when  she  was  a small  girl,  and  her 
mother  had  to  bring  up  the  five  children. 

This  was  a hard  task  for  the  mother. 
She  parceled  out  the  children  and  did 
sewing  in  people’s  homes.  Sometimes 
Louise  saw  her  mother  so  little  that  she 
forgot  what  she  looked  like. 

As  Louise  grew  older  she  often  won- 
dered about  her  father  and  his  family. 
She  did  not  know  any  of  his  family  and 
her  mother  would  not  speak  about  them. 
Louise  was  afraid  to  ask  because  her 
mother  tightened  up  like  a clam  when 
she  hinted  at  wanting  to  know. 

Years  later,  after  Louise  moved  from 
the  Midwest  to  the  Pacific  Northwest 
and  had  a family  of  her  own,  she  de- 
cided to  find  out  for  herself  about  her 
genealogy.  In  recent  years  she  has  hired 
archivists  to  check  out  her  ancestry  for 
her.  She  with  their  help  has  been  able 
to  trace  her  family  back  several  hun- 
dred years  to  Dutch-German  origins. 
Tante  Fleming  is  eighty-two  now  and 
has  found  herself  at  last,  humanly  speak- 
ing. She  is  quite  happy,  although  her 
search  for  spiritual  identity  continues. 

Tante  Fleming  told  us  how  she  felt 
sick  when  she  was  invited  to  family 
gatherings  until  she  discovered  who  she 
was.  She  could  not  eat  and  was  not 
able  to  enter  into  conversations.  She 


wanted  to  belong  somewhere  and  to 
someone. 

After  Tante  Fleming  traced  her  an- 
cestry and  saw  where  she  belonged,  the 
whole  world  changed  for  her.  The  fog 
lifted.  She  has  been  interested  in  learn- 
ing about  the  Mennonites  because  of 
her  family’s  historical  connection  with 
them.  The  sufferings  of  the  Anabaptists 
impress  her  as  well  as  the  work  of  the 
present-day  Mennonites.  She  is  interested 
in  our  voluntary  service  workers  here  in 
the  city  and  has  given  them  money  gifts 
to  show  her  appreciation  for  their  serv- 
ices in  mental  health  work,  with  retarded 
children,  and  in  the  Citizens  for  Indian 
Rights’  program. 

Tante  Fleming  believes  in  simple  living 
and  peace.  She  is  generous  and  helpful. 
She  often  talks  about  us  and  our  church 
with  her  family  and  friends  and  loans 
them  her  copy  of  The  doctrine  of  God, 
a Bible  study  guide  which  Milton,  my 
husband,  has  written.  Once  a house 
guest  read  it  from  cover  to  cover  and 
asked  for  a copy  to  take  home.  We 
keep  on  giving  our  friends  more  copies 
of  the  book. 

Our  friend  who  lives  in  the  north  end 
of  the  city,  quite  far  from  our  South 
Seattle  Mennonite  Church,  works  hard 
in  her  garden  and  looks  like  someone  in 
her  sixties.  She  is  full  of  lovely  surprises 
and  is  a dear  Tante  Fleming.  There  is 
always  a hot  dish  of  stew,  some  fresh 
oranges,  or  a bowl  of  walnuts  to  crack 
from  her  daughter’s  grove  in  Oregon. 
One  evening  while  we  were  visiting  her 
she  arranged  for  me  to  have  a long 
talk  on  the  phone  with  my  parents  who 
live  in  Pennsylvania.  She  knows  how 
much  she  enjoys  it  when  her  children 
call. 

Her  daughter,  Gertrude,  was  the  first 
woman  to  graduate  from  the  University 
of  Washington  in  the  field  of  physics. 
She  graduated  with  highest  honors.  Last 
year  Gertrude  completed  a twenty-year 
project,  a simplified  electron  microscope 
that  is  comparatively  inexpensive  and 
will  be  extremely  helpful  to  medicine 


The  man  on 
the  mountain 

The  hermit’s  house 
On  top  of  the  mountain 
Survived  the  earthquake 
That  rocked  the  foundation 
Of  the  valley  below, 

And  the  flash  flood 
That  gushed  forth 
Against  the  canyon  walls, 
But  the  hermit  perished 
In  the  bitter  cold 
Of  the  long,  lonely  winter. 

Michael  Toryfter 


and  industry.  Tante  Fleming  was  inter-; 
ested  when  I told  her  that  David  Ritten-| 
house,  the  grandson  of  William  Ritten- 
house, was  a scientist-astronomer  and 
built  miniature  solar  systems  for  the! 
University  of  Pennsylvania  and  Prince- 
ton University.  She  herself  had  married 
a medical  doctor. 

Tante  Fleming  keeps  on  asking  about; 
our  beliefs.  “Just  how  are  you  different 
from  other  Protestants?”  she  asks.  Her 
eyes  sparkle  as  she  talks.  Her  mind  is 
keen,  and  she  says,  “You  know,  I believe 
I am  a Mennonite,  too.” 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


460 


AUGUST  7,  1973 


NEWS 


Dollar  devaluation,  new  workers  concern  COM 


More  money  is  needed  to  offset  dollar 
devaluation  and  more  young  people  need 
to  be  recruited  for  overseas  work,  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  said 
at  its  midyear  meeting  June  29-30  in 
Chicago. 

Both  the  U.S.  and  the  Canadian  dol- 
lars have  been  devalued  several  times 
since  the  commission  set  its  1973  budget 
last  February,  shortening  how  far  bud- 
geted money  will  go  in  almost  every 
country  in  which  com  works.  In  addi- 
tion, international  inflation  is  decreasing 
the  power  of  the  dollar,  especially  in 
Japan,  Taiwan,  and  Latin  America. 

The  commission  decided  to  make  ma- 
jor salary  adjustments  for  missionaries, 
but  not  until  January  1,  1974,  when  the 
next  fiscal  year  begins.  Howard  Habeg- 
ger,  com  executive  secretary,  said  the 
salary  adjustments  would  increase  the 
budget  by  $43,000  to  $45,000. 

“In  most  cases,  this  would  not  be  a 
real  increase  in  salary,  just  an  attempt 
to  keep  pace  with  inflation  and  deval- 
uation,” he  said. 

Commission  members  are  asking  the 
General  Board  to  approve  a special  em- 
phasis in  the  fall  to  inform  the  con- 
stituency of  com’s  financial  dilemma. 
The  commission  members  committed 
themselves  to  speak  in  churches  in  their 


area  this  fall  explaining  the  effect  of 
devaluation  and  inflation  on  the  over- 
seas mission  program. 

Com  is  also  issuing  a renewed  call 
for  overseas  workers. 

Mr.  Habegger  said  all  Mennonite 
church  agencies  have  been  experiencing 
a downward  trend  in  applications.  Com, 
he  said,  has  been  able  to  fill  all  requests 
from  overseas,  but  new  requests  are 
coming  and  the  commission  wants  to 
reactivate  and  upgrade  its  recruitment, 
especially  among  General  Conference 
young  people. 

The  commission  plans  to  arrange 
summer  programs  that  will  interest  col- 
lege and  university  students  and  short- 
term assignments  for  young  people  un- 
decided about  a long-term  vocation. 

The  commission  also  spent  consider- 
able time  discussing  the  visit  of  a four- 
member  delegation  to  India  Mennonite 
churches  in  August  and  September. 

The  delegation  was  given  authority 
to  make  decisions  on  the  field  together 
with  mission  and  church  bodies  in  India 
on  behalf  of  the  commission. 

Although  the  commission  does  not 
want  to  release  the  delegation’s  agenda 
until  the  mission  conference  and  church 
conference  in  India  have  had  oppor- 
tunity to  offer  agendas,  the  major  topics 


for  discussion  and  decision  making  will 
probably  be  mission-church  relationships, 
the  role  of  institutions  such  as  hospitals 
and  schools,  future  missionary  presence 
in  India,  and  the  future  direction  of  the 
work  there. 

The  commission  has  said  it  wants  a 
continuing  missionary  presence  in  India 
if  the  church  conference  desires  it. 

At  present,  the  Bharatiya  Mennonite 
Church  Conference  is  run  by  national 
leaders  and  pays  ministers’  salaries, 
among  other  responsibilities.  The  mis- 
sion conference,  which  runs  the  insti- 
tutions, has  about  half  missionaries  and 
half  national  church  leaders  on  its 
boards. 

Also  planned  by  the  commission  at 
its  midyear  meeting  was  a missionary 
orientation  and  retreat  April  18-21,  1974. 
The  retreat,  the  first  of  its  kind  since 
1965,  will  include  all  missionaries  on 
furlough,  missionary  candidates,  com- 
mission members,  com  staff,  and  several 
resource  people. 

Mr.  Habegger  said  the  retreat  would 
allow  missionaries  to  interact  with  others 
at  the  retreat,  let  staff  interpret  com 
policies,  provide  time  for  fellowship  and 
prayer,  strengthen  missionary  identity, 
and  give  time  to  work  on  interpersonal 
relationships. 


Peace  missioner  denied  South  Africa  visa 


John  Rees,  general  secretary  of  the  South 
Africa  Council  of  Churches  (sacc)  ex- 
pressed deep  regret  June  15  that  the 
visa  for  the  Mennonite  peace  missioner 
:o  South  Africa  was  denied.  The  South 
African  Government  gave  no  reasons 
:or  the  refusal. 

The  sacc  had  invited  William  Keen- 
ly, provost  at  Bethel  College,  North 
Vewton,  Kansas,  to  spend  two  years  as 
t theological  resource  person  in  the 
•acc’s  newly  formed  Division  of  Justice 
md  Reconciliation.  Tasks  of  the  divi- 
ion  include  efforts  to  eradicate  racism 
jvithin  South  African  churches,  to  im- 
prove black  wages  in  church  employ, 
md  to  encourage  black  leadership. 

As  an  alternative  assignment,  Mr. 
Ceeney  will  spend  one  year  researching 


and  writing  for  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee Peace  Section. 

Mr.  Keeney  would  have  worked  close- 
ly with  South  African  churches  on  peace 
issues.  Sacc  requested  that  he  do  ex- 
tensive research  on  “Historical  and  con- 
temporary perspectives  and  analysis  of 
Christian  responses  to  violence  in  South- 
ern Africa.”  The  council  also  hoped  that 
Mr.  Keeney  could  share  the  Anabaptist- 
Mennonite  experience  in  conscientious 
objection  to  military  service.  Such  in- 
formation could  provide  insight  for  South 
African  churches  as  they  deal  with  a 
government  which  makes  no  provision 
for  alternative  service. 

The  peace  missioner  project,  one  of 
numerous  involvements  of  Mennonites 
and  Brethren  in  Christ  in  southern  Af- 


rica, was  initiated  by  representatives  of 
Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission,  Eastern 
Mennonite  Board  of  Missions  and  Char- 
ities, and  mcc  in  1972.  The  idea,  passed 
on  to  the  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in 
Christ  Southern  Africa  task  force,  was 
an  attempt  to  respond  to  human  need 
and  to  testify  to  the  gospel  of  peace 
and  love. 

“We  will  continue  our  belief  that  the 
oppressor  as  well  as  the  oppressed  must 
be  loved  and  reconciled,”  explained  Ray 
Brubacher,  mcc  (Africa)  director. 

Mennonite  efforts  for  justice  and  rec- 
onciliation in  southern  Africa  will  con- 
tinue. Fifty-one  mcc  workers  as  well  as 
mission  board  personnel  are  serving  in 
Botswana,  Swaziland,  and  Lesotho.  Gayle 
Gerber  Koontz 


HE  MENNONITE 


461 


Signs  of  polarization  diminish  at  Edmonton 


Over  600  delegates  and  guests,  a record 
number,  registered  for  this  year’s  five- 
day  convention  of  the  Conference  of 
Mennonites  in  Canada.  Their  meeting 
room  on  the  University  of  Alberta  cam- 
pus in  Edmonton  was  filled  to  over- 
flowing at  almost  every  session,  but  the 
crowded  auditorium  and  the  even  more 
tightly  packed  agenda  didn’t  deter  many 
of  the  participants  from  declaring  it  to 
be  one  of  the  most  fruitful  and  enjoy- 
able conventions  they  had  attended  in 
recent  years. 

The  debates  were  vigorous  and  thor- 
ough, but  the  delegates  maintained  their 
good  humor.  Applause  and  laughter  punc- 
tuated the  deliberations  regularly.  De- 
spite strongly  stated  arguments  for  and 
against  various  controversial  issues  which 
arose,  the  delegate  body  did  not  appear 
to  become  polarized  as  it  had  done  so 
often  at  recent  conventions. 

When  the  conference  concluded  on 


July  11,  the  following  were  some  of  the 
decisions  that  had  been  made  by  the 
delegates: 

— The  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  Col- 
lege, Winnipeg,  was  given  the  go-ahead 
on  a $265,000  project  to  add  a new 
wing  to  its  classroom  building  and  to 
renovate  parts  of  the  existing  structure 
to  provide  more  adequate  music  and 
recreational  facilities.  The  result  of  the 
ballot  vote  on  this  question  was  498  yes 
and  185  no. 

— The  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
(Canada)  was  encouraged  to  proceed 
with  the  establishment  of  an  “Ottawa 
presence”  to  serve  Mennonite  groups 
in  such  areas  as  research,  governmental 
contacts,  and  news  about  upcoming  de- 
velopments on  the  federal  scene  about 
which  the  Mennonite  churches  should 
be  informed.  The  delegates  voted  af- 
firmatively on  this  question  by  a margin 
of  395  to  226.  This  matter  will  be  on 


the  mcc  (Canada)  board’s  agenda  in 
January  1974. 

— A budget  of  $488,000  was  adopted' 
for  1974.  This  is  an  increase  of  36  per-; 
cent  over  the  conference’s  total  actual 
income  in  1972.  Part  of  the  increase  is 
being  caused  by  inflation,  but  there  were; 
also  major  program  expansions  approved' 
for  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission.  Some! 
delegates  doubted  that  they  could  sell)* 
their  congregations  on  such  a large  jump, 
but  the  budget  was  given  the  conven-i 
tion’s  blessing  by  a vote  of  572-98. 

— The  Congregational  Resources  Board' 
floated  a trial  balloon  concerning  all 
nationwide  every  home  plan  for  pub-j 
lications.  It  proposed  that  it  would  come,, 
to  the  1974  convention  with  a plan  tos 
provide  each  household  with  the  oppor-: 
tunity  to  get  one  conference-related  pe- 
riodical of  its  choice  free,  either  Der 
Bote,  Mennonite  reporter,  or  The  Men- 
nonite. The  board  indicated  that  such 
a plan  might  cost  $100,000  a year,  but 
that  a good  portion  of  that  figure  was; 
already  being  raised.  An  amendment  de- 
leted the  motion’s  reference  to  a possible 
financial  formula,  leaving  the  board  only 
with  authorization  “to  promote  an  ev- 
ery family  unit  plan”  for  the  three  pub-! 
lications. 

— The  Mennonite  Foundation  of  Can-i 
ada,  a new  inter-Mennonite  organization) 
to  which  the  conference  belongs,  was 
reaffirmed.  Criticism  had  come  from 
several  sectors  of  the  conference  after, 
the  agreement  to  participate  in  the  foun- 
dation had  been  reached.  D.  P.  Neufeld, 
Virgil,  Ontario,  chairman  of  the  founda- 
tion, carefully  explained  the  organiza- 
tion’s intentions.  The  delegates  voted! 
their  approval  of  the  foundation’s  di- 
rection. Later  they  elected  ten  persons 
to  serve  on  its  twenty-four-member 
board.  The  three  other  conferences 
which  belong  to  the  foundation  elect 
the  remaining  fourteen  board  members. 

— Two  small  northern  churches,  one 
in  Thompson,  Manitoba,  and  the  other 
in  Flatrock,  British  Columbia,  were  ac- 
cepted into  membership  by  the  confer-; 
ence.  It  now  has  148  congregations,  with! 
a total  membership  of  22,000  on  its; 
rolls. 

— All  ten  of  the  communities  in  which 
Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission  is  working! 
in  Manitoba — eight  rural  and  two  urban) 
locations  - — - were  represented  at  this 
year’s  convention.  Three  Indian  Menno- 
nite pastors,  Spoat  Owen  and  Jacob  Ow- 
en of  Pauingassi  and  Jeremiah  Ross  of 


A chain,  cross,  and  crown  were  symbols  on  the  stage  for  the  Canadian  conference’ s 
worship  service  Sunday,  July  8.  Three  speakers,  Tina  Block,  Erland  Waltner,  and 
David  Ewert,  developed  portions  of  the  conference  theme,  “Freedom  with  purpose,” 
in  their  morning  presentations.  At  the  afternoon  session,  several  choirs  sang  and  a 
group  of  players  from  Edmonton  presented  a reading  drama  of  “The  Vietnam  call 
of  Samuel  U.  Reimer,”  a chapter  from  Rudy  Wiebe’s  novel,  The  blue  mountains  of 
China.  Dr.  David  Ewert,  who  is  a faculty  member  at  Eastern  Mennonite  College, 
Virginia,  also  presented  two  lectures  on  the  Holy  Spirit  at  Saturday’s  ministers’  and 
deacons’  conference. 


462 


AUGUST  7,  1973 


Screen  'Superstar'  stirs  controversy 


Even  before  its  release,  controversy  over  alleged  anti-Semitic  elements  in  the  movie 
version  of  Jesus  Christ  superstar  has  broken  out.  A group  of  nine  major  Jewish 

organizations  castigated  the  film — scheduled  to  open  in  New  York  this  month 

for  alleged  fostering  anti-Semitic  stereotypes  and  said  that  its  portrayal  of  Judas 
as  a black  man  who  was  “the  dupe  of  wily  Jewish  priests”  could  damage  black- 
Jewish  relations.  However,  in  an  analysis  published  in  the  ecumenical  weekly,  Chris- 
tian century,  editor  James  Wall  declared  that  the  movie  is  “in  no  way  anti-Semitic .” 
Mr.  Wall,  a United  Methodist  clergyman,  further  stated  that  “any  charges  of  anti- 
Semitism  leveled  against  this  film  be  based  not  on  ‘Superstar’  itself,  but  on  feelings 
generated  by  earlier  portrayals  of  Jews  as  ‘Christ-killers.’  ” Above,  Judas,  who  is 
played  by  Carl  Anderson,  touches  Jesus.  Directed  by  Norman  Jewison  and  released 
by  Universal  Pictures,  the  production  was  filmed  in  Israel. 


Cross  Lake,  were  present.  Through  the 
appropriation  of  extra  funds  for  both 
the  1973  and  1974  budgets,  the  confer- 
ence approved  mpm’s  move  into  the 
new  undertakings.  It  will  join  with  the 
North  Battleford  (Saskatchewan)  Men- 
nonite  Church  in  appointing  the  con- 
gregation’s new  pastor,  Dave  Neufeld, 
to  a part-time  ministry  among  the  native 
people  in  the  North  Eattleford  area. 
Mpm  has  also  appointed  one  of  its  vet- 
eran workers,  Henry  Neufeld  of  Winni- 
peg, formerly  of  Pauingassi,  to  an  itin- 
erant ministry  among  Indian  communi- 
ties. 

— Special  recognition  was  given  to 
half  a dozen  persons  at  the  convention. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  J.  J.  Thiessen  of  Saska- 
toon were  honored  for  their  years  of 
inspirational  leadership  in  the  conference 
and  their  faithful  participation.  P.  R. 
Harder,  who  is  retiring  from  the  cmbc 
staff  after  having  served  for  fourteen 
years  as  business  manager,  and  lohn  R. 
Dyck,  who  has  resigned  as  manager  of 
Mennonite  Foundation,  were  acknowl- 
edged for  their  service.  In  the  memorial 
service  led  by  Jacob  Letkemann  of  Win- 
nipeg, three  women  who  died  during  the 
past  year  were  cited  in  a special  way 
for  their  dedication,  integrity,  and  devo- 
tion. He  lauded  the  outstanding  example 
which  women  such  as  the  late  Elizabeth 
and  Katherine  Peters  of  Winnipeg  and 
Mrs.  David  Schultz  of  Altona,  Manitoba, 
provide  for  the  church,  often  with  in- 
adequate recognition. 

The  convention  was  not  entirely  with- 
out major  disappointments,  however. 
Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission  leaders  were 
keenly  disappointed  by  the  conference’s 
failure  to  approve  their  recommenda- 
tion to  change  the  name  of  their  board. 

Mpm  was  chided  at  the  conference’s 
1969  sessions  by  an  Indian  spokesman 
for  continuing  to  use  the  words  “mis- 
sion” and  “pioneer”  in  its  name.  The 
ooard  immediately  began  the  process  of 
inding  a new  name  which  would  be 
noth  functional  and  acceptable  to  the 
dative  people. 

; At  last  year’s  convention  in  Waterloo, 
Ontario,  it  gave  notice  of  motion  that 
t would  seek  approval  in  1973  to  change 
ts  name  to  Native  Ministries,  Confer- 
ence of  Mennonites  in  Canada. 

After  only  brief  discussion  at  this 
rear’s  conference,  during  which  one  del- 
egate questioned  the  use  of  the  word 
i native”  and  another  called  the  suggest- 
ed new  name  “uncreative,”  the  matter 
was  referred  to  a task  force  which  is 
preparing  a new  conference  constitution 
lor  consideration  in  1975.  The  name 


change  will  thus  be  delayed  at  least  two 
more  years. 

In  an  interview  after  the  meeting, 
Menno  Wiebe,  mpm’s  executive  secre- 
tary, expressed  dismay  at  the  delegates’ 
reluctance  to  consider  the  name  change, 
which  he  said  was  urgently  needed. 

Mr.  Wiebe  said  the  quick  rejection  of 
the  proposal  could  be  interpreted  as  an- 
other illustration  of  white  people’s  in- 
ability to  abandon  their  notion  of  the 
“frontier  hypothesis.”  When  white  people 
use  the  word  “pioneering,”  he  explained, 
they  think  of  it  as  a virtue.  But  when 
Indians  hear  white  people  use  this  term, 
they  think  of  the  displacement  of  their 
people  which  usually  came  as  a conse- 
quence of  the  white  man’s  so-called 
pioneering.  There  is  also  a mystique 
about  “missions,”  he  said,  which  people 
seem  reluctant  to  give  up  in  favor  of 
a brotherhood  approach  to  witnessing 
to  people  of  other  cultures. 

In  floor  and  other  small  group  dis- 
cussions, mpm  was  asked  when  churches 


which  it  had  helped  bring  into  existence 
would  be  invited  to  full-fledged  member- 
ship in  the  conference.  The  suggestion 
was  also  made  that  room  should  be 
made  on  the  mpm  board  for  Indian  rep- 
resentation. No  action  was  taken  on 
these  suggestions. 

The  conference  reelected  its  executive 
for  another  year.  Jake  Tilitzky,  Abbots- 
ford, British  Columbia,  is  chairman; 
Peter  Retzlaff,  Coaldale,  Alberta,  vice- 
chairman;  and  Menno  Epp,  Calgary, 
secretary. 

The  conference’s  three  boards  reor- 
ganized at  Edmonton.  Two  of  them 
chose  new  chairmen.  Jake  Harms,  Win- 
nipeg, is  the  new  chairman  of  the  Con- 
gregational Resources  Board;  and  Fred 
Unruh,  Regina,  was  named  chairman 
of  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission.  They 
succeed  Walter  Franz,  Swift  Current, 
and  Ike  Froese,  Winnipeg,  respectively. 
John  Neufeld,  Winnipeg,  was  chosen  to 
continue  as  chairman  of  the  Bible  col- 
lege board.  Larry  Kehler 


HE  MENNONITE 


463 


Politics  of  small  steps— will  trust  come? 

Peter  J.  Dyck 


In  his  television  address  to  the  American 
people  on  June  24,  Soviet  leader  Leonid 
I.  Brezhnev  emphasized  that  the  new 
era  of  peace  and  goodwill  between  the 
Soviet  Union  and  the  United  States  has 
begun.  The  week  of  intense  discussion 
and  negotiations  between  the  leaders  of 
the  two  superpowers  ended  with  the 
signing  of  four  major  agreements  in  the 
fields  of  transportation,  oceanography, 
agriculture,  and  culture. 

Conspicuously  absent  from  the  dis- 
cussions between  Mr.  Brezhnev  and  Mr. 
Nixon  was  any  reference  to  religion.  If 
the  two  leaders  did  talk  about  religion, 
the  public  was  not  told  about  it. 

“The  main  purport  of  all  that  we  dis- 
cussed and  agreed  upon  with  President 
Nixon,”  said  Brezhnev,  the  general  sec- 
retary of  the  Soviet  Communist  Party, 
“is  the  firm  determination  of  both  sides 
to  make  good  relations  between  the  USSR 
and  the  USA  a permanent  factor  of  in- 
ternational peace.” 

Simon  Winchester  of  the  Manchester 
guardian  suggests  that  the  meetings  of 
the  two  leaders  of  state,  which  “posi- 
tively dripped  with  affability  and  good 
cheer,”  were  in  reality  “pure  Hollywood.” 

Hollywood  or  not,  most  Americans 
were  not  amused.  Perhaps  they  regarded 
the  speeches  as  mere  political  rhetoric. 
Perhaps  they  do  not  trust  that  the  agree- 
ments will  stick.  Perhaps  they  are  more 
interested  in  the  application  of  basic 
human  rights  within  the  Soviet  Union. 

Paul  Lindstrom,  executive  director  of 
the  Christian  Defense  League,  shouted, 
“Free  Soviet  Christians!”  as  Mr.  Brezh- 
nev’s limousine  passed  from  the  heli- 
copter landing  to  the  White  House. 

Thousands  of  American  Jews  attempt- 
ed to  deliver  an  age-old  message  to  Mr. 
Brezhnev  on  Sunday,  June  17,  the  day 
of  his  arrival  in  America.  It  was  the 
ancient  biblical  cry,  “Let  my  people  go!” 
first  heard  by  Pharaoh  in  Egypt.  The 
demonstrators  marched  peacefully 
through  the  streets  of  Washington,  halt- 
ing for  speeches  in  the  center  of  the 
Capitol.  In  their  speeches  they  demand- 
ed a “standardization  of  emigration  pro- 
cedures” for  Russian  Jews  and  an  end 
to  alleged  secret  police  harassment  and 
imprisonment. 

These  and  similar  voices  in  the  West 
either  cannot  comprehend  or  will  not 
admit  that  international  agreements  in 
the  fields  of  arms  control,  trade,  and 
culture  can  be  negotiated  without  touch- 


ing on  the  domestic  affairs  of  either 
of  the  participating  nations.  Buying 
wheat  is  one  thing,  liberalizing  emigra- 
tion laws  is  another. 

The  people  of  the  West  who  want  to 
block  trade  and  other  agreements  until 
Russia  gives  its  people  greater  personal 
freedom  are,  of  course,  engaging  in  pol- 
itics. It  seems  right  for  America  to  use 
wheat  and  chemical  fertilizers,  and  even 
reduction  of  the  arms  race,  as  a lever 
to  obtain  greater  freedoms,  including 
freedom  of  worship  and  emigration,  for 
Russian  Christians  and  Jews,  writers  and 
artists.  For  Americans  the  church  and 
the  state  are  in  effect  the  same  thing. 

This  is  the  kind  of  language  that  the 
Soviets  themselves  speak  and  should 
therefore  be  able  to  understand.  Although 
Article  124  of  the  Soviet  Constitution 
says  that  “in  order  to  ensure  the  citizen 
freedom  of  conscience,  the  church  in 
the  USSR  is  separated  from  the  state 
and  the  school  from  the  church,”  in  ac- 
tual fact,  the  Soviet  state  is  continually 
interfering  in  the  affairs  of  the  church. 
And  not  merely  interfering,  but  delib- 
erately trying  to  destroy  it.  It  is  com- 
mon knowledge  that  atheism  is  a funda- 
mental tenet  of  Communist  ideology. 
Suppression  of  religious  beliefs  of  all 


kinds  whether  Christian,  Hebrew,  or 
Islamic,  is  an  explicit  policy  of  the  Com-' 
munist  Party.  The  fact  that  there  arej 
open  and  crowded  churches,  mosques, j 
and  synagogues  in  Russia  in  no  way: 
changes  this  basic  negative  government 
policy. 

Why  that  is  so  and  how  it  all  hap- 
pened is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  brief 
article.  But  greater  acquaintance  with 
the  facts  of  history  would  lead  Chris- 
tians in  the  West  to  a better  understand- 
ing and  possibly  to  changed  attitudes. 
To  accept,  for  example,  the  definition 
that  Communism  is  judgment  can  to- 
tally change  one’s  feelings  about  Russia. 
Had  the  church  in  Russia  through  the 
centuries  been  faithful  to  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Communist  revolution  of  1917  wouldj! 
probably  never  have  taken  place. 

Long  before  Communism,  with  itsj 
slogan  that  religion  is  an  opiate  for  the 
people,  came  with  its  deliberate  attempt}! 
to  “free”  people  from  the  superstitions 
of  religion,  Leo  Tolstoy  lamented  the 
deplorable  condition  of  the  church  in 
his  native  Russia.  In  The  kingdom  oj 
God  is  within  you,  he  says  Christians 
are  obliged  to  believe  in  “savage  super- 
stitions, and  any  attempt  to  free  them 
from  these  savage  superstitions  is  zeal- 


464 


AUGUST  7,  1973 


ously  guarded  against.”  For  example, 
the  church  demanded  that  parents  bap- 
tize their  child  “under  the  threat  of 
punishment  for  nonfulfillment — that  is, 
that  it  must  be  dipped  three  times  in 
water  by  the  priest,  while  certain  words 
are  read  that  nobody  understands,  and 
certain  still  more  incomprehensible  ac- 
tions are  performed:  the  smearing  of 
various  parts  of  the  body  with  oil,  and 
a shearing  of  the  hair  while  the  god- 
parents blow  and  spit  on  an  imaginary 
devil.  All  this  is  to  purify  the  child  and 
make  him  a Christian.” 

When  similar  scandalous  conditions 
existed  in  the  Catholic  Church  in  west- 
ern Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
Reformation  swept  through  the  land 
bringing  in  new  life.  But  no  such  Refor- 
mation came  to  the  vast  Orthodox 
Church  of  Russia.  It  continued  in  its 
idolatry  until  1917,  when  Communism 
came  along  and  declared  the  church  ob- 
solete and  dangerous. 

Tolstoy  had  exposed  the  decay  of  the 
church  in  Russia  long  before,  but  no- 
body listened  to  him.  “Before  my  eyes,” 
he  said.  “Christ’s  teaching  and  his  own 
words  about  nonresistance  were  made 
the  subject  of  ridicule  and  jests  for  many 
years,  and  the  churchmen  not  only  raised 
no  opposition,  they  even  encouraged  that 
scoffing  at  sacred  things.  . . . What  is 
taught  is  simply  an  idolatrous  external 
cult.” 

When  Mr.  Brezhnev  came  to  Wash- 
ington to  negotiate  agreements,  it  was 
a foregone  conclusion  that  these  would 
not  touch  on  the  church  or  on  the  treat- 
ment of  believers  in  the  Soviet  Union. 
For  certain  persons  in  the  West  to  have 
expected  otherwise  may  have  been  naive. 
The  four  agreements  that  were  signed 
cover  five  years  of  cooperation  in  trans- 
portation, agriculture,  and  oceanography, 
and  6V2  years  of  cooperation  in  a cul- 
tural and  educational  program.  In  the 
meantime,  the  church  continues  to  be  a 
thorn  in  the  flesh  for  the  government 
of  the  USSR. 

Nevertheless  these  agreements,  and 
others  that  are  to  follow,  could  be  the 
beginning  of  new  relationships  between 
capitalist  America  and  communist  Rus- 
sia. It  could  signal  the  end  of  the  cold 
war  and  the  beginning  of  a new  era,  if 
not  of  mutual  trust  and  friendship,  at 
least  of  cooperation  and  dialog.  In 
his  television  speech  Mr.  Brezhnev  said: 

| “Mankind  has  outgrown  the  rigid  ‘cold 
war’  armor  which  it  was  formed  to  wear. 
It  wants  to  breathe  freely  and  peace- 
j fully.” 

Though  these  agreements  are  no  great 


bold  steps  forward,  they  are  clear  in 
their  intent.  They  are  saying  that  it  is 
better  for  the  two  giants  to  cooperate 
than  to  fight  each  other.  For  that  we 
must  be  thankful.  That  it  will  take  many 
years,  yes  decades,  to  clear  the  poison 
out  of  the  atmosphere,  to  build  mutual 
trust  and  goodwill  is  self-evident.  The 
beginning  is  made  on  the  only  basis  pos- 
sible, the  sharing  and  trading  of  goods 
and  services  to  the  mutual  advantage  of 
both  partners.  That  this  will  ultimately 
lead  to  the  narrowing  of  the  gulf  be- 
tween the  people  of  the  USSR  and  the 
USA  is  the  great  hope  of  people  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic. 

And  when  that  happens,  other  things 
can  happen  also.  James  Reston,  writing 
in  the  New  York  times,  says,  “Even  per- 
sonal freedom,  which  seems  to  terrify 
the  Communists  more  than  atomic  wea- 
pons, is  making  a little  slow  progress  as 
a result  of  these  talks.”  He  was,  of 
course,  referring  to  the  fact  that  Jews  in 
greater  number  were  permitted  to  leave 
the  Soviet  Union  because  of  pressure 
from  the  West. 

The  Brezhnev  visit  and  the  agree- 
ments made  must  be  seen  against  the 
backdrop  of  other  alternatives.  Isolation 
is  always  one  alternative.  Just  turn  the 
back,  as  was  done  on  China  for  many 
years,  and  pretend  the  problem  is  gone. 
Another  alternative  is  to  continue  the 
cold  war.  A third  alternative,  and  one 
too  ghastly  to  imagine,  is  to  let  the  two 
superpowers  fight  it  out  with  all  the 
arsenal  at  their  disposal. 

There  is  yet  another  way,  that  of  the 
politics  of  small  steps.  However  small 
the  steps  may  be,  they  are  at  least  in 
the  direction  of  cooperation  and  perhaps 
one  day  also  mutual  trust.  What  we  are 
witnessing  is  not  the  ideal  situation  but 
perhaps  it  is  the  only  sensible  course  at 
this  time.  Says  James  Reston,  “After 


all,  an  isolated  and  frustrated  Soviet 
Union  with  enough  atomic  weapons  to 
blow  up  the  world  is  not  a very  happy 
prospect.” 

What  can  I do?  It  may  seem  like  a 
strange  question  to  ask  what  one  ordi- 
nary person  can  do  in  a world  situation 
that  baffles  and  frightens  millions  of 
people.  But  there  are  some  things  that 
we  can  do.  Consider,  for  example,  the 
following: 

— Be  informed.  There  is  no  premium 
on  ignorance.  Too  often  people  are  down 
on  something  they  are  not  up  on.  Many 
Christians  in  North  America  are  as  ig- 
norant of  the  church  in  Russia  today 
as  the  pious  peasant  in  Russia  in  czarist 
days  was  ignorant  of  the  gospel  and  the 
true  nature  of  the  church.  Ignorance 
ultimately  leads  to  destruction. 

— Seek  person-to-person  contact.  The 
new  cultural  agreements  include  increas- 
ed tourism.  Why  not  take  advantage 
of  travel  and  combine  the  pleasant  with 
the  useful?  In  person-to-person  encount- 
ers misunderstandings  can  be  cleared  up, 
prejudices  overcome,  and  new  bridges 
of  confidence  built. 

— Find  legitimate,  tangible,  and  con- 
crete ways  of  expressing  concerns  with- 
out engaging  in  politics.  The  fact  that 
some  people,  not  only  in  Russia,  view 
everything  through  political  glasses  does 
not  change  the  fact  that  as  members  of 
the  body  of  Christ  we  dare  demonstrate 
a stance  and  life-style  that  transcends 
all  political,  economic,  and  racial  boun- 
daries. We  have  not  been  as  creative  in 
this  area  as  we  should  have  been. 

— Pray.  Christians  in  the  West  are  not 
concerned  enough  about  Christians  in 
socialist  countries.  Our  basic  unity  in 
Christ  is  too  often  ignored.  We  have  for- 
gotten about  our  brother  and  our  sister 
struggling  to  be  faithful  to  Christ  and 
the  Church  in  a Communist  society. 


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This  former  Bureau  of  Indian  Affairs  school  is  now  operated  by  the  Northern  Cheyenne 
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following  teachers: 

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High  school  principal  Business  and  commercial 

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Guidance  counselor 

Contact  superintendent  of  Busby  School  (406)  592-3646,  Busby,  Montana. 


THE  MENNONITE 


465 


City  church  combines  colors,  denominations 


The  atmosphere  is  one  of  a country 
church,  said  one  member;  but  the  con- 
gregation’s members’  heterogeneity  and 
involvements  in  city  problems  reflect 
the  urban  setting  of  the  Trinity  United 
Church  (Mennonite-Presbyterian)  in  Ok- 
lahoma City. 

Asking  people,  “What  do  you  like  best 
about  Trinity  Church?”  most  often 
brought  responses  about  the  fellowship, 
the  warmth  and  friendliness — and  the 
diversity. 

Much  of  the  diversity  in  Trinity 
Church  has  come  from  two  mergers  in 
the  last  thirteen  years.  The  first,  in  1960 
— the  one  church  members  still  refer  to 
as  “the  merger” — was  the  combining  of 
two  Presbyterian  congregations  in  Okla- 
homa City,  one  black  and  in  the  inner 
city,  the  other  white  and  in  an  area  that 
had  recently  become  black. 

The  second  merger  was  the  Menno- 
nite-Presbyterian union  in  January  1971. 
The  congregation  is  a member  of  both 
the  Washita  Presbytery  and  the  Western 
District  (Mennonite)  Conference  and 
has  two  pastors,  one  Mennonite  and  one 
Presbyterian. 

For  several  years  before  the  union, 
the  Western  District  had  tried  without 


Annette  McGlon: 

“.  . . understanding 
came  with  dialog.” 


success  to  establish  a separate  congre- 
gation. A voluntary  service  unit  was 
active. 

Most  people  in  the  congregation  were 
not  uneasy  about  the  cross-denomination- 
al merger,  since  only  a minority  grew 
up  as  Presbyterians  or  Mennonites.  Most 
are  former  Baptists  or  Catholics  or  Dis- 
ciples or  Methodists  or  Lutherans. 

Some  longtime  members  of  the  Trin- 
ity Church  do  notice  a few  changes  since 
the  union. 

“The  Mennonites  brought  us  a clearer 
definition  of  community  service,”  said 
Charles  McGlon. 

Doctrinal  differences  have  not  been  a 
major  point  of  difficulty. 

“One  Sunday  we  baptized  the  Men- 
nonite young  people  and  confirmed  the 
Presbyterian  young  people,”  said  James 


James  DeFriend: 
“.  . . accept  each 
other  the  way  we 
are.” 


DeFriend,  pastor.  “We  spend  more  time 
on  building  relationships  than  on  doc- 
trine. We  try  to  accept  each  other  the 
way  we  are.” 

Stan  Smucker,  associate  pastor,  agreed, 
“The  issue  is  people  relating  to  people.” 

“On  a couple  of  occasions  we  have 
faced  the  peace  issue  squarely,  but  it 
was  not  a bitter  thing,”  Mr.  DeFriend 
said. 

Also,  the  addition  of  “Mennonite” 
to  the  church’s  name  has  attracted  a 
number  of  young  couples  of  Mennonite 
background. 

Mr.  DeFriend  said  last  year  was  the 
best  year  for  growth  in  membership  in 


Stan  Smucker: 
‘‘The  issue  is  people 
relating  to 
people.” 


the  congregation’s  history — a net  gain 
of  twenty-nine.  Total  membership  is 
about  250. 

“Somehow  about  a year  ago,  six  or 
eight  young  families  found  out  about 
our  church,”  he  said. 

Most  of  the  new  members  are  young; 
about  half  are  white,  a fact  for  which 
members  are  glad. 

“When  the  churches  merged  (in  1960), 
our  friends  said,  ‘Just  give  them  a few 
years  and  the  church  will  be  all  black,’  ” 
reported  Rachel  Durham.  “We  were  on 
the  road  to  becoming  all  black.  Now 
it’s  changed  to  the  other  way  around 
almost.  Some  Sunday  mornings  it  looks 
as  if  we’re  in  the  minority.” 

No  one  actually  counts  the  congrega- 
tion in  terms  of  black  and  white  any- 
more. 

“We’ve  quit  establishing  quotas  for 
committees,”  said  Mr.  McGlon. 


But  there  are  some  estimates  about 
the  number  of  blacks  and  whites.  While 
the  congregation  was  80  percent  black- 
20  percent  white  a few  years  ago,  esti- 
mates on  the  black-white  ratio  now 
range  from  70-30  to  60-40. 

Although  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion may  be  diverse  in  some  ways,  they 
are  remarkably  homogenous  in  other 
ways.  Almost  all  members  are  profes- 
sionals— public  school  teachers,  univer- 
sity professors,  physicians,  social  work- 


Edna  Clay: 
‘‘Everybody  is  so 
warm  and  friendly. 
Even  kids  like  it.” 


ers.  Almost  all  live  in  the  predominantly 
black  northeast  quadrant  of  Oklahoma 
City  (where  the  church  building  is  lo- 
cated) or  in  the  middle-class-upper-mid-  1 
dle-class  northwest  quadrant. 

Many  of  them  see  the  congregation 
as  a body  of  concerned  people  who  can 
help  them  in  their  daily  work. 

On  a recent  Sunday  morning  in  July, 
some  members  working  with  urban  re- 
newal asked  the  adult  Sunday  school 
class  to  help  conduct  a survey  on  where 
residents  of  the  urban  renewal  area 
wanted  shopping  areas  to  be  located. 

Other  members  work  with  minority 
business  assistance,  alcoholism,  ex-offend- 
ers, a telephone  listening  service,  Bible 
school  in  a public  housing  project,  and 
a biracial  committee  to  monitor  the  in- 
tegration of  Oklahoma  City  schools.  Our 

Ralph  Ediger: 
‘‘This  is  one  way  of 
keeping  the 
Anabaptist  heritage 
without  a large 
outlay  of  capital.” 


Wonder  Flouse,  the  preschool  started 
with  the  help  of  Mennonite  volunteers, 
is  still  operating  with  support  from  the 
congregation. 

For  several  years  after  the  black-white 
merger,  the  congregation  conducted 


466 


AUGUST  7,  1973 


black-white  dialog  sessions  with  the  white 
church  in  Oklahoma  City. 

“A  lot  of  understanding  came  out  of 
that,”  said  Annette  McGlon.  “It  helped 
to  ease  school  integration  problems  for 
people  involved  in  the  dialog  groups.” 

“People  come  because  we  are  involved 
outside  the  church,”  said  Alice  Ediger, 
“not  because  our  services  are  ultramod- 
ern.” 

Although  worship  services  are  fairly 
traditional,  some  innovation  is  taking 
place. 

Last  Christmas  Mr.  DeFriend’s  son- 
in-law,  a Presbyterian  minister  in  Cali- 
fornia who  works  extensively  with  drama 
and  dance  in  his  own  congregation,  in- 


troduced the  idea  to  some  interested 
members  of  the  Trinity  Church. 

A drama-dance  group  was  immediate- 
ly formed  and  participated  in  several 
Sunday  morning  services  from  Lent 
through  Easter.  The  seven  women  and 
two  men  in  the  group  have  interpreted 
through  movement  such  songs  as  “Ho- 
sanna” and  “The  seven  last  words”  from 
Jesus  Christ  superstar  and  “Aquarius” 
and  a reading  from  John  1. 

“We  don’t  just  pick  any  song  and 
dance  to  it,”  said  Gene  King.  “We 
choose  a song  with  meaning.  We’ve  al- 
so done  several  short  calls  to  worship.” 

The  group  plans  to  begin  participat- 
ing in  the  services  again  in  the  fall. 


Another  concern  of  the  church  is  its 
building.  A fire  April  13  destroyed  most 
of  the  fellowship  wing,  and  a building 
committee  has  been  chosen  to  look  at 
the  options. 

The  congregation  has  found  problems 
with  its  racial  and  denominational  di- 
versity but  “there  are  joys,  too,”  said 
Mr.  Smucker. 

The  positive  comments  abounded  in 
interviews  with  members. 

Ralph  Ediger:  “We  want  to  keep  Men- 
nonitism  going  in  the  city.” 

Pam  King:  “I  feel  we’ve  got  a lot  of 
love  in  our  church.” 

Edna  Clay:  “You  feel  this  is  the  place 
you  really  belong.”  Lois  Barrett  Janzen 


Consultation  on  role  of  women  planned 


The  role  of  women  in  church  structures 
— on  local  and  conference  levels — will 
be  explored  and  recommendations  for 
action  made  at  a consultation  October 
25-27  in  the  Elkhart,  Indiana,  area. 

The  consultation,  called  for  by  the 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries  last 
February,  has  been  titled  “The  role  of 
women  in  our  church  today.”  Invited  to 
the  consultation  will  be  about  fifty  peo- 
ple— conference  leaders,  Women’s  Mis- 
sionary Association  officers,  seminary 
students,  and  others  in  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church. 

Preliminary  planning  calls  for  bib- 
lical teaching  on  the  role  of  women,  an 
exploration  of  the  role  of  women  in 
Anabaptist  history  and  theology,  and  a 


sharing  of  current  issues  regarding  wom- 
en in  the  General  Conference. 

The  consultation  will  be  asked  to: 

— examine  conference  and  congrega- 
tional structures  with  regard  to  the  par- 
ticipation of  women. 

— discover  gifts  and  talents  of  women 
which  have  not  been  freely  used  in  the 
church. 

— recommend  affirmative  action  to 
local  church  and  conference  structures. 

— initiate  follow-up  for  further  dis- 
cussion and  action. 

The  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
Peace  Section  assembly  in  November 
will  also  discuss  the  role  of  women  in 
the  church,  but  on  a more  general  level. 
The  October  consultation,  designed  for 


a smaller  group,  will  deal  more  spe- 
cifically with  the  General  Conference. 

Possible  areas  of  discussion  may  in- 
clude ordination,  the  relationship  of  the 
Women’s  Missionary  Association  to  the 
conference  structure,  male-female  stereo- 
types in  Christian  education,  male-fe- 
male roles  in  the  church,  and  utilization 
of  women’s  gifts. 

Planning  committee  for  the  consulta- 
tion includes  Lora  Oyer,  Chenoa,  Illi- 
nois; Martha  Nickel,  Saskatoon,  Sas- 
katchewan; Dorothy  Nickel  Friesen,  Elk- 
hart, Indiana;  Lois  Barrett  Janzen,  Wich- 
ita, Kansas;  and  Harold  Regier,  New- 
ton, Kansas,  secretary  for  peace  and  so- 
cial concerns  for  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries. 


AFRAM  seeks  to  bring  blacks  together 


Black  Mennonites  in  the  United  States, 
Jamaica,  the  Dominican  Republic,  and 
six  countries  in  Africa  will  join  Novem- 
ber 4-11  for  the  African  Afro-Americas 
Inter-Mennonite  Unity  Conference 
(afram)  in  Limuru,  Kenya. 

John  Powell  of  Elkhart,  Indiana,  ex- 
ecutive secretary  of  afram,  said  the  idea 
for  the  conference  originated  among 
| black  Mennonites  at  the  Ninth  Menno- 
i nite  World  Conference  in  Curitiba,  Bra- 
zil, last  year. 

“Africans  and  Afro-Americans  in  the 
j Mennonite  church  feel  a need  to  find 
ways  in  which  they  can  be  mutually 
beneficial  to  each  other,”  he  said.  “There 
are  needs  to  find  an  authentic  expression 
of  black  tradition  in  their  adopted 
church.  Likewise,  there  is  a need  to  find 
common  ways  to  work  at  strategies  for 
black  church  development.  It  is  the  be- 


lief of  black  Mennonites  that  there  are 
similarities  and  commonalities  among 
them.” 

He  said  black  Mennonites  have  had 
an  increased  awareness  of  Pan-African- 
ism, and  North  Americans  have  become 
more  aware  of  their  African  ancestry. 
This  has  led  black  people  in  the  Menno- 
nite church  to  plan  for  bridging  the  gaps 
among  them. 

Resource  persons  will  be  Hubert 
Brown,  William  Pannell,  John  Powell, 
and  Ed  Riddick,  U.S.;  Samuel  Walters, 
Jamaica;  Million  Belete,  Asrat  Gebre, 
and  Negash  Kebede,  Ethiopia;  Don  Ja- 
cobs, Kenya;  Tshilembu  Kashkish  Wa 
Kabahba  and  Clement  Mutombo,  Zaire; 
and  Zedekiah  Kisare  and  Daniel  Mtoka, 
Tanzania. 

Some  white  as  well  as  black  delegates 
will  be  present. 


Agenda  for  the  weeklong  conference 
will  include  identification  of  cultural 
patterns,  development  of  a black  Chris- 
tian education  curriculum,  development 
of  techniques  of  evangelism  and  black 
world  ministry,  the  church  and  economic 
developments,  leadership  training,  inte- 
gration of  authentic  cultural  patterns 
with  Mennonite  tradition,  the  role  of 
the  church  in  social  issues,  the  black 
Mennonite  church’s  role  in  pacifism,  and 
the  role  of  the  church  in  liberation. 

The  planning  committee  for  the  con- 
ference includes  Asrat  Gebre,  Addis  Ab- 
aba, Ethiopia;  Isaac  Sackey,  Accra, 
Ghana;  P.  M.  Khumalo,  Bulawaya,  Rho- 
desia; and  Hubert  Brown,  Elkhart,  In- 
diana. 

North  American  Mennonite  denomi- 
nations are  being  asked  to  appoint  dele- 
gates to  afram. 


THE  MENNONITE 


467 


RECORD 


Calendar 


Aug.  16-17  — Mennonite-Brethren  in 
Christ  Indian  gathering,  Bloomfield,  N.M. 

Aug.  16-17 — General  Board  midyear 
meeting,  Wichita,  Kans. 

Aug.  18-28 — Graduate  summer  sem- 
inar, Youth  Village,  White  Pigeon,  Mich. 
Northern 

Sept.  8-9  — Women’s  retreat,  Swan 
Lake  Christian  Camp,  S.D. 

Pacific 

Sept.  22-23 — Seventy-fifth  anniversary, 
First  Church,  Paso  Robles,  Calif. 

Workers 


Stuart  Boehr,  Newton,  Kans.,  has  been 
appointed  instructor  in  instrumental  mu- 
sic, piano,  and  organ  at  Freeman  Junior 
College,  Freeman,  S.D.  A native  of  Hen- 
derson, Neb.,  Mr.  Boehr  is  a graduate 
of  Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kans., 
and  is  presently  a graduate  student  at 
Wichita  State  University,  Wichita,  Kans. 

Peter  and  Gladys  Buller,  Deep  Run 


Church,  Bedminster,  Pa.,  will  return 
to  Zaire  under  Africa  Inter-Menno- 
nite  Mission  as  teachers  at  the  Theo- 
logical Institute  of  Kinshasa.  Peter  has 
received  degrees  at  Goshen  College  and 
the  Biblical  Seminary  of  New  York.  He 
has  also  attended  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary  and  Princeton  Theological  Sem- 
inary. Gladys  received  degrees  at  Bethel 
College,  Grace  Bible  Institute,  and  the 
Biblical  Seminary  of  New  York  and  has 
attended  Kletzing  College.  They  will 
leave  for  Zaire  on  August  11. 

Virgil  Clacissen,  Newton,  Kans.,  has 
been  named  business  manager  of  the 
Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminar- 
ies, beginning  Aug.  15.  He  succeeds 
Marlyn  Fast,  who  has  accepted  a re- 
sponsibility in  business  accounting  and 
management  at  Oaklawn  Center  in  Elk- 
hart. Mr.  Claassen,  now  director  of  the 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  regional 
office  at  North  Newton,  Kans.,  has 
served  with  mcc  since  1965  as  director 
of  the  mcc  agricultural  program  in  Crete 
and  director  for  Jordan.  He  is  a 1965 
graduate  of  Bethel  College,  North  New- 


Conference  budget 


$2,250,000 

2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 

1,000,000 

750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


J FMAMJ  JASOND 

June  receipts  as  well  as  those  for  May  were  a bit  disappointing.  The  relatively  large 
increase  experienced  during  the  first  four  months  has  not  held  in  May  and  June.  In 
terms  of  budget  percentage,  we  are  about  1 percent  behind  the  same  period  in  1972. 
This  is  not  serious  now  but  may  become  serious  for  programs  abroad  in  light  of  the 
dollar  devaluation.  Wm.  L.  Friesen,  conference  treasurer 


ton,  Kans.,  with  a major  in  business  ad- 
ministration. 


Claassen 

Dev  and  Doris  Lin  Devadoss  of  Cal- 
cutta, India,  are  volunteers  in  Vietnam 
Christian  Service.  Mr.  Devadoss,  a lab- 
oratory technician,  has  previously  served 
at  the  mcc  hospital  in  Nha  Trang.  Ms. 
Devadoss  was  an  mcc  trainee  in  the  U.S. 
in  1969-70. 

Roland  Fisch,  an  anthropologist  on 
the  faculty  of  Eastern  Mennonite  Col- 
lege, Harrisonburg,  Va.,  will  become  pas- 
tor of  an  Indian  community  in  Manitoba 
starting  this  summer.  He  is  going  to 
Hole  River,  a 300-member  village,  un- 
der the  auspices  of  Mennonite  Pioneer 
Mission,  the  Indian  ministries  arm  of  the 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada. 

Bonita  Joy  Janzen,  Newton,  Kans., 
became  a member  of  the  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  voluntary  service  unit  in  June.  She 
will  spend  one  year  as  a volunteer  under 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  tutoring  at  the  Crossroads  Com- 
munity Center  this  summer  and,  in  the 
fall,  working  in  Children’s  Hospital  and 
assisting  in  the  Crossroads  club  programs. 
Ms.  Janzen,  the  daughter  of  Edwin  H. 
and  Mary  Jane  Janzen,  Route  3,  New- 
ton, is  a member  of  Zion  Church,  El- 
bing,  Kans.  She  is  a graduate  of  Rem- 
ington High  School,  Whitewater,  Kans., 
and  has  attended  Tabor  College,  Hills- 
boro, Kans. 

Walter  and  Elizabeth  Shelly,  West 
Swamp  Church,  Quakertown,  Pa.,  will 
return  for  a second  term  under  Africa 
Inter-Mennonite  Mission  as  medical  doc- 
tors at  Evangelical  Medical  Institute  of 
Kimpese,  Zaire.  Both  received  bachelor’s 
degrees  at  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton, 
Ohio.  Walter  received  his  MD  degree 
from  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.,  and  Elizabeth  received  her 
MD  from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 


1 


468 


AUGUST  7,  1973 


REVIEW 


People  lovers  and  house  churches 


People  lovers,  by  William  S.  Taegel 
( Word  Books,  Waco,  Texas,  1972,  144 
pp.,  $3.95)  and  Barefoot  in  the  church, 
by  Donald  R.  Allen  ( John  Knox  Press, 
Richmond,  Virginia,  1972,  188  pp., 

$5.95)  are  reviewed  by  James  Fairfield, 
director  of  Creative  Counselors,  Singers 
Glen,  Virginia. 

Suspicion  and  doubt.  Not  the  best  at- 
titudes to  begin  reading  a book.  So  many 
books  on  the  Christian  life  and  how-to- 
live-it  are  written  that  I hold  People 
lovers  warily  if  not  wearily,  eager  to 
drop  it  at  the  first  sign  of  pendantry  and 
preciousness  and  get  on  with  my  own 
survival.  But  since  this  little  book  has 
some  connections  with  the  house-church 
movement,  I am  curious  as  well  as  cau- 
tious. Has  he  got  things  organized  into 
disorganization  yet? 

No,  house-church  structure  is  but  a 
vehicle  for  another  movement  Mr.  Tae- 
gel wishes  us  to  explore  with  him.  And 
here  is  the  value  of  People  lovers.  In  it 
Mr.  Taegel  helps  us  to  see  in  action  some 
new  (old?)  concepts  of  ethics,  beyond 
legal  or  philosophical  or  situational,  that 
he  terms  relational  morality.  Mr.  Taegel 
is  director  of  the  Institute  of  Church 
Renewal  in  Houston.  He  is  working  on 
a doctorate  in  family  therapy  and  men- 
tal health.  Part  of  his  ministry  is  achieved 
through  the  Lay  Academy  in  Houston 
which  holds  as  one  of  its  central  pur- 
poses the  “redeeming  of  vocations.”  It 
helps  the  Christian  grapple  with  the 
soften  opposite  pulls  upon  him  of  Chris- 
tian commitment  and  vocational  de- 
mands. Relational  morality  provides 
>ome  clues.  People  loving. 

A people  lover,  according  to  William 
Taegel,  is  someone  who  knows  God’s 
ove  to  the  extent  that  he  can  love  him- 
.elf  enough  to  love  others  a little.  He 
ncludes  all  three  loves,  eros  and  philia 
is  well  as  agape.  “Christian  love  en- 
:ompasses  all  of  these  loves,  including 
he  erotic.”  The  balance  of  these,  work- 
ng  in  the  Christian  who  will  let  himself 
become  a people  lover,  makes  possible 
noral  decisions  in  an  immoral  society. 

Mr.  Taegel’s  book  is  valuable  then, 
lot  as  another  “start  a house  church, 
t’s  the  only  way  to  go”  guidebook,  as 

expected.  People  lovers  is  an  adver- 


tisement for  and  a means  to  achieve 
Christian  appreciation  of  some  learned 
skills  in  interpersonal  relationships. 

There  are  faults.  Mr.  Taegel  attempts 
to  write  as  an  observer  of  a movement, 
yet  in  several  places  his  objective  dis- 
tance turns  into  subjective  presence,  and 
he  reveals  himself  as  one  of  the  people 
he  is  writing  about.  Don  Allen  in  his 
book,  Barefoot  in  the  church,  is  more 
honest  about  his  own  involvement. 

In  North  America’s  urbanized  future, 
the  hope  of  a renewed  work  of  kingdom 
building  may  rest  with  small  congrega- 
tions in  some  variation  of  the  New 
Testament  house  church.  Increased  land 
values,  higher  construction  costs,  and 
community  service  taxes  may  well  make 
church  buildings  too  impractical  for  met- 
ropolitan Christianity. 

Don  Allen  is  pastor  of  Trinity  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Harrisonburg,  Vir- 
ginia. Trinity  owns  a building,  an  1825 
home  set  among  trees  and  other  houses 
in  a residential  area.  A sign  out  front 
announces  Sunday  morning  services.  But 
the  reality  of  Trinity  Presbyterian  is  the 
cluster  of  house  churches  in  which  most 
of  its  Sunday  worshipers  are  involved 
during  the  week. 

One  house  church  operates  The  Mar- 
ketplace, a downtown  coffeehouse  open 
Friday  and  Saturday  nights  as  a ministry 
to  young  people,  including  students  from 
the  area’s  four  colleges. 

The  Clothes  Closet  house  church  helps 
clothe  indigent  families.  Another  house 
church  provides  a day  camp  for  men- 
tally retarded  children.  There  are  others 
with  variations  of  community  service 
and  mission,  but  all  share  the  distinctions 
of  mutual  decision  making,  fellowship, 
and  breaking  of  bread. 

How  Trinity  members  have  adjusted 
to  each  other,  how  they  have  faced  their 
problems  and  grown  together  in  Jesus 
Christ  is  part  of  Barefoot  in  the  church. 
Mr.  Allen  expands  on  Trinity’s  experi- 
ence with  reports  from  a number  of 
experimental  house  churches  he  visited 
personally  in  North  America  and  several 
in  other  areas  of  Christendom  he  con- 
tacted by  correspondence.  The  Church 
of  the  Savior,  Washington,  D.C.,  the 
Iona  Community  in  Scotland,  Reba 


Place  in  Evanston,  Illinois,  Emmaus 
House  in  New  York  are  recognizable 
identities  among  those  he  describes.  His 
index  of  Christian  communities  lists 
eighteen  house  churches  on  which  he 
reports  in  some  detail. 

Mr.  Allen  is  a good  workman.  Many 
religious  books  are  collections  of  lec- 
tures, sermons,  or  papers.  Barefoot  in 
the  church  is  not  one  of  these.  Don  Al- 
len set  out  to  share  with  us  the  vigorous 
institution-changing  activity  which  is  hap- 
pening in  the  maturing  house-church 
movement.  His  research  is  substantial 
and  he  writes  clearly  with  the  easy  au- 
thority of  experience.  Thus  his  book 
will  be  necessary  reading  for  anyone 
who  is  now  thinking  of  the  future  of 
the  church  in  North  America. 


MINDY 


Dorothy  Hamilton 

After  Mindy  Porter's  parents  di- 
vorced, Mindy  dreamed  almost  daily 
of  a real  home  again  with  parents. 
She  couldn't  understand  the  separa- 
tion of  her  mother  and  father,  yet  she 
surprised  herself  with  the  good  sense 
she  showed  in  not  letting  relation- 
ships get  worse. 

112  pages.  Softcover.  0-8361-1692-5: 
$1.95 


ORDER  FROM 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON,  KANSAS 
OR  BERNE,  INDIANA 


HE  MENNONITE 


469 


LETTERS 


Misses  wedding  news 

Dear  Editor:  I've  noticed  that  you  have 
discontinued  the  publication  of  wedding 
announcements.  I merely  want  to  in- 
form you  that  in  so  doing  you  have  cut 
off  my  lifeline.  No  longer  can  I scan 
through  this  section  to  find  out  in  one 
easy  glance  which  of  the  young  Menno- 
nite  ladies  I won’t  be  able  to  marry  when 
I get  back.  Dan  Froese,  Kikwit  Pax, 
Kikwit,  Zaire.  July  2 

Editor’s  note.  We  acknowledge  the  ma- 
jor inconvenience  we  have  caused  you. 
Would  it  help  if  we  asked  young  women 
to  write  to  you  if  they  want  to  reassure 
you  that  they  are  still  single?  . . . That 
wasn't  exactly  what  you  had  in  mind? 


Uplifting  and  informative 

Dear  Editor:  Thank  you  for  the  recent 
uplifting,  informative,  and  challenging 
articles  in  The  Mennonite.  A few  that 
were  especially  meaningful  were: 

“A  Christian  college:  vision  for  peace- 
making,” by  Harold  Schultz  (April  24 
issue);  “Jesus  is  coming  back,”  by  Waldo 
Harder  (May  29  issue);  “Four  planks 
from  Ephesians  4,”  by  Mel  Schmidt 
(June  5 issue);  and  “If  I were  to  start 
my  family  again,”  by  John  Drescher 
(June  12  issue). 

These  are  the  types  of  articles  a Chris- 
tian paper  should  publish  more  often. 
Mrs.  Ethelena  Smith,  Box  144,  Pawnee 
Rock,  Kans.  67567.  June  12 

Bricks  and  mortar 

Dear  Larry:  1 read  with  interest  your 
editorial,  “Laying  up  more  bricks  and 
mortar”  (June  5 issue).  You  are  raising 
some  of  the  same  questions  I have  often 
raised  in  relation  to  stewardship:  How 
can  we  justify  spending  so  much  money 
for  buildings  when  the  emphasis  of  the 
gospel  is  on  helping  people?  We  need 
facilities,  but  the  question  is:  how  much 
of  our  money  should  be  put  into  physical 
structures? 

You  prompted  me  to  do  a little  re- 
search to  find  out  how  much  of  our 
total  giving  (includes  all  causes)  local 
churches  were  putting  into  buildings. 
Here  are  the  percentages: 

1957  26.1  percent 


MEDITATION 


Your  call  did  not  go  through 

I had  just  started  to  pray  the  Lord's  Prayer  the  other  night  and  had  just  said,1 
"Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven,”  when  a voice  like  that  of  a telephone  operator 
cut  in. 

“I’m  sorry  . . . your  call  did  not  go  through.  . . 

“My  what?” 

“If  you  need  assistance,  dial  411  for  information.  . . .” 

“Look,”  I said,  “I  was  trying  to  pray.  . . 

“I'm  sorry,”  the  voice  said,  “but  you  will  have  to  wait  until  March  first.” 

“March  first!  What  for?” 

“You’ve  heard  of  the  World  Day  of  Prayer.  . . 

“Yes.  ...” 


“The  next  World  Day  of  Prayer  comes  on  March  1,  1974.  You’ll  have  to  wait) 
till  that  time  to  place  your  call.” 

“You  mean  I can’t  pray  now?” 

“That  is  correct.” 

“I'll  have  to  wait  till  March  first?” 

“That  is  right.” 

"Are  you  trying  to  tell  me  that  I can  only  pray  one  day  a year  from  now  on?” 
“That  is  correct.” 

“That’s  ridiculous!  A person’s  always  been  able  to  pray  any  day  he  wanted!  Any| 
day  of  the  year!” 

“That’s  the  problem.  So  few  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  that  it  was  not 
feasible  to  keep  the  lines  open  365  days  a year.  Our  studies  have  shown  that  all 
essential  calls  can  easily  go  through  in  one  day  per  annum.” 

“But  how  can  I get  along  praying  only  one  day  a year?” 

“I’m  sorry  ...  I do  not  have  that  information.” 

As  I was  puzzling  over  the  strange  turn  of  events,  I decided  I might  as  well  try; 
praying  again — perhaps  it  had  been  some  sort  of  mix-up.  This  time  I got  to  “Thy 
kingdom  come”  before  a different  voice  cut  in — 

“I’m  sorry,”  the  voice  said,  “the  number  you  have  called  is  not  a working  num- 
ber— ” 

I got  up  from  my  knees  and  climbed  into  bed. 

Barbara  Jurgensen 


Our  help  and  shield 

One  evening  I was  standing  with  other  people  in  the  passenger  area  at  the  North; 
Broad  St.  station  in  Philadelphia.  A number  of  commuter  trains  stopped  and  loaded: 
passengers  but  my  train  had  not  yet  arrived.  When  one  of  the  trains  pulled  out,  I was! 
the  only  one  left.  Before  I knew  it  a big  friendly  policeman  was  at  my  side.  He  said 
he  would  stay  with  me  until  my  train  came  because  usually  when  there  is  only  one 
person  left  on  the  platform  there  is  a holdup.  I was  glad  for  his  presence.  Then  I 
thought  of  the  presence  of  God.  The  psalmist  says,  “For  the  Lord  is  our  help  and  our 
shield.”  Ward  W.  Shelly 


1962  18.8  percent 

1967  17.7  percent 

1972  11.4  percent 

Fifteen  years  ago  more  than  one  dollar 
out  of  four  went  for  buildings;  now  it 
is  only  about  one  out  of  nine. 

I am  sure  each  of  the  three  institutions 
you  refer  to  in  your  editorial  has  good 
reasons  for  building  at  this  time.  I do 
not  have  enough  information  to  speak 
for  the  other  two  institutions,  but  since 
I will  be  involved  in  raising  funds  for 


the  library  expansion  at  the  seminary, 
I am  fairly  knowledgeable  about  consid-: 
erations  that  went  into  the  decisions 
there. 

First,  the  seminary  is  not  building  a 
new  library,  technically  speaking — it  is 
a library  expansion.  A one-level,  below- 
ground building  will  be  constructed  just 
north  of  and  parallel  to  the  present  li- 
brary for  additional  stack  space  and 
individual  study  areas.  An  above-ground 
level  will  be  built  in  the  future  when 


AUGUST  7,  1973 


470 


library  growth  requires  further  expan- 
sion. The  reading  room  and  some  stack 
space  in  the  present  library  will  continue 
to  be  used.  The  idea  of  a completely 
new  library  was  set  aside  precisely  be- 
cause of  the  concerns  you  raised  in  your 
editorial. 

Second,  members  of  the  General  Con- 
ference and  Mennonite  Church  will  share 
equally  in  the  costs.  The  total  cost  will 
be  $400,000,  but  each  group  will  pro- 
vide $200,000  over  a two-year  period. 
Our  share  is  only  $100,000  per  year,  a 
modest  amount  in  a booming  economy. 

Third,  we  do  not  plan  to  go  to  church- 


es for  this  $200,000,  but  rather  we  an- 
ticipate contacting  individuals  who  have 
special  interest  in  the  seminary.  Many 
of  our  members  have  accumulated  finan- 
cial resources,  and  we  believe  they  will 
share  generously  with  the  seminary  for 
this  special  project. 

I continue  to  appreciate  your  raising 
the  questions  which  need  to  be  raised, 
Larry.  The  purpose  of  this  letter  is  not 
to  take  issue  with  you,  but  simply  to 
clarify  the  plans  for  library  expansion 
at  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary.  Lester 
E.  Janzen,  Library  Fund  Specialist,  Box 
347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  July  5 


Contents 


August  winds 457 

Evangelical  dilemma  458 

Tante  Fleming's  search  for  identity  460 
The  man  on  the  mountain  . 460 

News 461 

Record  468 

People  lovers  and  house  churches  469 

Letters  470 

Your  call  did  not  go  through  470 

Our  help  and  shield  470 


A cup  of  water  is  only  the  beginning  472 
CONTRIBUTORS 

Elmer  F.  Suderman  teaches  at  Gustavus 
Adolphus  College,  St.  Peter,  Minn.  56082. 

William  MacDonald's  article  is  reprint- 
ed by  permission  from  Help  and  Food,  a 
Loizeaux  Brothers  publication. 

Geraldine  Harder  resides  at  20355  34th 
Ave.,  Seattle,  Wash.  98188. 

Michael  Toryfter  lives  at  1644  N.  Ar- 
lington, Milwaukee,  Wis.  53202. 

Peter  J.  Dyck  is  MCC's  director  for 
Europe  and  North  Africa. 

Barbara  Jurgensen's  address  is  216 
Fairmont  Drive,  DeKalb,  III.  601  15. 

Ward  Shelly  is  pastor  of  the  Calvary 
Mennonite  Church,  Washington,  III. 
61571. 

Roger  Wiebe  is  on  an  MCC  community 
development  assignment  in  northeastern 
Brazil.  He  and  his  wife,  Coletta,  list  their 
home  address  as  Urbana,  III. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  David  Schmidt,  1522  Tennessee 
St.,  Lawrence,  Kans.  66044;  459,  Paul 
M.  Schrock,  Box  200,  Scottdale,  Pa. 
15683;  462,  Henry  H.  Epp,  600  Shaftes- 
bury, Winnipeg,  Man.  R3P  0M4;  463, 
464,  Religious  News  Service;  466,  367, 
Kenneth  Janzen,  1505  Fairview,  Wichita, 
Kans.  67203;  the  article  "Evangelical  di- 
lemma" is  reprinted  by  permission  from 
Help  and  Food,  Loizeau  Brothers,  Box  70, 
Neptune,  N.J.  07753. 

Meitnonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS  1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


PURPOSE 

COM  is  a channel  for  General  Conference 
Mennonite  churches  to  fulfill  corporately,  in 
other  nations,  the  biblical  missionary  mandate 
of  reconciliation  and  love  for  man  in  his  total 
need,  proclaiming  to  all  peoples  by  word  and 
deed,  in  a servanthood  stance,  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  only  Savior  and  Lord,  and  seeking 
the  formation  of  caring  communities  of 
believers  (churches)  which  in  turn  have  a 
mission  outreach.  COM  is  ready  to  serve  with 
the  churches  of  the  world  as  a channel  for 
joint  mission  and  for  cultivating  fellowship 
across  national  boundaries. 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


THE  MENNONITE  471 


A cup  of  water  is  only  the  beginning 


Roger  Wiebe 

His  name  is  Joe.  In  Brazil  he  is  known  as  Jose. 

My  story  isn’t  new.  In  fact,  it  is  painfully  old. 

One  of  the  first  things  a new  voluntary  service 
worker  must  learn  is  how  to  develop  a tough  hide. 
Help  the  people  but  don’t  let  them  get  to  you. 
You’re  no  good  if  you  crack  up.  A soft  heart  is 
nice  but  it  may  get  you  into  a mental  hospital. 

We  are  engaged  in  community  development. 
(We  call  it  CD  for  short.)  What  a beautiful  ring 
those  words  have.  The  trick,  they  told  us,  is  to 
get  the  people  to  help  themselves.  Money,  mate- 
rial aid,  and  handouts  are  stopgap  measures  ac- 
ceptable only  in  emergency  situations.  But  yester- 
day I cheated,  and  today  I’m  suffering  for  it. 

It  all  started  when  I went  into  town  to  buy 
some  eggs.  I had  plenty  of  money  but  I couldn’t 
find  anyone  with  eggs.  We  really  needed  them, 
too,  because  it  was  already  after  1 p.m.  and  it’s 
always  my  job  to  make  the  dressing  to  go  with 
the  fried  chicken  and  mashed  potatoes  for  our 
mcc  unit  supper. 

“Hello,  Joe.  How  are  you?  What  is  that  you’ve 
got  there?”  (After  four  years  of  CD  work,  I have 
learned  to  act  friendly  towards  almost  everyone.) 
Joe  was  selling  small  packages  of  peanuts  from  a 
cardboard  box  hung  around  his  neck — about  a 
penny  for  ten  roasted  peanuts  wrapped  in  old 
newspaper.  “Thank  you,  but  I don’t  want  any,” 
I said. 

It  was  hot  walking  and  I needed  those  eggs.  I 
had  already  tried  seven  places.  Joe  noticed  the 
empty  egg  carton  in  my  hand  and  the  exasperated 
look  on  my  face. 

Joe  offered  to  find  me  some  eggs.  He  is  only 
a ten-year-old  boy,  small  for  his  age.  I knew  I’d 
have  to  give  him  the  money  for  the  eggs  in  ad- 
vance. Sixty  cents  is  a lot  to  just  hand  over.  Men 
work  all  day  in  the  cane  fields  to  earn  seventy- 
five  cents.  Furthermore,  I didn’t  have  change  and 
so  would  have  to  give  him  an  even  larger  bill. 
Well,  I had  to  have  the  eggs,  so  I gave  him  a bill 
worth  about  eighty  cents.  I instructed  him  on  the 
price  of  eggs  and  told  him  how  much  I should 
get  back.  He  might  steal  it,  but  at  least  I wasn’t 
going  to  have  him  say  he  paid  80  cents  for  the 
eggs  and  then  just  pocket  the  money.  (A  veteran 
CD  worker  soon  learns  about  handling  situations 
like  that.)  Joe  thought  I might  have  to  pay  more 
for  the  eggs  and  I wondered  silently.  He  headed 


in  the  direction  of  his  slum  home  to  get  the  eggs. 
It  was  only  then  that  I figured  the  eggs  might  turn 
out  to  be  rotten.  I walked  home. 

Twenty  minutes  later  he  was  at  the  door  with 
a dozen  eggs.  The  first  thing  I wondered  about 
was  the  extra  money.  He  only  had  a paper  bill 
worth  fifteen  cents  in  his  left  hand.  He  handed  it 
to  me  with  the  eggs. 

“I  got  them,”  Joe  smiled.  Inside  the  folded  bill 
1 found  the  rest  of  the  change.  Not  bad,  I thought, 
and  wondered  what  I should  tip  him.  A fifteen- 
cent  bill  is  a lot  for  a tip.  The  five-cent  coin  would 
be  better.  I gave  him  the  fifteen-cent  bill. 

My  wife,  Coletta,  and  Dale,  a Paxman  there  for 
supper,  smiled  at  my  generosity.  I guess  they 
were  a little  surprised  that  a veteran  CD  worker 
would  do  a thing  like  that.  Dale  suggested  I buy 
some  peanuts  also.  I picked  up  two  packs  of  nuts 
and  gave  him  the  rest  of  the  change.  He  offered 
me  more  nuts  but  I declined. 

Joe  left.  I doubted  if  he  could  make  that  much 
money  selling  peanuts  all  week.  Maybe  two  weeks. 
The  eggs  were  good,  the  dressing  better  than  usual. 

Sunday  Dale  and  I were  having  coffee.  Joe 
came  to  the  house.  We  invited  him  into  the  kitch- 
en. I offered  him  an  orange.  He  declined,  saying 
he  couldn’t  eat  while  he  was  hot.  I asked  Joe 
where  he  went  to  school.  He  started  to  smile.  “I 
don’t  go  to  school,”  he  said,  “but  I am  going  to 
start  tomorrow.”  He  told  us  that  he  had  bought 
a pencil  and  notebook  with  the  money  I’d  given 
him  yesterday. 

Where  did  his  dad  work?  He  died  two  years 
ago. 

We  offered  him  some  bread.  He  didn’t  want 
any.  With  some  jelly  on  it?  No  thanks.  Dale  ate 
some  jelly  bread,  hoping  Joe  would  join  him. 

Joe  had  also  bought  a used  shirt  for  fifteen 
cents.  He  was  happy  because  he  could  now  go  to 
a nearby  Sunday  school. 

This  noon  Coletta  suggested  maybe  we  should 
look  up  Joe's  home.  I agreed,  but  would  it  really 
make  a difference?  I have  to  keep  a certain  dis- 
tance. Regardless  of  what  his  home  is  like,  we 
just  can’t  operate  a handout  service.  It  would  not 
be  the  best  for  the  whole  community. 

This  morning  I gave  someone  a glass  of  water. 
Just  now  three  boys  came  for  water.  Didn’t  I tell 
you?  And  water  is  only  the  beginning. 


Following  our  summer  biweekly  schedule,  our  next  issue  will  be  dated  August  21. 


^EN/V/o 


The 

Meimonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


David  T.  Steen 


Red  Brodie  is  a strong-willed  man,  a 
union  member  for  twenty  of  his  thirty- 
eight  years,  a man  who  after  apprentice- 
ship and  sweat,  jobless  winters  and  end- 
less summer  overtime  hours  has  been 
banished — that’s  right,  banished  just  like 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  None  of  us  dares 
talk  to  him  because  Neil  Lyons,  the  union 
agent,  says  that  Brodie’s  copped  out, 
trying  to  rip  apart  the  work  force 
’cause  suddenly  for  some  reason  Brodie 
has  told  the  union  that  he  wants  no 
more  of  it.  Red  will  pay  his  union  dues 
to  the  Red  Cross. 

Anyway,  Lyons  said  it  this  way  to  us 
the  other  afternoon, 


“Brodie  has  been  warned.  If  he  don’t 
shape  up  he’s  out,  and  he’ll  never  get 
a decent  job  again.  Now  you  guys  shut 
up.  No  talking  to  Brodie.  Any  more  like 
him,  and  management  will  kill  us  at 
contract  time.” 

Neil  Lyons  is  an  old  hand  himself. 
Drives  a big  Ford  Galaxie  that  he  parks 
well  away  from  the  dirty  job  site,  and 
spends  most  of  his  time  at  the  hall  or 
Wilmot’s  Lounge  with  the  boys.  Time 
was,  Lyons  was  shivering  in  the  cold 
like  the  rest  of  us,  but  now  the  Inter- 
national sees  to  it  that  he’s  got  it  made, 
driving  his  immaculate  Galaxie  about. 

“Now  you  guys  get  it  straight.  Red 


Brodie’s  through!”  Lyons  said.  “If  you 
break  ranks,  I’ll  come  down  on  you  with 
both  feet.  You’ll  wait  until  1980  before 
you  work  again.” 

“Sure,  Lyons,  sure,”  we  all  say  and 
then  leave  the  construction  shack.  The 
wind  sweeps  across  Georgian  Bay  feeling 
as  if  it’s  carrying  a sledgehammer.  Ear 
muffs,  thermo  underwear,  Korea  boots — 
nothing  helps.  And  up  alone  on  the 
second  floor  of  the  building  stands  Bro- 
die, joining  two  pipes  where  a shower 
will  someday  be. 

Coffee  wagon  pulls  into  the  site,  and 
twelve  of  us  gather  around,  huddling 
up  for  warmth.  As  the  coffee  flows  out 


474  AUGUST  21,  1973 


of  the  urn,  a steam  cloud  covers  the 
vendor. 

“Got  anything  hot  in  the  truck?”  I 
ask. 

“Nothing  stays  hot  at  ten  above,”  he 
answers. 

I buy  a coffee,  gulp  at  it  to  catch  a 
film  of  warmth  that  vanishes  the  minute 
I walk  away.  The  site  is  full  of  ice-filled 
ruts  so  I’m  careful  where  I step. 

“Noah,  the  coffee  wagon  have  any- 
thing hot?”  It’s  Brodie’s  voice  shouting 
down  to  me  from  the  second  floor. 

“Get  me  a cup  of  coffee,  you  owe  me!” 
he  shouts.  The  group  at  the  coffee  wagon 
plus  a few  others  around  the  building 
look  my  way  probably  thinking  whatcha 
going  to  do.  Cole?  Brodie’s  been  your 
friend  for  ten  years,  trained  you,  even 
helps  you  finish  off  your  house  on  week- 
ends. Whatcha  gonna  do?  Let  the  old 
Redhead  stand  there  and  stew — let  him 
make  a fool  out  of  himself  for  this,  the 
first  time? 

“What’s  got  into  you,  Noah?  Got  wax 
in  your  ears?”  Brodie  shouts.  I want  to 
look  up,  but  Lyons,  the  union  man,  is 
standing  by  the  truck,  his  steel  blue 
eyes  riveted  on  me. 

I walked  ahead  into  the  cover  of  the 
basement,  find  a dry  comer  where  I can 
be  alone.  I imagine  the  laughter — quick 
elbows  from  rib  to  rib,  a smirk  on  Lyons’ 
face  as  he  retreats  to  the  warmth  of 
his  new  Galaxie  and  drives  to  the  bar 
thinking  he  has  done  a good  day’s  work 
at  my  expense.  “Yeah,”  I think.  “I  cov- 
ered myself.  Next  layoff,  I’ll  call  Lyons 
and  he’ll  say,  ‘You’re  way  up  on  the 
list,  brother.  Got  something  good  open- 
ing up  down  in  Windsor — six  months 
of  work  maybe  more.’  ” 

And  then  I figure  on  saying,  “That’s 
great,  Lyons.  Sure  can  use  the  job.” 

“Oh,  I know  that.  By  the  way,  you 
showed  real  spirit  with  your  old  pal 
Red  Brodie  that  day  in  Owen  Sound. 
Whatever  happened  to  Brodie?” 

To  which  I’ll  say,  “Brodie,  who’s  Bro- 


die?” And  Lyons  will  laugh  in  grunts, 
the  way  he  always  does. 

The  imagined  conversation  between 
Lyons  and  me  opens  up  a wound — a 
skin  burn  brought  on  by  a bad  fall.  I’ve 
known  Red  Brodie,  his  wife  Rose,  and 
his  son  David  for  over  ten  years.  Red 
and  my  brother  ran  around  together, 
played  hockey  as  amateurs,  and  when 
my  brother  was  killed  in  a car  accident 
Red  took  to  watching  me. 

By  then  I was  just  making  it  through 
school,  and  Red  would  come  over  to 
the  house,  take  me  to  games,  out  hunting, 
or  try  to  get  me  to  his  church. 

“Noah,  you’re  some  kind  of  fool  wast- 
ing your  time.  Leam  a trade,  but  don’t 
just  sit  around  school  making  eyes  at 
the  girls,”  Red  would  say. 

“Lay  off,  Red.  I got  a lot  of  living 
to  do,”  I’d  shout  when  Red  would  hit 
a tender  spot. 

“Your  brother  had  a lot  of  living  to 
do,  and  look  where  it  got  him.  Six  feet 
of  dirt.” 

Those  words  slowly  sunk  in,  and  I 
took  Red’s  advice. 

The  wind  stops  blowing  through  the 
basement.  Time  to  go  to  work. 

I worked  over  on  the  far  end  of  the 
second  floor.  The  plans  say  it  is  a kitch- 
en. Red  works  alone  at  the  other  end, 
three  work  crews  between  us.  Hammer- 
ing, the  harsh  roar  of  the  crane  on  the 
other  side  of  the  site,  helps  keep  my 
mind  on  my  job.  But  sounds  from  the 
outside  world  do  not  deaden  my  feelings 
of  embarrassment  for  Red,  or  fear  for 
my  own  survival.  I can’t  let  Red  get  in 
the  way  of  my  family  because  plumbing 
is  all  I know.  He  might  have  fancy  ideas, 
but  I got  to  work.  No  high-handed  no- 
tions. If  I don’t  keep  my  mouth  shut, 
I’ll  starve.  Lyons  will  see  to  that! 

It’s  Saturday  morning  and  there  has 
been  a snowfall  that  started  early  last 
night.  My  head  aches  from  too  much 
beer  at  Wilmot’s  last  night.  For  once, 


Lyons  bought  more  than  his  share,  tell- 
ing about  how  he  sent  a registered  letter 
to  Red  Brodie  telling  him  to  appear  be- 
fore the  council  for  violating  the  union 
oath.  Twenty  years  on  the  way  down 
the  drain.  Oh  sure,  there  would  be  hear- 
ings, but  Brodie  was  done. 

After  Lyons  strolled  out  of  Wilmot’s 
in  a form  of  triumph,  I sat  around  with 
a few  of  the  boys.  They  didn’t  say  a 
word  about  Red — sports,  Ken  Dryden, 
a hardware  store  where  they  discount 
tools,  new  stereo  tape  decks  for  their 
cars — but  nothing  about  Red. 

“How  about  it?”  I finally  asked.  “Is 
that  right  about  Brodie,  or  ain’t  it?” 

“Your  buddy  is  an  old  hand,”  Ed 
Leger  said.  “Plenty  wise.  He  knows  not 
to  make  waves.” 

“But  Red’s  a good  plumber  . . .” 

“Red  was  a good  plumber,”  Leger 
said,  his  eyes  squinting  as  if  he  had 
something  in  them.  I gave  up  the  subject, 
drank  in  silence,  listening  to  the  music 
make  less  and  less  sense,  and  felt  the 
fog  roll  across  my  mind  first  in  puffs, 
then  in  one  large  cloud. 

“No  chance  for  the  Leafs  until  they 
get  some  defensemen,”  Leger  was  saying 
loudly.  “They  can  have  the  best  goal 
tending  money  can  buy  but  . . . hey, 
look  who’s  here!”  he  said,  dropping  his 
voice  down  an  octave. 

Red  sauntered  into  the  lounge,  his 
coat  pulled  up  around  his  ears.  Steam 
had  formed  on  his  glasses.  He  waited 
for  them  to  clear,  saw  the  group  of  us 
at  the  booth,  and  strolled  over. 

“Here’s  where  I leave,”  Leger  said. 
The  others  nodded,  picked  up  their 
drinks,  and  walked  away.  Leger  bumped 
into  Red  without  excusing  himself. 

“You  coming,  Noah?”  Leger  asked. 

“No,”  I said. 

“We’ll  see  about  that,”  Leger  sneered 
and  sat  down  near  the  shuffieboard  in  the 
far  corner  watching  us  closely.  Red  sat 
down,  ordered,  and  pulled  off  his  coat. 

“Three  days  now  and  you  ain’t  said 


THE  MENNONITE 


475 


a word,”  he  said,  wiping  his  glasses.  His 
face  was  flushed,  and  his  eyes  were 
watery  from  the  cold.  Still  his  eyes 
were  hard. 

“I  know  what’s  going  on.  Nobody’s 
saying  nothing  to  me.  Can’t  get  help 
on  the  job,  and  last  night  somebody 
threw  a brick  through  my  car  window. 
Is  that  what  you  believe  in,  Noah?  Af- 
ter all  these  years?”  Red  asked. 

“Lay  off.  Red.  It  ain’t  me.” 

“Then  who  is  it?  Leger?  Lyons?  Who?” 
Red’s  hand  clenched  into  a fist,  and  the 
knuckles  went  white  with  pressure. 

“The  silent  treatment  wasn’t  my  idea. 
Red.  You  brought  it  on  yourself.” 

“Come  on,”  he  said.  “All  of  you, 
Leger,  you — all  those  jokers  across  the 
room  who  kept  complaining  about  Lyons 
and  the  International.  Fat  cats  you 
called  them.  Leeches  who  made  all  of 
us  compromise  ourselves  to  get  decent 
work.  Every  time  there  was  a layoff  and 
we  went  to  the  hall,  all  of  us  com- 
plained. We  said,  this  is  no  way!  One  guy 
controls  our  right  to  work.  Five  years 
of  complaints,  so  I finally  did  some- 
thing.” 

Red’s  order  arrives. 

“Red,  I know  I complained,  but  you 
know  who  is  holding  all  the  cards,”  I 
said  softly.  “Lyons  and  the  Internation- 
al. You  do  it  their  way,  or  you  don’t 
work.” 

“You're  wrong.”  Red  came  back.  “For 
once,  I’m  holding  the  cards,  whether 
you  know  it  or  not.  I don’t  care  what 
they  do.  If  they're  rats,  I’ll  find  a way 
around  them.” 

“You’re  crazy,”  I said. 

“No,  you’re  nuts,  not  to  have  more 
guts.” 

And  so,  I sit  over  my  coffee  now, 
stirring  it  and  thinking  about  Red.  When 
I left  Wilmot’s,  Leger  came  over,  and 
I told  him  that  Red  and  I had  a talk. 

I told  Red  he  was  a louse,  breaking 
ranks  with  us,  and  he  could  kiss  our 
friendship  good-bye.  Leger  patted  me  on 
the  back,  called  me  brother,  and  bought 
me  a drink  to  help  me  wash  down  my 
lie. 

A week  went  by  and  the  cold  weather 
vanished  into  a mid-January  thaw.  The 
job  site  turned  muddy,  but  work  began 
to  progress  as  walls  were  bricked  in. 

Red  continued  to  work  alone.  At  cof- 
fee breaks  he  sat  in  a corner  reading, 
occasionally  waving  to  me.  When  I was 


sure  no  one  was  looking,  I’d  give  him 
the  high  sign.  Since  Red  had  no  help, 
the  contractor  was  watching  him  more 
and  more,  and  I could  hear  complaints 
about  how  slow  he  was  going.  Lyons 
showed  up  regularly,  checking  up  on  us, 
and  once  he  even  came  up  on  the  floors. 
He  still  parked  his  fancy  car  a block 
from  the  mud. 

What  bothered  me  was  the  double  life 
Red  forced  me  to  lead.  He  would  come 
by  my  house  nights  and  help  me  finish 
off  my  basement  with  old  barn  wood. 
He  would  act  like  old  times,  even  though 
he  knew  I would  be  silent  the  next  day 
on  the  job. 

“Why  are  you  doing  all  this?”  I asked 
him  on  one  of  those  evenings,  and  Red 
just  stared  at  me,  his  eyes  full  of  amaze- 
ment. 

“You  mean  I didn’t  get  through  to 
you  last  Friday  night?” 

“Well,  yeah,”  I answered. 

“If  something  is  wrong,  and  you  know 
it,  then  you  had  better  quit  complaining 
and  make  it  right,”  he  said. 

“You  make  it  sound  simple,”  I said, 
getting  ready  to  cut  off  a piece  of  board. 

“It  is  simple.  Remember  your  dead 
brother.  He  lived  reckless — drove  like 
a maniac — everything  he  did  was  reck- 
less, and,”  Red  added,  “he  got  killed. 
If  he  wasn’t  so  crazy  he  might  still  be 
alive.  Brutal  but  simple.  Same  goes  for 
me.  If  something  with  the  union  is 
wrong,  then  it  has  got  to  change — be 
made  right.” 

“But  that  isn’t  simple,”  I said. 

“Yes,  it  is.  Guts.  Example!  Stand  up 
to  them,  regardless.  If  enough  people 
did,  they  would  help  working  people 
rather  than  chaining  them  down  with 
threats,  hiring  halls,  kickbacks,  and  the 
rest.” 

Red  didn’t  say  another  word  after 
that.  He  went  to  work  on  the  down- 
stairs washroom  and  started  installing 
the  sink. 

Early  the  next  week,  Red  was  noti- 
fied that  he  had  been  granted  a date  for 
a hearing  before  the  labor  relations 
board.  Word  sailed  around  the  job,  and 
Lyons  called  us  together  for  another 
meeting.  He  said  the  whole  fabric  of 
the  union  movement  was  being  threat- 
ened because  dues  paid  to  charity  were 
really  management’s  way  of  gaining  con- 
trol. Even  if  Red  was  a religious  nut, 
there  wouldn’t  be  room  for  him,  be- 


cause he  was  a troublemaker  disrupting 
the  morale  of  the  crew,  a poor  worker, 
and  unable  to  listen  to  anyone  in  au- 
thority. Lyons  told  us  that  the  con- 
tractor had  been  informed,  and  Red 
was  being  closely  watched. 

We  were  jammed  into  a shed,  and  no 
one  interrupted  Lyons’  speech.  His  grey- 
ish face  was  hard  as  concrete  as  he 
spoke.  I hated  him  for  pulling  down  all 
that  power  on  one  man.  And  there  we 
stood,  grown  men,  wedged  in  together, 
wordlessly  accepting  Lyons’  words  be- 
cause it  was  the  easy  way  out.  We 
could  work,  and  soon  Red  couldn’t.  We 
could  suddenly  be  the  backbone  of  the 
local  because  we  stood  up  against  Red, 
who,  like  ourselves,  was  fed  up.  And 
soon,  I thought,  when  Red  left,  Lyons 
would  go  back  to  his  desk,  manipulating 
his  list  while  we  bought  him  drinks  after 
work  at  Wilmot’s,  and  nothing  would 
change. 

The  big  boys  would  win,  but  who 
would  lose?  Not  Red  because  he’d  be 
out.  Me!  Leger!  A hundred  suckers 
who  allowed  agents  to  pull  strings — 
puppet  strings — so  we  could  dance  at 
their  party. 

Lyons  was  finishing  up  his  speech. 

“Remember,”  he  said.  “Give  Red  Bro- 
die  enough  rope,  and  he  will  hang  him- 
self. No  talk.  No  cooperation.  Got  it?” 
he  asked. 

“Lyons,”  I said,  “I  got  a question.” 

“Yeah,  Noah,  what  is  it?” 

“You  got  that  nice,  new  clean  Gal- 
axie,  right?” 

“Yeah.  With  a good  contact  with 
Braun  Engineering,  maybe  you  can  have 
one  too,”  he  joked.  It  was  a lousy  time 
for  a joke. 

“Lyons,  how  come  you  always  park 
it  down  the  street,  and  don’t  drive  it  on 
the  site?”  I asked. 

“ ’Cause  it’s  clean,”  he  said. 

“Afraid  to  get  it  a little  dirty,  Lyon?” 
I yelled. 

“What  are  you,  Cole,  a wise  guy?” 

“No,  just  finding  out  whose  side  you 
are  really  on.” 

I push  through  the  crowd  that  is  full 
of  murmurs  and  out  the  door.  Up  on 
the  second  floor  Red  is  struggling  with 
a length  of  pipe  that  needs  cutting. 

“Red,”  I shout,  “don’t  break  your 
back.  Hang  on,  I’ll  be  up  there  to  help 
you!” 

And  Red  gives  a wave,  clenches  his 
fist,  and  smiles. 


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476 


AUGUST  21,  1973 


Rebecca  Harder 


Come  Lord  Jesus,  be  our  guest, 

Let  this  food  to  us  be  blest. 

Amen. 

I needed  to  earn  some  money  because 
I was  moving  to  California  soon.  Instead 
of  working  in  Chicago,  where  I was 
living,  I decided  to  work  on  my  parents’ 
farm  in  Minnesota,  but  the  harvest  had 
not  started  so  I decided  to  try  the  local 
chicken-processing  plant.  I would  have 


the  opportunity  to  practice  the  Spanish 
I had  learned  on  Goshen’s  SST  program 
because  Mexicans  worked  at  the  plant. 
They  had  been  brought  in  by  a govern- 
ment contract  about  three  years  ago. 

The  ad  in  the  paper  said  $2.39  an 
hour. 

“That’s  a month  from  now.  It’s  $1.90 
to  start,”  the  secretary  informed  me  at 
the  office.  The  first  day  of  work  I got 
up  at  5:30  a.m.  Still  dark.  My  farmer 


father  drove  me  to  work.  At  the  factory 
door  he  said,  “You  still  have  three  sec- 
onds to  change  your  mind.”  I didn’t. 

Gray  walls,  gray  greasy  floor,  moving 
aluminum  line,  silver  steel  hangers,  silver 
aluminum  gut  troughs,  white  shirts,  white 
ceiling,  white  plastic  rows  of  aprons. 
Endless  moving  line  of  chickens. 

I am  afraid  I will  slip  on  the  greasy 
chicken-fat  floor  and  break  my  neck. 
Being  young  I suppose  it  wouldn’t  be 


THE  MENNONITE 


477 


nearly  as  bad  as  if  I was  sixty  like  some 
of  these  people. 

The  eviscerating  line.  Pull  the  gizzard 
out  of  the  chicken.  Squish  the  gizzard 
out  of  the  fat.  Cut  the  guts  off,  drop 
them  in  the  flowing  stinking  water  leav- 
ing as  much  fat  attached  to  the  chicken 
as  possible  for  more  weight.  The  other 
workers  tell  me  I have  “la  mas  facil” 
(the  easiest)  job  in  the  place.  At  noon 
lunch  break  I practice  my  Spanish  with 
the  Mexicans,  particularly  the  woman 
who  works  across  from  me.  She  informs 
me,  “That  woman  behind  you  just  gave 
you  a bad  look  because  you  are  sitting 
with  the  Mexicans.”  Another  day  I see 
one  of  those  looks  for  myself:  contempt. 

Near  the  end  of  my  first  day  the  su- 
pervisor, who  had  a big  stomach  under 
his  white  coat  and  wore  a blue  hard 
hat,  walked  slowly  down  the  line  to  my 
station:  “Will  you  cut  my  hair  after 
work?”  (Yes,  I will  cut  it  all  off  and 
your  nose,  too.  And  for  payment  I will 
take  your  blue  hard  hat.) 

The  woman  next  to  me  is  very  talka- 
tive on  certain  subjects:  “Those  Mexi- 
cans. You  give  them  something  and  they 
don’t  take  care  of  it.  Give  them  a mat- 
tress, they  throw  it  out  the  window. 
See  the  way  they  dress  up  for  work. 
We  had  one  girl  here,  she  married  one  of 
those  Mexicans.  Sometimes  by  Wednes- 
day they  didn’t  have  any  food  in  the 
house.  He  drank  it  all  up.  Those  Mexi- 
cans just  don’t  know  how  to  spend  their 
money.  And  he  used  to  beat  her.  Then 
she  found  out  he  was  married  to  some- 
one in  Mexico  and  he  had  never  even 
gotten  a divorce  from  her.  Then  she 
got  smart  and  left  him.  I don’t  see  why 
those  Mexicans  come  here  anyway.” 

The  tall  blond  boy  flings  a red  chicken 
comb  at  the  big  Mexican  woman  with 
the  resigned  big  face.  It  whacks  her  fore- 
head. He  grins.  She  pitches  a few  lungs 
at  him  smacking  his  ear,  running  down 
fat.  A gut-throwing  fight  until  the  floor 
woman  comes  by.  Some  people  smile, 
some  don’t. 

The  woman  next  to  me  limps  to  the 
sink  of  soapy  water  and  washes  blood, 
fat,  and  green  bile  off  of  her  rubber 


gloves  and  white  plastic  apron.  “I  start- 
ed working  here  in  1938  when  the  plant 
first  opened.  Things  were  a lot  different 
then.  1 have  a bad  knee.  It  hurts  me  a 
lot  when  I stand  a long  time.  Especially 
when  we  work  nine-,  ten-hour  shifts. 
I dropped  a turkey  on  it  once.  That 
was  when  we  still  did  turkeys.  A frozen 
turkey. 

“Did  you  see  Billy  Graham  on  TV 
last  night?  He  was  so  wonderful,  I just 
love  to  hear  him  talk.  He  was  saying 
how  the  country  and  the  young  people 
are  going  down  the  drain.”  (When  I 
saw  him  in  Chicago  he  said,  “I  was 
at  Tricia  Nixon’s  wedding  today  and 
I brought  home  a piece  of  wedding 
cake.  I have  it  right  here  in  my  hand,” 
holding  it  high.  “And  you  know  what 
I’m  going  to  do  with  this  piece  of  cake? 
I’m  going  to  do  what  every  one  of  you 
in  this  audience  would  do,  I’m  going 
to  take  it  home  and  shellac  it.”) 

I am  trying  to  translate  a conversa- 
tion. The  young  local  says  nasty  sound- 
ing things  to  the  Mexican  women  in 
English  which  they  can’t  understand. 
One  of  the  women  replies  in  Spanish 
and  I try  to  translate  to  him;  something 
about  him  and  the  local  women  on  the 
end  of  his  line.  He  tells  me  the  Mexicans 
aren’t  good  enough  to  have  children  by 
their  husbands. 

Unable  to  think  of  an  adequate  reply, 
I fume,  “Where  did  you  get  that  idea?” 

“Why  do  you  want  to  go  back  to 
Mexico?  Why  don’t  you  stay  here?” 

“Por  los  costumbres.”  (Because  of 
the  customs.) 

“I  think  it  would  be  real  interesting 
to  learn  Spanish” — an  old  woman  who 
drives  to  work  with  me  and  watches 
me  communicate  in  Spanish  every  day. 

“I  am  going  to  work  here  until  I get 
enough  money  saved  to  go  back  to 
Mexico  and  buy  a house.  I worked  as 
a secretary  in  Mexico  for  the  mayor  of 
our  town  for  five  years.  I made  six  dol- 
lars a day.  No,  food  is  just  as  expensive 
in  Mexico. 

“Do  you  have  any  English  books? 
Just  one  easy  one;  I will  read  it  over 
the  weekend.  There  are  no  English  class- 


es for  adults  here,  only  for  children. 

“Que  hora  es?”  It’s  2:30. 

“Quantos  mas?” 

“Dos  mil.”  (Two  thousand  more  chick- 
ens.) 

My  neighbor  who  would  like  to  learn 
Spanish — “I’ve  worked  here  for  thirty 
years.  I get  $2.24  an  hour.  It  was  ter- 
rible before  the  union  came.  Sometimes 
in  the  winter  when  it  was  real  icy,  they’d 
tell  us  to  come  to  work  at  seven  and 
then  we’d  get  there  and  the  trucks 
couldn’t  make  it  to  bring  the  birds,  so 
they’d  just  send  us  home  again.  And  all 
without  getting  any  pay.  Then  when  the 
union  come  and  they  had  to  pay  us  from 
the  time  we  got  there,  they  always  man- 
aged to  get  the  birds  there  on  time.” 

“Don’t  tell  them  you’re  leaving,”  ad- 
vised one  of  the  younger  workers.  “They 
never  give  you  a warning  before  they 
fire  you.  They  never  give  you  a reason.” 

“Why  don’t  you  take  one  of  those 
beak  rings  when  you  leave  for  a souve- 
nir?” The  three  women  near  me  in  the 
line  all  agree  as  one  of  them  cuts  off 
a ringed  beak  and  hands  it  to  me. 

Squish  the  gizzard  out  of  the  fat.  The 
others  tell  me  I have  the  easiest  job  in 
the  place.  It  only  makes  your  hand  ache 
a little.  I never  believed  the  story  of 
torture,  that  a person  would  go  crazy 
from  a constant  small  drip  of  water  on 
her/his  head.  Anyway  I never  thought 
I would.  Squish  gizzard,  snip,  snip.  Drip, 
drip.  A pipe  above  me  started  to  drip 
water  on  me.  My  hands  were  too  gutty 
to  scratch  it.  Each  drop  ran  trickling 
slowly  through  the  hair  net,  slowly 
through  the  hair.  Now  I understand. 

Gray  walls,  gray  greasy  floor,  moving 
aluminum  line,  silver  steel  hangers,  silver 
aluminum  gut  troughs,  white  shirts, 
white  ceiling,  white  plastic  rows  of 
aprons.  I am  growing  bigger,  the  silver 
and  white  and  rows  of  stinking  chickens, 
and  rows  of  hands  are  shrinking,  getting 
far  away  and  smaller.  Squish  gizzard, 
snip,  snip.  Drip,  drip.  . . . 

Come  Lord  Jesus,  be  our  guest, 

Let  this  food  to  us  be  blest. 

Amen. 


478 


AUGUST  21,  1973 


NEWS 


MCC  self-study  to  hold  workshop  conference 


Seventy  to  eighty  mcc  members  and 
delegates  will  meet  in  Chicago  October 
31  to  November  2 to  study  and  discuss 
the  future  direction  of  mcc. 

This  special  meeting  of  the  mcc, 
based  on  action  of  the  1973  annual 
meeting,  is  an  invitational  meeting  in- 
volving the  thirty-four  mcc  members, 
an  equal  number  of  conference  and 
mcc  (Canada)  selected  participants,  and 
some  mcc  staff  and  resource  persons. 

During  the  past  year  the  fifty-three- 
year-old  mcc  has  been  engaged  in  a 
self-study  under  the  direction  of  the 
executive  committee  with  Robert  Kreider 
as  study  director.  At  the  January  20  an- 
nual meeting  in  Leamington,  Ontario, 
plans  were  approved  for  a two-day  meet- 
ing “to  review  the  findings  from  and  the 
issues  identified  in  the  self-study.”  The 
annual  meeting  listed  as  topics  for  study: 
mission,  functions,  resources,  role,  au- 
thorizations, organizational  structure,  rep- 
resentation, goals,  and  priorities. 


The  special  meeting  has  been  asked 
to  prepare  recommendations  on  mcc’s 
future  for  consideration  at  the  next 
annual  meeting,  January  18  and  19, 
1974,  at  Hillsboro,  Kansas. 

In  a May  22  planning  session,  at- 
tended by  the  mcc  executive  committee 
and  six  additional  conference  representa- 
tives, “critical  issues”  were  selected  for 
study  at  this  fall’s  meeting.  The  follow- 
ing were  selected  from  a series  of  issues 
identified  by  mcc  members  and  some 
ninety  others  in  response  to  a question- 
naire sent  out  in  February: 

1.  Mission,  service,  and  evangelism- — - 
interrelationships. 

2.  Structures  for  decision-making:  or- 
ganizational alternatives,  multinational 
patterns,  and  regional  patterns. 

3.  Resources:  How  shall  the  financial 
and  material  aid  support  for  mcc  be 
encouraged  and  controlled?  How  shall 
personnel  be  selected,  placed,  and  re- 
ceived back? 


4.  The  continuing  evaluation  process. 

5.  Continuing  tasks:  What  are  unfin- 
ished administrative  tasks?  What  are  un- 
finished policy  tasks? 

Preparatory  papers  are  being  written 
on  seven  topics  related  to  these  issues. 
Each  paper  is  to  outline  the  range  of 
issues,  alternatives,  pros  and  cons.  Six 
persons  will  be  asked  to  respond  to 
each  paper. 

At  the  May  22  session  a planning 
committee  of  five  for  the  special  fall 
meeting  was  named.  Committee  mem- 
bers H.  Ernest  Bennett,  Roy  V.  Sider, 
Paul  N.  Kraybill,  Heinz  Janzen,  and 
Newton  Gingrich,  with  Robert  S.  Kreider 
as  staff  resource  person,  have  scheduled 
a meeting  for  September  5 in  Chicago. 

Inter-Mennonite  offender 
seminar  set  on  West  Coast 

A regional  inter-Mennonite  seminar  on 
offender  ministries  is  planned  October 
12-13  at  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Church 
offices  in  Fresno,  California. 

The  seminar  will  discuss  existing  con- 
ditions, problems,  and  programs  relating 
to  offenders;  the  extent  of  congrega- 
tions’ responsibility  to  serve  offenders; 
and  concrete  suggestions  on  how  con- 
gregations might  become  involved  in 
serving  offenders. 

The  program  will  include  visits  to 
institutions  and  programs  working  with 
offenders,  a biblical-theological  discus- 
sion on  the  church’s  mission  to  offenders, 
resource  persons  who  will  share  what 
others  are  doing  to  help,  and  joint  con- 
sideration of  what  churches  and  indi- 
viduals might  do  in  the  future. 

Among  the  sponsoring  groups  for  the 
seminar  are  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee (West  Coast  Region) ; Pacific 
District  Conference,  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren Church;  Pacific  District  Conference, 
General  Conference  Mennonite  Church; 
Pacific  Coast  Conference,  Mennonite 
Church;  Southwest  Conference,  Menno- 
nite Church;  Pacific  Conference,  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  Church;  Pacific  College, 
and  Mennonite  Brethren  Biblical  Semi- 
nary, Fresno,  California;  Kings  View 
Hospital,  Reedley,  California;  and  Men- 
nonite Mental  Health  Services. 


Church  group  joins  UFW  pickets 

Delegates  from  the  Ninth  General  Synod  of  the  United  Church  of  Christ,  meeting 
in  St.  Louis,  joined  the  United  Farm  Workers  picket  line  in  Coachella,  California, 
after  flying  by  chartered  jet  for  a twenty-four-hour  pilgrimage  on  the  picket  line. 
The  farm  workers’  union,  led  by  Cesar  Chavez,  is  locked  in  a confrontation  with 
the  Teamsters  over  who  will  represent  grape  pickers.  Violence  on  the  part  of  the 
Teamsters  led  Mr.  Chavez  to  call  for  national  church  support  and  the  United  Church 
of  Christ  was  one  of  the  first  to  respond. 


THE  MENNONITE 


479 


The  milk  feeding  center,  Mir  pur  Colony,  Bangladesh,  provides  milk  for  malnour- 
ished children.  Records  are  kept  of  the  amount  of  milk  given  to  each  person. 


A happy  gift  for  Nurul 


For  children  in  Europe  and  North  Amer- 
ica, milk  is  in  the  refrigerator,  milk  is 
on  the  table,  milk  is  always  in  one’s  glass 
when  wanted. 

But  for  Nurul  and  his  sister,  Jahanara, 
milk  isn’t.  Also  on  the  isn’t  list  for  them 
are  other  good  foods — meat,  eggs,  and 
vegetables,  for  example. 

Nurul  and  Jahanara  live  in  Mirpur, 
an  overcrowded  residential  area  on  the 
edge  of  Dacca  in  Bangladesh.  A check 
of  the  ratio  of  height  to  the  circumference 
of  the  upper  arm  put  them  on  a list  of 
a thousand  children  in  their  community 
who  are  moderately  or  severely  malnour- 
ished. 

That’s  why  Nurul  and  his  sister  re- 
ceived a pink  card  issued  by  the  Menno- 
nite  Central  Committee  and  the  Inter- 
national Committee  of  the  Red  Cross. 
This  entitles  each  of  them  to  a daily 
pint  of  milk  from  a distribution  center 
that  has  been  operating  since  June. 

Thirty  thousand  Biharis  live  in  Section 
10  of  Mirpur,  an  area  of  less  than  one 
square  mile.  It’s  crowded.  The  turning 
of  the  political  tables  in  1971  changed 
East  Pakistan  into  Bangladesh  and 
changed  the  Biharis  from  the  ins  to  the 
outs. 

They  had  been  in  sympathy  and  in 
league  with  the  Pakistan  military  gov- 
ernment that  used  murder  to  try  to  stem 
the  rise  of  Bengali  nationalism.  But  the 
Bengalis  won. 

Out  of  favor  with  the  new  Bengali 
ruling  party,  the  Biharis  were  also  out 


of  work,  losing  good  jobs  to  Bengali 
workers  who  felt  the  jobs  belonged  to 
them.  Then,  too,  the  Biharis  ran  out 
of  security.  Their  neighbors  remember 
that  some  Biharis  willingly  or  unwillingly 
aided  the  Pakistani  carnage.  So,  for  safe- 
ty and  the  chance  to  get  a bit  of  relief, 
Biharis  have  clustered  in  some  former 
Bihari  communities  increasing  the  pop- 
ulation manifold  and  giving  residential 
areas  the  appearance  of  refugee  camps. 

Food  is  in  short  supply  everywhere  in 
Bangladesh  and  more  so  for  those  who 
have  the  status  of  refugees  in  a country 
where  they  once  felt  close  to  the  seat 
of  power.  These  people  who  need  to  de- 
pend on  government  charity  and  aid 
from  relief  agencies  don’t  get  rations 
every  day  of  the  month. 

The  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
wants  to  provide  a supplement  for  the 
hungriest  children.  Most  of  ten  tons  of 
powdered  milk  received  from  the  Men- 
nonites  of  Switzerland  and  the  Swiss 
Government  has  been  designated  for 
milk-feeding  programs  in  Mirpur  or  in 
other  hard-pressed  Bihari  centers  in- 
cluding Khulna  and  Saidpur. 

Two  thousand  malnourished  children 
and  pregnant  women  benefit  from  the 
milk  distribution  program  in  Mirpur. 
Volunteers  from  the  Bihari  community 
assist  in  the  distribution  program  that  is 
supervised  by  Yvette  Steinemann,  the 
Dutch  wife  of  a Swiss  Red  Cross  officer, 
who  has  volunteered  her  services  for  this 
project. 


Ms.  Steinemann  used  the  QUAC  stick 
measure  to  determine  which  children 
were  most  seriously  malnourished.  This 
ratio  of  arm  circumference  to  height 
developed  by  a Quaker  service  agency 
(QU  for  Quaker  and  AC  for  arm  cir- 
cumference) has  proved  to  be  a reliable 
indicator. 

For  2,000  boys  and  girls  in  Mirpur 
Section  10,  milk  is  one  pint,  six  days  a 
week.  It  is  a happy  gift.  Maynard  Shelly 

First  Zairewide  Mennonite 
pastors1  conference  held 

“Whatever  word  shows  joy  which  sur- 
passes all  joy  . . . this  is  what  we  have 
felt.” 

“Since  independence  wars  uprooted, 
divided,  and  scattered  us  thirteen  years 
ago,  this  is  the  first  time  we  have  sat 
down  to  eat  at  the  Lord’s  table  together.” 

These  words  typify  the  response  of 
104  delegates  who  attended  the  first 
Zairewide  Mennonite  Pastors’  Confer- 
ence July  7-13  at  the  Nyanga  Church 
Center. 

The  eighty  pastors,  six  missionaries, 
and  eighteen  lay  workers  present  repre- 
sented all  Mennonite  groups  working  in 
Zaire:  the  Mennonite  Brethren  Commu- 
nity (Africa  Mennonite  Brethren  Mis- 
sion) from  Kikwit  area;  the  Mennonite 
Community  of  Zaire  (Africa  Inter-Men- 
nonite  Mission)  from  Tshikapa  area; 
and  the  Evangelical  Mennonite  Com- 
munity from  Mbuji-Mayi  area. 

The  conference  theme  was  “Wake  up! 
The  hour  has  come!”  (Rom.  13:11), 
and  conference  programmers  planned 
maximum  output  to  arouse  delegates  to 
action.  Delegates  were  in  session  12V> 
hours  daily  and  returned  after  supper 
for  a question-answer  period  or  for 
movies. 

The  main  Bible  teacher  was  William 
Baerg,  recently  retired  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren missionary  with  wide  experience  in 
the  pastoral  conference  ministry.  He 
was  called  from  Canada  primarily  for 
this  occasion  and  taught  seventeen  peri- 
ods on  the  Book  of  Revelation. 

Peter  Falk,  professor  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Theological  School  of  Kinshasa 
and  aimm  missionary,  presented  a series 
of  messages  on  the  pastoral  life.  Other 
subjects  included  Mennonite  history  and 
doctrine,  means  of  developing  a church 
which  is  authentically  African,  church 
administration,  evangelism,  and  personal 
spiritual  edification. 

The  conference  was  made  possible 
by  a grant  from  the  Schowalter  Founda- 
tion for  travel  expenses.  Levi  Keidel 


480 


AUGUST  21,  1973 


Bernie  Wiebe  chosen  as  Freeman  president 


Bernie  Wiebe,  a native  of  Altona,  Man- 
itoba, and  a PhD  candidate  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Dakota,  has  been  named 
president  of  Freeman  Junior  College  and 
Academy,  Freeman,  South  Dakota. 

He  plans  to  move  to  Freeman  August 
26  to  begin  his  duties  at  the  school, 
which  has  been  without  a president  for 
I a year. 

Mr.  Wiebe  has  spent  the  last  two 
years  at  the  University  of  North  Dakota 
at  Grand  Forks  studying  in  the  field  of 
guidance  and  counseling.  He  was  on 
leave  of  absence  as  director  of  Faith 
and  Life  Radio  and  Television  for  the 
! General  Conference  Mennonite  Church. 

He  is  presently  chairman  of  the  Menno- 
i nite  Council  on  Mass  Communications. 

From  1965  to  1971  he  served  as  con- 
ference minister  of  the  Conference  of 
Mennonites  in  Manitoba.  He  is  an  or- 


Bernie  Wiebe 


dained  minister  and  has  held  pastorates 
in  Middlebury,  Indiana;  Green  Center, 
Indiana;  and  North  Dakota.  He  has  had 
teaching  experience  as  an  elementary 
teacher  in  Manitoba  and  Ontario  and 
has  taught  at  Mennonite  Collegiate  In- 
stitute, Gretna,  Manitoba,  where  he  re- 
ceived his  high  school  education. 

Mr.  Wiebe  holds  a BA  in  psychology 


from  Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Indiana; 
a BD  from  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary, 
Elkhart,  Indiana;  and  an  MA  in  guidance 
and  counseling  from  the  University  of 
North  Dakota.  The  topic  of  his  PhD 
dissertation  is  adolescent-parent  commu- 
nication and  relationships. 

Mr.  Wiebe  said  his  philosophy  of  edu- 
cation was  “to  help  people  discover  them- 
selves and  to  help  them  realize  some  of 
the  potential  with  which  they  have  been 
created.  Since  one’s  own  identity  and 
potential  are  so  closely  related  to  God, 
the  Christian  context  for  education 
seems  the  closest  to  an  ideal  situation  in 
which  this  process  can  take  place.” 

Mr.  Wiebe,  who  was  tenth  in  a fam- 
ily of  twelve  children,  was  born  and 
raised  on  a farm.  In  1956  he  married 
Marge  Letkeman,  who  is  an  elementary 
school  teacher.  They  have  four  children. 


Research  scholar  on  Communism  appointed 


| A new  venture  for  mcc  with  the  Center 
for  the  Study  of  Religion  and  Commu- 
j nism  ( csrc  ) in  London,  England,  will 
begin  this  fall.  Walter  Sawatsky,  Win- 
I nipeg,  Manitoba,  has  accepted  an  mcc 
j assignment  as  research  scholar  for  the 
center. 

The  center  was  founded  in  1970  to 
: fill  a gap  in  supplying  much  needed,  re- 
liable information  on  religion  and  the 
' church  in  communist  countries. 

Csrc  is  not  a mission  in  the  same 
sense  as  certain  organizations  whose 
purposes  range  from  smuggling  Bibles 
into  communist  countries  to  fighting 
Communism.  The  purpose  of  the  center 
is  to  engage  in  serious  research  and  to 
provide  information  to  churches,  uni- 
versities, and  legitimate  organizations. 
The  center  will  do  this  through  books, 
journals,  press  releases,  lectures,  and 
broadcasts.  A library  and  comprehensive 
documentation  is  being  built  up  at  the 
center.  The  planners  hope  this  activity 
will  advance  human  rights  and  religious 
freedom. 

Csrc  publishes  its  own  bimonthly  pa- 
per called  Religion  in  Communist  lands. 
The  first  issue  of  9,000  copies  came  off 
the  press  in  February. 

Michael  Bourdeaux,  who  has  spent 
one  year  in  the  Soviet  Union,  is  director 
of  the  center.  He  is  also  on  the  research 
staff  of  the  Royal  Institute  of  Interna- 
tional Affairs  in  London. 

In  correspondence  about  the  possi- 


Margaret  and  Walter  Sawatsky  and 
daughter  Natasha. 


bility  of  mcc  cooperating  with  the  csrc 
Mr.  Bourdeaux  wrote,  “The  csrc  would 
require  people  of  PhD  caliber  . . . who 
would  be  seconded  by  their  sponsors  to 
the  center  for  not  less  than  three  years. 
Such  a person  would  probably  have  an 
academic  project  of  his  own  in  hand 
related  to  religion  and  Communism  and 
would  pursue  it  at  the  center.  In  addi- 
tion, part  of  his  time  would  be  spent 
helping  the  center  to  expand  the  range 
of  its  own  work.  . . .” 

When  looking  for  a suitable  candi- 
date, mcc  kept  in  mind  the  center’s  re- 


quirements and  added  one  of  its  own, 
notably  that  he  would  have  to  have  both 
feet  in  the  church. 

Walter  Sawatsky,  who  handles  the 
Russian  and  German  languages  and  reads 
French,  is  a PhD  candidate  in  Russian 
history  at  the  University  of  Minnesota, 
with  special  emphasis  on  nineteenth-cen- 
tury religious  history.  Mr.  Sawatsky 
said,  “I  have  long  had  an  interest  in  the 
state  of  religion  in  Russia.  I feel  strongly 
that  in  the  same  way  that  we  must  look 
at  Czarist  Russia  to  give  depth  to  our 
understanding  of  Soviet  Russia,  so  we 
must  look  at  religion  on  Czarist  Russia 
to  understand  current  problems. 

When  asked  about  his  relationship  to 
the  church,  Mr.  Sawatsky  replied,  “I 
assure  you  that  I am  an  Anabaptist- 
Mennonite  ‘with  both  feet  in  the 
church.’  ” He  and  his  wife,  Margaret, 
are  members  of  the  Evangelical  Menno- 
nite Mission  Conference  of  Canada  and 
belong  to  the  Gospel  Mennonite  Church 
in  Winnipeg.  During  their  stay  in  Min- 
neapolis from  1968  to  April  1973,  they 
were  associate  members  of  the  Faith 
Mennonite  Church  there. 

In  April  and  May  of  this  year,  Walter 
and  Margaret  Sawatsky  visited  the  Soviet 
Union  in  connection  with  his  PhD  re- 
search project.  They  also  visited  church- 
es in  Leningrad,  Moscow,  Novosibirsk, 
Tashkent,  and  Alma  Ata.  Their  assign- 
ment at  the  csrc  in  London  will  begin 
in  September.  Peter  J.  Dyck 


THE  MENNONITE 


481 


Seminar  hails  intergenerational 


Forty-one  persons  from  four  provinces 
met  in  Winnipeg  July  15-26  to  take  a 
thorough  new  look  at  Christian  educa- 
tion. 

Held  on  the  Canadian  Mennonite  Bi- 
ble College  campus  and  sponsored  by 
the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Can- 
ada's Board  of  Congregational  Resources, 
the  seminar  attracted  young  people,  pas- 
tors, housewives,  public,  private,  and 
Bible  school  teachers,  and  church  ad- 
ministrators. Nine  of  the  participants 
were  under  twenty-five  years  of  age. 

Henry  H.  Epp,  the  Congregational 
Resources  Board’s  executive  secretary 
and  one  of  the  architects  of  the  plans 
for  the  seminar,  said  that  his  goal  for 
the  study  process  was  to  test  the  pre- 
suppositions under  which  the  churches 
are  conducting  their  educational  pro- 
grams. He  said  that  it  was  his  belief 
that  the  church’s  approach  to  education 
has  become  so  secularized  that  many 
young  people  wonder  why  they  should 
attend  church  at  all. 

Mr.  Epp’s  wish  for  the  seminar  was 
that  it  might  come  up  with  some  new 
methods,  particularly  for  the  churches’ 
education  endeavors  with  junior  highs 
and  older  young  people.  He  said  that  it 
seems  important  to  him  that  congrega- 
tions should  take  a holistic  approach  to 
education,  taking  into  account  the  sci- 
entific, philosophical,  and  other  input 
which  young  people  are  getting  during 
the  rest  of  the  week.  “It  doesn’t  make 
sense,”  he  said,  “to  study  Acts  with 
them  and  to  ignore  what  they’re  taking 
in  school.” 

Helmut  Harder,  a cmbc  faculty  mem- 
ber, directed  the  seminar.  He  used  the 
process  approach  in  trying  to  get  the 
participants  to  grapple  with  the  problems 
of  Christian  education. 

Several  lectures  were  scheduled  during 
the  twelve  days  to  fill  people  in  on  what 
is  being  said  biblically,  historically,  and 
in  society  about  the  educational  process, 
but  basically  the  people  at  the  seminar 
had  to  come  to  an  understanding  of 
the  problem  through  discussions  in  small 
work  groups,  readings,  and  informal  dia- 
log. 

Among  the  specific  educational  tech- 
niques explored  at  the  seminar  were 
drama  and  serendipity  exercises. 

Although  he  acknowledged  that  the 
people  at  the  seminar  were  a select 
group,  Mr.  Harder  said  he  was  pleased 
at  their  willingness  to  look  at  new  con- 
cepts of  education  and  worship. 


The  group  concurred  on  a number  of 
points  at  the  conclusion  of  their  twelve 
days  of  work.  First,  they  agreed  that  the 
teaching  of  young  people  needs  to  be 
intergenerational  and  that  it  should  take 
place  in  more  than  just  the  Sunday 
school  classroom  setting.  “Don’t  work 
with  youth  apart  from  parents  and  older 
people,”  Mr.  Harder  summarized.  The 
graded  method  of  teaching  came  in  for 
some  criticism. 

“Youth  education  often  falls  between 
the  boards,”  he  said.  “Congregations 
have  one  committee  in  charge  of  adult 
education  and  another  in  charge  of  the 
children’s  program,  but  none  for  the 
group  in  between.” 

The  people  at  the  seminar  also  agreed 
that  relationships  are  highly  important. 
“We  are  almost  in  danger  sometimes  of 
setting  up  relationships  in  opposition  to 
the  learning  of  facts,”  Mr.  Harder  said. 
“But  faith  is  not  contentless.  The  end  of 
education  should  be  more  than  a hug. 
Education  includes  discipline.” 

Among  the  specific  problems  concern- 
ing young  people  which  were  highlighted 
by  the  seminar  was  the  churches’  fre- 
quent failure  to  affirm  young  people  who 

RECORD 


Ministers 


Lee  Boleyn  began  work  July  1 as  in- 
terim pastor  of  the  Good  Shepherd 
Church,  Sioux  Falls,  S.D.  He  is  a senior 
at  North  American  Baptist  Seminary. 

Elmer  Ensz  has  resigned  as  pastor  of 
the  Bethel  Lustre  Church,  Frazer,  Mont., 
and  the  Bethel  Church,  Wolf  Point, 
Mont.,  to  become  pastor  of  a Mennonite 
Brethren  church  in  Weatherford,  Okla. 

Albert  Leppky,  a former  student  at 
Grace  Bible  Institute,  Omaha,  Neb.,  be- 
gins work  this  summer  as  pastor  of  the 
Salem  Church,  Munich,  N.D. 

Bob  Schmidt  has  been  installed  as  as- 
sistant pastor  at  the  Olivet  Church, 
Clearbrook,  B.C.  He  is  on  extended  leave 
from  an  assignment  in  radio  broadcasting 
and  printing  in  Zaire  under  Africa  In- 
ter-Mennonite  Mission. 

Roger  Siebert,  pastor  of  the  Deep 
Run  Church  West,  Bedminster,  Pa.,  has 
resigned  to  become  pastor  of  the  Grace 


education 

make  a commitment  to  Christ  at  an 
early  age,  but  who  then  have  to  wait 
until  their  baptism  when  they  are  eigh- 
teen or  nineteen  years  old  to  really  be- 
come part  of  the  church.  Pastors  also 
voiced  some  dissatisfaction  with  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  catechism  materials  be- 
cause they  are  geared  for  U.S.  church 
membership  classes,  where  the  people 
are  generally  younger  than  their  counter- 
parts in  Canada. 

Another  point  on  which  the  people 
at  the  seminar  concurred,  said  Henry 
Epp,  was  that  congregations  need  a 
more  focused  adult  education  program. 
They  need  to  get  at  the  essence  of  the 
church’s  continuing  story  so  that  they 
can  share  it  with  their  families. 

“Unless  the  family  and  the  church 
unite  to  offer  alternatives  to  the  secular 
approach  to  education,”  Mr.  Epp  said, 
“we  will  lose  many  of  our  young  people.” 

The  seminar  is  seen  as  the  first  stage 
in  a process  to  hammer  out  a new  edu- 
cational philosophy.  The  Congregational 
Resources  Board  will  decide  on  further 
steps  when  it  has  had  the  opportunity 
to  evaluate  this  summer’s  experience. 
Larry  Kehler 


Church,  Pandora,  Ohio,  on  Sept.  1.  He 
holds  degrees  from  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton,  Kans.,  and  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind. 

Paul  Zosche,  formerly  a student  at 
Grace  Bible  Institute,  Omaha,  Neb., 
has  become  pastor  of  the  Woodland 
Church,  Warroad,  Minn. 

Workers 


John  Buller  has  begun  a two-year  term 
of  service  with  mcc  in  Switzerland.  He 
is  working  in  maintenance  at  the  Bienen- 
berg  Bible  School.  John  received  a BA 
in  physical  education  from  Tabor  Col- 
lege, Hillsboro,  Kans.  He  is  the  son  of 
Alvin  and  Hilda  Buller,  Lehigh,  Kans., 
and  a member  of  Alexanderwohl  Church, 
Goessel,  Kans. 

George  Dyck,  psychiatrist  at  Prairie 
View  Mental  Health  Center,  Newton, 
Kans.,  has  been  named  professor  and 
chairman  of  the  Department  of  Psychi- 


482 


AUGUST  21,  1973 


atry  at  the  Wichita  State  University 
branch  of  the  University  of  Kansas 
School  of  Medicine.  He  will  continue 
as  needed  at  Prairie  View  until  a re- 
placement is  found.  The  Wichita  branch 
of  the  KU  School  of  Medicine  will  re- 
ceive its  first  students  in  January  1974. 

Walter  Friesen,  dean  of  University 
College,  Wichita  State  University,  will 
serve  three  months  as  consultant  and 
coordinator  on  campus  community  build- 
ing and  the  freshman  year  at  Bethel 
College,  North  Newton,  Kans. 

Arnold  and  Grace  Harder,  First 
Church,  Mountain  Lake,  Minn.,  will  re- 
turn to  the  area  of  Tshikapa,  Zaire,  to 
work  with  seda,  an  agricultural  develop- 
ment service.  Arnold  has  attended  Free- 
man Junior  College,  Freeman,  S.D.,  and 
holds  bachelor’s  and  master’s  degrees 
from  the  University  of  Minnesota.  Grace 
has  attended  Grace  Bible  Institute,  Oma- 
ha, Neb. 

Eloise  Harder,  Hesston,  Kans.,  has 
been  appointed  teacher  and  principal  of 
the  school  for  missionary  children  in 
Hwalien,  Taiwan.  Her  assignment  is  un- 
der the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion. The  school,  which  includes  grades 
one  through  eight,  serves  children  of 
General  Conference  missionaries  as  well 
as  missionaries  of  other  denominations 
in  Hwalien.  Ms.  Harder,  a member  of 
the  Garden  Mennonite  Church  near 
Moundridge,  Kans.,  has  been  teacher  and 
counselor  in  the  Hesston  school  system 
for  six  years.  She  holds  a BA  from  Biola 
College,  LaMirada,  Calif.,  and  an  MS 
from  Kansas  State  Teachers  College, 
Pittsburg. 

Shizuko  Katakabe,  a member  of  the 
Sekiguchi  Daimachi  Mennonite  Fellow- 
ship in  Tokyo,  Japan,  has  begun  training 
in  London  for  service  in  the  mcc  Teach- 
ers Abroad  Program.  She  will  probably 
teach  in  Kenya. 

Eleanor  Peters,  Gretna,  Man.,  will 
serve  one  year  as  teacher  in  the  Quinta 
Lupita  school  in  Cuauhtemoc,  Mexico. 
Daughter  of  Mexico  missionaries  Dan 
and  Elna  Peters,  Eleanor  grew  up  in 
Mexico.  She  was  a student  last  year  at 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College,  Win- 
nipeg, and  will  continue  her  education 
after  the  year  in  Mexico.  She  will  teach 
in  both  German  and  Spanish.  Ms.  Peters 
is  a member  of  the  Mennonite  Church 
at  Steinreich,  Mexico.  She  serves  under 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 

Earl  and  Ruth  Roth,  Grace  Church, 
Albany,  Ore.,  will  return  as  high  school 
teachers  in  Nyanga,  Zaire,  under  Africa 
Inter-Mennonite  Mission.  They  first  be- 
gan work  in  Zaire  in  1954.  Earl  holds  a 


E.  Roth 


BS  from  Lewis  and  Clark  College,  Port- 
land, Ore.,  and  an  MBS  from  Oregon 
College  of  Education,  Monmouth.  Ruth 
has  a BA  from  Portland  State. 

Ed  Schellenberg,  West  Abbotsford 
Church,  Abbotsford,  B.C.,  has  begun  a 
two-year  term  of  service  with  mcc  in 
Poland.  He  is  working  at  the  Zoological 
Research  Station.  Ed  is  the  son  of  Jacob 
and  Mary  Schellenberg,  Abbotsford. 

Leona  May  Schrag,  worker  under  Af- 
rica Inter-Mennonite  Mission,  will  re- 
turn to  Zaire  in  August  after  a year’s 
furlough.  In  Zaire  she  will  work  with 
Christian  literature,  writing,  adapting, 
and  translating  material  for  daily  vaca- 
tion Bible  schools,  Sunday  schools,  and 
other  groups.  She  will  also  work  with 
young  people  of  the  Mukedi  area.  Ms. 
Schrag,  a member  of  First  Church,  Pret- 
ty Prairie,  Kans.,  has  received  degrees 
from  Grace  Bible  Institute,  Omaha,  Neb.; 
Hutchinson  (Kans.)  Junior  College; 
and  Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kans. 
Sponsoring  bodies  of  Africa  Inter-Men- 
nonite Mission  are  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church,  Evangelical 
Mennonite  Church,  and  Evangelical 
Mennonite  Brethren  Church. 

Virginia  ( Gigi ) Spangler,  Wichita, 
Kans.,  will  enter  voluntary  service  under 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  on  Sept.  1.  She  will  spend  one 
year  in  Hamilton,  Ont.,  working  in  the 
Inasmuch  House,  a hostel  for  women, 
and  in  the  programs  of  the  Welcome  Inn, 
a community  center  operated  by  the 
Hamilton  voluntary  service  unit.  Ms. 
Spangler,  a member  of  the  Faith  Pres- 
byterian Church,  Wichita,  has  attended 
Wichita  State  University,  majoring  in 
music  education. 

Donovan  and  Naomi  Unruh,  First 
Church,  Beatrice,  Neb.,  will  return  to 
Zaire  as  teachers  at  the  Mukedi  High 
School.  Donovan  will  also  be  a pastor 
and  work  in  evangelism.  Both  received 
bachelor’s  degrees  at  Bethel  College, 
North  Newton,  Kans.  Donovan  holds  a 
master’s  degree  from  Scarritt  College  for 
Christian  Workers,  Nashville,  Tenn. 


R.  Roth  Schellenberg 


Lynne  Waltner,  Marion,  S.D.,  began 
a term  of  voluntary  service  with  the 
General  Conference  Mennonite  Church 
on  July  7.  She  is  a member  of  the  Hutch- 
inson, Kans.,  voluntary  service  unit  and 
will  serve  six  months  to  a year  as  sec- 
retary to  the  chaplain  and  to  the  school 
at  Kansas  State  Industrial  Reformatory 
in  Hutchinson.  Ms.  Waltner,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ray  Waltner  of 
Marion,  is  a member  of  the  Salem-Zion 
Church,  Freeman,  S.D.  She  has  a BS 
degree  in  elementary  education  from 
Sioux  Falls  College,  Sioux  Falls,  S.D. 

Calendar 


Sept.  18-19 — Church  planting  consul- 
tation, Chicago. 

Sept.  22-23 — General  Conference  pro- 
gram committee,  St.  Catharines,  Ont. 

Oct.  19-21 — Western  District  Confer- 
ence annual  sessions,  Clinton,  Okla. 

Aug.  3-9,  1974 — General  Conference 
triennial  sessions,  Brock  University,  St. 
Catharines,  Ont. 

Correction 

The  June  5 article  concerning  the  ordi- 
nation of  Emma  Richards  at  the  Lom- 
bard (Illinois)  Mennonite  Church  re- 
ported that  the  Illinois  Mennonite  Con- 
ference had  approved  her  ordination 
with  only  three  dissenting  votes.  Ac- 
cording to  subsequent  information,  this 
count  of  dissenting  votes  was  unofficial. 
The  vote  which  approved  her  ordination 
was  a voice  vote,  with  yes  votes  in  a 
clear  majority. 

Ivan  Kauffmann,  editor  of  the  Illinois 
Conference  periodical,  stated,  “Illinois 
Conference  recognized  this  action  as  ap- 
proval for  Emma’s  ordination  and  is 
looking  to  the  Mennonite  Church  Gen- 
eral Assembly  for  further  direction  re- 
garding the  role  of  women  in  the  church.” 

Ms.  Richards  was  ordained  June  17. 
She  and  her  husband,  Joe,  are  co-pastors 
of  the  Lombard  congregation. 


THE  MENNONITE 


483 


Is  Your  Church  Going 

HITHER, 

THITHER, 

TOY? 


NOT  WHEN  THE  COMMISSION  ON  HOME  MINISTRIES  HELPS 
SOMETHING  NEW  TO  HAPPEN  THROUGH  GOAL  SETTING 


WHERE 

IS 

YOUR 

CHURCH? 


> 


CONGREGATIONS  ARE: 

• FINDING  A NEW  PURPOSE 

• DISCOVERING  NEW  RESOURCES 

• CHOOSING  NEW  PROGRAMS 

• WINNING  NEW  PEOPLE 


WHERE 
DOES  GOD 
WANT  YOUR 
CHURCH 
TO  BE 
ONE  YEA 
FROM  NOW? 


Does  your  church  do  things  in  a 
haphazard  way,  not  really  knowing 
where  you  are  going  or  why?  Through 
district  primary  consultants,  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries  is  pre- 
pared to  help  your  congregation  de- 
termine where  you  are  now  and  where 
God  might  want  your  church  to  be 
one  year  from  now. 


Thirty-five  congregations  are  al- 
ready being  helped  by  a unique  goal- 
setting strategy.  Leonard  Wiebe  of 
Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  says,  "I  feel  that 
this  In-Depth  goal  setting  is  bringing 
new  vitality  within  our  church.  I'm 
really  excited  about  the  next  twelve 
months.” 

Ruth  Hartzler  of  Pandora,  Ohio,  re- 


ports, "Thirty  more  people  are  now 
able  to  feel  a spirit  of  love  and  ac- 
ceptance in  our  congregation.  We  have 
reason  to  celebrate!” 

Contact  your  conference  minister  or 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
Box  347 

Newton,  Kansas  671 14 


484 


AUGUST  21,  1973 


Christ  in  common— Key  73 


Jane  Herstine  Friesen 
For  over  two  years  my  husband  and 
I were  part  of  a discussion  group  with 
Catholic  and  Protestant  couples  in  Vin- 
cennes, Indiana.  The  more  I listened 
and  observed,  the  more  excited  I be- 
came about  what  can  be  done  when 
people  from  various  church  backgrounds, 
constrained  by  the  love  of  Christ,  band 
together  to  tackle  problems  of  those  in 
dire  circumstances.  Some  from  this 
group  helped  organize  the  Christian  Life 
Council  as  a clearinghouse  for  a variety 
of  community  problems  and  concerns — 
from  the  open  sewer  to  Project  Com- 
mitment. And  Project  Commitment  paved 
the  way  for  Key  73. 

Supported  by  eighteen  churches  and 
organizations,  Project  Commitment  stud- 
ied the  six  main  problems  of  Vincennes 
on  six  consecutive  Monday  nights  in 
September  and  October  of  1972.  Pre- 


THE  QUAIL 

by  Dorothy  Hamilton 

A Sequel  to  THE  KILLDEER 

This  is  the  story  of  16-year-old  Mary 
Anne,  oldest  daughter  of  Susan  Kirk 
Garland  and  Dick  Garland.  It  is  the 
story  of  Mary  Anne  sorting  out  her 
feelings  about  her  parents'  relation- 
ships and  their  effect  on  her  own  emo- 
tional life. 

1 60  pages.  Cloth/jacket. 

0-8361-1716-6:  S3. 95 

ORDER  FROM 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON,  KANSAS 
OR  BERNE.  INDIANA 


sentations  dealt  with  poverty,  race  re- 
lations, drug  abuse,  mental  health,  men- 
tal retardation,  and  leisure.  People  be- 
came concerned  for  the  victims  of  deep- 
ly ingrained  social  ills,  and  new  friend- 
ships were  formed  among  clergy  and 
laymen  as  they  sat  around  tables  for 
discussion  of  each  topic. 

Because  I was  firmly  convinced  that 
man’s  deepest  spiritual  need  is  to  know 
Jesus  Christ  personally  and  also  be- 
lieved that  Key  73  was  a movement  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  among  Christians  who 
were  attempting  to  be  obedient  to  the 
Great  Commission,  I was  concerned  that 
our  community  participate  in  Key  73. 
Since  there  would  be  table  displays  by 
various  organizations  at  the  last  meeting 
of  Project  Commitment,  I got  permis- 
sion to  do  a display  on  Key  73  for  the 
Key  73  Bible  study  I had  begun  to 
teach  for  Church  Women  United. 

I was  delighted  to  find  that  one  wom- 
an in  our  Bible  study  had  the  Key  73 
congregational  resource  manual,  which 
I borrowed.  As  I read  it,  I saw  how 
broad  was  the  vision  of  the  planners, 
how  dedicated  and  compassionate  their 
concern,  and  how  thorough  the  ground- 
work they  had  laid,  by  God’s  grace.  I 
felt  certain  God  would  bless  this  evan- 
gelistic endeavor  if  his  people  were 
faithful. 

But  I didn’t  see  much  happening  in 
Vincennes.  I was  part  of  a women’s 
prayer  group  at  the  Presbyterian  church. 
I had  informed  this  group  of  Key  73 
and  several  times  asked  them  to  pray 
for  Key  73.  One  day  a friend  from  this 
group  gave  me  an  article  from  the  In- 
dianapolis paper  on  Key  73  plans  there, 
which  gave  me  some  ideas.  I called  the 
president  of  the  ministerial  association 
to  see  what  I could  learn.  A Presbyterian 
and  very  congenial,  he  said  he’d  heard 
of  Key  73  but  had  no  material  on  it 
as  yet.  He  invited  me  to  bring  what  I 
had  to  their  executive  committee  lunch- 
eon, and  from  there  he  took  the  infor- 
mation to  their  association  meeting, 
where  Key  73  was  endorsed. 

Two  billboards  were  donated  in  town 
for  “Pray  at  noon  for  Key  73”  remind- 
ers; radio  spots  also  called  people  to 
prayer.  As  media  representative,  I was 
responsible  to  get  articles  to  the  papers. 
Some  editors  called  pastors  and  did  ar- 
ticles on  their  own.  Several  front-page 
articles  on  Key  73  showed  a reversal 
of  the  daily  paper’s  policy  to  keep  “all 


church  news  on  the  church  page”  and 
brought  the  remark  from  one  pastor, 
“Someone’s  been  praying!”  The  society 
editor  agreed  to  do  a Sunday  society  page 
on  local  Bible  study  groups. 

While  Catholics  had  worked  with 
Protestants  in  Christian  Life  Council 
and  Project  Commitment,  they  declined 
to  give  their  support  to  Key  73.  Then 
in  January  joint  worship  services  were 
planned  to  celebrate  Christian  Unity 
Week.  While  Catholics  helped  in  the 
planning,  the  priest  declined  to  speak 
because,  as  I heard  from  his  associate, 
he  felt  he  was  too  prejudiced  toward 
Protestants.  But  many  were  praying  for 
Key  73,  and  God  was  answering.  The 
priest  received  a letter  from  the  bishop 
of  his  diocese  urging  Catholics  to  co- 
operate in  Key  73  in  whatever  way  they 
could.  He  reversed  his  decision  and 
agreed  to  speak. 

One  service  was  held  on  Wednesday 
evening  in  a Catholic  church  with  a 
Protestant  minister  speaking  and  one 
on  Sunday  afternoon  in  a Methodist 
church  with  the  priest  as  speaker.  I at- 
tended the  Wednesday  evening  meeting 
and  was  awed  by  the  spirit  of  unity  and 
love  that  pervaded  the  service  and  the 
excellent  message  by  the  president  of  the 
ministerial  association.  The  bulletin  used 
for  both  services  set  the  tone  for  wor- 
ship with  the  theme  “Christ  in  common” 
in  bold  red  letters  on  the  cover. 

I was  very  much  aware  of  the  great 
rift  formed  some  400  years  earlier  be- 
tween Catholic,  Lutheran,  Mennonite, 
and  other  groups,  dividing  the  body  of 
Christ.  Knowing,  too,  of  the  thousands 
of  Anabaptist  martyrs  who  died  at  the 
hands  of  others  who  claimed  to  follow 
Christ,  this  service  had  great  historical 
significance  for  me  and  was  cause  for 
rejoicing  and  praise  to  God. 

As  we  talked  informally  around  tables 
after  the  service,  I mentioned  being 
Mennonite.  A small,  shy  woman  sitting 
beside  me  said  very  little,  but  after  I 
rose  to  leave,  she  also  stood,  edged  to- 
ward me  slowly,  put  her  arm  around 
me,  and  said,  “So  you’re  a Mennonite?” 

“Yes,”  I said,  “do  you  know  Menno- 
nites?” 

“No,”  was  her  reply.  “But  my  daugh- 
ter in  Arizona  has  a friend  who  is  Men- 

Material  for  this  page  provided  by 
Women’s  Missionary  Association. 


THE  MENNONITE 


485 


MEDITATION 


Reprimand 

I say!  Lord  God,  this  current  job  is  great. 

I’ve  never  felt  so  useful  in  my  life. 

The  work  I do  is  needed,  I can  state 
for  once  without  a doubt.  The  strife 
inside  me  from  just  doing  busy  work 
is  gone — the  waiting  for  that  chance  to  prove 
I too  can  tackle  something  big,  not  shirk 
one  second  from  a chance  to  show  my  love 
for  you.  God  sighed.  He  took  a breath  and  said, 

Slow  down.  I don’t  need  proof.  The  reason  for 

our  covenant  is  you  in  me.  Inbred 

in  you  is  sonship — and  I have  more  in  store! 

Don’t  perpetrate  your  version  of  the  story. 

It  only  leads  to  burns  in  inventory!  Muriel  Stackley 

What  do  you  think  of  yourself? 

When  you  look  in  the  mirror,  do  you  like  what  you  see?  When  you  are  forced  to 
be  alone  for  a few  hours,  do  you  grow  restless  and  impatient?  What  I’m  trying  to  say 
is,  “What  do  you  think  of  yourself?” 

Shorter  hours,  longer  vacations,  faster  jets,  and  fatter  pay  checks  make  it  posssible 
for  some  people  to  travel  further  and  stay  longer.  But  eventually,  everyone  must 
come  home  again.  He  must  face  himself.  He  must  live  with  himself. 

Unfortunately,  some  people  do  not  enjoy  the  companionship  of  self.  They  dislike 
themselves,  even  to  the  point  of  self-directed  hostility.  Actually,  there  are  about  four 
ways  to  handle  one’s  self. 

First,  if  I do  not  like  myself,  I can  commit  suicide.  Each  year,  about  25,000 
Americans  write  themselves  a one-way  ticket  to  the  cemetery.  Additional  thousands 
try.  Others  settle  for  a living  oblivion  via  drugs  or  alcohol. 

A second  way  to  handle  myself  is  selfish  rebellion.  “If  I can’t  get  what  I want, 
neither  will  you.”  So  I make  life  a hell  for  others  as  I take  out  my  resentment  by 
robbing,  killing,  raping,  and  intimidating. 

Third,  I can  choose  self-resignation.  At  best,  this  is  a passive  and  slavish  submis- 
sion to  the  status  quo,  to  “what  is  to  be  will  be.” 

Hopefully,  most  of  us  will  opt  for  the  best  alternative,  which  is  self-acceptance — 
not  a blind  submission  to  fate,  but  a willingness  to  fight  today’s  battles  with  today’s 
resources.  This  is  the  meaning  of  Reinhold  Niebuhr’s  prayer,  “God  grant  me  the 
serenity  to  accept  the  things  I cannot  change,  the  courage  to  change  the  things  I 
can,  and  the  wisdom  to  know  the  difference  between  the  two.”  Robert  J.  Hastings 


nonite;  she  writes  me  all  about  them, 
and  I just  can’t  hear  enough  about 
them!” 

I was  deeply  touched.  How  glad  I 
was  for  this  warm  fellowship  in  the 
Lord,  glad  to  be  a Mennonite — a twen- 
tieth-century Mennonite  who  could  wor- 
ship freely  with  Catholics,  Lutherans, 
and  others  because  of  Jesus  Christ  whom 
we  all  have  in  common  and  whose  Spirit 
is  teaching  us  to  love  one  another. 

While  I did  not  attend  the  other  unity 
service,  I did  get  a copy  of  the  priest’s 
message  and,  as  I read  it,  was  overcome 
with  an  awareness  of  how  the  Holy  Spir- 
it is  at  work  in  the  Catholic  church 
much  more  than  I had  realized. 

Relying  heavily  on  New  Testament 
Scriptures  throughout,  as  well  as  quoting 
from  the  Decree  on  Ecumenism  from 
the  1964  Second  Vatican  Council,  he 
stressed  Christ’s  prayer  for  unity  in  John 
17.  He  pointed  out  that  Christ  prayed 
this  prayer  the  night  before  he  died, 
pleading  with  the  Father  for  his  dis- 
ciples of  ages  to  come.  He  said,  “We 
might  say  it  was  a part  of  Christ’s  last 
will  and  testament,”  to  be  carried  out 
by  the  promised  Holy  Spirit  as  executor 
of  his  will,  as  it  were. 

Later  in  January  at  the  first  county- 
wide planning  meeting  for  Key  73,  twen- 
ty-six groups  were  represented.  As  one 
pastor  put  it,  more  pastors  and  churches 
were  cooperating  for  this  than  for  any 
previous  purpose — a miracle  of  God’s 
grace.  Two  concerns  stressed  at  this 
meeting  were  that  Christ  be  exalted  and 
made  known  and  that  we  not  neglect 
the  poor  sections  of  town,  as  happened 
in  the  past. 

In  order  for  Key  73  to  be  successful 
in  reaching  every  unchurched  person  on 
our  continent  with  the  good  news  of 
Jesus,  we  must  join  hands  across  denom- 
inational lines.  Mennonites  have  so  much 
to  share  in  their  communities  if  they 
will  do  it.  This  calls  for  love — the  ex- 
traordinary love  of  Jesus  which  breaks 
down  walls  and  barriers  as  we  recognize 
we  all  have  Christ  in  common. 

LETTERS 


Health  care  crisis 

Dear  Editor:  Please  send  me  additional 
information  on  the  Mennonite  Medical 
Association,  which  held  a two-day  ses- 
sion on  abortion  (May  29  issue)  and 
which  plans  to  hold  another  session  this 
fall. 


I am  concerned  about  the  fact  that 
so  much  time  is  being  spent  on  an  indi- 
vidual moral  issue  when  greater  moral 
issues  are  at  stake.  Mennonite  medical 
doctors  should  be  concerned  about  the 
total  health  care  crisis  in  this  country 
and  spend  time  attempting  to  rectify 
their  major  guilt  in  this  dilemma.  Peter 
Dueck,  assistant  to  the  executive  director 
of  the  Mountain  Comp.  Health  Corp., 
226  East  Main,  Whitesburg,  Ky.  41858. 

June  15 

Editor’s  note'.  The  Mennonite  Medical 
Association’s  executive  secretary  is  John 
R.  Mumaw,  1005  College  Ave.,  Har- 
risonburg, Virginia  22801. 


Why  not  move  again? 

Dear  Editor:  With  all  the  interest  in 
the  centennial  of  the  Russian  Menno- 
nites coming  to  America,  I suspect  we 
may  be  missing  an  essential  point.  Build- 
ing a concrete  or  metal  monument  to 
people  who  moved  and  changed  seems 
somehow  inappropriate.  Even  folk  fes- 
tivals, choral  performances,  and  pageants 
really  miss  the  point.  These  are  all  the 
activities  of  a settled  people  remember- 
ing a moving  people. 

There  is  one  activity  which  might  ade- 
quately capture  the  spirit  and  vision  of 
these  hardy  immigrants.  Why  don’t  we 


486 


AUGUST  21,  1973 


move  again?  Let  the  congregations  se- 
lect a few  persons  they  deeply  trust  and 
authorize  them  to  roam  the  face  of  the 
earth  to  select  a new  land  and  a new 
culture  for  the  Mennonite  communities. 
After  all,  we  were  not  in  Russia  for  so 
very  much  longer  than  we  have  been 
in  the  States.  Surely  after  we  have  spoken 
so  highly  of  our  grandfathers  and  great- 
grandfathers, we  are  willing  to  follow 
their  example  and  sell  our  few  posses- 
sions to  our  less  adventuresome  neigh- 
bors, bid  our  aged  relatives  good-bye, 
and  move  on  to  an  unknown  new  land. 
Dale  Suderman , 201  S.  Main,  Elkhart , 
Ind.  46514.  July  13 


From  the  housetops 

Dear  Editor:  Although  this  response 
is  late,  I wish  to  commend  you  for  pub- 
lishing the  meditation  “My  father”  by 
Amelia  Mueller  (June  12  issue).  It  ex- 
presses what  I have  felt  for  many  years 
but  did  not  have  the  courage  to  say  in 
public.  Now  I feel  free  also  to  declare 
from  the  housetops  we  need  no  longer 
try  to  match  the  New  Testament  plan 
of  salvation  with  the  ceremonial  laws  of 
the  Old  Testament.  In  fact,  our  Savior 
forbade  putting  new  wine  into  old  wine- 
skins. Lotus  A.  Janzen,  Route  3,  Newton , 
Kans.  67114.  July  12 


PRIORITY  ■ EVANGELISM 
I I AND  CHURCH 
H PLANTING 

Develop  a systematic  program  of  church 
planting  with  missionaries  increasing  their 
participation  in  evangelism.  The  program  is 
to  include  working  together  with  the  national 
churches  in  joint  mission  outreach  to  other 
cultural  groups  or  geographical  areas. 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


Contents 


Red  Brodie  474 

Here's  your  Sunday  dinner  . 477 

News  479 

Record  482 

Christ  in  common — Key  73  ..  485 

Letters  486 

Reprimand  486 

What  do  you  think  of  yourself?  486 

Looking  back  at  a cycle  of 

conferences  488 


COVER 

Farmers  in  many  parts  of  Canada  and 
the  United  States  are  harvesting  record 
grain  crops  this  summer. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

David  T.  Steen  writes  for  The  Guide,  a 
Christian  Labour  Association  of  Canada 
publication,  100  Rexdale  Boulevard,  Rex- 
dale,  Ont. 

Rebecca  Harder's  address  is  Wilder- 
ness Road,  Branscomb,  Calif.  95417. 

Jane  Friesen's  new  home  is  Hesston, 
Kans.  67062,  where  they  moved  this 
summer  from  Vincennes,  Ind. 

Muriel  Thiessen  Stackley  lives  at  139 
Residence,  El  Dorado,  Kans.  67042,  and 
has  recently  returned  from  Botswana. 

Robert  J.  Hastings  is  the  editor  of  the 
Illinois  Baptist,  Springfield,  III.  62708. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Grover  Brinkman,  Okawville,  111. 
62271;  474  and  479,  Religious  News 
Service;  480,  Maynard  Shelly,  MCC;  the 
story  about  Red  Brodie  is  taken  from  the 
April  1973  issue  of  The  Guide,  100  Rex- 
dale Blvd.,  Rexdale,  Ont.,  and  is  used 
by  permission. 


Meimonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  221  1 - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


HE  MENNONITE 


487 


Looking  back  at  a cycle  of  conferences 


The  cycle  of  annual  church  conventions  is  over 
for  our  people.  In  autumn  the  rotation  will  begin 
once  more,  concluding  in  August  1974  with  the 
General  Conference’s  triennial  sessions  in  On- 
tario. 

It  is  part  of  a church  editor’s  joyful  duty  to  at- 
tend a number  of  these  conferences  each  year. 
Some  religious  journalists  see  this  part  of  their 
job  as  one  of  the  occupational  hazards,  but  many 
others,  myself  included,  see  conventions  as  im- 
portant indicators  of  where  the  church  is  going. 

I attended  four  conferences  during  the  past 
three  months:  two  district  meetings,  a special  ses- 
sion of  a provincial  conference,  and  the  Canadian 
conference.  Several  observations  come  to  mind  as 
a result  of  my  exposure  to  four  different  groups 
and  settings  within  a fairly  short  period  of  time. 

— A spirit  of  enthusiasm  and  support  pervaded 
all  four  conferences.  The  delegates  and  guests 
were  there  because  they  believed  the  conferences 
were  good  media  through  which  to  express  their 
faith.  There  were  criticism  and  probing  questions, 
to  be  sure,  but  they  were  usually  raised  with  the 
intent  of  sharpening  the  conferences’  sensitivity 
and  effectiveness. 

— Conventions  seem  to  function  best  when 
they  have  a careful  mix  of  inspiration  and  busi- 
ness. At  one  of  the  conventions  the  suggestion 
was  made  that  the  annual  meetings  should  alter- 
nate business  and  inspiration  every  other  year. 
The  conference  didn’t  act  on  the  proposal,  but 
some  delegates  pointed  out  that  this  type  of  ar- 
rangement would  set  up  a false  division  between 
two  important  and  interrelated  components  of 
the  churches’  activities.  The  inspiration  often 
comes  at  the  point  where  a “business”  decision 
can  be  made  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  sister/ 
brotherhood. 

— Some  of  the  conventions’  most  fruitful  dia- 
log again  took  place  in  unprogrammed  settings  in 
the  hallways,  on  the  sidewalks,  in  the  dining  areas, 
and  other  unexpected  places.  This  process  of 
getting  acquainted  and  discussing  issues  and  proj- 
ects informally,  person  to  person,  sets  the  stage 
for  important  decisions  and  for  breakthroughs  in 
fellowship.  Our  Mennonite  sense  of  the  economy, 
however,  seems  to  make  it  difficult  for  us  to  leave 
much  time  for  this  type  of  interaction.  Coffee 
breaks  are  scheduled  in  the  printed  programs,  but 


sometimes  they  are  ignored  in  the  rush  of  busi- 
ness. Mealtimes  tend  to  be  just  long  enough  to 
queue  up,  eat,  and  hurry  back  to  the  meeting 
room. 

— Most  of  the  reporting  on  conference  projects 
didn’t  quite  do  justice  to  the  work  that  the  com- 
mittees and  boards  are  actually  doing.  One  of  the 
conferences  played  down  its  committees’  work 
by  asking  them  to  report  to  smaller  groups.  Four 
or  five  committees  met  simultaneously,  thus  al- 
lowing delegates  the  opportunity  to  become  more 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  only  a small  portion 
of  the  conference’s  programs. 

Reports  generally  tended  to  slip  into  one  of 
two  ruts.  Either  they  “unloaded  the  whole  wagon 
of  hay,”  describing  much  of  the  minutiae  of  the 
committees’  work  and  introducing  all  the  people 
who  are  involved,  asking  each  one  to  say  a few 
words,  or  they  focused  on  one  aspect  of  the  com- 
mittee’s duties,  leaving  the  many  uninitiated  dele- 
gates wondering  how  this  piece  fits  into  the  total 
picture. 

Because  the  delegates  at  a conference  have 
varying  degrees  of  background  information  and 
interest  in  a given  program,  there  is  no  easy 
solution  to  the  reporting  dilemma.  It  might  be 
a helpful  step,  however,  if  committees  mapped 
out  a two-  or  three-year  plan  of  reporting  so 
that  there  wouldn’t  be  the  annual  recycling  of 
the  same  basic  report.  It  will  take  creative  plan- 
ning to  prepare  reports  which  tell  pertinent  parts 
of  the  story  and  state  the  issues  with  which  the 
committee  is  grappling.  There  seems  to  be  a 
temptation  sometimes  for  boards  and  commit- 
tees to  “sell”  their  program  to  the  constituents 
rather  than  to  draw  them  into  their  confidence 
to  become  involved  in  the  decision  making. 

— It  has  been  said  before,  and  it  needs  to  be 
repeated:  Women  and  young  people  are  still  dis- 
tinct minority  groups  at  our  conferences.  Quota 
systems  are  not  appropriate  devices  to  right  this 
inequity,  but  a more  deliberate  effort  must  be 
made  by  our  congregations  and  our  nominating 
committees  to  draw  more  women  and  young 
people  into  the  work  of  the  conferences. 

— A bouquet.  The  four  churches  which  served 
as  hosts  for  the  conferences  did  an  excellent  job. 
The  ability  to  provide  hospitality  is  still  alive 
among  us.  lk 


Following  our  summer  biweekly  schedule,  our  next  issue  will  be  dated  September  4. 


88:31  SEPTEMBER  4,  1973 


We  have  often  said  that  the  Mennonite  church  is  not  a 
creedal  church.  We  take  the  Scriptures  as  our  authority  in 
matters  of  faith  and  practice.  But  that  doesn’t  mean  that 
we  have  been  unconcerned  about  sound  doctrine.  Any  Chris- 
tian fellowship  soon  finds  that  it  is  necessary  to  instruct  its 
members  and  children  and  its  converts  in  the  beliefs  by 
which  it  lives. 

Our  Anabaptist  forebears  never  formulated  a creed.  They 
came  together  from  time  to  time,  however,  to  confess  their 
faith  for  particular  purposes,  such  as  unifying  the  church, 
instructing  believers,  tightening  discipline,  or  declaring  a 
definite  stand  against  false  teachings. 

God's  people,  in  every  period  of  the  church's  pilgrimage, 
have  been  called  to  contend  for  the  faith.  In  the  letters  to 
Timothy  and  Titus,  for  example,  there  are  no  fewer  than 
fifteen  references  to  the  importance  of  promoting  sound 
doctrine  in  the  church. 

Our  need  today.  I believe  we  have  recently  been  going 
through  a period  when  the  importance  of  sound  doctrine 
has  been  played  down.  There  are  several  reasons  for  this. 

— The  emphasis  in  many  churches  has  been  on  action. 
The  church  should  get  involved  in  the  needs  of  the  world, 
but  in  that  push  the  interest  in  sound  doctrine  has  waned. 

— We  have  forgotten  the  important  connection  between  doc- 
trine and  life.  A popular  assumption  says,  “It  doesn’t  matter 
what  you  believe,  just  so  you’re  sincere  about  it.”  But  what 
you  believe  does  matter.  The  Bible  tells  us  that  “as  a man 
thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he.”  What  we  deeply  believe 
determines  our  decisions  and  our  behavior  every  day. 

— A third  reason  is  the  trend  toward  greater  cooperation 
between  different  groups.  Doctrinal  matters  are  carefully 
put  into  the  background  for  fear  of  offending  someone  and 
spoiling  the  chance  of  getting  together.  That  kind  of  unity 
turns  out  to  be  neither  Christian  nor  lasting. 

I have  sometimes  felt  that  doctrine  was  not  as  important 
as  some  would  make  it.  The  important  thing,  I thought,  was 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Concern  for  sound  doctrine  seemed  to 
bring  contention  and  strife,  for  few  seemed  able  to  agree 
completely  on  matters  of  doctrine. 

But  even  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  without  sound  doctrine 
tends  to  turn  into  mysticism  or  subjectivism  which  is  finally 
more  and  more  rooted  in  our  personal  feelings  and  our 


Sound 

doctrine- 

the  neglected 
ingredient 

Floyd  G.  Bartel 


experiences  rather  than  in  God’s  revelation  to  us  of  his  Son. 

Why  should  we  know  clearly  what  we  believe?  When 
Christians  don’t  know  the  truth  of  the  Christian  faith  they 
develop  their  own  versions  of  truth.  I have  been  amazed 
to  discover  in  recent  years  how  widespread  the  belief  in 
universalism  is  among  church  people.  Universalism  is  the 
idea  that  in  the  end  everyone  will  be  saved,  that  hell  is  an 
old-fashioned  idea,  and  that  a God  of  love  would  never  send 
anyone  there,  much  less  allow  such  an  eternity.  Such  a 
point  of  view  is  a shallow  misrepresentation  of  the  gospel. 

The  “God  is  dead”  theology  of  the  mid-sixties  is  another 
example  of  bankruptcy  in  doctrinal  matters.  It  is  the  logical 
outcome  of  a drift  toward  humanism  in  the  church. 

Another  example  is  the  way  the  theories  of  evolution  have 
gradually  been  accepted  and  taught  in  our  schools  as  a 
factual  explanation  of  how  things  began,  when  they  are  actu- 
ally theories. 

No  one  is  without  beliefs.  If  we  don’t  know  the  truth 
of  the  gospel,  or  if  we  choose  not  to  accept  it,  we  will  adopt 
another  set  of  beliefs  or  make  up  our  own.  And  that  hap- 
pens within  the  church  as  well  as  elsewhere. 

Another  reason  why  we  need  to  know  what  we  believe 
is  because  the  Christian  witness  to  the  good  news  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  increasingly  stilled  when  we  don’t  know.  The  fact 
is  that  the  vast  majority  of  those  who  call  themselves  Chris- 
tian across  this  land  today  do  not  know  the  simple  truths 
of  the  gospel  well  enough  to  relate  them  understandably  to 
another  person.  This  is  one  reason,  though  not  the  only 
reason,  why  95  percent  of  the  Christians  in  the  churches 
across  this  land  never  lead  another  person  to  Christ. 

How,  then,  can  we  know  sound  doctrine?  First  of  all,  we 
can  know  because  God  has  put  it  into  the  hearts  of  all  men 
and  women  to  seek  after  him.  St.  Augustine,  in  his  classic 
statement,  put  it  this  way,  “Our  hearts  are  restless  until  they 
find  their  rest  in  thee!”  Only  the  truth  will  satisfy  that  yearn- 
ing God  has  put  into  our  hearts. 

We  see  this  yearning  expressed  all  over  the  world.  The 
ascetic  in  India,  who  lies  on  a bed  of  spikes  to  punish  his 
body  so  that  his  soul  may  be  purified,  is  searching  for  God. 
The  Hindu  philosopher  who  spends  hours  in  strictly  disci- 
plined meditation  to  arrive  at  what  he  thinks  is  the  knowl- 
edge of  “Brahmin,”  the  soul  of  the  universe,  is  searching 


490 


SEPTEMBER  4,  1973 


for  God.  The  Muslim  who  recites  his  creed  and  prays  five 
times  a day  with  his  face  toward  Mecca  is  seeking  God. 
The  devout  Jew  who  faithfully  reads  and  seeks  to  obey  the 
Law  is  seeking  to  know  God. 

I still  remember  how  a lovely  young  woman  once  insisted 
in  a Mennonite  Sunday  school  class  discussion  that  the  search 
is  the  important  thing.  She  said  she  was  on  a search  for  truth 
and  that  was  what  the  Christian  life  was  really  all  about. 
But  I talked  with  a Lancaster  County  man  recently  who  told 
me  how  he  had  searched  for  God  all  his  life  and  had  not 
found  him. 

So  how  can  we  know  God  and  his  truth? 

Do  we  find  it  by  searching? 

The  Bible  says,  “Seek  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found,  call 
I upon  him  while  he  is  near.”  But  that  refers  to  an  attitude 

1‘  of  the  heart  which  we  need  in  order  to  receive  what  God  has 
for  us. 

The  unique  thing  about  the  Christian  faith  is  that  God 
is  not  only  “knowable,”  but  that  it  is  God  who  makes  himself 
known  to  us.  The  story  of  the  Bible  is  not  the  story  of  man 
in  search  of  God — but  of  God  in  search  of  man.  In  Genesis 
3 — right  from  the  beginning- — after  Adam  and  Eve  sinned, 
we  are  told  they  hid  from  the  presence  of  God.  It  was  God 
who  asked,  “Adam,  where  are  you?”  not  Adam  who  asked, 
“God,  where  are  you?” 

The  first  point  we  must  make  in  this  whole  matter,  then, 
is  that  we  are  talking  about  God  and  about  truth  which  is 
revealed. 

Turn,  for  example,  to  Isaiah  40.  Does  the  prophet  say, 
“This  is  how  you  will  find  your  God — start  searching  for 
him”?  No.  He  says  simply  “Behold  your  God!”  He  calls  us 
to  open  our  eyes  and  see.  In  Isaiah  40:21  he  asks,  “Have  you 
! not  known?  Have  you  not  heard?”  Open  your  ears  and 
hear!  And  then  in  the  closing  verses  of  that  beautiful  chapter 
reminds  his  people  that  “they  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall 
renew  their  strength,  . . (v.  31).  Open  your  hearts  and  trust. 

We  can  know  Christian  truth  because  God  has  chosen 
to  make  himself  and  his  truth  known  to  us. 

God  has  called  us  to  be  his  servants  and  his  witnesses. 
I believe  the  ministries  of  our  churches  will  be  strengthened 
when  we  also  give  attention  to  our  doctrinal  roots. 


Getting  the  show 
on  the  road 

I put  my  faith  in  the  acrobatics 
of  the  universe, 

so  that,  when  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  stars 
reached  the  rightness  of  that  balanced  moment, 
I could  believe. 

Now,  the  time  is  over; 
belief  is  gone. 

I am  on  the  road  again, 
pursuing  an  eternal  circus, 
hoping  for  a replay  of  the  act 
and  that  moment  of  belief. 

But  Time,  the  never-resting  fester, 
returns  only  to  bruise  my  heel 
with  memories, 
and  evening  finds  me  lost 
in  an  unfamiliar  city. 

David  Waltner-Toews 


THE  MENNONITE 


491 


Authenticity-Zairian  and  Christian 

Elmer  Neufeld 


“In  the  days  past,  one  could  see  John 
Makanda,  resident  of  Leopoldville,  living 
on  Avenue  Prince  Baudouin  (Belgian 
Monarch),  wearing  his  western  suit, 
walking  to  his  office  on  a Saturday  morn- 
ing. Today,  citizen  Makanda-Elonga, 
resident  of  Kinshasa,  living  on  Avenue 
Kasa-Vubu,  wearing  his  national  cos- 
tume, machete  in  his  hand,  goes  to  his 
field  on  a Saturday  morning  to  do  his 
part  of  the  manual  work.” 

In  such  words  did  a young  Zairian 
characterize  the  changes  that  are  taking 
place  in  Zaire  today.  Though  difficult  to 
understand  fully  for  those  of  us  condi- 
tioned by  western  culture,  it  is  important 
that  we  see  the  significance  of  these 
changes.  And  it  is  also  especially  impor- 
tant that  Christians  seek  to  discern  the 
significance  of  these  changes  for  the  life 
and  ministry  of  the  church. 

Social  and  political  happenings.  A 
series  of  recent  developments  in  Zaire, 
reported  at  best  piecemeal  in  the  western 
religious  and  secular  presses,  has  left 
many  persons  thoroughly  bewildered 
about  what  is  happening. 

In  the  beginning  of  1972  there  was  the 
overthrow  of  colonial  monuments.  The 
proud  statue  of  Leopold  II  on  his  pranc- 
ing charger,  guarding  the  entrance  to 
the  national  parliament  building,  was  un- 
ceremoniously overthrown.  And  the  im- 
posing giant-sized  statue  of  Henry  Mor- 
ton Stanley,  the  famous  European  ex- 
plorer, overlooking  the  capital  city  from 
his  pedestal  on  Mount  Stanley,  was 
crashed  to  the  ground. 

A host  of  changes  in  names  has  been 
taking  place,  as  indicated  in  the  opening 
quote.  Congo  has  become  Zaire.  The 
capital  city  is  no  longer  Leopoldville, 
but  Kinshasa.  Stanleyville  has  become 
Kisangani,  and  Elisabethville  has  become 
Lubumbashi,  etc.  Provinces  and  city 
streets  have  also  been  renamed. 

The  changes  in  geographic  names  were 
followed  by  changes  in  personal  names, 
away  from  so-called  “Christian”  or  west- 
ern names,  back  to  traditional  African 
names.  In  early  1972  President  Mobutu 
dropped  his  western  names  received  at 
baptism,  Joseph  Desire,  and  took  on  the 
African  names  of  Sese  Seko.  And  he 


instructed  his  fellow  countrymen  to  do 
likewise.  Thus  the  general  secretary  of 
the  Mennonite  Church  in  Zaire  is  no 
longer  Kabangy  Moise  (Moses),  but 
rather  Kabangy  Djeke  Shapasa;  the  lagel 
representative  is  no  longer  Kakesa  Sam- 
uel, but  rather  Kakesa  Khakha  Gasala; 
and  the  treasurer  no  longer  Bukungu 
Francois,  but  rather  Bukungu  Mishumbi. 

The  government  has  also  ordered  a 
reemphasis  on  African  languages,  rather 
than  the  French  language  which  was 
brought  by  the  Belgian  colonialists.  The 
complication  of  colonial  languages  is 
further  emphasized  by  the  vestiges  of 
Flemish,  also  brought  by  the  Belgians, 
which  remain  to  this  day. 

Certain  styles  of  western  clothing  have 
been  officially  discouraged  for  the  Afri- 
can— for  example,  western  suits  with 
long-sleeved  shirts  and  ties — and  there 
is  a return  to  more  indigenous  clothing 
styles. 

Time  and  Newsweek  have  at  least  for 
a while  been  banned  in  Kinshasa. 

The  government  has  sought  to  reem- 
phasize the  importance  and  dignity  of 
manual  work,  designating  Saturdays  as 
special  community  work  days. 

Consideration  is  being  given  to  the 
regrouping  of  villages  into  more  strategic 
centers. 

President  Mobutu  recently  visited  the 
People’s  Republic  of  China,  coming  back 
with  the  promise  of  a hundred-million- 
dollar  interest-free  loan  and  the  assist- 
ance of  Chinese  technicians. 

The  government  has  placed  stringent 
restrictions  on  the  registration  and  func- 
tion of  religious  groups. 

Religious  broadcasts  have  been  sus- 
pended. 

A number  of  periodicals — including 
most  religious  periodicals — have  been 
suspended. 

Youth  movements,  including  religious 
groups,  except  for  those  of  the  national 
political  party,  have  been  disbanded. 

And  intertwined  with  all  of  these 
changes  have  been  the  incessant  activi- 
ties of  the  national  political  party,  the 
mpr  (Popular  Revolutionary  Movement). 

Western  interpretations.  In  the  midst  of 
all  these  changes,  it  is  very  easy  for  the 


westerner — whether  missionary,  business- 
man, or  politician — -to  see  primarily  those 
effects  touching  his  own  immediate  in- 
terests and  to  interpret  these  develop- 
ments from  a series  of  non-Zairian  per- 
spectives. Thus  there  have  been  cries  that 
Zaire  has  turned  anti-American,  anti- 
western,  and  antiwhite.  Some  have  sug- 
gested that  Zaire  has  been  sold  out  to 
the  Communists — that  President  Mobutu 
“sold”  Zaire  to  Communist  China  for 
the  100  million  dollars. 

Western  news  magazines  have  tended 
to  see  primarily  certain  problems  and 
excesses  in  the  actions  of  President  Mo- 
butu and  the  Zairian  Government.  And 
even  missionaries  sometimes  tend  to  see 
the  Zairian  developments  as  primarily 
anti-Christian.  Though  there  may  be  ele- 
ments of  truth  in  all  of  these  interpreta- 
tions, it  behooves  us  to  heed  the  admo- 
nition of  the  late  Tom  Mboya  of  Kenya, 
not  to  see  Africa  primarily  through  for- 
eign-tinted glasses — whether  pro-western 
or  pro-Communist — but  to  try  to  under- 
stand a more  African  point  of  view. 

African  perspectives.  It  is  utterly  im- 
possible to  understand  what  is  happening 
in  Zaire  and  other  parts  of  Africa  today 
without  a deep  realization  that  the  last 
half  of  this  millennium- — from  the  1400s 
to  the  present — has  been  an  epoch  of 
European  expansionism  and  withdrawal 
across  the  world,  and  that  for  Africa  it 
has  been  a half  millennium  of  European 
exploitation  and  oppression. 

The  Euro-African  encounter  has,  to  be 
sure,  had  its  positive  effects,  but  these 
have  been  overshadowed  by  the  econom- 
ic exploitation,  the  chattel  trade  of  hu- 
man beings,  colonial  domination,  and  ra- 
cial discrimination.  It  has  been  estimated 
that  forty  million  or  more  persons  were 
lost  to  Africa  during  the  roughly  four 
centuries  of  the  Atlantic  slave  trade.  The 
slave  trade  was  followed  by  the  colonial 
scramble  during  which  the  whole  of  the 
African  continent — -with  the  exceptions 
of  Ethiopia  and  Liberia — was  carved  into 
colonial  pieces  by  seven  European  na- 
tions. 

Since  World  War  II  there  has  been  a 
process  of  decolonization,  coming  to 
a climax  in  1969,  with  seventeen  African 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year,-  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


492 


SEPTEMBER  4,  1973 


nations  gaining  independence  that  year. 
But  the  decolonization  struggles  appear 
to  have  reached  a deadlock,  with  five 
Southern  African  countries  and  several 
lesser  areas  remaining  under  white  dom- 
ination. Not  only  is  it  the  case,  as  the 
prophet  realized,  that  we  live  in  the  midst 
of  an  unclean  people,  but  we  live  in  a 
stream  of  polluted  history.  The  cup  of 
judgment  for  this  half  millennium  of 
exploitation  and  oppression  is  not  yet  full. 

It  is  in  the  wake  of  this  half  millenni- 
i um  of  European  exploitation  and  colo- 
nial domination  that  President  Mobutu 
and  the  Zairian  Government  have  come 
to  emphasize  an  authentic  Zairian  nation- 
alism. In  the  words  of  President  Mobutu, 
“In  this  continent  we  no  longer  want  to 
be  African  Frenchmen,  or  African  Bel- 
gians, or  African  Italians  . . . but  au- 
thentic Africans.” 

I The  process  of  authentication  is  the 
counterpart  of  the  process  of  alienation 
which  took  place  under  European  colo- 
nialism. As  indicated  in  the  opening 
quote,  through  many  aspects  of  Euro- 
pean influence,  the  African  had  been 
subtly  conditioned  to  find  his  own  identi- 
ty and  human  dignity  in  the  adoption  of 


western  cultural  patterns  and  values. 
Even  in  the  missionary  enterprise,  with 
its  current  sensitivity  to  indigenous  cul- 
tural values,  we  do  not  yet  fathom  the 
depth  of  this  alienation  and  its  current 
reactions. 

One  Sunday  morning,  in  the  heart  of 
Zaire,  sitting  next  to  an  African  church 
leader,  a brother  in  the  faith,  we  sang 
together  in  African  translation,  “Lord, 
wash  me  and  I shall  be  whiter  than 
snow,”  and  I realized  anew  that  the 
gospel  has  been  brought  in  earthen  ves- 
sels. 

Closely  related  to  the  emphasis  on 
African  authenticity  is  the  emphasis  on 
nation  building  and  national  unity.  Per- 
haps again  it  is  impossible  for  those  of 
us  living  on  the  wealthiest  vantage  point 
of  human  history  to  realize  what  nation 
building  means  for  a relatively  poor  peo- 
ple, with  a per  capita  income  of  roughly 
100  dollars  per  year,  after  centuries  of 
exploitation  by  the  wealthier  western 
nations — especially  when  current  studies 
show  that  the  gap  between  rich  and  poor 
nations  is  increasing  rather  than  decreas- 
ing. 

When  we  are  inclined  to  criticize  the 


African  Christian’s  identification  with  the 
symbols  of  nationalism,  we  do  well  at 
least  to  remind  ourselves  of  the  legiti- 
mate emphasis  on  national  development. 
And  when  we  see  government  involve- 
ment in  the  affairs  of  religious  groups 
working  in  Zaire — with  over  fifty  Protes- 
tant groups  in  addition  to  the  Catholic 
orders  and  the  African  independent 
churches  and  non-Christian  religious 
groups — we  do  well  to  realize  the  signi- 
ficance of  some  cultural  and  political 
unification  in  a young  nation  which  saw 
five  years  of  turmoil,  violence,  and 
bloodshed  following  independence. 

This  historical  background  can  also 
help  us  understand  why  the  independent 
African  nations  are  intensely  anticoloni- 
alist and  intensely  antineocolonialist  (co- 
lonialism through  indirect  rather  than 
direct  political  domination,  especially 
through  economic  influence).  This  anti- 
colonialism is  continually  further  pro- 
voked by  the  white  domination  in  South- 
ern Africa,  which  the  African  leaders 
are  convinced  could  not  continue  without 
the  complicity  of  western  nations.  Wit- 
ness, for  just  one  example,  the  U.  S. 
Government  defiance  of  the  United  Na- 
tions embargo  against  Rhodesia  with  the 
importation  of  chrome  (just  now  being 
reconsidered  by  Congress). 

We  can  then  understand  why  African 
leaders,  including  General  Mobutu,  have 
emphasized  nonalignment  with  either 
the  West  or  the  East,  and  have  rather 
emphasized  African  identity  and  African 
development,  symbolized  in  Pan-African- 
ism and  the  Organization  of  African 
Unity.  In  fact,  at  the  recent  oau  meet- 
ings, the  major  concern  for  sub-Sahara 
Africa  was  the  liberation  of  the  Southern 
African  countries  still  under  white  dom- 
ination. 

Zairian  nationalism  and  Christian  au- 
thenticity. It  is,  of  course,  also  the  case 
that  legitimate  efforts  toward  cultural  au- 
thenticity and  national  development  can 
be  misdirected,  leading  to  excess  and 
even  idolatry.  This  is  true  whether  in 
Africa  or  in  the  United  States. 

In  any  case,  it  is  in  this  context  that 
Christians  of  the  young  churches  in 
Zaire  are  searching  what  it  means  to  be 
authentically  Zairian  and  authentically 
Christian.  It  is  in  this  context  that  they 
are  called  on  to  work  out  their  own 
church  and  state  relations.  In  this  they 
need  our  sympathetic  understanding  and 
prayerful  support. 


In  early  1972  a number  of  colonial  monuments  in  Kinshasa  were  overthrown. 
The  shoes  and  the  twisted  support  rods  were  all  that  remained  of  Henry  Morton 
Stanley’s  statue  on  Mount  Stanley.  The  toppling  of  the  monuments  symbolized  the 
Zairians’  efforts  to  clear  the  way  for  a return  to  African  ways  after  500  years  of 
western  domination. 


NEWS 


Conference  will 

Canadian-U.S.  relationships  in  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  need  mending,  the  con- 
ference’s General  Board  was  told  at  its 
mid-year  meeting  August  16-17  in  Wich- 
ita. 

The  issue  came  up  during  the  Gen- 
eral Board’s  goal-setting  process,  for 
which  a day  and  a half  was  set  aside, 
and  it  came  up  again  during  the  ab- 
breviated business  session  Friday  after- 
noon. The  board  voted  to  continue  the 
discussion  of  Canadian-U.S.  relations  at 
its  annual  meeting  next  February  and 
set  the  location  of  the  1974  Council  of 
Commissions  in  Winnipeg. 

Henry  Gerbrandt,  executive  secretary 
of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in 
Canada,  had  polled  Canadian  and  pro- 
vincial conference  leaders  by  mail  and 
by  phone  and  came  to  the  General 
Board  meeting  with  a paper  combining 
his  own  and  others’  opinions  on  the 
problem  and  its  solutions.  Also  invited 
for  the  meeting  was  Jacob  Tilitzky,  Ca- 
nadian Conference  president. 

In  outlining  the  issues,  Mr.  Gerbrandt 
noted  that  Canadians  give  proportion- 
ately more  to  area  and  provincial  con- 
ferences than  U.S.  Mennonites  give  to 
district  conferences,  and  proportionately 
less  to  the  General  Conference  than 
Americans.  Canadian  congregations  are 
frustrated  by  the  barrage  of  programs 
and  appeals  coming  at  them  from  the 
General  Conference,  Canadian  Confer- 
ence, provincial  conferences,  regional 
groupings,  and  interchurch  organiza- 
tions. Most  Canadian  Mennonite  lead- 
ers see  the  General  Conference  as  a 
U.S.  conference  or  identify  it  with  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 

One  provincial  conference  leader  told 
Mr.  Gerbrandt,  “Much  of  our  witness 
and  work  must  become  more  specific 
to  the  country  in  which  we  are,  that  is, 
schools,  native  ministries,  witness  to  gov- 
ernment, pulpit  ministries,  etc.  Other 
ministries  ought  to  become  more  inter- 
national: foreign  missions,  seminary, 

Sunday  school  materials,  etc.” 

Mr.  Gerbrandt  commented,  “It  is 
more  important  for  us  to  work  on  re- 
lational problems  than  to  propose  struc- 
tural changes.  . . . This  presentation 
. . . is  simply  a probing  that  shall  hope- 


study  Canada 

fully  stimulate  positive  thinking  and  help 
towards  fruitful  discussion.” 

After  a number  of  presentations,  in- 
cluding Mr.  Gerbrandt’s,  on  “The  kind 
of  world  we  live  in,”  “The  kind  of 
church  we  are,”  and  “Our  beliefs  and 
purposes,”  the  General  Board  tackled 
the  job  of  setting  goals  for  itself  and 
the  General  Conference  as  a whole  for 
the  next  five  years. 

All  four  of  the  small  groups  into 
which  the  General  Board,  staff,  and  re- 
source people  divided  mentioned  the 
need  for  a new  awareness  of  the  essence 
of  the  gospel. 

Predictably,  this  category  got  the 
highest  rankings  when  the  whole  group 
was  polled,  although  the  emphases  dif- 
fered. To  some,  the  important  thing 
was  for  the  General  Conference  mem- 
bers to  find  a vital  personal  relationship 
to  Jesus.  At  issue  for  others  was  an 
examination  of  the  foundation  of  our 
faith  as  a General  Conference  and  com- 
ing to  common  definitions  of  terms. 

“Where  do  we  decide  matters  of 
faith  and  theology  now  that  the  con- 
ference no  longer  has  a committee  on 
doctrine  and  conduct?”  several  people 
asked. 

A committee  later  reworded  the  items 
on  a renewed  spirituality. 

A committee  on  the  shape  of  the 
congregation  and  on  discipleship  noted 
North  Americans’  affluence  and  con- 
sumption in  a world  of  poverty;  ex- 
ploitation and  injustice,  which  are  at 
the  root  of  this  wealth;  militarism,  vio- 
lence, and  war,  which  grow  out  of  our 
affluent  way  of  life;  and  the  idolatry 
of  civil  religion,  which  blesses  this  life- 
style. 

The  conference  needs  the  freedom  to 
discuss  economic  issues  and  to  admon- 
ish its  members,  the  committee  said. 
Also  mentioned  were  wider  utilization 
of  youth  and  older  people,  adjustments 
in  life-style,  identification  with  the  op- 
pressed, and  a strengthening  of  peace 
education  and  service  programs. 

A third  committee  on  the  family  said 
the  church  needs  to: 

— clarify  its  biblical/theological  un- 
derstandings in  the  areas  of  marriage, 
divorce,  life  and  death,  and  medical 


U.S.  relations 

ethics; 

— develop  biblical  studies  in  the  above 
areas  for  both  pastors  and  lay  people, 
helping  them  to  minister  to  persons; 
and 

— provide  training  resources  for  pas- 
toral and  lay  ministry  of  persons  to 
each  other,  such  as  a premarital  counsel- 
ing guide,  training  for  hospital  visitation, 
and  ministry  to  persons  in  the  grief 
process. 

Another  committee  dealt  more  spe- 
cifically with  the  role  and  agenda  of  the 
General  Board  itself.  “The  role  of  the 
General  Board  and  the  general  secretary 
is  coordination,  mediation,  confronta- 
tion, and  evaluation,”  it  said. 

On  the  agenda  of  the  General  Board, 
the  committee  placed  the  need  to  in- 
clude in  decision  making  the  voices  of 
special  groups  such  as  women  and  Bi- 
ble institute  alumni,  to  develop  a new 
pattern  of  relationships  between  Canadi- 
an and  U.S.  churches  and  leaders,  to 
write  guidelines  on  increasing  and  de- 
creasing staff,  to  implement  regionalism 
and  decentralization,  and  to  create  a 
forum  for  theological  discussion. 

Few  concrete  proposals  to  carry  out 
these  goals  were  developed  before  board 
members  left  for  the  airport,  and  there 
were  suggestions  that  the  conference  look 
further  at  the  goals  at  the  General  Con- 
ference in  St.  Catharines,  Ontario,  next 
year,  and  that  congregations  be  encour- 
aged to  react  to  the  goals  in  local  set- 
tings. 

In  its  short  business  meeting,  the  Gen- 
eral Board  approved  the  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission’s  special  fund  appeal 
in  October,  approved  a bimonthly  news- 
sheet  for  pastors,  postponed  discussion 
of  constitutional  changes  until  February, 
named  David  Schroeder  of  Winnipeg  as 
representative  to  the  South  American 
Conference  in  February,  discussed  the 
pros  and  cons  of  regional  Mennonite 
Central  Committee  offices  in  the  United 
States,  and  supported  more  stringent  ac- 
counting procedures  at  the  central  offices. 
Lois  Barrett  Janzen 


494 


SEPTEMBER  4,  1973 


The  presidium  of  the  Mennonite  World 
I Conference  has  elected  Million  Belete 
of  Ethiopia  as  president.  He  succeeds 
Erland  Waltner,  who  had  served  since 
1962.  Mr.  Belete,  forty,  is  a minister 
and  past  chairman  of  the  Miserete  Chris- 
tos Church.  He  holds  a BS  degree  in 
electronics  from  Western  Michigan  Uni- 
versity and  has  studied  at  Eastern  Men- 
nonite College.  He  is  presently  serving 
as  executive  secretary  of  the  Bible  So- 
ciety of  Ethiopia,  with  offices  in  Addis 
Ababa. 

Other  officers  elected  at  the  presidi- 
um’s meeting  in  Switzerland  July  18-19 
were  Marvin  Hein,  MB  pastor  in  Hills- 
boro, Kansas,  as  first  vice-president  and 
vice-president  for  North  America;  Ta- 
kashi  Yamada,  pastor  and  evangelist 
from  Kobayashi,  Japan,  as  vice-presi- 
dent for  Asia;  Heinold  Fast,  pastor  and 
scholar  from  Emden,  Germany,  as  vice- 
president  for  Europe;  Henrique  Ens,  pro- 
fessor in  Curitiba,  Brazil,  as  vice-presi- 
dent for  South  America;  and  Elmer  Neu- 
feld,  professor  at  Bluffton  College,  Bluff- 
ton,  Ohio,  as  recording  secretary. 

Paul  N.  Kraybill,  the  general  secre- 
tary of  the  Mennonite  Church,  was  ap- 
pointed executive  secretary  to  serve  on 
a one-fourth-time  basis  beginning  Sep- 
tember 1.  Mr.  Kraybill  has  served  as 
secretary  of  the  Council  of  Mission 
Board  Secretaries  since  1962  and  for 
seventeen  years  carried  major  respon- 


sibilities with  the  Eastern  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions  and  Charities,  Sa- 
lunga,  Pennsylvania. 

Raymond  Schlichting  of  Hillsboro, 
Kansas,  an  executive  of  the  Hesston 
Manufacturing  Co.,  with  long  experience 
in  mcc  and  other  church-related  activ- 
ities, was  appointed  treasurer. 

In  discussing  the  future  of  the  world 
conference,  the  presidium  recognized  the 
need  for  close  coordination  with  the 
work  of  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in 
Christ  mission  and  service  agencies.  Co- 
ordination with  the  regional  conferences 
also  seemed  most  important,  leading  the 
presidium  to  accept  an  invitation  to 
meet  in  Indonesia  in  1976  at  the  time 
of  the  Second  Asia  Mennonite  Confer- 
ence. There  will  also  be  some  presidium 
participation  in  the  regional  conferences 
scheduled  for  Europe  and  Latin  Amer- 
ica in  1975.  Because  of  these  meetings 
and  other  modifying  circumstances,  the 
time  for  the  meeting  of  the  tenth  world 
conference  was  set  for  July  1978  instead 
of  the  normal  five-year  cycle  which 
would  be  1977. 

At  the  urging  of  the  conferences  in 
Africa  and  Asia  the  invitation  from 
North  America  to  hold  the  Tenth  Men- 
nonite World  Conference  in  the  United 
States  was  accepted  with  enthusiasm. 
The  last  mwc  was  held  in  the  United 
States  in  1948.  The  location  within  the 
United  States  has  not  been  determined. 


Uruguay  political 
situation  tense 

Boycotting  and  strikes  continue  in  Uru- 
guay following  the  military  takeover 
June  26,  but,  in  general,  power  has 
changed  hands  without  the  shedding  of 
blood,  according  to  information  received 
by  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church. 

The  president,  Juan  Maria  Bordaber- 
ry,  has  dissolved  both  houses  of  Parlia- 
ment and  taken  over  together  with  the 
military.  Immediately  after  the  takeover, 
workers  in  Montevideo  struck  and  oc- 
cupied industries,  businesses,  centers  of 
transportation,  and  the  oil  refinery.  Ra- 
dio and  television  stations  were  taken 
over  by  the  government.  The  army 
cleared  the  factories  and  businesses  one 
by  one,  the  radios  declaring  that  only  a 
small  group  of  Communists  was  manip- 
ulating the  workers.  The  top  union  board 
was  dissolved,  its  property  confiscated 
and  the  men  imprisoned.  When  the  pro- 
duction workers  at  the  refinery  did  not 
cooperate  even  after  it  was  encircled 
by  the  army,  the  workers  were  declared 
inducted  into  the  army.  Meat  has  re- 
cently been  banned  for  three  months. 

There  has  been  no  official  word  on 
the  situation  of  the  Mennonite  seminary 
in  Montevideo. 

Prior  to  the  military  takeover,  Katie 
Brun,  imprisoned  since  May  1972,  was 
released  by  the  Uruguay  Government 
under  “provisional  freedom.”  Her  hus- 
band Miguel,  a professor  at  the  semi- 
nary, had  been  released  earlier. 

Indians  poorest  minority, 
census  report  shows 

By  almost  every  social  and  economic 
test,  Indians  are  worse  off  than  other 
Americans,  including  other  minorities, 
according  to  a report  released  here  by 
the  U.S.  Bureau  of  Census. 

The  document  of  more  than  200 
pages  is  based  on  data  gathered  in  the 
1970  census.  It  shows,  in  summary,  that 
American  Indians  lag  behind  the  rest 
of  the  nation  in  everything  except  per- 
centage of  persons  attending  school. 

Over  the  past  decade,  the  study  re- 
ports, Indians  have  made  impressive  ad- 
vances in  education.  Ninety-five  percent 
of  all  Indian  children  between  the  ages  of 
seven  and  thirteen  were  in  school  in  1970. 

The  Census  Bureau  study,  entitled 
“American  Indians,”  is  the  most  com- 
prehensive ever  done  on  Indians  by  the 
federal  agency. 


Paul  N.  Kraybill,  executive  secretary  Million  Belete,  Ethiopia,  president. 

MWC  elects  Belete  president 


THE  MENNONITE 


495 


New  advising  system  set  up 


Seventeen  students  and  seventeen  fac- 
ulty members  at  Bluff  ton  College  will 
combine  this  fall  in  a new  academic 
and  residence  hall  advising  system. 

The  purpose  of  the  joint  venture  by 
the  academic  and  personnel  deans  is 
to  improve  the  environment  for  learn- 
ing in  the  residence  halls,  to  assist  stu- 
dents seeking  information  and  quality 
academic  advising,  and  to  provide  pro- 
grams which  add  to  a student’s  class- 
room experience. 

South  American  Conference 
plans  February  sessions 

The  executive  committee  of  the  South 
American  Mennonite  Conference  has 
set  its  next  triennial  conference  sessions 
February  7-10,  1974,  at  Delta,  Uruguay. 
The  conference  will  be  preceded  by  a 
pastors’  course  February  5-7  at  the  sem- 
inary in  Montevideo. 

Under  discussion  at  the  pastors’  course 
will  be  the  use  of  commentaries  in 
preaching,  goal-conscious  education  in 
the  church,  mixed  marriages,  and 
“Choosing  a pastor:  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  or  democracy?” 

The  South  American  executive  com- 
mittee, which  met  July  1 1 in  Asuncion, 
Paraguay,  also  agreed  to  offer  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  600  guarani  (about 
$4.50)  for  one-year  subscriptions  to  Der 
Bote  if  it  is  sent  airmail  to  Asuncion,  or 
300  guarani  if  it  is  sent  by  surface  mail. 
Der  Bote  is  the  German-language  pub- 
lication of  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite Church,  published  in  Saskatoon, 
Saskatchewan.  It  is  presently  being  sent 
by  surface  mail  to  about  1,500  sub- 
scribers in  lower  South  America,  who 
pay  a nominal  subscription  fee  into  a 
fund  for  South  American  missions. 

The  South  American  executive  com- 
mittee said  that  if  Der  Bote  accepted 
the  airmail  offer,  it  would  have  a large 
readership  in  South  America. 

A request  by  representatives  from  Ur- 
uguay that  congregations  exchange  pas- 
tors was  referred  to  the  February  con- 
ference. 

Churches  in  Uruguay  were  asked  to 
continue  to  work  on  a revision  of  Sun- 
day school  materials  and  to  share  copies 
of  the  revision  with  the  Sunday  school 
committee  members  for  their  examina- 
tion. 

The  South  American  Conference  in- 
cludes churches  in  Uruguay,  Paraguay, 
and  Brazil. 


The  first  feature  of  the  project  is  a 
change  in  physical  arrangement  of  men 
and  women  students,  according  to  Don 
Schweingruber,  dean  of  students. 

In  the  past,  Little  Riley  Creek  has 
separated  the  men’s  and  women’s  hous- 
ing units.  Although  housed  on  the  same 
ends  of  the  campus,  men  and  women 
will  be  in  separate  buildings.  Staff  mem- 
bers from  student  affairs  feel  the  new 
arrangement  will  provide  a more  natural 
environment  and  provide  better  rela- 
tionships among  students. 

Students  employed  in  the  residence 
halls  will  be  called  resident  advisors, 
a change  from  the  counselor  title  in 
past  years. 

The  resident  advisors  will  serve  with 
the  assigned  faculty  member  as  aca- 
demic advisors  for  students  who  have 
not  declared  a major.  They  will  be  re- 
source persons  for  others  concerning  the 
heritage,  philosophy,  procedures,  and 
policies  of  the  college. 

In  addition  to  academic  advising,  the 
resident  advisor  will  initiate  and  promote 
programs  of  both  academic  and  non- 
academic  nature  in  the  living  units.  They 
also  will  assist  prospective  students. 

Celebration  at  Rosthern 
commemorates  migration 

On  July  21,  1923,  a thirteen-car  train 
rolled  into  Rosthern,  Saskatchewan, 
bringing  the  first  group  of  a new  wave  of 
Russian  Mennonite  emigres  to  Canada. 
Members  of  that  first  group  and  their 
friends  and  descendants  came  back  to 
Rosthern  for  two  days  this  summer, 
July  21-22,  fo  commemorate  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  that  event. 

The  guest  speakers  at  the  banquet  and 
public  rally  were  Frank  H.  Epp,  Water- 
loo, Ontario;  Gerhard  Lohrenz,  Winni- 
peg; and  John  B.  Toews,  Calgary.  All 
are  historians.  They  recalled  the  circum- 
stances which  had  necessitated  the  Men- 
nonites’  move  to  Canada,  the  barriers 
that  stood  in  the  way,  and  the  courageous 
leaders  who  made  the  migration  possible. 

A cairn  will  be  erected  near  the  Ros- 
thern Mennonite  Church  as  a memorial 
to  David  Toews  and  B.  B.  Janz,  who 
were  both  instrumental  in  making  the 
move  possible. 

The  600  guests  at  the  Saturday  eve- 
ning banquet  were  served  a typical  Rus- 
sian Mennonite  meal.  They  ate  60  gal- 
lons of  pluma  moos,  300  pounds  of  ham, 
and  72  loaves  of  bread. 


Regional  inter-Mennonite 
evangelism  seminars  planned 

The  Home  Ministries  Council  is  setting 
the  gears  in  motion  for  up  to  one  hun- 
dred local  or  area  “care-share  seminars” 
the  last  weekend  in  1973  or  the  first 
v/eekend  in  1974. 

The  seminars  will  not  be  officially 
sponsored  by  the  Home  Ministries  Coun- 
cil, an  inter-Mennonite  coordinating 
group  for  North  American  programs. 
However,  the  council,  through  Menno- 
nite and  Brethren  in  Christ  evangelism 
administrators,  is  encouraging  conference 
ministers  to  get  together  across  denom- 
inational lines  to  appoint  conveners  of 
the  care-share  seminars  in  each  area. 

The  idea  for  the  seminars  grew  out 
of  the  council’s  May  meeting,  in  which 
it  saw  “value  in  developing  local  or  re- 
gional forums  for  the  exchange  of  expe- 
riences and  for  learning  from  our  cur- 
rent evangelistic  witness.” 

The  seminars  would  combine  the  cele- 
bration and  study  of  Probe  72,  an  inter- 
Mennonite  evangelism  consultation,  but 
would  focus  more  on  the  “genius”  of 
Mennonite  communication. 

The  form  of  each  seminar  would  be 
flexible  and  planned  locally.  Participants 
could  be  entire  congregations  or  repre- 
sentatives from  each  congregation  in  the 
area.  The  Home  Ministries  Council  has 
drawn  up  a program  model  for  a one- 
day  seminar  which  could  include  cele- 
bration, testimonies,  fellowship,  input, 
discussion,  and  commitment. 

“Reconciliation  is  a key  message  of 
the  church,”  said  the  letter  to  district 
conference  ministers,  “but  lack  of  fel- 
lowship among  Christians  and  among 
Christian  churches  is  probably  the  great- 
est hindrance  to  evangelism.” 

Audiovisuals  acquired 

Two  new  films  are  available  through  the 
General  Conference’s  Audiovisual  Li- 
brary, Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas. 

Leo  Beuerman  is  the  story  of  a handi- 
capped man,  unable  to  hear  or  speak, 
who  builds  his  own  tractor-cart,  sells 
pencils,  repairs  watches,  reads  the  Book 
of  Job,  and  lives  with  Job-like  steadfast- 
ness and  integrity.  The  thirteen-minute 
color  film  may  be  rented  for  $12. 

The  young,  bold  believers  tells  about 
Union  Biblical  Seminary,  Yeotmal,  In- 
dia, in  which  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  mission  cooperates.  The  thir- 
ty-eight-minute film  is  available  for  no 
charge,  although  a freewill  offering  will 
be  accepted. 


496 


SEPTEMBER  4,  1973 


MPM  sponsors  week-long  native  family  camp 


Five  Indian  boys  at  the  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission’s  native  family  camp  line  up 
on  a rope  bridge  to  cross  a ravine,  which  is  part  of  an  obstacle  course  at  Camp 
Assiniboia.  Families  came  to  the  camp  from  eleven  different  Manitoba  communities. 


One  hundred  and  twenty  native  people 
from  eleven  Manitoba  communities  at- 
tended the  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission’s 
annual  native  family  camp  this  year. 

Held  at  Camp  Assiniboia  near  Win- 
nipeg, the  week-long  camp,  which  be- 
gan July  29,  brought  together  people 
from  such  isolated  northern  communi- 
ties as  Pauingassi  and  Bloodvein  River 
I reserve  as  well  as  from  urban  areas 
j such  as  Selkirk  and  Winnipeg.  Menno 
I Wiebe,  mpm’s  executive  secretary,  said 
: that  one  of  the  objectives  of  the  camp 
. is  to  help  the  native  people  from  these 
various  communities  to  become  better 
acquainted  with  each  other.  He  said 
this  was  a necessary  first  step  before 
the  native  people  are  invited  to  inte- 
j grated  camps. 

All  the  communities  in  which  mpm 
[ has  workers  were  represented  at  the 
| camp.  Most  of  mpm’s  personnel  par- 
* ticipated  in  the  camp  as  advisors  to  the 
counselors  and  as  regular  staff  members. 
Henry  Neufeld,  a veteran  mpm  mission- 
ary, led  a daily  Bible  study  group  for 
adults  in  the  Saulteaux  language,  and 
John  Funk,  who  has  been  promoting 
the  production  and  sale  of  craft  items, 
gave  the  campers  the  opportunity  to  do 
soapstone  carving. 

Of  the  120  native  people  who  came 
to  the  camp,  twelve  were  parents  and 
grandparents  and  fifteen  were  teenagers, 

I a group  that  is  often  difficult  to  reach. 

Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission  covered 


the  cost  of  bringing  the  people  to  the 
camp,  and  it  also  provided  a partial 
subsidy  for  the  camping  fees.  The  camp- 
ers, however,  paid  most  of  the  camp 
fees  themselves.  Some  of  the  children 
had  saved  for  this  event  for  many  weeks 
prior  to  the  event. 

mpm’s  share  of  the  expenses,  which 
amounted  to  over  $2,000  this  year,  was 
raised  through  special  Sunday  school  of- 


ferings in  Canadian  conference  church- 
es. It  was  one  of  the  monthly  projects 
suggested  on  the  Congregational  Re- 
source Board’s  project  calendar. 

Mr.  Wiebe  said  that  the  annual  camp 
will  need  to  be  reevaluated  by  mpm 
in  light  of  its  substantial  cost.  Some  have 
suggested  that  the  government  be  asked 
for  a subsidy,  but  that  idea  has  not  yet 
been  tested  by  the  mpm  board. 


Taiwan  churches  take  on  added  responsibility 


The  Fellowship  of  Mennonite  Churches 
in  Taiwan  (fomcit)  has  shouldered  new 
responsibility  for  its  pastors,  seminary 
students,  and  the  hospital  at  its  annual 
meeting  earlier  this  summer.  A few 
weeks  later,  missionaries  in  Taiwan  voted 
to  replace  their  own  constitution  and 
turn  over  major  responsibilities  for  mis- 
sion work  to  the  church  conference. 

The  constitution  of  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Mission  in  Taiwan 
is  to  be  replaced  with  a set  of  “govern- 
ing policies”  which  would  restrict  the 
business  of  the  mission  conference  to 
such  items  as  education  of  missionary 
children,  language  study,  and  review  of 
the  policies  of  the  Mennonite  Christian 
Hospital  Board. 

Vemey  Unruh,  Asia  secretary  for  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission,  said 
this  action  was  a step  toward  the  mis- 


sion’s being  absorbed  into  the  church 
conference.  The  action  of  the  mission- 
aries must  still  be  ratified  by  the  church 
conference. 

Although  the  hospital  will  not  be  un- 
der the  church  conference,  the  two  or- 
ganizations are  establishing  closer  ties. 

The  church  conference  adopted  the 
ten-year  plan  proposed  by  the  hospital’s 
board  of  directors.  In  addition,  the 
church  conference  asked  each  member 
to  give  NT  $10  to  the  hospital  and  in- 
vited the  hospital  to  arrange  summer 
service  jobs  for  Mennonite  youth. 

Missionaries  and  the  church  confer- 
ence will  begin  conversations  concerning 
joint  mission-FOMCiT  control  of  the  hos- 
pital board  of  trustees  by  1976,  and  na- 
tional staff  are  to  be  trained  “for  early 
appointment  to  key  positions  of  respon- 
sibility in  the  hospital.” 


Shirley  Hildebrand,  General  Confer- 
ence missionary,  reported  that  the  church 
conference  has  established  its  first  social 
concerns  committee  on  a trial  basis. 

Financially  independent  churches 
agreed  to  help  with  medical  expenses  for 
their  pastors  and  families  and  to  assume 
additional  responsibility  for  the  min- 
isters’ retirement  fund. 

Ms.  Hildebrand  reported  a good  spirit 
among  the  delegates,  marred  only  by 
the  absence  of  any  representatives  from 
the  Nan-tun  Church,  whose  leaders  have 
stated  they  wish  to  disassociate  them- 
selves from  the  church  conference. 

The  conference  passed  a motion  to 
continue  to  show  concern  and  love  to 
this  church  and  to  send  them  conference 
materials  as  well  as  send  a special  dele- 
gation to  them  to  discuss  their  problems 
and  grievances  further. 


THE  MENNONITE 


497 


MDS  family  vacation  provides  many  benefits 


“We  just  read  in  the  Mennonite  weekly 
review  that  mds  needs  volunteers  in 
Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania.  A thousand 
families  are  still  homeless  a year  after 
last  spring's  flood.  How  would  you  like 
to  spend  a few  weeks  of  summer  vaca- 
tion with  us  doing  mds  work?” 

Until  this  letter  from  my  husband’s 
mother  arrived,  we  had  never  considered 
mds  as  a vacation  option  and  knew 
nothing  about  the  city  of  Wilkes-Barre. 
Soon  we  four — parents  Harvey  and  Mar- 
tha Friesen,  Henderson,  Nebraska,  and 
children  Ivan  and  Rachel  Friesen,  Elk- 
hart, Indiana — decided  to  work  together 
for  two  weeks  in  June. 

The  mds  executive  coordinator  put  us 
in  touch  with  Wilkes-Barre  mds  liaison 
officer  Paul  Wittrig,  who  made  all  the 
arrangements  for  our  lodging,  meals, 
and  work  assignments.  Only  a few 
months  later,  we  were  on  our  way  east. 

We  quickly  learned  that  the  passage  of 
a year's  time  does  not  entirely  erase 
the  scars  of  a disaster  such  as  the  sixteen- 
foot  flood  which  hit  the  Wilkes-Barre 
area  on  June  23,  1972.  Devastated  build- 
ings waited  to  be  repaired,  and  vivid 


memories  of  the  disaster  still  clung  fresh 
in  the  victims’  minds. 

Flood  talk  was  the  major  topic  of 
conversation  with  local  residents  during 
those  two  weeks.  “Fourteen  trillion  gal- 
lons of  water”  was  not  a very  helpful 
statistic,  we  found,  but  when  people  de- 
scribed the  deluge  as  “a  sea  of  water  five 
miles  wide  and  twenty-five  miles  long,” 
we  had  a more  striking  picture. 

“We  never  imagined  it  would  rise  to 
the  second  floor  of  our  house,”  a woman 
told  us.  But  in  many  homes  and  busi- 
nesses, this  is  just  what  happened.  Base- 
ments, first  and  second  floors  all  needed 
major  repair.  In  the  worst  cases,  damage 
was  so  extensive  that  buildings  had  to  be 
razed. 

The  four  of  us  were  assigned  to  work 
with  an  older  couple  in  repairing  the 
interior  of  their  home.  Staying  at  one 
job  was  valuable,  both  for  our  relation- 
ship with  this  couple  and  for  the  sense 
of  satisfaction  in  seeing  daily  progress 
in  the  work.  Jobs  varied  from  nailing 
plasterboard  and  hanging  wallpaper  to 
scraping  paint,  sanding,  and  painting 
water-blistered  woodwork. 


As  one  room  was  completed,  we 
moved  on  to  the  next.  Slowly  a newly 
decorated  house  took  shape  around  our 
efforts.  Lots  of  laughter,  teasing,  and 
joking,  wondering  “what’s  the  best  way 
to  do  this,”  Pepsi  breaks,  and  long  talks 
over  lunch  helped  lighten  the  task. 

Fellowship  with  the  other  Mennonite 
volunteers  was  an  unexpected  extra,  as 
was  our  acquaintance  with  a family  from 
the  Jewish  community  center.  Another 
fringe  benefit  was  the  time  spent  to- 
gether as  a family.  An  mds  vacation 
turned  out  to  be  a good  way  to  see  a 
new  part  of  the  country,  contribute  need- 
ed service,  deepen  family  relationships, 
and  just  have  a lot  of  fun!  Rachel  Friesen 

Words  & deeds 


The  right  of  an  employer  not  to  with- 
hold taxes  from  its  employees  who  have 
scruples  against  supporting  war  has  been 
claimed  by  the  American  Friends  Service 
Committee,  one  of  its  employees,  and  a 
former  employee,  who  went  to  court 
July  30  against  the  United  States  of 
America.  The  complaint  before  the  U.S. 
District  Court  in  Philadelphia  alleges 
that  51.6  percent  of  the  taxes  withheld 
from  employees  was  devoted  to  war 
purposes  in  violation  of  their  religious 
training  and  belief.  At  issue  is  whether 
the  government  has  the  right  to  compel 
the  afsc  as  an  employer  to  withhold  this 
51.6  percent  of  its  employees’  taxes. 
By  so  doing,  the  complaint  alleges,  afsc 
is  in  the  position  of  violating  the  freedom 
of  conscience  and  religion  guaranteed  its 
employees  under  the  First  Amendment 
of  the  U.S.  Constitution. 

Missionary  Levi  Keidel  was  trying  to . 
sleep  in  a hostel  in  Kananga,  Zaire,  but 
at  a bar  about  a block  away,  woofer  f 
speakers  were  blaring  Zairian  jazz.  Sud- 
denly over  the  speakers  came  the  voice 
of  Kaleta  Muana,  son  of  an  African  pas- 
tor, singing,  “Death,  the  unexpected 
one.”  Then  came  “Hallelujah!  Hosanna! 
Jesus  triumphed  over  death!”  Both  songs 
were  played  twice,  then  the  speakers 
fell  silent.  The  bar  was  closing — 3:15 
a.m.  The  songs  were  two  of  the  many 
written  by  Zairian  Christians  and  re- 
corded by  studiproka,  a Christian  i 
broadcasting  and  literature  organization; 
in  Zaire.  Mr.  Keidel  said  that  if  there! 
were  a list  of  top  ten  recordings  in  Zaire, 
“Death,  the  unexpected  one”  could  well ! 
be  among  them. 


SEPTEMBER  4,  1973! 


Shailesh  makes  the  adjustment 

Shailesh  M.  is  a fifth  grader  at  Summit  Valley  Elementary  School  in  Lancaster,  Penn- 
sylvania, (see  also  the  cover  photo).  He  is  a representative  of  some  5,900  Asians 
who  had  to  leave  Uganda  at  short  notice  in  November  1972  to  settle  in  scores  of 
new  countries.  Shailesh  has  made  the  adjustment  well.  Both  as  a student  and  an 
athlete  he  has  won  the  respect  and  friendship  of  his  new  schoolmates.  This  spring 
was  his  first  baseball  season  but  he  adapted  his  cricket  style  quickly  and  more  than 
held  his  own  on  the  ball  field.  His  father,  after  beginning  work  at  a poultry-processing 
plant,  has  found  work  as  a bank  auditor,  the  type  of  job  he  held  in  Uganda. 


498 


RECORD 


Workers 


Irvin  Busenitz,  Downey,  Calif.,  has 
been  appointed  primary  consultant  to 
California  and  Arizona  churches  for  the 
In-Depth  Evangelism  goal-setting  pro- 
gram being  promoted  by  the  Commis- 
sion on  Home  Ministries.  Elmer  Wall, 
co-pastor  of  the  Carlock  and  North  Dan- 
vers (111.)  churches,  has  been  appointed 
primary  consultant  for  Illinois. 


Chen  Tui-Chu,  a recent  graduate  of 
Taiwan  Theological  College  in  Christian 
education,  has  joined  the  chaplaincy 
staff  at  Mennonite  Christian  Hospital, 
Hwalien,  Taiwan,  as  an  evangelist.  Ms. 
Chen  is  a Presbyterian. 

Beth  Krehbiel,  Inman  (Kans.)  Church, 
has  been  appointed  teacher  at  the  school 
for  missionary  children  in  Hwalien,  Tai- 
wan. She  will  teach  grades  one  through 
four.  Ms.  Krehbiel  is  a 1973  graduate 
of  Kansas  State  Teachers  College,  Em- 


PRIORITY 


LEADERSHIP 
TRAINING 


Assist  the  Mennonite 
churches  related  to  COM 
to  extend  and  improve 
national  leadership  training, 
giving  particular  attention 
to  lay  leaders. 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


THE  MENNONITE 


499 


poria,  and  has  also  attended  Hutchinson 
(Kans.)  Junior  College.  She  serves  un- 
der the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion. 

Emma  LaRoque,  a Metis  Cree  origi- 
nally from  Alberta,  is  spending  the  sum- 
mer in  a journalistic  assignment  with 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  con- 
ferences. The  assignment  is  coordinated 
by  Mennonite  Central  Committee. 
Through  her  articles,  Emma  will  try  to 
reflect  the  spirit  of  contemporary  Indi- 
ans and  present  their  mood  and  needs 
to  a predominantly  white  Mennonite 
church.  Part  of  her  task  will  be  to  sug- 
gest ways  that  the  Mennonites  can  best 
carry  out  their  responsibilities  to  Indians 
and  other  oppressed  peoples. 


LaRoque 


Neufeld 


Joyce  Neufeld,  Bethel  Church,  In- 
man, Kans.,  has  begun  a one-year  term 
of  service  with  mcc  at  its  Akron,  Pa., 


Silver  Lake  Mennonite  Camp 
needs  a person  to  act  as 
Camp  Administrator.  The  po- 
sition is  full-time,  with  a ne- 
gotiable salary. 

The  position  needs  to  be  filled 
as  soon  as  possible. 

The  successful  applicant 
should  have  a keen  interest 
in  camping,  especially  in  the 
work  of  the  church.  An  edu- 
cational experience  involving 
church-related  institutions  is 
desirable  although  not  com- 
pulsory. Interested  individuals 
should  send  their  inquiries 
along  with  their  personal  in- 
ventories to: 

Peter  Dyck 

559  Vine  Street  North 
St.  Catharines,  Ontario 
Canada  L2M  3V2 
ph.  (416)  935-690 7 


headquarters.  She  is  serving  as  secretary 
for  personnel  services.  Joyce  received 
an  AA  in  secretarial  studies  from  Bethel 
College,  North  Newton,  Kans.  She  is 
the  daughter  of  Herbert  and  Lilly  Neu- 
feld,  Inman. 

Columbia  Bible  Institute,  Clearbrook, 
B.C.  has  added  two  new  faculty  members. 
Peter  Nickel  comes  to  CBI  after  two 
years  as  coordinator  of  B.C.  Mennonite 
Conference  Ministries.  He  is  a graduate 
of  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College 
in  Winnipeg  and  Bethel  College  in  North 
Newton,  Kans.  He  taught  at  Bethel  Bible 
Institute  in  Clearbrook  from  1968  to 
1970.  Don  Krause  is  the  institute’s  new 
librarian.  He  has  had  eleven  years  of 
teaching  experience  in  elementary  and 
junior  secondary  schools.  For  the  past 
five  years  he  has  been  a junior  secondary 
school  librarian  in  Kamloops,  B.C. 

Rebecca  Ann  Quiring,  Dallas,  Ore., 
will  serve  for  one  year  with  the  General 
Conference  voluntary  service  unit  in 
Philadelphia.  She  will  be  secretary  for 
the  Crossroads  Community  Center. 
Becky,  a member  of  the  Grace  Church 
in  Dallas,  is  a 1970  graduate  of  Dallas 
Senior  High  School  and  has  attended 


Salem  Business  College,  Salem,  Ore. 
Her  parents  are  Melvin  and  Elizabeth 
Quiring  of  Dallas. 

Teresa  Stucky,  McPherson,  Kans.,  be- 
gan work  Aug.  13  as  secretary  in  the 
voluntary  service  office  of  the  General 
Conference,  Newton,  Kans.  Ms.  Stucky, 
a member  of  the  Eden  Church,  Mound- 
ridge,  Kans.,  has  served  since  June  1971 
as  secretary  in  the  office  of  the  mcc 
Peace  Section,  Akron,  Pa. 


Quiring  Vercler 


Martha  Vercler,  First  Church,  Bluff- 
ton,  Ohio,  has  begun  a one-year  term  of 
service  as  secretary  for  the  mcc  Peace 
Section  at  Akron,  Pa.  Martha  received 
an  associate  degree  in  applied  business 


from  Bowling  Green  State  University, 
Bowling  Green,  Ohio.  She  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  J.  Norman  and  Mary  Louise 
Vercler,  Bluffton. 

Robert  K.  Wert,  Washington,  D.C., 
has  been  appointed  assistant  professor 
of  social  work  at  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton,  Kans.  The  social  work  program 
is  being  expanded  under  a four-year 
federal  grant.  A graduate  of  Eastern 
Mennonite  College,  Mr.  Wert  obtained 
a master  of  social  work  degree  from 
Howard  University,  Washington,  D.C. 
For  the  past  two  years,  he  has  been 
field  instructor  for  graduate  social  work 
students  at  the  Catholic  University  of 
Washington,  D.C.  In  addition  to  his 
duties  in  the  social  work  program  at 
Bethel,  Mr.  Wert  will  counsel  freshman 
students  and  direct  the  Urban  Semester 
program  in  Wichita. 

Kirsten  Zerger,  1973  Bethel  College 
graduate  from  Farmer  City,  111.,  and 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Homer  Zerger 
of  Salina,  has  won  the  first  place  award 
in  the  National  Oratorical  Contest  of  the 
Intercollegiate  Peace  Speech  Association. 

Ministers 


Walter  H.  Regier,  Peoria,  Illinois,  began 
serving  as  pastor  of  the  Faith  Church, 
Geneva,  Neb.,  Sept.  1.  Mr.  Regier  has 
been  in  Peoria  the  past  five  years,  com- 
pleting the  merger  of  the  United  Menno- 
nite Church  in  1972.  This  past  year  he 
has  been  chaplain  at  the  Washington 
Nursing  Center  and  also  interim  pastor 
of  the  Evangelical  Mennonite  Church  at 
Groveland,  111. 

Calendar 


Oct.  19-21 — Western  District  Con- 
ference annual  sessions,  Clinton,  Okla. 

August  3-9,  1974 — General  Confer- 
ence triennial  sessions,  Brock  University, 
St.  Catharines,  Ont. 

Central 

Sept.  14-16 — Women’s  retreat,  Camp 
Friedenswald,  Mich.;  theme,  “The  wom- 
an’s role  in  today’s  society.” 

Eastern 

Sept.  13-16 — Training  sessions  for 
Christian  youth  leader  skills,  Camp  Heb- 
ron, Pa. 

Northern 

Sept.  8-9  — Women’s  retreat,  Swan 
Lake  Christian  Camp,  Viborg,  S.D. 

Western 

Sept.  8-9 — Women’s  retreat,  Camp 
Mennoscah,  Murdock,  Kans. 

Sept.  14-16 — Oklahoma  convention, 
Inola. 


Conference  budget 

$2,250,000 

2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 

i, 000, 000 


750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


July  receipts  were  up.  We  earlier  reported  a slump  in  May  and  June.  For  the  year 
we  have  received  50  percent  of  the  budget,  whereas  in  1972  we  had  received  49.8 
percent  at  the  end  of  July. 

I am  very  happy  to  announce  also1  the  receipt  of  a quarter  section  of  land  in 
western  Kansas  worth  about  $20,000.  The  donors  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Albert  Neufeld, 
who  now  live  in  Newton  and  attend  the  Faith  Mennonite  Church,  but  are  still  mem- 
bers of  the  Hanston  (Kans.)  Mennonite  Church.  Wm.  L.  Friesen,  conference 
treasurer 


SEPTEMBER  4,  1973 


500 


One  Potato 
Two  Potato 
Three  Potato 


For  the  people  of  Noakhali  District  of  Bangladesh,  potatoes  are  not  fun  and  games. 

Potatoes  mean  life  in  a year  when  famine  is  spreading  across  Asia  and  Africa.  North  American 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  churches  have  assured  that  thousands  of  these  returned 
Bangladesh  refugees  will  not  go  hungry  this  season. 

Perhaps  you  have  helped  make  this  ministry  possible  as  an  expression  of  your  concern  and 
compassion  in  the  name  of  Christ. 

Because  of  you,  seed  has  fallen  on  good  ground  and  is  bearing  fruit. 


Mennonite  Central  Committee 
21  South  12th  St. 

Akron 

Pennsylvania  17501 


Mennonite  Central  Committee  (Canada) 
201-1483  Pembina  Highway 
Winnipeg 

Manitoba  R3T  2C8 


THE  MENNONITE 


501 


LETTERS  MEDITATION 


The  hands  are  different 

In  East  Africa  a group  of  natives,  having  made  a long  journey  seeking  medical  care, 
walked  right  past  a government  hospital  to  reach  a mission  hospital.  When  asked 
why  they  had  walked  the  extra  distance,  when  the  government  hospital  had  exactly 
the  same  medicine,  they  replied,  “The  medicine  may  be  the  same,  but  the  hands  are 
different.” 

“Jesus,”  says  Mark,  “moved  with  compassion,  put  forth  his  hand,  and  touched 
him.”  In  another  glimpse,  Mark  shows  the  Master  as  he  takes  the  children  on  his 
knee.  “He  took  them  up  in  his  arms,  put  his  hands  upon  them,  and  blessed  them.” 
And  Mark  set  down  this  statement,  “Such  mighty  works  are  wrought  by  his  hands.” 

Helping  hands  are  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  effective.  Each  day  all  of  us 
are  given  varied  opportunities  to  serve  God.  However,  we  do  not  and  cannot  render 
this  loving  service  for  his  glory  because  we  are  so  generous  or  have  such  a great 
willingness  to  share  with  others.  Rather  we  must  say  as  did  a certain  minister,  “I  am 
not  kind.  I am  a selfish  and  sinful  man,  but  Jesus  Christ  has  placed  his  hand  on  me; 
that  is  all.” 

The  psalmist  gave  us  this  beautiful  promise  of  being  held  in  our  Creator’s  hands: 
“If  I take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea: 
even  there  shall  thy  hand  lead  me,  and  they  right  hand  shall  hold  me”  (Ps.  139: 
9-10).  And  in  the  sixteenth  Psalm  the  writer  says  confidently,  “I  have  set  the  Lord 
always  before  me:  because  he  is  at  my  right  hand,  I shall  not  be  moved.”  We  should 
draw  comfort  from  the  knowledge  that  we,  too,  are  held  securely  in  the  divine  hands 
which  made  us  all  in  his  own  image. 

We  also  know,  as  did  the  minister,  that  Christ  has  placed  his  hand  on  us  when 
we  committed  our  total  being  to  him,  receiving  the  loving  forgiveness  made  possible 
only  by  his  death  and  resurrection.  Of  ourselves,  we  are  not  wonderfully  kind,  but 
our  Lord  has  “placed  his  hand  on  me;  that  is  all.”  That  makes  all  the  difference. 

Mariana  L.  Brierton 


Pleased  with  Omnibus  series 

Dear  Editor:  Herald  Press  has  just  pub- 
lished an  excellent  set  of  materials:  the 
new  Omnibus  series.  This  material  was 
used  in  a five-day  DVBS  program  this 
summer  in  our  church.  Our  positive  ex- 
perience with  the  material  prompts  me 
to  write  and  share  this  with  others. 

The  title  of  the  series,  Exploring  the 
Jesus  life,  serves  to  remind  students  and 
teachers  that  Jesus  is  the  way  of  life. 
The  material  is  quite  flexible  and  can 
be  used  in  various  settings:  retreats, 

camps,  and  DVBS  are  a few.  It  can  be 
condensed  into  five  2U>-hour  periods,  or 
it  can  be  adapted  to  ten  or  fifteen  shorter 
lessons.  The  material  challenges  children 
to  obey  Jesus’  teachings  and  to  respond 
to  Jesus  in  their  own  way  and  on  their 
own  level. 

Teachers  with  no  previous  teaching 
experience  said  the  material  was  ade- 
quate and  gave  them  confidence  in  teach- 
ing the  class.  In  fact,  there  are  so  many 
suggestions  and  ideas  that  no  teacher 
could  cover  all  the  material  in  the  lesson. 
This  allowed  them  to  choose  parts  that 
were  most  relevant  for  their  class. 

Another  good  item  was  the  way  the 
lessons  were  integrated  with  the  crafts. 
The  play  activities  which  were  suggested, 
from  making  collages  to  using  play- 
dough,  were  relevant  to  the  Bible  themes. 
I felt  this  helped  the  student  to  expe- 
rience the  spiritual  and  recreational  as 
part  of  a whole,  and  not  as  two  separate 
activities  in  life.  . . . 

The  material  helped  the  teachers  to 
teach  creatively  and  interestingly.  The 
children  were  excited  about  the  lessons 
and  were  eager  to  come  back  and  bring 
more  friends.  Our  enrollment  increased 
daily.  Parents  commented  on  the  enthu- 
siasm of  their  children.  One  member 
who  had  worked  with  several  different 
DVBS  materials,  including  the  old  Her- 
ald Press  material,  said,  “We  shouldn’t 
even  entertain  the  thought  of  looking  at 
other  material  for  next  year.  It  was 
superb.” 

Two  negative  criticisms  were  expressed 
by  the  teachers.  They  claimed  it  was  too 
U.S.  oriented,  dealing  with  problems  of 
the  United  States  at  the  expense  of  issues 
Canadians  face.  The  draft  and  the  Negro 
situation  were  two  such  topics  mentioned. 
The  material  also  assumed  that  the 
teacher  could  sing  and  teach  children 


new  songs.  This  was  an  unfair  assump- 
tion. Despite  these  criticisms,  they  still 
maintained  that  the  material  was  excel- 
lent and  highly  recommended  it  for  use. 
Abe  Bergen,  DVBS  coordinator,  Bethel 
Mennonite  Church,  870  Carter  Ave., 
Winnipeg,  Man.  R3M  2E2.  Aug.  9 

The  sins  of  our  fathers 

Dear  Editor:  A television  documentary, 
entitled  “The  sins  of  our  fathers,”  de- 
picted the  misery  and  the  suffering  en- 
dured by  the  Vietnamese  mothers  and 
their  children,  soldier-fathered,  who  were 
left  behind  after  the  Americans  had  re- 
turned to  their  homeland  to  receive 
their  medals  for  valor,  and  the  welcom- 
ing arms  of  their  relatives  and  dearest 
friends.  After  all  this  fuss,  those  valorous 
heroes  are  now  being  accused  of  leaving 
their  suffering  and  dying  children  with 
uncared-for  mothers  in  South  Vietnam 
to  suffer  and  perish.  No  wonder  men  such 
as  Captain  Alan  Brudno  commit  suicide. 

Those  young  men  are  no  more  to 
blame  for  what  happened  in  Vietnam 
than  the  proverbial  man  in  the  moon. 
. . . First  of  all,  the  boys  were  drafted 


by  lot  and  told  that  it  was  their  patriotic 
duty  to  serve  and  defend  their  nation. 
These  adventurous  young  men  were 
trained  to  kill  other  young  men  whom 
they  had  never  seen  before  and  against 
whom  they  had  no  personal  enmity, 
thereby  eliminating  the  cream  of  the 
North  Vietnamese  future  leaders  and 
quite  a few  of  our  own  in  the  process. 
And  on  being  far  from  the  folks  at 
home,  our  own  young,  inexperienced 
soldiers  became  desperately  lonely  for 
the  hometown  fireplace,  consequently  oft- 
times  becoming  infatuated  with  the  na- 
tive female  population,  as  youthful  ro- 
manticists are  sure  to  do.  So  now,  after 
having  been  drafted  and  sailing  7,000 
miles  to  fulfill  their  patriotic  obligations, 
they  are  accused  of  being  responsible  for 
committing  a moral  malefaction  in  “The 
sins  of  our  fathers.” 

This  system,  operational  by  authority 
for  condemning  its  own  sons,  is  doing 
no  more  than  using  the  arts  and  science 
of  war  to  eliminate  all  opposition,  both 
at  home  and  abroad.  Our  military  elimi- 
nates the  opposing  elements  with  out- 
right mass  murder  and  their  female  com- 
panions by  leaving  them  alone  as  broken- 


502 


SEPTEMBER  4,  1973 


hearted  mothers  with  fatherless  children. 
Perhaps  as  Christ  said  when  he  was 
dying  on  the  cross,  “Forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do.”  And 
Christ  was  the  Son  of  God!  Our  sons 
are  coerced  into  breaking  both  the  sixth 
commandment,  “Thou  shalt  not  kill,” 
and  the  seventh  commandment,  “Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery.” 

Political  authority  is  telling  us  to 
break  the  religious  training  and  instruc- 
tion of  our  youth. 

This  is  my  plea:  why  condemn  our 
sons  after  they  return  from  a war  where 
they  experienced  a hell  on  earth  over- 
seas and  also  when  they  returned  to  the 
loving  arms  of  their  friends,  knowing  as 
we  know  that  at  the  beginning  the  au- 
thoritive  representative  system  coerced 
them  to  do  what  they  have  done  under 
the  guise  of  patriotic  duty  and  the  pro- 
tection and  love  of  their  folks  at  home? 

I know  whereof  I speak,  because  I 
had  a close  friend  who  practically  died 
in  my  arms  after  being  wounded  in  the 
action  at  the  Bois  de  Belleau.  Some- 
times, at  my  age  of  seventy-eight  years, 
I reflect  on  that  vital  portion  of  my  life 
and  it  seems  just  like  yesterday.  And  to 
emphasize  this  misadventure,  may  I men- 
tion General  Smedley  Darlington  Butler 
of  Chester,  Pennsylvania  (now  de- 
ceased), who  said  to  what  remained  of 
the  Fifth  Marines  overseas  before  de- 
parture for  the  United  States  of  America 
in  August  1919,  “You  have  endured  a 
hell  on  earth,  both  in  France  and  Ger- 
many in  this  war,  now  may  I inform 
you  that  you  must  be  prepared  to  face 
Ithe  same  hell  on  earth  at  home  if  you 
wish  to  uphold  the  same  principles  of 
justice  and  right  that  you  did  over  here, 
as  signified  on  the  Marine  emblem  you 
so  proudly  wear,  ‘Semper  Fidelis’  (always 
faithful).” 

So  please  do  not  accuse  our  young 
sons  of  being  sinful,  when  their  fathers 
in  authority  sent  them  overseas  as  inex- 
perienced, adventurous  young  men, 
bursting  with  newborn  vitality,  practical- 
ly just  loosed  from  their  mothers’  apron 
strings;  and  when  they  did  so,  saying 
that  after  training  and  toughening  it 
would  be  no  more  than  a matter  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest.  All  to  uphold  the 
honor  and  the  integrity  of  that  Betsy 
Ross  banner.  And  now  we  face  a Water- 
gate investigation  as  an  aftermath.  Who 
is  to  blame  for  it  all,  and  who  is  the 
biggest  storyteller,  fibber,  thief,  and  con- 
niver?  I wonder.  Elmer  C.  Reichart, 
4141  North  9th  St.,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
19140.  June  27 


A 

NEW 

VISION 

by  Lois  Bartel 


A NEW  VISION  $1.75 

Lois  Bartel 

Published  by  Faith  and 
Life  Press 

Racism.  White  racism.  It 
still  exists.  In  AAennonite 
churches. 

Sometimes  it’s  subtle, 
sometimes  blatant.  It's  al- 
ways destructive. 

A New  Vision  is  a study 
guide  that  examines  white 
racism  in  a fresh  and  vig- 
orous manner.  Thirteen 
chapters  make  it  usable  as 
an  elective  course  in  Sun- 
day school  and  in  many 
other  settings.  Chapters 
contain  biblical  references 
and  suggested  learning 
experiences. 

Order  from  Faith  and 
Life  Bookstores  at  159  W. 
Main  St.,  Berne,  Indiana 
46711,  and  722  Main  St., 
Newton,  Kansas  67114, 
and  Fellowship  Bookcenter, 
159  Henderson  Highway, 
Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  Can- 
ada R2L  1 L4. 


Contents 


Sound  doctrine — the  neglected 

ingredient  490 

Getting  the  show  on  the  road  . 491 

Authenticity — Zairian  and 

Christian  492 

News  494 

Record  499 

Letters  502 

The  hands  are  different  502 

Harvest  and  crisis  504 


COVER 

Shailesh  M.  goes  to  the  Summit  Valley 
Elementary  School,  Lancaster,  Pa.  (see 
picture  on  page  498).  His  family  was 
forced  to  leave  Uganda  in  November 
1972. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Floyd  G.  Bartel  is  pastor  of  Bethel 
Church,  2100  Manor  Ridge  Road,  Lan- 
caster, Pa.  17603. 

David  Toews'  address  is  2806  Ben- 
ham  Ave.,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 

Elmer  Neufeld,  a BlufFton  College 
faculty  member,  is  chairman  of  both 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
and  the  Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mis- 
sion. He  served  as  MCC's  director  in 
Zaire  for  a term  in  the  1960s. 

Mariana  L.  Brierton,  whose  Medita- 
tions have  appeared  in  The  Mennonite 
before,  resides  on  Route  3,  Dixon,  III. 
61021. 

Alvin  Beachy,  who  teaches  in  Bethel 
College's  Bible  department,  lives  at  2309 
Ivy,  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117. 

CREDITS 

Cover  and  498,  United  Nations  High 
Commissioner  for  Refugees;  493  and 
497,  Larry  Kehler. 


Thp 

Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS  1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


503 


Harvest  and  crisis 

Alvin  Beochy 

1.  The  year  was  1973. 

The  spring  rains  fell  in 
unsurpassed  abundance. 

The  hard  winter  wheat, 
brought  from  Russia  in 

the  great  migrations  of  1874, 
grew  tall  and  luxuriant. 

The  rains  ended.  The  wheat 
ripened,  and  turned  the 
Kansas  prairie  into  an 
ocean  of  golden,  life-giving, 
life-sustaining  grain. 

2.  Sun  and  rain  and  the 
farmer’s  toil,  under  the 
bountiful  providence  of  God, 
had  produced  the  most  plentiful 
wheat  harvest  in  the  memory 

of  those  who  had  turned 

the  prairies  into  a breadbasket. 

3.  The  harvest  would  last 
a full  forty-five  days 
and  more,  beginning  in 
Texas  in  mid-May  and 
ending  in  North  Dakota  in 
mid-September.  And  then 
the  great  combines  would 
disappear  as  mysteriously  as 
they  had  come.  And  the  fields 
would  fall  silent  once  more, 
waiting  for  the  blessings  of 
sunshine  and  rain,  and  the 
farmer’s  toil,  under  the 
providence  of  God,  to  work 
another  miracle  of  life. 

4.  In  1973  the  combines  fell 
silent  too  soon.  Though 
the  harvest  was  plentiful 
beyond  belief,  the  fuel 

to  reap  the  miracle  of  life 
was  not  in  sufficient  supply 
to  keep  the  combines  moving. 

Steps  were  taken  to  conserve 
the  precious  fuel.  States 
were  urged  to  reduce  their 
speed  limits  for  automobiles. 

The  people  were  told  to  avoid 
unnecessary  pleasure  trips. 
Commercial  planes  were  requested 


by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  fly  at  less  than 
their  maximum  speed  of  600  miles 
per  hour  so  that  the  harvest 
might  go  forward. 

5.  This  dilemma  of  scarcity  in 
the  midst  of  plenty  was  termed 
an  “energy  crisis.”  It  was  but 
symptomatic  of  a deeper  crisis, 
a crisis  of  values,  of  morality, 
of  a preference  for  death 
instead  of  life.  For  while 

the  ripe  wheat  waited  for  the 
combines  that  came  hesitantly, 
late,  or  not  at  all,  all  the  way 
from  Texas  to  North  Dakota,  the 
fuel  that  might  have  been  used  to 
enable  those  machines  to  reap 
a harvest  of  life  at  the 
most  desirable  time  was  being 
consumed  by  United  States  planes 
to  sow  a harvest  of  death  over 
Laos  and  Cambodia. 

6.  One  B52  bombing  run,  from 
Guam  to  Cambodia  and  back, 
consumes  enough  fuel 

to  operate  ? combines  for 
? days.  Yet,  while 
the  harvest  of  life 
in  the  United  States  waits 
for  the  combines  that  will 
come  late,  or  not  at  all, 
we  have  decided  that  the 
harvest  of  death  in  Cambodia 
shall  continue  for  another 
full  forty-five  days. 

The  crisis,  O God,  is  not 
in  our  sources  of  energy, 
but  in  ourselves.  Forgive, 

O Lord,  this  foolish  pride 
and  wanton  greed  which  lead 
us  to  choose  death  instead  of  life, 
to  neglect  the  harvest  of  life, 
because  we  find  it  more 
profitable  to  sow  the  means 
of  death  for  others 
than  to  reap  the  means 
of  life  for  all. 


Tlifk 

Meimonite 

/ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS 

1 

’ 1 

88:32  S E P T E M B E 


The  Spirit  iiiul  liis  cliarisiiis 


The  first  discovery  that  we  make 
when  we  look  for  the  texts  that  speak 
of  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit  (an  expres- 
sion not  found  at  all  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment) is  that  there  are  very  few.  Outside 
of  the  Gospels,  where  baptism  with  the 
Spirit  is  mentioned  vis-a-vis  John’s  water 
baptism,  and  where  the  reference  is 
clearly  to  Pentecost,  there  are  only  three 
passages  which  speak  of  the  baptizing 
work  of  the  Spirit. 

Two  of  these  passages  are  in  Acts  and 
they,  like  the  Gospel  text,  refer  to  Pente- 
cost. “John  baptized  with  water,  but 
before  many  days  you  shall  be  baptized 
with  the  Holy  Spirit”  (Acts  1:5).  “And 
I (Peter)  remembered  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  how  he  said,  ‘John  baptized  with 
water,  but  you  shall  be  baptized  with 
the  Holy  Spirit’”  (Acts  11:16).  Both  of 
the  Acts  passages,  then,  have  to  do  with 
the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  only  other  passage  in  the  New 
Testament  that  speaks  of  the  baptizing 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  1 Corinthians 
12:13:  “For  by  one  Spirit  we  were  all 
baptized  into  one  body — Jews  or  Greeks, 
slaves  or  free — and  all  were  made  to 
drink  of  one  Spirit.”  This  passage  clearly 
has  to  do  with  initiation  into  the  body  of 
Christ,  and  that  happens  when  we  re- 
ceive the  Holy  Spirit  or,  as  the  second 
part  of  the  verse  has  it:  “We  . . . were 
all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit,”  i.e.,  at 
conversion,  repented  (Acts  2),  new  birth, 
believed,  etc. 

Although  the  term  “baptism  with  the 
Spirit”  is  used  loosely  to  describe  differ- 
ent kinds  of  experiences  in  the  Christian 
life  (and  we  are  not  disparaging  crisis 
experiences,  which  believers  have  at  times 
found  to  be  quite  transforming),  it  is 
used  correctly  when  applied  to  some  sec- 
ond stage  of  our  salvation  experience. 
Baptism  with  the  Spirit  has  to  do  with 
incorporation  into  the  body  of  Christ. 

In  order  to  get  an  overview  of  what 
is  meant  by  the  baptizing  work  of  the 
Spirit,  we  must  look  at  those  passages 
which  have  to  do  with  the  giving  and 
the  receiving  of  the  Spirit.  We  want  to 
take  a look  at  the  key  passages  in  the 
Book  of  Acts  to  see  what  they  say  (and 
what  they  do  not  say)  about  the  bap- 
tizing work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  I chose 
these  (instead  of  Paul’s  writings)  because 
they  are  crucial  in  this  whole  matter. 


Reversing 
die  curse  of 
Babel 


The  miracle  of  Pentecost  (Act  2) 

The  Day  of  Pentecost  in  Jewish  thought. 

1.  It  was  the  fifteenth  day  after  Pass- 
over.  This  marked  the  end  of  the  grain 
harvest,  and  the  law  prescribed  that  two 
loaves  of  bread  were  to  be  waved  before 


The  baptizing  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit 

David  Ewert 


506 


SEPTEMBER  11,  1973; 


the  Lord  on  this  day  (Lev.  23:17f.). 
This  offering  of  the  loaves  completed  the 
Passover  sheaf  offering,  made  on  Easter 
Day.  Of  course,  the  suggestion  lies  close 
at  hand  that  the  coming  of  the  Spirit  at 
Pentecost  completes  the  first  Christian 
| Easter. 

2.  It  was  also  a day  of  firstfruits 
(Num.  28:26;  Lev.  23:17).  The  two 

1 loaves  were  offered  as  firstfruits  to  the 
Lord  as  samples  of  the  harvest  of  grain. 
Whereas  the  firstfruits  of  the  harvest 
• were  offered  to  God  at  Passover  in  the 
form  of  a sheaf,  “the  real  feast  to  cele- 
brate the  firstfruits  of  the  harvest  was 
the  Feast  of  Weeks”  (R.  de  Vaux,  An- 
j cient  Israel : its  life  and  institutions,  pp. 
490  f.).  We  may  look  upon  the  three 
thousand  that  were  initiated  into  the 
| church  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  as  a kind 
of  firstfruits  of  the  larger  harvest  to  be 
gathered  from  every  nation  under  heaven. 

3.  It  was  a day  of  rejoicing.  The  law 
prescribed  that  on  Pentecost,  offerings 

’ were  to  be  made  for  the  poor,  and  the 
festal  joy  was  to  be  shared  by  all  (Deut. 
16:10  f.).  How  appropriate  then  that 
! the  Spirit  should  be  given  on  this  day, 
for  the  Spirit  is  a Spirit  of  joy.  The  early 
1 Christians  were  known  for  a joy  that 
\ came  from  the  Holy  Spirit  ( 1 Thess. 

I 1:6). 

4.  It  had  become  the  anniversary  of 
the  giving  of  the  law.  Not  only  do  the 
noise  and  the  tongues  of  fire  remind  us 

1 of  Sinai,  but  in  line  with  the  rabbinic 
notion  that  all  the  nations  were  present 
I when  God  offered  them  the  law  at  Sinai, 

I so  at  the  first  Christian  Pentecost,  rep- 
[ resentatives  of  all  nations  were  present 
to  receive  God’s  Spirit.  And  as  Israel  was 
constituted  “a  kingdom  of  priests  and  a 
holy  nation”  (Ex.  19:6)  at  Sinai,  so  the 
i gift  of  the  Spirit  at  Pentecost  creates  a 
new  people  of  God  (1  Pet.  2:9-10). 

Attendant  circumstances  of  the  coming 

of  the  Spirit. 

1.  A noise  from  heaven  like  that  of 
I a strong  wind.  In  the  Old  Testament, 
God,  whose  dwelling  is  in  heaven,  often 
makes  himself  known  in  the  hearing  of 
men  (e.g.,  Gen.  3:8  f.;  1 Sam.  3:4  ff . ) . 
Again  and  again  in  the  Old  Testament 
the  divine  presence  manifested  itself  in 
the  wind  (e.g.,  1 Kings  19:11;  lob  38:1). 

! When  Luke  says  it  filled  the  house  where 
I they  were  sitting,  he  almost  certainly 
| alludes  to  Isaiah  6:4,  although  in  the 
case  of  the  prophet,  the  temple  was  filled 
i with  smoke. 

Pnoe,  the  word  for  wind  in  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  carries  with  it  the  nuance  of 
the  creative  breath  of  God,  and  so  Luke 


uses  it  appropriately  to  describe  the  be- 
ginning of  a “new  creation,”  the  church. 

2.  The  appearance  of  tongues  like 
flames  of  fire.  Fire  is  also  an  Old  Testa- 
ment symbol  for  the  presence  of  God 
(e.g.,  Ex.  3.2  ff.;  19:18) — sometimes 
joined  with  “wind”  (e.g.,  Is.  19:6;  30:27 
f.).  How  widely  dispersed  the  tongues  of 
fire  were  is  not  exactly  clear.  In  any  case, 
the  Spirit  was  manifestly  given  to  them. 
Their  experience  was  not  the  product 
of  their  imagination.  The  Spirit  left  his 
recipients  in  no  doubt  that  he  had  come. 

3.  They  spoke  in  other  tongues.  As 
far  as  we  know  the  phenomenon  men- 
tioned here  in  Acts  2:4  is  different  from 
the  glossolalia  in  Christian  worship  of 
which  Paul  speaks  in  1 Corinthians  14. 
Here  it  refers  to  the  mysterious  gift  of 
communicating  in  another  dialect.  There 
was  no  great  need  as  far  as  the  Pentecost 
visitors  were  concerned  to  be  addressed 
in  their  native  dialects,  for  most  of  them 
knew  either  Greek  or  Aramaic.  Rather, 
it  seems,  this  miraculous  gift  of  com- 
municating the  good  news  in  “other 
tongues”  was  one  more  sign  that  the  gift 
of  the  Spirit  had  been  given. 

H.  B.  Swete  says,  “The  purpose  of  the 
miracle  . . . was  not  to  lighten  the  labor 
of  the  Christian  missionary,  but  to  call 
attention  at  the  first  outset  to  the  advent 
of  the  Paraclete”  (The  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
New  Testament,  p.  74).  We  have  no 
evidence  from  the  New  Testament  that 
this  miracle  of  Pentecost  was  repeated. 
Paul  had  the  gift  of  glossolalia,  but  ap- 
parently he  was  not  able  to  speak  the 
Lycaonian  vernacular  (Acts  14:8  ff.) 
at  Lystra. 

Although  the  ability  to  speak  foreign 
languages,  as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
apparently  was  not  a permanent  gift,  it 
pointed  out  the  church’s  task  in  history 
— to  reverse  the  curse  of  Babel  and  to 
let  God’s  Word  be  proclaimed  to  men 
of  every  tongue  and  nation. 

The  significance  of  the  Pentecost  event. 

The  promise  of  Jesus  that  the  disciples 
would  be  baptized  with  the  Spirit  (Acts 
1:5),  that  they  would  be  equipped  with 
power  to  witness  (Acts  1:8),  was  ful- 
filled at  Pentecost.  Pentecost  was  a 
watershed  in  salvation  history: 

I.  Pentecost  was  a sort  of  climax  of 
all  that  had  gone  before.  Peter  in  his 
Pentecost  sermon  insists  that  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit  was  not  only  anti- 
cipated by  David  and  the  prophets,  but 
was  the  capstone  of  the  death,  resurrec- 
tion, and  ascension  of  Jesus  (2:29-33). 

2.  Pentecost  signified  the  inauguration 
of  the  new  age.  The  prophets  had  con- 


nected the  dawn  of  the  messianic  age 
with  the  outpouring  of  God’s  Spirit;  that 
age  was  now  here.  The  ascension  brought 
to  an  end  the  story  of  Jesus  (Luke’s  first 
volume  tells  that  story,  and  his  Gospel 
concludes  with  the  ascension).  Luke’s 
second  volume  begins  with  the  ascension, 
followed  by  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit, 
the  sign  that  the  new  age  had  begun. 
The  Spirit  was  the  Spirit  of  promise 
(Acts  1:4;  2:33);  the  gift  of  the  Spirit 
is  “the  blessing  of  Abraham”  (Gal.  3: 
14),  through  whom  all  the  nations  of 
the  earth  were  to  be  blessed.  Ezekiel 
(36:27)  and  Jeremiah  (31:33)  had 
spoken  of  the  new  covenant  as  one  in 
which  God’s  law  would  be  written  into 
the  hearts  of  men.  This  happened  at 
Pentecost,  as  Paul  cogently  argues  in  2 
Corinthians  3.  The  Spirit  is  the  essence 
of  the  new  covenant. 

3.  Pentecost  inaugurated  the  age  of 
the  church,  the  age  in  which  the  gospel 
is  proclaimed  to  the  world.  The  church 
is  basically  a missionary  body.  Interest- 
ingly, we  hear  of  no  attempt  on  the  part 
of  the  disciples  before  Pentecost  to  wit- 
ness to  Jesus  Christ.  But  when  the  Spirit 
came,  the  world  mission  of  the  church 
began  (Acts  1:8;  2:5). 

The  coming  of  the  Spirit  was  incon- 
trovertible evidence  that  Jesus  was  Lord 
of  all  (Acts  2:33).  Therefore,  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost  Peter  could  hold  out 
the  promise  to  all  who  heard  the  good 
news:  “Whoever  calls  on  the  name  of 
the  Lord  shall  be  saved”  (Acts  2:21). 
The  list  given  by  Luke  of  nationalities 
that  formed  the  audience  of  the  apostles 
at  Pentecost  stresses  the  universality  of 
the  gospel.  Whether  Luke  adapted  a 
known  “geographical  catalog”  of  nations 
or  whether  the  list  was  original  does  not 
change  the  fact  that  the  whole  world  was 
represented  when  the  apostles  pro- 
claimed with  great  power  the  mighty 
acts  of  God  on  that  first  Pentecost.  The 
promise  is  to  you  and  to  your  children 
and  to  those  “far  off”  (eis  makran),  and 
that  is  reminiscent  of  Isaiah  57:19, 
where  (as  in  Eph.  2)  it  refers  to  Gen- 
tiles. 

The  Spirit  is  the  hallmark  of  the 
church,  and  so  one  can  say  that  Pente- 
cost is  the  birthday  of  the  church.  As 
such  it  is  unique  in  the  history  of  salva- 
tion and  can  never  be  repeated.  This  is 
the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 
both  John  the  Baptist  and  Jesus  pre- 
dicted. 

But  let  us  look  at  some  other  texts 
in  Acts  which  are  quite  unique  in  their 
description  of  how  the  Spirit  came  to 
different  people  in  that  early  period. 


THE  MENNONITE 


507 


Some  of  these  texts  are  problem  texts. 
The  one  that  we  are  about  to  mention 
has  been  used  frequently  to  give  scriptur- 
al support  for  separating  conversion  and 
a later  so-called  baptism  of  the  Spirit. 

The  Samaritan  believers  (Acts  8) 

1.  As  a result  of  Philip’s  preaching  in 
Samaria,  new  converts  had  been  won. 
When  the  apostles  in  Jerusalem  heard 
the  good  news,  they  sent  Peter  and  John, 
who,  when  they  arrived,  prayed  over  the 
Samaritan  believers  and  they  received 
the  Holy  Spirit.  If  we  read  this  account 
in  the  light  of  Romans  8:9,  we  are  tem- 
pted to  say  that  they  must  not  have  been 
genuine  believers,  since  those  who  have 
not  Christ’s  Spirit  do  not  belong  to  him. 

J.  D.  G.  Dunn,  in  Baptism  in  the  Holy 
Spirit,  argues  that  the  Samaritans  were 
not  genuine  believers  until  they  had  re- 
ceived the  gift  of  the  Spirit  when  the 
apostles  laid  hands  on  them.  I am  not 
convinced  by  his  arguments,  namely, 
that  the  superstitious  Samaritans  had 
misunderstood  Philip’s  message,  that  they 
had  believed  Philip  (v.  12),  but  not  in 
Christ;  that  Simon  Magus  also  believed 
(and,  certainly,  his  was  not  a genuine 
conversion);  that  since  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  the  hallmark  of  the  believer,  the  Sa- 
maritans cannot  have  been  genuine  be- 
lievers (pp.  63-67).  One  could  also  ask, 
then:  Were  the  disciples  genuine  be- 
lievers before  Pentecost? 

2.  If  the  Samaritans  were  genuine  be- 
lievers, does  it  follow  that  they  received 
the  baptism  of  the  Spirit  (as  Pentecostals 
insist)?  Implied  in  such  a view  is  that 
they  had  received  the  Spirit  when  they 
believed  (something  the  text  explicitly 
denies)  and  that  they  were  later  baptized 
with  Spirit  (something  the  text  does  not 
say  either). 

3.  Another  view  is  that  the  Samari- 
tans had  received  the  Spirit  at  conver- 
sion, but  the  charismatic  manifestations 
were  lacking.  This  view  founders  on  the 
explicit  statement  that  “the  Spirit  had 
not  yet  fallen  on  any  of  them”  (v.  16), 
and  that  the  Spirit  was  given  when  the 
apostles  laid  their  hands  on  them  (v.  18). 

4.  Still  another  view  is  that  the  Spirit 
is  received  only  by  the  laying  on  of 
hands.  We  can  see  how  this  approach 
lends  itself  to  give  scriptural  foundation 
to  the  practice  of  confirmation,  but  actu- 
ally that  view  is  fanciful.  We  do  not 
read  of  any  laying  on  of  hands  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost.  The  Ethiopian  eunuch 
was  converted  through  Philip,  baptized 


by  him,  and  went  on  his  way  rejoicing. 
Are  we  to  suppose  that  when  Ananias 
laid  his  hands  on  Paul,  he  carried  more 
ecclesiastical  weight  than  Philip  did? 

5.  The  best  approach,  in  my  opinion, 
is  that  Samaria  was  a unique  situation. 
Between  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans 
there  was  bitter  hatred  of  long  standing. 
F.  F.  Bruce  points  out,  “In  the  present 
instance,  some  special  evidence  may  have 
been  necessary  to  assure  these  Samari- 
tans, accustomed  to  being  despised  as 
outsiders  by  the  people  of  Jerusalem, 
that  they  were  fully  incorporated  into 
the  new  community  of  the  people  of 
God”  ( Book  of  Acts,  p.  182).  Fampe 
underscores  the  fact  that  before  Samar- 
ia could  be  established  as  a nucleus  for 
further  expansion,  the  continuity  with 
Jerusalem  had  to  be  established;  other- 
wise the  unity  of  the  Spirit-possessed 
community  would  be  impaired  (Seal  of 
the  Spirit,  pp.  70-72). 

Perhaps  the  full  flowering  of  the  Sa- 
maritans’ faith  was  delayed  because  they 
found  it  hard  to  believe  that  they  were 
really  accepted  in  the  Christian  commu- 
nity comprised  so  far  only  of  Jews  and 
proselytes.  And  so  it  was  only  natural 
that  Peter  and  John,  chief  representa- 
tives of  the  Jerusalem  church,  should 
proffer  them  the  hand  of  fellowship,  so 
that  they  might  come  to  the  fullness  of 
the  faith. 

The  account  is  brief,  and  Fuke  offers 
no  explanations  why  they  did  not  re- 
ceive the  Spirit  immediately.  The  condi- 
tions for  the  receipt  of  the  Spirit  which 
Peter  laid  down  in  Acts  2:38  evidently 
had  been  met,  and  yet  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit  had  not  been  received.  We  are 
led  to  the  conclusion  that,  just  as  Peter 
had  opened  the  door  of  faith  to  the  Jews 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  so  he  (and 
John)  opened  it  now  to  the  Samaritans 
(and  somewhat  later  he  opens  it  to  the 
Gentiles).  So  we  have  here  a kind  of 
mini-Pentecost. 

In  general,  it  should  be  said  that  in 
all  great  spiritual  movements  there  are 
phenomena  that  cannot  be  easily  cate- 
gorized. The  experience  of  the  Samari- 
tans seems  to  be  of  this  kind.  I would 
hesitate  to  say  that  they  were  not  genu- 
ine believers  simply  because  of  the  spe- 
cial manner  in  which  the  receipt  of  the 
Spirit  is  described.  Conversely,  it  is  pre- 
carious to  argue  from  silence  that  they 
did  receive  the  Spirit  at  conversion  and 
that  what  we  have  here  is  a second  work 
of  grace.  Even  more  precarious  is  to  hold 


this  story  up  as  normative  for  Christian 
experience.  How  can  one  say  that  this 
is  the  pattern  of  Christian  experience 
(conversion  and  then  baptism  of  the 
Spirit— a term  which,  by  the  way,  is  not 
used  in  the  passage)  and  not  the  experi- 
ence of  Cornelius,  where  the  Spirit  is 
received  before  baptism? 

The  conversion  of  Paul  (Acts  9) 

Some  of  those  who  look  for  passages 
on  which  to  base  the  teaching  of  the  sec- 
ond work  of  grace  (or  baptism  in  the 
Spirit,  if  Pentecostal  language  is  pre- 
ferred) insist  that  Paul  was  converted 
on  the  Damascus  road  and  three  days 
later  was  baptized  in  the  Spirit.  Others 
argue  that  Paul  was  merely  convicted 
on  the  Damascus  road  and  converted 
when  Ananias  ministered  to  him.  That 
Paul  called  Jesus  “Ford”  then  means 
that  kurie  is  to  be  understood  as  “sir”; 
that  Ananias  called  him  “brother”  means 
that  he  addressed  him  as  fellow  Jew. 

But  why  such  fanciful  divisions  be- 
tween what  happened  on  the  Damascus 
road  and  at  the  meeting  with  Ananias? 

In  looking  back  on  his  experience,  Paul 
made  no  distinction  between  the  com- 
missioning he  received  through  Ananias 
(22:13ff.)  and  the  call  directly  from 
Christ,  received  on  the  Damascus  road 
(26:15ff.).  The  conversion-commission- 
ing was  one  experience,  and  so  was  his 
conversion-receipt-of-the-Spirit  and  bap- 
tism. 

A man  whose  loyalties  to  Judaism  ran 
so  deep  did  not  have  his  Weltanschauung 
changed  completely  the  moment  he  heard 
the  voice  from  heaven.  He  needed  a few 
days  in  which  to  plunge  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  all  he  had  held  dear,  in  order 
to  come  to  an  understanding  of  the 
Christian  faith,  of  deep  heart-searching 
and  repentance — the  pangs  of  the  new 
birth.  The  three  days  of  darkness  re- 
mind us  of  the  three  days  our  Ford  spent 
in  the  darkness  of  the  grave,  before  the 
light  of  Easter  drove  the  clouds  away,  j 
As  he  called  on  the  name  of  the  Ford,  ; 
had  his  sins  washed  away  (22:16),  was  ' 
filled  with  the  Spirit,  and  was  baptized 
with  water  (22:16;  9:17-18),  Paul  be-  | 
came  a new  man  in  Christ. 

There  are  three  occasions  in  Acts 
where  the  laying  on  of  hands  and  the  I 
receipt  of  the  Spirit  are  connected  (8:14;  J 
9:10  ff.;  19:1  ff.).  It  does  not  follow,  j 
of  course,  that  the  laying  on  of  hands 
had  the  same  signifiance  in  each  in-  : 
stance.  Our  Ford  laid  hands  on  people  ;( 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
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SEPTEMBER  11,  1973  j 


508 


for  healing  (Mk.  5:23)  and  for  blessing 
(Mk.  10:16).  The  apostles  laid  hands 
on  the  seven  when  they  commissioned 
them  for  service  (Acts  6:6). 

Paul  was  told  by  the  Lord  that  Ana- 
nias would  come  to  him  and  lay  his 
hands  on  him  to  restore  his  sight  (as 
Jesus  had  done  when  he  cured  the  blind, 
e.g.,  Mk.  8:25;  Lk.  4:40;  5:13;  8:3-4). 
The  purpose  of  the  laying  on  of  hands 
seems  to  have  been  the  recovery  of 
sight,  since  it  marked  the  last  phase  of 
Paul’s  conversion  from  darkness  to  light, 
and  that  was  accompanied  by  the  receipt 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

In  the  two  later  accounts  of  Paul’s 
| conversion  (22:6  ff.;  26:12  ff.),  where 
he  describes  what  happened  to  him  in 
Damascus,  there  is  no  hint  that  the 
; Spirit  was  imparted  to  him  through  the 
laying  on  of  hands.  That  there  was  a 
; close  connection  between  laying  on  of 
[ hands,  the  restoration  of  sight,  and  the 
receipt  of  the  Spirit  cannot,  of  course, 

, be  denied.  However,  it  seems  to  be  truer 
| to  the  text  to  infer  that  the  Spirit  was 
given  to  Paul  by  Christ  directly,  without 
\ the  mediation  of  Ananias.  When  Paul 
later  insisted  that  he  had  received  his 
I apostleship  not  through  men  but  from 
God  (Gal.  1:1,  11  ff.),  he  is  not  deny- 
ing a place  in  this  experience  to  God’s 
appointed  servant,  Ananias.  As  Ananias 
laid  his  hands  on  Paul,  the  power  of 
Christ  enlightened  his  eyes. 

, The  conversion  of  Cornelius  (Acts  10) 

While  Peter  preached  to  the  guests 
who  had  gathered  in  the  house  of  Cor- 
nelius, the  Holy  Spirit  fell  on  all  who 
: heard  the  word  (10:44).  It  surprised  the 
I Jewish  believers  to  see  that  the  Gentiles, 

I too,  had  received  the  Spirit  (10:45).  In 
this  case  there  was  an  outbreak  of  glosso- 
! lalia  as  these  Gentiles  came  from  dark- 
I ness  to  light  (10:46).  The  whole  event 
■ is  reminiscent  of  what  happened  at  Pen- 
i tecost  when  the  Spirit  fell  on  the  Jewish 
disciples.  Had  these  Gentile  converts  not 
' spoken  in  tongues,  the  Jewish  Christians 
present  (perhaps  Peter  himself)  would 
have  been  loath  to  believe  that  they  had 
i received  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Whereas  in  Acts  2:37  ff.  the  gift  of 
the  Spirit  is  mentioned  after  repentance, 
faith,  and  baptism,  here  the  reception 
, of  the  Spirit  comes  first.  Indeed,  faith  is 
j not  even  mentioned  in  Cornelius’  story. 

I The  Spirit  is  poured  out  and  they  are 
1 baptized  (10:47-48).  At  the  Jerusalem 
, council,  where  Peter  defended  the  Gen- 
tiles as  bona  fide  members  of  the  church, 

I he  says  that  they  believed  and  had  their 
hearts  cleansed  by  faith  (15:7-9).  Be  it 


noted,  too,  that  the  reception  of  the 
Spirit  was  no  substitute  for  water  bap- 
tism. 

Those  who  try  to  find  a gap  between 
the  conversion  of  Cornelius  and  his 
friends,  and  a later  Spirit  baptism  are  a 
bit  hard-pressed  to  find  one  in  this  ac- 
count, although  some  insist  on  it  even 
here — small  though  the  gap  may  be. 
Such  interpretations  should  remind  us 
that  Luke  is  telling  the  story  of  the 
progress  of  the  gospel  in  the  early  period 
of  the  church  and  that  the  Spirit  does 
not  always  work  in  the  same  way.  For 
we  seem  to  have  the  reverse  order  in  the 
case  of  Cornelius  from  what  we  have  in 
Samaria — in  the  former  case,  the  gift  of 
the  Spirit  preceded  baptism;  in  the  latter, 
baptism  took  place  before  the  outpouring 
of  the  Spirit.  For  this  reason  it  is  not 
proper  to  insist  that  every  believer  must 
experience  what  the  Samaritans  did. 

Why  not,  rather,  choose  the  experience 
of  the  household  of  Cornelius?  What 
would  be  the  order  of  Christian  experi- 
ence, if  we  threw  in  Paul’s  conversion 
experience  for  good  measure?  The  fact 
is  that  these  were  all  unique  historical 
events  which  cannot  be  imitated  in  de- 
tail because  we  do  not  stand  at  the  turn- 
ing point  of  the  ages,  as  these  believers 
and  apostles  did. 

The  disciples  at  Ephesus  (Acts  19) 

One  of  the  questions  which  engages 
interpreters  of  this  passage  is:  Were 
these  former  disciples  of  the  Baptist 
Christians  when  Paul  encountered  them? 
It’s  a question  that  is  not  answered  so 
easily.  The  designation  “disciples”  (v.  1) 
is  too  general  to  give  a definite  answer. 
The  New  English  Bible  has  translated 
it  “converts.”  There  must  have  been 
many  people  who  had  had  some  contact 
with  John  and  had  received  his  baptism 
and  then  left  the  area,  for  we  have  no 
reason  to  believe  that  all  those  baptized 
by  John  were  joined  together  in  clearly 
marked-off  communities. 

Paul’s  words  to  them  seem  to  suggest 
that  although  they  may  have  known  of 
John’s  prophecy  that  the  One  coming 
after  him  would  baptize  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  at  least  they  did  not  know  of  the 
fulfillment  of  that  prophecy  at  Pentecost. 
They  were  still  living,  as  it  were,  on  the 
other  side  of  Pentecost.  The  fact  that 
they  accepted  water  baptism  a second 
time  and  received  the  Holy  Spirit  could 
also  suggest  that  they  were  not  until 
then  genuine  believers  in  Christ. 

On  the  other  hand,  “Did  you  receive 
the  Holy  Spirit  when  you  believed?”  does 
suggest  some  kind  of  experience  of  the 


Christian  gospel.  Paul  expressed  surprise 
that  what  normally  happens,  namely, 
that  a man  receives  the  Holy  Spirit  when 
he  believes,  did  not  happen  in  their  case. 
Also,  the  word  “disciple”  is  the  common 
designation  for  believer.  But  to  go  on 
from  there  to  argue  that  they  were  bap- 
tized Christian  believers  who  had  not 
yet  received  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit 
is  a tour  de  force. 

They  may  have  received  their  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  from  a somewhat  defec- 
tive source.  It  seems  better  to  accept  the 
view  that  they  were  Christian  believers 
whose  faith  was  defective.  In  true  Ana- 
baptist fashion,  when  Paul  explained  to 
them  that  John’s  baptism  was  but  antici- 
patory in  character,  they  were  rebaptized 
— the  only  account  of  a rebaptism  in  the 
New  Testament.  Whether  those  of  Jesus’ 
disciples  (who  had  been  disciples  of 
John)  were  rebaptized  at  Pentecost  can- 
not be  determined  with  any  certainty. 
Perhaps  their  Pentecostal  endowment 
with  the  Spirit  transformed  the  prepara- 
tory baptism  of  John  into  Christian  bap- 
tism. 

In  any  case,  the  Ephesian  disciples 
were  baptized  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and 
when  Paul  laid  hands  on  them  they  re- 
ceived the  Holy  Spirit.  The  laying  on 
of  hands  may  have  been  part  of  the  bap- 
tismal rite.  Others  feel  that  it  symbolized 
the  receipt  of  the  Spirit,  still  others  that 
it  was  a way  of  commissioning  them  to 
the  task  of  mission.  Since  the  laying  on 
of  hands  in  connection  with  the  receipt 
of  the  Spirit  is  mentioned  only  here  and 
in  Acts  8,  Hull  suggests  that  “it  seems 
not  unreasonable  to  conclude  that  refer- 
ence is  made  to  it  on  these  two  occasions 
only  because,  in  Luke’s  view,  these  two 
cases  were  quite  exceptional.” 

As  in  the  case  of  the  believers  in  Cor- 
nelius’ house,  the  Ephesian  disciples 
spoke  in  tongues.  No  reference  is  made 
to  the  proclamation  of  the  good  news  in 
other  tongues  (as  at  Pentecost),  nor 
does  the  phenomenon  in  these  two  cases 
seem  to  be  what  Paul  describes  in  1 
Corinthians  14  (although  that  cannot 
be  ruled  out).  It  seems  rather  to  refer 
to  that  strange  phenomenon  which  at 
times  attends  the  experience  of  those 
who  break  through  from  darkness  to 
light.  When  men  strike  oil  there  may  be 
fires  and  explosions  until  the  new  force 
is  channeled. 

To  conclude  in  one  sentence:  The 
baptizing  work  of  the  Spirit  has  to  do 
with  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  at 
Pentecost,  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  to  those 
who  believe,  and  their  incorporation  into 
the  body  of  Christ. 


THE  MENNONITE 


509 


Warmth 

and  freedom 

pervade 

Catholic 

charismatic 

meeting 

George  D.  Wiebe 


George  Wiebe  is  on  leave  of  absence 
from  the  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  Col- 
lege, Winnipeg,  to  complete  requirements 
for  a doctoral  degree  in  music  at  Indi- 
ana University.  The  Wiebes  have  been 
participating  in  charismatic  renewal 
groups  for  several  years,  while  remain- 
ing active  members  of  their  home  con- 
gregation. The  following  article  was  writ- 
ten at  The  Mennonite’s  request. 

Over  22,000  people  from  all  fifty  states 
and  more  than  twenty  foreign  countries 
gathered  on  the  campus  of  Notre  Dame 
University  June  1-3  to  attend  the  seventh 
international  conference  on  the  Catholic 
charismatic  renewal.  My  wife,  Esther, 
and  I and  our  two  youngest  sons  were 
among  the  Mennonite  visitors  who  at- 
tended. 

The  central  theme  of  the  conference, 
“The  Spirit  of  Jesus  among  us,”  became 
an  existential  reality,  not  only  by  the 
content  of  the  major  addresses  and  sem- 
inars, but  more  obviously  by  the  atmos- 
phere of  peace,  warmth,  and  joy  which 
prevailed.  It  was  both  amusing  and  re- 
freshing to  look  on  as  people,  including 
nuns  and  priests,  embraced  their  “broth- 
ers and  sisters,”  greeting  each  other  with 
a hearty,  “Praise  the  Lord”  or  “God 
bless  you.”  Casual  conversation  con- 
stantly reflected  a testimonial  nature  of 
what  “the  Lord”  was  doing  back  home 
in  the  prayer  group,  church,  or  diocese. 

The  large  general  sessions  were  perme- 
ated with  a spirit  of  reverence  and  joy- 
ous praise.  A universal  hallmark  of  the 


charismatic  renewal  everywhere  in  the 
world  is  the  discovery  of  a new  dimen- 
sion of  worship  which  finds  its  most 
exalted  expression  in  a kind  of  impro- 
vised “singing  in  the  spirit”  or  glossolalic 
singing  under  the  direct  impulse  and 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  kind 
of  singing  was  encouraged  at  all  of  the 
general  sessions  including  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  Mass. 

Whenever  it  occurred,  an  unusual 
sense  of  unity  and  oneness  of  spirit 
seemed  to  prevail.  There  is  no  other 
way  to  explain  the  remarkable  ensemble 
of  blended  sound  rising  up  from  some 
20,000  individuals  seated  in  a football 
stadium.  Suddenly  the  apocalyptic  hymns 
of  praise  and  worship  in  the  Book  of 
Revelation  took  on  a new  reality,  for 
that  which  we  were  hearing  and  witness- 
ing was  like  a breeze  from  another  world. 

There  I was,  sitting  in  the  midst  of  it, 
only  three  days  after  completing  two 
years  of  “in-depth”  studies  of  classical 
choral  music,  witnessing  an  intriguing 
phenomenon  of  contemporary  Christian 
worship,  a phenomenon  with  which  the 
Christians  of  the  first  two  centuries  no 
doubt  were  well  familiar.  After  Pales- 
trina, Bach,  Beethoven,  and  Bruckner, 
now  this.  My  mind  went  into  a specula- 
tive whirl: 

— Why  did  the  singing  take  on  a more 
pentatonic  modal  character,  i.e.,  when 
most  of  the  hymns  sung  at  the  confer- 
ence were  in  bright  major  keys? 

— -Why  was  the  singing  harmonized  in 
simple  sustained  sonorities?  Catholics 
rarely  sing  in  harmony  otherwise. 

- — How  could  one  account  for  the 
change  of  voice  production  from  a strong 
chesty  or  throaty  sound  in  the  regular 
songs,  to  a more  relaxed,  lyrical  head 
voice  quality  in  the  glossolalic  singing? 

— Why  is  this  manner  and  mode  of 
singing  so  similar  in  all  charismatic 
groups,  across  the  continent  and  other 
parts  of  the  world,  regardless  of  denom- 
ination and  musical  background?  (No 
verbal  or  written  instructions  are  ever 
given  on  “how  to  sing  in  the  spirit.”) 

What  a rich  and  fascinating  field  of 
musicological  and  “phenomenological” 
research!  Then  it  dawned  on  me  that  no 
one  else  seemed  to  be  reveling  in  musi- 
cological speculations.  People  weren’t 
analyzing  the  phenomenon  but  partici- 
pating in  it.  Maybe  that  is  the  secret  of 
true  worship.  Let  go  of  speculation,  of 
boxing  God  into  a traditional  religious  or 
theological  concept,  and  simply  yield  our 
spirits  to  the  Lord  who  is  above  and  be- 
yond our  best  thoughts  and  imaginations. 
Jesus  wrapped  it  up  when  he  reminded 


The  charismatic  (or  neo-Pentecostal) 
movement  continues  to  mushroom.  Here, 
some  of  the  22,000  persons  who  con- 
vened at  the  University  of  Notre  Dame 
for  a charismatic  conference  display 
their  fervor  during  a worship  service. 


his  disciples,  “They  that  worship  him 
shall  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.” 

Other  aspects  of  the  worship  during 
the  large  meetings  included  Scripture 
readings  and  prophecies  by  members  of 
a prayer  group  on  the  platform,  as  well 
as  a rich  fare  of  contemporary  religious 
folk  music  by  a first-rate  group  of  musi- 
cians and  singers. 

The  climax  in  the  series  of  key  ad- 
dresses was  a short  homily  by  Cardinal 
Suenens  from  Belgium.  In  a warm, 
down-to-earth  manner,  the  cardinal  chal- 
lenged the  22,000  listeners  to  speak  forth 
what  Christianity  is  all  about:  “Speak 
with  a smile  on  your  face  to  show  the 
joy  of  being  Christian.”  In  saying  this, 
the  cardinal  simply  reflected  what  had 
been  happening  during  the  addresses  all 
along.  Everywhere  in  the  assemblies  and 
seminars,  the  conference  was  blessed 
with  speakers  with  wit  and  a delightful 
sense  of  humor.  Those  who  heard  Maria 
von  Trapp  (mother  of  the  celebrated 
Trapp  Lamily  Singers)  describe  her  re- 
cent journey  into  the  charismatic  renewal 
seldom  laughed  so  hard  and  as  sincerely 
in  all  of  their  lives.  It  was  obvious  that 
the  Lord  approves  humor  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  loves  mirth  and  laughter. 

Particularly  encouraging  to  me  was 
the  wide  scope  of  topics  in  the  various 
workshops:  marriage,  family,  social  ac- 
tion, religious  education,  covenant  com- 
munities, in  addition  to  subjects  dealing 
with  the  charismatic  gifts  and  ministries. 
In  her  address  on  “Prayer  and  social 
action,”  Susan  B.  Anthony,  a onetime 


510 


SEPTEMBER  11,  1973 


alcoholic  and  controversial  fighter  for 
social  justice,  and  presently  deeply  in- 
volved in  the  charismatic  renewal,  pro- 
vided us  with  inspiring  new  insights  on 
her  theme.  One  sentence  is  worth  re- 
membering: “Motivation  and  direction 
for  social  action  must  come  from  the 
Spirit,  not  from  the  good  and  evil  around 
us.  Anger  and  human  feeling  about  the 
state  of  society  are  not  enough.”  She 
illustrated  the  point  by  listing  a number 
of  outstanding  socially-concerned  con- 
temporaries, among  them  Martin  Luther 
King  and  Jean  Vanier  (of  Canada),  who 
have  spent  much  time  in  contemplation 


and  prayer  in  the  midst  of  their  involve- 
ment in  social  justice  and  caring  for  the 
underprivileged. 

I should  add  some  convictions  which 
have  taken  on  added  dimensions  since 
the  Notre  Dame  conference: 

— The  charismatic  renewal  is  a power- 
ful movement  in  the  world  today  and  is 
affecting  every  phase  of  Christian  thought 
and  life. 

— It  invites  and  challenges  laymen, 
pastors,  and  theologians  alike  to  observe, 
examine,  reach  out,  and  embrace  all  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit. 

— The  church  will  need  all  the  gifts 


of  the  Spirit  if  it  is  to  survive  technology, 
institutionalism,  and  secularism. 

— Menno’s  children  need  to  rediscover 
that  we  cannot  adequately  recapture  the 
Anabaptist  vision  without  that  liberat- 
ing and  joy-giving  life  which  the  fullness 
of  the  Spirit  can  bring.  Have  we  not  at 
times  proclaimed  a rather  sober  and 
joyless  brand  of  radical  discipleship?  We 
also  have  the  full  birthright  to  a “radiant 
discipleship.”  Radical  and  radiant  disci- 
pleship is  inspired  by  the  same  Spirit. 
The  New  Testament  is  all  for  it  and 
our  Catholic  brethren  are  celebrating 
this  discovery!  Are  we? 


NEWS 

B.  C.  Mention  ties  find  joy  in  life  in  the  Spirit 

Lois  Barrett  Janzen 


Full  of  enthusiasm  and  freed  by  the 
Spirit,  a number  of  Mennonites  in  Brit- 
ish Columbia  are  identifying  themselves 
with  the  charismatic  renewal  movement, 
which  in  the  last  fifteen  years  has  affect- 
ed not  only  Mennonites,  but  almost 
every  “non-Pentecostal”  denomination. 

In  total  numbers,  perhaps  not  too 
many  Mennonites  are  charismatic,  but, 
said  Ed  Goerzen,  Mission  City  pastor, 
“The  charismatic  movement  has  touched 
almost  every  (General  Conference  Men- 
nonite)  church  in  British  Columbia.” 

The  term  “charismatic”  has  to  be  used 
cautiously.  Those  in  the  charismatic 
movement  are  careful  to  say  that  the 
word  refers  to  all  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit 
mentioned  in  1 Corinthians  12,  not  just 
to  speaking  in  tongues  and  miraculous 
healings.  Praying  in  tongues,  they  say, 
is  just  a minor  part  of  life  in  the  Spirit, 
although  the  practice  seems  to  be  uni- 
versal among  charismatics. 

“It’s  not  just  tongues,  but  a whole  life 
in  the  Spirit,”  said  Hildegard  Lemke. 

Hildegard  and  her  husband,  Helmut, 
who  live  in  Burnaby,  embraced  the  char- 
ismatic movement  about  five  years  ago 
at  a crusade  in  nearby  Vancouver. 

College-educated  professionals,  emi- 
grants from  Germany,  a bit  skeptical  at 
first  of  things  charismatic,  the  Lemkes 
don’t  fit  the  Pentecostal  stereotype. 

They  are  members  of  the  Sherbrooke 
Mennonite  Church,  the  last  General 
Conference  congregation  in  Vancouver 
to  retain  the  German  language  for  most 
of  its  activities.  When  Hildegard  was 


asked  a couple  of  years  ago  to  lead  a 
women’s  Bible  study,  the  subject  of  the 
gifts  of  the  Spirit  naturally  came  up. 
Her  enthusiasm  about  her  life  in  the 
Spirit  was  contagious,  and  the  group  met 
long  beyond  the  scheduled  closing  time. 

Over  coffee  one  morning  Ms.  Lemke 
and  four  other  women  in  the  original 
group  shared  some  of  their  experiences. 

“I  went  to  the  class  because  I really 
wanted  to  understand  God’s  Word  bet- 
ter,” said  Elsie  Penner.  “And  there  had 
never  been  an  English  class  before.  I 
wanted  to  know  how  to  praise  the  Lord. 
I saw  something  there  I wanted.” 

As  the  women  in  the  group  began  to 
experience  the  Spirit,  others  in  the  con- 
gregation felt  threatened. 

Pastor  Erwin  Cornelsen  said  the  con- 
gregation “took  a stand  and  admonished 
these  people  to  stay  away  from  one- 
sided teaching.”  Ms.  Lemke  was  asked 
to  stop  teaching  the  Bible  class.  Others 
with  charismatic  leanings  took  the  admo- 
nition as  a strong  hint  and  resigned  from 
their  responsibilities  in  the  Sunday  school 
and  other  activities. 

All  charismatics  in  the  congregation 
have  continued  as  members,  except  for 
Elsie  Penner  and  her  husband,  Eric, 
who  had  a series  of  visions  which  led 
them  to  drop  their  membership.  Some 
other  charismatics  attend  regular  wor- 
ship services  but  stay  away  from  com- 
munion. 

“We  accept  them  as  members  and  try 
not  to  single  them  out,”  said  Mr.  Cornel- 
sen.  “Our  church  council  is  trying  to  talk 


to  these  people.  But  the  question  has 
always  come  up:  Why  do  we  not  prac- 
tice all  the  spiritual  gifts  in  our  church 
as  in  1 Corinthians  14?  1 Corinthians 
14  is  not  a model  for  the  church  for  all 
time;  that  would  cut  out  the  ladies.” 

The  Bible  study  group  has  continued 
to  meet  every  Thursday  night,  but  out- 
side the  official  sanction  of  the  congre- 
gation. 

Hildi  Enns  described  their  meetings: 
“The  evenings  are  free  and  open.  We 
talk  about  whatever  needs  come  up.” 

“We  share  what  the  Lord  has  done 
for  us  during  the  week,  what  the  needs 
are,  the  Scripture  and  the  teaching  on 
that,”  Elsie  added. 

“The  discussion  is  very  practical.  For 
example,  we  talk  about  what  it  means 
to  be  subject  to  your  husband,”  said  Hil- 
degard. 

In  the  prayer  group  with  its  personal 
sharing,  some  of  the  women  have  found 
a new  freedom  in  being  able  to  overcome 
shyness  and  express  themselves.  They 
pray  for  the  sick.  They  said  a woman 
with  severe  kidney  problems  had  been 
healed  through  prayer.  They  have  shared 
their  experiences  of  praying  or  singing  in 
the  spirit.  Singing  in  the  spirit  is  a phe- 
nomenon in  which  participants  sing  in 
tongues  or  repeat  phrases  such  as  “Praise 
Jesus”  on  one  chord  for  a long  period. 
Most  received  their  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  a group  of  other  charismatics. 
Dora  Becker  told  of  receiving  the  gift 
of  singing  in  the  spirit  at  home  by  herself. 

The  West  Abbotsford  Mennonite 


THE  MENNONITE 


511 


Church,  like  the  Sherbrooke  Church,  has 
had  tense  moments  over  the  charismatic 
movement.  The  chairman  of  the  congre- 
gation, Henry  Wiebe,  is  part  ot  the 
movement. 

“My  students  accept  it  more  readily 
than  the  people  in  our  church,”  said 
Henry,  a public  secondary  school  teach- 
er. “The  congregation  has  forbidden  us 
to  hand  out  books  on  the  charismatic 
movement  or  to  talk  about  visions  in 
the  sky  in  Sunday  school  class.” 

One  Sunday  school  teacher  showed 
her  class  a photograph,  purportedly  a 
recent  picture  of  Jesus  in  the  clouds 
near  Abbotsford. 

One  of  the  biggest  controversies  has 
been  over  the  (water)  baptism  of  several 
teenage  boys  by  Mr.  Wiebe,  a layman, 
at  a non-Mennonite  camp. 

“Coming  from  Kansas,  we  were  total- 
ly unprepared,”  said  Dietrich  Rempel, 
who  became  pastor  of  the  West  Abbots- 
ford Church  about  a year  ago.  “There 
were  strong  pulls  from  different  factions. 
A lot  of  tension  lay  at  the  point  of  igno- 
rance for  most  people.” 

He  said  most  of  his  members  who 
were  in  the  charismatic  movement  were 
the  best-educated  people  in  the  congre- 
gation. They  were  disposed  to  a freer 
experience  of  worship.  Those  who  want- 
ed to  maintain  the  status  quo  felt  in- 
secure. The  feelings  of  distrust  have  been 
under  the  surface,  have  erupted,  and 
then  gone  under  the  surface  again.  This 
summer  the  congregation  was  to  act  on 
a statement  concerning  the  charismatic 
movement.  A rough  draft  of  the  state- 
ment recognized  many  gifts  of  the  Spirit, 
including  tongues,  but  emphasized  that 
possession  of  all  these  gifts  was  not 
necessary  for  each  Christian.  There  has 
been  no  speaking  in  tongues  in  Sunday 
morning  services. 

Henry  and  Marge  Wiebe  meet  regu- 
larly with  a charismatic  group  on  Tues- 
day night  in  homes. 

“There  have  been  a number  of  heal- 
ings,” Mr.  Wiebe  said,  “but  we  want  the 
Lord  to  manifest  himself  more.  This 
happens  through  what  people  say — 
prophecy  and  tongues.  We’re  finding 
that  many  of  the  prophecies  were  clearly 
of  the  Lord.” 

A more  interdenominational  group 
has  begun  meeting  on  Thursday  nights 
in  the  basement  of  the  United  Church 
in  Abbotsford,  rented  for  the  occasion. 
Mennonites  form  a strong  core,  but  there 
are  also  Catholics,  Dutch  Reformed,  and 
people  of  more  traditional  Pentecostal 
background. 

The  larger  meeting  of  singing,  prayer, 


"Charismatic  means 
having  freedom  under 
Christ  and  his  word 
to  give  expression 
in  the  local  church. 
...  A whole  life  is 
at  stake,  not  just 
praying  in  tongues." 

Ed  Goerzen,  pastor 
Mission,  B.C. 


and  sermon  is  preceded  by  a more  inti- 
mate time  of  sharing  with  a smaller 
group — singing  from  memory,  telling 
what  God  has  done,  even  how  God 
healed  a sore  big  toe. 

The  evening  I attended,  the  larger 
meeting  was  moderately  structured.  A 
group  of  thirty  to  forty,  including  several 
there  for  the  first  time,  sat  in  a circle. 
The  meeting  began  with  singing.  Most 
of  the  songs  were  familiar  to  those  who 
attended,  and  there  were  a number  of 
requests.  A guitar  accompanied  the 
songs,  most  of  which  were  paraphrases 
of  Psalms.  Much  of  the  singing  was 
done  standing  up,  with  eyes  closed  and 
arms  uplifted.  During  prayer  and  some- 
times during  singing,  some  people  re- 
peated softly  such  phrases  as  “Praise 
Jesus”  and  “Thank  you,  Jesus.”  One  man 
spoke  in  tongues.  His  message  was  im- 
mediately interpreted  by  someone  else: 
Jesus  is  pleased  with  our  praise  to  him. 
But  more  is  required. 

Perry  Guttridge,  an  evangelist  from 
England,  preached  in  fundamentalist 
language  on  the  dying  condition  of  main- 
line Protestant  churches  and  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  excepting  charismatic  Cath- 
olics. After  a final  song,  the  group  ad- 
journed for  coffee  and  cookies. 

Such  charismatic  meetings  outside  reg- 
ular church  structures  do  not  seem  to 
be  as  necessary  for  those  in  congrega- 
tions where  charismatics  are  in  the  ma- 
jority or  where  the  pastor  identifies  with 
the  charismatic  movement. 

Ed  Goerzen,  pastor  of  the  United 
Mennonite  Church  in  Mission  City,  feels 


he  has  received  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  so  have  a number  of  others 
in  the  congregation.  That  doesn’t  mean 
people  are  praying  in  tongues  on  Sunday 
morning,  but  it  does  happen  in  smaller 
house  meetings. 

He  credits  much  of  the  charismatic 
fervor  in  his  congregation  to  the  coming 
of  the  Jesus  people  two  years  ago. 

“That  June  we  baptized  twenty-five 
people,”  he  said.  “Only  one  of  that  twen- 
ty-five is  not  an  active  participant  today.” 

Barbara  Rempel  and  three  of  her  chil- 
dren got  involved  with  the  Jesus  people 
that  summer  and  began  speaking  in 
tongues.  This  summer  she  was  one  of 
four  or  five  families  in  the  congregation 
who  started  home  Bible  studies  for  the 
neighborhood  as  a part  of  the  citywide 
Key  73  emphasis.  The  neighbors  who 
came  were  the  ones  she  already  knew, 
she  said.  “That  fits  in  with  ‘evangelism- 
that-cares,’  ” said  Ed. 

Things  started  happening  in  the  con- 
gregation after  several  people  had  re- 
ceived the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
said  John  Pankratz,  assistant  pastor. 

“People  who  come  in  see  a bond  of 
unity,”  said  Shirley  Miller,  a lab  tech- 
nician and  church  youth  director. 

The  Wellington  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church  in  Vancouver  has  experienced  a 
similar  lack  of  hard  feelings  over  the 
charismatic  movement.  The  pastor,  Herb 
Neufeld;  a number  of  deacons;  and 
others  in  the  congregation  are  charismat- 
ically  inclined. 

“We  have  many  home  Bible  studies 
going,  with  some  more  charismatic,”  said 
Mr.  Neufeld.  “But  I counsel  them  against 
becoming  cliquish.” 

He  felt  that  in  the  last  two  years,  ten- 
sions over  the  charismatic  movement 
had  diminished. 

“There  is  more  charity.  Some  people 
have  graciously  learned  to  tolerate  it,” 
he  said.  “There  was  a double  reason  for 
the  tension:  the  overzealousness  of  char- 
ismatics in  their  rediscovery  of  the  gifts 
of  the  Spirit  and  the  reaction  of  those 
who  felt  threatened.” 

Few  people  have  left  his  church  over 
the  charismatic  issue. 

“If  you’ve  had  an  experience  with  the 
Lord,  you  ought  to  be  a better  church 
member,”  he  said. 

He,  like  many  others,  is  leery  of  the 
term  “charismatic.”  “I  just  want  to  be 
known  as  a Christian  brother,  he  said. 

“A  narrow  definition  of  ‘charismatic’ 
is  where  the  problems  come  in,”  said  Ed 
Goerzen.  “The  charisms  are  simply  the 
gifts  of  grace,  listed  in  Romans  12,  Ephe- 
sians 4,  and  1 Corinthians  12  and  14. 


512 


SEPTEMBER  11,  1973 


SEPTEMBER  11,  1973  / VOLUME  1 / NUMBER  1 


NEW 

PUBLICATION 
FROM  COM 


The  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  is 
happy  to  introduce  you  to  its  new  publi- 
cation, Encompass,  to  be  published  in 
September,  December,  March  and  July. 
Encompass  will  inform  you  about  what 
is  happening  overseas  through  the  Gener- 
al Conference  world  mission  program. 

COM  has  mission  personnel  in  ten 
countries— Colombia,  Japan,  Mexico, 
Uruguay,  India,  Taiwan,  Lesotho,  Para- 
guay, Zaire,  and  Bolivia.  Encompass  will 
bring  you  news  stories,  missionary  experi 
ences,  special  events,  and  feature  articles 
from  all  these  countries. 


Mary  Rempel,  formerly  from  British 
Columbia,  Canada,  now  of  Hesston,  Kan- 
sas, is  the  editor  of  Encompass.  She  will 
receive  up-to-date  information  from  En- 
compass correspondents  in  Africa,  Asia, 
and  Latin  America. 

It  is  the  hope  of  COM  that  Encompass 
will  stimulate  and  motivate  your  con- 
tinued interest  in  world  mission  outreach. 


Howard  Habegger, 
Executive  Secretary, 
COM 


THE  MENNONITE  E-1 


Influential 

Living 


GPS  Set  In  Motion  at 
Annual  Assembly  In 
Colombia 


The  twenty-first  annual  assembly  of  the 
Mennonite  Church  of  Colombia  took 
place  July  9 and  10  at  the  Cachipay  re- 
treat grounds.  Twenty-nine  pastors, 
church  workers,  and  missionaries  at- 
tended. They  represented  the  five  es- 
tablished congregations,  various  current 
programs,  and  prospective  areas  for  new 
work. 

The  opening  devotional  period,  led  by 
Gerald  Stucky,  included  a time  of  sharing 
experiences  by  those  who  had  attended  a 
spiritual  renewal  conference  the  previous 
week  at  the  Bogota  church.  A sense  of 
brotherly  love  and  unity  experienced  at 


this  conference  was  highlighted  by  sever 
al  participants  as  being  most  significant. 
This  spirit  distinctly  continued  to  per- 
vade the  succeeding  business  sessions  of 
the  assembly. 


IN  LESOTHO 

Lesotho  (Lay-soo-too),  formerly  the 
British  protectorate  Basutoland  in  south- 
ern Africa,  became  independent  in  1966. 
Its  population  is  slightly  over  one  million. 
Only  15  per  cent  of  its  land  is  arable  and 
so  the  country  is  dependent  on  imports, 
mainly  from  the  Republic  of  South 
Africa  which  surrounds  it  and  with  which 
it  maintains  good  relations. 

Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission  ex- 
tended its  services  to  Lesotho  in  1973, 
making  the  initial  contact  through  the 
Lesotho  Evangelical  Church.  Allen  and 
Marabeth  Busenitz  from  Whitewater  and 


In  addition  to  presenting  and  dis- 
cussing reports  on  numerous  aspects  of 
the  church  program,  we  devoted  time  to 
the  evaluation  of  the  goals,  priorities,  and 
strategy  outlined  by  Colombian  leaders, 
church  workers,  and  missionaries  at  a 
special  mini-GPS  conference  held  June 
4-7.  Following  minor  changes,  the  pre- 
viously defined  priorities  were  accepted 
in  the  following  order: 

1.  strengthening  of  existing  churches 

2.  preparation  of  leaders 

3.  evangelism  and  establishment  of 
new  churches 

4.  communications  (literature,  radio, 
etc.) 

5.  social  programs 

6.  schools. 

Wherever  possible  steps  were  taken  to 
implement  approved  strategy  by  appoint- 
ing key  people  or  special  committees  to 
carry  out  responsibilities. 

The  following  officers  were  elected: 
president— Luis  Lugo,  pastor  from 
Girardot;  vice-president— Antonio  Are- 
valo, pastor  from  Bogota;  executive  secre- 
tary—Jaime  Caro,  church  leader  from 
Bogota;  secretary— Rosalba  Vargas,  secre- 
tary for  the  Bogota  extension  of  the 
United  Seminary;  treasurer— Vernelle 
Yoder.  A brief  meditation  by  John 
Wiebe  and  the  installation  of  officers 
concluded  the  sessions.  Mark  Claassen 


Hillsboro,  Kansas,  arrived  in  Morya, 
Lesotho,  in  January  and  are  establishing 
themselves  with  Mophato,  the  administra- 
tive center  for  youth  work. 

The  Busenitzes  are  studying  Sesotho, 
the  official  language  of  the  country. 
Several  opportunities  to  work  with  stu- 
dents of  secondary  schools  have  opened 
and  Allen  has  made  some  visits  to  the 
University  of  Roma.  Through  Mophato 
he  hopes  to  work  in  the  areas  of  training 
persons  not  only  in  administration  but 
also  in  evangelism  and  in  the  discipling  of 
young  Christians. 


Mr.  Ong  Peng-bun  was  a quiet,  unassum- 
ing person  with  a strong,  far-reaching 
influence.  Everyone  who  knew  him  loved 
him.  Even  little  children  in  the  Chung-ho 
Mennonite  Church  knew  him  as  the  kind 
man  who  made  sure  everyone  had  a chair, 
a Bible,  and  a hymnbook  when  he  came 
to  church. 

Peng-bun,  born  in  1911,  was  one  of 
fourteen  children  of  a Presbyterian  pastor 
in  southern  Taiwan.  After  high  school 
graduation  he  worked  in  a lumber  busi- 
ness and  then  in  the  Taiwan  Provincial 
Public  Works  Department  where  he  filled 
a highly  responsible  position.  A member 
of  the  newly  established  Chung-ho  con- 
gregation, he  was  elected  chairman  of  the 
church  board  and  became  right-hand  man 


to  all  three  pastors  who  served  during  this 
time.  He  was  an  extraordinary  layman, 
giving  more  time,  money,  and  effort  than 
anyone  else  toward  the  building  of  the 
church. 

His  activities  suddenly  terminated 
when,  resting  after  a ping-pong  game  one 
noon  hour,  he  suffered  a stroke  from 
which  he  died  on  June  3,  1973,  ten  days 
later.  Survivors  include  his  widow  and 
four  sons,  one  in  graduate  school  in  the 
United  States;  one,  a doctor;  another,  a 
college  instructor;  and  the  fourth,  an 
engineer  with  Taipei  Telecommunication 
Company. 

As  a love  gift  to  the  Ong  family,  the 
Chung-ho  Church  made  all  funeral  ar- 
rangements and  presented  the  family  with 
monetary  gifts  totaling  more  than  $1,000. 
Mrs.  Ong  donated  most  of  this  money  to 
the  church  building  fund.  Her  words  of 
thanksgiving  to  God  and  to  the  church 
were  an  inspiration  to  the  whole  congre- 
gation. Wearing  white  as  a symbol  of  joy 
instead  of  the  traditional  black,  she 
spread  words  of  comfort  to  others  who 
were  still  mourning. 


YOUTH  WORK  STRENGTHENED 


E-2 


September  11,  1973 


IMAGE30AMI 


Toshio  Ishii 


As  a young  boy  I was  always  rather  afraid 
and  timid.  People  had  the  impression 
that  I was  a gentle,  obedient  boy.  Even 
my  schoolteachers  thought  I was  clever 
and  warmhearted.  I might  say  that  this 
was  my  public  image.  The  truth,  how- 
ever, is  that  I was  dishonest  and  perverse. 
And  so  I constantly  found  myself  living 
in  tension— with  the  wish  to  maintain  my 
public  image  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
knowledge  that  I was  really  another  per- 
son on  the  other.  My  speech  and  my  out- 
ward behavior  were  always  designed  to 
strengthen  the  image.  I was  not  free  to 
permit  my  true  self  to  surface.  Why  not? 
This  bothered  me  a great  deal.  The  rea- 
son was,  no  doubt,  that  I was  afraid  of 
others.  Should  they  learn  to  know  the 
true  me,  they  would  quickly  lose  their 
respect  for  me. 

This  conflict  continued,  and  finally  in 
junior  high  school  the  situation  became 
serious.  I began  to  lose  my  friends,  and 
my  class  standing  fell.  Even  my  teachers 
did  not  seem  so  friendly  anymore.  In 
Japan,  when  one  does  not  do  too  well  in 
school,  one  has  simply  lost  out.  One 
stays  farther  and  farther  behind  in  the 
race.  How  could  I possibly  regain  my 
former  position?  Cheating  on  examina- 
tions, of  course,  was  one  open  possibility, 
and  the  road  from  thought  to  practice 
was  a short  one.  The  result,  however,  was 
still  greater  conflict,  for  I couldn't  live 
peacefully  with  my  own  conscience.  My 
home  is  a Christian  home,  and  my  parents 
taught  me  the  difference  between  right 
and  wrong  from  early  childhood.  I con- 
templated confessing  my  dishonesty  dur- 
ing exams,  but  how  could  I?  What  would 
happen  to  my  public  image?  The  false 
idol  would  come  crashing  down! 

And  so  the  clever  Toshio  Ishii  began  to 
create  a new  public  image  for  himself. 
Henceforth  he  would  be  known  as  the 
school  clown.  He  would  create  humor 
and  cause  people  to  laugh.  In  this  way 
the  real  me  would  never  be  found  out. 
Still,  I was  aware  of  my  dishonesty,  and 
this  knowledge  brought  increasing  dis- 
comfort. The  struggle  with  my  own 
conscience  made  it  impossible  for  me  to 
function  as  a self-respecting  individual, 
both  in  my  senior  high  school  years  and 


in  the  first  part  of  my  university  career. 

I had  begun  university  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, enrolling  in  an  institution  special- 
izing in  foreign  language  studies. 

Although  I had  been  raised  in  a Chris- 
tian home,  I must  confess  that  I had  not 
had  a personal  experience  with  Christ. 

My  attitude  was  rather  neutral  — I had  no 
great  doubts  concerning  what  I had  been 
taught,  but  neither  did  I have  a strong 
personal  faith.  I had  come  to  Tokyo  to- 
gether with  my  inner  conflicts,  together 
with  my  former  public  image,  and  with- 
out a clear  understanding  of  who  I really 
was. 

After  living  for  a while  in  Tyrannus 


Hall  in  Tokyo,  someone  made  me  aware 
of  Paul's  struggle  in  Romans  7.  I was 
shocked— this  was  not  only  Paul's  experi- 
ence; it  was  mine.  These  verses  fit  my 
own  experience  perfectly!  And  so,  at 
long  last,  I determined  to  give  up  the 
conflict,  to  let  my  public  image  go,  and 
to  permit  Christ  to  enter  my  life. 

This  occurred  last  summer.  Yes,  I had 
often  attended  church  services.  I had 
heard  about  God's  love  a thousand  times. 
But  now  it  became  personal.  Towards 
the  end  of  the  summer  I was  baptized  in 
my  little  home  congregation  in  Miyazaki 
City.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I dis- 
covered the  greatness  of  the  love  of  Jesus. 


AIMM  MISSIONARIES  RECEIVE 
NATIONAL  CITATIONS 

Six  Kalonda  missionaries  were  among  several  score  Zairians  who  were  awarded  medals  of  honor  by 
the  Zaire  government  for  years  of  outstanding  service  rendered  to  the  country.  They  are,  left  to 
right,  Levi  and  Eudene  Keidei,  Leona  Entz,  Rudy  Martens,  Abbie  and  Waldo  Harder.  General 
Lundula  came  to  Tshikapa  on  May  24  specifically  to  award  these  citations.  Several  other  Mennon- 
ite  missionaries  were  equally  eligible  for  the  awards,  reports  Levi  Keidei.  But  because  of  distance, 
travel,  and  other  hindrances,  they  could  not  be  present  at  the  ceremony. 


THE  MENNOIMITE  E-3 


Duel  With  Death 


Scene:  Maternity  Ward,  Kalonda  Church 
Center,  Tshikapa,  Zaire. 

Time:  Saturday  morning.  A girl,  perhaps 
eighteen,  arrives  in  labor;  this  is  her  first 
child. 

Saturday  afternoon.  Baby  too 
large  for  normal  delivery.  When  mother 
learns  of  proposed  Caeserian  operation, 
she  becomes  quite  apprehensive.  Fears 
dying.  There  is  no  alternative  to  saving 
life  of  mother  and  baby.  Mother's  hands 
held  while  spinal  anesthetic  given.  Even 
under  anesthetic,  patient  requires  being 
held.  Dr.  Hirschler  operates.  Baby  de- 


livered alive. 

Monday,  1 7 a.m.  Dr.  Martens 
notices  mother  seems  pale  and  jaundiced. 
Checks  hemoglobin;  finds  it  about  normal. 

Monday,  2:45 p.m.  Dr.  Martens 
calls.  Mother  in  shock,  irrational.  Pulse 
weak.  Hemoglobin  has  suddenly  dropped 
seriously.  Dr.  Zook  (visiting  surgery  spe- 
cialist) called  for  consultation.  No  sign 
of  internal  hemorrhaging.  No  explanation 
for  what  has  happened.  Start  intervein- 
ous  feeding;  give  blood  transfusion. 

Monday , 4:30 p.m.  No  change. 
Problem  continues  a mystery.  Normally 


Restored 


They  gave  thanks  unto  the  Lord, 

The  nation  was  restored. 

And  then  Moses  sang. 

With  songs  the  mountains  rang: 

“The  Lord  is  our  salvation; 

He  has  saved  the  nation." 

They  sang  unto  the  Lord  with 
thanksgiving. 

They  knew  there  was  no  other  God 
living. 

So  even  we  should  give  thanks  unto 
the  Lord, 

For  it's  our  souls  He's  restored. 

Jeanne  Ewert,  age  TO 


the  incision  would  be  re-opened  to  de- 
termine nature  of  problem;  but  this 
possible  only  if  her  condition  improves 
substantially. 

Monday,  10 p.m.  I hunt  Dr.  Hir- 
schler before  turning  off  the  light  genera- 
tor for  the  night;  am  informed  that  "he  is 
with  that  dying  maternity  case."  At  ma- 
ternity ward,  I find  patient  moaning 
heavily,  a man  and  two  women,  presum- 
ably close  relatives,  sitting  at  bedside.  Nor- 
mal projected  thinking:  if  patient  dies,  an 
autopsy  might  give  us  information  we  need 
to  save  some  other  mother's  life. 

Tuesday , 3:30  a.m.  Patient  ex- 
pires. Normally  mourning-wails  awaken 
the  sleeping.  But  three  relatives  don't 
mourn;  they  watch  her  die  with  what 
seems  calloused  silence. 

Tuesday,  7:30  a.m.  Doctor  ar- 
rives hoping  to  do  autopsy;  finds  relatives 
have  already  left  with  baby  and  corpse  of 
mother. 

Why  was  the  young  mother  abnorm- 
ally fearful  of  death?  (Caeserian  sections 
average  one  a week  at  Kalonda  maternity.) 
What  explains  the  sudden  drop  of  hemo- 
globin? Why  did  her  closest  relatives  re- 
fuse to  show  sign  of  grief  at  her  death? 

A pastor  of  the  mother's  tribe  ex- 
plained to  me:  "It  is  possible  that  a witch 
doctor  had  gained  power  over  her  by  sor- 
cery, and  had  used  her  as  an  intermediary 
to  kill  one  of  her  closest  kin  by  medicine. 

A woman  under  duress  of  labor,  is  told  to 
confess  her  wrongdoings  to  facilitate  child- 
birth. When  relatives  learned  she  was  an 
ally  of  the  witch  doctor  and  treacherous- 
ly killed  one  of  her  closest  kin,  they  knew 
the  departed  spirits  would  require  that  she 
pay  for  her  crime  with  her  own  life.  While 
yet  living,  she  knew  her  sentence  was 
death.  Hence  her  fear,  its  possible  effect 
upon  her  physical  resistance  to  disease, 
and  the  absence  of  mourning. 

But  such  cases  are  rare.  Last  year  1239 
live  babies  were  born  at  Kalonda  maternity, 
and  two  mothers  died.  Last  Sunday  we 
had  baptismal  service.  Among  the  25  can- 
didates were  a number  of  older  women; 
frequently  they  find  Christ  during  their 
stay  at  Kalonda  maternity.  Levi  Keidel 


E-4  September  1 1 , 1973 


Story  of  a Hand... 

Kilometer  81  specializes  in  restoring  hands,  feet,  and  spirits.  Located  in  a forest  region 
of  Paraguay,  this  hospital  is  specially  equipped  to  treat  leprosy  patients  by  means  of 
plastic  surgery  and  a physiotherapy  program. 


Patients  are  often  brought  to  Kilometer 
81  by  " carreta " (oxcart).  But  the  official 
taxi  that  brings  patients  the  mile  and  a 
half  from  the  main  road  is  a two-horse 
"buggy." 


Eleanor  Mathies,  from  Leamington, 
Ontario,  has  been  a missionary  nurse  to 
Paraguay  since  1958.  With  Esther  Funk, 
a Menno  colony  nurse,  she  assists  the  hos- 
pital's doctor,  Frank  Duerksen,  in  the 
delicate  operation  of  a tendon  transfer. 

Following  surgery,  patients  help  each 
other  by  direct  assistance,  like  preparing 
to  drink  yerla  mate,  enjoying  a game  of 
checkers,  or  teaching  one  another  to  use 
a small  weaving  machine. 


...and  a Foot 


The  same  meticulous  care  is  observed,  whether  applying  bandages  sent  by  MCC  or 
checking  the  first  prosthesis  for  a leprosy  patient.  Restored  feet  are  fitted  with  spe- 
cial shoes  made  in  the  Kilometer  81  cobblershop  by  Chaco  colonist  Cornelius  Wall. 

Back  at  their  house,  proudly  displaying  home-grown  grapefruit,  are  former  leprosy 
patients.  The  lady  walks  by  means  of  an  artificial  leg.  Both  she  and  her  husband  are 
baptized  believers. 


Altered  Interests 


Two  years  ago  when  we  were  preparing 
for  furlough,  Mrs.  Goto  asked  us  to  take 
her  daughter  Reiko  to  Canada  with  us. 
Reiko  wanted  to  live  in  America  for  a 
year  or  two  and  learn  English  well.  We 
gave  them  very  little  hope  for  such  an 
arrangement.  But  when  we  discovered 
that  Reiko  was  turning  elsewhere  for 
help,  we  began  to  pray  earnestly  about 
finding  a Christian  home  and  school  for 
her. 

God  answered  in  a marvelous  way. 
Columbia  Bible  Institute  in  Clearbrook, 
British  Columbia,  accepted  Reiko  as  a 
student,  and  George  and  Helen  Harms 
of  Sardis,  British  Columbia,  "adopted” 
her  into  their  home  for  her  stay  in 
Canada. 

In  May,  1973,  after  two  years  of 
Bible  study,  Reiko  graduated  and  re- 
turned to  her  home  in  Oita,  Japan.  She 
was  a Christian  before  she  left.  But  now 
she  is  a very  enthusiastic  Christian,  radi- 
ating joy.  Her  greatest  desire  is  the  sal- 
vation of  her  mother  and  grandmother. 


She  is  also  concerned  about  winning 
young  people  for  the  Lord  and  will  be 
helping  in  the  youth  witness  of  the  Oita 
Mennonite  Church.  Mary  Derksen 


studiproka  Sequel 


Studio  Protestant  du  Kasai  (STUDI- 
PROKA), despite  Zairian  government  re- 
strictions on  religious  broadcasting,  is 
still  operating,  perhaps  more  effectively 
than  before  the  ban.  Muamba  Muken- 
geshai  Mpopola,  director,  reports  that 
Bible  correspondence  courses,  dramas, 
spot  announcements,  and  a film  library 
are  bringing  very  favorable  responses 
from  listeners  and  users. 

STUDIPROKA's  latest  innovation  is 
the  production  of  phonographic  and 
cassette  tape  recordings.  This  recorded 
music  is  penetrating  all  parts  of  the 
country.  Zairians  observe  that  this  is  one 
means  of  disseminating  the  gospel  which 
cannot  be  cut  off  by  a government  decree. 

Kaleta  Muana,  a pastor's  son  and  sem- 
inary student,  has  composed  a song  en- 
titled "Death,  the  Unexpected  One.”  To 
guitar  accompaniment  he  sings  the  plain- 
tive simple  melody.  In  the  song  he  con- 
verses with  a personification  of  Death. 
After  scolding  Death  for  being  so  cruel, 
heartless,  universal,  and  unyielding,  he 


urges  the  listener  to  trust  Jesus  as  the 
only  way  to  defeat  Death.  The  song  has 
universal  appeal. 

"If  Kasai  had  a 'top  ten'  list,  I think  it 
would  be  among  them,"  writes  missionary 
Levi  Keidel.  "Last  week  I was  in  Kananga 
(pop.  150,000).  I stayed  in  the  Presby- 
terian hostel.  Sleep  came  slowly  because 
woofer  speakers  at  a bar  a block  away 
were  blaring  Zaire  jazz.  Deep  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  night,  I awakened.  Over  the 
bar  speakers  came  the  voice  of  Kaleta 
Muana  singing  'Death,  the  Unexpected 
One.'  They  played  it  at  least  twice.  Then 
they  put  on  another  STUDIPROKA  num- 
ber: 'Hallelujah!  Hosanna!  Jesus  Tri- 
umphed over  Death!'  by  a vocal  group. 

It  was  played  at  least  twice.  Then  one 
more  number,  and  the  speakers  fell  silent; 
the  bar  was  closing.  I looked  at  my 
watch:  3:15  a.m.  In  my  mind  I saw 
bar  customers  musing  in  their  empty 
beer  glasses  over  the  message  of  these 
songs,  and  then  going  home  for  a few 
hours'  rest." 


NEW  VOICE 
IN  ASIA 


Asani  (Morning  Sun),  the  most  influential 
newspaper  in  Japan,  introduced  a special 
ninety-fifth  anniversary  edition  in  May, 
1973.  From  the  front  page  story  of 
Perry's  black  ships  entering  the  Uraga 
harbor  to  the  up-to-date  coverage  of 
twentieth  century  Japan,  it  captures  the 
pulsations  of  this  rapidly  changing  nation. 
Japan  was  traditionally  an  isolated  coun- 
try, closed  to  the  outside  until  it  was 
forcefully  opened  by  western  nations  for 
the  purpose  of  trade.  As  one  follows  the 
progress  of  the  past  ninety-five  years,  he 
is  impressed  by  the  social  changes  re- 
sulting from  frenzied  attempts  to  com- 
pete with  the  West.  Eventually,  her 
territory  stretching  from  the  Aleutian 
Islands  to  Indonesia  and  Burma,  Japan 
emerged  to  face  the  major  powers  of  the 
world.  Her  flag  with  its  blazing  red  sun 
against  a pure  white  background  reflects 
the  spirit  of  her  people. 

During  World  War  II,  85  per  cent  of 
Japan's  major  cities  were  reduced  to 
ashes,  her  economy  was  crippled,  and  her 
people  shocked  with  the  effects  of  two 
atomic  bombs.  Today,  just  twenty-five 
years  later,  Japan  ranks  third  in  gross 
national  product.  A building  boom  has 
swept  across  the  nation  and  the  standard 
of  living  has  risen  at  a dizzying  rate. 

Among  its  best  sellers  are  books  such 
as  Japanese  Society  by  Chie  Nakane,  The 
Japanese  and  the  Jews  by  Isaian  Ben 
Dasan,  and  The  Pacific  Rivals  by  the 
Asani  newspaper  staff.  A leading  tele- 
vision manager,  who  spoke  at  a recent 
all-Mennonite  conference  in  Tokyo,  ex- 
pressed keen  insight  into  the  psychologi- 
cal atmosphere  of  the  country.  "We 
Japanese  are  asking  ourselves,  'Who  am 
I?'  Our  culture  has  changed  so  rapidly 
before  our  eyes  that  we  haven't  had  time 
to  adjust  ourselves  to  the  new  role  in 
which  we  find  ourselves." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  parallel  be- 
tween the  growth  of  the  Christian  church 
and  the  economic  and  social  development 
of  the  nation.  In  1873  there  were  only 
ten  Protestant  Christians  in  all  of  Japan. 
Today  the  total  church  membership  is 
approximately  one  million  (Protestant 
and  Catholic).  The  first  missionaries  to 


E-6 


September  11,  1973 


enter  Japan  were  Spanish  priests.  The 
Catholic  faith  spread  rapidly  until  politi- 
cal forces  purged  it  to  near  extinction. 
But  the  spirit  of  adaptability  coupled 
with  the  power  of  God  has  renewed  the 
Christian  church  in  Japan.  It  is  now 
ready  to  take  a lead  role  in  evangelism 
and  service  to  all  of  Asia. 

The  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  is  filling  its  place  in  the  religious 
developments  of  the  nation.  Seven  years 
after  World  War  II  ended,  seven  of  its 
missionaries  arrived  in  Kobe  to  begin 
language  study  and  evangelism.  Within 
six  years,  seventeen  persons  had  respond- 
ed to  the  gospel  and  were  baptized. 

Three  men  from  this  group  are  now 
pastoring  Mennonite  churches  in  other 


cities.  Young  as  it  is,  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church  is  endowed 
with  strong  members  and  leaders.  Au- 
tonomous and  uniquely  oriented,  it  is 
seeking  to  discover  and  act  on  its  identity 
as  a voice  in  Asia. 

In  1964  the  Kyushu  Mennonite  Chris- 
tian Conference  was  inaugurated.  It  was 
born  out  of  a loosely  organized  fellow- 
ship of  six  autonomous  congregations 
and  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Mission  which  had  existed  for  approxi- 
mately a decade.  The  conference  has 
now  entered  a wider  fellowship  of  other 
Mennonite  groups  as  an  inaugural  mem- 
ber of  the  newly  organized  Japan  Men- 
nonite Fellowship  (JMF).  Most  recently 
the  formation  of  an  Asian  Mennonite 


Conference  Mission  Board  (AMCMB)  has 
become  a reality  with  its  first  involve- 
ment directed  towards  Bangladesh.  The 
AMCMB  was  organized  by  national 
leaders  in  Indonesia,  Vietnam,  Taiwan, 
India,  Japan,  and  Korea. 

The  slow  growth  of  the  church  in 
Japan  has  often  been  lamented.  The 
statement  that  only  1 per  cent  of  the 
population  is  Christian  is  misleading  and 
must  not  be  allowed  to  overshadow  one's 
vision  for  the  church  in  this  country. 
Rather,  the  fact  that  six  strong  General 
Conference  congregations  and  many  new 
groups  have  come  into  existence  in  the 
past  twenty-five  years  and  are  an  integral 
part  of  an  Asian  mission  board  is  a power- 
ful witness  to  God's  leading. 


Time  Redeemed  at  Mexico  Retreat 


One  difficulty  the  sixty-seven  young  re- 
treaters from  Mexico,  British  Flonduras, 
and  Canada,  converging  on  Rancho  Santa 
Elena  encountered  in  their  May  13-16 
open  air  fellowship  was  leaving  the  camp- 
fire at  night.  It  might  have  been  that 
Connie  Hiebert's  guitar  and  Flenry  Ens's 
mandolin  cast  a spell  on  them,  or  that 
they  so  thoroughly  enjoyed  participating 
in  the  singing  led  by  Neil  Mathies  from 
Columbia  Bible  Institute,  British  Colum- 
bia. Sharing  problems,  discussing  ideas 
introduced  earlier  in  class  sessions  taught 
by  Helen  Ens,  Henry  Ens,  and  David 
Friesen,  or  exploring  the  theme,  "Redeem 
your  time,"  could  not  be  cut  off  abruptly. 
Perhaps  a tiredness  resulting  from  strenu- 
ous sports  sessions  directed  by  Frank 
Penner  and  Peter  Neufeld  or  happy  satie- 
ty brought  on  by  good  meals  prepared  by 
Mrs.  Lora  Dyck,  Mrs.  C.  Letkeman,  and 
Mrs.  Anna  Friesen,  contributed  to  the  re- 
laxed atmosphere.  The  warm  windless 
days  and  balmy  moonlit  nights  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  it. 

Whatever  the  reasons,  the  young  peo- 
ple agreed  that  the  retreat  had  helped 
them  gain  a Christian  perspective  to  life. 
Directors  Peter  Klassen  and  Gerhard 
Friesen  concurred. 


Remark  by  a Japanese  pastor:  The  type 
of  homemaking  teaching  that  Ruby 
Thiessen  is  doing  in  Kobe  is  just  what 
Japanese  homemakers  need. 


Box  hockey,  a favorite  at  intermissions. 
One  of  the  three  retreat  classes. 


THE  MENNONITE  E-7 


Printed  in  U.S.A. 


Japanese  Christians  FISH  AND 

Make  Amends  OTHER  SEEDS 


In  the  past  the  Japanese  have  invaded 
neighboring  countries  militaristically, 
and  at  present  they  are  making  economic 
invasions.  Christians  cannot  disregard 
these  facts  if  they  take  the  gospel  message 
seriously.  Many  members  of  the  Oyoda 
Christian  Church,  Miyazaki  City,  are  con- 
cerned about  such  involvement. 

In  the  fall  of  1970  several  members  of 
this  church  met  to  discuss  ways  of  carry- 
ing out  their  reconciliatory  role.  During 
the  course  of  the  discussion  they  learned 
about  the  MCC-sponsored  Taegu  Family 
Welfare  Association's  Family  Assistance 
Program  in  Korea.  This  program  was  to 
help  needy  families  become  self-support- 
ing by  making  a $100  loan  available  to  a 
family  for  three  years.  With  the  money 
items  such  as  sewing  machines  and  bicy- 
cle-drawn carts,  which  would  help  the 


A new  family  had  been  in  church  on  sev- 
eral occasions  and  I decided  to  visit  the 
people.  I knew  they  lived  in  one  of  the 
railway  quarters,  but  did  not  know  just 
which  house  was  theirs.  When  I came  to 
the  right  street  I noticed  an  open  shack. 
A woman  from  under  that  roof  saw  me 
approach  and  with  a very  friendly  greet- 
ing asked  me  to  come  sit  in  her  home. 
This  I was  happy  to  do  since  I wanted  to 
inquire  about  the  house  for  which  I was 
looking.  The  shelter  impressed  me  with 
its  simplicity.  It  was  only  a lean-to  next 
to  a larger  house.  Another  thing  that  im- 
pressed me  was  that  the  lady  gave  no 


family  earn  a living,  were  to  be  purchased. 
The  Oyoda  members  discovered  that 
MCC  had  terminated  its  Korea  project 
and  that  the  program  had  been  taken 
over  by  a Korean  agency  which  was  look- 
ing for  sponsors  in  Japan.  They  felt  led 
by  the  Spirit  to  help  at  least  two  families 
through  the  program.  This  service  be- 
came quite  meaningful  because  the 
Koreans  were  among  those  who  had 
suffered  most  under  Japanese  oppres- 
sion. 

In  the  past  two  years  the  Oyoda  peo- 
ple have  found  it  possible  to  help  six 
additional  families.  One  of  the  members 
participating  in  this  operation  states:  "I 
have  come  to  appreciate  the  love  of  God 
in  Christ  in  a new  way  since  I started 
making  up  for  what  my  fellow  citizens 
did  in  the  past." 


apologies  for  their  humble  abode,  but 
was  most  friendly  and  hospitable.  Fel- 
lowship seemed  to  be  the  important  thing. 

After  a good  visit  I inquired  about  the 
family  for  whom  I had  been  looking.  The 
lady  woke  her  husband  who  had  been 
sleeping  nearby,  and  he  was  able  to  give 
me  directions.  Then  the  woman  insisted 
on  escorting  me  to  my  destination.  On 
the  way  I was  able  to  introduce  her  to 
Christ.  When  we  arrived  at  the  home  of 
the  family  I had  actually  come  to  see,  we 
were  able  to  have  a time  of  fine  fellow- 
ship and  a lovely  worship  service  together. 
Mary  Pauls,  Champa,  India 


Work  in  agricultural  and  community  de- 
velopment is  part  of  Jacob  Giesbrecht's 
assignment  in  Saraipali,  India.  The  dem- 
onstration farm  which  is  part  of  this  pro- 
gram is  being  developed  with  Poverty 
Fund  help. 

Giesbrecht  reports  on  the  latest  inno- 
vations: "The  most  recent  addition  on 
the  farm  is  a series  of  tanks  for  the  pur- 
pose of  fish  breeding  and  culture.  This 
is  for  the  purpose  of  fish  seed  distribution 
to  villages  in  the  vicinity.  All  the  fish 
seed  at  present  is  imported  from  Calcutta 
and  carries  a 75  per  cent  loss  in  transport. 

"The  rice  fields  were  good  last  fall  and 
the  second  crop  of  wheat  is  also  fairly 
good.  There  are  new  seed  varieties  com- 
ing onto  the  market  constantly,  so  we 
make  it  our  aim  to  produce  these  new 
varieties  and  sell  the  seed.  We  are  in  the 
process  of  constructing  a dam  and  canals 
about  fifteen  miles  into  the  interior,  using 
MCC  funds. 

"We  are  constantly  linking  the  work  of 
self-help  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  and 
find  that  the  two  are  inseparable  in  most 
cases." 


It  was  a real  blessing  to  me  when  my  home  church  people  asked  intelligent 
questions  about  my  work.  It  was  an  indication  that  they  had  been  reading  my  prayer 
letters  with  enough  interest  to  remember  specifics  and  ask  precise  questions. 
Missionary-on-furlough 


"Sit  In  My  Home" 


E-8 


September  1 1,  1973 


: ‘Charismatic’  means  having  freedom  un- 
der Christ  and  his  word  to  give  expres- 
j sion  in  the  local  church.  It  means  having 
! a hunger  for  God  to  live  the  resurrec- 
| tion  life.  A whole  life  is  at  stake,  not 
just  praying  in  tongues.  Campus  Crusade 
! and  the  charismatic  movement  have  90 
percent  in  common,  but  they  (Campus 
| Crusade)  do  not  lay  hold  of  all  the  tools. 

“There  are  four  very  strong,  pointed 
| emphases  on  tongues  in  Scripture.  But 
| people  overlook  these  and  take  the  part 
that  fits  their  tradition.” 

The  Apostle  Paul,  Mr.  Goerzen  point- 
ed out,  spoke  in  tongues. 


Revival  hears 
charismatic  priest 


Father  Francis  McNutt,  a Dominican 
and  one  of  the  first  Roman  Catholic 
priests  to  become  involved  in  the  char- 
ismatic renewal  movement,  explains  the 
healing  ministry  to  a tent  revival  meeting 
held  in  conjunction  with  a week  of  re- 
newal sponsored  by  the  Methodist  and 
Presbyterian  churches  of  Bergen,  New 
York.  Mr.  McNutt  explained  that  the 
secret  of  healing  is  “having  faith  in  your 
faith”  and  that  lack  of  trust  is  one  of 
the  reasons  why  some  people  are  not 
cured  at  a prayer  service. 


“I  don’t  equate  ‘charismatic’  with 
‘Pentecostal,’  ” he  said.  “The  charismatic 
movement  is  gentler,  more  spontaneous. 
The  Catholic  charismatics  use  the  term 
‘Pentecostal,’  but  among  Catholics  there 
is  more  creativity  than  among  Pentecos- 
tals,  who  are  louder  and  more  mechani- 
cal.” 

Mr.  Goerzen,  like  other  Protestants  in 
the  charismatic  movement,  has  discovered 
a real  bond  of  Christian  brotherhood 
with  Catholics  in  his  city,  particularly 
with  two  religious  orders.  There  has  also 
been  cooperation  with  more  traditionally 
Pentecostal  groups  in  such  activities  as 
Key  73. 

“In  many  areas  of  doctrine,  all  of  us 
are  lacking,”  he  said.  “We  need  each 
other.  There  is  a danger  for  Mennonites 
to  be  sectarian.” 

Yet  the  peace  position  is  still  impor- 
tant to  him,  and  neither  he  nor  many 
other  charismatics  reject  outreach  or 
social  action  in  favor  of  inward  involve- 
ment. 

Elsie  Penner  in  Vancouver  started  a 
neighborhood  Bible  study  for  women. 
Later  another  group  was  started  for  the 
husbands  at  the  husbands’  request. 

“Now  all  the  women  are  bringing  their 
friends,”  said  Ms.  Penner. 

In  the  Abbotsford-Clearbrook  area,  a 
number  of  charismatics  are  active  in  the 
Man-to-Man  program  of  prison  visitation. 

In  the  Eben-Ezer  Mennonite  Church 
in  Abbotsford,  the  charismatic  movement 
is  not  as  big  an  issue. 

“There  are  a few  individuals  who  are 
using  tongues  as  a gift  and  contributing 
to  the  church,  but  there  is  no  real  dis- 
cussion. We  have  had  one  charismatic 
utterance  in  church.  There  was  a reac- 
tion to  the  institutional  church  at  the  be- 
ginning. Since  then,  there  has  been  a 
mellowing,”  said  Jacob  Tilitzky,  pastor 
and  president  of  the  Conference  of 
Mennonites  in  Canada. 

“On  the  whole,  the  charismatic  move- 
ment has  done  us  a lot  of  good.  It  has 
caused  us  to  look  at  ourselves  more  care- 
fully. Even  in  a church  like  ours,  a cer- 
tain element  has  rubbed  off  and  done  us 
good.  In  churches  like  Ed’s,  where  a 
large  majority  go  along  with  it  to  a cer- 
tain degree,  it  has  worked  out  very  well. 
In  Dick  Rempel’s  church,  there  is  a 
strong  anti  movement.  It  has  happened 
in  very  strong  evangelical  churches  and 
churches  with  a high  intellectual  level.” 

The  British  Columbia  provincial  con- 
ference held  a study  conference  on 
speaking  in  tongues  in  1968,  at  a high 
point  in  the  controversy.  Now,  Mr.  Til- 
itzky felt,  the  number  of  Mennonite  char- 


ismatics is  stabilizing  rather  than  grow- 
ing. 

“Charismatics  have  a good  sense  of 
body  life  in  the  congregation,  but  what 
the  movement  is  doing  to  our  Anabaptist 
heritage  I can’t  really  tell,”  he  said. 

Most  of  the  criticism  of  the  charismat- 
ic movement  has  come  from  people  who 
feel  the  charismatics  are  dividing  the 
church  and  saying,  “Unless  you  have 
had  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
have  spoken  in  tongues,  you  are  not  a 
mature  Christian.” 

Charismatics  quickly  deny  they  are 
responsible  for  dividing  the  church. 
They  point  out  that  it  is  the  more  tradi- 
tional members  who  take  away  their 
responsibilities  in  the  congregation. 

The  necessity  for  a baptism  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  including  tongues,  presents 
a stickier  problem.  The  charismatics  can- 
not help  but  feel  they  have  something 
better  than  they  had  before,  and  some- 
times that  translates  into  “I  have  some- 
thing better  than  you  do.” 

“It’s  expressed  clearly,  ‘I’m  hoping 
and  praying  that  you’ll  get  the  Spirit,’  ” 
said  Mr.  Tilitzky.  “Charismatics  have 
to  realize  they  don’t  have  a monopoly  on 
the  Spirit.” 

But,  say  the  charismatics,  the  test  of 
the  Spirit  is  not  praying  in  tongues. 

“It  comes  down  to  1 Corinthians  13 
as  the  acid  test,”  said  John  Pankratz. 

“Charismatic  doesn’t  mean  superholy,” 
said  Herb  Neufeld.  “You  just  let  the  love 
of  Christ  flow  through  you.” 

Radical  reformers  model 
for  RC  Pentecostals 

Some  segments  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
“charismatic  renewal”  movement  have 
unconsciously  modeled  themselves  after 
the  more  radical  segments  of  the  six- 
teenth-century Reformation,  according 
to  a Roman  Catholic  scholar  who  spoke 
at  a Lutheran  conference  for  clergymen 
recently  in  Tacoma,  Washington. 

J.  Massyberde  Ford  of  the  University 
of  Notre  Dame  said  the  theology  and 
practice  of  some  Roman  Catholic  Pente- 
costals have  a theology  “not  dissimilar 
with  the  Radical  Reformation.”  He  in- 
dicated that  some  Catholic  Pentecostals 
tend  to  make  “believer’s  baptism”  or  the 
“baptism  of  the  Spirit”  the  mark  of  a 
true  Christian,  rather  than  the  traditional 
infant  baptism.  However,  the  speaker 
noted  that  Catholic  Pentecostals  “still 
adhere  strongly  to  infant  baptism.” 

Dr.  Ford  referred  to  the  Catholic 
charismatic  renewal  as  “a  great  evange- 
lizing force.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


513 


India  poverty  project  helps  farmers,  weavers 


Raising  wheat  as  a second  crop,  raising 
fish  seed  in  rice  fields,  and  a new  weav- 
ing industry  have  highlighted  this  year 
for  telarc  (The  Economic  Life  And 
Relief  Committee),  a Mennonite  organ- 
ization for  economic  development  in 
India. 

Relief  is  actually  a low  priority,  said 
Jake  Giesbrecht,  director.  The  emphasis 
in  recent  years  has  shifted  to  economic 
development  and  the  operation  of  a 
demonstration  farm  on  land  near  Parra- 
pat  owned  by  the  Mennonite  mission. 

Village  farmers  in  the  area  have  been 
raising  wheat  with  irrigation  since  early 
1967,  after  the  fall  1966  rice  crop  failed. 
Now  more  than  6,000  acres  of  wheat 
have  been  planted,  as  well  as  double 
crops  of  rice. 

The  demonstration  farm,  now  nine- 
teen acres,  is  under  the  management  of 
Subhash  Barik,  a young  national  direc- 
tor, and  is  on  a national  highway. 

Under  the  direction  of  the  Indian 
Department  of  Fisheries,  the  demonstra- 
tion farm  has  constructed  several  tanks 
for  spawning  and  hatching  fish  seed,  so 
that  farmers  no  longer  need  to  transport 
it  from  Calcutta. 


Above  is  a head  of  triticale  grown  on 
the  experimental  plot  near  Parrapat,  In- 
dia. Area  farmers  are  being  encouraged 
to  use  such  grains  as  a second  crop. 


“Our  experiments  include  raising  seed 
in  the  rice  fields,  for  fish  and  rice  both 
need  abundant  water  supply,”  Mr.  Gies- 
brecht said.  “We  are  planning  to  send 
the  farm  manager  to  Japan  for  a year 
to  study  the  Japanese  rice-fish  culture 
methods  and  related  subjects.” 

Also  during  this  year,  telarc  has 
begun  a new  weaving  industry.  In  many 
villages,  weavers  are  having  a difficult 
time  competing  with  the  factories.  A 
committee  study  found  that  handloomed 
cloth  of  certain  designs  was  selling  better 
than  the  cloth  which  village  weavers  had 
been  making.  With  a grant  of  some  left- 
over relief  funds,  telarc  purchased  new 
and  wider  looms,  hired  teachers,  made 
arrangements  for  older  weavers  to  learn 
new  designs,  and  supplied  thread  on 
contract  for  production. 

The  pilot  project  employs  ten  weavers. 
“Just  now  government  restrictions  on 
purchases  of  thread  are  causing  difficulty 
to  the  project,”  Mr.  Giesbrecht  ex- 
plained. “Individual  weavers  must  ob- 
tain permits  for  thread  and  go  over  a 
hundred  miles  individually  to  purchase 
it  and  stay  over  several  days  to  have  it 
dyed.  At  present  we  are  planning  to 
set  up  our  own  dyeing  apparatus.” 

He  said  the  farm  must  continue  to  be 


self-supporting,  but  also  continue  to 
spearhead  new  trends  in  seed  and  agri- 
culture. The  fish  and  weaving  projects 
could  be  expanded. 

Mr.  Giesbrecht  said  one  of  the  most 
pressing  needs  is  to  set  up  a financial 
cooperative  to  bypass  the  red  tape  and 
high  interest  rates  of  the  banks’  “break- 
through” programs  for  agriculture. 

“To  set  up  such  a cooperative  has 
many  problems,  and  our  situation  may 
not  have  reached  the  level  of  maturity 
that  such  a venture  demands,”  he  said. 

“In  our  church  and  community  struc- 
tures, emergency  relief  programs  are 
readily  understood  to  be  ministries  of 
love  (done  by  others),  but  development 
runs  in  the  line  of  ‘business’  and  has 
been  classified  by  some  church  leaders 
as  serving  two  masters.  It  is  often  very 
difficult  to  involve  the  church  in  the 
program  of  development,  for  at  this 
stage  it  has  difficulty  keeping  its  pro- 
grams going.  However,  this  is  an  excel- 
lent opportunity  for  Christian  outreach.” 

Telarc  projects,  under  the  supervi- 
sion of  the  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite Mission  and  the  Bharatiya  Menno- 
nite Church,  have  been  funded  in  the 
past  by  oxfam,  the  Poverty  Fund,  and 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission. 


Keeney  visa  denial  appealed 


South  Africa’s  major  newspaper,  The 
Rand  daily  mail,  carried  bold  headlines: 
“Churches  to  fight  visa  ban  on  profes- 
sor.” Datelined  Cape  Town,  South  Afri- 
ca, the  article  stated  that  the  South 
African  Council  of  Churches  will  make 
representation  “at  the  highest  levels” 
in  connection  with  the  government’s  re- 
fusal of  a visa  to  William  Keeney,  “a 
world-renowned  expert  on  peace  and 
nonviolence.” 

William  Keeney  was  to  have  worked 
with  the  council  of  churches  in  a research 
program  dealing  with  contemporary  and 
historical  attitudes  towards  violence  in 
southern  Africa.  (See  May  31  issue,  page 
287,  for  details.) 

John  Rees,  general  secretary  of  sacc, 
was  scheduled  to  meet  with  South  African 
Minister  of  Interior,  Connie  Mulder, 
August  22,  concerning  the  Keeney  visa 
denial. 

Meanwhile,  the  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  Peace  Section  is  proceeding 
with  an  alternate  job  description  for 
Mr.  Keeney  involving  writing  of  much- 


needed  materials  on  peace.  The  Peace 
Section  is  not  predicting  when  the  South 
African  Government  might  respond,  or 
if  it  does  respond,  what  it  might  say. 
The  feeling  is  that  in  light  of  the  circum- 
stances, there  is  not  much  hope  for  a 
reversal  of  the  visa  denial.  Consequently, 
present  plans  are  that  Dr.  Keeney  will 
serve  in  a one-year  assignment  develop- 
ing peace  education  resource  materials 
as  a staff  member  of  the  mcc  Peace  Sec- 
tion living  in  Elkhart,  Indiana. 

The  previous  Keeney  assignment  to 
South  Africa  was  referred  to  as  the 
South  Africa  peace  missioner,  since  peace 
was  at  the  heart  of  the  task.  The  peace 
missioner  job  was  two-pronged.  It  was 
to  report  to  Christian  churches  of  South 
Africa  the  historical  experiences  of  Ana- 
baptists and  Mennonites  in  demonstrat- 
ing the  way  of  peace  and  reconciliation. 
It  was  also  to  speak  out  on  the  contem- 
porary situation  in  southern  Africa, 
where  whites  control  the  government 
and  wealth  and  the  black  majority  has 
no  hope  of  equal  opportunities. 


514 


SEPTEMBER  11,  1973 


Drought  relief  begun  in  Chad 


As  severe  drought  withers  crops  and 
dries  up  wells  in  six  countries  along  the 
lower  edge  of  the  Sahara  Desert,  Men- 
nonite  Central  Committee  has  placed  re- 
lief personnel  in  Chad,  the  easternmost 
of  the  affected  countries,  and  it  is  pre- 
paring emergency  plans  for  relief  and 
longer-term  development  services  in  that 
country. 

Vern  Preheim,  mcc  director  for  Zaire, 
crossed  the  Central  African  Republic  in 
mid-July  to  enter  Chad.  Terry  Stuckey, 
Zaire  tap  volunteer  who  extended  his 
term  for  emergency  planning  in  Chad, 
accompanied  Mr.  Preheim  on  much  of 
the  two-week  Chad  trip.  They  contacted 
over  forty  missionaries,  church  leaders, 
and  embassy,  United  Nations,  and  Chad 
Government  personnel. 

Faced  with  a disaster  of  this  magni- 
tude— 20  million  people  fighting  to  stay 
alive  in  a 2,000-mile  belt  along  the 
southern  edge  of  the  Sahara — mcc  must 
think  seriously  about  the  most  effective 
stewardship  of  the  resources  provided 
by  its  member  churches. 

Administrators  felt  that  mcc  efforts 
,should  be  concentrated  in  Chad  in  co- 
operation with  French  Mennonite  mis- 
[ sionaries  who  have  established  work 
there. 

In  the  Fort-Lamy  area,  French  Men- 
1 nonite  missionary  Gilbert  Klopfenstein 
is  buying  millet  at  the  now  inflated  mar- 
ket prices  and  reselling  it  to  village  peo- 
ple for  the  lower  price  they  were  accus- 
tomed to  paying  in  normal  years.  Vil- 
1 lagers  come  from  sixty  villages  in  a 
twenty-five-mile  radius  to  buy  grain. 

Two  tons  of  millet  have  also  been 
I shipped  to  Bol,  near  Lake  Chad,  where 
Swiss  Free  Evangelical  Church  mission- 
ary Daniel  Grossenbacher  has  requested 
it  to  start  a similar  purchase-sell  project 
to  provide  food  for  the  people  whose 
crops  have  failed. 

For  the  immediate  future,  Vern  Pre- 
heim indicates  the  greatest  needs  are 
for  interior  ground  and  air  transporta- 
tion of  food  being  donated  by  interna- 
tional agencies  and  governments. 

Other  needs  according  to  Mr.  Preheim 
are  vitamins,  medicines,  and  high  protein 
foods  for  distribution  through  the  twenty 
dispensaries  and  hospitals  operated  by 
missions  in  Chad;  continuation  of  the 
buy-sell  program  of  millet  or  peanuts 
and  transportation  of  these  foods  to  iso- 
lated pockets  of  hunger;  water  develop- 
ment programs;  and  tree  planting  to  halt 
the  southward  advance  of  the  desert. 


The  Sahara  Desert  moves  relentlessly 
southward  each  year,  pushing  the  vege- 
tation line  back.  The  desert’s  march  has 
been  hastened  by  a five-year  drought 
in  the  six  West  African  countries  below 
the  Sahara.  Above,  using  a mortar,  a 
Mali  nomad  pounds  the  last  few  grains 
in  her  family’s  possession.  The  carcass 
of  a dead  cow  lies  in  the  foreground. 

The  present  drought  is  having  a severe 
impact  on  the  economy  of  Chad  as  well 
as  the  other  countries.  Food  prices  have 
risen  sharply.  The  cotton  crop,  the  ma- 
jor export,  is  down.  Rice-growing  areas 
have  had  complete  crop  failure  because 
the  river  did  not  flood.  Fish  production 
is  suffering  because  spawning  also  de- 
pends on  normal  annual  flood  conditions. 
Overgrazing  has  resulted  in  a 50  percent 
loss  of  cattle. 

Experts  predict  that  Africa  is  in  for  a 
long-term  climatic  change  which  will 
push  the  desert  farther  south  each  year. 
One  missionary  has  noted  that  the  desert 
is  now  moving  down  into  Chad  at  the 
rate  of  over  twelve  miles  each  year.  One 
can  now  walk  across  Lake  Chad.  To 
reverse  these  changes  will  require  years 
of  tree  planting,  controlled  grazing,  and 
coordinated  efforts. 

Mcc  has  already  channeled  $10,000 
to  relief  work  in  Chad.  But  such  mea- 
sures are  only  temporary.  Further  con- 
sideration of  the  longer-term  role  must 
be  weighed  against  needs  in  other  famine 
areas  where  mcc  is  working.  For  the 
people  of  Chad  and  the  rest  of  the  dry 
sub-Sahara,  it’s  the  long  haul  that  will  be 
important.  Don  Ziegler 


Seminar  probes 
family  relationships 

“I  think  the  family  is  the  issue  of  the 
’70’s,  and  the  seminar  helped  focus  the 
questions  for  me.” 

This  was  the  remark  of  one  partici- 
pant in  this  summer’s  Christian  Family 
Life  Seminar,  sponsored  by  the  Associ- 
ated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries.  The 
two-week  seminar  was  taught  by  Ross  T. 
Bender,  executive  secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Congregational  Ministries  for  the 
Mennonite  Church,  and  Abraham 
Schmitt,  marriage  counselor  and  profes- 
sor of  social  work  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia. 

The  seventeen  participants  came  from 
Manitoba,  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Indiana. 
The  morning  lectures  by  Mr.  Bender 
focused  on  the  changing  marriage  pat- 
terns, the  biblical  view  of  marriage,  the 
roles  of  man  and  woman,  and  the  role 
of  women  in  the  church.  Mr.  Schmitt 
presented  his  theory  of  marriage,  “Con- 
flict and  ecstasy:  Model  for  a maturing 
marriage,”  developed  over  the  years  as 
he  has  studied  psychology  and  counseled 
marriages.  Group  discussions  followed 
the  lectures.  One  class  member  felt  that 
the  topics  could  have  included  family 
relationships  and  not  dealt  so  exclusively 
with  husband-wife  relationships. 

In  the  afternoon  five  couples,  plus 
Ross  Bender  and  Abraham  Schmitt  as 
leaders,  formed  a marriage  enrichment 
group  designed  to  “make  good  marriages 
better.” 


Silver  Lake  Mennonite  Camp 
needs  a person  to  act  as 
Camp  Administrator.  The  po- 
sition is  full-time,  with  a ne- 
gotiable salary. 

The  position  needs  to  be  filled 
as  soon  as  possible. 

The  successful  applicant 
should  have  a keen  interest 
in  camping,  especially  in  the 
work  of  the  church.  An  edu- 
cational experience  involving 
church-related  institutions  is 
desirable  although  not  com- 
pulsory. Interested  individuals 
should  send  their  inquiries 
along  with  their  personal  in- 
ventories to: 

Peter  Dyck 

559  Vine  Street  North 
St.  Catharines,  Ontario 
Canada  L2M  3V2 
ph.  (416)  935-6907 


THE  MENNONITE 


515 


Weldon  Nisly  will  become 
poverty  consultant  for  CHM 

Weldon  Nisly  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  has 
been  appointed  consultant-grantsman  for 
poverty  projects  by  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  Commission  on  Home 
Ministries. 

He  will  begin  work  at  the  Newton, 
Kansas,  conference  offices  September  15. 

His  primary  task  will  be  to  assist  con- 
gregations, voluntary  service  units,  Indian 
ministries,  and  other  groups  to  identify 
poverty  needs,  explore  ways  to  meet 
those  needs  through  Christian  self-help 
programs,  and  to  prepare  proposals  which 
request  funding  for  these  programs  from 
foundations  or  local  and  federal  govern- 
ments. 

Mr.  Nisly,  a native  of  Wellman,  Iowa, 
holds  a BBA  degree  from  the  University 
of  Iowa,  Iowa  City,  in  industrial  rela- 
tions and  economics.  He  is  presently  em- 
ployed as  planning  specialist  for  the 
Iowa  Office  of  Economic  Opportunity 
and  has  previously  worked  as  campaign 
staff  assistant  for  Iowa  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor Art  Neu,  and  assistant  law  and 
reading  clerk  for  the  Iowa  Senate. 

He  graduated  from  high  school  at 
Iowa  Mennonite  School,  Kalona,  Iowa, 
and  has  recently  been  active  in  the  Des 
Moines  Mennonite  Church. 

Weldon  and  his  wife,  Margaret,  have 
one  daughter,  Tamra. 

Leland  Harder  takes 
church-planting  assignment 

Leland  Harder,  professor  of  practical 
theology  at  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary, 
Elkhart,  Indiana,  has  been  named  a part- 
time  consultant  in  church  planting  with 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

The  appointment,  approved  by  the 
chm  executive  committee  August  15, 
will  be  for  one-third-time  services  during 
the  fall  semester. 

Mr.  Harder’s  assignment  will  include: 

— consultation  with  Dave  Whitermore, 
primary  staff  person  in  church  planting, 
on  theology  and  strategy  of  establishing 
new  congregations. 

- — analysis  of  the  church  planting  which 
the  General  Conference  has  done  in  the 
last  few  years  and  what  can  be  learned 
from  that. 

— updating  of  the  nonresident  member 
survey  and  analysis  of  where  Mennonites 
are  moving. 

His  assignment  will  begin  with  the 
consultation  on  church  planting  spon- 
sored by  chm  September  18-19  in  Chi- 
cago. Invited  to  the  consultation  are  dis- 


trict ministers,  district  and  provincial 
representatives  (mostly  from  home  mis- 
sions committees),  and  other  resource 
people. 

George  Lehman  named 
“forum”  editor 

George  Lehman,  Newton,  Kansas,  has 
been  named  editor  of  forum,  a monthly 
magazine  for  college  and  university  stu- 
dents published  jointly  by  the  Student 
Services  Committee  of  the  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions  (Mennonite  Church) 
and  the  Commission  on  Education  (Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church). 

He  will  begin  his  half-time  duties  with 
the  first  fall  issue  in  October. 

Mr.  Lehman  has  served  from  1969 
until  July  of  this  year  as  voluntary  serv- 
ice director  for  the  General  Conference 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries.  He  is 
a graduate  of  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton, 
Ohio,  and  a native  of  Berne,  Indiana. 

Mr.  Lehman  said  forum  would  be  a 
place  for  college  students  to  discuss  the 
nature  of  their  experience. 

Life  and  human  values 
conference  planned 

General  Conference  representatives  have 
been  invited  by  the  Mennonite  Medical 
Association  to  a third  meeting  on  the 
issues  of  life  and  human  values,  specific- 
ally abortion. 

About  two  hundred  participants  are 
expected  October  5-6  near  Chicago  for 
a discussion  of  topics  related  to  abortion: 
ethical  and  social  implications,  religious 
perspectives,  personal  aspects,  institu- 
tional responsibilities,  and  church  in- 
volvement. 

Invited  will  be  representatives  from 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  Mennonite  Church,  Mennonite 
Brethren  Church,  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
Church,  plus  nurses,  chaplains,  social 
workers,  psychologists,  hospital  adminis- 
trators, psychiatrists,  pastors,  and  other 
church  leaders. 

The  meeting  will  also  be  open  to  a 
limited  number  of  other  Mennonites. 

The  Mennonite  Medical  Association 
previously  discussed  issues  of  life  and 
death  at  its  1972  convention  and  at  a 
seminar  last  May. 

Registration  fee  is  $10,  and  overnight 
lodging  at  reduced  rates  is  available  at 
the  O’Hare  Concord  Motor  Inn,  Des 
Plaines,  Illinois,  the  site  of  the  meeting. 
Applications  should  be  sent  to  the  Men- 
nonite Medical  Association,  1005  College 
Ave.,  Harrisonburg,  Virginia  22801. 


A NEW  VISION  $1.75 

Lois  Bartel 

Published  by  Faith  and 
Life  Press 

Racism.  White  racism.  It 
still  exists.  In  Mennonite 
churches. 

Sometimes  it’s  subtle, 
sometimes  blatant.  It’s  al- 
ways destructive. 

A New  Vision  is  a study 
guide  that  examines  white 
racism  in  a fresh  and  vig- 
orous manner.  Thirteen 
chapters  make  it  usable  as 
an  elective  course  in  Sun- 
day school  and  in  many 
other  settings.  Chapters 
contain  biblical  references 
and  suggested  learning 
experiences. 

Order  from  Faith  and 
Life  Bookstores  at  159  W. 
Main  St.,  Berne,  Indiana 
46711,  and  722  Main  St., 
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Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  Can- 
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516 


SEPTEMBER  11,  1973 


RECORD 


Ministers 

Richard  Bucher,  Columbus  Grove,  Ohio, 
began  serving  as  pastor  of  the  Topeka 
(Ind.)  Church  Sept.  1.  He  is  a senior  at 
Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminar- 
ies, Elkhart,  Ind. 

Peter  Quiring,  pastor  of  the  Friedens- 
berg  Church,  Avon,  S.D.,  has  resigned 
after  8V2  years  of  service.  After  Sept. 
1 he  will  become  pastor  of  the  Bethel 
Baptist  Church,  Greenfield,  Iowa,  and 
also  serve  as  chaplain  at  Stangel  Chris- 
tian High  School,  Greenfield. 

Ruben  Siemens,  formerly  pastor  of 
Zoar  Church,  Langham,  Sask.,  was  in- 
stalled Aug.  15  as  pastor  of  the  Emmaus 
Church,  Wymark,  Sask. 

Workers 


Robert  W.  Betzelberger,  Delavan,  111., 
has  begun  a one-year  assignment  with 
the  Markham,  111.,  voluntary  service  unit 
of  the  General  Conference.  He  is  a bus 
driver  for  the  Sheltered  Care  Workshop, 
a project  which  gives  employment  to 
mentally  retarded  adults.  Robert  has  at- 
tended Illinois  State  University,  Normal, 
111.,  and  is  the  son  of  H.  Robert  and 
Betty  Betzelberger  of  Delavan. 

Lynn  Blevens,  Long  Beach,  Calif.,  has 
begun  a year  of  voluntary  service  with 
the  General  Conference  in  Gulfport, 
Miss.  The  voluntary  service  unit  is  lo- 
cated in  a low-income  black  neighbor- 
hood. Lynn,  a member  of  the  United 
Methodist  Church,  is  a graduate  of  Jor- 
dan High  School  in  Long  Beach  and  is 
the  son  of  Isaac  and  Stella  Blevens,  Long 
Beach. 

Carol  Buller  of  Lehigh,  Kans.,  has 
begun  work  as  secretary  for  the  General 
Conference  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission  at  its  central  offices  in  Newton, 
Kans.  Ms.  Buller  is  a member  of  the 


THE  MENNONITE  517 


Alexanderwohl  Church,  Goessel,  Kans., 
and  is  a 1973  graduate  of  Tabor  College, 
Hillsboro,  Kans.  Her  parents  are  Alvin 
and  Hilda  Buller,  Lehigh. 

Dennis  Ray  Donelson,  Hopedale,  111., 
is  serving  a one-year  General  Conference 
voluntary  service  assignment  with  the 
Mennonite  congregation  in  Markham, 
111.  He  is  a maintenance  worker  at  the 
Community  Day  Nursery,  located  in  the 
building  of  the  Markham  Community 
Church.  Dennis  is  a member  of  the 
Boynton  Church,  Hopedale,  111.  He  is  a 
1971  graduate  of  Hopedale  High  School 
and  is  the  son  of  Roy  and  Carolyn  Don- 
elson, Hopedale. 

Carol  Eck,  Peabody,  Kans.,  has  begun 
a one-year  assignment  with  the  General 
Conference  in  Elkhart,  Ind.,  working 
with  the  Elkhart  County  Association  for 
the  Retarded.  She  has  previously  taught 
retarded  children  at  the  Institute  of  Lo- 
gopedics, Wichita,  Kans.  Carol  holds  a 
BS  degree  in  elementary  education  from 
Wichita  State  University  and  is  a mem- 
ber of  the  Lorraine  Ave.  Church,  Wich- 
ita. Her  parents  are  Albert  and  Helen 
Eck,  Peabody. 

Kay  Janzen  has  begun  a twenty-six- 
months  term  of  service  with  mcc  in 
Zaire,  teaching  math  and  English  at  a 
secondary  school.  Kay  received  a BS  in 
mathematics  from  the  University  of  Ne- 
braska. She  is  the  daughter  of  Norman 
and  Dorothy  McKeag,  Grand  Island, 
Neb.,  and  a member  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

Marlene  Klassen,  Garden  City,  Kans., 
has  begun  a one-year  General  Confer- 
ence voluntary  service  assignment  with 
the  Upland,  Calif.,  unit.  She  will  be  in- 
volved in  community  service  work.  Mar- 
lene, a member  of  the  Alexanderwohl 
Church,  Goessel,  Kans.,  is  a 1971  grad- 
uate of  Goshen  (Ind.)  College,  with  a 
BS  in  home  economics  and  secondary 
education.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Donald 
and  Lenora  Klassen,  Garden  City. 


Eck 


Klassen 


Donald  and  Brenda  MacBurney,  Clear- 
brook,  B.C.,  have  begun  two  years  of 
General  Conference  voluntary  service 
in  Gulfport,  Miss.  Don  will  work  in 
housing  repair  and  construction  for  low- 
income  families.  Brenda’s  assignment  is 
as  yet  undefined.  Don  and  Brenda  are 
members  of  the  Olivet  Church,  Clear- 
brook.  Prior  to  his  voluntary  service  as- 
signment, Don  was  employed  by  a poul- 
try farm.  He  has  attended  Abbotsford 
Senior  Secondary  School,  Abbotsford, 
B.C.,  and  Brenda  has  studied  at  Royal 
Columbia  Hospital,  New  Westminster, 
B.C.  The  MacBumeys  have  three  chil- 
dren. 


B.  MacBurney  D.  MacBurney 


Calendar 


Sept.  18-19 — Church  planting  con- 
sultation, Commission  on  Home  Minis- 
tries, Chicago. 

Sept.  19-21 — Western  District  Con- 
ference, Clinton,  Okla. 

Western 

Sept.  30-Oct.  7 — Bible  lectures  on 
Book  of  Revelation,  First  Church,  Pretty 
Prairie,  Kans. 

Published 


Jesus  Christ  reconciles,  the  proceedings 
of  the  Ninth  Mennonite  World  Confer- 
ence, has  been  published.  The  320-page 
volume  contains  the  more  than  100  ad- 
dresses and  reports  presented  at  the 
conference,  held  in  July  1972  in  Curitiba, 
Brazil.  The  Curitiba  conference  was  the 
first  outside  Europe  or  North  America, 
although  regional  “world  conference” 
gatherings  have  been  held  in  Africa, 
Asia,  and  Latin  America  in  the  last  five 
years.  The  book  is  available  for  $6.00 
from  Mennonite  World  Conference,  3003 
Benham  Ave.,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


REVIEW 

The  charismatic  movement  in  the  churches 


The  Pentecostals : the  charismatic  move- 
ment in  the  churches,  by  Walter  J.  Hol- 
lenweger,  ( Augsburg  Publishing  House, 
Minneapolis,  1972,  572  pp.,  $10)  is  re- 
viewed by  Jake  Thielmann,  who  teaches 
at  Columbia  Bible  Institute,  Clearbrook, 
British  Columbia. 

To  speak  or  not  to  speak  in  tongues. 
That  is  not  the  question  for  the  German 
scholar  Walter  J.  Hollenweger.  The  issue 
for  Mr.  Hollenweger  is  much  larger  than 
that.  For  him  it  is  a question  of  brother- 
hood. How  can  the  Pentecostal  move- 
ment and  the  World  Council  of  Church- 
es be  brought  into  a spirit  of  cooperation 
and  unity?  When  this  happens,  the 
church  will  experience  guidance  “brought 
about  by  thanksgiving  and  thought,  ques- 
tion and  answer,  a guidance  which  will 
not  evade  the  problems  for  which  both 
the  world  and  the  church  cannot  find 
answers”  (p.  346). 

To  compress  572  scholarly,  well-docu- 
mented pages  into  few  words  is  a “mis- 
sion impossible.”  The  Pentecostals  ( the 
charismatic  movement  in  the  churches) 
by  the  German  scholar,  is  a translation 
by  R.  A.  Wilson  of  the  German  edition: 
Enthusiastisches  Christentum:  die  Pfingst- 
bewegung  in  Geschichte  und  Gegenwart. 
The  Augsburg  Publishing  House  needs 
to  be  commended  for  making  this  book 
available  to  North  American  readers. 

Dr.  Hollenweger  testifies  that  his 
friends  and  teachers  in  the  Pentecostal 
movement  taught  him  to  love  the  Bible; 
however,  teachers  and  friends  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church  taught  him  to  un- 
derstand it.  Does  the  Pentecostal  move- 
ment need  a strengthening  of  their  teach- 
ing of  the  Word?  Mr.  Hollenweger  needs 
to  be  congratulated  for  trying  to  present 
an  unbiased  reporting  and  interpretation. 
As  one  of  their  own,  he  sees  the  Pente- 
costal movement  in  weakness  and 
strength.  Proper  and  improper  use  of 
tongues  is  shown.  Factual  and  spurious 
healings  are  reported.  The  author  calls 
for  a critical  examination  of  facts  and 
Scripture.  For  him,  a critical  and  “nat- 
ural explanation”  of  revivals  does  not 
mean  a condemnation  of  a movement 
or  God’s  working.  For  him,  “criticism  is 
not  shown  to  be  spiritual  by  the  fact 
that  one  ignores  certain  areas  of  reality.” 


To  really  understand  the  present-day 
Pentecostal-charismatic  movement  one 
needs  to  understand  its  historical  roots. 
Part  one  deals  with  the  origins  of  Pente- 
costalism  in  the  U.S.A.,  Brazil,  South 
Africa,  and  Europe.  Pentecostals  and 


non-Pentecostals  will  find  much  detailed 
and  valuable  information  concerning  the 
differences  in  doctrine  and  ethics  as 
taught  and  practiced  in  individual  coun- 
tries and  by  various  groups.  In  view  of 
the  fact  that  often  Pentecostals  do  not 


MEDITATION 


•*ioi)  i<A  L\« 


kV-WK  1o0ftU> 

I Uwtlo  U HtU  lt\ 

WvtK'-U^u  W 4ahu.x^  , 

Vit  to  U'tt  Glut**, 

W 'fokklHik, 

\\  4han*.  -Uo o 4o«.  '&£  A4H EW, 

IV5  lo  BL  ALIVE.  Q 


v/f’  l A f 

The  poignant  poem,  written  by  nine-year-old  Tami  Hogan, 
was  found  the  day  after  she  died  of  leukemia.  For  two 
years  her  family  and  teacher  kept  the  illness  a secret  from 
her.  But  her  teacher  in  Carmichael,  California,  Mary  Car- 
ton, said,  “She  knew  something  was  wrong,”  adding  that 
she  was  a “little  girl  who  loved  life.”  The  poem  expresses 
that. 


518 


SEPTEMBER  11,  1973 


bother  with  the  past,  since  what  matters 
is  the  present,  it  is  remarkable  that  Dr. 
Hollenweger  has  been  able  to  gather  so 
much  historical  information.  For  many 
Pentecostals  “it  is  an  interesting  thing 
to  gather  together  all  kinds  of  facts  . . . 
but  it  is  more  worthwhile  to  undergo 
the  experience  of  Pentecost  for  oneself” 
(p.  413). 

Part  two,  belief  and  practice,  is  packed 
with  an  amazing  amount  of  information, 
many  valuable  questions,  and  suggestions 
for  action.  Friends  and  foes  will,  si- 
multaneously, put  their  stamp  of  approval 
and  condemnation  upon  these  pages. 
Anyone  with  the  ability  to  read  weightier 
matters  will  find  the  doctrinal  section 
stimulating.  The  Pentecostal  understand- 
ing of  Scripture  needs  to  be  read  by 
Pentecostals,  fundamentalists,  and  other 
interested  individuals.  Mr.  Hollenweger’s 
example  of  “biblical  criticism  at  the 
service  of  Scripture”  (pp.  302-307)  is 
penetrating.  He  states  that  “people  can- 
not be  bothered  to  acquaint  themselves 
with  the  beliefs  of  their  fellow  Pentecos- 
tals or  with  the  interpretations  given  by 
biblical  criticism.  They  have  no  time 
for  that.  What  others  have  thought  and 
believed,  matters  to  which  they  have  de- 
voted a lifetime  of  thought,  are  unimpor- 
tant to  them.  What  good  can  come  from 
an  unenlightened  human  understanding 
(p.  305)?  The  question  remains  unan- 
swered. If  “all  claim  to  believe  in  the 
Bible  as  the  inspired  word  of  God,  how 
then  does  it  come  about  that  there  is 
no  point  of  Pentecostal  doctrine  on  which 
they  are  agreed?” 

If  the  reader  is  not  fully  convinced  of 
Walter  Hollenweger’s  ability  to  interpret 
a movement,  he  will  find  chapters  31  and 
32  most  enlightening.  The  author’s  so- 
ciological and  theological  assessment  (pp. 
457-512)  will  need  careful  study  and 
evaluation.  Whether  one  agrees  or  dis- 
agrees, one  must  admit  that  the  “Pente- 
costal movement  made  it  possible  for 
these  underprivileged  people  to  articulate 
their  deprivation  and  so  to  overcome  it.” 
Enthusiasts  by  their  very  nature  are  not 
necessarily  sectarians.  The  “ecumenical 
revival  movement”  to  a great  extent  has 
failed  because  it  has  failed  to  integrate 
people,  giving  them  a fuller  humanity 
and  helping  them  to  reach  a critical  ma- 
turity. It  has  not  always  set  people  free 
from  the  pressures  and  fears  and  has  not 
helped  an  evangelical  understanding  of 
the  world  and  of  the  whole  of  Christian- 
ity. 

One  may  question  Mr.  Hollenweger’s 
universalism  as  taught  in  Europe,  his 
theology  of  “lying  ‘intelligently  and  con- 


sistently’ for  the  sake  of  Christian  re- 
sponsibility” (p.  409);  however,  one  can- 
not question  his  serious  attempt  of  bring- 
ing dialog  to  noncommunicating  churches 
and  denominations.  Ignoring  the  issue  of 
Pentecostalism  will  continue  to  keep  peo- 
ple poles  apart.  Mr.  Hollenweger  hopes 
for  the  disappearance  of  fences  which 
separate  brothers.  His  final  paragraph 
summarizes  the  book  and  this  evaluation 
well:  “A  genuine  dialog  with  the  Pente- 
costal movement  will  lead  the  traditional 
churches  not  to  imitate  the  Pentecostal 
movement,  but  to  make  a critical  exami- 
nation of  their  own  tradition.  . . . Nor 
should  a dialog  with  the  traditional 
churches  lead  the  Pentecostal  movement 
simply  to  become  assimilated  to  them;  it 
should  lead  them  to  look  critically  at  the 
original  task  of  the  Pentecostal  move- 
ment in  the  setting  of  Christianity  as  a 
whole”  (p.  508). 

Certainly,  the  reader  will  not  agree 
with  all  theological  statements  or  views, 
but  the  reviewer’s  plea  would  be  to  read 
the  book  and  enter  into  dialog. 

Audiovisuals 

Who  should  survive?  A twenty-six- 
minute  motion  picture  on  the  case  of  a 
mongoloid  infant  who  was  allowed  to 
die  has  been  added  to  the  Audiovisual 
Library  of  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite  Church,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans. 
67114.  The  film,  available  for  a rental 
fee  of  $15,  dramatizes  an  actual  case 
at  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  Baltimore, 
Maryland,  in  which  the  parents  of  a 
mongoloid  baby  do  not  consent  to  an 
operation  which  would  save  the  child’s 
life.  The  hospital  and  the  surgeon  do 
not  overrule  the  parents,  and  the  baby 
dies.  Following  the  dramatization  a pan- 
el of  experts  in  medicine,  law,  religion, 
sociology,  and  psychology  discusses  the 
ethical,  legal,  and  scientific  issues  in- 
volved. 


There  shall  be  light,  the  new  film  of  the 
American  Bible  Society,  has  been  placed 
in  the  Audiovisual  Library  at  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church  of- 
fices, Newton,  Kans.,  by  the  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission.  The  color  film 
presents,  in  animation,  historic  stills, 
and  documentary  footage,  the  efforts  of 
the  American  Bible  Society  to  reach 
people  everywhere  with  the  Scriptures, 
without  doctrinal  note  or  comment,  in 
their  own  language  or  dialect.  The  movie 
may  be  rented  for  $8.00  from  the  Audio- 
visual Library,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans. 
67114. 


Contents 


Reversing  the  curse  of  Babel  506 

Warmth  and  freedom  pervades 

Catholic  charismatic  meeting  510 

News  511 

Record  517 

The  charismatic  movement  in  the 

churches  518 

Thank  you  for  life  518 

That's  tine  Spirit  520 


CONTRIBUTORS 

David  Ewert  is  on  the  faculty  of  East- 
ern Mennonite  College's  seminary,  Har- 
risonburg, Va.  22801.  His  article  in 
this  issue  is  an  abridgement  of  a pre- 
sentation he  made  at  this  year's  ses- 
sions of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites 
in  Canada  and  at  a 1972  consultation 
on  the  Holy  Spirit  at  Eastern  Mennonite 
College.  The  full  text  of  his  lectures  on 
this  subject  appear  in  the  book  Encoun- 
ter with  the  Holy  Spirit,  published  by 
Herald  Press  and  edited  by  George  R. 
Brunk,  Jr. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  RNS,  Susan  McKinney  (left),  Da- 
vid Hiebert  (center),  RNS,  Chris  Sheri- 
dan (right);  510,  515,  and  518,  RNS; 
513,  RNS,  Susan  McKinney.  "Reversing 
the  curse  of  Babel,"  is  a chapter  from 
the  book  Encounter  with  the  Holy  Spirit, 
ed.  by  George  R.  Brunk,  Herald  Press, 
Scottdale,  Pa.  © 1972.  It  is  used  with 
the  author's  permission. 


TIia 

Mennonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

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Area  204/888-6781 


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films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.  48106. 


THE  MENNONITE 


519 


That's  the  Spirit 

The  Holy  Spirit,  whose  coming  at  Pentecost 
marked  the  birth  of  the  church  and  who  is  rec- 
ognized as  the  moving  force  behind  all  that  is 
good  and  right  with  the  church,  is  often  also  the 
unwilling  cause  of  much  that  divides  and  dulls 
Christianity’s  witness  and  life.  This  decade’s  re- 
surgent interest  in  the  Spirit,  some  of  it  manifested 
in  the  charismatic  renewal  movement,  is  sharpen- 
ing this  dilemma  once  again.  One  can  only  be 
saddened  by  the  strained  relationships  which  are 
occurring  between  fellow  church  members  in  the 
wake  of  this  new  awareness  of  the  Spirit. 

The  blame  for  these  divisions  does  not  rest 
on  any  one  group  alone.  Pouting,  intransigence, 
and  a too  limited  view  of  the  Spirit’s  gifts  seem  to 
be  plaguing  people  on  both  sides  of  the  debate. 

The  deepest  rifts  often  occur  in  churches  with 
a conservative  theology.  A student  of  the  charis- 
matic movement,  Erling  Jorstad,  a history  pro- 
fessor at  St.  Olaf  College,  a Lutheran  school  in 
Minnesota,  has  pointed  out  that  the  neo-Pente- 
costalists  receive  more  criticism  from  conservative 
Christians  than  from  moderates  and  liberals.  Such 
a reaction.  Dr.  Jorstad  notes,  is  surprising  because 
the  Pentecostal  movement  and  the  conservative 
churches  share  so  much: 

— “Acceptance  of  the  inerrant,  verbally  in- 
spired Bible  as  the  sole  source  of  knowledge  of 
God’s  will  for  man. 

—“A  strong  emphasis  on  simplicity  and  in- 
formality in  worship  services. 

— “Vigorously  defended  local  autonomy  over 
the  control  of  the  congregation  as  opposed  to  any 
more  centralized  ecclesiastical  bureaucracy. 

— “A  conscious  effort  to  give  the  laity  as  much 
power  in  group  matters  as  possible.” 

Dr.  Jorstad  postulates  that  the  disagreement 
between  the  conservative  churches  and  the  char- 
ismatics  may  be  caused  by  several  factors: 

— Their  fear  that  the  teaching  and  practice  of 
baptism  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  speaking  in 
tongues  “will  seriously  disrupt  and  most  likely 
break  apart  their  own  theology,  which  rests  on 
the  belief  that  Christian  belief  can  be  clearly  de- 
fined and  understood  by  precisely  worded  doc- 
trines.” 

—Their  sometimes  unhappy  experience  during 
past  years  with  “itinerant  faith  healers,  revivalist 
ministers,  and  free-lance  preachers.” 

— Their  fear  that  they  will  not  be  able  to  con- 
trol the  movement  by  means'5  of  formal  denomina- 


tion decree  and  established  church  programs. 

In  view  of  these  suspicions  about  the  charis- 
matic movement  in  many  of  our  congregations, 
churches  should  undertake  a disciplined  self- 
examination  of  their  attitudes  to  see  if  they  may 
not  be  deaf  to  a legitimate  message  from  the  Lord 
for  our  day.  John  Drescher,  in  an  editorial  in  the 
Gospel  herald  earlier  this  summer,  said,  “No 
movement  of  modern  times  has  so  vitalized  the 
life  of  the  church  in  prayer,  praise,  and  serious 
Bible  study  as  this  movement.  . . . There  is  a new 
freedom  of  the  Spirit  not  only  in  witness,  but  also 
in  ways  of  worshiping,  expectations,  and  manner 
of  evangelism.” 

Some  of  the  tensions  caused  by  the  emergence 
of  the  charismatic  groups  in  our  communities 
would  be  lessened,  I believe,  if  both  the  persons 
participating  in  these  groups  and  the  congregations 
to  which  they  belong  would  view  the  newly  dis- 
covered charisms  as  gifts  to  the  congregation  as 
well  as  to  the  person  himself.  In  this  way  they 
can  rejoice  if  someone  in  their  midst  experiences 
this  new  joy  and  power,  even  though  they  may 
not  have  had  quite  as  intense  an  experience  them- 
selves. Furthermore,  the  person  will  likely  re- 
main much  more  open  to  the  congregation’s  coun- 
sel and  teaching  if  he  is  given  support  rather  than 
being  forced  to  constantly  defend  his  views. 

Many  of  the  new  Pentecostals  recognize  that 
speaking  in  tongues  is  only  one  of  the  gifts  of 
the  Spirit.  Even  though  they  may  have  experienced 
the  phenomenon  of  glossolalia  themselves,  they  do 
not  insist  that  every  Christian  must  have  it  in 
order  to  prove  the  authenticity  of  his  or  her  faith. 
This  is  a mature  view.  Some  people  within  the 
movement,  however,  are  more  rigid  on  this  point, 
insisting  that  the  ability  to  speak  in  tongues  is  a 
must.  It  is  this  type  of  stance  which  frightens 
many  church  members.  Charismatic  groups  could 
do  more  to  reassure  their  fellow  believers  outside 
of  the  movement  that  their  understanding  of  the 
Spirit  is  much  broader  than  tongues  and  healing. 

The  church  is  not  the  church  without  the  Spirit. 
In  many  ways  he  has  been  imprisoned  in  our 
congregations  and  in  our  private  lives.  We  have 
kept  a tight  rein  on  acceptable  manifestations  of 
the  Spirit.  The  charismatic  renewal  movement 
is  showing  us  that  the  Spirit’s  gifts  are  much 
broader  and  deeper  than  we  had  supposed.  Re- 
joice that  the  Spirit  is  breaking  through  some 
of  our  defenses  and  our  narrowness  of  view,  lk 


Tlip 

Meimoiiite 

✓ 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:33  SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


David  A.  Hubbard 


You  have  heard  that  it  was  said,  “An  eye  for  an  eye  and  a tooth  for  a tooth.”  But 
I say  to  you,  do  not  resist  one  who  is  evil.  But  if  anyone  strikes  you  on  the  right 
cheek , turn  to  him  the  other  also;  and  if  anyone  would  sue  you  and  take  your  coat, 
let  him  have  your  cloak  as  well;  and  if  any  one  forces  you  to  go  one  mile,  go  with 
him  two  miles.  Give  to  him  who  begs  from  you,  and  do  not  refuse  him  who  would 
borrow  from  you.  . . . 

— Matthew  5:38-42 


Hockey  season  is  here.  The  newspa- 
pers, magazines,  and  TV  news  clips  are 
full  of  pictures  of  swinging  sticks,  sail- 
ing pucks,  and  flashing  skates.  The  goalie 
gets  special  attention.  Crouched  in  his 
cage,  coiled  to  block  a shot,  sprawled 
on  the  ice  defending  the  goal  with  his 
body,  he  is  the  last  line  of  defense.  On 
his  courage  and  quickness  the  game  of- 
ten turns. 

You  can  always  spot  the  goalie.  He 
wears  the  most  equipment — pads,  gloves, 
mask.  And  he  needs  protection.  Skates 
that  hurtle  down  the  ice,  sticks  that  slash 
like  swords,  pucks  that  fly  like  bullets, 
pose  constant  threats  to  life  and  limb. 
The  goalie  does  all  that  he  can  to  de- 
fend himself  in  a game  where  danger  is 
commonplace. 

Many  of  us  are  just  like  a goalie. 
Next  time  you  see  a picture  of  a hockey 
goalie  lurking  behind  his  mask,  shrouded 
in  his  pads,  encased  in  his  mitts,  ask 
yourself  how  well-defended  you  are 
against  the  hurts  of  life.  In  one  way  or 
another  we  seek  to  protect  ourselves 
against  uncertainty.  One  of  our  fears  is 
that  we  will  be  taken  advantage  of. 

Life  seems  to  give  us  good  reason 
for  this  fear.  Old  men  abuse  little  girls 
for  a few  minutes  of  sick  pleasure. 
Young  men  mug  old  women  to  buy  one 
fix  of  heroin.  We  double-lock  our  doors 
to  prevent  thievery.  We  double-check 
our  contracts  to  ward  off  trickery.  We 
are  afraid  that  people  are  going  to  take 
advantage  of  us. 

Like  the  hockey  goalie  we  pad  our- 
selves with  various  kinds  of  insurance  to 
protect  us.  In  our  large  cities  many  wom- 
en carry  tear  gas  vials  in  their  purses, 
while  numbers  of  men  carry  guns  in 
their  cars.  Both  are  forms  of  insurance 
against  being  taken  advantage  of.  We 
carry  literal  insurance,  too,  especially 
liability  insurance  against  lawsuits  which 
can  wipe  out  all  we  have  with  one  rap 
of  the  judge’s  gavel. 

Even  people  who  are  trying  to  help 
someone  in  distress  have  to  be  careful. 
Sometimes  doctors  will  not  volunteer  to 
help  in  emergencies  because  if  things 
don’t  go  right  they  can  be  sued.  Many 
of  us  are  leery  of  helping  a stranded  mo- 


torist along  the  highway  or  of  picking 
up  a hitchhiker.  We  have  read  too  many 
stories  of  treachery  or  ambush  in  such 
situations. 

So  we  go  through  life  with  eyes  wary 
and  guard  up,  watchful,  suspicious, 
afraid.  We  pay  a high  price  in  time  and 
energy  to  defend  ourselves.  We  shut  out 
strangers  altogether  and  keep  even 
friends  at  a distance,  so  that  no  one  can 
take  advantage  of  us. 

We  need  help.  We  are  afraid.  A few 
words  from  Jesus  make  the  difference. 
“You  have  heard  that  it  was  said,  ‘An 
eye  for  an  eye  and  a tooth  for  a tooth.’ 
But  I say  to  you,  do  not  resist  one  who 
is  evil.” 

These  words  are  strong  medicine,  but 
they  have  to  be  to  deal  with  the  fears 
that  have  made  us  sick.  Jesus  is  pre- 
scribing nothing  less  than  a complete 
change  of  attitude  toward  those  we  fear 
will  take  advantage  of  us.  Our  defensive- 
ness is  so  deep-seated  that  only  a new 
and  radical  outlook  on  people  can  root 
it  out. 

Jesus  gives  examples  in  which  we  can 
discern  three  aspects  our  new  outlook 
must  have:  first,  an  openness  to  be  hurt 
rather  than  to  hurt;  second,  a readiness 
to  love  people  more  than  material  goods; 
third,  a willingness  to  do  more  for  peo- 
ple than  we  need  to  do.  In  each  case 
Jesus  gives  illustrations  which  are  drawn 
from  the  culture  of  his  day.  Our  task  is 
to  see  the  principle  that  lies  behind  the 
illustration. 

An  openness  to  be  hurt  rather  than 
to  hurt.  The  law  of  vengeance  was  built 
into  the  heart  of  clan  life  in  Old  Testa- 
ment days.  Any  damage  done  to  a mem- 
ber of  your  clan  had  to  be  avenged  as 
soon  as  possible.  The  welfare  and  secur- 
ity of  the  clan  were  thought  to  be  se- 
verely jeopardized  until  revenge  could 
be  taken.  Pride  was  fierce,  and  blood 
ran  hot;  no  one  could  harm  a strong 
man  or  his  kin  and  get  away  with  it. 

In  that  kind  of  society  the  cycle  of 
retaliation  was  unending.  Blow  called 
for  blow;  hurt  demanded  further  hurt; 
wound  could  be  healed  only  by  another 
wound.  Feuding  became  a way  of  life. 
When  tribal  and  clan  customs  gave  way 


Going 

through  life 
with  your 
armor 
on? 

Howto 
face  up  to 
the  fear 

of  being  taken  1 
advantage  of  | 


Many  of  us  are  just  like  a hockey 
goalie  shrouded  in  his  pads.  We’ve 

\ 

encased  ourselves  in  protective 
armor  to  ward  off  the  hurts  of 
life. 


to  established  law,  vengeance  was  built 
into  the  process  of  law  and  was  taken 
; out  of  the  hands  of  the  clan.  Punish- 

Iment  was  inflicted,  but  only  to  the  degree 
merited  by  the  crime,  and  there  the 
cycle  was  to  stop:  an  eye  for  an  eye, 
a tooth  for  a tooth.  No  more,  no  less. 
Exact  vengeance. 

But  Jesus  calls  his  people  to  live  by 
[ a new  pattern,  not  an  endless  feuding 
over  who  last  hurt  whom,  not  exact 
vengeance  rendering  cut  for  cut:  “If 
anyone  strikes  you  on  the  right  cheek, 
i turn  to  him  the  other  also.”  What  Jesus 
‘ demands  is  an  openness  to  be  hurt  rather 
| than  to  hurt.  Forget  about  strict  book- 
| keeping,  Jesus  says.  Don’t  keep  a care- 
I ful  ledger  of  the  damage  done  to  you 
[ by  others.  If  you  do,  you  will  become 
|t  bitter  and  hostile.  Your  retaliation  may 
turn  brutal  and  go  far  beyond  anything 
} the  original  hurt  called  for. 

A slap  on  the  cheek  is  not  the  signal 
I for  fifteen  rounds  of  boxing.  Absorb  and 
i ignore  the  slap.  Chances  are  the  person 
I will  not  slap  again.  Let  your  trust  in 
God  control  your  temper.  Your  adver- 
| sary’s  hostility  is  his  problem  basically, 
not  yours.  Don’t  add  your  fuel  to  his 
[,  fire.  Your  calmness  may  help  to  bring 
[ him  to  his  senses.  It’s  worth  a try. 

A readiness  to  love  people  more  than 
| material  goods.  Jesus’  second  illustration 
| touches  our  materialism  as  his  first  one 
' speaks  to  our  hostility.  The  illustration 
| has  to  do  with  a lawsuit:  “And  if  any 
i one  would  sue  you  and  take  your  coat, 
I let  him  have  your  cloak  as  well.”  People 
I may  try  to  take  advantage  of  us  not 
I only  by  physical  harm  but  by  legal  dam- 
I age  as  well. 

If  you’re  going  to  err,  err  on  the  side 
I of  generosity.  That’s  Jesus’  point.  If 
I someone  thinks  he  is  entitled  to  your 
I inner  tunic,  give  him  your  outer  coat  as 
I well.  Show  him  that  material  goods  are 
t not  as  important  as  he  thinks  they  are. 

My  wife,  Ruth,  and  I were  chatting 
I with  a young  woman  on  an  airplane  sev- 
I eral  months  ago.  She  told  us  an  incred- 
1 ible  story  of  a conversation  she  had  with 
I a man  who  had  broken  into  her  apart- 
I ment  the  night  before.  She  found  out 
I he  was  hungry  and  lent  him  money. 
B Beyond  that  she  went  so  far  as  to  offer 
him  the  use  of  her  apartment  for  a 
weekend  while  she  was  away.  I guess 
I looked  shocked  at  the  thought  of  her 
lending  her  apartment  to  a man  who 


had  planned  to  rob  her.  Seeing  my  look, 
she  responded,  “Well,  what  could  I lose? 
Only  my  material  possessions.” 

Learning  to  sit  loose  to  our  material 
possessions  is  part  of  Christian  disciple- 
ship.  If  we  are  afraid  that  people  are 
going  to  take  advantage  of  us,  we  may 
need  to  develop  a readiness  to  love  peo- 
ple more  than  things.  Jesus  comes  back 
to  this  at  the  close  of  our  Scripture  les- 
son: “Give  to  him  who  begs  from  you, 
and  do  not  refuse  him  who  would  bor- 
row from  you.” 

Contrast  this  advice  with  the  words  of 
old  Polonius  to  his  son  Laertes  in  Ham- 
let'. “Neither  a borrower,  nor  a lender 
be;  for  loan  oft  loses  both  itself  and 
friend,  and  borrowing  dulls  the  edge  of 
husbandry.” 

Shrewd  common  sense  is  what  the 
old  man  counseled.  Loving  concern  is 
what  Jesus  advised.  And  there’s  a dif- 
ference. Be  of  whatever  financial  help 
you  can  be  to  those  who  are  in  need. 
Let  love  control  your  pocketbook. 

A willingness  to  do  'more  for  people 
than  we  need  to  do.  Jesus’  third  illustra- 
tion comes  from  the  realm  of  Roman 
law.  A soldier  or  military  official  had  a 
right  .to  draft  civilians  to  help  carry  his 
gear.  These  civilians,  usually  citizens  of 
a country  that  the  Roman  army  had  in- 
vaded, were  compelled  to  carry  the  sol- 
dier’s burden  a distance  of  one  mile. 
Jesus  asked  of  his  disciples  a readiness 
to  do  more  for  people  than  they  need 
to:  “And  if  anyone  forces  you  to  go  one 
mile,  go  with  him  two  miles.”  Or,  as 
Kenneth  Taylor  has  translated  this  verse 
in  The  living  Bible,  “If  the  military  de- 
mand that  you  carry  their  gear  for  a 
mile,  carry  it  two.” 

Think  how  this  attitude  can  help  lib- 
erate us  from  the  fear  of  being  taken 
advantage  of.  Where  there  is  a readiness 
to  do  more  than  we  need,  we  will  rarely 
be  bilked.  Second-mile  living  puts  the 
emphasis  on  what  we  can  do  for  some- 
one else,  even  an  enemy  as  the  Roman 
soldier  was,  not  what  he  may  take  from 
us.  A good  offense  is  the  best  defense. 
We  are  less  likely  to  be  hurt  when  we 
cheerfully  care  for  the  needs  of  others 
than  when  we  crouch  in  our  defensive 
position,  fearful  that  the  world  is  going 
to  run  over  us. 

And  if  we  do  get  hurt  trying  to  do 
the  right  thing,  we  have  the  satisfaction 
of  being  in  good  company.  Christ  him- 


self and  his  best  followers  lived  this  way 
and  got  great  joy  out  of  life.  Love  is 
hard  to  beat  as  a basic  attitude. 

For  one  thing,  love  is  infectious.  It 
absorbs  hostility  and  encourages  the  other 
person  to  love  in  return.  More  than  once 
enemies  have  been  converted.  Time  and 
again  people  who  thought  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  us  have  been  turned  about 
by  Christian  love.  Loving  is  what  most 
people  want  to  be.  Aggressiveness,  mean- 
ness, anger  are  often  awkward  cries  for 
love.  The  perfect,  mature  love  that  casts 
out  fear  can  sometimes  satisfy  that  cry. 

And  even  if  it  does  not,  we  have  high 
consolation.  Love  for  our  enemies,  re- 
fusal to  retaliate,  generosity  to  their 
needs — all  these  link  us  to  God’s  love. 
These  attitudes  line  up  our  way  of  living 
with  his:  “Love  your  enemies  and  pray 
for  those  who  persecute  you,  so  that 
you  may  be  sons  of  your  Father  who 
is  in  heaven;  for  he  makes  his  sun  rise 
on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sends 
rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust” 
(Mt.  5:44-45). 

God’s  grace  changed  everything  for 
us.  He  poured  out  his  love  into  our  lives 
when  we  were  still  sinners.  He  showed 
his  goodness  to  us  when  we  were  dead 
set  against  him.  And  he  calls  us  to  live 
the  same  way. 

Afraid  of  being  taken  advantage  of? 
Learn  to  love.  That’s  the  answer.  Shed 
your  mask  and  pads,  and  open  yourself 
to  all  that  God  has  for  you.  You’ll  be 
surprised  at  how  God  will  keep  you  from 
getting  hurt.  And  you’ll  be  pleased  at 
how  he’ll  stand  by  you  and  help  you  if 
you  are  hurt. 

When  the  waves  beat  wild  and  the 
winds  blow  fierce,  listen  for  the  Savior’s 
voice.  He  knows  what  it  is  to  turn  the 
other  cheek  and  get  slapped.  He  knows 
what  it  is  to  go  the  second  mile,  carrying 
a rugged  cross.  He  knows  what  it  is  to 
give  up  not  only  his  coat  and  cloak  but 
his  life  in  a crooked  court  of  law.  To 
us  who  are  frozen  by  fear,  he  calls, 
“Take  heart,  it  is  I;  have  no  fear.”  He 
knows  what  he’s  talking  about.  We’ll  do 
well  to  listen. 

Prayer:  Lord,  we  have  so  much  to  be 
fearful  of.  Well  we  know  our  inner 
weaknesses  and  our  outer  struggles.  Help 
up  to  know  your  power  and  love  even 
better.  Show  Jesus  coming  toward  us, 
walking  on  the  water.  And  by  his  voice 
erase  our  fears,  for  his  sake.  Amen. 


THE  MENNONiTE 


523 


WHAT 

DIFFERENCE 
DOES  IT 
MAKE? 


j Henry  Poettcker 


What  difference  does  it  make  in  your 
everyday  life  if  you  are  a Christian? 
That’s  a simple  question.  But  for  this 
writer  it  took  on  an  entirely  new  thrust 
when  it  was  asked  at  a Sunday  evening 
fellowship  meeting  by  a nonbeliever  in 
a Buddhist/Shinto  society.  The  question- 
er’s contacts  with  Christianity  had  ap- 
parently been  few — possibly  they  were 
restricted  to  meeting  a Christian  on  a 
weekly  basis  during  English  language 
study. 

What  difference  does  it  make?  Would 
one  give  the  standard,  pat  answers?  I 
am  reminded  of  the  Canadian  visitor  to 
Japan  some  years  ago.  He  was  received 
graciously  by  a Japanese  host,  and  in 
the  course  of  the  association,  thought 
he  detected  a number  of  Christian  vir- 
tues in  that  host.  Then  he  discovered  that 
his  host  did  not  hesitate  to  declare  forth- 
rightly that  he  was  a Buddhist.  The 
Japanese  society  knows  kindness,  gen- 
erosity, a willingness  to  help  the  brother 
in  need.  (There  is  a new  Buddhist  lay- 
men’s movement  which  is  very  serious 
in  meeting  both  the  brother’s  physical 
and  spiritual  needs.)  These  are  traits 
which  we  normally  think  of  as  Chris- 
tian. But  to  designate  them  as  the  marks 
which  characterize  the  everyday  life  of 
the  Christian  is  not  yet  to  have  answered 
the  above  question  adequately. 

One  may  go  a step  further  to  ask 
whether  prayer  in  the  life  of  the  Chris- 
tian is  not  at  least  one  dimension  which 
does  make  the  difference  in  the  every- 
day experience.  It  could.  Yet  once  again, 
the  Buddhist  also  chants  his  prayers,  and 
the  Muslim  faithfully  says  his  prayers 
at  the  prescribed  hours  of  the  day.  Hence, 
the  action  in  itself  is  not  the  unique  fea- 
ture of  the  Christian’s  everyday  life.  Nor 
dare  we  forget  that  Jesus  was  critical 
of  the  “many  word”  prayers,  as  of  the 
“Lord,  Lord”  repetitions  without  any 
obedient  response. 

So  the  question  keeps  nagging  me: 
What  difference  does  it  make?  To  an- 
swer that  query  I must  begin  where  I 


began  when  a spokesman  from  the  re- 
cently formed  Rissho-Kosakai  Buddhist 
laymen’s  movement  asked  me  how  I 
would  evaluate  their  movement  as  com- 
pared with  Christianity.  I said  the  basic 
difference  lay  in  the  founders  of  the  two 
movements.  Buddha  lived,  made  his  con- 
tributions, and  then  died,  and  that  termi- 
nated his  activities.  Jesus  Christ  lived, 
made  his  contributions,  and  then  died — 
but  there  followed  the  glorious  sequel 
of  the  resurrection.  God  raised  him  from 
the  dead,  and  today  he  is  present  with 
us  as  a living  Lord. 

The  difference  which  the  everyday 
life  of  the  Christian  evidences  is  this 
living  in  the  reality  of  that  ever-present 
Lord.  First  of  all,  he  recreates  people 
into  “new  creatures.”  Call  this  health, 
wholeness,  the  complete  life,  salvation. 
The  Bible  uses  all  of  these  terms.  From 
testimony  after  testimony  we  have  heard 
from  our  Japanese  brethren  and  sisters 
here,  the  evidences  of  a new  life,  a 
wholeness  which  their  former  lives  did 
not  know.  Some  spoke  of  a reversion 
back  to  that  former  way  of  life,  but 
then  expressed  their  thankfulness  at  God’s 
grace  and  the  brethren’s  forgiveness  in 
accepting  them  back  into  the  Christian 
fellowship  once  again.  Now  they  spoke 
of  the  confident  assurance  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  with  them  in  their  daily  walk. 

The  everyday  life  of  the  Christian  is 
one  walked  with  a new  perspective. 
God’s  children  are  those  whose  lives 
have  meaning  and  purpose.  We  have 
been  humbled  during  these  weeks  to 
meet  our  Japanese  pastors  and  to  hear 
how  they  dared  to  give  up  a business,  or 
an  educational  career,  or  financial  se- 
curity to  work  with  Christ  with  an  en- 
tirely new  perspective.  I still  hear  the 
statement  of  one  person  (which  is  in- 
dicative of  what  such  a decision  meant 
for  all  of  them)  ringing  in  my  ears.  “I 
knew  that  if  I became  a Christian,  I 
would  have  to  go  all  the  way.”  To  see 
what  that  implied  in  the  Japanese  cul- 
ture, the  traditional  ways  so  hard  to 


change,  is  to  see  clearly  the  new  per- 
spective. 

The  everyday  life  of  the  Christian  is 
one  lived  in  joy.  Repeatedly  I have  been 
struck  by  the  radiance  which  we  observe 
here  in  people’s  countenance,  and  their 
association,  as  Christians  meet  each  oth- 
er. They  testify  to  a deep  abiding  joy, 
even  amid  sorrowful  times. 

With  such  a perspective  and  such  joy, 
the  everyday  life  of  the  Christian  also 
knows  meaningful  prayer,  prayer  that  is 
actually  communion  with  the  eternal. 
An  unforgettable  moment  for  us  was  a 
visit  to  a grandmother  in  the  hospital 
here.  There  was  a language  barrier  and 
we  needed  an  interpreter.  But  when  we 
paused  for  a moment  of  prayer,  spoken 
in  two  languages,  we  experienced  a depth 
of  fellowship  which  was  inspiring.  Thank- 
fulness for  a new  life,  thankfulness  for 
answered  prayer,  thankfulness  for  help- 
ful friends — these  were  the  expressions 
of  praise  of  this  dear  old  sister. 

There  is  something  that  follows  from 
all  of  the  above.  The  everyday  life  of 
the  Christian  is  one  lived  with  new  mo- 
tivation: service  that  is  given  in  the 
name  of  Christ.  As  Mennonites  we  know 
and  have  come  to  appreciate  deeply  the 
slogan:  “in  the  name  of  Christ.”  Thou- 
sands of  people  around  the  world  have 
heard  and  felt  what  was  done  for  them 
in  the  name  of  Christ.  From  govern- 
ment statesmen,  to  royalty,  to  the  poor 
bedouin  in  Arabia,  or  the  poverty-strick- 
en outcaste  in  Bangladesh — many  have 
experienced  service  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  have  wondered  about  the 
motivation  for  that  kind  of  service.  To- 
day I am  thrilled  that  especially  young 
people  have  been  challenged  to  give 
themselves  for  this  kind  of  service.  They 
also  come  from  Japan,  Korea,  Taiwan, 
and  Indonesia. 

What  difference  does  it  make  in  your 
everyday  life  if  you  are  a Christian? 
Supposing  you  answer  that  question,  for 
today  Christians  are  on  trial  for  their 
“everyday  living.” 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


524 


SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


NEWS 


Day  of  concern  for  Vietnamese  prisoners  set 


i; 

September  23  has  been  dec’ared  an  In- 
ternational Day  of  Concern  and  Act;on 
j for  the  thousands  of  civilians  still  im- 
prisoned by  the  Sou'h  Vietnamese  Gov- 
\ emment. 

General  Conference  Mennonite  con- 
gregations are  among  the  churches  across 
North  America  wh’ch  are  being  asked  to 
I observe  this  day  of  special  concern.  Har- 
I old  Regier,  General  Conference  secre- 
I tary  for  peace  and  social  concerns,  said 
' the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries  was 
f mailing  a letter  to  all  U.S.  churches  in 
I the  conference,  encouraging  pastors  to 
bring  this  call  for  concern  before  the 
j congregations  and  encouraging  prayers 
I for  the  releace  of  political  prisoners. 

These  prisoners  are  civilians  who  have 
I been  imprisoned  for  their  dissenting 
| views.  Neither  the  U.S.  nor  South  Viet- 
I namese  governments  will  release  the 
| number  of  such  prisoners,  but  a study 
I commission  under  the  U.S.  Senate’s  iu- 
I d’ciary  subcommittee  on  refugees  has 
I visited  Indochina  and  reported  that 
“there  are  thousands  of  civilian  political 
I prisoners  in  South  Vietnam.”  The  re- 
I port  also  says  that  these  prisoners  in- 
j elude  not  only  civilians  detained  as 
I “Communist  criminals,”  but  many  other 
I civilians  from  across  the  political  spec- 
I trum.  Many  are  non-Communist  discent- 
I ers — journalists,  students,  and  those 
I whose  only  crime  may  have  been  to 
| exercise  free  speech  in  the  interest  of 
j peace. 

“Some  would  argue  that  this  is  an  in- 
ternal Vietnamese  problem  about  which 
the  United  States  Government  cannot 
speak  and  for  which  the  American  peo- 
ple bear  no  responsibility,”  said  Walton 
I Hackman,  executive  secretary  of  the 

I,  Mennonite  Central  Committee  Peace 
Section.  “However,  on  closer  inspection 
of  the  facts,  one  would  conclude  that 
the  United  States  bears  much  of  the 
j responsibility.” 

He  said  the  U.S.  military  was  respon- 
I sible  for  developing  Operation  Phoenix, 

| a clandestine  project  in  which  unsympa- 
j thetic  village  or  province  leaders  were 
j1  assassinated  and  others  from  the  area 
: who  were  suspected  or  who  had  at  any 
time  and  in  any  way  spoken  against  the 
Thieu  Government  were  arrested,  often 


without  specific  charge.  By  official  U.S. 
count,  at  least  100,000  persons  were  de- 
tained under  this  program  since  1968. 

The  United  States,  he  said,  is  also 
providing  funds  for  Sou  h Vietnamese 
prisons  and  police.  As  of  June  30,  known 
U.S.  Agency  for  International  Develop- 
ment expenditures  for  police  and  prisons 
total  $83  million.  Known  Defense  De- 
partment expenditures  total  $131  mil- 
lion, and  more  is  budgeted  for  1974. 

In  addition,  Mr.  Hackman  said,  “the 
failure  to  include  any  provisions  for 
the  release  of  South  Vie  namese  civilian 
prisoners  in  the  terms  of  the  ceasefire 
agreement  is  a tacit  approval  by  the 
United  States  Government  of  the  police 
and  prison  system  in  South  Vietnam.” 

Reports  of  the  torture  and  violation 
of  basic  human  rights  of  these  prisoners 
has  been  documented  by  those  who  have 
escaped  or  been  released,  and  many 
have  died  in  prison  or  have  been  per- 
manently disabled  by  their  ill  treatment 
in  tiger  cages,  he  said. 

“Persons  of  conscience  cannot  con- 
done such  inhumane  and  cruel  action 
as  that  being  perpetrated  on  the  South 
Vietnamese  civilian  prisoners,”  Mr.  Hack- 
man  said.  “There  can  be  no  peace  in 


Vietnam  until  this  account  is  settled. 
There  will  need  to  be  some  restitution 
made  to  these  prisoners  before  the  ac- 
counts of  Vietnam  can  be  closed.” 

Mr.  Regier  said  pastors  and  congrega- 
tional peace  representatives  were  being 
encouraged  to  make  the  plight  of  the 
prisoners  visible  in  the  congregational 
service,  provide  information  on  further 
resources  (included  in  the  mailing),  urge 
members  to  write  letters  to  the  editor 
of  their  local  newspaper,  and  urge  letters 
to  Congress  to  reduce  foreign  aid  to 
Vietnam  as  long  as  political  prisoners 
are  held.  Posters  and  bumper  stickers 
are  available,  and  the  British  telev:sion 
company,  Granada,  has  released  a thirty- 
minute  color  film,  called  “Vietnam:  A 
otuestion  of  torture.” 

Another  option  for  action  is  “adopt- 
ing” prisoners  by  name.  A list  of  800 
names  and  addresses  of  South  Viet- 
namese prisoners  is  available  from  In- 
dochina Program/American  Friends 
Service  Committee,  112  S.  16th  S ., 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania  19102. 

Further  information  on  the  day  of 
concern  is  available  in  the  mailing  to 
congregations  or  from  the  mcc  Peace 
.Section,  Akron,  Pennsylvania. 


Political  prisoners  look  out  of  Chanh  Hung  prison  in  South  Vietnam. 


THE  MENNONITE 


525 


Rex  Humbard:  North  America's  TV  pastor 


Levi  Miller 

Less  than  two  years  ago,  soon  after  Rex 
Humbard  and  the  Cathedral  of  Tomor- 
row had  bought  the  hugest  building  in 
downtown  Akron  for  10  million  dollars, 
he  stood  up  in  front  of  the  Kiwanis 
members  of  that  city  and  reminded 
them  that  it  is  wrong  to  lie  and  to  steal 
and  that  they  should  quit  stealing — even 
pencils.  And  he  promised  them  a blessing 
for  such  good  behavior. 

Today,  Rex  Humbard,  North  Amer- 
ica’s television  pastor,  is  not  talking  to 
many  clubs,  much  less  passing  along 
financial  counsel  to  businessmen.  Two 
civil  suits  are  pending  against  him,  and 
the  huge  twenty-four-story  Akron  Cas- 
cade Plaza  Building  is  going  back  to  its 
former  owner.  Mr.  Humbard  and  the 
Cathedral  are  under  court-appointed 
management  with  orders  not  to  add  any 
assets  to  the  financial  empire  and  not  to 
communicate  with  the  4,000  persons  who 
have  annually  been  bringing  two  million 
into  the  Cathedral  coffers  by  buying 
what  are  allegedly  unregistered  and  un- 
redeemable bonds. 

A proposed  500-foot  tower  which 
was  to  have  a revolving  restaurant  on 
top  stands  behind  the  Cathedral  — un- 
finished and  unfinanced.  The  idea  and 
plan  for  the  half-completed  tower  — re- 
ferred to  by  local  businessmen  as  Rex’s 
phallus  — were  borrowed  wholesale 
from  a tower  Humbard  spotted  when  he 
visited  Calgary,  Alberta. 

Another  project,  the  Cathedral’s  col- 
lege on  bleak  Mackinac  Island  along  the 
shores  of  Lake  Huron,  is  now  closed 
after  a year  of  small  enrollment,  about 
100  by  the  end  of  June,  and  bitter  feel- 
ings by  some  thirty  faculty  and  admin- 
istrators who  felt  deserted  by  the  Cathe- 
dral when  the  financial  crunch  came  this 
winter.  All  island  properties,  a three- 
million-dollar  venture,  are  up  for  sale. 

And  if  these  setbacks  were  not  enough, 
profits  from  Mr.  Humbard’s  girdle  fac- 
tory in  New  York,  which  the  Cathedral 
has  owned  since  1965,  have  now  turned 
into  red  figures  since  panty  hose  came 
in  a few  years  ago. 

Yet,  Rex  Humbard,  who  preaches  on 
over  300  television  stations  every  week, 
sees  all  this  as  a crisis  for  God.  Early  in 
April  of  this  year,  he  sent  a letter  to  his 
viewers  calling  on  them  to  send  him  $ 1 00 
because  “Rex  needs  your  help.  God’s 
work  needs  your  help.  And  I don’t  want 
you  to  leave  God  down.  . . . This  is  a 
crisis  for  God.” 


Rex  Humbard 


In  this  same  letter  he  asked  persons 
who  do  not  have  the  money  themselves 
to  borrow  it.  To  add  veracity  to  that 
request,  Rex  said  that  he  and  his  wife 
Maude  Aimee  had  prayed  about  “God’s 
crisis”  and  they  themselves  had  bor- 
rowed $100  for  it. 

This  latter  claim  was  euphemistically 
called  a “misrepresentation”  by  Judge 
Paul  E.  Riley,  the  court-appointed  over- 
seer of  the  Cathedral.  Undoubtedly, 
Judge  Riley  knows  that  the  Cathedral 
gives  Rex  a hefty  salary  and  that  Maude 
Aimee  has  chosen  to  live  in  a $250,000, 
twenty-room  mansion  in  the  midst  of 
Akron’s  rubber  barons. 

But  if  Rex  and  the  Cathedral  are  in 
financial  trouble,  the  triads  of  Greek 
columns  against  a red  curtain  back- 
ground on  the  TV  screen  and  the  warm 
country  gospel  sounds  of  the  Cathedral 
Singers  would  hardly  indicate  it.  In  early 
June  at  a television  rally  in  Pittsburgh, 
the  faithful  gathered  by  the  thousands 
to  support  their  Rex,  who  preaches  “a 
simple  gospel.”  These  sincere  followers 
lustily  sang  “When  the  roll  is  called  up 
yonder”  and  pitied  Rex  for  having  to 
shake  so  many  hands  and  give  friends 
warm  embraces.  “This  makes  him  so 
tired,”  a woman  told  me.  Then  she  went 
through  the  receiving  line  twice. 

Mr.  Humbard’s  followers  are,  after 
all,  not  Billy  Graham’s  well-heeled  civil 
pietists.  Rex’s  men  wear  white  shoes 
and  his  women  chew  gum  vigorously. 
They  are  folk  who  make  steel  at  Pitts- 


burgh and  those  who  came  up  from  the 
South  to  work  at  Akron’s  rubber  fac- 
tories. 

For  them,  Rex  even  with  his  private 
jet,  fame,  and  vast  financial  holdings 
remains  one  of  them.  They  can  under- 
stand him:  “It  don’t  (sic)  make  sense 
not  to  go  to  church.  I believe  in  a God 
of  miracles.  The  Lord  is  the  same  yes- 
terday, today,  and  forever.  There  is 
nothing  like  a god-fearing  mother.” 

Rex  learned  this  language  from  his 
traveling  evangelist  father  and  mother. 
Born  fifty-four  years  ago,  Rex  was  the 
oldest  of  six  children  who  spent  their 
childhood  years  lying  in  cradles  behind 
the  platform  in  the  tents  of  the  traveling 
evangelistic  family  in  rural  Arkansas. 
His  basic  theology,  learned  during  those 
early  years,  has  undergone  few  changes 
other  than  promising  a little  more  of 
this  earth  in  addition  to  a free  reward 
in  heaven.  In  reviewing  the  $21  million 
in  real  estate,  which  the  Humbard  Cathe- 
dral accumulated  in  1971,  Rex  said, 
“The  Lord  will  bless  a work  and  pros- 
per it  if  the  principles  behind  it  are 
correct.” 

Every  week  on  over  300  television 
stations,  Rex  reminds  his  viewers  that 
at  thirteen  he  went  up  to  an  “old-fash- 
ioned mourners’  bench  and  prayed 
through”  and  that  he’s  been  preaching 
the  simple  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  ever 
since  that  time. 

As  Rex  Humbard  developed  into  an 
able  guitarist,  singer,  and  evangelistic 
team  member,  his  acquaintance  with  a 
young  woman  in  Dallas,  Texas,  may 
have  been  a crucial  event  in  his  career. 
Maude  Aimee  Jones,  whose  flashy 
clothes  and  beehive  hairdos  indicate 
that  she  learned  well  her  teenage  pro- 
fession as  a window  dresser,  brought  to 
Rex  an  able  vocal  soloist  who  can  sing 
“Until  then”  and  other  gospel  songs  with 
force  and  presence.  They  have  been  a 
team  for  thirty-one  years. 

Maude  Aimee’s  strict  Pentecostal 
mother  had  a vision  for  her  daughter. 
She  named  her  after  Aimee  Elizabeth 
Semple  McPherson,  the  evangelist  who 
built  a million-dollar  temple  in  Los  An- 
geles in  the  1930s.  Not  surprisingly, 
Rex  and  Maude  Aimee  also  named  their 
only  daughter  Aimee  Elizabeth. 

Eventually  in  1955  the  Humbard  fam- 
ily came  to  Akron,  Ohio.  There,  with 
$65  and  a large  following,  after  a five- 
week  crusade,  Rex  and  Maude  Aimee 


526 


SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


stayed  while  the  rest  of  the  family  moved 
on.  Eventually  Rex’s  sister  Leona  and 
her  husband  Wayne  Jones  stayed  with 
them  and  after  five  years  in  a local 
theater-turned-church,  Calvary  Temple, 
the  Cathedral  of  Tomorrow  was  built. 
Already  using  the  TV  in  the  mid-fifties, 
Rex  finally  finished  the  two-million-dol- 

I lar  5,000-seat  Cathedral,  thanks  to  faith- 
ful contributions  from  members  and  a 
S 1,200,000  loan  from  Jimmy  Hoffa’s 
Teamsters  Union  Pension  Fund. 

The  Cathedral’s  design  reflects  Rex’s 
mission  in  and  of  the  world.  Its  rounded 

t 

dome,  the  world,  is  supported  by  forty- 
eight  pillars,  representing  the  states  of 
the  Union  in  1958.  Although  Canada’s 
existence  was  missed  at  that  stage  of 
the  architectural  plans,  today  Rex  rec- 
ognizes it.  He  has  concluded  that  the 
only  place  revival  can  happen  is  in  the 
U.S.  and  Canada.  That’s  because  these 
two  countries  are  the  only  ones  in  the 
world  which  have  total  religious  liberty, 
he  says. 

The  Cathedral  claims  to  have  fifty  mis- 
sionaries in  thirty  fields  but  the  public 
relations  director  couldn’t  give  any  spe- 
cifics on  the  program.  Rex  himself  was 
unavailable,  to  me  at  least,  for  an  in- 
terview. He  tells  the  local  newspapers 
that  talking  to  the  press  “only  compli- 
cates things.” 

His  son,  Rex,  Jr.,  however,  assured 
me  that  if  it  were  not  for  the  two  court 
litigations,  his  father  would  gladly  sit 
down  and  talk  for  an  afternoon  about 
the  Cathedral’s  ministry. 

It  was  from  this  Akron  Cathedral 
base  and  what  eventually  became  a week- 

| ly  estimated  fifteen  million  TV  “con- 
gregation” on  as  high  as  360  stations 
that  Rex  amassed  the  vast  financial  hold- 
ings mentioned  earlier  in  this  article, 
plus  a TV  studio,  printing  firm,  senior 
citizens’  apartment  building,  and  a buf- 
fet restaurant.  At  the  time  the  Akron 
Center  building  still  belonged  to  the 
Cathedral,  its  total  assets  were  estimat- 
ed at  $31,000,000. 

Unlike  the  person  he  admires  so 
much,  TV  minister  Oral  Roberts,  who 
has  sound  business  acumen,  Rex  does 
not.  Paul  A.  Miller,  an  Akron  Menno- 
nite  attorney,  who  has  followed  the 
Cathedral’s  adventures,  says  the  Cathe- 
dral has  made  purchases  which  are  not 
based  on  sound  business  judgment  but 
apparently  with  the  hope  the  contribu- 
tions from  the  TV  audience  will  cover 
all  ills.  Mr.  Humbard,  claiming  that 
“profit  is  not  a dirty  word  in  religion,” 
cites  the  Apostle  Paul’s  tentmaking  and 
Noah’s  wealth  in  building  the  ark.  He 


always  affirms  that  the  business  ventures 
were  to  “save  souls  and  to  do  God’s 
work.  It  was  the  work  of  the  Lord.” 

Whatever  the  motives,  after  twenty 
securities  salesmen-ministers  had  since 
1959  reportedly  sold  some  $12  million 
in  unregistered  bonds  (an  illegal  activ- 
ity) to  four  million  investors  in  nearly 
every  state  and  province  of  North  Amer- 
ica, the  Ohio  Commerce  Department  and 
the  U.S.  Securities  and  Exchange  cracked 
down  by  filing  separate  suits  early  this 
year.  The  suits  halted  sale  of  Cathedral 
securities,  froze  assets,  and  limited 
spending. 

Dried  of  these  security  sales  and  with 
several  businesses  in  trouble,  Rex  hit 
the  panic  button  in  his  greatest  “Crisis 
for  God.”  Thus  the  net  effect  of  the 
man  who  set  out  to  put  God  on  Main 
Street  was  to  put  the  Cathedral  on  the 
financial  pages  of  the  northern  Ohio 
press,  to  put  his  lawyers  in  the  court- 
rooms, and  to  spend  the  money  of  inno- 
cent followers  in  dubious  business  in- 
vestments. 

Thus  in  early  May  on  a Wednesday 
evening  after  severe  staff  cutbacks  and 
taking  off  some  TV  stations,  Rex  told 
his  Cathedral  congregation  that  he  had 
sinned  and  plans  to  get  out  of  secular 
activities,  all  that  is  not  “the  work  of 
the  Lord.” 

However  at  the  time  of  this  writing 
only  the  downtown  Akron  building  has 
been  sold.  In  this  same  announcement, 
Mr.  Humbard  also  mentioned  that  if 
the  tower  ever  is  finished,  it  will  not 
have  a revolving  restaurant  on  top,  but 
a prayer  room  and  a library  for  study 
and  meditation. 

This  is  not  a time  for  Christians  to 
gloat  over  Rex’s  economic  woes  or  his 
troubles  with  the  law.  In  fact,  histor- 
ically Christians  have  a long  record  of 
being  in  jail  or  at  odds  with  the  law. 
This  may  also  be  a time  to  affirm  Rex 
Humbard  for  the  constant  reminder  he 
gives  to  his  audiences  that  persons  are 
sinful  and  cannot  save  themselves  and 
must  call  on  Jesus  Christ  for  help. 

One’s  main  problem  with  Rex  Hum- 
bard is  not  language,  but  the  overall 
effect  of  his  operations  and  the  implicit 
messages.  Therefore,  the  legality  aside, 
and  admitting  the  good,  one  might  raise 
several  questions  about  the  Cathedral’s 
operations. 

First,  for  Christians  who  believe  that 
God  can  work  through  denominations, 
Mr.  Humbard’s  strong  antidenomina- 
tionalism  is  rather  difficult  to  accept.  As 
suming  that  denominations  stifle  his 
freedom  to  “preach  the  gospel  accord- 


ing to  God’s  Holy  Word,  and  the  dic- 
tates of  my  own  conscience,”  Mr.  Hum- 
bard has,  in  essence,  cut  himself  off 
from  the  counsel  of  brothers  and  sis- 
ters. Thus  he  presents  Jesus  Christ  as 
an  inner  reality  quite  removed  from  a 
local  body  of  believers.  This  dichotomy 
leads  him  to  speak  of  a “TV  congrega- 
tion.” There  are  reasons  why  few  de- 
nominational ministers  attend  his  TV 
rallies  even  though,  if  they  go,  they’ll  be 
asked  to  stand  and  are  given  a free  book 
of  Rex’s  sermons. 

Second,  when  does  a religious  insti- 
tution acquire  such  large  financial  hold- 
ings which  are  only  marginally  function- 
al to  the  mission  of  the  church  that  they 
finally  pervert  it? 

Many  denominations  have  been  ask- 
ing themselves  that  same  question,  and 
one,  the  Church  of  the  Brethren,  even 
sold  all  stock  that  was  tied  to  military 
production.  But  even  assuming  that  the 
Cascade  Building  in  Akron  would  have 
been  a good  investment,  is  it  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  church  to  finance  its  mis- 
sion with  operations  such  as  girdle  fac- 
tories and  ski  resorts?  Even  Mr.  Hum- 
bard has  decided  that  it  isn’t. 

Third,  to  what  extent  is  Mr.  Humbard 
truly  spreading  the  Word  of  Jesus  in  a 
prophetic  sense  or  is  he  merely  reflect- 
ing the  popular  values  of  society?  Roger 
T.  Smitter,  a Heidelberg  College  (Ohio) 
communications  professor,  after  careful 
analysis  of  the  weekly  program  says 
that  Mr.  Humbard  projects  the  four 
main  values  of  American  society:  (1) 
a pragmatic  and  practical  faith,  (2)  a 
stress  on  success,  (3)  encouragement  of 
busyness  in  evangelism,  and  (4)  the  prom- 
ise of  heavenly  reward. 

In  other  words,  in  maintaining  a 
“simple  gospel”  and  a “spiritual  minis- 
try” that  deals  mainly  in  sloganeering 
cliches,  Rex  Humbard  appears  to  mere- 
ly affirm  God’s  approval  of  the  society 
in  which  he  happens  to  find  himself 
(North  America  in  this  case)  rather 
than  to  call  both  the  people  and  the 
oppressive  structures  into  judgment. 

The  future  of  Mr.  Humbard’s  empire 
and  ministry  is  uncertain.  However, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  has  a 
strong  impact  on  many  North  Amer- 
icans. And  he  still  has  many  friends, 
even  notables  such  as  Pat  Boone,  Oral 
Roberts,  Dale  Evans,  and  Kathryn  Kuhl- 
man,  who  were  scheduled  to  come  to 
the  Cathedral  in  August  to  celebrate 
Rex’s  forty  years  in  the  ministry.  The 
advance  publicity  also  mentioned  that 
he  had  a birthday  and  a wedding  anni- 
versary in  August. 


THE  MENNONITE 


527 


B.C.  church  reaches  out  to  "nearby”  towns 


First  Mennonite  Church,  Burns  Lake, 
British  Columbia,  is  small  and  scattered, 
by  the  standards  of  most  congregations. 
Its  100  members  are  spread  over  a fifty- 
mile  radius.  Yet,  in  this  lumber  and  min- 
ing region  with  few  churches,  the  Burns 
Lake  congregation  is  reaching  out  into 
two  towns  thirty-five  and  sixty-five  miles 
away. 

Pastor  Ed  Giesbrecht  reported  the 
Burns  Lake  congregation  has  been  go- 
ing for  about  a year  into  Granisle,  a 
town  about  sixty-five  miles  northwest  of 
Burns  Lake  which  has  grown  to  1,000 
residents  in  the  few  years  since  the 
copper  mines  were  opened.  The  popu- 
lation will  probably  double  again  in  a 
short  time. 

There  is  no  church  there.  Anglicans 
go  in  bimonthly  for  a service;  a few 
Catholics  meet  in  a home;  and  Menno- 
nites  are  going  in  twice  a week. 

“We  began  with  children’s  classes 
every  Friday  night  plus  adult  Bible 
study,”  said  Mr.  Giesbrecht.  “However, 
the  work  grew  so  rapidly  that  we  . . . 
began  having  the  adult  Bible  study  on 
Wednesday  instead.  . . . We  have  ap- 
proximately 150  children  and  young  peo- 
ple meeting  at  the  school  for  classes, 
and  twelve  to  fifteen  adults  for  the  Bible 
study.  Often  this  group  meets  on  their 
own  on  Tuesday  nights  to  study  the 
lesson  ahead  of  time  so  as  to  be  better 
prepared  for  Wednesday.  Most  of  those 
attending  are  non-Mennonite,  and  three 
of  these  have  made  a commitment  to 
Christ  already.” 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Rempel  from  the 
Burns  Lake  church  conduct  the  Bible 
studies,  and  eleven  teachers  and  help- 
ers go  to  Granisle  for  the  children  and 
youth  classes.  George  and  Carol  Born 
from  Mission,  British  Columbia,  planned 
to  come  to  Granisle  as  full-time  work- 
ers in  September. 

The  congregation  has  also  established 
an  outreach  at  Topley,  an  older  com- 
munity of  500  people,  thirty-five  miles 
west  of  Burns  Lake. 

“We  were  told  when  we  began  the 
work  that  several  other  churches  had 
tried  to  start  a work  but  without  suc- 
cess,” Mr.  Giesbrecht  said.  “We  began 
our  classes  in  a little  building  which 
had  been  used  as  a morgue,  but  we 
fixed  it  and  used  it  until  it  became  too 
small.  Now  we  are  permitted  to  use  the 
school  here,  too.  Through  this  work  a 
whole  family  of  thirteen  have  committed 
their  lives  to  Christ.  The  parents  now 


attend  our  church  whenever  possible  and 
are  taking  an  active  part  in  a weekly 
Low-German  Bible  study. 

A bookstore,  originally  operated  by 
the  church,  continued  for  three  years  as 
the  only  store  of  its  kind  in  150  miles, 
but  has  since  closed  for  lack  of  avail- 
able volunteers. 

Another  outreach  is  the  Rock  Drop-In 
Center  for  youth  in  Burns  Lake,  in  op- 
eration for  almost  a year.  The  center  is 
a former  coffee  shop  on  Main  Street. 


" Lift  Jesus  higher" 


Activities  include  table  games,  conver- 
sation, and  counseling  with  the  young 
people. 

“Most  of  those  who  come  in  are  na- 
tive, and  many  of  these  are  children 
who  are  on  the  streets  for  hours  every 
night,”  Mr.  Giesbrecht  explained.  “This 
is  the  only  place  they  seem  to  want  to 
come;  they  don’t  come  to  our  Sunday 
schools  or  churches.” 

Dwight  and  Vera  Nickel  have  been 
actively  involved  in  the  coffeehouse. 


One  young  woman’s  teeshirt  and  one 
theme — “Lift  Jesus  higher” — of  the  Jesus  73  rally  on  Mennonite  Paul  Mast’s  potato 
farm  near  Morgantown,  Pennsylvania.  The  rally  brought  together  as  many  as  15,000 
young  people  for  a long  weekend  of  Bible  reading,  prayer,  preaching,  and  gospel 
music.  The  event,  a Woodstock  of  the  Jesus  people,  had  been  planned  for  two  years, 
and  its  officials  said  the  purpose  of  Jesus  73  was  to  demonstrate  that  “Christ  is  not 
locked  behind  the  church  doors.  . . . He  is  among  us  and  in  us.”  Among  the  speakers 
and  entertainers  were  Tom  Skinner,  Nicky  Cruz,  and  Katie  Hanley  of  “Godspell 
fame.  Some  young  people  were  baptized  in  a nearby  creek. 


528 


SEPTEMBER  18.  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


I September  18,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 


Seminar  faces  issues  of  war  and  peace 


t As  a new  member  of  our  Central  Dis- 
trict peace  and  service  committee,  I 
attended  the  Seminar  on  Christian  Holi- 
i ness  and  the  Issues  of  War  and  Peace 
June  7-9  at  Winona  Lake,  Indiana.  The 
| seminar  was  sponsored  jointly  by  the 
| Peace  and  Social  Concerns  Commission 
| of  the  Brethren  in  Christ  Church  and 
I by  the  Christian  Holiness  Association 
| Commission  on  Social  Action.  The  Holi- 
ness tradition  includes  the  Wesleyan 
Church,  Free  Methodist  Church,  Church 
of  God,  Nazarene  Church,  and  Salva- 
tion Army. 

Of  the  twenty-six  participants  deliver- 
ing prepared  papers,  most  were  educators 
associated  with  such  colleges  as  Hough- 
ton, Malone,  George  Fox,  Messiah,  Tre- 
vecca  Nazarene,  and  Spring  Arbor. 


Myron  Augsburger  of  the  Mennonite 
Church  delivered  the  opening  address, 
entitled  “Facing  the  problem.”  He  made 
an  eloquent  case  for  biblical  nonresist- 
ance. According  to  Mr.  Augsburger, 
Dwight  L.  Moody  said  that  on  the  issue 
of  war,  he  was  like  a Quaker. 

Mr.  Augsburger  hammered  home 
that  the  current  idea  that  if  you  are 
conservative  theologically,  you  have 
to  be  conservative  politically  and  on 
social  issues,  was  a myth. 

This  address  was  followed  by  two  re- 
spondents, one  supporting  and  one  chal- 
lenging. In  my  discussion  group  the  first 
night  were  two  hawks,  two  doves,  and 
one  who  seemed  to  be  some  of  both. 


and  one  who  preferred  to  remain  in  a 
state  of  uncertainty.  Our  first  group  was 
notable  for  politeness  and  feeling  each 
other  out. 

Other  speakers  included  Richard  Tay- 
lor, Nazarene  Seminary,  who  made  a case 
for  participation  in  war,  and  Owen  Al- 
derfer,  Ashland  Seminary,  who  made  a 
case  for  nonparticipation. 

In  responding  to  these  two  speakers, 
Donald  Joy  of  Asbury  Seminary  com- 
mented, “I  have  spent  my  entire  lifetime 
in  communities  of  faith  where  the  Tay- 
lor doctrine  was  the  only  orthodoxy.  I 
confess  that  there  are  moments  when 
I wonder  whether  we  should  not  honestly 
label  such  a rationale  as  red-white-and- 
blue  orthodoxy  and  admit  that  our  the- 
ology has  other  derivatives  than  God’s 
revelation  in  Scripture  and  in  Christ.” 


Churches  become  involved  in  GED  planning 


GED  is  gathering  momentum  in  con- 
gregations of  our  district.  Maplewood, 
Fort  Wayne;  Carlock;  North  Danvers; 
Bethel,  Pekin;  and  Grace,  Pandora,  com- 
mitted themselves  to  a specific  plan  of 
studying  local  needs  and  desires  and  ex- 
pectations of  members  in  the  light  of 
our  biblical-Anabaptist-Mennonite  faith. 
This  is  a one-year  commitment  subject 
to  renewal  every  twelve  months  in  a 
continuing  plan  of  Goal-Oriented  Evan- 
gelism in  Depth. 

The  following  churches  are  now  com- 
mitted to  a first  year  venture  in  GED, 
beginning  this  fall:  Pleasant  Oaks,  Mid- 
dlebury,  launched  GED  September  2; 
United  Mennonite  Peoria,  September  9; 
and  First  Mennonite,  Normal,  Illinois, 
September  23.  Meadows  Mennonite  is 
now  considering  GED  for  possible  rec- 
ommendation to  the  congregation  later 
this  fall. 

Goal-oriented  rather  than  program- 
centered  planning  has  been  pursued  ag- 
gressively by  congregations  not  following 
' the  GED  plan.  First  Mennonite,  Bluff- 
I ton,  has  been  shifting  to  goal-oriented 
' planning  for  a number  of  years  under 
Pastor  Bohn’s  leadership.  Hively  Ave. 
Mennonite  has  also  been  working  on 
goal-centered  planning  over  the  past  year. 


The  method  being  adopted  is  essen- 
tially “management  by  objectives,”  found 
so  effective  in  the  business  and  profes- 
sional world.  The  basic  purpose  is  to  in- 
volve concerned  and  responsible  people 
in  an  experience  of  examining  and  iden- 
tifying individual  and  group  needs.  These 
are  prioritized  to  determine  the  place  to 
begin.  A strategy  or  plan  of  action  to 
move  toward  the  “possibility  goals”  is 
developed  and  implemented  by  a task 
force  or  standing  committee  of  the 
church.  An  essential  part  of  this  “hap- 
pening” is  a weekend  analysis  retreat 
with  the  core  group  or  official  leader- 
ship of  the  church.  Here  the  biblical  basis 
of  the  church’s  mission  is  the  beginning 
of  the  goal-setting  process.  What  is  the 
mission  of  the  church?  If  it  is  to  share 
the  good  news  that  God  really  cares, 
how  can  this  best  be  done,  by  whom, 
where,  when? 

The  Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  is  assisting  the  district  in  pro- 
viding training  and  consultant  services 
to  the  congregation.  The  conference  min- 
ister is  prepared  to  give  information  and 
guidance.  Churches  interested  should 
contact  Jacob  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant 
Plain,  Elkhart,  Indiana  46514.  jtf 


Mr.  Joy  was  nearly  as  devastating  on 
Mr.  Alderfer’s  long  and  careful  paper, 
stating  that  each  of  the  theology  papers 
skirted  the  “central  issues  of  the  other 
side.” 

The  highlight  of  the  four  sessions  I 
attended  was  the  plenary  discussion 
which  followed  Bishop  Paul  Ellis’  ad- 
dress “The  Christian  as  peacemaker.” 
Mr.  Ellis  argued  that  pacifism  is  un- 
realistic in  a sinful  world.  James  Massey, 
black  campus  pastor  from  Anderson  Col- 
lege, responded  by  praising  the  realism 
of  Ellis  and  stated  that  peacemaking  de- 
mands action,  sometimes  even  the  action 
of  war.  Ron  Sider,  Messiah  College,  re- 
sponded that  our  first,  final,  and  only 
loyalty  is  to  the  kingdom  and  not  to 
any  human  institution. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  politeness  was 
put  aside  and  serious  debate  took  place. 
My  respect  for  both  sides  was  a natural 
feeling  and  I had  to  think  that  this  type 
of  honest  debate  of  the  Scriptures,  ethics, 
and  theology  was  much  more  consistent 
with  the  real-life  New  Testament  than 
our  present-day  church  structure  and  the 
air  of  unreality  and  blandness  that  seems 
to  pervade  much  of  our  church  life. 

The  preceding  report  was  submitted  by 
Robert  Liechty  of  Berne,  Indiana,  who 
is  a member  of  the  Central  District 
peace  and  service  committee. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-1 


HAPPENINGS 


Goshen-Elkhart  community 
opens  House  of  Simon  II 

Interested  persons  of  the  Goshen-Elkhart 
community  have  opened  a house  for 
ministry  to  offenders.  This  is  an  inter- 
church venture.  It  is  now  open  for  oc- 
cupancy. Persons  knowing  of  needs  may 
contact  Abe  Peters,  Route  3,  New  Car- 
lisle, Indiana  46552. 

October  1 6 marks  date 
for  women  missionary  rally 

All  Mennonite  women  of  Indiana  are 
invited  to  the  annual  Missionary  Rally 
October  16,  9:30-12  and  1:30-3  at  the 
Evangelical  Mennonite  Church  of  Berne. 


Shown  here,  from  left  to  right,  are  Mrs.  Shelly,  Carol  Schrock,  Janet  Guth,  Chris 
Steury,  Dianne  Guth,  and  Ward  Shelly. 


Housing,  recreation  concern 
Ft.  Wayne  summer  workcamp 

Nine  workcampers  and  one  leader  arrived 
in  Fort  Wayne  on  Saturday,  June  23,  for 
three  weeks  of  work  and  fellowship.  They 
worked  primarily  with  the  recreation 
program  at  the  East  Wayne  Street  Cen- 
ter, with  a few  helping  with  housing. 
Members  of  Maplewood  Mennonite 
Church  were  asked  to  prepare  an  evening 
meal  for  the  workcampers  and  voluntary 
service  workers.  Approximately  half  of 
the  meals  were  brought  to  the  unit  house, 
and  the  others  were  served  in  homes. 


Calvary  Church  staff  Kentucky  Bible  school 


Pastor  and  Mrs.  Ward  W.  Shelly  and  four 
young  people  from  Calvary  Mennonite 
Church  conducted  a summer  Bible 
school  in  the  middle  of  June  in  the  area 
of  McDowell  in  southeastern  Kentucky. 
Originally  we  were  scheduled  to  have  a 
school  twenty  miles  west,  but  a shooting 
broke  out  there  the  week  prior  so  it 
was  cancelled.  Mrs.  Shelly  and  the  girls 
taught  in  the  school  and  Pastor  Shelly 
drove  the  mcc  van  to  haul  about  eigh- 
teen children  in  each  morning — picking 
them  up  way  back  in  “the  hollers”  where 


one  had  to  drive  five  miles  an  hour  in 
low  gear.  This  community  is  the  loca- 
tion of  some  mcc  personnel  who  are 
associated  with  the  hospital  and  clinic 
of  Appalachia  which  includes  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Thomas  Gross,  also  of  Calvary 
Church.  Mrs.  Gross  was  in  charge  of 
crafts  for  the  whole  school.  About  forty- 
five  children  were  involved.  The  classes 
were  held  in  a small  Presbyterian  church 
where  they  were  unable  to  have  a school 
because  they  had  no  staff. 


C D president  explains  things  new  and  old 


We  often  do  not  realize  how  much  the 
church  has  changed.  For  example,  many 
active  in  the  Central  District  no  longer 
remember  the  dual  nature  of  the  roots 
of  the  conference — the  Middle  District 
and  the  Central  Conference.  Fewer  re- 
member the  days  before  1946  when  the 
Central  Conference  was  not  even  a part 
of  the  General  Conference.  Only  a few 
“old-timers”  remember  when  the  Central 
Conference  sessions  were  held  in  a big 
tent,  with  free  meals  for  all  who  attend- 
ed, served  in  another  tent,  consisting 
largely  of  bread,  apple  butter,  and  wieners 
cooked  by  the  steam  from  a steam  trac- 
tion engine.  Conference  sessions  were 
almost  entirely  inspirational.  Business 
was  transacted  by  delegates  between  ses- 
sions of  the  regular  conference.  In  con- 
trast, the  Middle  District  devoted  much 
of  its  time  to  business,  with  a few  in- 


spirational addresses.  Business  in  our  re- 
cent sessions  has  been  held  to  a minimum, 
with  hearings  and  small  group  discus- 
sions prominent. 

The  important  consideration  is  that 
then,  as  now,  the  leaders  of  the  church 
were  committed  to  the  service  of  God 
and  promotion  of  the  work  of  the  con- 
ference. Basic  purposes  have  remained 
largely  unchanged,  although  methods 
have  changed.  What  does  this  mean? 
Basically,  that  we  must  feel  free  at  all 
times  to  adapt  methods  to  the  present 
needs  of  our  people.  Meanwhile,  we 
must  continuously  evaluate  our  proce- 
dures, to  be  sure  that  we  do  not  get  stuck 
in  new  ruts  as  well  as  in  old  ones.  This 
is  true  of  individual  churches  as  well  as 
the  conference  as  a whole. 

We  need  also  to  clarify  our  goals  and 
to  adapt  our  procedures  to  the  achieve- 


ment of  those  goals.  What  purpose  does 
the  conference  serve?  What  is  the  pur- 
pose of  our  annual  sessions?  Some 
churches  have  gone  through  goal-setting 
procedures  in  the  past  few  months.  Oth- 
er churches  have  plans  for  such  studies, 
with  the  conference  committed  to  give 
assistance.  Conference  officers  and  com- 
mittees studied  conference  goals  at  a 
meeting  in  early  June. 

We  must  not  be  afraid  of  change.  It 
is  our  obligation  now  to  see  what  pro- 
cedures are  best  adapted  to  the  needs  of 
the  conference  and  the  churches  in  our 
own  day  as  we  lay  the  foundation  for 
the  future.  Lloyd  L.  Ramseyer 

Editor’s  note:  Dr.  Ramseyer  has 
been  asked  to  make  a periodic  contribu- 
tion to  the  Reporter,  speaking  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Central  District  Conference. 


A-2 


SEPTEMBER  13,  1973 


Central  District  welcomes  new 


Bauman  becomes 
Berne  pastor 

i Kenneth  Bauman  has  moved  his  family 
to  Berne,  Indiana,  to  assume  pastorate 
of  the  First  Mennonite  Church. 

Kenneth  has  recently  been  president 
of  Yeotmal  Seminary  in  India.  Last  year 
the  presidency  was  entrusted  to  Indian 
leadership.  Kenneth  was  planning  to  re- 
. turn  to  the  seminary  to  direct  the  con- 
tinuing education  and  off-campus  study 
, programs  when  he  received  a call  from 
the  Berne  congregation. 


Roger  Siebert  and  family 


Siebert  assumes  pastorate 
at  Grace  Church,  Pandora 

Roger  Siebert  has  assumed  the  pastor- 
ate of  the  Grace  Mennonite  Church, 
Pandora,  beginning  with  the  second 
Sunday  in  September.  Roger  has  been 
pastor  of  the  Deep  Run  Mennonite 
Church  in  Pennsylvania. 

Roger  and  Cay  (Snyder)  have  two 
children,  Ruth  born  January  4,  1963,  and 
David  bom  November  21,  1965. 

Edward  Springer  to  serve 
united  ministry  in  Markham 

Edward  Springer  assumed  leadership  of 
a dual  pastorate  in  July.  The  Markham 
Mennonite  and  Trinity  United  Church 
of  Christ  are  joined  in  a united  ministry 
to  the  deepest  needs  of  Markham’s  peo- 
ple. Each  church  functions  as  a separate 
congregation  related  to  their  parent  de- 
nomination. 

Edward  has  moved  from  full-time 
teaching  in  junior  high  with  pastoral 
work  as  part  time  to  a full-time  pastorate 
with  a wide-ranging  program  of  church 
and  community  involvement. 

Ed  and  Esther  live  in  the  parsonage 
adjoining  the  Markham  church,  with 
Todd,  Melanie,  and  Amy. 

I 


Richard  Bucher 


Bucher  accepts  Topeka  call 

Richard  Bucher  has  accepted  the  call  of 
the  Topeka  Mennonite  Church,  Topeka, 
Indiana,  beginning  September  1. 

Richard,  Carol,  and  their  year-old  son 
Randy  spent  last  year  in  London,  On- 
tario, fulfilling  the  seminary  requirement 
of  Congregationally  Supervised  Pastoral 
Education  (cspe).  He  will  be  complet- 
ing resident  requirements  for  graduation 
while  serving  the  Topeka  congregation. 


Richard  and  Carol  Bright 


Bright  installed  at  Trenton 

On  July  15,  Richard  Bright  was  installed 
as  pastor  of  the  Apostolic  Mennonite 
Church  with  Jacob  Friesen,  conference 
minister,  assisting  in  the  service.  Richard 
graduated  from  Mennonite  Biblical  Sem- 
inary, Elkhart,  Indiana,  in  May.  He  has 
served  as  assistant  at  Pleasant  Oaks 
Mennonite  Church,  Middlebury,  Indiana, 
and  was  licensed  by  the  pastor,  Floyd 
Quenzer,  during  a special  commissioning 
service  July  8. 


pastors 

Richard  and  Carol  (Brenneman)  both 
grew  up  in  Pennsylvania.  James  Arn 
terminated  his  services  at  Trenton  the 
end  of  May  and  is  now  living  in  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Richard  and  Carol  Bright  are  at  home 
at  203  West  State  Street,  Trenton,  Ohio. 


Regier  serves  Faith  Church 

Walter  Regier  has  accepted  the  call  to 
the  pastorate  of  the  Faith  Mennonite 
Church,  Geneva,  Nebraska,  to  begin 
serving  in  September. 

Walter  was  pastor  of  the  former  Gos- 
pel Mennonite  Church,  Peoria,  and  gave 
leadership  as  it  explored  a relationship 
with  the  United  Mennonite  Church. 

September  marks  40th  year 
for  Lima  Church,  Ohio 

First  Church,  Lima,  Ohio,  observed  its 
fortieth  anniversary,  September  9.  The 
church  was  first  known  as  the  Mennonite 
Gospel  Chapel.  Services  were  started  in 
January  1933  but  were  held  in  the  after- 
noon and  evening  in  the  building  on  the 
corner  of  Scott  and  Eureka,  owned  by 
the  Seventh-Day  Adventist  Church.  Sun- 
day school  and  morning  services  were 
started  on  September  10,  1933. 


Audiovisual 

Who  shall  survive?  A twenty-six-minute 
motion  picture  on  the  case  of  a mongol- 
oid  infant  who  was  allowed  to  die  has 
been  added  to  the  Audiovisual  Library 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 
The  film,  available  for  a rental  fee  of 
$15,  dramatizes  an  actual  case  at  John 
Hopkins  Hospital,  Baltimore,  Maryland, 
in  which  the  parents  of  a mongoloid 
baby  do  not  consent  to  an  operation 
which  would  save  the  child’s  life.  The 
hospital  and  the  surgeon  do  not  over- 
rule the  parents,  and  the  baby  dies.  Fol- 
lowing the  dramatization  a panel  of  ex- 
perts in  medicine,  law,  religion,  sociol- 
ogy, and  psychology  discusses  the  ethical, 
legal,  and  scientific  issues  involved. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-3 


Sugarcreek  “happens” 

Evidence  of  God  at  work?  You  should 
have  been  present  at  our  Christmas  pro- 
gram. Now  we  have  had  many  Christ- 
mas programs,  but  this  was  definitely  a 
new  thing.  It  was  not  “put  on,”  rather 
it  was  a happening  in  our  midst.  We 
were  a part  of  it  and  it  was  a glorious 
celebration! 

The  planning  for  it  was  very  simple: 
six  of  us  met  and  asked  God  to  guide 
us.  And  he  did!  Even  the  home  where 
we  were  meeting  seemed  like  his  holy 
temple.  Ideas  flowed  forth  and  were  put 
down  on  paper.  Each  class  was  asked  to 
plan  its  own  three-minute  part  and  all 
church  members  were  invited  to  partici- 
pate in  any  prepared  or  spontaneous 
way.  We  had  moments  of  apprehension 
but  things  just  fell  into  place.  By  the 
night  of  the  program,  expectation  was 
running  high. 

The  choir  opened  with  a resounding 
“Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,”  followed 
by  a pause  and  a lovely  solo,  “Let  all 
mortal  flesh  keep  silence.”  Then,  in  holy 
reverence,  one  class  after  another  shared 
themselves,  expressing  the  longing  for 
Christ,  the  simplicity  and  wonder  of  his 
birth,  the  joy  of  children  in  celebration, 
song,  and  giving.  Stars,  cards,  and  bal- 
loons sent  messages  of  love  throughout 
the  church.  A multimedia  cry  from 
Christ  in  poverty  was  answered  by  the 
work  of  many  hands.  Then  one  person 
after  another  simply  came  forward  and 
gave  gifts:  a new  song,  baked  goods, 
a large  print  Bible,  a tree  in  memory  of 
a beloved  member,  a family  song,  bas- 
kets of  food,  banners,  poems,  and  many 
unspoken  prayers.  Holding  hands  and 
singing,  “Joy  to  the  world,”  a huge,  lop- 
sided circle  was  made.  Truly  feeling  as 
one,  with  his  very  presence  with  us,  we 
sang  “The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  our 
strength.”  ...  It  was  over.  His  program 
was  over,  but  we  could  hardly  bear  to 
leave. 


The  new  thing  of  1972  is  not  over, 
though.  It  is  burning  in  our  hearts  and 
ringing  in  our  ears.  Our  lips  are  praising 
him  and  our  hands  reach  out  to  bless 
in  his  name.  First  Church,  Sugarcreek, 
Ohio 

Fortuna  testifies  to  faith 

I know  that  God  is  at  work  in  this  con- 
gregation because  I know  people  who 
have  confessed  hidden  hates  and  loves 
and  turned  them  over  to  Jesus  Christ 
for  guidance  in  1973. 

I believe  that  God  is  working  in  this 
congregation  through  the  young  people 
who  are  not  only  doing  their  own  things 
but  are  telling  the  adults,  “The  Spirit 
says  ‘go,’  ” “You  just  don’t  have  enough 
faith.”  Three  have  entered  VS  this  year. 

I know  that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  sus- 
taining members  of  this  congregation, 
in  that  no  one  committed  suicide  despite 
mental  anguish,  physical  disabilities,  and 
family  crisis.  Rather,  they  have  turned 
their  faces  toward  God  and  at  times  we 
wait  together  for  visions  in  a cloudy 
mirror. 

I praise  God  for  those  older  members 
who,  while  patiently  waiting  for  God’s 
reward,  audibly  give  God  the  credit  for 
strength,  health,  and  longevity.  God  has 
let  many  of  our  members  return  from 
the  hospital  in  better  health.  Many  in 
our  congregation  are  helping  relatives 
and  others  remain  in  their  own  homes 
rather  than  be  institutionalized. 

God  has  provided  us  with  a pastor 
who  I am  forever  fearing  will  leave  be- 
cause of  our  set  Missouri  ways,  the  low 
salary,  and  the  cold  parsonage.  Indeed, 
the  Weltys’  continued  presence  is  a sign 
of  God’s  loving  in  our  community. 

Some  measure  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
by  “And  there  were  added  unto  them 
daily.  ...”  I praise  the  Lord  that  in 
1972  God  supported  the  children  he 
has,  that  rifts  between  various  groups 


have  eased,  that  our  people  are  begin- 
ning to  reach  out  to  the  bigger  non-Men- 
nonite  community,  that  moments  of 
sharing  are  sometimes  highlights  of  the 
Sunday  morning  service,  that  our  family 
devotions  have  become  a joy  in  the 
morning  rather  than  a pain  at  the  table, 
and  even  that  our  two-year-old  daughter 
through  sheer  rote  exposure  to  Sunday 
morning  services  can  sing  “Praise  God 
from  whom  all  blessings  flow.”  In  her 
life  it  might  come  in  as  handy  as  tooth 
brushing  or  potty  training.  Loretta  Baum- 
gartner, Bethel  Church,  Fortuna,  Missouri 

Bluffton  sponsors  walkathon 
to  combat  hunger 

Bluffton  area  residents  got  on  their  feet 
for  a twenty-one-mile  walkathon,  spon- 
sored by  the  local  ministerial  association 
to  combat  hunger.  Sponsors  were  jointly 
asked  to  meet  a projected  target  of 
$2,000.  Contributed  funds  went  to  over- 
seas groups  as  Church  World  Services 
and  World  Relief  Commission  through 

CROP. 

The  walk  began  at  staggered  intervals 
of  8 a.m.  and  9 a.m.  or  12  noon  and  1 
p.m.  Saturday,  May  5,  from  the  First 
Church.  Walkers  proceeded  through  Pan- 
dora, to  end  at  the  local  Mennonite 
church.  Signs  of  community  support  were 
visible.  A crowd  gathered  at  First  Church, 
gave  a farewell  send-off.  Earlier  local 
merchants  supplied  items  necessary  for 
the  walk. 

The  weary  walkers  did  not  go  un- 
noticed. Not  only  were  the  first  boy  and 
girl  who  finished  the  course  awarded 
gift  certificates,  but  the  next  ten,  too, 
were  successively  awarded.  First  Church, 
Bluffton,  Ohio 


SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


A-4 


Military  reaches  high  school  youth  with  JROTC  program 


One  of  the  newest  fronts  in  the  Christian 
peacemaker’s  struggle  with  militarism  is 
the  rapidly  expanding  high  school  Junior 
Reserve  Officer  Training  Corps  (jrotc) 
program.  By  this  fall  the  present  ceiling 
of  1,200  jrotc  units  will  be  reached 
and  the  military  is  taking  action  to  raise 
the  ceiling  to  1,800  units. 

Contrary  to  what  one  might  expect, 
the  almost  1,200  jrotc  units  in  the 
United  States  today  are  not  the  product 
of  an  aggressive  Defense  Department, 
but  of  congressional  initiative.  The 
growth  of  high  school  jrotc  units  from 
254  to  1,200  between  the  mid- 1960’s 
and  1973  was  begun  by  the  rotc  Vitali- 
zation  Act  of  1964. 

An  important  related  purpose  of  the 
jrotc  program  seems  to  be  the  improve- 
ment of  the  military  image,  an  image 
tarnished  in  the  minds  of  the  American 
people  as  a result  of  Vietnam.  As  one 
Pentagon  official  recently  told  a group 
of  Mennonites  visiting  Washington,  D.C., 
“Vietnam  was  sort  of  a black  eye.” 

A summary  of  the  Marine  jrotc 
course  of  instruction  is  found  in  the 
Draft  Counselors  Newsletter,  No.  2, 
1973: 

“Cadets  in  Marine  Corp  jrotc  nor- 
mally participate  in  an  hour  of  military 
instruction  each  school  day.  About  one- 


ADMISSION 

Persons  are  admitted  regardless  of  race,  color,  or 
creed.  One  musf  be  65  years  of  age,  be  In  reasonably 
good  health,  able  to  take  care  of  oneself  and  show  signs 
of  being  able  to  live  with  others  in  a harmonious  and 
Christian  fellowship.  All  applicants  for  admission  will  be 
considered  on  an  equal  basis  and  no  denomination  will 
be  given  preference.  Please  apply  to  the  Administrator 
of  the  Home.  We  hope  that  upon  admission  you  will  be 
looking  forward  to  an  entirely  new  adventure  in  living. 


third  of  the  total  time  is  spent  in  marks- 
manship training.  Each  high  school  ca- 
det must  learn  how  to  use,  and  must 
practice  with  the  following  weapons: 
the  .22-caliber  automatic  rifle,  the  .45- 
caliber  military  pistol,  the  M-l,  the  M- 
14,  and  the  M-16.  . . . 

“Most  of  the  cadet’s  jrotc  time, 
though,  is  spent  in  training  in  leader- 
ship, military  history  and  organization, 
and  drill.  . . . Students  learn  how  to 
perform  duties  of  military  police,  includ- 
ing ‘internal  security’  work  and  arresting 
‘civilians  committing  offenses  in  area  un- 
der military  control.’  Cadets  study  the 
‘responsibilities  of  citizenship,’  including 
‘recognizing  un-American  propaganda’; 
all  these  ‘duties’  are  discussed  under  the 
general  heading  of  ‘preservation  of  the 
American  Government.’  ” 

Since  each  jrotc  program  must  be 
approved  by  the  school  board,  local  op- 
position can  be  effectively  mounted  if 
school  boards  and  committee  meetings 
are  carefully  monitored. 

A conception  of  citizenship  which  em- 
phasizes unquestioning  obedience  instead 
of  responsible  participation  and  criticism 
has  no  place  in  democratic  society.  An 
“education”  which  fosters  unquestioning 
obedience  to  authority  rather  than  crit- 
ical inquiry  does  not  deserve  the  name. 


NURSING  CARE 

Those  persons  needing  services  in  the  nursing  sec- 
fion  will  be  provided  "intermediate"  care. 

The  nursing  floor  is  a modern  fireproof  unit  design- 
ed to  - care  for  34  patients  in  semi  private  or  private 
rooms.  The  colorful,  attractive  surroundings  have  a din- 
ing, activity  and  lounge  area.  It  also  has  an  isolation 
room  to  provide  protection  for  the  patients. 

Compassionate  care  is  featured  which  Is  aimed  at 
meeting  the  emotional,  physical,  social  and  spiritual 
needs  of  the  patients.  Visitation  by  family,  friends  and 
community  organizations  is  encouraged. 


Spending  scarce  school  funds  on  jrotc 
programs  is  simply  mismanagement  of 
public  monies. 

Jrotc  builds  a society  of  adults  who 
are  trained  to  use  weapons  in  tight  situ- 
ations. Graduates  tend  to  advocate  force- 
ful solutions  to  community,  national, 
and  international  conflicts.  Such  solu- 
tions polarize  people  rather  than  work 
to  reconcile  the  differences  at  the  roots 
of  problems. 

Christians  seek  to  be  reconciling  agents 
in  the  world.  If  we  take  seriously  Jesus’ 
attitude,  “Love  your  enemies,”  we  can 
hardly  sit  quietly  by  while  a program 
that  teaches  attitudes  and  methods  for 
destruction  of  “enemies”  spreads  into 
more  of  the  nation’s  high  schools. 

Though  the  use  of  the  draft  is  ending, 
the  militarization  of  our  society  contin- 
ues. The  expansion  of  jrotc  is  merely 
one  example,  but  it  is  one  against  which 
meaningful  action  can  be  taken  in  many 
communities.  Gayle  and  Ted  Koontz, 
MCC  Peace  Section 

Meadows  Mennonite  Home 
observes  50th  anniversary 

The  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  dedication 
of  the  Meadows  Mennonite  Home  was 
observed  with  appropriate  services  on 
May  20  on  the  home  grounds.  The 
churches  of  the  area  joined  in  a service 
of  praise  and  worship  at  11:00  a.m.  An 
afternoon  service  following  an  old-fash- 
ioned “conference  dinner”  concluded  the 
day’s  observance. 

The  building  of  the  home  was  begun 
in  the  spring  of  1922  and  after  comple- 
tion was  dedicated  with  day-long  services 
attended  by  2,000  people  on  May  20, 
1923.  A west  wing  was  added  to  the 
home  in  1952,  and  a twenty-five-bed 
addition,  including  a nursing  wing,  was 
dedicated  in  1966.  The  board  of  trustees 
is  presently  studying  the  possibility  of 
doubling  the  present  capacity  of  the 
home  and  to  provide  a cottage  program. 

In  the  fifty-year  history  of  the  home 
it  has  ministered  to  over  three  hundred 
residents  of  various  Christian  faiths. 
About  half  of  these  have  been  from  the 
Mennonite  church,  with  the  remaining 
representing  some  fourteen  other  denom- 
inations. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  H.  Klassen  were 
the  first  superintendent  and  matron,  fol- 
lowed by  Rev.  and  Mrs.  George  Gundy 
and  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Frank  Mitchell.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  David  Schrag  have  served  in 
this  capacity  since  1961. 


The  new  facility  features  year  'round  air  conditioning 


MENNONITE  MEMORIAL  HOME 410  WEST  ELM  STREET,  BLUFFTON,  OHIO  45817 


A Delightful  Combination  of  a Home  For  Aged  and  Nursing  Care  For  Senior  Citizens 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-5 


Tribute  to  Mrs. 

It  was  my  father  who  wrote  a letter  ask- 
ing the  Amstutz  family  to  come  to 
Trenton,  Ohio.  Our  two  families  be- 
came and  have  remained  close  friends. 

“And  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth 
in  me  shall  never  die.” 

It  has  been  said  that  “the  zest  for 
living,  for  being  more  than  just  a sur- 
vivor, must  come  from  a personal  deci- 
sion to  grow.” 

Paul  prayed  for  his  Christian  friends 
to  grow  in  knowledge,  faith,  and  love. 
Peter  called  for  them  to  keep  on  grow- 
ing. 

The  one  whose  life  we  honor  today 
truly  exemplifies  this  philosophy. 

Mrs.  Amstutz,  a scholar  and  a teacher, 
believed  that  a person  needs  to  continue 
to  learn,  to  grow  in  awareness  and  un- 
derstanding of  himself,  his  fellowman, 
and  the  world.  An  avid  reader  of  books 
and  articles,  she  took  pleasure  in  bring- 
ing them  to  the  attention  of  others 
through  such  groups  as  the  Sunday 
school,  Mennonite  Christian  Service,  and 
Adult  Fellowship,  and  through  personal 
conversations.  Being  the  first  president 
of  the  Trenton  PTA  was  one  indication 
of  her  interest,  concern,  and  support  of 
educational  programs,  thus  encouraging 
others  in  this  endeavor. 

In  her  devotion  to  her  home  and  her 
church,  she  always  expressed  a warm 
relationship  with  her  Lord  and  was  deep- 
ly conscious  of  her  dependence  upon 
him.  Often  she  was  heard  to  say  that 
there  were  things  that  she  did  not  fully 
understand,  and  it  was  then  that  she 
stressed  the  importance  of  prayer  and 
strong  faith  in  Christ,  whom  she  believed 
to  be  a living  reality. 

Love  and  service  were  shown  in  many 
ways.  Mrs.  Amstutz  sincerely  felt  that 
mission  work  is  a vital  part  of  one’s  life 
and  she  tried  at  all  times  to  keep  people 
around  her  aware  of  this.  Last  month, 
when  she  was  in  quite  a bit  of  distress, 
she  mentioned  the  worthwhile  accomp- 
lishments of  the  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee and  hoped  that  we  would  always 
support  it. 

Music  was  a beautiful  talent  that  she 
possessed  and  gave  of  it  so  willingly. 
One  of  my  first  recollections  of  her  is 
playing  the  old  pump  organ,  teaching  us 
the  Bible  through  songs.  Having  a great 
love  for  hymns,  she  had  committed 
many  to  memory  and  sang  them  with 
feeling  so  that  we  really  felt  the  story. 
Children  were  always  a great  source  of 
joy  to  her  as  she  taught  them  in  Sunday 


J.  E.  Amstutz 

school,  directed  Children’s  Day  and 
Christmas  programs. 

The  missionary  society,  which  later 
joined  with  the  Mennonite  Christian 
Service,  was  an  integral  part  of  her  life. 
I suppose  one  could  say  that  she  was 
our  most  active  member,  serving  as  of- 
ficer, committee  member,  hostess,  at- 
tending and  representing  us  at  confer- 
ences and  other  meetings  when  mem- 
bers felt  they  were  not  able  to  attend. 
“Never  tiring  in  well  doing”  is  the  Chris- 
tian Service  motto  which  she  kept. 

Edgar  A.  Guest  has  a poem  entitled 
“Compensation.”  It  seems  appropriate 
to  quote  the  last  verse  which  reads: 


I’d  like  to  think  that  here  and  there, 
When  I am  gone,  there  shall  remain 
A happier  spot  that  might  have  not 
Existed  had  I toiled  for  gain; 

That  some  one’s  cheery  voice  and  smile 
Shall  prove  that  1 had  been  worthwhile; 
That  I had  paid  with  something  fine 
My  debt  to  God  for  life  divine. 


Mrs.  Amstutz  had  a great  love  and 
concern  for  people  and  wanted  to  be  a 
friend  to  all.  Sometimes,  perhaps,  she 
was  misunderstood.  To  me  she  was  a 
great  lady,  a very  special  kind  of  friend. 

And  now,  we  feel  that  we’ve  lost  a 
dear  friend.  But  then  I remember  that 
the  impact  of  her  life  is  here,  all  around 
us,  and  I’m  reminded  of  the  statement 
“No  one  really  dies  as  long  as  some  one 
remembers.”  That  is  a comforting  mem- 
ory. Frieda  Ehresman  Zigler 


Youth  needs  explored 

In  a recent  session  to  search  out  needs 
in  Bluff  ton,  the  following  were  listed: 
young  people’s  needs  (summer  jobs, 
meeting  place,  school  guidance  counselor, 
traveling  choir,  other  problems),  rela- 
tionships to  other  groups  (poor,  “Friend- 
ly town,”  migrant  needs),  relationship 
to  current  issues  (problem  of  small  farm- 
er, problems  of  small  businessmen,  lot- 
tery, abortion,  environment),  church 
programs  (Key  73,  school  of  religion), 
services  to  Bluffton  residents  (recreation, 
community  answering  service,  and  hot- 
line). It  was  agreed  that  the  area  of 
youth  needs  would  be  explored  first. 
First  Church,  Bluffton,  Ohio 


Volunteers  get  assignments 

Bob  Albrecht  of  Calvary  Church,  Wash- 
ington, Illinois,  started  as  a receptionist  I 
in  the  hospital  at  LaJunta,  Colorado,  on  j 
April  1.  He  says  he  had  a very  inspiring  j 
eight-day  orientation  period  in  Elkhart.  , 
His  address  is  Mennonite  VS  unit,  1401 
Grace  Avenue,  La  Junta,  Colorado  81050.. 

Dean  and  Sandra  Amstutz,  Pulaski, 
Iowa,  are  beginning  a service  assignment 
with  mcc  in  Brazil. 

Frieda  Guengerich  of  Calvary  Church,  j 
Washington,  Illinois,  left  very  early  in 
August  for  the  Republic  of  Zaire  in 
Africa  to  begin  another  term  of  mis- 
sionary work.  She  will  have  heavy  re- 
sponsibility in  the  new  girl’s  school  which 
is  now  under  construction. 

Paul  A.  Schmidt,  Lorraine  Ave. 
Church,  Wichita,  Kansas,  joined  the 
Elkhart,  Indiana,  voluntary  service  unit 
June  1.  In  Elkhart  he  will  serve  for 
two  years  in  a rehabilitation  center  for 
the  blind.  Paul  has  attended  Bethel  Col- 
lege, North  Newton,  Kansas,  and  is  the 
son  of  Walter  and  Esther  Schmidt. 

Claude  Herbert  Setzkorn,  Mohnton, 
Pennsylvania,  has  been  appointed  to  a 
fifteen-months  term  as  a volunteer  in 
Champaign-Urbana,  Illinois.  Mr.  Setz- 
kom  was  to  join  the  voluntary  service 
unit  on  June  6 and  work  as  an  orderly. 
Mr.  Setzkorn,  a member  of  the  Bethany 
Mennonite  Church,  East  Earl,  Pennsyl- 
vania, holds  a BS  degree  in  secondary 
education  from  Kutztown  State  College, 
Kutztown,  Pennsylvania.  He  is  the  son 
of  K.  H.  and  Winifred  Setzkorn  of 
Mohnton. 

Martha  Vercler  began  a service  assign- 
ment in  Akron  mcc  offices.  She  is  a j 
member  of  First  Mennonite  Church, 
Bluffton,  Ohio.  Her  parents  are  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  J.  Norman  Vercler,  Bluffton,  Ohio. 


Goshen  students 
study  abroad 

John  M.  Dick,  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Waldo  P.  Dick,  Woodbum,  is  in  El 
Salvador  during  spring  trimester.  He  is 
a college  sophomore  and  attends  Maple- 
wood Church,  Fort  Wayne. 

Darrell  E.  Miller,  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Orlyn  Miller,  is  in  El  Salvador  during 
spring  trimester.  He  is  a college  sopho- 
more and  attends  North  Danvers  Church. 


A-6  SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


Self-Help  program  works 


WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


Did  you  know? 

That  there  were  nine  women  present  at 
our  annual  meeting  of  the  CD  wma  in 
Goshen,  Indiana,  who  indicated  they 
| had  been  in  a women’s  group  for  fifty 
years  or  more.  The  women  on  this  “hon- 
or roll”  are  Elva  Yoder,  Bessie  Oesch, 
and  Mrs.  Dewey  W.  Hostetler  from  the 
Topeka  Church,  Topeka,  Indiana;  Lulu 
Gall  and  Helen  Yoder  from  the  First 
Church,  Nappanee,  Indiana;  Sylvia  Pan- 
nabecker,  Hively  Ave.  Church,  Elkhart, 
Indiana;  Mrs.  N.  N.  Soldner,  Eighth 
1 St.  Church,  Goshen,  Indiana;  Mrs.  Milo 
Miller,  Bethel  Church,  Pekin,  Illinois; 
and  Edna  S.  Dester,  First  Church,  Berne, 

I Indiana. 

Note  to  treasurers 

Our  district  treasurer  is  Norma  Yoder, 
Route  2,  Box  434,  Goshen,  Indiana 
46526.  Since  taking  office  in  late  April, 
she  has  received  very  few  letters.  If 
your  society  is  listed  to  send  contribu- 
tions for  section  4,  please  take  note  of 
the  new  name  and  address  of  our  trea- 
surer. 

Material  for  this  page  should  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Marjorie  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, HI.  61701. 

Camp  Friedenswald  site  of 
annual  evangelism  workshop 

The  third  annual  Evangelism  Workshop 
sponsored  by  the  Evangelism  Task  Force 
of  the  Central  District  missions  commit- 
tee is  planned  for  the  weekend  of  Oc- 
tober 26-28  at  Camp  Friedenswald. 

The  emphasis  will  be  on  personal  shar- 
ing. Additional  information  will  be  sent 
for  announcement  in  the  churches. 


The  Barberton,  Ohio,  Summit  Christian 
Fellowship  Homemakers  have  been  very 
active  the  last  five  years  in  promoting 
the  mcc  Self-Help  program.  The  purpose 
of  this  MCC  program  is  to  provide  a 
meaningful  way  for  poor  families  in  less 
developed  areas  to  earn  their  living.  The 
program  is  set  up  specifically  to  aid  the 
handicapped,  the  refugee,  and  the  per- 
son who,  because  of  some  political  or 
economic  situation,  is  not  able  to  earn. 
It  tries  to  foster  within  individuals  a 
feeling  of  self-respect  and  personal  worth 
by  offering  them  the  opportunity  to  be- 
come self-supporting  rather  than  depen- 
dent on  others. 

The  scf  Homemakers  have  taken  this 
on  as  their  main  missionary  project. 
They  hold  one-day  sales  at  several  of  the 
shopping  malls,  at  Church  Women  Unit- 
ed Meetings,  and  at  the  wmsc  (Ohio 
and  Eastern  Conference)  meetings  dur- 
ing the  year.  Several  open  house  occa- 
sions are  usually  held,  and  individuals 
sell  to  their  co-workers,  employees, 
neighbors,  relatives,  friends,  etc. 

The  ladies  have  found  this  opportunity 
not  only  a way  to  help  the  people  from 


less  developed  areas,  but  a chance  to 
witness  for  Christ.  People  will  ask  why 
we  go  to  all  the  work  and  bother  if  we 
don’t  receive  any  pay  for  it.  Our  an- 
swer to  this  question  is  that  through 
this  project  has  come  the  opportunity 
of  being  able  to  share  our  love  with  our 
neighbors  from  afar,  to  help  them  to 
help  themselves.  It  also  is  a great  feel- 
ing to  know  that  we  can  be  used  and 
needed  in  our  own  community.  This 
project  has  drawn  our  group  together  in 
being  able  to  work  in  this  way.  The 
results  of  our  contacts  with  many  dif- 
ferent people  has  far  exceeded  what  a 
few  coins  of  pay  could  ever  do. 

We  would  encourage  other  women’s 
groups  in  our  conference  to  give  serious 
thought  to  this  project.  It’s  amazing  how 
much  can  be  accomplished  when  special 
effort  is  put  forth  to  support  a certain 
project.  For  further  information  contact 
Miss  Janet  Yoder,  mcc  Self-Help  Pro- 
gram, 21  South  12th  Street,  Akron,  Penn- 
sylvania 17501.  Mrs.  Dan  Haarer,  Sec- 
retary-treasurer, Summit  Christian  Fel- 
lowship Homemakers 


The  MCC  Self-Help  program  offers  the  physically  and  economically  handicapped 
an  opportunity  to  become  self-supporting  through  sales  of  their  hand-crafted  items. 


Bluffton  College  Women’s  Advisory  Council 

Mary  Boyer,  Box  556,  Sugarcreek,  Ohio  44681  1974 

Ruth  Hartzler,  202  W.  Washington,  Pandora,  Ohio  45877  1974 

Harvella  Stutzman,  14  LaTeer  Drive,  Normal,  Illinois  61761  1975 

LaVera  Neufeld,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817  1975 

Mrs.  Alden  Bohn,  Elkhart,  Indiana  46514  1976 

Mrs.  Stan  Clemens,  1103  Broadway,  Normal,  Illinois  61761  1976 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-7 


VITAL  STATISTICS 


From  a reader 

To  whom  it  may  concern:  Could  you 
please  word  differently  the  names  of 
couples  under  “Births”  in  your  Vital 
Statistics?  Certainly  you  could  move 
ahead  with  the  times  and  recognize 
“John  and  Mary  Yoder  . . or  better 
yet  “John  and  Mary  (Miller)  Yoder 
. . rather  than  the  John  Yoders.  . . . 

Perhaps  women  have  been  used  to 
assuming  completely  their  husband’s  iden- 
tity; however,  the  scene  is  changing  and 
I hope  you  do,  too.  Christene  Schu- 
macher 

Editor’s  Note : 

Well  said!  Church  correspondents  take 
note!  Use  first  names  of  each  person 
listed  including  married  women  and 
maiden  family  name  when  known  to 
you.  Thanks  to  everyone! 

Your 

Answer 

“Then  whose  shall  those 
things  be?” 

ii. 

If  you  don’t  make  a will,  that  question 
will  be  answered,  but  the  answer  will 
be  the  state’s,  not  yours,  and  might  be 
quite  other  than  you  would  have  wished. 
According  to  prescribed  statute,  the  state 
will  make  allocation  between  your  widow 
and  the  children  as  spelled  out  in  the 
law.  This  must  be  done  impartially  de- 
spite any  sort  of  handicap  on  the  part 
of  any  member  which  might  warrant 
some  special  consideration. 

The  court  will  appoint  an  administrator 
for  your  estate,  who  will  be  required 
to  give  bond  according  to  the  size  of  the 
estate,  deduct  all  costs  incurred  as  he 
may  choose  and  other  costs  which  may 
be  assessed.  This  person  may  be  your 
wife  if  she  prefers,  but  likely  she  will 
not.  She  may  also  be  appointed  guardian 
of  any  underage  children,  but  will  be 
subject  to  the  same  regulations  as  any- 
one else  and  not  relieved  of  that  respon- 
sibility until  the  youngest  child  reaches 
his  or  her  majority. 

Finally,  and  most  importantly,  nothing 
can  be  allotted  for  the  Lord’s  work. 
You  were  the  only  one  who  could  have 
made  that  possible,  but  you  didn’t  get 
it  done! 


BIRTHS 

Community,  Markham,  111.:  to  the  An- 
dre DaCostas,  daughter,  June  5;  to  the 
Ken  Schroeders,  daughter,  May  21. 

Eighth  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  the  Mah- 
lon  Bontragers,  Lynn  Marie,  July  9. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  the  Robert  Beit- 
lers,  Nathan  Hugo,  July  19;  to  the  Fred 
Wullimans,  Chastity  Lynette,  July  13; 
to  the  William  Lehmans,  Kimberly  Sue, 
July  13;  to  the  Marvin  Branstetters,  Ja- 
son Everett,  June  20. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  the  Roger 
Yoakams,  Jennifer  Kay,  June  18. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  to  the 
Gary  Stauffers,  Cindy  Kay,  June  10;  to 
the  George  Gardners,  Katrina  Marie, 
June  21. 

United,  Peoria,  111.:  to  the  Allen  Duits, 
Allyn  Ranee,  July  16. 

MARRIAGES 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  Jill  Kelsay  and 
Fredrick  Rich,  July  14. 

Calvary,  Washington,  111.:  Barbara 

Vercler  and  Russell  Roth,  June  29;  Stan- 
ley Ingold  and  Margaret  Branyan,  June 
30. 

Community,  Markham,  111.:  Cathy 

Marie  Cooke  and  Larry  Jordan,  May  27. 

Congerville,  111.:  Larry  Harris  and 
Collene  Lohnes,  June  17. 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Jeffrey  Gar- 
matter  and  Victoria  Lynn  Oman,  June 

17. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  D.  David  Reich- 
enbach  and  Cheryl  Sue  Hancock,  Aug. 
11;  Tim  Boehr  and  Beth  Robinson,  July 
14;  Ada  Lapp  and  Lester  Litwiller,  June 
13;  Sarah  Steiner  and  Tom  Basinger, 
June  23;  Beth  Hamman  and  Les  Thomp- 
son, May  19;  Janet  Bauman  and  Leo- 
nard Schmidt,  May  26;  James  Panna- 
becker  and  Sandra  Troyer,  May  19; 
Beth  Dailey  and  Wayne  Diamond,  June 
9. 

First,  Nappanee,  Ind.:  Leanne  Cripe 
and  Danny  Ray,  June  30;  Marty  and 
Mae  Miller,  July  5;  Ren  and  Ethel  Metz- 
ler,  July  25;  Charles  and  Edna  Reed, 
July  27. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Mary  Shank 
and  Dean  Luginbill,  Aug.  5. 

Neil  Ave.,  Columbus,  Ohio:  Hollis 
Showalter  and  Marty  Augsburger,  Aug. 

18. 

Pulaski,  Iowa:  Gregory  Jones  and 
Betty  Ann  Matthews,  July  21. 


Way  land,  Iowa:  Allen  Rinner  and 
Diane  Harvey,  May  12;  Loren  Hirshey 
and  Joy  Neil,  June  16;  Floyd  Drummond 
and  Marlene  Clark,  July  14. 

DEATHS 

Calvary,  Washington,  111.:  Susan  Gar- 
ber, July  13. 

Eicher,  Wayland,  Iowa:  Otto  Frey, 
May  7. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Edwin  Neuhauser, 
July  24;  Hiram  Wittwer,  July  14;  Levi 
Schwartz,  July  7;  Eva  Sprunger,  June  27. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  John  Barnhart, 
July  4. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  Ethel  Streid,  June 
23;  Esther  Burton,  July  4. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Mabel  Schu- 
macher, July  27. 

Wayland,  Iowa:  Mrs.  Vaughn  Schlat- 
ter, June  28. 

ANNIVERSARIES 

Calvary,  Washington,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jesse  Heiser,  Aug.  1,  50th. 

Carlock,  111.:  Mr  .and  Mrs.  Harold 
Grove,  July  1,  25th. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Arley 
Sprunger,  July  15,  50th;  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Clifford  Gilliom,  July  11,  53rd;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Clifton  Nussbaum,  June  18,  51st; 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilbert  Stucky,  June  21, 
59th. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Carl  Stuckey,  June  17,  25th. 

Topeka,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jonas 
Yoder,  July  1,  50th. 

NEW  MEMBERS 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Kaye  Classon, 
Nancy  Gratz,  Wayne  Bixel,  Steve  Burk- 
holder, Tim  Differ,  Dennis  Edinger,  Dav- 
id Holier,  Doug  Messinger,  Robert  Spal- 
linger,  Ron  Steiner,  Jim  King. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Randall  Liechty, 
Keith  Moser. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Mark  Flick,  Don 
Braven,  Curtis  Habegger,  Daryl  Steiner, 
Terry  McKibben,  Ronald  Knox,  Leslie 
Schirch,  Bonie  Kehler,  Jennifer  Hiebert, 
Nicole  Lerch,  Judy  Winkler,  Christian 
Braven,  Carol  Verder,  Emily  Bohn,  Cyn- 
thia Lehman,  Tom  Basinger,  Tim  Rhoder. 


Material  for  the  Central  District  Reporter  should 
be  sent  to:  Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant 

Plain,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


A-8 


SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


Agri-Urban  project  expanded 


. The  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  and  Bethel  College  have  re- 
1 cently  joined  Mennonite  Agri-Urban, 
Inc.,  a project  initiated  by  the  Western 
|'  District  Conference  to  raise  money 
: through  livestock. 

Through  the  organization,  urban  Men- 
nonites  provide  capital  to  buy  livestock 
to  place  on  farms.  Farmers  raise  the 
. livestock,  donating  feed  and  labor.  When 
the  cattle  or  hogs  or  sheep  are  sold,  the 
farmer  designates  the  profits  to  the  West- 
ern District,  the  General  Conference, 
Bethel  College,  or  any  other  Mennonite 
nonprofit,  charitable  organization. 

Capital  from  nonfarm  church  mem- 
bers may  be  an  interest-free  or  low- 
i interest  loan  or  may  be  a contribution. 


A workshop  with  staff  from  the  American 
Bible  Society  is  being  planned  jointly 
next  fall  by  the  Home  Ministries  Coun- 
cil and  the  Council  of  Mission  Board 
Secretaries,  the  two  coordinating  groups 
for  domestic  and  overseas  programs  of 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  de- 
nominations. 

Palmer  Becker,  hmc  secretary,  and 
Paul  Kraybill,  combs  secretary,  an- 
nounced that  the  workshop  on  October 
24  in  Chicago  was  intended  to  introduce 
the  resources  and  services  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bible  Society  which  are  available 
to  congregations  and  to  denominational 
mission  and  service  programs. 

The  joint  workshop  will  also  study 


Seventeen  new  members — eight  by  bap- 
tism and  nine  through  transfer  of  mem- 
bership— were  added  to  the  Homewood 
Mennonite  Church,  Homewood,  Mani- 
toba, this  summer.  In  the  previous  year, 
there  were  twenty  new  members. 

The  numbers  don’t  seem  astounding 
I until  one  realizes  that  the  congregation 
I has  been  maintaining  a fairly  consistent 
I level  of  sixty  members  over  the  years. 
1 Only  two  years  ago  the  church  was 
viewing  with  a great  deal  of  concern  its 
viability  for  the  future. 

The  beginning  of  the  spiritual  renewal 
at  the  Homewood  congregation  was  un- 
expected, according  to  Ed  Klassen. 

Peter  Buhler,  a student  minister  from 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College  serv- 


The  Western  District  Conference  ap- 
proved the  Agri-Urban  concept  at  its 
annual  conference  in  October  1971.  Dur- 
ing the  first  year  of  operation  $15,000 
was  made  available  to  the  Western  Dis- 
trict through  Agri-Urban,  and  $10,000 
more  was  kept  to  buy  more  cattle.  El- 
bert Koontz,  Western  District  confer- 
ence minister,  said  more  than  200  head 
of  livestock  are  being  fed  this  year. 

With  the  expansion  of  the  program  to 
the  General  Conference  and  Bethel  Col- 
lege, the  Agri-Urban  program  is  also 
available  to  Mennonites  outside  the  West- 
ern District.  More  information  may  be 
obtained  from  Mennonite  Agri-Urban, 
Inc.,  Box  306,  North  Newton,  Kansas 
67117. 


ways  to  increase  support  for  Bible  dis- 
tribution and  translation. 

Although  Mennonite  groups  have  been 
among  the  top  5 percent  of  North  Amer- 
ican denominations  in  per  capita  giving 
to  the  American  Bible  Society,  this  is 
the  first  time  most  denominational  ex- 
ecutives will  have  been  exposed  to  re- 
source people  from  the  society. 

Nearly  one  hundred  people  will  be 
invited  to  the  workshop,  including  ad- 
ministrative staff,  women’s  organization 
leaders,  youth  leaders,  and  Christian  ed- 
ucation people. 

Resource  persons  from  the  American 
Bible  Society  will  be  Alice  Ball,  Art  Bor- 
den, and  John  D.  Erickson. 


ing  on  an  interim  basis,  one  morning 
deviated  from  his  usual  procedure  and 
extended  an  invitation  to  come  forward 
for  salvation  and  rededication.  A large 
number  from  all  age  levels  responded. 
This  was  repeated  again  the  next  Sun- 
day with  a similar  response. 

Some  months  later  when  Henry  Isaak 
became  pastor,  young  people  eager  to 
share  their  newfound  faith  approached 
him  about  starting  a coffeehouse  witness 
in  nearby  Carman.  Some  nights  the  cof- 
feehouse had  as  many  as  350  young 
people  from  a variety  of  church  back- 
grounds. Many  local  churches  asked  the 
young  people  to  share  their  witness. 

Mr.  Klassen  said  young  converts  have 
demonstrated  the  genuineness  of  their 


faith  by  such  actions  as  confession  and 
restitution  to  an  insurance  company 
which  had  been  defrauded,  to  employers 
who  had  been  robbed,  and  to  farmers 
who  had  had  gas  and  grain  stolen  from 
them. 

Every  Wednesday  evening  thirty  to 
forty  young  people  meet  at  the  pastor’s 
home  for  Bible  study  and  prayer  meet- 
ings. 

Mr.  Klassen  said  that  in  the  past  two 
years  many  of  the  young  people  have 
moved  to  other  fields  of  service,  but 
new  converts  are  continuously  being 
added  to  the  group. 

“The  experience  at  Homewood  dem- 
onstrates rather  vividly  that  God  is  not 
dead  but  is  actively  building  his  church,” 
he  said. 

Kansas  City  children  spend 
week  with  rural  families 

A fresh-air  program  for  inner-city  chil- 
dren became  a churchwide  project  this 
summer  at  the  Grace  Hill  Mennonite 
Church,  rural  Whitewater,  Kansas.  The 
experience  was  so  successful,  the  congre- 
gation wants  to  do  it  again  next  year. 

Mary  Ann  Harms,  a member  of  the 
committee  which  set  up  the  program, 
said  two  families  in  the  church  had 
previously  had  children  from  Mississippi 
in  their  homes,  but  the  church  had  never 
made  a concerted  effort  to  conduct  a 
fresh-air  program. 

Part  of  the  inspiration  for  the  pro- 
gram came  from  Chuck  Klaassen,  who 
had  spent  the  summer  of  1972  working 
with  Crosslines,  an  interdenominational 
program  in  Kansas  City,  Kansas.  More 
encouragement  came  from  a December 
survey  in  which  forty  church  members 
said  they  would  like  to  have  a city  child 
stay  in  their  home. 

“Eliminating  duplicate  answers  from 
husbands  and  wives,  we  figured  we  would 
get  twelve  families,”  Ms.  Harms  said. 

The  estimate  was  fairly  accurate. 

July  20-27  ten  children,  eight-  to 
twelve-year-olds,  came  to  stay  with  nine 
Whitewater  area  families. 

The  committee  planned  group  activi- 
ties almost  every  day — a church  picnic, 
a visit  to  a dairy  farm,  an  overnight 
camping  trip,  a bicycle  hike,  and  arts 
and  crafts. 

Seven  of  the  families  also  got  a chance 
to  meet  the  families  of  their  young  guests 
when  they  traveled  to  Kansas  City  to 
pick  up  or  take  back  the  children. 

A full  evaluation  of  the  program  will 
come  in  September,  but  “we’re  planning 
to  do  it  again,”  Ms.  Harms  said. 


Meeting  with  Bible  agency  set 


Small  rural  church  adds  17 


THE  MENNONITE 


529 


RECORD 


A NEW  VISION  $1.75 

Lois  Bartel 

Published  by  Faith  and 
Life  Press 

Racism.  White  racism.  It 
still  exists.  In  Mennonite 
churches. 

Sometimes  it’s  subtle, 
sometimes  blatant.  It's  al- 
ways destructive. 

A New  Vision  is  a study 
guide  that  examines  white 
racism  in  a fresh  and  vig- 
orous manner.  Thirteen 
chapters  make  it  usable  as 
an  elective  course  in  Sun- 
day school  and  in  many 
other  settings.  Chapters 
contain  biblical  references 
and  suggested  learning 
experiences. 

Order  from  Faith  and 
Life  Bookstores  at  159  W. 
Main  St.,  Berne,  Indiana 
46711,  and  722  Main  St., 
Newton,  Kansas  67114, 
and  Fellowship  Bookcenter, 
159  Henderson  Highway, 
Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  Can- 
ada R2L  1L4. 


Calendar 


Oct.  25-27 — Consultation  on  the  role 
of  women  in  the  church,  Elkhart,  Ind. 

Nov.  4-11 — African  Afro-Americas 
Inter-Mennonite  Unity  Conference,  Li- 
muru,  Kenya. 

Pacific 

Oct.  4-7 — Training  sessions  for  Chris- 
tian youth  leader  skills,  Portland,  Ore. 

Oct.  12-13 — Inter-Mennonite  offender 
seminar,  Fresno,  Calif. 

Western 

Oct.  14 — Kansas  Mennonite  Disaster 
Service  annual  meeting,  2 p.m.,  Eden 
Church,  Moundridge;  speaker,  Jim  Burk- 
holder. 

Ministers 


Kenneth  Dalke,  has  resigned  as  pastor 
of  the  Zion  Church,  Arena,  N.D. 

Chryston  Harms,  former  pastor  of  the 
Woodland  Church,  Warroad,  Minn.,  has 
become  pastor  of  the  Perryton  (Tex.) 
Mennonite  Church. 

Ken  Peterson,  Portland,  Ore.,  is  serv- 
ing as  interim  pastor  of  the  Menno 
Church,  Ritzville,  Wash.,  for  one  year. 

Edward  Springer,  has  accepted  the 
call  as  pastor  of  the  Community  Menno- 
nite Church  and  the  Trinity  United 
Church  of  Christ,  both  in  Markham, 
111.  He  was  formerly  a full-time  junior 
high  school  teacher. 

Workers 


Mary  Epp,  a member  of  the  Nord- 
heimer  Church,  Hanley,  Sask.,  will  re- 
turn to  Zaire  as  a teacher  at  Nyanga 
High  School  under  Africa  Inter-Menno- 
nite Mission.  She  has  served  in  Zaire 
since  1958.  Ms.  Epp  has  received  a BA 
from  Bethel  College,  North  Newton, 
Kans.,  and  a master’s  degree  from  Kan- 
sas State  Teachers  College,  Emporia.  She 
has  also  attended  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind.;  Rosthern  Bible 
School,  Rosthern,  Sask.;  and  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College,  Winnipeg,  Man. 

Rick  Friesen,  Mayfair  Church,  Saska- 
toon, Sask.,  has  begun  a one-year  term 
of  service  with  mcc  in  Toronto,  Ont. 
He  is  serving  as  a social  worker  at  War- 
den Woods.  Rick  attended  the  Univer- 


sity of  Saskatchewan  and  Swift  Current 
Bible  School.  He  is  the  son  of  Dick  and 
Helen  Friesen,  Saskatoon. 


Epp  Friesen 


Kenneth  Funk,  Laird,  Sask.,  is  serving 
a one-year  assignment  with  the  General 
Conference  voluntary  service  unit  in 
Gulfport,  Miss.  He  is  a member  of  the 
Tiefengrund  Church,  Laird,  and  received 
his  secondary  education  at  Rosthern 
Junior  College,  Rosthern,  Sask.  He  is  the 
son  of  Walter  and  Irene  Funk  of  Laird.  I 
Frieda  Guengerich,  a member  of  the 
Calvary  Church,  Washington,  111.,  will 
work  primarily  with  the  women  of  Zaire  ! 
in  her  assignment  with  Africa  Inter- 
Mennonite  Mission.  She  will  be  a teacher 
at  the  Bible  school  in  Kalonda,  Zaire. 
She  has  worked  in  Zaire  since  1946. 
Ms.  Guengerich  has  attended  Fort  Wayne 
(Ind.)  Bible  School;  Bluff  ton  Col- 

lege, Bluffton,  Ohio  (BS);  Illinois  State 
College  in  Normal;  and  Mennonite  Bibli- 
cal Seminary,  Elkhart,  Ind. 


Funk  Guengerich 


Abram  Janzen,  Neuanlage  Grace 
Church,  Hague,  Sask.,  has  begun  a twen- 
ty-eight-months term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Bolivia,  teaching  in  an  elementary 
school.  He  received  a BA  in  history  and 
psychology  from  the  University  of  Sas- 
katchewan. Abram  is  the  son  of  A.G. 
and  Gertrude  Janzen,  Hague. 

Robert  Kreider,  formerly  president  of 
Bluffton  (Ohio)  College,  will  serve  as 
consultant-coordinator  of  Non  tradition- 


530 


SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


al  Studies  in  establishing  two  new  pro- 


grams at  Bethel  College,  North  Newton, 
Kans.:  the  service-learning  option  (which 
allows  credit  for  voluntary  service)  and 
the  internship  program  (which  provides 
an  opportunity  to  work  and  learn  in  a 
career).  Mr.  Kreider  will  be  serving 
with  both  the  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee and  the  Department  of  Higher 
Education  of  the  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church  this  coming  year. 
Bethel  College  contracted  these  services 
through  the  Department  of  Higher  Edu- 


cation. 

Anna  V.  Liechty,  a member  of  the 
First  Church,  Berne,  Ind.,  will  be  a 
teacher  at  the  Nyanga  High  School  after 
her  return  under  Africa  Inter-Mennonite 
Mission.  She  has  served  in  Zaire  since 
1946.  Ms.  Liechty  has  attended  Moody 
Bible  School  and  holds  BS  and  AB  de- 
grees from  Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Ind. 


Janzen  Liechty 


Wilbert  R.  Shenk,  secretary  of  over- 
seas missions  for  Mennonite  Board  of 
Missions,  Elkhart,  Ind.,  began  a study 
leave  Aug.  21.  He  and  his  family  will 
live  in  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  where  he  will 
be  a research  fellow  in  the  department 
of  Religious  Studies  at  the  University  of 
Aberdeen.  Mr.  Shenk’s  area  of  interest 
is  missionary  history  from  a believers’ 
church  point  of  view.  The  studies  form 
part  of  Mennonite  mission  concern  “to 
work  out  an  approach  to  mission  strategy 
attuned  to  our  own  theological  heritage,” 
he  said. 

Jeff  Yordy,  Meadows  Church,  Chenoa, 

WANTED 

A person  who  wants  to  learn 
the  printing  trade  and  is  will- 
ing to  develop  craftsmanship 
over  the  years.  Position  avail- 
able immediately. 

Contact: 

Dan  Epp,  Mennonite  Press 
Box  307,  North  Newton, 

Kansas  67117 
(316)  283-4680 


111.,  has  accepted  a position  as  admis- 
sions counselor  at  Bluffton  College.  He 
and  his  wife,  Regina,  a member  of  the 
Flanagan  (111.)  Church,  plan  to  move  to 
Bluffton.  They  and  their  eleven-months- 
old  daughter,  Kimberly,  have  recently 
returned  from  two  years’  voluntary  serv- 
ice in  San  Juan,  Puerto  Rico.  Both  are 
1971  graduates  of  Bluffton. 

Audiovisuals 

The  Bible  around  the  world  is  a fifty- 
four-frame  filmstrip  in  color,  prepared 
primarily  for  junior  children.  It  deals 
with  the  way  the  Bible  is  carried  into 


all  the  world.  Specific  countries  or  con- 
tinents mentioned  are  the  Philippines, 
Ghana,  Mexico,  United  States,  India, 
Africa,  South  America,  Egypt,  and  Ko- 
rea. Four  ways  from  Bethlehem,  intended 
for  primary  or  junior  children,  portrays 
a workshop  in  Bethlehem  where  creche 
sets  are  carved  from  olive  wood;  Chris- 
tian involvement  in  a new  type  of  city, 
Columbia,  Md.;  the  story  of  crea- 
tion through  the  artwork  of  children 
around  the  world;  and  church  buildings 
all  over  the  world.  Both  filmstrips,  made 
by  Friendship  Press,  may  be  rented  for 
$1.50  from  the  Audiovisual  Library, 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


PRIORITY 


TRANSFER  TO 
NATIONAL 
LEADERSHIP 


Transfer  administrative 
authority,  responsibility  and 
accountability  to  national 
leadership,  practicing  an 
active  brotherhood  during 
and  beyond  transition. 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


THE  MENNONITE 


531 


REVIEW 

t f'  y^H  >%  jS|  IBM  | 


Parent  effectiveness  training 


Parent  effectiveness  training,  by  Thomas 
Gordon  ( Peter  H.  Wyden,  Inc.,  New 
York , 1970,  306  pp.,  $7.95)  is  reviewed 
by  Ron  and  Joyce  Hunsicker  of  Win- 
nipeg. Ron  is  pastor  of  the  Charleswood 
Church. 

“Do  you  get  frustrated  or  angry 
when  your  children  dawdle  or  mess  up 
their  rooms  or  won't  follow  your  rules? 
Do  you  waste  time  nagging  and  scolding 
them — only  to  have  them  tune  you  out? 
Do  you  punish  them — with  little  lasting 
effect? 

“More  than  15,000  parents  with  young- 
sters of  all  ages  have  learned  how  to 
handle  such  typical  family  problems  ef- 
fectively. These  parents  are  loved,  not 
rebelled  against.  Their  kids  are  respon- 
sible, not  spoiled.”  With  these  enticing 
words  on  the  jacket  of  a recent  book, 
Parent  effectiveness  training  (PET),  we 
were  pulled  to  read  on  to  see  if  it  really 
was  the  answer  to  raising  children. 

PET  has  become  the  current  popular 
book  and  program  for  raising  children. 
Growing  out  of  his  own  personal  expe- 
rience and  commitment  to  work  with 
parents,  Dr.  Gordon  leads  the  reader 
through  a variety  of  steps  and  exercises 
which  he  feels  will  “train  the  parent” 
to  relate  to  his  or  her  child. 

Mr.  Gordon  calls  his  method  the  “no- 
lose”  way.  He  rejects  both  the  authori- 
tarian and  the  permissive  ways  of  raising 
children.  In  the  former  case  the  parent 
always  comes  away  the  winner  and  the 
child  the  loser,  while  in  the  latter  the 
child  wins  and  the  parent  loses.  In  each 
case  the  winner  appears  to  be  the  one 
in  control  or  the  one  in  power.  The 
loser  is  left  frustrated  and,  in  the  case 
of  the  child,  often  rebels.  Wouldn’t  it 
be  better  to  resolve  conflicts  by  a “no- 
lose"  method  in  which  no  one  wins  and 
no  one  loses?  The  solution  must  be  ac- 
ceptable to  both  parties  and  one  or  both 
may  offer  possible  solutions.  Such  a 
method  is  the  purpose  of  PET. 

The  author’s  principal  reasons  for  us- 
ing the  “no-lose”  method  are:  1)  “The 
child  is  motivated  to  carry  out  the  solu- 
tion,” 2)  “there  is  more  chance  of  find- 
ing a high-quality  solution,”  3)  it  “de- 
velops children’s  thinking  skills,”  4)  there 
is  “less  hostility — more  love,”  5)  it  “re- 


quires less  enforcement,”  and  6)  it  “elim- 
inates the  need  for  power.” 

How  wonderful  if  this  method  actually 
worked.  Is  the  era  of  the  “generation 
gap”  over  if  parents  and  children  solve 
their  problems  by  Dr.  Gordon’s  method? 
Will  the  rebellious  teenagers  become  non- 
existent? Will  parents  stop  making  their 
children  conform  to  their  standards? 
Maybe  not,  but  Dr.  Gordon  does  offer 
some  practical  “how-to”  suggestions  for 
parents  and  children  to  solve  problems 
and  “maintain  an  effective  relationship” 
with  each  other.  Taking  these  suggestions 
seriously  was,  for  us,  one  of  the  most 
rewarding  aspects  of  reading  this  book. 

The  key  to  the  author’s  method  is 
called  active  listening:  hearing  a person’s 
feelings  when  he  is  telling  you  he  has 
a problem.  An  example  cited  in  the  book 
is  a child  asking  when  dinner  is  ready. 
The  mother  must  be  able  to  decode  the 
message  and  recognize  that  the  child  is 
hungry.  If  the  mother  responds  with  a 
reply  about  the  child’s  always  being  im- 
patient, the  message  was  not  decoded 
correctly  and  the  mother  was  not  listen- 
ing actively.  Often  the  rub  comes  when 
we  do  not  listen  clearly  to  feelings. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  recognize  who 
“owns”  the  problem,  the  parent  or  the 
child.  There  are  times  when  the  prob- 
lem clearly  is  the  child’s.  Dr.  Gordon 
maintains  that  parents  ought  not  to  solve 
the  problem  for  the  child.  They  should 
allow  the  child  to  solve  it  himself.  What 
this  means  is  that  parents  need  to  give 
up  some  of  their  power  in  order  to  see 
their  children  as  separate  individuals. 
Active  listening  can  be  used  best  when 
the  child  reveals  he  has  a problem. 

Here’s  one  of  Dr.  Gordon’s  examples 
of  active  listening  (p.  69): 

Kathy:  I don’t  want  any  dinner  to- 
night. 

Dad:  You  don’t  feel  like  eating  to- 
night. (active  listening) 

Kathy:  I sure  don’t.  My  stomach  is 
in  knots  today. 

Dad:  You’re  feeling  sorta  tense  today, 
is  that  right?  (active  listening) 

The  conversation  continues  in  a sim- 
ilar manner  until  Dad  has  discovered 
that  Kathy  is  really  upset  because  she 
wants  to  be  popular  with  the  boys  and 
finds  it  difficult  to  talk  with  them. 


Our  first  reaction  to  active  listening 
is  that  the  parent  repeats  back  to  the 
child  what  he  has  just  said.  What  is  to  i 
keep  a child  from  answering,  “Stop  re- 
peating what  I said!”  Or  what  if  the 
child  makes  no  response.  The  author 
says  active  listening  is  not  parroting  what 
the  child  has  just  said,  but  actually  feed- 
ing back  to  him  what  his  feelings  are. 
This  calls  for  being  able  to  feel  with 
the  child. 


Dr.  Gordon  does  not  claim  that  suc- 
cess will  come  overnight  or  even  from 
thoroughly  studying  his  book.  He  rec- 
ommends the  PET  course  and  a lot  of 
practice. 

The  author  devotes  a chapter  to  ac- 
tive listening  to  children  too  young  to 
talk.  Since  we  have  a child  in  this  age 
group,  we  were  hoping  for  some  good 
suggestions.  But  this  chapter  was  one 
of  the  least  significant  in  the  book  for  us. 

If  the  parent  owns  the  problem,  he 
must  confront  the  child  and  communicate 
his  feelings  so  that  the  child  will  listen. 
For  example.  Dad  comes  home  from 
work  tired  and  the  child  is  ready  to 
play.  “I-messages”  given  by  the  father 
are  much  more  effective  than  “you-mes- 
sages.”  Rather  than  saying,  “You  are  a 
pest”  (implying  that  the  child  is  bad), 
the  father  can  simply  say,  “I  am  tired,” 
and  the  child  receives  exactly  that  mes- 
sage. It  seems  to  us  that  this  is  a more 
positive  and  honest  way  to  communi- 
cate feelings. 


! 


If  we  are  to  take  Dr.  Gordon  seri- 
ously, it  means  that  some  restructuring 
of  parental  roles  will  need  to  take  place. 
All  of  us  will  have  to  examine  our  own 
need  to  dominate  and  to  be  in  control. 
Such  an  examination  will  bring  us  face 
to  face  with  the  charge  Dr.  Gordon 
makes  that  children  are  the  last  group 
to  be  liberated.  Dr.  Gordon  has  written 
Parent  effectiveness  training  as  a way 
to  help  train  parents  for  a better  and 
healthier  relationship  with  their  children. 

We  recommend  Parent  effectiveness 
training.  It  may  not  be  the  once-and- 
for-all  problem-solver,  but  it  certainly 
gives  some  helpful  suggestions  on  ef- 
fective communication  between  parent 
and  child.  If  his  methods  help  you  gain 
a better  relationship  with  your  children, 
then  certainly  no  one  loses. 


532 


SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


A part-time  job: 

More  time  for  relationships 


Anita  Lehman 

One  of  the  most  common  complaints 
I hear  people  make  about  their  daily 
! lives  is,  “I  just  don’t  have  enough  time.” 
“I  wish  I had  time  to  do  that.  ...”  I 
[ remember  when  I made  the  same  state- 
[ ments  and  experienced  a certain  plea- 
[ sure  in  commiserating  with  friends  about 
the  fast  pace  of  life  and  how  we  were 
| so  busy.  There  were  always  too  many 
committees  or  too  many  courses  or  too 
many  relationships. 

One  criterion  by  which  I evaluated 
my  worth  was  the  number  of  responsi- 
bilities I could  take  on  and  do  well. 
That  was  a useful  time  in  my  life  be- 
cause I learned  that  I could  function 
iwell  under  a variety  of  pressures. 

Then  my  life  situation  changed.  I 
[graduated  from  college  and  moved  to 
fa  community  where  my  abilities  were 
' unknown  and  finding  a job  was  difficult. 
I discovered  how  strongly  my  identity 
was  tied  up  in  the  kind  of  job  I had, 
how  prestigious  it  was,  and  how  much 
money  I was  paid  for  doing  it.  Although 
I weathered  that  crisis  and  eventually 
found  a satisfying  job,  that  was  probably 
the  beginning  of  my  search  to  find  some 
, more  lasting  identity  than  that  provided 
l by  a position,  a title,  or  sheer  activity. 

Nearly  two  years  after  that  move,  my 
husband,  George,  and  I decided  to  change 
.from  the  full-time  jobs  we  had  to  part- 
time  jobs.  Our  jobs  included  traveling 
.(for  him)  and  varying  work  schedules 
T for  me),  and  our  relationship  was  be- 
coming very  fragmented.  We  needed 
1 time,  more  time  than  we  got  in  our 
:wo-week  vacations  or  days  off.  Most 
pf  our  time  off  was  spent  recuperating 
Tom  work  pressures.  There  never  seemed 
1 o be  enough  time  even  for  basic  main- 
enance  work  on  our  relationship,  let 
done  relationships  with  friends.  George 
: changed  his  job  definition  to  one  where 
pe  worked  5/6  time  with  longer  time 
j docks  off,  and  I found  a job  which  took 
ibout  twenty  hours  a week,  plus  giving 
|ne  summers  completely  free. 

It’s  been  nearly  two  years  since  we 
i tarted  these  job  changes.  I’ve  tried  to 
ist  pros  and  cons  of  a part-time  job 
Situation  and  have  found  that  most 
changes  have  potential  for  providing 


either  a positive  or  negative  experience 
or  some  of  both. 

One  obvious  change  that  can  become 
either  a positive  or  negative  experience 
concerns  extra  time.  Cutting  job  time 
means  more  hours  or  days  or  weeks  are 
available  for  other  things.  Knowing  the 
answer  to  “What  shall  I do  with  my  ex- 
tra time?”  is  important. 

A job  change  may  be  made  for  very 
specific  or  more  vague  reasons.  Either 
way,  having  reasons  clearly  defined  will 
probably  insure  a more  satisfying  use 
of  time.  For  example,  a competent  com- 
munity-involved person  who  changes  jobs 
to  have  more  time  with  his  or  her  family 
may  be  swallowed  up  in  additional 
church  and  community  activities  as  soon 
as  people  discover  she/he  is  available 
unless  the  person  can  clearly  say  no  to 
extra  involvements. 

For  women,  or  at  least  married  wom- 
en, probably  the  most  common  reasons 
for  job  changes  are  to  spend  more  time 
as  a housewife,  to  have  children,  or  to 
become  involved  in  community  projects 
or  activities.  I changed  my  job  situation 
for  none  of  those  reasons,  and  knowing 
this  and  also  having  my  reasons  clearly 
defined  for  myself  made  it  easier  to  ad- 
just to  and  plan  for  extra  time. 

Organization  of  time  can  be  either 
frustrating  or  rewarding,  again  depending 
largely  on  how  clearly  goals  for  use  of 
time  are  defined.  I have  found  that  extra 
hours  and  days  that  aren’t  heavily  struc- 
tured melt  pleasantly  into  each  other, 
and  the  pace  of  living  slows  down.  I 
have  learned  to  appreciate  this  pace  and 
gain  more  satisfaction  from  it  than  from 
a list  of  accomplishments  or  activities 
completed.  It  takes  more  effort  to  struc- 
ture activities  and  time  when  there  is 
a lot  of  time  and  many  possibilities. 
It’s  an  exciting  prospect  and  process  but 
also  has  the  potential  for  frustration. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  problems 
with  working  part  time  rather  than  full 
time  is  that  of  earning  money.  For  most 
people  working  part  time  probably  means 
earning  not  only  less  money  but  less  per 
hour  worked  than  if  that  person  was 
working  full  time.  This  may  be  frustrat- 
ing for  a person  who  sees  herself  or 


himself  as  given  a measure  of  worth  by 
the  salary  paid. 

For  some  people  and  families  it  may 
not  be  possible  to  live  on  one  person’s 
part-time  wages,  but  it  may  be  very 
possible  for  a family  to  live  on  two  per- 
sons’ part-time  wages.  For  this  reason, 
groups  of  two  or  more  have  a greater 
chance  of  succeeding  financially  on  part- 
time  work  arrangements  than  do  single 
persons.  The  ability  to  live  on  part-time 
wages  has  a lot  to  do  with  level  of 
spending  also.  We  probably  wouldn’t  be 
comfortable  with  our  present  arrange- 
ment if  we  were  trying  to  make  major 
purchases — house,  appliances,  etc.  When 
time  becomes  more  of  a priority  than 
things,  it’s  easier  to  work  out  the  finan- 
cial details. 

Having  more  time  means  more  time 
is  available  to  work  on  relationships.  A 
marriage  relationship  takes  a lot  of  main- 
tenance work  and  so  do  other  relation- 
ships. Cutting  down  on  job  time  can 
give  time  needed  for  that.  This  can  be 
very  satisfying.  Also  it  may  mean  there 
are  no  excuses  for  not  facing  problems 
that  do  exist  and  working  on  them. 

Possibly  the  most  difficult  aspect  of 
changing  from  a full-time  to  part-time 
job  (for  career-oriented  persons)  is  that 
of  dealing  with  feelings  about  job  iden- 
tity. I think  it’s  a correct  statement  to 
say  that  most  part-time  jobs  have  less 
prestige  and  respect  accorded  them,  and 
the  person  who  is  working  at  a part- 
time  job  or  career  needs  to  look  to  other 
places  and  experiences  to  help  firm  up 
his  or  her  identity.  This  search  can  be 
freeing  and  exciting.  It  may  take  you 
to  people,  to  places  that  you’ve  never 
had  the  time  or  the  desire  to  discover 
before.  Most  exciting  of  all,  the  search 
may  take  you  right  to  yourself,  to  your 
gut-level  feelings,  your  priorities,  your 
strengths  and  weaknesses.  For  me,  it  is 
very  satisfying  to  know  that  I can  live 
with  what  I have  discovered  about  my- 
self in  this  search. 

Material  for  this  page  provided  by 
Women’s  Missionary  Association. 


'HE  MENNONITE 


533 


Katie  Funk  Wiebe 


cIt}e 

Snaring  game 


The  pewsitters  were  numbered  off,  and 
the  resultant  groups  told  to  form  small 
circles  and  “to  share.” 

Share? 

Share  what? 

I stumble  at  the  word  which  has  ar- 
rived only  lately  in  our  evangelical  vo- 
cabulary and  which  the  young  use  eu- 
phemistically for  anything  related  to 
Christian  activity. 

What  should  we  share?  What  should 
we  give  each  other?  A few  words?  A 
part  of  our  lives?  A few  uncomfortable 
moments  of  time?  How  does  one  share 
with  others  when  one  has  never  been 
taught  how  to  perform  this  activity  ex- 
cept in  a formal  testimony  meeting? 

Furthermore,  before  one  can  share, 
one  must  have  something  to  distribute. 
Years  ago,  when  Mother  told  us  to  share 
the  candy  Father  had  brought  home,  I 
knew  perfectly  well  she  meant  handing 
some  of  the  jelly  beans  to  each  brother 
and  sister.  But  in  Christian  terminology, 
“share”  has  become  a strangely  orphaned 
word,  frequently  deprived  of  its  object. 
People  just  “share,”  and  it’s  not  always 
clear  what  they  are  handing  out. 

Can  one  share  one’s  faith  with  people 
one  knows  and  yet  doesn’t  know?  Can 
one  share  freely  in  a small  circle,  as 
one  looks  into  the  faces  of  people  one 
has  come  to  recognize  only  by  the  backs 
of  their  coat  collars  and  hair  styles? 

And  so.  we  sat  there  for  a while  . . . 
the  silence  dropping  heavily  between  our 
chairs  . . . waiting  for  the  sharing  to 
take  place  . . . waiting  for  the  one  with 
the  largest  amount  of  faith  to  give  some 
to  the  rest  of  us. 

A cautious  groping  for  amiability 
came  first. 

“Is  this  all  who  are  going  to  be  in 
our  group?” 

“We’re  sure  a varied  bunch.” 

“Anyone  have  something  he  would 
like  to  say  first?” 

“Where  did  you  say  you  grew  up? 
She  was  your  mother?  Oh,  yes  ...  I 
think  I knew  her  when  she  was  a girl 

And  then  a scurrying  into  the  dim  re- 
cesses of  the  mind  to  find  an  experience, 


any  experience  that  might  be  suitable, 
before  silence,  the  prickly  kind,  reached 
around  each  person  to  cover  him  like 
a heavy  wool  blanket  on  a warm  night. 

“Surely  someone  has  had  some  kind 
of  experience  with  the  Lord  this  week? 
Something  you  read  perhaps  or  someone 
you  talked  to.  . . .” 

What  was  that  passage  we  read  in 
the  Bible  last  Thursday?  Somehow  I 
know  it  fitted  into  what  I was  doing. 
Why  didn’t  I bring  my  Bible  along  this 
evening? 

What  a longing  for  words,  suitable 
words,  spiritual  words,  to  fill  the  verbal 
void.  Why  can’t  anyone  think  of  some- 
thing to  say  so  our  group  won’t  seem 
so  lopsided?  Some  of  the  other  groups 
are  really  doing  a lot  of  talking.  If  this 
were  a testimony  meeting,  one  could  al- 
ways quote  a Scripture  verse,  but  here 
it  seems  out  of  place  . . . too  much  like 
a filler. 

The  day’s  experiences  close  in — the 
busyness,  the  memory  of  an  encounter 


with  a friend  and  the  ensuing  misunder- 
standing, the  plans  which  need  to  be 
made  for  the  summer  . . . milk  must  be 
bought  on  the  way  home  ...  I think 
I forgot  to  empty  the  dryer.  . . . 

Why  am  I so  quiet?  Why  is  Elsie  par- 
ticularly withdrawn  tonight?  She  hasn’t 
said  a word  all  evening.  How  can  I 
learn  to  know  her,  this  person  placed 
beside  me  with  whom  I am  to  share  the 
inner  state  of  my  Christian  life?  Can  I 
open  my  life  to  her  and  hope  for  new 
meanings  and  relationships  out  of  this 
situation?  Maybe  I should  just  tell  them 
what  I said  at  the  mission  circle  meeting 
the  other  night  about  how  God  answers 
prayer.  Maybe  that  would  get  someone 
started  to  share.  . . . 

And  then  the  quiet  one  said  in  a 
silent,  half -troubled  voice,  cutting  through 
the  tangle  of  wayward  words  and  mired 
thoughts,  “I  don’t  know  how  to  share,” 
and  welcomed  us  into  her  life. 

Perhaps  that  is  where  we  all  should 
have  started. 


MEDITATION 


Creativity 

Today,  I really  longed  to  write  a poem — 

To  fit  to  rhyme  and  rhythm  dancing  words. 
(Now  is  the  emerald  season  in  my  valley; 

The  time  of  petaled  fields  and  singing  birds!) 
Instead,  I pulled  and  stored  the  pungent  onions, 
Lingering  in  the  old  barn,  dark  and  cool; 
Touching  the  harness,  unused  now  and  dusty; 
Sitting  a moment  on  the  worn  milk  stool. 

The  hours  passed  swiftly,  filled  with  occupation 
Of  simple  chores  so  basic  to  our  needs. 

Until  the  evening  came,  and  with  it  tiredness — 
And  not  one  flowing  line  my  muse  decreed. 

But  warm  fulfillment  rested  in  my  heart. 

The  day  had  plied  its  own  essential  art. 


Mrs.  Webb  Dycus 


534 


SEPTEMBER  18,  1973 


LETTERS  Contents 


ignoring  the  kingdom 

Dear  Editor:  The  feature  article,  “Mis- 
sionary goals  in  the  New  Testament 
church,”  by  Erland  Waltner  (June  26 
issue)  caught  my  interest.  I appreciated 
his  emphasis  on  the  kingdom  as  one  of 
the  church’s  goals.  I fear  Christian  writ- 
ers and  preachers  have  been  shying  away 
from  that  emphasis  at  a great  expense  to 
the  welfare  of  mankind. 

“Jesus  went  about  . . . preaching  the 
gospel  of  the  kingdom”  (Mt.  9:35).  He 
fj  taught  his  disciples  to  pray  for  its  com- 
ing. Christendom  has  been  able  to  recite 
the  lord’s  Prayer  for  centuries,  but  has 
hardly  learned  to  pray  it,  i.e.,  to  really 
plead  for  the  coming  kingdom,  to  live 
in  anticipation  and  readiness  for  it.  That 
shortcoming  is  caused  partly  by  a lack 
, of  understanding  and  partly  by  a reluc- 
tance to  observe  “all  things  that  I have 
commanded  you.” 

Most  literature  condemns  avarice,  and 
still  much  of  mankind,  across  the  whole 
spectrum  from  communist  to  Christian, 

, is  in  its  grip.  Yet  the  teachings  of  Jesus 

{on  this  matter  are  so  essential  to  with- 
stand “against  the  resistance  and  the 
confusion  which  the  opponents  may  gen- 
erate.” It  is  especially  in  the  emphasis 

II  of  the  kingdom  as  a Christian  goal,  in 
which  a conflict  with  the  worldly  powers 
| must  be  reckoned  with. 

Permit  me  to  put  the  three  goals,  the 
i individual,  the  church,  and  the  kingdom, 
in  a somewhat  different  perspective.  The 
consummated  kingdom  is  the  real  goal. 
The  church  is  the  living  organism  work- 
ing to  fulfill  God’s  purpose  in  respect  to 
that  goal. 

As  individuals  we  are  sought  and  con- 
ditioned for  that  goal,  God’s  kingdom. 
Paul  writes:  “God  has  delivered  us  from 
the  dominion  of  darkness  and  transferred 
us  to  the  kingdom  of  his  beloved  son” 
(Col.  1:13).  The  climax  of  this  divine 
intervention  will  be  revealed  when  “the 
kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the 
kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  his  Christ” 
(Rev.  11:15). 

Conflict  has  raged  throughout  the  his- 
tory of  mankind  between  two  great 
moments:  the  fall  of  man  and  God’s  ulti- 
mate salvation  (salvation  in  the  sense  of 
Rom.  13:11b).  Unfortunately,  Christen- 
dom is  somewhat  oblivious  of  that  con- 
flict, which  adds  to  the  confusion,  espe- 


cially when  they  get  on  the  wrong  side. 

For  that  reason  the  satanic  forces 
seem  to  be  winning  and  about  to  set  up 
an  absolute  dictatorship  with  compara- 
tively few  but  crafty  and  powerful  men 
ruling  the  masses.  Their  success  in  re- 
verting back  to  an  ancient  feudal  system 
depends  on  the  support  of  a host  of 
people  who  are  unconcerned,  unenlight- 
ened, and  uncommitted  beyond  their  im- 
mediate interests,  yielding  easily  to  de- 
ception and/ or  coercion.  It  is  ironic  for 
Christendom  to  see  this  happening  before 
its  very  eyes,  as  the  truth  and  the  power 
of  God,  which  will  be  the  deciding  fac- 
tors (2  Thess.  2:8-10;  Rev.  19),  are 
on  our  side.  No  other  than  the  divine 
victory  can  ever  be  permanent.  It  is  time 
to  check  on  our  allegiance,  whether  it  is 
to  Christ  or  to  the  prince  of  this  world. 
What  happens  in  the  economic  and  po- 
litical arena  has  an  important  bearing  on 
the  final  outcome.  The  onus  is  on  Chris- 
tendom. The  saints  are  ultimately  to  rule 
the  earth  (Mt.  19:28;  1 Cor.  6:2;  Rev. 
20:6;  22:5)  as  a reward  for  discipleship 
when  “the  kingdoms  of  this  world  be- 
come the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  his 
Christ.”  Isaac  I.  Klaassen,  Laird,  Sask. 

Aug.  12 


Silver  Lake  Mennonite  Camp 
needs  a person  to  act  as 
Camp  Administrator.  The  po- 
sition is  full-time,  with  a ne- 
gotiable salary. 

The  position  needs  to  be  filled 
as  soon  as  possible. 

The  successful  applicant 
should  have  a keen  interest 
in  camping,  especially  in  the 
work  of  the  church.  An  edu- 
cational experience  involving 
church-related  institutions  is 
desirable  although  not  com- 
pulsory. Interested  individuals 
should  send  their  inquiries 
along  with  their  personal  in- 
ventories to: 

Peter  Dyck 

559  Vine  Street  North 
St.  Catharines,  Ontario 
Canada  L2M  3V2 
ph.  (416)  935-6907 


Going  through  life  with  your 

armor  on?  522 

What  difference  does  it  make?  . ,524 

News  525 

Record  530 

Parent  effectiveness  training  532 

A part-time  job:  More  time  for 

relationships  533 

The  sharing  game  534 

Creativity  534 

Letters  535 

Letting  go  and  leaving  behind  ..  536 

CONTRIBUTORS 


David  A.  Hubbard  is  president  of  Fuller 
Theological  Seminary,  Pasadena,  Calif. 
He  is  the  author  of  numerous  books,  in- 
cluding How  to  Face  Your  Fears,  from 
which  his  article  in  this  week's  issue  is 
taken. 

Henry  Poettcker,  president  of  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College,  is  on  a one- 
year  teaching  assignment  in  Asia  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Commission  on  Over- 
seas Mission. 

Levi  Miller  is  an  editor  with  the  Men- 
nonite Publishing  House,  Scottdale,  Pa. 
15683.  His  article  on  Rex  Humbard  was 
written  especially  for  The  Mennonite. 

Anita  Lehman's  address  is  409  W. 
1 1th,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14. 

Katie  Funk  Wiebe  resides  at  208  N. 
Jefferson,  Hillsboro,  Kans.  67063. 

Mrs.  Webb  Dycus  is  a resident  of  Duck 
River,  Tenn.  38454. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  RNS,  Ray  Carlson;  522,  H.  Arm- 
strong Roberts;  525,  Don  Luce,  Indo- 
china Mobile  Education  Project,  1322 
1 8th  St.,  N.W.,  Washington,  D.C.  20036; 
526  and  528,  RNS;  the  article  on  pages 
522-23  is  from  How  to  Face  Your  Fears, 
by  David  Allan  Hubbard,  published  by 
permission  of  A.  J.  Holman  Co.,  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania. 

Meimonite 

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Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  MENNONITE 


535 


Letting  go  and  leaving  behind 

A tent  evangelist  in  the  movie  Mar  joe  quotes 
Matthew  19:29  about  forsaking  family  and  prop- 
erty for  the  sake  of  the  gospel  and  the  promise 
of  receiving  such  things  back  a hundredfold. 
Then  he  announces  that  today  the  Lord  has  given 
him  a brand  new  Cadillac  in  return  for  his  old 
Chevrolet. 

Like  the  evangelist,  we  usually  proclaim  the 
good  news  with  the  emphasis  on  what  people 
can  receive,  phrasing  it  in  terms  of  forgiveness, 
acceptance,  community,  right  relationships.  And 
people  do  need  to  hear  about  these  things.  But 
too  seldom  do  we  talk  about  what  the  Christian 
is  to  leave  behind. 

The  Bible  and  history  are  full  of  experiences 
of  men  and  women  who  let  go  of  and  left  be- 
hind, for  the  sake  of  the  gospel,  the  things  they 
valued. 

Says  Wesley  Mast  in  The  other  side  (May- 
June  issue),  “We  know  much  more  about  what 
God’s  men  left  behind  in  response  to  God’s  call. 
Abraham  left  his  homeland,  Moses  his  flock,  the 
disciples  their  nets,  Hosea  his  wife,  the  early 
Christians  their  houses  and  lands.” 

Francis  of  Assisi  left  family  wealth  for  a life 
of  simplicity.  Mennonites,  ever  since  the  six- 
teenth century,  have  been  leaving  houses  and 
lands  for  religious  freedom.  Freedom  riders  in 
the  South  risked  jail,  even  death,  in  the  struggle 
for  justice. 

These  people  had  a loyalty  which  superseded 
lesser  loyalties.  They  knew  how  to  set  priorities 
and  they  knew  what  had  top  priority  in  their 
lives. 

Most  of  us  find  it  hard  to  have  just  one  pri- 
ority and,  instead,  we  give  lesser  things  an  abso- 
lute value. 

The  most  common  response  to  priorities  is  to 
call  too  many  things  absolutely  good.  Our  loy- 
alties are  spread  around  family,  job,  politics, 
consumption,  public  opinion,  tradition,  and  all 
sorts  of  other  things  that  compete  with  our  loy- 
alty to  God. 

We  give  homage  to  the  “good  life,”  and  prop- 


erty and  protection  of  it  become  so  important 
they  blind  us  to  the  needs  of  others. 

We  become  so  involved  in  political  party  struc- 
tures that  we  fail  to  search  for  better  structures 
under  which  people  could  live  together  in  peace. 

We  try  so  hard  to  advance  our  careers  that  a 
job  takes  precedence  over  all  other  time  com- 
mitments. 

Even  family  loyalties  can  be  idolatrous  and 
become  the  final  excuse  why  we  cannot  take  risks 
for  God’s  kingdom,  as  if  we  could  not  entrust  the 
care  of  our  dependents  to  others  in  the  Christian 
community. 

The  second  absolutist  response  is  to  call  all 
these  other  loyalties  bad.  Instead  of  consumer- 
ism, we  embrace  joyless  ascetism.  Nonparticipa- 
tion in  politics  becomes  an  escape  from  responsi- 
bility. Disregard  for  family  ties  creates  a sense  of 
alienation.  Rejection  of  everything  that  would  be- 
come idolatrous  finally  means  we  are  not  only 
not  of  the  world,  but  out  of  it. 

Giving  one’s  total  loyalty  to  God  does  not 
mean  ignoring  or  rejecting  all  these  things.  It 
does  mean  that  all  these  activities  must  be  evalu- 
ated in  light  of  one’s  primary  loyalty.  We  decide 
to  hold  on  or  let  go  only  because  an  activity  is 
helpful  or  destructive  in  kingdom  building. 

The  principle  could  also  be  applied  to  inter- 
personal tensions  in  which  arguments  turn  into 
stalemates  when  two  people  cannot  let  go  of 
minor  points  to  work  on  what  they  both  feel  is 
most  important. 

As  citizens  of  God’s  kingdom,  we  must  be 
willing  to  drop  all  lesser  loyalties  and  be  ready 
to  discern  when  to  let  go  and  when  to  hold  on. 

Letting  go  is  risky.  But  it  may  also  bring  some 
of  the  hundredfold  return.  Rejecting  the  exclusive 
demands  of  the  nuclear  family  may  mean  gaining 
new  brothers  and  sisters  in  Christ.  Giving  up  job 
security  may  mean  finding  new  meaning  in  work. 
Letting  go  means  freedom,  for  in  giving  God 
our  whole  loyalty,  we  are  free  to  reject  the  de- 
mands of  lesser  loyalties  And  that  makes  letting 
go  and  leaving  behind  really  good  news,  lj 


Thp 

Meimonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:34  SEPTEMBER  2 5,  1973 


Mozlinghouse 

a joint  issue  with  Gospel  Herald 


Robert  S.  Kreider 


Many  of  us  walked  taller  as  Menno- 
mtes  upon  reading  Harold  S.  Bender’s 
presidential  address  delivered  in  1943  at 
the  American  Society  of  Church  His- 
tory; The  Anabaptist  vision.  It  began 
with  the  soaring,  perhaps  extravagant, 
affirmation  of  Rufus  Jones: 

Judged  by  the  reception  it  met  at 
the  hands  of  those  in  power  . . . the  Ana- 
baptist movement  was  one  of  the  most 
tragic  in  the  history  of  Christianity; 
but  judged  by  the  principles  which  were 
put  into  play  by  this  reproachful  nick- 
name, it  must  be  pronounced  one  of 
the  most  momentous  and  significant  un- 
dertakings in  man’s  eventful  religious 
struggle  after  the  truth.” 

The  Bender  address  symbolized  for 
many  of  us  a Mennonite  coming  of  age. 
It  spoke  to  our  identity  problem.  It 
helped  us  overcome  our  Mennonite 
shame. 

I suspect  that  every  sensitive  Men- 
nonite goes  through  life  with  a back- 
pack of  ambivalent  feelings  about  his 
people  and  heritage — a sense  of  embar- 
rassment in  being  a peculiar  Mennonite 
and  yet  a sense  of  pride  in  being  heir 
to  a great,  creative  Anabaptist  heritage. 

We  have  known  embarrassment:  a 
small,  rural,  quaint,  irrelevant  minority, 
mistaken  for  the  Amish  and  the  Mor- 
mons, identified  with  the  violent  and 
radical  left,  confused  with  the  funda- 
mentalists, lumped  together  with  crack- 
pots, linked  with  prudery  and  legalism. 

It  is  no  fun  to  be  a member  of  a queer, 
“backward”  group  in  this  modem,  en- 
lightened, emancipated  world. 

We  have  known  pride.  One  speaks 
with  officials  in  Atlanta  and  one  hears 
hymns  of  praise  for  Mennonite  House. 

A minister  of  education  in  Kenya,  a 
desk  officer  in  Washington,  a program 
director  in  Ottawa— all  speak  glowingly 
of  Mennonite  programs  and  perform- 
ance. 

The  halo  begins  to  fit  uncomfortably 
when  one  remembers  the  words:  “Be- 
ware when  all  men  speak  well  of  you.” 
Again  and  again  I have  been  re- 
newed in  my  appreciation  for  my  Men- 


Influenced, 
bul  not  imprisoned 
by  our  heritage 

rntltu  nnrl  I * t-i  , 


nonite  identity  and  heritage  by  stepping 
outside  and  looking  at  the  Mennonites 
from  a slight  distance:  going  away  to 
the  university  and  looking  back,  work- 
ing with  other  agencies  and  comparing, 
traveling  abroad  and  reflecting.  Distance, 
and  the  perspective  it  gives,  often  makes 
the  heart  grow  fonder.  This  is  the  bib- 
lical formula  for  renewal  through  with- 
drawal and  return. 

Sometimes  one  s heritage  comes  alive 
through  the  written  and  the  spoken  word. 
When  I was  a boy  I was  intrigued  in 
reading  P.  C.  Hiebert  and  Orie  Miller’s 
book,  Feeding  the  hungry — the  story  of 
the  mcc  relief  effort  in  South  Russia.  As 
a child  I remember  the  coming  to  our 
community  of  the  Epps,  the  Klassens, 
the  Schmidts,  and  the  Warkentines,  all 
Mennonite  refugee  families  from  Russia. 
Hearing  their  stories  we  sensed  what  it 
means  to  be  a suffering  church. 

Recently  I have  read  two  provoca- 
tive books  on  the  heritage  question  by 
a Slovak-American,  Catholic  author, 
Michael  Novak:  Ascent  of  the  moun- 
tain, flight  of  the  dove  and  The  rise 
of  the  unmeltable  ethnics.  He  pleads  per- 
suasively for  a new  appreciation  for  the 
ethnic  dimension  of  life:  “Dignity  comes 
not  simply  from  money  or  occupation, 
but  also  from  belonging  to  a culture. 

Ethnic  consciousness  can,  like  modern 
science,  lead  to  evil  as  well  as  good.” 
People  who  are  secure  in  their  identity 
seem  to  act  with  greater  freedom  and 
openness  to  others.  Mr.  Novak  states 
it  another  way:  “We  believe  that  peo- 
ple who  are  secure  in  their  past  and 
joyful  in  their  present  cannot  but  be 
hopeful  in  their  future.”  This  he  calls 
the  “new  ethnicity.” 

Some  of  the  best  writing  anywhere 
on  the  heritage  and  ethnic  self-under- 
standing  question  is  to  be  found  in  a 
collection  of  essays  written  in  honor  of 
J-  J.  Thiessen  and  published  by  Cana- 
dian Mennonite  Bible  College:  Call  to 
faithfulness.  Among  the  chapters  which 
speak  to  the  issues  before  us  are  ones 
such  as  these:  “The  present  in  dialog 
with  the  past,”  “Mennonite  families: 


Foundations  and  launching  pads,”  “Thi 
struggle  for  recognition,”  “Adaptatioi 
and  identity,”  and  many  others.  Thi: 
book  deserves  wide  reading. 

Others  are  speaking  to  these  issues.  A 
young  woman,  Sharon  Curtin,  write; 
with  sensitivity  and  insight  these  word; 
in  her  recent  book,  N obody  ever  diet 
of  old  age:  “My  grandparents  were  an 
integral  and  important  part  of  the  fam- 
ily and  of  the  community.  I sometimes 
have  a dreadful  fear  that  mine  will  be 
the  last  generation  to  know  old  people 
as  friends,  to  have  a sense  of  what 
growing  old  means,  to  respect  and  un- 
derstand man’s  mortality  and  his  cour- 
age in  the  face  of  death.  Mine  may  be 
the  last  generation  to  have  a sense  of 
living  history,  of  stories  passed  from 
generation  to  generation,  of  identic 
established  by  family  history.” 

The  best  educational  treatise  I hav 
read  this  year  is  The  Foxfire  book, 
book  of  experiences  of  a teacher  am 
his  students  in  a mountain  community 
Rabun  Gap,  Georgia.  The  students 
with  the  teacher’s  help,  gathered  storie: 
from  their  mountain  neighbors  on  ho* 
dressing,  home  crafts  and  foods,  plant 
mg  by  the  signs,  home  remedies,  lo* 
cabin  building,  and  other  affairs  ol 
plain  living.  Listen  to  these  words  from 
the  author’s  introduction: 

“Daily  our  grandparents  are  moving 
out  of  our  lives.  . . . These  grandparents 
were  primarily  an  oral  civilization,  in- 
formation being  passed  through  the  gen- 
erations by  word  of  mouth  and  demon- 
stration. . . . When  they’re  gone  . . . the 
eloquent  and  haunting  stories  of  suffer- 
ing and  sharing  and  building  and  heal- 
ing and  planting  and  harvesting— all 
these  go  with  them,  and  what  a loss. 

If  this  information  is  to  be  saved  ...  it 
must  be  saved  now;  and  the  logical  re- 
searchers are  the  grandchildren,  not  uni- 
versity researchers  from  the  outside.” 
The  author  states  that  to  reconstruct 
one’s  heritage  does  something  for  the 
gatherer  of  the  information: 

“In  the  process,  these  grandchildren 
(and  we)  gain  an  invaluable,  unique 


538 


SEPTEMBER  25,  1973 


knowledge  about  their  own  roots,  her- 
itage, and  culture.  Suddenly  they  dis- 
cover their  families — previously  people 
to  be  ignored  and  in  the  face  of  the  sev- 
enties — as  pretelevision,  preautomobile, 
preflight  individuals  who  endured  and 
survived  the  incredible  task  of  total  self- 
sufficiency  and  came  out  of  it  all  with  a 
perspective  on  ourselves  as  a country 
. . . something  to  tell  us  about  self- 
reliance,  human  interdependence,  and  the 
human  spirit  that  we  would  do  well  to 
listen  to.” 

To  be  a Mennonite  is  to  be  a member 
of  an  ethnic  group.  We  may  insist  that 
Mennonites  are  a religious  group  and 
stand  above  ethnicity.  What  is  an  ethnic 
group?  Michael  Novak  says  that  it  is  “a 
group  with  historical  memory,  real  or 
imaginary.” 

In  part  you  are  born  into  an  ethnic 
group;  in  part  you  choose  it.  “Given  a 
grandparent  or  two,  one  chooses  to 
shape  one’s  consciousness  by  one  his- 
tory rather  than  another.  Ethnic  mem- 
ory is  not  a set  of  events  remembered, 
but  rather  of  instincts,  feelings,  intima- 


cies, expectations,  patterns  of  emotion 
and  behavior;  a sense  of  reality;  a set 
of  stories  for  individuals — and  for  the 
people  as  a whole — to  live  out.” 

These  heritage  convictions  and  in- 
stincts are  often  below  the  level  of 
consciousness  and  part  of  a chain  of 
transmission  not  easy  to  root  out.  Ethnic 
memory  may  be  conveyed  in  food,  lan- 
guage, patterns  of  speech,  ways  of  hav- 
ing fun,  jokes,  tastes.  Heritage  memory 
may  be  carried  by  these  and  by  other 
means — family  reactions  to  volunteer- 
ing to  need,  openness  or  restraint  in  the 
family  to  discussing  faith  issues,  pat- 
terns of  giving.  . . . 

Mennonites  are  a cluster  of  subethnic 
groups.  Among  (Old)  Mennonites  are 
lingering  evidences  of  differences  be- 
tween communities  of  Amish  back- 
ground and  those  of  Mennonite  back- 
ground. The  glory  and  the  burden  of 
the  General  Conference  are  its  multi- 
plicity of  subethnic  groups:  Hutterite, 
Swiss,  Volhynian  Swiss,  Pennsylvania 
Dutch  (Swiss  via  Alsace  or  the  Palatin- 
ate), Dutch  from  West  Prussia,  Dutch 


The  author  quotes  one  writer  who 
wonders  if  hers  will  be  “the  last  gener- 
ation to  have  a sense  of  living  history, 
of  stories  passed  from  generation 
to  generation,  of  identity  established 
by  family  history.” 


from  Poland,  Dutch  from  South  Rus- 
sia (those  of  the  1870s,  others  of  the 
1920s,  others  post-World  War  II),  Ba- 
varians. Each  has  its  differences  of  food, 
speech,  customs,  family  names,  and  pat- 
terns of  church  life. 

This  year  I have  been  going  about 
Canada  and  the  United  States  asking 
people  about  their  heritage.  One  cannot 
talk  about  heritage  without  finding  it  in 
autobiographical  form. 

Recently  we  asked  Tom  Gish,  editor 
of  the  Mountain  eagle  of  Whitesburg, 
Kentucky,  what  gives  him  hope  for  east- 
ern Kentucky  where  are  located  four  of 
the  poorest  counties  in  the  United  States. 
He  answered:  “The  strength  of  the  peo- 
ple. They  know  who  they  are.  A person 
knows  where  he  comes  from,  who  his 
father  is,  who  his  grandfather  is.” 

Another  man,  born  and  bred  in  the 
hills,  added:  “There’s  not  three  persons 
I meet  in  a day  whom  I don’t  know.” 
This  public  official  continued:  “Some- 
thing goes  wrong  for  you  around  here 
and  there  are  all  kinds  of  people  you 
can  call  on.” 

A few  months  ago  a middle-aged 
Mennonite  university  professor  com- 
mented to  me:  “I  am  working  on  the 
spiritual  capital  of  my  parents.  They 
gave  me  a powerful  heritage — a mem- 
ory of  suffering  in  Russia,  exodus,  trag- 
edy and  deliverance,  and  then  an  ethnic 
thing  (German  language  and  all)  to 
rebel  against;  what  spiritual  capital  am 
I building  into  my  kids?  . . . We  can’t 
live  for  long  on  the  heritage  of  the  early 
1920s.” 

A Mennonite  Brethren  teacher  and  ex- 
mcc  worker,  reflecting  to  me  on  the  mcc, 
said:  “Mcc  is  half  in  and  half  out  of 
an  ethnic  culture.  It  provides  a place  for 
innovation — a testing  ground  for  those 
things  which  work  and  those  which  do 
not.”  My  friend  went  on  to  say  that  our 
ethnic-bound  ways  can  be  a resource 
for  the  church:  “An  ethnic  group  ac- 
commodates itself  to  dissent.  A funda- 
mentalist church  of  true  believers  will 
throw  or  freeze  out  the  offbeat  youth 
in  its  ranks.  An  ethnic  Mennonite  Breth- 
ren Church  is  most  reluctant  to  throw 
out  your  cousin’s  oldest  son.  It  hangs 


THE  MENNONITE 


539 


in  there  with  him  and  keeps  on  caring.” 

Martin  Marty,  writer,  historian,  Mis- 
souri Synod  pastor,  said  to  a small 
group:  “As  a Missouri  Synod  Lutheran, 
three  groups  are  most  helpful  to  me  in 
understanding  myself:  Jewish  novelists, 
post-Vatican  II  Catholics,  Mennonites.” 
He  explained  that  all  have  a strong 
ethnic  consciousness,  take  their  past  seri- 
ously, take  their  faith  seriously,  and  yet 
are  trying  to  move  into  the  modern 
world,  translating  their  heritage  into 
new  forms  to  respond  to  contemporary 
needs.  He  finds  it  refreshing  to  meet 
people  in  touch  with  their  past  even  if 
they  have  transcended  and  reinterpret- 
ed it. 

Ladonna  Harris,  a Comanche  Indian 
and  the  wife  of  former  Senator  Harris 
of  Oklahoma,  told  some  of  us  in  a re- 
cent meeting  in  Washington  that  a mi- 
nority ethnic  group  like  the  Mennonites 
might  have  a gift,  a mission  in  under- 
standing other  ethnic  groups.  If  you 
savor  the  uniqueness  of  your  heritage, 
you  can  be  more  sensitive  to  the  subtle 
ways  in  which  others  differ.  She  put  me 
on  the  trail  of  an  Italian  Catholic  priest, 
Monsignor  Geno  Baroni,  whom  I then 
went  to  see. 

The  priest  told  me  he  had  had  an 
inner-city  parish  where  he  became  deep- 
ly involved  in  the  civil  rights  move- 
ment— the  black  struggle  for  ethnic  re- 
covery. He  found  that  his  Italian  parish- 
ioners were  not  following  him  in  his  ac- 
tivism. He  discovered  that  his  people 
were  not  supporting  the  blacks  because 
they  themselves  had  so  little  sense  of 
ethnic  self-worth.  He  changed  course  and 
began  to  concentrate  on  helping  his 
people  to  restore  their  threatened  sense 
of  self-identity.  He  feels  that  as  his  Ital- 
ian people  come  to  appreciate  their  peo- 
plehood  they  can  be  helped  to  under- 
stand the  peoplehood  of  blacks,  Jews, 
and  perhaps  even  Irish  Catholics. 

Michael  Novak  and  others  are  telling 
us  that  the  American  people  have  been 
badly  served  by  the  myth  of  the  Amer- 
ican melting  pot.  It  has  been  an  Anglo- 
Saxon,  English-speaking,  largely  Prot- 
estant ethnic  group’s  effort  to  homog- 
enize us  all  into  a bland  all-American 
type.  James  Farrell  calls  the  melting  pot 
an  “Anglo-Saxon  effort  to  rub  out  the 
past  of  others.”  The  Canadian  tradition, 
fortified  by  a powerful  French-speaking 
bloc,  offers  a better  alternative — the  idea 
of  a cultural  mosaic.  Each  ethnic  group 


is  to  be  respected  and  cherished,  each 
contributing  in  richness  of  color  its  past 
to  the  total  picture. 

The  Apostle  Paul  speaks  of  varieties 
of  gifts  and  said  that  they  were  good. 
Is  it  not  appropriate  to  think  that  vari- 
eties of  culture  are  also  good  in  God’s 
grand  mosaic?  We  are  not  to  be  ashamed 
of  our  ethnic  and  heritage  peculiarities. 
They  are  gifts,  resources.  Let  us  en- 
courage other  peoples  in  their  yearning 
for  ethnic  identity:  the  black,  the  Nava- 
jo, the  Italian-American,  the  Chicano. 
Let  ethnic  sensitivity  be  a resource,  an 
opening  in  our  ministries  of  evangelism 
and  reconciliation. 

I am  intrigued  how  the  biblical  writ- 
ers cast  their  message  in  familial  (eth- 
nic) terms.  Stephen  standing  before  his 
accusers  and  stating  his  case  for  Christ 
and  conscience  declares  himself  not  to 
be  ashamed  of  his  ethnic  past  and  spir- 
itual heritage.  He  begins  his  statement 
with  the  story  of  Abraham  and  con- 
ducts his  hearers  step  by  step  through 
the  pilgrimage  of  the  Hebrew  people. 

Scholars  seem  to  have  found  new  mean- 
ing in  the  Hebrew  consciousness  of  peo- 
plehood— “the  people  of  God.” 

I am  of  the  conviction  that  Christ 
speaks  to  the  sickness  of  our  society  by 
translating  the  gospel  into  familial  (eth- 
nic) terms — on  being  a good  neighbor 
...  on  being  a brother  ...  as  a father 
cares  for  his  children.  . . . “Woman,  be- 
hold thy  son”  and  “Behold  thy  mother” 
...  of  celebrating  a wedding  feast  to- 
gether ...  on  eating  together  ...  of 
not  coming  to  destroy  a heritage  but  to 
cherish  a heritage. 

I am  of  the  conviction  that  our  Men- 
nonite  heritage  speaks  to  the  sickness 
of  our  society.  Here  are  people  who 
take  seriously  the  biblical  record  and 
their  dramatic  Anabaptist-Mennonite 
heritage.  This  heritage  expressed  in  the 
language  of  family,  smallness,  neighbor- 
liness might  offer  answers  to  the  ills  of 
our  society  with  its  vacuum  of  the  soul, 
its  value-free  chatter,  its  rootlessness,  its 
restless  movement,  its  mindless  conform- 
ity, its  buy-use-and-throw-away  ap- 
proach to  things  and  people,  its  dreary 
sameness,  its  temporariness,  its  bondage 
to  public  opinion,  its  pressures  “to  be 
with  it,”  its  manipulation  of  images. 

If  the  Mennonite  heritage  is  to  speak 
to  the  needs  of  people  today,  it  cannot 
be  a slavish  imitation  of  Mennonite  tra- 
ditions. It  calls  for  fresh  translations  of 


our  heritage  into  the  language  of  out 
day.  Our  need  is  not  for  a copying  of 
surface  characteristics,  but  rather  for  a 
living  out  in  fresh  ways  of  ideas  and 
themes  within  the  tradition. 

This  is  only  a start.  We,  of  course, 
have  not  faced  up  here  to  some  of  the 
hard  questions.  How  does  one  reconcile 
the  biblical  affirmation  of  family  and 
peoplehood  with  the  scriptural  calls  to 
spring  loose  from  the  ethnic:  Jesus’  ques- 
tion, “Who  is  my  mother?  and  who  are 
my  brethren?”  . . . Paul’s  words,  “there  1 
is  neither  Greek  nor  Jew  . . .”?  Is  not  a i 
reaffirmation  of  Mennonite  peoplehood  i 
a throwback  to  the  V olkskirche  which  ( 
our  Anabaptist  forefathers  rejected?  ...  I 
Does  not  an  Anabaptist  believers’  church 
call  for  a melting  and  fusing  together  i 
of  cultures?  ...  Is  it  fair  to  call  Men-  i 
nonites  an  ethnic  group;  are  they  not  I 
rather  a religious  people  above  eth-'  * 
nicity?  . . . Can  you  have  pure  people-  i 
hood  of  God  without  cultural  expres-  t 
sions  of  it?  i 

A dozen  concrete  suggestions  come  i 
to  my  mind  on  how  we  might  be  influ-'' 
enced,  but  not  imprisoned,  by  our  her-  1 
itage.  Here  are  several  ideas,  perhaps  1 
one  or  two  of  them  are  usable. 

— Let  each  congregation  establish  a 1 
heritage  committee  with  representation 
of  children,  parents,  and  grandparents  ^ 
charged  with  responsibility  to  help  the « 1 
congregation  inform  itself  on  its  heri-  1 
tage  and  then  translate  it  into  modem 
language  and  actions.  > 

— Encourage  the  young  people  of  the  ' 
congregation  to  devote  a year  to  pre-  j 
paring  their  own  local  Foxfire  book  on  ' 
the  wit,  wisdom,  and  folklore  of  the  old  1 
people  of  the  congregation  with  assur-  1 
ance  of  some  sort  of  publication.  I 

— Write  and  act  out  in  drama,  mu-  ! 
sic,  and  slides  the  story  of  your  congre-  [ 
gation.  t 

— Raise  money  and  send  your  pastor  ' 
and  a half  dozen  laymen  from  your  con-  I 
gregation  on  a pilgrimage  to  the  Neth- 
erlands, Switzerland,  and  the  Holy  Land  1 
with  responsibility  to  report  back. 

— Arrange  for  a series  of  meetings  1 
together  with  nearby  ethnic-rooted  E 
church  groups  to  share  your  respective  ^ 
heritages — e.g.,  Swedish  Covenant,  Cath-  f 
olic,  Missouri  Synod  Lutheran,  and  so 
on.  , s 

We  need  not  be  ashamed  of  the  gos-y  J 
pel  of  Christ,  nor  of  our  Mennonite 
heritage.  f 


It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekl'y^uTing'^Juty  and  A^gus?' a^rthea|astetwo^ weeks'^'D11'6  N f tlf'0  " l°'tr  and ,lreec,or?  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Ne^on,  Kans  67n Z Subscript  o^  in  U S ^ NeWt°n'  ^"L*7”7'  by  ,he  General  Board  °f  ,he  General  Conference  Mennonite 


SEPTEMBER  25,  1973  1 


540 


Conrad  G.  Brunk 


BIBUG1 


Whenever  we  set  out  to  “rediscover  ’ 
or  “recapture”  an  ideal  that  has  been 
lost  we  face  the  danger  of  recapturing 
only  the  external  form  of  the  ideal  rather 
than  its  reality. 

The  danger  we  face  in  attempting  to 
rediscover  the  biblical  and  Anabaptist 
ideal  of  nonconformity  is  that  we  will 
try  to  recapture  the  forms  of  first-  or 
sixteenth-century  nonconformity  without 
recapturing  its  spirit.  But  history  is  con- 
tinually on  the  move,  and  the  present  is 
never  a perfect  replica  of  the  past.  Each 
new  age  presents  new  difficulties,  and 
wickedness  manifests  itself  in  novel,  of- 
ten subtler,  forms.  Consequently,  the 
forms  which  nonconformity  takes  in  the 
1970s  may  be,  and  ought  to  be,  vastly 
different  from  its  forms  in  an  earlier 
age.  The  important  thing  is  for  the  spirit 
to  be  the  same.  Without  the  true  spirit 
J of  nonconformity  its  external  forms  are 
i meaningless. 

How  nonconformed  are  we?  The  Men- 
nonite  church  seems  to  be  swiftly  losing 
its  last  external  vestiges  of  nonconform- 
ity. To  a large  extent  we  have  melted 
into  the  mainstream  of  American  cul- 
tural life.  It  is  seldom  possible  anymore 
to  “spot”  a Mennonite  in  the  way  it  was 
possible  to  do  only  a few  years  back 
merely  by  observing  his  dress,  his  de- 
meanor, or  his  speech.  Most  of  the  dis- 
tinctive external  symbols  of  nonconform- 
ity which  the  church  has  struggled  to 
preserve  are  being  lost. 

Symbols  are  meaningful  only  when 
they  reflect  an  underlying  spiritual  re- 
ality. When  the  spirit  of  nonconformity 
is  lost  among  a people,  then  the  symbols 
• or  external  manifestations  of  noncon- 
formity lose  their  justification  and  be- 
come mere  marks  of  eccentricity.  Per- 
haps our  inability  to  preserve  even  a few 
symbols  of  nonconformity  reflects  a 
deeper  spiritual  conformity  to  our  age. 
Do  we  not  value  the  things  that  our 
culture  values,  indulge  ourselves  in  its 
indulgences,  overconsume  what  it  over- 
produces, share  its  nationalistic  overex- 
uberance, take  comfort  in  its  military 
prowess,  and  pay  homage  to  its  national 


deities?  Are  we  not  striving  as  diligently 
to  be  good  citizens  as  we  are  to  be  good 
disciples  of  Christ,  and  have  we  not  lost 
the  suspicion  that  the  two  are  rarely, 
if  ever,  totally  compatible?  We  cannot 
hope  to  gain  meaningful  symbols  of  non- 
conformity until  we  have  first  regained 
the  spirit  of  nonconformity  itself. 

The  remade  mind.  This  is  the  clear 
thrust  of  Paul’s  injunction  to  noncon- 
formity in  Romans  12:1.  “Adapt  your- 
selves no  longer  to  the  patterns  of  this 
present  world,  but  let  your  minds  be  re- 
made and  your  whole  nature  thus  trans- 
formed. Then  you  will  be  able  to  dis- 
cern the  will  of  God,  and  to  know  what 
is  good,  acceptable,  and  perfect”  (neb). 

Paul’s  emphasis  here  is  that  the  es- 
sence of  Christian  nonconformity  is  the 
“remade”  mind  which  enables  a man  to 
discern  the  will  of  God  for  his  age,  in 
his  society.  A Christian’s  system  of  val- 
ues and  styles  of  life  are  determined, 
not  by  the  shallow  moral  sentiments  of 
the  culture  in  which  he  lives,  which  are 
thrown  at  him  constantly  by  Madison 
Avenue,  Hollywood,  Wall  Street,  or 
Washington,  D.C.,  but  by  a conscious- 
ness of  a higher  norm — the  will  of  God. 

The  ability  to  see  evil.  A Christian 
finds  himself  nonconformed  to  the  world 
because  he  begins  to  see  the  world  with 
new  eyes.  He  is  able  to  see  through  all 
the  rationalizations  and  pretexts  which 
a society  throws  up  around  its  most  cor- 
rupt practices  and  institutions,  and  he 
refuses  to  coexist  peacefully  or  compro- 
mise with  them.  Without  the  ability  to 
see  evil  in  its  subtlest  and  most  vicious 
forms,  there  is  no  possibility  of  true 
biblical  nonconformity. 

It  is  because  Christians  are  too  easily 
dazzled  by  the  values  of  their  secular 
culture  that  they  lose  their  ability  to  see 
radical  evil  in  the  institutions  of  that 


culture — especially  the  evil  in  its  most 
“sacred”  institutions.  Until  we  regain 
our  moral  eyesight,  until  our  minds  are 
remade,  so  that  we  regain  as  well  our 
sense  of  being  “strangers  and  pilgrims,” 
we  shall  never  rediscover  the  biblical 
ideal  of  nonconformity,  and  our  external 
symbols  of  nonconformity  will  be  mere 
empty  traditions. 

Nonconformity  is  not  naive.  The  abil- 
ity to  see  evil  and  to  discern  what  is 
“good,  acceptable,  and  perfect”  is  what 
the  church  most  needs  to  cultivate  today. 
We  can  no  longer  afford  to  be  naive 
about  the  most  abominable  aspects  of 
our  cultural  life  which  are  often  made 
to  appear  the  most  innocent. 

We  live  in  a society  that  has  devel- 
oped the  ability  to  make  any  product 
appear  irresistible  and  good,  no  matter 
how  useless  or  even  harmful  it  may  be. 
It  is  equally  adept  at  making  its  most 
corrupt  institutions  and  its  most  evil 
practices  appear  as  the  greatest  goods. 

Any  society  that  can  convince  its  cit- 
izens that  the  way  to  be  strong,  healthy, 
and  virile  is  to  smoke  Brand  X of  cig- 
arettes can  with  equal  effectiveness  con- 
vince them  that  its  policies  of  militarism, 
racism,  and  exploitation  are  really  the 
humanitarian  outpourings  of  a good  and 
generous  people,  and  that  its  political 
corruption  is  justified  by  concerns  of 
“law  and  order”  or  “national  security.” 

If  the  church  does  not  have  the  moral 
sensitivity  and  fortitude  to  expose  and 
repudiate  these  kinds  of  pious  pretenses, 
it  can  never  really  be  the  nonconformed 
church.  The  nonconformed  church  is 
not  one  to  be  taken  in  readily  by  the 
wrapping  of  evil  in  the  white  robes  of 
national  self-righteousness. 

The  secret  of  our  Anabaptist  fore- 
fathers’ nonconformity  lay  in  their  abil- 
ity to  see  the  subtlest  evils  in  their  so- 


he  remade  mind 


THE  MENNONITE 


541 


ciety  and  their  refusal  to  accept  easy 
rationalizations  for  those  evils.  They  re- 
fused to  take  up  the  sword,  even  against 
the  so-called  enemies  of  the  church. 
They  refused  to  bow  to  demands  to 
make  the  church  a political  institution 
casting  its  blessings  on  all  the  affairs  of 
state.  They  refused  to  dedicate  their  chil- 
dren to  the  state  through  the  ritual  of 
infant  baptism.  In  their  refusal  they 
pricked  the  conscience  of  their  society; 
they  exposed  the  wickedness  in  the  “sa- 
cred” cultural  practices  of  their  day. 

They  understood  something  about  the 
world  which  the  Christian  church,  in- 
cluding the  Mennonite  church,  has  large- 
ly lost  sight  of:  that  every  state  or  so- 
ciety tends  to  deify  its  own  institutions 
and  to  make  a traitor  of  anyone  who 
dares  to  defy  them.  Consequently,  they 
understood  that  a disciple  of  Christ  can 
rarely,  if  ever,  be  an  ideal  citizen  in  his 
state  or  society,  for  no  man  can  serve 
two  masters. 

Marks  of  the  conformed  church.  When 
the  church  loses  this  sense  of  alienation 
from  the  secular  institutions  of  society, 
it  soon  falls  into  the  error  of  believing 
that  the  church  and  the  political  insti- 
tutions can  work  out  a peaceful  com- 
promise or  even  a compact  together. 
The  inevitable  result  of  such  a compro- 
mise is  that  the  church  begins  to  identify 
the  destiny  of  the  state  or  society  with 
the  will  of  God  itself.  Rather  than  serve 


as  a prophetic  witness  to  the  state  or 
society,  the  church  merely  serves  as  a 
high  priest  of  the  state,  casting  its  bless- 
ings on  even  its  most  depraved  en- 
deavors. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  repudi- 
ated by  the  Anabaptists  in  the  sixteenth 
century  with  their  insistence  upon  the 
separation  of  the  church  from  the  state, 
and  such  is  the  case  in  modern  Amer- 
ica, where  Christianity  and  Americanism 
have  become  increasingly  synonymous. 

We  do  not  have  an  official  state  reli- 
gion in  America,  but  we  have  its  equiva- 
lent— the  “American  culture  religion.” 
Its  high  priests  are  the  ministers  who 
speak  of  serving  God  and  country  in  the 
same  breath  and  who  decry  lawlessness 
in  the  streets  while  remaining  mute 
about  greater  lawlessness  and  immoral- 
ity in  the  high  places  of  government. 
It  invokes  the  blessing  of  God  on  all  the 
affairs  of  the  state.  It  is  the  “conformed 
church.” 

The  conformed  church  has  lost  its 
ability  to  see  the  society  from  the  per- 
spective of  the  will  of  God,  for  its  mind 
has  not  been  remade  nor  its  nature 
transformed.  Its  members  see  only  the 
wickedness  that  society  defines  as  wicked 
and  accept  as  good  what  society  sets  up 
as  good. 

Nonconformity  is  not  selective.  This 
is  why  biblical  nonconformity  cannot  be 
a mere  selective  nonconformity.  That  is 


We  clo  not  have  an  official  state  religion 
in  America,  says  Conrad  Brunk,  but  we 
have  its  equivalent,  the  “American  cul- 
ture religion.”  Its  high  priests  are  the 
ministers  who  speak  of  serving  God  and 
country  in  the  same  breath  and  who 
decry  lawlessness  in  the  streets  while 
remaining  mute  about  greater  lawlessness 
and  immorality  in  the  high  places  of 
government.  It  invokes  the  blessing  of 
God  on  all  the  affairs  of  state.  At  left, 
President  and  Mrs.  Nixon  stand  with  the 
Protestant,  Catholic,  and  Jewish  clergy- 
men who  preached  at  the  White  House 
following  Mr.  Nixon’s  inauguration 
earlier  this  year. 


A 

'A 


l 


f 


■ 

tl 


t 


to  say,  it  does  not  pick  out  a few  prac- 
tices of  a culture  and  refuse  to  conform 
to  them  as  a kind  of  token  nonconform-  ^ 
ity.  A nonconformity  that  is  radically 
Christian  does  not  limit  itself  to  those 
things  that  society  does  not  really  take 
seriously,  but  is  ready  to  repudiate  even 
those  practices  which  society  considers 
essential  to  its  preservation  or  sacro-  . 
sanct. 

The  secular  society  and  its  laws  are 
indifferent  as  to  the  “plainness”  of  your  ^ 
dress  or  the  color  of  your  car.  In  fact 
it  grants  a great  deal  of  respect  to  those 
who  dress  simply  or  don’t  pollute  their 
lungs  with  smoke  or  refrain  from  drunk-  A j 
enness.  As  important  as  these  things 
may  be  for  the  Christian  life,  they  are  * 
not  the  real  test  of  nonconformity. 

The  real  test  comes  with  the  evil  prac- 
tices which  the  culture  takes  with  abso- 
lute seriousness  — those  which  it  reli- 
giously reveres.  The  truly  nonconformed  : , 

Christian  is  willing  to  take  the  risk  of 
refusing  compromise  with  even  these 
evils,  even  though  such  refusal  may  be 
illegal  or  detrimental  to  his  business  or 
his  social  status.  But  it  is  with  respect  to 
these  evils  that  we  are  most  reluctant 
to  abandon  our  comfortable  social  and  . 
economic  status  and  to  put  our  noncon- 
formity to  practice.  It  is  in  these  areas 
that  we  are  most  prone  to  devise  ration- 
alizations for  our  conformity  or  to  con- 
tract a moral  blindness.  And  it  is  to 


542 


SEPTEMBER  25,  1973 


these  evils  that  the  consciousness  of  the 
church  needs  most  to  be  sensitized. 

The  task  of  the  church.  Thus,  the 
task  of  the  church  in  rediscovering  bib- 
lical nonconformity  is  basically  twofold. 
First,  we  must  regain  our  ability  to  see 
I the  most  vicious  evil  that  pervades  the 
society  in  which  we  live,  realizing  that 
this  is  the  evil  which  society  takes  the 
* greatest  pains  to  conceal.  The  church 
must  not  be  easily  duped  by  the  cos- 
metic face-lifts  society  gives  its  most 
corrupt  policies  and  practices.  We  must 
expose  and  repudiate  its  hypocritical  in- 
consistencies (e.g.,  its  willingness  to  cen- 
sor erotic  materials  while  permitting  and 
even  promoting  the  glutting  of  the  media 
with  pornographic  violence)  and  the 


sterile  double-talk  by  which  it  conceals 
its  military  horrors  and  its  official  lies. 
(Murderous  bombing  raids  are  termed 
“protective  reaction,”  and  White  House 
lies  are  called  “inoperative  statements.”) 
Secondly,  the  church  must  search  for 
new  forms  of  nonconformity  which  are 
appropriate  expressions  of  a “remade” 
mind.  How  ought  we  to  repudiate  the 
crass  materialism  of  our  age,  the  glut- 
tonous overconsumption  which  charac- 
terizes our  wealthy  society?  How  are  we 
to  be  “conscientious  objectors”  to  a mil- 
itary establishment  which  asks  only  for 
our  dollars  and  not  for  our  bodies?  How 
do  we  combat  the  racial  discrimination 
that  is  maintained,  if  no  longer  by  laws, 
at  least  by  the  subtle  manipulation  of 


housing  patterns  by  realtors  and  owners? 
What  is  the  most  meaningful  response 
to  the  god  of  nationalism  which  threat- 
ens to  consume  our  own  sentiments  and 
embroil  the  world  in  yet  more  senseless 
war?  How  ought  we  to  cope  with  prob- 
lems in  an  increasingly  drug-dependent 
culture? 

These  are  questions  to  which  the  truly 
nonconformed  church  must  seek  answers. 
As  Martin  Luther  once  pointed  out,  the 
worst  sin  is  to  obey  God  in  all  those 
things  except  the  one  or  two  things 
where  our  obedience  is  most  required  at 
a given  time.  Biblical  nonconformity  is 
most  concerned  with  just  this  obedience, 
but  we  ought  not  be  surprised  to  find  it 
the  most  costly  obedience  of  all. 


Three  persons  were  invited  by  the  editors  of  Meeting- 
house to  give  their  testimonies  about  what  the  Anabaptist- 
Mennonite  heritage  means  to  them.  John  Powell  is  ex- 
ecutive secretary  of  the  Mennonite  Board  of  Mission’s 
Minority  Ministries  Council,  Elkhart,  Indiana.  Helen  Jan- 
zen  retired  recently  as  head  of  the  home  economics  di- 
vision of  the  Manitoba  Department  of  Education.  She 
serves  on  the  MCC  ( Canada ) executive  committee  and 
she  is  also  the  vice-chairperson  of  the  Charleswood  Men- 
nonite Church.  Dennis  Koehn  of  North  Newton,  Kansas, 
has  been  serving  a sentence  for  draft  resistance  at  the 
Federal  Youth  Center,  Englewood,  Colorado,  since  May 
1972.  He  is  scheduled  to  be  released  this  fall. 


Among  chaos,  a place  to  belong 

John  H.  Powell 


My  pilgrimage  with  Mennonites,  whom  I call  “my  people,” 
began  over  ten  years  ago.  It  started  with  a search  for  a 
people  whose  convictions  could  be  clearly  understood  and 
followed.  In  my  earlier  search  for  a relevant  people,  I was 
not  trying  to  discover  who  God  was,  but  rather,  how  rele- 
vant God  is.  You  see,  for  as  long  as  I can  remember,  I 
have  never  doubted  the  existence  of  God.  On  the  other  hand, 
during  my  earlier  pilgrimage  in  Christianity,  I doubted  the 
concepts  of  God  given  to  me  by  “white-minded”  people.  My 
search  began  with  finding  a relevant  people  and  might  end 
with  trying  to  find  the  utopian  brotherhood  within  ‘ my  peo- 
ple.” 

While  involved  in  the  civil  rights  movement  in  the  South, 
I developed  a sense  of  “turning  the  other  cheek.”  It  was 
difficult  to  maintain  this  position  without  a firm  religious 
conviction  to  uphold  it.  In  1962,  while  in  voter  registration 
drives  for  snnc,  I was  beaten,  thrown  in  jail,  and  shipped 
out  of  Mississippi  in  a pine  box  to  keep  me  from  being  mur- 
dered. These  were  situations  which  made  me  realize  more 


THE  MENNONITE 


543 


than  ever  that  a search  for  a relevant  God  was  what  my  life 
was  all  about.  To  serve  a relevant  God  was  my  calling. 

In  1963  I began  reading  about  the  historic  peace  church- 
es. I was  deeply  intrigued  with  the  Quakers  and  Mennonites. 
While  in  the  South,  I attended  some  Quaker  services;  how- 
ever, I did  not  have  the  opportunity  to  attend  Mennonite 
services.  Later  that  year  I turned  from  civil  rights  work  to 
working  with  migrants  in  Michigan.  It  was  there  that  I 
discovered  Mennonites  as  people.  I was  impressed  with  the 
work  and  the  positions  of  the  church,  particularly  in  regard 
to  peace  and  race. 

When  I graduated  from  Tuskegee  Institute  in  1964,  I 
graduated  as  a second  lieutenant  in  the  Air  Force.  During 
my  senior  year,  I had  developed  a sense  of  duty  to  my  God 
and  a sense  of  commitment  to  a people.  Prior  to  graduation, 

I informed  my  commandant  that  I did  not  intend  to  accept 
my  commission.  I applied  for  a release,  but  it  came  only 
after  I graduated.  I understood  then  that  God  had  a purpose 
for  me  with  an  “adopted  people.”  Yet,  I would  need  to 
discover  that  because  of  my  need  to  remain  black  and  my 
need  to  find  a people  who  were  not  black. 

I moved  from  teaching  in  South  Carolina  to  teaching  in 
Detroit.  There  my  wife  (whom  I had  met  and  married  dur- 
ing 1964)  and  I became  affiliated  with  the  Mennonite  Church. 
It  was  there  that  I discovered  and  wrestled  with  my  call 
to  the  Christian  ministry.  I had  worked  with  community  or- 
ganizations and  labor  unions  and  as  a social  worker  and 
teacher,  but  these  things  were  not  satisfying. 

When  Martin  Luther  King  was  assassinated,  my  wife  and 
I struggled  with  the  directions  for  our  lives.  After  agoniz- 
ing, we  determined  to  leave  our  friends  and  a secure  job 
to  enter  the  pastorate  in  Wichita,  Kansas.  From  Wichita 
and  a pastorate  we  moved  to  Elkhart,  where  I am  now  serv- 
ing the  church  with  the  Minority  Ministries  Council. 

My  identification  with  “my  people”  can  only  be  a spiritual 
one.  As  I hear  my  brothers  talk  about  their  Anabaptist  her- 
itage, I can  relate  to  that  only  in  the  aspects  that  I have 
seen  some  of  those  historical  settings  and  can  readily  iden- 
tify with  the  situations  as  they  occurred.  You  see,  my  life 
has  been  a struggle  also.  Unfortunately,  for  most  Menno- 
nites their  identification  tends  to  be  a cultural  one.  On  the 
other  hand,  my  identification,  culturally,  is  with  my  African 
past.  It  is  unfortunate  that  people  find  it  difficult  to  under- 
stand that  one  can  be  truly  black  and  Mennonite  at  the 
same  time. 

Presently,  many  in  the  church  are  saying  that  I have 
served  my  purpose  with  the  Mennonites  and  should  look 
elsewhere  for  God’s  direction.  In  the  midst  of  all  of  this, 
1 find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  my  purpose  has  been  served. 
I also  find  it  difficult  to  give  up  “my  people.”  I cannot  give 
them  up  because  I love  them.  I have  discovered  that  in  the 
midst  of  a variety  of  chaotic  situations  I have  found  a place 
to  belong.  Yet,  that  place  is  clouded  by  some  insensitive 
people  and  some  people  who  are  more  concerned  about 
structures  than  about  people. 

I call  the  brotherhood  to  an  awakening  which  will  say 
to  all  people  that  we  are  truly  one  brotherhood.  I call  my 
white  Mennonite  brethren  to  search  with  me  and  remain 
with  me  as  we  struggle  for  the  utopian  brotherhood.  At  the 
same  time,  I admonish  my  black  brothers  to  struggle  harder 
to  find  a relevant  existence  within  the  brotherhood.  Let  my 
struggle  and  your  struggle  be  one.  To  all  of  us  I say,  “Let 
us  find  an  answer  together  as  we  struggle  through  our  Men- 
nonite heritage.” 


Inspired  by  living  models 


Helen  Janzen 


When  I look  back  it  seems  that  I see  a misty  rainbow  en- 
circling the  dim  corridors  of  my  childhood  and  adolescence, 
encompassing  relationships  with  parents,  grandparents,  good 
teachers,  and  other  models.  John  W.  Gardiner  in  his  book 
Self-renewal  states  that  young  people  need  not  so  much  en- 
graved words  on  monuments  as  living  models.  There  were 
many  models  who  touched  my  life  with  infinite  grace.  I can 
never  repay  them  for  what  they  gave  me  or  what  they 
meant  to  me. 

Mother  personified  sincerity,  humility,  and  love,  while  Fa- 
ther seemed  to  typify  integrity,  a blunt  honesty,  a feeling  for 
the  underdog,  respect  for  each  human  being,  the  dignity  of 
all  labor,  and  the  courage  to  stand  up  and  be  counted  for 
what  he  believed.  Besides,  he  had  an  infectious  sense  of 
humor  and  a warm  compassion  for  those  in  need. 

My  parents  shared  home  and  board,  sometimes  for  weeks 
on  end,  with  those  who  were  homeless.  Themselves  children 
of  pioneers,  they  knew  hardships  and  what  it  meant  to  be 
penniless,  yet  they  never  seemed  to  feel  poor.  Nor  did  we. 
We  felt  secure  in  their  care. 

I remember  one  summer  day  when  Mother  had  punished 
me.  Both  offense  and  punishment  are  long  forgotten,  but 
not  the  fact  that  Mother  asked  me  to  come  to  the  summer 
kitchen,  where  she  drew  up  two  chairs,  asked  me  to  kneel 
with  her  while  she  humbly  prayed  for  wisdom  and  guidance 
to  raise  her  children  so  they  might  walk  in  his  ways.  Then 
I think  I said  one  of  my  little  prayers,  and  when  she  had 
kissed  me  we  left  the  summer  kitchen.  I had  an  inkling  of 
how  much  Mother  loved  us  all  and  how  much  she  desired 
the  best  for  us. 

A few  years  later,  Saturday  morning  became  discussion 
time.  Father  shared  his  outlook  on  life  and  we  joined  in. 
He  rarely  used  the  word  “sin”  or  “unchristian.”  Some  things 
were  very  wrong,  such  as  holding  oneself  better  than  others, 
or  withholding  respect  from  people  who  were  disadvantaged 
or  had  menial  occupations.  Other  things  were  foolish,  not 
using  one’s  head.  He  was  ashamed  when  his  daughters  didn’t 
use  their  brains. 

Father  had  no  rigid  concept  of  male-female  division  of 
labor.  He  often  helped  inside,  knew  how  to  prepare  meals, 
loved  playing  with  children,  and  helped  to  nurse  us  when 
we  were  ill.  While  not  given  to  much  pious  talk,  he  enjoyed 
singing  hymns  with  us.  Because  his  own  education  had  been 
meager,  he  was  determined  that  we  should  fare  better.  As  a 
school  trustee  he  insisted  on  qualified  teachers  and  a broad 
curriculum.  He  himself  became  a voracious  reader  of  serious 
writing  and  newspapers,  with  particular  emphasis  on  Men- 
nonite church  history.  Later  he  became  a staunch  supporter 
of  the  Mennonite  Collegiate  Institute  and  its  principal,  Henry 
Ewert. 

I had  the  great  fortune  to  attend  the  Mennonite  Col- 
legiate when  Mr.  Ewert  was  the  principal.  He  was  the  great- 
est model  of  a teacher  and  of  dedication  and  self-sacrifice 
I have  ever  known.  This  scholarly,  much-maligned  and  mis- 
understood man  stood  his  post  because  God  had  called  him 
to  it.  He  was  progressive  far  beyond  his  time  and  he  touched 
every  facet  of  educational  and  church  life  in  our  commu- 
nity. 


M- 


/i'i 

< 

*]■ 


544 


SEPTEMBER  25,  1973 


One  of  his  favorite  dictums  was:  “Live  fish  swim  up- 
stream, only  dead  fish  swim  with  the  stream.”  He  swam  up- 
stream all  his  years.  He  conducted  our  baptismal  class,  which 
I remember  thankfully.  When  I confessed  my  imperfection, 
he  comforted  me,  saying  it  was  not  my  perfection  that  count- 
ed but  my  direction.  Having  turned  to  Christ  was  like  walk- 
ing towards  the  light.  This  has  been  my  consolation  to  this 
day.  In  my  heart  there  is  a monument  to  Henry  Ewert. 

Coming  to  Winnipeg  and  moving  in  university  circles  in- 
creased my  understanding  of  the  social  dimensions  of  the 
Gospels  and  the  great  prophets.  I heard  some  of  the  finest 
peace  sermons  in  non-Mennonite  churches.  In  the  Depart- 
ment of  Education,  too,  I met  fine  professional  colleagues, 
devout  Christians,  active  in  their  own  churches,  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  and  through  them  I developed  great  respect 
for  other  denominations. 

But  I have  continued  to  study  our  best  writers  in  the 
Anabaptist-Mennonite  tradition.  I am  thankful  that  we  now 
have  the  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College  to  help  recover 
this  vision  of  Christian  discipleship.  I have  always  stubbornly 
and  with  conviction  spoken  of  myself  as  a Mennonite.  My 
heritage  is  precious  to  me  and  I can  explain  myself  in  no 
other  way.  The  concept  of  the  sanctity  of  human  life,  in- 
tegrity, courage  to  swim  upstream,  sharing  and  caring  as 
exemplified  by  my  models  appeals  to  and  affirms  my  highest 
spiritual,  emotional,  and  intellectual  insights.  I want  to  con- 
tinue in  this  fellowship  and  help  preserve  this  Christian  her- 
itage. 


|\ 


Freedom  in  commitment 


Dennis  Koehn 

When  I seek  to  understand  myself  or  realize  something 
which  I call  my  identity,  asking  the  question,  “To  what  am 
I committed?”  is  most  helpful.  Certain  problems  arise  as 
try  to  find  answers.  I’m  always  changing.  How  do  I know 
what  commitment  is?  How  do  I come  to  be  committed  to 
some  things  and  not  to  others? 

The  places  where  I invest  my  time,  energy,  and  resources 
are  a good  sign  of  where  my  commitments  lie.  As  I come 
into  adulthood,  I become  more  responsible  for  myself  and 
I am  forced  to  make  decisions  concerning  what  my  life  is 
all  about.  I expect  to  do  some  changing  along  the  way,  for 
I am  on  a pilgrimage — a walk  through  the  jungle  of  cultures 
across  the  desert  of  values,  ascending  mountains  of  truth, 
and  floating  through  the  outer  space  of  nothingness. 

Many  become  lost  as  they  wander  through  this  universe 
of  life,  or  else  they  isolate  themselves  and  hide  from  life. 
But  as  for  me,  I choose  to  seek  direction  for  my  pilgrimage 
from  certain  of  those  who  have  gone  before.  I speak  ot 
those  who  gave  substance  to  the  Judaic-Christian  heritage 
especially  Jesus  Christ;  I speak  of  the  sixteenth-century  Ana- 
baptists who  embodied  a resurrection  of  discipleship  such 
as  existed  in  the  early  Christian  community. 

Why  am  I committed  to  a pilgrimage  and  seeking  direc- 
tion from  people  of  past  generations?  I don’t  know  for 
sure.  Perhaps  it  is  because  of  certain  needs  and  inclinations 
which  are  at  the  very  root  of  my  being.  Perhaps  I am  moved 
by  a spiritual  power  which  speaks  to  those  who  are  open  to 
the  pilgrimage  journey. 

I choose  to  be  committed  because  I find  freedom  in  com- 
mitment. Those  around  me  who  do  not  live  in  commitment 
appear  to  be  slaves  to  emptiness  and  a futile  quest  for  mean- 
ing. Establishing  the  ground  on  which  I stand  is  an  act  of 
faith.  The  (wo) man  of  faith  is  able  to  explore  life  in  ways 
which  are  hidden  from  those  who  know  not  the  way  of  faith. 

The  Book  of  Matthew  gives  us  an  account  of  Jesus  walk- 
ing upon  the  water.  Peter  asks  to  do  likewise,  but  after 
stepping  out  on  the  water,  he  begins  to  sink.  Jesus  reaches 
out  saying,  “How  little  faith  you  have!  Why  did  you  doubt? 
Clearly  the  (wo)man  of  faith  can  go  where  others  cannot. 
But,  like  Peter,  we  do  doubt  and  we  do  begin  to  sink  into 
the  sea  of  emptiness  and  death. 

The  pilgrimage  of  faith  led  Jesus  finally  to  Jerusalem, 
where  he  suffered  a temporal  death  on  the  cross  and  was 
resurrected  to  eternal  life.  Likewise,  many  early  Anabaptists 
gave  witness  to  the  way  of  Jesus  as  their  commitment  to 
Christian  discipleship  brought  them  to  deaths  by  fire  and 
water.  Yet  they  came  to  know  the  abundant  life  and  their 
spirit  can  be  alive  in  our  world  today. 

The  direction  of  my  pilgrimage  was  set  to  a large  extent 
about  three  and  a half  years  ago  when  I decided  not  to  reg- 
ister for  the  draft.  Consequently  I am  writing  this  from  the 
Federal  Youth  Center  near  Denver,  Colorado.  While  most 
people  here  do  not  feel  any  sense  of  freedom,  I feel  as  if  I 
am  indeed  free.  My  commitment  to  a pilgrimage  is,  I 
believe,  the  source  of  my  freedom. 

The  pilgrim  is  like  a drop  of  rain,  which  falls  through  the 
air  and  smashes  against  the  earth,  bringing  freshness  to  the 
living.  How  much  greater  this  power  is  as  the  drops  come  to- 
gether as  a gushing  stream,  a river  bringing  life  to  a dry  world. 


THE  MENNONITE 


545 


NEWS 

Brief  favors  veterans  benefits  for  objectors 


The  National  Interreligious  Service 
Board  for  Conscientious  Objectors  is 
filing  a friend-of-the-court  brief  with  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  to  support 
the  granting  of  veterans  educational  ben- 
efits to  conscientious  objectors  who  have 
performed  alternate  service.  Conscien- 
tious objectors  have  not,  heretofore, 
qualified  for  any  of  these  benefits. 

This  action  is  being  taken  in  the  case 
of  Donald  E.  Johnson,  administrator  of 
veterans’  affairs,  et  al.,  v.  William  Rob- 
ert Robison,  etc. 

The  brief  raises  the  fundamental  ques- 
tion of  whether  the  educational  assistance 
provision  of  the  1966  Veterans  Read- 
justment Benefit  Act  violates  in  any  way 
the  “due  process”  clause  of  the  Fifth 
Amendment.  The  1966  act  provides  finan- 
cial assistance  to  one  group  of  veterans 
— those  who  have  served  on  active  mil- 
itary duty — but  not  to  another  group — 
those  conscientious  objectors  who  have 
completed  an  alternate  service  assign- 
ment. The  question  is  whether  this  is  a 
fair  application  of  the  law. 

Numerous  attempts  by  conscientious 
objectors  during  the  past  twenty  years 
to  obtain  benefits  equal  to  those  given 
to  military  veterans  have  all  failed.  Early 
this  year  William  Robison,  a CO  from 
Fairfax,  Virginia,  won  the  first  favorable 
decision  by  a United  States  Federal 
Court  on  this  question. 

Mr.  Robison  followed  a somewhat 
different  line  of  reasoning  than  those 
who  made  earlier  attempts  at  obtaining 
veterans  benefits.  He  presented  a per- 
suasive argument  that  Congress,  in  pass- 
ing the  1966  Veterans  Benefits  Act,  had 
intended  the  educational  benefits  pro- 
visions to  serve  as  compensation  for  the 
disruption  of  an  individual’s  educational 
pursuits  as  a result  of  being  drafted.  His 
argument  further  reasoned  that  since 
conscientious  objectors  are  drafted  at 
the  same  time  and  in  the  same  manner 
and  since  they  suffer  some  of  the  same 
disruptions,  they  should  be  entitled  to 
some  of  the  benefits.  The  United  States 
District  Court  Judge  Arthur  Garrity 
ruled  that  conscientious  objectors  should, 
in  fact,  be  eligible  for  the  GI  educa- 
tional benefits. 

The  United  States  Veterans  Admin- 


istration immediately  appealed  the  case 
to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court. 
The  Court  agreed  to  hear  the  Robison 
case  along  with  a similar  case  from  Cal- 
ifornia. A decision  is  not  expected  be- 
fore spring  of  1974. 

The  nisbco  friend-of-the-court  brief 
speaks  on  behalf  of  religious  conscien- 
tious objectors.  It  points  out  that  since 
the  1966  act  was  made  retroactive  to 
cover  all  veterans  since  1955,  it  thus 
covers  the  military  veterans  of  the  cold 
war  who  saw  no  combat.  This,  the  brief 
argues,  is  ample  evidence  that  Congress 
did  not  intend  the  GI  educational  bene- 
fits as  a bonus  only  for  those  who  faced 
combat  hazards,  but  rather  to  help  those 
whose  lives  were  disrupted  by  the  draft 
and  who  might  not  otherwise  be  able 
to  continue  their  formal  education. 

In  its  forty-six  pages,  the  nisbco  brief 
points  out  that  “disruption  suffered  by 
veterans  of  alternate  service  is  equal  to, 
if  not  greater  than,  that  suffered  by 
veterans  of  military  service.” 

For  example,  conscientious  objectors 
do  not  enjoy  certain  reemployment  rights 
automatically  given  to  veterans  of  mili- 
tary service.  Conscientious  objectors 


What  implications  do  the  culture  and 
religion  of  the  Canadian  native  people 
have  for  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission’s 
program  with  the  Canadian  Indian?  This 
question  will  be  explored  at  a special 
three-day  seminar  in  Winnipeg  called  by 
the  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission  board 
at  the  request  of  the  1972  delegate  ses- 
sion of  the  Conference  of  Mennonites 
in  Canada. 

Scheduled  for  October  3-5  at  a retreat 
center  near  Winnipeg,  the  seminar  will 
be  attended  by  fifty  persons.  Among 
the  participants  will  be  the  Mennonite 
Pioneer  Mission  field  staff,  which  in- 
cludes several  people  of  native  ancestry; 
delegates  from  the  communities  where 
mpm  is  working;  members  of  the  mpm 
board;  representatives  from  the  Confer- 
ence of  Mennonites  in  Canada’s  execu- 
tive and  other  boards;  and  several  re- 
source people. 


must  disrupt  their  lives  by  relocating 
away  from  home  communities  and  ■ 
schools. 

Financial  compensation  is  another 
point  where  most  of  the  conscientious 
objectors  encounter  a greater  hardship 
than  do  their  military  counterparts. 
Many  objectors  working  in  public  wel- 
fare institutions  are  paid  the  minimum  - 
wage.  Unlike  their  counterparts  in  the 
military  service,  conscientious  objectors 
have  to  find  their  own  housing  and  often 
their  own  meals. 

The  mcc  Peace  Section  has  served 
as  a consultant  to  nisbco  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  this  friend-of-the-court  brief.  . 
While  there  has  not  been  consensus 
among  Mennonites  on  the  question  of 
whether  they  should  accept  GI  educa- 
tional benefits  if  these  were  to  become  A 
available,  there  is  a rather  broad  con- 
sensus that  there  should  be  equal  op- 
portunity with  regard  to  educational  ben- 
efits for  the  alternate  service  veteran  as 
well  as  the  military  veteran.  Both  have  , 
had  their  lives  disrupted  during  the  peri- 
od when  they  would  normally  be  pur- 
suing formal  education.  Walton  Hack- 
man 


The  program,  according  to  Henry  J 
Funk,  vice-chairman  of  the  board,  will 
allow  for  theoretical  input  as  well  as  * 
for  a great  deal  of  discussion. 

Position  papers  will  be  presented  by 
David  Schroeder,  acting  president  of 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College;  Ro- 
land Fisch,  who  until  recently  taught  at 
Eastern  Mennonite  College  in  Virginia 
but  who  has  now  begun  a new  mpm 
project  at  Hole  River,  Manitoba;  and 
Menno  Wiebe,  mpm’s  executive  secre- 
tary. 

This  seminar  is  viewed  as  the  initial 
phase  of  an  ongoing  search  for  insights 
into  the  task  of  communicating  the  gos- 
pel across  cultural  and  racial  lines.  The  ' 
discussion  will  likely  continue  in  Janu- 
ary 1974,  when  all  the  Canadian  con- 
ference’s boards  meet,  and  again  in  July 
at  the  conference’s  delegate  session  at 
Steinbach,  Manitoba. 


Dialog  on  native  religion  set 


546 


SEPTEMBER  25,  1973 


Plan  three-months 
Wounded  Knee  program 

The  Mennonite  Disaster  Service  execu- 
tive committee  has  approved  funds  and 
plans  for  home  repairs  and  reconstruc- 
tion of  damaged  residences  at  Wounded 
Knee,  South'  Dakota.  It  approved  a 
three-months  program  which  began  Sep- 
tember 3 and  will  continue  to  November 
22. 

Myron  Schultz  of  Bloomfield,  Mon- 
j tana,  assistant  director  for  mds  Region 
III,  will  coordinate  volunteers.  Johnnie 
Hofer,  Freeman,  South  Dakota,  who 
f served  as  assistant  project  director  of  this 
summer’s  flood  recovery  program  at 
i Rapid  City,  is  transferring  to  Wounded 
Knee  as  project  foreman. 

“In  addition  to  repairing  extensively 
1 damaged  and  vandalized  houses,  mds 
ik  workers  will  make  some  general  im- 
provements and  winterize  homes  for  In- 
dian poverty  families  in  the  Wounded 
| Knee  community,”  said  Nelson  Hostet- 
I ter,  mds  executive  coordinator.  Mds 
headquarters  for  the  program  are  at  the 
I Porcupine  District  Oglala  Sioux  Com- 

Imunity  Center. 

“We  are  trying  to  deal  in  neutrality 
I with  those  who  support  and  with  those 
who  do  not  support  the  American  Indi- 
an Movement  (aim),”  said  Mr.  Hostet- 
1 ter.  “Our  objective  is  to  meet  the  needs 
I of  the  Indian  families  here  who  have 
suffered  losses  or  damages  to  their 
homes.  We  are  working  with  our  re- 
sources and  with  help  from  the  local 
ministerium,  the  Pine  Ridge  Reservation 
j ministerium,  and  from  the  tribal  and 
district  councils.” 

Mennonite  leaders  Ted  Standing  Elk, 

1 pastor  of  the  Porcupine  Ridge  Menno- 
nite congregation,  and  Earl  Hedlund, 
I pastor  of  the  Pine  Ridge  Mennonite 
Brethren  congregation,  have  invited 
i mds  to  work  at  Wounded  Knee  and  in 
Pine  Ridge  Reservation. 

At  the  recommendation  of  Lawrence 
i Hart,  mcc  executive  committee  mem- 
ber and  Cheyenne  Mennonite  pastor, 
i;  the  program  is  being  introduced  as  a 
joint  mcc  and  mds  recovery  program. 
When  the  three-months  mds  reconstruc- 
tion program  is  finished,  mcc  will  be 
1 sensitive  to  expressions  of  need  for  lon- 
J ger-term  community  development  work. 

The  leadership  team  at  Wounded  Knee 
j will  include  Mr.  Hofer,  a project  director 
and  matron,  two  local  Oglala  Sioux  peo- 
ple who  will  serve  as  builder  and  help- 
er, and  Maxine  Haag  Schantz  of  Hydro, 
Oklahoma,  who  will  be  assistant  hostess 
and  community  service  worker. 


Sixty  in  summer  MDS 

Sixty  people  from  sixteen  denominations,  four  provinces,  and  sixteen  states,  par- 
ticipated in  ten-week  MDS-VS  projects  in  Rapid  City,  South  Dakota;  Elmira,  New 
York;  Wilkes-Barre,  Pennsylvania;  and  Buffalo  Creek,  West  Virginia,  this  summer. 
The  projects  were  continuations  of  Mennonite  Disaster  Service  efforts  in  four  re- 
gions hit  by  disastrous  floods  in  1972.  In  the  top  photo,  Debbie  Bott,  Canton,  Ohio, 
and  Paul  Wiebe,  Saskatoon,  Saskatchewan,  are  shown  clearing  debris  out  of  Rapid 
Creek  in  South  Dakota.  In  the  lower  photo,  Monica  Whitaker  (on  ladder),  Kansas 
City;  Anita  Woelk,  Leamington,  Ontario;  and  Mary  Nyce,  Harleysville,  Pennsyl- 
vania, are  painting  in  Wilkes-Barre.  The  volunteers  received  many  words  of  com- 
mendation from  the  community  residents.  “ Right  now  the  word  Mennonite  is  going 
over  big,”  said  one  young  worker.  “We  must  be  careful  to  give  God  the  glory. 


One  carload  of  volunteers  is  coming 
in  each  week  from  state  and  provincial 


mds  units.  Over  $7,000  has  been  appro- 
priated for  the  project. 


< 


THE  MENNONITE 


547 


Indians  tackle 

The  Indian  Christian  Conference  met 
August  16-19  at  the  Navajo  Brethren 
in  Christ  Mission,  Bloomfield,  New  Mex- 
ico, to  share  experiences  and  deal  with 
major  concerns  now  facing  Indian  com- 
munities and  Indian  churches. 

About  fifteen  Mennonite  and  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  missionaries  and  fifteen 
Indians  explored  the  problems  of  alco- 
holism, youth  disinterest  in  church  ac- 
tivities, the  low  self-image  from  which 
many  Indians  suffer,  and  the  lack  of 
understanding  on  the  part  of  many  white 
Christians. 

Sam  Hart,  chairman  of  the  confer- 
ence and  a Cheyenne  from  Oklahoma, 
explained  that  he  did  not  plan  for  a 
structured  program.  He  felt  that  it 
would  be  more  Indian  to  let  things  hap- 
pen spontaneously. 

Some  Indian  participants  said  that  in 
their  homes  and  congregations  they  did 
not  experience  the  warmth  and  helpful 
relationships  that  they  wished  for.  “We 
are  afraid  of  each  other,”  one  woman 
said.  Another  person  expressed  concern 
over  the  severe  divisions  among  fellow 
Indians  within  his  home  community. 
The  group  spent  time  in  prayer  together 
about  these  concerns. 

There  was  a special  concern  in  the 
Navajo  community  for  more  pastoral 
training,  especially  study  of  the  Word. 
Representatives  said  meetings  are  often 
strong  on  singing  and  drums  but  weak 
on  message.  Suggestions  were  a short- 
term Bible  school  and  the  extension  sem- 
inary concept. 

Seminar  participants  also  noted  the 
problem  of  clarifying  what  is  culture 
and  what  is  gospel.  Related  to  this  was 
the  concern  that  Sunday  school  materials 
often  portray  a white,  not  an  Indian, 
life-style.  Exploring  the  possibility  that 
there  be  bridges  to  Christ  through  the 
traditional  Indian  religions,  the  confer- 
ence studied  Acts  17.  They  noted  that 
Paul,  in  addressing  the  Athenians,  began 
not  with  the  Old  Testament  account  of 
God’s  acts  in  the  history  of  Israel,  but 
began  with  their  own  Athenian  gods. 
Paul  then  quoted  one  of  their  Greek 
poets  and  moved  on  to  speak  of  Jesus 
Christ.  One  participant  referred  to  a 
suggestion  by  Menno  Wiebe,  executive 
secretary  of  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission 
in  Winnipeg,  that  traditional  Indian  re- 
ligions could  possibly  be  a background, 
a kind  of  Old  Testament  experience, 
through  which  Indians  might  find  ful- 
fillment in  Jesus  Christ. 


problems 

One  of  several  possible  actions  sug- 
gested at  the  seminar  was  that  a mora- 
torium be  declared  on  missions.  Instead 
of  continuing  at  the  giving  end,  it  was 
suggested,  missionaries  should  place 
themselves  on  the  receiving  and  learn- 
ing end  for  one  year. 

Fred  Yazzie,  Navajo  Methodist  pastor 
from  New  Mexico,  spoke  Friday  evening 
on  missions  as  the  essential  character 
of  the  church. 

Mr.  Yazzie  pointed  out  that  there  is 
no  Indian  delegate  voice  in  the  general 
conference  of  his  denomination.  He  said 
that  it  is  time  that  native  Americans 
fill  positions  in  the  church. 

Malcorn  Wenger,  secretary  of  Indian 
ministries  for  the  General  Conference, 
reported  to  the  conference  what  steps 
Mennonite  Central  Committee,  Menno- 
nite Economic  Development  Associates, 
and  mission  boards  have  taken  following 
the  original  conference  planning  meeting 
held  in  Clinton,  Oklahoma,  last  Octo- 
ber. 

One  program  being  developed  is  with 
Ethelou  Yazzie,  Navajo  manager  of  the 
Rough  Rock  Demonstration  School, 
Chinle,  Arizona.  In  this  project,  a qual- 
ified person  is  being  sought  to  work  at 
a soil  reclamation  project  in  Black 
Mountain,  Arizona,  to  stop  erosion  and 
to  use  available  water  in  crop  experi- 
mentation. The  Mennonite  Board  of  Mis- 
sions cooperates  in  this  project. 

At  the  Bethel  Mennonite  Church  in 
Hammon,  Oklahoma,  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonites  and  mcc  are  work- 
ing with  the  congregation  through  Pas- 
tor J.  M.  Unrau  in  a 4-H-type  project 
of  raising  hogs  and  in  a crafts  marketing 
project. 

The  conference  took  action  to  call 
another  meeting  in  1974.  Ted  Standing 
Elk  of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  church, 
Porcupine,  South  Dakota,  was  asked  to 
lay  the  plans  for  the  1974  meeting,  to 
be  held  possibly  in  the  northern  Chey- 
enne region  in  Montana. 

In  other  action,  the  conference  agreed 
to  adopt  the  name  Mennonite  and  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  Indian  Fellowship. 

Jordanian  government 
requests  drought  aid 

The  government  of  Jordan,  facing  a 
national  drought  emergency,  has  request- 
ed Mennonite  Central  Committee  and 
other  voluntary  agencies  operating  in 
the  country  to  increase  their  volume  of 


f. 

donated  material  aid  commodities.  This 
increase  is  needed  to  help  fill  the  gap  , 
in  food  production  resulting  from  limited 
rainfall  and  crop  failures  in  Jordan  over  >| 
the  past  year. 

Urbane  Peachey,  mcc  director  for 
Jordan,  is  redirecting  some  of  the  pres-  f 
ent  program  budget  towards  develop-  1 
ment  projects  in  drought-stricken  areas. 
Mcc  has  approved  an  additional  $15,000 
for  community  work  programs  to  pro-  J 
vide  jobs  for  many  people  and  to  put 
cash  into  their  hands  to  buy  food.  *- 

Mr.  Peachey  reports  that  Jordan’s 
1973  grain  harvest  was  40  percent  of 
the  past  five  years’  annual  average.  Pas- 
tures are  exhausted.  Cattle,  sheep,  goat, 
and  camel  herds  are  in  bad  condition.  , 
Meat  prices  dropped  temporarily  as 
herdsmen  ran  out  of  feed  and  marketed 
their  animals.  The  government  expects 
high  animal  mortality  rates  through  y 
1973.  The  retail  price  of  barley  had 
risen  from  its  normal  market  price  of 
$79  a ton  to  $127  a ton  in  April.  / 

“The  programs  we  develop  will  en- 
able us  to  temporarily  expand  self-help 
and  development  activities  in  drought- 
stricken  areas,”  said  Mr.  Peachey.  “It  # 
introduces  a minimum  of  welfare  or  re- 
lief machinery.” 

Project  Teach  plans 
for  second  year 

Project  Teach,  a joint  undertaking  of 
two  colleges  and  two  publishers,  is  being 
planned  again  for  1974. 

The  project  is  a five-day  workshop, 
designed  to  give  Sunday  school  teachers 
a better  understanding  of  the  Bible  and 
Anabaptist  history,  a better  understanding 
of  the  children  they  teach,  and  some  new  * 
ideas  in  the  use  of  drama,  art,  and  audio- 
visuals. * 

Joint  sponsors  of  the  workshop  are 
the  General  Conference’s  Commission 
on  Education,  Mennonite  Board  of  Con- 
gregational Ministries  and  Mennonite 
Publishing  House  (Mennonite  Church),  , 
Bethel  College,  and  Hesston  College. 

The  1974  workshop  will  be  March  t 
25-29  at  Hesston  College,  Hesston,  Kan- 
sas. The  workshop  will  be  open  to  teach- 
ers of  classes  from  kindergarten  through 
at  least  junior  high  school.  Directors 
will  be  Alvin  Beachy  of  Bethel  College 
and  John  Lederach  of  Hesston  College. 

Cornelia  Lehn,  coordinator  of  the  £ 
workshop  and  director  of  the  children’s  I 
work  for  coe,  said  last  year’s  workshop 
at  Bethel  College  received  enthusiastic 
response  from  teachers  who  enjoyed  the 
fellowship  and  learning  from  each  other. 


548 


SEPTEMBER  25,  1973 


RECORD 


Workers 


Shirley  Booher,  North  Newton,  Kans., 
has  begun  work  as  secretary  for  the 
Commission  on  Education  at  the  central 
offices  in  Newton.  Ms.  Booher,  a native 
of  Arkansas  City,  Kans.,  is  the  daughter 
of  Lathaneil  Cranford  and  Margot 
Baake.  Her  husband,  David,  is  a student 
at  Bethel  College,  North  Newton. 

Gladys  Dyck , Rosthern  (Sask.)  Church, 
has  begun  a three-year  term  of  service 
with  mcc  in  Bangladesh,  where  she  is 
developing  a curriculum  in  a school  for 
physically  handicapped  students.  Gladys 
received  a BEd  in  elementary  education 
from  the  University  of  Saskatoon,  Sask. 
She  served  previously  with  mcc  in  Atlan- 
ta, 1969-1970.  She  is  the  daughter  of 
Frank  and  Helen  Dyck,  Rosthern. 

Harvey  Dyck,  North  Battleford  (Sask.) 
Church,  has  begun  a two-year  term  of 
service  at  the  mcc  Material  Aid  Center 
in  Newton,  Kans.  Harvey  is  the  son  of 
Tina  Dyck,  North  Battleford. 


Edgar  W.  Epp  has  been  appointed 
deputy  minister-corrections  for  the 
province  of  British  Columbia.  He  as- 
sumed his  new  duties  in  July.  A former 
warden  at  Haney  Correctional  Center 
in  B.C.,  Mr.  Epp  left  that  position  in 
1970  to  become  the  coordinator  of  com- 
munity programs  with  the  Ministry  of 
Correctional  Services  in  Ontario.  At  the 
time  of  his  present  appointment  he  was 
regional  administrator  of  adult  institu- 
tions for  northern  Ontario.  In  January 
of  this  year,  he  acted  as  a special  con- 
sultant to  the  B.C.  task  force  on  correc- 
tions. Mr.  Epp  is  a member  of  the  mcc 
Peace  Section. 

Wallace  and  Clara  Ewert  have  begun 
a three-year  term  of  service  with  mcc  in 
Vietnam.  They  are  working  in  commu- 
nity development.  Wallace  received  a 
BS  in  physical  education  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Saskatchewan.  Clara  received 
a BA  and  a BAH  in  psychology  from 
the  University  of  Saskatchewan.  Wallace 
is  the  son  of  Milton  and  Margret  Ewert, 
Drake,  Sask.,  and  a member  of  the 
North  Star  Church.  Clara  is  the  daughter 


Conference  budget 


$2,250,000 

2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 

1,000,000 

750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


BUDGET  FOR  1973  INCLUDES: 

1973  BUDGET:  ~ 

$2,155,945  / 

Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission 

$1,470,645 

Commission  on 
Home  Ministries 

369,300 

Commission  on 
Education 

143)000 

Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminary 

173, 000^/^ 

/ 

f( 

n 

^TACTUAL  INCOME 

W 

G.  Dyck 


C.  Ewert 


W.  Ewert 


L.  Hiebert 


M.  Hiebert 


J FMAMJ  J ASOND 

Receipts  in  August  were  good.  At  the  end  of  eight  months  we  have  59  percent  of 
the  budget,  compared  with  57.5  percent  last  year  at  the  same  time. 

We  are  also  happy  to  announce  the  receipt  of  almost  $10,000  from  the  Ella  Dyck 
estate.  Mrs.  Dyck  resides  in  the  Ritzville,  Wash.,  area.  This  was  earmarked  for 
home  missions  of  the  General  Conference.  Wm.  L.  Friesen,  conference  treasurer 


of  Katherina  Friesen,  Rosthern,  Sask., 
and  a member  of  the  Rosthern  Church. 

Murray  and  Linda  Hiebert  have  begun 
a three-year  term  of  service  with  mcc 
in  Vietnam.  Murray  is  serving  as  hospital 
coordinator  and  Linda  is  teaching  nurs 
ing  Murray  received  a BA  in  Christian 
education  from  Canadian  Mennonite 
Bible  College,  a BA  in  history  from  Go- 
shen College,  and  an  MA  m religion 
from  the  Associated  Mennomte  Biblical 
Seminaries,  Elkhart,  Ind.  Linda  received 
a BS  in  nursing  from  Goshen  College. 
Murray  is  the  son  of  Abe  and  Verna 
Hiebert,  Swift  Current,  Sask.,  and  a 
member  of  the  Steinbach  Bergthaler 
Church.  Linda  is  the  daughter  of  Donald 
and  Evelyn  Gibson,  Columbus,  Ohio 
and  a member  of  the  First  Church  of 
the  Nazarene,  Columbus. 

Vera  Isaak,  Springstein  (Man.) 


549 


THE  MENNONITE 


Church,  has  begun  a two-year  term  of 
service  with  mcc  in  Bangladesh,  where 
she  is  serving  as  secretary  in  the  Dacca 
office.  Vera  attended  the  University  of 
Winnipeg.  She  served  previously  with 
mcc  in  Germany,  1969-1971,  and  in  the 
mcc  Winnipeg  office,  1971-1972.  She  is 
the  daughter  of  Henry  and  Gertrud 
Isaak,  Springstein. 

Harvey  and  Jane  Janzen,  Bethel  Berg- 
thaler  Church,  Winkler,  Man.,  have  be- 
gun a twenty-seven-months  term  of  serv- 
ice with  mcc  in  Bolivia.  They  are  serving 
in  community  development  work.  Harvey 
received  an  AA  in  Christian  education 
from  Elim  Bible  Institute,  Altona,  Man., 
and  an  AA  in  agriculture  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Manitoba.  Jane  attended  Win- 
nipeg Bible  College.  Harvey  is  the  son 
of  Henry  and  Mary  Janzen,  Winkler. 
Jane  is  the  daughter  of  Otto  and  Mar- 
garet Hamm,  Steinbach,  Man. 

Timothy  R.  Kruse , a 1970  graduate  of 
Bluffton  College,  has  assumed  duties  as 


Isaak  H.  Janzen 


J.  Janzen  Kruse 


HELP  WANTED 

COMMUNITY  WORKERS 
NEEDED 

People  with  organizing  ability  to  work  in 
low-income  communities  of  Oklahoma  City; 
Philadelphia;  Elkhart,  Indiana;  and  Cham- 
paign, Illinois,  are  needed  now.  Initiative 
and  good  sense  are  most  important  quali- 
fications for  these  two-year  volunteer  posi- 
tions. Write  Voluntary  Service  Office,  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church,  Box 
347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


assistant  director  of  development  at 
Bluffton  College.  He  will  assist  with  the 
development,  coordination,  and  imple- 
mentation of  the  alumni,  church  rela- 
tions, and  publications  programs.  He  will 
schedule  faculty,  staff,  or  student  groups 
for  appearances  in  churches,  plus  ar- 
range meetings  for  church  boards,  Sun- 
day school  classes,  or  mid-year  retreats. 
Mr.  Kruse  taught  one  year  in  the  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio,  public  schools  and  the 
last  two  years  in  Lima,  Ohio.  Mr.  Kruse 
and  his  wife,  Paula  Harrison  Kruse,  at- 
tend First  Church,  Bluffton. 

Calendar 


Oct.  13-15 — Commission  on  Educa- 
tion retreat. 

Oct.  19-21 — Western  District  Confer- 
ence annual  sessions,  Clinton,  Okla. 


Oct.  24-25 — Home  Ministries  Coun- 
cil and  Council  of  Mission  Board  Sec- 
retaries, Chicago. 

Oct.  25-27 — Consultation  on  the  role 
of  women  in  the  church,  Elkhart,  Ind. 

Oct.  31 -Nov.  2 — Mennonite  Central 
Committee  self-study  sessions. 

Canadian 

Oct.  3-5 — Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission 
cross-cultural  theological  seminar,  near 
Winnipeg. 

Central 

Oct.  26-28 — Evangelism  task  force 
retreat,  Camp  Friedenswald,  Mich. 

Eastern 

Oct.  14 — Celebration  of  290th  anni- 
versary, Germantown  Church,  Philadel- 
phia. 

Western 

Oct.  14 — Kansas  Mennonite  Disaster 
Service  annual  meeting,  Eden  Church, 
Moundridge. 


MEDITATION 


Caring 

The  following  meditation  was  presented  at  a Brethren  in  Christ  committee  meeting 
some  months  ago. 

Caring  is  avoiding  words  like  “wet,”  “rain,”  and  “water”  when  talking  to  people 
from  Pennsylvania. 

Caring  is  knowing  that  the  Rolling  Stones  is  not  a landslide  area  in  the  Rocky 
Mountain  range  and  Black  Sabbath  does  not  denote  a power  failure  during  a Sunday 
service. 

Caring  is  a short  man  with  a limp  whose  life  and  verse  have  stirred  our  con- 
science. Praise  God  for  Norman  Wingert. 

Caring  is  refusing  to  tag  a brother  in  Christ  as  left  or  right,  conservative  or  liberal. 

Caring  is  a forty-five-year-old  church  member  who  involves  himself  in  the  Jesus 
movement,  doing  what  he  can  to  give  teaching  and  stability  to  young  converts. 

In  a society  that  prepackages  everything  from  chicken  noodle  soup  to  nuclear 
energy,  it’s  inevitable  that  we  try  to  prepackage  care.  On  the  greeting  card  shelves 
in  our  drug  or  stationery  stores  we  can  select  any  number  of  splendid  and  inex- 
pensive expressions  of  “care.”  One  can  even  be  choosy  about  the  precise  tone  of  this 
expression,  from  the  prim  and  proper  to  the  gushing  and  gooey. 

But  I’ve  become  convinced  that  caring,  if  it  is  Christian,  may  be  gooey  on  the 

edges  but  is  tough  as  nails  at  the  core.  As  tough  as  the  nails  that  claimed  Jesus’ 

hands  and  as  tough  as  the  wood  that  splintered  his  back. 

It  forces  us  to  deny  ourselves  so  that  others  can  be  nourished. 

It  penetrates  the  brick  walls  of  alienation  and  the  rebuffs  of  those  who  don’t 
want  to  be  cared  for. 

It  makes  people  humble,  even  humiliate  themselves. 

I don’t  think  that  I care  for  people  in  this  way  but  I’ve  seen  people  who  have 
cared  for  me.  This  past  year  God  has  allowed  me  to  be  part  of  a ministry  to  young 
people  on  the  streets  of  Fort  Erie,  Ontario.  One  eighteen-year-old  girl  who  was 

known  as  the  “Speed  Queen”  because  of  her  captivity  to  shooting  methampheta- 

mines  into  her  veins  became  one  of  those  kids  who  experienced  the  beautifully  trans- 
forming reality  of  Jesus  in  her  life.  She  glows  with  new  life  and  with  his  love. 

Some  time  ago  I was  going  through  a period  of  frustration  that  had  robbed  me 
of  my  peace  with  God.  After  one  of  our  prayer  meetings  this  girl  came  up  to  me 
and  falteringly  said,  “Harry,  I love  you  in  the  Lord.  I used  to  come  to  you  when  I 
was  having  hassles.  Why  can’t  you  tell  me  what’s  bothering  you?” 


550 


SEPTEMBER  25,  1973 


I turned  away  from  her,  ashamed  that  my  need  showed  so  clearly  to  a discerning 
girl  and  when  I turned  back  she  continued  to  stand,  embarrassed,  in  front  of  me, 
crying.  A ten-months-old  Christian  wept  for  me  because  I had  lost  my  peace  with 
our  Master.  I soon  found  it  again. 

Before  our  churches  can  care  for  our  society,  we  must  recapture  the  warm  spin 
of  caring  that  weeps  when  a member  of  the  body  of  Christ  has  grown  cold  or  con- 
fused in  his  love  for  Jesus.  Harry  Nl?h 


LETTERS 


A Mennonite  Robin  Hood 

Dear  Larry:  So  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries  has  appointed  a pov- 
erty grantsman  (September  11  issue).  I 
am  a member  of  the  committee  that 
processed  the  appointment  of  Weldon 
Nisley  for  this  assignment  and  I feel  I 
should  report  some  of  the  processes  of 
the  decision  making.  Weldon’s  appoint- 
ment did  not  come  easy.  Not  that  he 
lacks  the  qualifications  for  this  position 
but  the  chm  executive  committee  need- 
ed to  find  its  way  through  the  agonies 
of  assessing  the  original  motivation  that 
prompted  the  million-dollar  Poverty 
Fund  five  years  ago  and  the  relatively 
poor  response  to  that  drive. 

The  original  million-dollar  venture 
was  prophetic,  to  be  sure.  Mennonites 
of  Canada  and  the  United  States  have 
never  been  wealthier  than  they  are  at 
present.  How  to  allow  the  Spirit  to 
penetrate  our  wealth  and  status  con- 
sciousness is  probably  the  big  question 
of  our  decade. 

Two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or 
one-fifth,  of  the  one-million-dollar  Pov- 
erty Fund  did  come  in.  It  appears  that 
some  took  the  Estes  Park  resolution 
very  seriously.  Others  obviously  ignored 
it. 

Some  of  the  prophets  within  our 
midst  are  relentless.  They  will  not  be- 
lieve that  the  poverty  question  has  been 
licked.  And  with  the  prevailing  political 
attitude  which  pronounces  favor  on  the 
well-to-do,  industrious,  and  prestigious 
people  while  scorning  the  poor  and  the 
powerless,  there  is  reason  for  the  church 
to  address  itself  to  the  manner  in  which 
our  economies  polarize  the  rich  and  the 
poor. 

Chm  has  taken  minimal  action  to 
continue  this  concern  for  the  poor.  With 
the  appointment  of  a poverty  grants- 
man, chm  has  shifted  direction  some- 
what. Rather  than  solicit  funds  from 
the  Mennonite  church,  we  are  addressing 


ourselves  to  the  manner  in  which  pub- 
lic funds  flow.  If  a powerless  minority 
is  unable  to  gain  a hearing  from  agen- 
cies and  individuals  who  control  large 
amounts  of  monies,  then  the  poverty 
grantsman  is  to  be  the  man  in  between. 

Among  the  agonies  experienced  by  the 
chm  executive  committee  was  the  no- 
tion that  this  appointment  might  be  re- 
garded as  a cop-out.  That  is,  we  will 
not,  with  the  exception  of  a $25,000 
budget,  appeal  for  donations  from  with- 
in the  church. 

Perhaps  the  grantsman  could  be  con- 
sidered an  agent  of  justice.  It  is  of  note 
that  so-called  primitive  religions  often 
serve  to  ensure  a fair  distribution  and 
redistribution  of  resources  and  statuses. 
In  ritual  fashions  the  potlatches  of  the 
northwest  coast  Indians,  like  the  pig 
feasts  of  several  New  Guinea  tribes, 
were  the  occasions  for  an  agreed-upon 
mechanism  of  redistribution  of  land 
plots,  accumulated  goods,  and  statuses. 
That’s  not  too  far  out  from  the  Hebrew 
notion  of  the  Year  of  Jubilee  or  per- 
haps the  New  Testament  example  of 
having  all  things  in  common. 

At  this  crucial  time  in  the  history 
of  man,  when  North  Americans  control 
a radically  disproportionate  amount  of 
the  world’s  resources  and  when  within 
our  own  society  there  are  astounding 
examples  of  political,  economic,  and 
spiritual  unevenness,  it  may  be  time  that 
the  church  does  some  pioneering  in 
those  areas  where  civic  bodies  have  not 
yet  engineered  justice.  And  it  is  correct 
that  one  segment  of  society  outvotes  an- 
other segment  to  the  disadvantage  of 
the  minority.  The  grantsman’s  office 
might  be  called  the  creation  of  a mech- 
anism of  justice. 

So  within  the  Sherwood  Forest  of  the 
Mennonite  brotherhood  a Robin  Hood 
has  been  unleashed,  a nonthieving  kind 
of  Robin  Hood.  Menno  Wiebe,  600 
Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,  Man.  R3P 
0M4  Sept.  6 


Contents 


Influenced  but  not  imprisoned 

by  our  heritage  

Rediscovering  biblical  nonconformity 

Pilgrimage  

News  

Record  

Caring 

Letters  

Power  of  negative  thinking 
Looking  at  our  roots 


538 

541 

543 

546 

549 

550 

551 

552 
552 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Robert  S.  Kreider,  Bluffton,  former  presi- 
dent of  Bluffton  College,  is  now  direct- 
ing MCC's  self-study.  He  also  has  part- 
time  assignments  with  the  Commission 
on  Education  and  Bethel  College. 

Conrad  Brunk,  a professor  at  Eastern 
Mennonite  College,  Harrisonburg,  Va.,  is 
at  present  attending  graduate  school  in 
Chicago. 

Grace  Showalter's  address  is  Eastern 
Mennonite  College,  Harrisonburq,  Va. 
22801. 

Harry  Nigh  is  a member  of  a Brethren 
in  Christ  congregation  in  Ontario.  His 
address  is  Route  1,  Stevensville,  On- 
tario. His  article  appeared  originally  in 
Evangelical  Visitor. 

John  Drescher  was  editor  of  Gospel 
Herald  until  this  summer.  He  is  now 
pastor  of  the  Scottdale  (Pa.)  Mennonite 
Church. 


CREDITS 

Cover,  Fresno  County  and  city,  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  Fresno,  Calif.  93715 
(top),  Gene  Ahrens,  New  Milford,  N.J. 
(bottom);  539,  David  S.  Strickler,  Box  54, 
Newville,  Pa.  17241;  542,  RNS;  547, 
(top)  Don  Ziegler,  MCC;  547  (bottom) 
Gayle  Gerber  Koontz,  MCC. 


Meimonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone. 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 


Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempei.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  OS  1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.  48106. 


THE  MENNONITE 


551 


Power  of  negative  thinking 

Much  is  said  today  about  positive  thinking. 
This  is  good.  Yet  there  is  a desperate  need  for 
negative  thinking  also.  We  must  learn  to  say  no. 
To  be  a follower  of  Christ  means  it  is  essential 
to  say  no. 

Conformism  is  the  greatest  threat  to  Christi- 
anity today.  Social,  religious,  and  worldly  con- 
formism run  counter  to  the  New  Testament  which 
says,  “Be  not  conformed  to  this  world:  but  be  ye 
transformed.”  One  of  the  lessons  of  history  is 
that  only  those  civilizations  and  causes  survive 
and  endure  which  have  leaders  who  are  noncon- 
formist, who  face  the  wind  and  accept  the  chal- 
lenge of  the  storm. 

This  does  not  mean  that  simply  being  differ- 
ent has  merit.  It  does  mean  that  the  words  of 
Peter  and  John  must  be  ours,  “We  must  obey 
God  rather  than  men.” 

Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abednego  had  the 
power  of  negative  thinking  when  they  said  “no” 
to  Nebuchadnezzar.  Jesus  demonstrated  the  pow- 
er of  negative  thinking  when  he  said  no  to  appe- 
tite and  pleasure,  to  power  and  reputation,  to 

Looking  to  our  roots 

The  way  in  which  we  view  and  use  our  religious 
and  cultural  heritage  affects  our  lives  much  more 
than  we  usually  suppose.  Three  events  and  expe- 
riences during  the  past  several  weeks  once  again 
demonstrated  to  me  how  important  the  identity 
question  is  for  all  of  us. 

Event  1.  A friend  who  has  lived  in  Winnipeg 
for  six  years  told  me  how  good  it  had  been  for 
his  children,  who  are  between  the  ages  of  ten  and 
fourteen,  once  more  to  get  to  know  their  uncles, 
aunts,  and  cousins  back  in  Ontario  this  summer 
after  several  years  of  limited  contacts.  The  expe- 
rience of  talking,  playing,  eating,  and  worshiping 
with  their  relatives  gave  these  young  people  a 
reassuring  sense  of  their  roots  again. 

Event  2.  A Catholic  priest  living  in  northern 
Canada  felt  compelled  to  write  a letter  to  the 
editor  of  one  of  our  sister  Mennonite  magazines 
to  correct  a statement  made  in  a letter  in  an 
earlier  issue  that  there  was  at  present  “no  Chris- 
tian work”  in  a certain  northern  village.  The 
priest  reminded  the  magazine’s  readers  that  both 
the  Catholic  and  Anglican  churches  are  holding 
regular  services  in  the  community  and  that  their 
priests  are  visiting  the  residents. 

Event  3.  Stan  Bohn,  a pastor  from  Bluffton, 
Ohio,  spoke  recently  to  the  General  Conference’s 


property  and  kingdom. 

One  of  the  central  themes  of  our  society  is 
that  conformity  is  the  best  policy.  The  mass  man 
and  the  mass  mind,  along  with  the  idea  that  if 
“everybody  is  doing  it  a thing  is  okay,”  is  far 
from  the  New  Testament  truth  standard. 

We  are  called  to  put  character  into  the  world 
and  not  take  our  character  from  the  world.  We 
are  called  to  voice  a clear  “no”  when  tempted 
to  yield  to  or  compromise  with  any  evil. 

One  of  the  sad  commentaries  on  our  concept 
of  nonconformity  is  that  we  have  allowed  our 
concern  to  center  in  one  or  two  outward  things. 
What  we  must  see  afresh  is  that  it  is  a way  of 
life  in  relation  to  God  and  man,  in  spiritual  and 
social  relationships,  and  in  material  things  which 
put  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteous- 
ness. 

We  must  remember  that  the  power  of  negative 
thinking  (the  ability  to  say  no)  will  not  remain 
long  unless  there  is  a continual  renewal  of  the 
mind  in  proving  what  is  that  good,  acceptable, 
and  perfect  will  of  God.  John  Drescher 


General  Board — a committee  of  which  he  is  a 
member — on  “A  rootless  kind  of  society  and  a 
sense  of  peoplehood.”  After  describing  the  ways 
in  which  the  people  of  our  day  are  showing  a 
craving  for  peoplehood,  Mr.  Bohn  reflected  on 
the  contribution  that  Mennonites  can  make. 

Mennonites  should  recognize  that  “peoplehood 
is  a gift  and  not  something  we  make  ourselves,” 
he  said.  “Our  task  is  not  to  whip  up  loyalty,  hero 
stories,  and  group  pride,  but  to  . . . receive  the 
counterculture,  or  peoplehood,  God  bestowed  on 
us. 

“In  the  face  of  the  kind  of  rootless  North 
American  society  that  pressures  us  into  civil 
religion  and  in  the  face  of  the  urban  scattering  of 
Mennonite  youth  that  has  escalated  in  the  last 
fifty  years,  it  seems  good  to  be  good  stewards 
of  the  exceptional  peoplehood  gift  God  has  given 
us.  . . . We  want  to  give  thanks  for  it  and  share 
it  in  a world  where  Christians  lose  roots,  identity, 
direction,  and  a consciousness  of  being  part  of 
something  different  that  is  shaping  the  world.” 

It  is  with  these  types  of  thoughts  and  events  in 
mind  that  the  Gospel  herald  and  The  Mennonite 
are  bringing  you  this  special  issue  of  Meeting- 
house on  the  Mennonite  identity  question.  Larry 
Kehler 


88:35  OCTOBER  2,  1973 


AT  The  LORD’S  TAl3Le: 

tumult  and  calm 

A MGOiTATiON  TO  pRGpARG 
US  FOR  WORLOwiDe  COMMUNION 
SUNbAy,  OCTObeR  7. 


Jacob  J.  Enz 


“In  the  night  that  Jesus  was  betrayed 
he  took  bread.”  What  a strange  word 
in  the  context  of  every  effort  to  make 
communion  a smooth,  soothing  experi- 
ence. 

Many  of  the  pictures  of  the  twelve 
seated  with  Jesus  at  his  last  meal  show 
a very  peaceful  and  quiet  experience. 
Not  so  with  da  Vinci’s  great  painting 
The  Last  Supper. 

The  twelve  disciples  are  suddenly 
thrown  into  a state  of  shock.  Da  Vinci 
has  given  that  moment  in  which  Jesus 
makes  the  unbelievable  statement,  “One 
of  you  shall  betray  me.”  The  twelve 
who  had  spent  three  years  in  close  as- 
sociation with  Jesus  would  produce  the 
archbetrayer!  Here  at  the  table,  symbol 
in  life  of  understanding  and  fellowship 
among  people  (recall  how  da  Vinci  has 


placed  the  table  at  a point  where  all  the 
lines  of  the  room  focus  on  the  table  and 
the  head  of  Jesus  is  perfectly  centered 
suggesting  perfect  order)  sits  the  be- 
trayer. 

“Is  it  I?”  ask  the  panic-stricken  dis- 
ciples. Da  Vinci  has  some  of  the  dis- 
ciples on  their  feet.  A dagger  is  in  the 
hand  of  one  (Peter?)  ready  to  attack 
the  betrayer,  who  is  quietly  dismissed 
by  Jesus. 

No  sooner  has  the  turmoil  died  down, 
but  the  disciples  (Luke  22)  revert  to  the 
old  power  struggle  as  to  who  would  be 
the  greatest.  If  one  has  not  made  the 
grade  then  the  rest  may  consider  who 
is  to  be  at  the  top  of  the  pile. 

In  the  disturbing  presence  of  Jesus  at 
his  table  was  apostasy  and  pride.  And 
the  attempts  at  confession  were  empty 
in  the  light  of  the  disciples’  forsaking 
Jesus  when  the  crunch  came. 

Da  Vinci’s  haunting  picture  comes  to 


mind  again.  In  the  midst  of  the  turmoil 
of  the  disciples  is  Jesus!  One’s  eyes 
may  dart  from  one  disciple  to  another 
but  the  appearance  of  each  one  sends 
one’s  eyes  back  to  Jesus.  And  those 
hands!  One  hand,  palm  down,  speaks 
the  body  language  of  his  abhorrence  of 
infidelity  and  pride;  the  other  with  palm 
upturned  in  gracious  invitation  bids  you 
and  me  to  begin  again! 

At  this  panic-stricken  table  in  the 
presence  of  Christ,  men  begin  to  learn 
how  God  rules  the  world — through  love 
that  pours  out  its  own  life’s  blood  to 
save  the  world.  With  all  this  faltering 
and  fumbling,  this  is  still  the  table  from 
which  the  world  is  ruled.  At  the  first 
communion  Jesus  said,  “You  are  those 
who  have  continued  with  me  in  my 
trials;  as  my  Father  appointed  a king- 
dom for  me  so  do  I appoint  a kingdom 
for  you  that  you  may  eat  and  drink  at 
my  table  in  my  kingdom  and  sit  on 
thrones  judging”  (Lk.  22:28-30). 

The  overwhelming  and  soul-quieting 
manifestation  of  the  grace  of  the  Lord 
comes  in  Jesus’  yearning  words  of  in- 
vitation, “I  have  earnestly  desired  to  eat 
this  Passover  with  you  before  I suffer.” 
We  have  a ministry  to  him  to  fulfill  a 
need  that  he  feels  for  our  fellowship. 

Let  us  come  to  him  with  joy;  let  us 
enter  into  his  ministry  of  reconciliation 
and  his  “fellowship  of  suffering”  with 
complete  abandon. 


554 


OCTOBER  2,  1973 


OROfoatfOQ 

A PROGRESS  REPORT 


The  following  statement  was  prepared  by 
the  General  Conference  committee  on 
the  ministry,  whose  members  are  Jacob 
T.  Friesen,  Marian  Franz,  Henry  Ger- 
brandt,  Ward  Shelly,  Joyce  Shutt,  and 
Erland  Waltner.  Several  responses  to  this 
report  were  invited  by  The  Mennonite. 
They  follow  on  pages  556-59. 

1.  Our  belief 

Congregations  standing  within  the  be- 
lievers’ church  tradition  hold  to  the  con- 
cept of  the  priesthood  of  all  believers. 
For  them  this  means  that  all  members 
stand  before  God  without  the  need  of 
any  mediator.  It  also  means  that  all 
members  are  priests,  or  ministers,  to 
each  other  and  to  those  not  yet  in  the 
church.  This  belief  has  significant  im- 
plications for  the  ways  in  which  leader- 
ship is  viewed  within  the  church. 

Negatively,  this  means  that  the  cate- 
gories of  clergy  and  laity  are  rejected. 
Because  all  members  are  ministers  of 
God  and  called  to  discipleship  through 
baptism,  there  is  no  need  for  a special 
class  of  person  to  perform  sacramental 
actions.  There  is  no  group  more  rev- 
erend than  others.  Holiness  is  the  at- 
tribute of  righteousness  that  all  mem- 
bers are  to  possess,  and  it  is  not  a qual- 
ity that  is  inherent  in  or  derived  from 
any  particular  ritual. 

Positively,  this  belief  in  the  priest- 
hood of  every  believer  means  that  there 
are  occasions  when  any  Christian  can 
minister  to  another  person  and  be  a 
mediator  of  mercy  and  grace  (2  Cor. 
5:18).  Whether  one  does  minister  de- 
pends more  upon  one’s  call  and  gifts 
than  upon  authority  derived  from  any 
hierarchy.  Theologically,  God  is  seen  as 
working  through  the  church  to  supply 
the  necessary  gifts  to  persons  who  will 
be  able  to  assist  the  whole  church  to 
fulfill  its  ministry  (Eph.  4:1 1-14). 

2.  Ordination 

Ordination  as  understood  in  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church  is 
an  act  by  which  a person  after  appro- 
priate examination  is  formally  and  pub- 
licly set  apart  by  the  laying  on  of  hands 
and  prayer  for  the  designated  task  of 
church  leadership.  This  generally  applies 


to  pastoral  leadership  in  a local  congre- 
gation but  may  also  refer  to  ministry  in 
the  wider  church  and  conference  fel- 
lowship. 

Biblically,  it  is  grounded  in  such  pas- 
sages as  Numbers  27:18-23  (the  com- 
missioning of  Joshua),  Acts  6:6  (the  ap- 
pointment of  the  seven),  Acts  13:1-3 
(the  sending  forth  of  Barnabas  and  Saul), 
and  1 Timothy  4:14  and  2 Timothy  1:6 
(the  ordination  of  Timothy). 

Functionally,  it  is  grounded  in  the 
basic  need  for  order  and  leadership  in 
the  church,  both  of  which  are  recog- 
nized and  sanctioned  in  Scripture  (e.g., 
Acts  14:23;  20:28;  1 Tim.  3:1-7;  1 Pet. 
5:1-4;  1 Cor.  14:40). 

Theologically,  ordination  is  an  act  of 
God  through  the  church.  It  represents 
a confirmation  by  the  church  of  the 
validity  of  a candidate’s  sense  of  call. 
It  involves  on  the  part  of  the  candidate 
a public  declaration  of  his  definite  subor- 
dination in  ministry  to  the  lordship  of 
Christ.  It  implies  the  recognition  of  such 
authority  under  God  which  is  necessary 
for  the  performance  of  the  designated 
leadership  functions  in  the  church.  It  in- 
cludes on  the  part  of  the  church  a fo- 
cused prayer  of  blessing  for  the  candi- 
date and  his  being  sent  forth  into  the 
ministry  of  Christ  and  his  church.  It  is 
not  a sacrament  in  that  it  does  not  in 
itself  impart  or  transfer  a divine  gift  or 
authority. 

3.  Implications 

Some  of  the  practical  implications 
arising  out  of  the  above  statements  are: 

A.  Ordination  needs  to  be  viewed 
functionally.  In  the  act  of  ordination 
a person  who  has  received  a call  is  com- 
missioned to  serve  a General  Confer- 
ence congregation,  commission,  or  in- 
stitution as  pastor  or  leader.  The  call  of 
God  to  which  the  person  is  responding 
must  be  confirmed  by  the  church  or  have 
come  through  the  church. 

B.  In  viewing  leadership  functionally, 
ordination  is  not  to  be  understood  as 
automatically  conferring  a lifelong  status. 
A person’s  ordination  functions  as  long 
as  he  serves  a congregation,  commission, 
or  institution  in  pastoral  leadership.  The 
commission  to  serve  is  renewed  when- 
ever a person  receives  a call  to  pastoral 


leadership  in  another  congregation  or 
conference  responsibility,  so  the  ordina- 
tion act  does  not  need  to  be  repeated.  A 
commission  to  serve  ends  when  one 
terminates  with  a congregation  or  con- 
ference agency.  A person,  during  such 
a period  of  pastoral  inactivity,  should 
refrain  from  exercising  special  preroga- 
tives which  society  might  grant  to  the 
ordained. 

C.  Persons  leading  in  the  services  or 
ordination  and  commissioning  should  be 
representative  of  both  the  local  church 
and  the  church  at  large.  On  behalf  of 
these  groups  they  pray  for  the  blessing 
of  God  on  the  new  ministry  of  the  can- 
didate. Since  each  local  church  is  seen 
as  a manifestation  of  the  ecclesia  of 
God  and  since  persons  who  serve  as  pas- 
tors generally  serve  more  than  one  con- 
gregation during  their  life,  it  is  proper 
for  representatives  of  district  and  area 
conferences  to  be  involved  in  the  exam- 
ination and  ordination  of  the  person. 
This  in  no  way  is  to  take  away  responsi- 
bility from  the  local  congregation  for 
examining  the  candidate  and  carrying 
out  the  ordination. 

D.  To  be  ordained,  a person  must 
have  skill  in  interpreting  the  Bible,  abil- 
ity to  preach  and  teach,  leadership  quali- 
ties, and  love  for  people  and  must  be 
full  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Affirming  that 
in  Christ  there  is  neither  male  nor  fe- 
male and  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons,  neither  race  nor  class  nor  sex 
should  be  considered  barriers  in  calling 
a pastor. 

E.  Affirming  also  the  mercy  and  for- 
giveness of  God,  no  sinful  act  should 
permanently  disqualify  a person  from 
serving  a congregation.  The  local  con- 
gregation needs  to  examine  the  life  of 
the  person  and  discern  the  spirit  in 
which  he  comes  to  the  congregation. 
When  errors  and  behavior  are  forgiven 
they  are  not  remembered  by  God  and 
should  be  forgiven  by  his  church.  An 
ordained  person  should  not  lightly  ac- 
cept forgiveness  and  rush  to  the  pulpit 
or  officiate  at  the  communion  table,  but 
give  ample  evidence  in  life  and  attitude 
that  he  is  able  to  stand  before  the  con- 
gregation as  an  example  of  God’s  re- 
deeming love  at  work. 

The  responses  begin  on  the  next  page~ 


THE  MENNONITE 


555 


TO  THE  ORDINATION  REPORT 


What  about  the  retired  minister ? 


Clergy-laity  distinction 
hasn’t  been  overcome 


This  statement  as  prepared  by  the  committee  emphasizes  and  makes  clear  some 
concepts  on  which  we  have  been  unclear  and  confused.  The  emphasis  on  the  priest- 
hood of  all  believers  is  good  and  timely.  To  minister  is  not  the  sole  prerogative  of 
one  who  has  been  ordained,  but  the  responsibility  of  everyone  who  is  a believer  in 
Jesus  Christ  as  Savior  and  Lord. 

The  prepared  statement  says:  “For  them  this  means  that  all  members  stand  before 
God  without  the  need  of  any  mediator.”  I understand  this  to  mean  that  we  need  no 
other  human  person  by  which  to  come  to  God.  Would  it  not  be  good  if  we  would, 
however,  recognize  that  Jesus  is  the  mediator  between  God  and  man  (1  Tim.  2:5)? 

I appreciate  the  emphasis  that  the  ministry  is  a function  rather  than  a position  or 
an  office.  An  ordained  person  is  one  who  has  been  set  apart  by  the  church  to  be  the 
leader  of  a congregation  and  has  not  received  through  the  act  of  ordination  a divine 
grace  or  authority. 

I have  an  uneasy  feeling  about  this  statement  at  the  point  of  the  implication  that 
"ordination  is  not  to  be  understood  as  automatically  conferring  a lifelong  status.”  In 
general  I can  agree  with  this  position,  but  what  about  the  person  who  has  served  in 
such  a place  of  leadership  for  a lifetime?  Will  he  no  longer  be  recognized  for  his 
role  as  a leader  when  he  comes  to  the  years  of  retirement?  I think  that  his  role  must 
be  something  different  from  that  of  a pastor,  yet  in  some  way  I would  like  to  recog- 
nize such  a person  for  his  many  years  of  service  in  the  work  of  the  church.  Abe 
Krause,  Henderson,  Nebraska 


Standards  for  evaluation  needed 


Initially,  my  overall  reaction  was  very  positive.  This  kind  of  statement  will  hope- 
fully provide  unity  for  ordination  throughout  the  conference  as  well  as  help  avoid 
discrimination  on  the  basis  of  such  things  as  sex.  Since  I am  a seminary-educated 
woman  who  is  personally  interested  in  ordination  so  I could  better  work  as  a team 
with  my  husband  in  the  pastorate,  the  latter  is  significant  to  me.  Of  course,  such 
statements  are  only  theoretical  unless  each  congregation  acts  accordingly. 

One  ordination  for  church  leadership  with  a commissioning  service  as  one  takes 
on  new  responsibilities  makes  a great  deal  more  sense  to  me  than  several  types  of 
ordination,  e.g.,  for  the  mission  field,  home  pastorate.  This  coupled  with  a statement 
on  not  exercising  “special  ministerial  prerogatives”  when  not  so  employed  seems  to 
be  a practical  and  functional  way  of  dealing  with  this  area  of  ordination. 

I would  like  to  encourage  the  conference  leadership  to  set  up  a standard  measure- 
ment to  evaluate  the  skills  of  a person  seeking  ordination.  In  section  3D  are  an  excel- 
lent set  of  skills,  but  if  each  candidate  is  not  fairly  but  thoroughly  examined,  they 
are  useless.  Norma  S.  Goertzen,  Mountain  Lake,  Minnesota 


Basically  I agree  with  the  essence  of 
the  report  on  the  priesthood  of  all  be- 
lievers, the  functional  role  of  the  or- 
dained person  relating  to  the  basic  need 
for  order  and  leadership  in  the  church, 
and  the  availability  of  this  leadership 
position  to  a person  meeting  the  cited 
qualifications,  regardless  of  race,  class, 
or  sex. 

The  report  does,  however,  raise  some 
questions  in  my  mind,  and  I would  like 
to  express  a few  concerns  in  this  brief 
response: 

1.  The  report  expresses  in  Section  1 
that  the  believers’  church  tradition  holds 
to  the  concept  of  the  priesthood  of  all 
believers.  If  this  means  that  all  cate- 
gories of  laity  and  clergy  are  rejected, 
why  does  the  report  in  Sections  2 and  3 
use  statements  like  “a  candidate’s  sense 
of  call,”  “subordination  in  ministry  to 
the  lordship  of  Christ,”  “full  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,”  or  “no  sinful  act  should  per- 
manently disqualify  a person  from  serv- 
ing a congregation”?  Should  these  state- 
ments not  pertain  to  every  believer  if 
each  one  is  a priest?  Are  we  not  all 
called,  all  subordinated  to  Christ,  all 
challenged  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  all  in  need  of  forgiveness? 

If  the  priesthood  of  all  believers  is  to 
be  taken  seriously,  then,  I believe  that 
ordination  is  exactly  that  which  the  re- 
port says  in  the  third  paragraph  of  sec- 
tion 2:  “It  is  grounded  in  the  basic  need 
for  order  and  leadership  in  the  church.” 
It  is  because  of  a candidate’s  ability 
(training,  talent)  to  perform  in  this  area, 
that  the  said  person  is  licensed  or  per- 
mitted to  “exercise  special  prerogatives 
which  society  might  grant  to  the  or- 
dained,” as  well  as  those  granted  by  the 
church.  If  we  go  beyond  this  in  our 
definition  of  ordination,  are  we  not 
again  drawing  distinctions  between  laity 
and  clergy,  and  disproving  what  we  pro- 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
If  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
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556 


OCTOBER  2,  1973 


fess  to  believe  in  the  first  paragraph? 

2.  If  the  ordination  of  women  is 
being  considered  as  a real  possibility  in 
the  General  Conference,  I would  suggest 
that  the  committee  review  the  report 
once  more  and  notice  how  frequently 
the  masculine  he  still  stands  alone  in 
reference  to  the  ordained  person. 

3.  Does  Section  3 rise  out  of  the  first 
two  sections  as  implied?  In  reading 


I am  not  aware  that  in  our  congrega- 
tions during  their  4 Vi  centuries  of  exis- 
tence anyone  derived  authority  from  any 
hierarchy.  Authority  could  be  and  was 
granted  to  an  individual  only  by  the  con- 
gregation; that  is,  the  brotherhood  as- 
signed a certain  function  to  one  of  its 
members.  This  assignment  was  confirmed 
by  a ceremony  of  laying  on  of  hands 
of  an  elder  and  the  intercession  of  the 
congregation. 


through  the  report  again,  I must  admit 
1 can’t  see  the  relationship  as  stated. 
The  implications  referred  to  here  are 
actually,  as  I would  see  it,  issues  with 
which  the  conference  and  churches  have 
been  struggling  with  for  some  time. 
Should  they  then  not  be  cited  as  such 
and  be  spelled  out  concretely  and  di- 
rectly? They  are  important  issues.  Anne 
Neufeld  Rupp,  Shawnee  Mission,  Kansas 


We  never  believed  that  such  ordina- 
tion bestowed  mystical  powers  on  the 
person  ordained,  nor  did  we  think  that 
only  such  ordained  individuals  could  be 
channels  of  grace,  as  for  instance  the 
Catholic  Church  has  been  teaching.  We 
do  hold  to  the  concept  of  the  priesthood 
of  all  believers. 

But  we  believe  that  the  formal  ordina- 
tion is  necessary  in  order  to  establish 
and  maintain  proper  order  in  our  church- 


es and  also  in  order  to  impress  on  the 
church  members  that  the  function  of  a 
pastor  rests  on  God’s  ordinance  and 
that  the  pastor  in  a special  way  has  been 
singled  out  to  proclaim  the  Word  of 
God;  as  the  Bible  has  it:  “We  must  be 
regarded  as  Christ’s  subordinates  and  as 
stewards  of  the  secrets  of  God”  (1  Cor. 
4:1).  This  ordination  is  also  necessary 
for  the  pastor  to  impress  upon  him  and 
constantly  make  him  aware  of  the  fact 
that  he  has  been  called  to  serve  the 
church  in  a special  way,  that  he  is  a 
steward  of  the  mysteries  of  God  and  is 
responsible  to  the  Lord  for  a conscien- 
tious fulfillment  of  his  special  function. 

In  our  Mennonite  brotherhood  the 
final  authority  always  rests  with  the 
congregation,  the  assembly  of  the  mem- 
bers. It  is  this  assembly  that  calls  a 
member  to  a special  service,  and  this 
call  has  to  be  publicly  confirmed,  which 
is  done  by  the  process  of  ordination. 
Such  ordination  is  no  more  than  a prayer- 
ful confirmation  by  the  congregation  that 
it  indeed  has  called  the  person  to  the 
specific  service. 

The  second  section,  on  "ordination, 
as  presented  by  the  committee  is  beauti- 
fully written  and  has  my  full  approval. 

Section  3B  does  not  seem  to  be  clear 
enough.  Apparently  a distinction  is  made 
between  the  ordination  act  and  the  com- 
mission to  serve.  It  is  not  clear  though 
how  this  distinction  is  to  find  expres- 
sion. 

Section  3D  seemingly  wants  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  female  pastors  in  our 
churches.  To  me  this  seems  to  be  un- 
wise. For  centuries  our  church  has  be- 
lieved that  serving  as  minister  is  the 
prerogative  of  the  male.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment seems  to  take  that  position,  too. 
There  are  passages  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment which  explicitly  state  that  a woman 
is  not  to  preach.  I know  how  this  is  be- 
ing explained  away.  I certainly  do  not 
consider  women  inferior  or  less  holy 
than  men,  but  there  is  such  a thing  as 
order  in  a church  and  a role  for  each 
sex.  Besides,  our  churches  are  not  ready 
to  have  female  pastors  and  it  seems  un- 
wise to  try  to  introduce  this  contentious 


Inactive  ministers  would  be  hamstrung 

I am  in  general  agreement  with  the  thoughts  expressed  in  the  progress  report;  how- 
ever, there  are  some  questions  to  be  raised  about  section  3.  What  is  meant  by  3B  A 
person,  during  such  a period  of  pastoral  inactivity,  should  refrain  from  exercising 
special  prerogatives  which  society  might  grant  to  the  ordained  ? Must  a minister 
refuse  a valid  request  to  exercise  such  prerogatives?  If,  as  stated  in  section  1,  “all 
members  are  priests,  or  ministers”  and  “there  is  no  need  for  a special  class  of  person 
to  perform  sacramental  actions,”  then  how  can  one  say  to  a person  who  has  even 
been  ordained  by  the  church  and  has  served  as  a pastor  for  many  years,  you  “should 
refrain  from  exercising  special  prerogatives  which  society  might  grant  to  the  or- 
dained”? For  example,  what  about  interim  pastors,  assistants  to  pastors,  summer 
assistants,  ordained  ministers  substituting  or  filling  in  for  a pastor  and  functioning 
as  such? 

Another  question  comes  to  mind  about  3E.  Does  it  make  any  difference  if  the 
sinful  act  took  place  before  conversion  and  the  call  to  leadership  or  afterward?  For 
example,  Paul  consented  to  the  death  of  Stephen,  was  forgiven  and  called  to  be  an 
apostle,  while  David,  chosen  of  God  to  lead  Israel,  murdered  Uriah,  was  forgiven, 
but  because  he  shed  much  blood  was  not  permitted  to  build  the  temple.  Olin 
A . Krehbiel,  Reedley,  California 


Ordination  necessary  to  maintain  proper  order 


THE  MENNONITE 


557 


question  into  our  conference.  There 
seems  to  be  no  need  for  it  at  the  present 
time.  Should  future  generations  feel  this 
to  be  an  urgent  issue,  let  them  settle  it 
with  the  understanding  that  they  then 
may  have. 

I think  that  quite  a few  of  our  mem- 
bers will  not  be  able  to  go  along  with 
3E  as  it  stands.  We  all  believe  that 
every  and  any  sin  can  be  forgiven  by 
God,  but  the  consequences  of  a sin  in 
life  very  often  cannot  be  evaded.  They 
follow.  And  so  it  may  be  so  that  cer- 
tain sinful  acts  of  the  individual  although 
fully  forgiven  by  God  and  congregation 
still  may  disqualify  the  person  from  be- 
ing appointed  to  certain  services  in  the 
church. 

In  1 Timothy  3:2  we  read  that  a 
bishop  is  to  be  “blameless.”  This  I take 
it  is  not  a “holier  than  thou”  position 


but  simply  a practical  fact  of  life.  A 
minister  who  has  to  admonish  others 
is  scrutinized  closely  by  his  listeners, 
especially  by  those  who  demand  a good 
deal  of  leeway  in  their  own  life.  1 Tim- 
othy 3:7  advises,  “He  must  have  a good 
report  of  them  which  are  without.”  A 
coarsely  sinful  act  in  the  person’s  former 
life  will  likely  prove  a great  hindrance 
in  his  successful  ministry.  To  avoid  this, 
we  have  the  practical  and  wise  advice 
not  to  appoint  such  individuals.  Our  con- 
gregations would  be  well  advised  to 
heed  it. 

When  all  this  has  been  said,  the  fact 
remains  that  cases  and  situations  vary 
so  much  that  it  may  not  be  advisable  to 
lay  down  a fast  and  final  rule.  The  con- 
gregation in  each  case  must  seek  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  decide 
accordingly.  Gerhard  Lohrenz,  Winnipeg 


Statement  needs  thorough 
reformulation 

The  progress  report  is  in  need  of  a 
thorough  reformulation.  It  creates  a lot 
of  confusion  because  it  uses  terms  with 
various  significations,  without  making 
their  meaning  clear.  Presumably  the  sec- 
tion on  “our  belief”  is  to  serve  as  a 
foundation  for  the  second  section  on 
“ordination,”  but  actually  there  is  no 
clear  relationship  evident  between  the 
two.  The  third  section  on  “implications” 
has  in  it  items  which  in  no  way  are  im- 
plied by  the  two'  previous  sections. 

Let  me  point  out  some  specific  prob- 
lems. The  use  of  the  word  mediator 
in  the  second  sentence  of  the  first  sec- 
tion is  not  clear.  Note  that  Paul  says, 
“For  there  is  one  God  and  also  one 
mediator  between  God  and  men,  Christ 
Jesus,  himself  man,  who  sacrificed  him- 
self to  win  freedom  for  all  mankind”  (1 
Tim.  2:5).  So  we  do  have  need  of  one 
mediator,  Christ  Jesus.  Human  priestly 
mediators,  in  the  Old  Testament  sense 
and  in  the  sense  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  where  the  sacrifice  is  repeated 
in  the  mass,  are  not  needed.  In  para- 
graph three  we  are  told  that  any  Chris- 
tian can  be  the  “mediator”  of  mercy  and 
grace  to  the  other.  Are  we  to  under- 
stand that  the  first  and  third  paragraphs 
contradict  each  other,  or  is  the  word 
mediator  used  in  a very  special  sense 
here,  pointing  to  Christ? 

There  is  further  confusion  with  refer- 
ence to  the  “priesthood  of  all  believers.” 
If  paragraph  two  is  to  be  taken  at  face 
value,  then  the  second  and  third  sec- 
tions become  irrelevant.  But  when  Paul 
says  that  on  the  basis  of  faith  the  dis- 
tinctions between  male  and  female  are 
of  no  significance,  he  does  not  mean  that 
there  is  now  no  distinction  in  function 
between  the  two  (Gal.  3:26  ff.).  One 
need  only  read  2 Corinthians  12  to  un- 
derstand that  varieties  of  gifts  and  func- 
tion are  not  wiped  out  by  oneness  in 
Christ.  There  are  those  members  who 
are  appointed  as  apostles,  prophets, 
teachers,  etc. 


True  leadership  is  earned  not  bestoued 

Reconciling  our  doctrine  of  the  “priesthood  of  all  believers”  with  mainline  Prot- 
estant clergy /laity  distinctions  is  a long-standing  problem.  I feel  the  committee  state- 
ment deals  positively  with  two  fundamental  needs  in  the  church  that  do  not  have  to 
conflict  with  each  other:  the  need  for  emphasizing  the  ministry  of  every  believer  and 
the  need  for  recognizing  leaders  who  have  the  authority  to  lead. 

True  leadership  in  the  church  or  elsewhere  is  never  bestowed  but  always  must  be 
earned.  Given  this  premise,  ordination  should  be  a recognition  of  leadership  as  it 
has  already  been  expressed  as  well  as  affirming  its  continuing  potential.  It  should  not 
occur  at  the  very  outset  of  any  ministry  but  should  follow  a time  in  which  some 
experience  is  gained. 

I have  recently  entered  the  pastoral  ministry  and  am  looking  forward  to  ordina- 
tion. I view  ordination  as  an  occasion  when  people  who  have  been  used  by  God  to 
lead  and  teach  me  and  with  whom  I am  presently  closely  related  in  a pastoral  role 
will  confirm  together  that  God  has  been  and  is  present  in  the  relationships  affecting 
our  lives.  This  involves  recognizing  the  nurture  of  my  home  congregation  and  of  my 
family.  It  means  presenting  before  God  the  growing  relationships  in  our  present 
congregation  and  committing  these  to  God  with  the  prayer  that  we  will  all  be  teach- 
ers and  all  learners  to  each  other.  In  short,  if  ordination  only  confirms  how  God  has 
worked  with  me,  then  the  confirmation  will  have  been  too  small  in  its  scope. 

Recognition  of  true  leadership  and  service  to  God  does  not  come  through  man’s 
ordination,  but  through  God’s  ordination  as  expressed  in  the  everyday  fruitfulness  of 
meaningful  relationships  where  God’s  will  is  made  known.  If  ordination  is  used  to- 
distinguish  between  those  who  are  gifted  for  ministry  and  those  who  are  not,  it  runs 
counter  to  what  we  believe  about  every  believer’s  equal  status  before  God.  If  viewed 
functionally,  as  the  committee’s  statement  views  it,  it  properly  points  out  that  the 
church  needs  leaders — and  that  their  function  is  to  lead  others  to  become  functional, 
too.  James  Schrag,  Newton,  Kansas 


558 


OCTOBER  2,  1973 


The  first  two  sentences  of  the  third 
paragraph  in  the  first  section  should  be 
reformulated.  The  first  should  make  it 
clear  that  every  person  is  obligated  to 
serve  others  continually  (not  occasional- 
ly) with  those  spiritual  gifts  entrusted  to 
him.  Not  “whether  one  does”  but  how 
one  ministers  depends  upon  one’s  gifts. 
“Call  and  gifts”  should  not  be  united  in 
this  context.  Even  in  the  Catholic  Church 
you  are  not  called  to  the  priesthood  of 
believers  by  the  hierarchy.  The  “call”  is 
obviously  to  be  understood  in  the  sense 
of  being  called  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
the  church  to  function  in  a particular 
office,  quite  distinct  from  the  priesthood 
of  all  believers.  In  this  case  another 
difficulty  arises  with  reference  to  “sup- 
ply the  necessary  gifts.”  It  would  then 
mean  that  any  church  member  could 
be  called  to  the  office  of  pastor  regard- 
less of  the  usual  qualifications  for  teach- 
ing, preaching,  and  pastoral  care,  be- 
cause these  gifts  would  be  supplied  to 
him  upon  being  called  and  ordained. 
This  construction  conflicts  with  the  last 
sentence  of  section  2. 

Except  for  the  confusion  indicated  at 
the  end  of  section  1,  there  is  in  fact 
no  relationship  between  the  priesthood 
of  all  believers  and  ordination.  Luther 
also  did  not  derive  the  office  from  the 


Fancy  building 

Darkened  sanctuary 
Typical  today — 

High  vaulted  arches 
Point  proudly  the  way 
To  a heavenly  dome 
Far  removed 
From  the  warmth 
Of  home. 

Ruth  Naylor 


general  priesthood  of  believers.  It  exist- 
ed for  the  sake  of  order  in  the  church 
and  was  divinely  instituted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  publicly  proclaiming  the  Word 
of  God  and  discipline. 

Section  3 reflects  a basic  inconsistency 
between  ordination  and  installation.  If 
ordination  is  purely  functional  and  not 
a “lifelong  status,”  then  it  would  have 
to  be  repeated  with  every  new  charge 
or  commission  and  could  be  regarded  as 
synonymous  with  installation.  Otherwise, 
you  would  have  to  view  ordination  as 
valid  for  life  with  a functional  discon- 
tinuity when  one  has  no  commission  to 
serve. 

The  argument  of  pargraph  C for  in- 
volvement of  the  “church  at  large”  and 
representatives  of  conferences  in  the  ex- 
amination and  ordination  of  a person 
for  a local  church  is  invalid  if  ordina- 
tion is  interpreted  functionally.  Other 
churches  and  institutions  should  then  ex- 
amine the  person  when  they  engage  him 
to  serve  them. 

Paragraph  D argues  that  because  in 
Christ  there  is  neither  male  nor  female, 
therefore  sex  should  not  be  considered 
a barrier  in  calling  a pastor.  The  argu- 
ment is  invalid  because  it  takes  the 
statement  out  of  one  context,  “heirs  by 
promise,”  and  places  it  into  that  of  serv- 
ing in  the  calling  of  a pastor.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  any  reference  to  1 Corinthians 
11;  14:34  f.;  and  1 Timothy  2:11  ff.,  it 
is  an  obvious  attempt  to  manipulate 
Scripture  rather  than  to  attempt  a seri- 
ous interpretation. 

Certainly  the  current  women’s  lib- 
eration movement  cannot  be  an  excuse 
for  reading  into  a scriptural  passage, 
what  is  not  intended  by  it.  The  church 
would  certainly  make  a big  mistake  by 
calling  a crusader  for  women’s  libera- 
tion to  the  ministry.  Her  whole  stance 
would  be  out  of  character  with  the  min- 
istry as  such. 

According  to  my  understanding  of 
Paul,  the  unity  in  Christ  does  not  wipe 
out  the  basic  functional  distinctions  be- 
tween man  and  woman.  A woman  who 
wants  to  deny  her  procreative  function 
of  bearing  children  and  caring  for  them 


rebels  against  God’s  order.  If  the  man 
in  leadership  position  of  the  church 
should  be  married,  certainly  the  woman 
should  be,  too.  But  the  married  woman 
has  functions  that  would  conflict  se- 
verely with  her  role  as  pastor.  Further- 
more, she  is  not  the  head  of  the  house- 
hold and  as  a result  she  has  not  the 
same  opportunity  for  the  development 
of  leadership  qualifications.  Besides  that, 
Paul’s  negative  ruling  is  also  determined 
by  the  order  of  creation  and  the  fact 
that  the  fall  of  Eve  preceded  that  of 
Adam.  No  doubt  the  customs  of  his  day 
served  further  to  undergird  his  position. 

While  some  of  these  customs  are 
changing  in  our  day,  Paul’s  basic  ob- 
jections regarding  a woman’s  functions 
remain  intact.  The  “barriers”  vary.  The 
male  has  a total  natural  barrier  against 
becoming  pregnant  and  bearing  children. 
The  female  has  no  such  barrier,  although 
a dysfunction  of  her  reproductive  or- 
gans could  prove  to  be  a barrier  to 
pregnancy.  Now  I do  not  understand 
Paul  to  say  that  there  is  an  absolute 
barrier  to  calling  a woman  to  function 
as  a pastor,  but  that  there  are  certain 
barriers  that  relate  exclusively  to  her  be- 
cause of  her  functions  as  a woman.  To 
say  that  these  should  not  be  considered 
means  that  it  is  wrong  to  consider  them. 
My  judgment,  and  I believe  it  to  be  the 
scriptural  judgment,  is  that  it  is  wrong 
not  to  consider  the  barriers  to  the  min- 
istry which  are  due  to  a woman’s  func- 
tions as  a woman. 

In  the  priesthood  of  believers,  the  dif- 
ferent functions  of  individual  members 
for  each  other  are  recognized.  Each 
function  is  essential  for  the  welfare  of 
the  whole  church  and  is  honored  as 
such.  The  diversity  of  function  is  not  a 
matter  of  discrimination.  I also  grant 
that,  apart  from  their  function  as  wom- 
en, certain  women  do  outqualify  various 
men  as  pertains  to  the  ministry.  But  on 
the  average,  I would  think  that  the  total 
qualifications  for  the  ministry  are  more 
easily  met  by  men,  because  of  a differ- 
ence in  function  between  male  and  fe- 
male. David  Janzen,  Niagara-on-the- 
Lake,  Ontario 


THE  MENNONITE 


559 


MEWS 

Mexico  earthquake  relief  begun 


An  earthquake  relief  program  is  being 
put  together  by  Mennonites  in  Mexico 
for  villagers  outside  the  urban  centers 
where  the  major  Mexican  Government 
emergency  assistance  is  being  given.  The 
quake  was  the  worst  in  modern  Mexican 
history.  Officials  estimated  500  killed. 

Franconia  Conference  Mennonite  mis- 
sion worker  Paul  Godshall  reported  by 
telephone  on  September  1 that  all  twenty 
Franconia  personnel  and  four  MCC  work- 
ers in  southern  Mexico  were  safe  fol- 
lowing the  earthquake  of  August  29. 
Franconia  Conference  and  mcc  are  the 
only  North  American  Mennonite  agen- 
cies working  in  southern  Mexico. 

Mr.  Godshall,  who  had  just  returned 
from  a visit  to  Puebla,  reported  that  the 
Mexican  Government  is  responding  with 
food,  blankets,  and  medical  and  other 
disaster  aid  to  quake  victims  in  the  lar- 
ger urban  centers  from  Puebla  to  Vera- 
cruz. 

He  also  reported  that  the  organization 
of  Mexican  Mennonite  churches  known 
as  International  Cultural  Services  (sci), 
met  in  September  and  decided  to  assist 
quake  victims  in  San  Antonio  Port  Ezue- 


los,  a village  of  1,400  people  which  was 
80  percent  destroyed.  San  Antonio  Port 
Ezuelos  is  one  of  many  rural  centers 
outside  the  area  of  major  government 
disaster  response.  The  Mexican  Men- 
nonites, through  sci,  plan  to  begin  a 
rebuilding  program  with  a strong  Chris- 
tian emphasis. 

Sci  is  not  requesting  personnel  from 
North  America  at  this  time.  “Menno- 
nite Disaster  Service  has  been  contacted 
and  stands  readey  to  respond  if  sci  calls 
for  help,”  said  Nelson  Hostetter,  mds 
executive  coordinator.  “We  do  not  an- 
ticipate the  need  for  sending  mds  per- 
sonnel to  Mexico,  however.  Mds  over- 
seas projects  always  work  cooperatively 
with  mcc  area  directors  and  constituent 
mission  board  personnel  on  location.” 

Edgar  Stoesz,  mcc  director  for  Latin 
America,  said  that  mcc’s  response 
would  be  to  provide  financial  support  to 
sci’s  disaster  program.  “Accordingly, 
mcc  is  making  available  an  initial  $2,000 
from  emergency  funds,”  said  Mr.  Stoesz, 
“a  sum  we  both  feel  appropriate  at  this 
point  as  further  planning  is  being  done 
and  as  the  program  develops.” 


Churchman’s  seminar 
to  focus  on  Watergate 

“Watergate:  A moral  inquiry”  will  be 
the  focus  on  the  fourth  churchman’s 
seminar,  planned  by  the  mcc  Peace  Sec- 
tion Washington  Office  for  October  22- 
24. 

Beyond  exploring  some  of  the  threats 
which  the  clandestine  activities  associ- 
ated with  Watergate  have  posed  to  the 
United  States  system  of  government, 
the  seminar  will  examine  the  moral  val- 
ues and  ethical  principles  posed  by  Wa- 
tergate both  for  the  church  and  for  so- 
ciety. 

The  seminar  is  planned  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  church  has  a special  re- 
sponsibility to  raise  the  deepest  ethical 
questions  in  society,  without  which  ef- 
fort corruption  and  immorality  take  over. 
These  concerns  will  be  considered  by 
various  governmental  and  church-related 
resource  persons.  Included  will  be  ses- 
sions on  subjects  such  as  the  ethical  ques- 
tions for  religious  faith,  undermining 
civil  law,  and  the  role  of  the  free  press. 

Registration  for  the  seminar  is  open 
to  all  members  of  Mennonite  and  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  churches.  Persons  inter- 
ested in  receiving  more  information 
should  write  the  mcc  Peace  Section 
Washington  Office,  100  Maryland  Ave- 
nue, N.E.,  Washington,  D.C.  20002. 

Participation  is  limited  to  forty  per- 
sons. The  deadline  for  final  registrations 
is  October  17.  Costs  will  be  kept  to  a 
minimum,  with  a $5.00  registration  fee 
and  lodging  available  at  $5.00  a night. 

Two  conferences  send 
couple  to  Cincinnati 

Mark  and  Susan  McElwain  Weidner  of 
Allentown,  Pennsylvania,  have  begun 
work  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  to  find  people 
with  common  interests  and  build  house 
fellowships. 

This  portion  of  their  work  is  spon- 
sored by  the  Central  District  Conference 
(General  Conference  Mennonite  Church) 
and  Ohio  and  Eastern  Conference  (Men- 
nonite Church) . 

Mark  is  also  serving  half  time  as  di- 
rector  of  the  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee voluntary  service  unit  in  Cincin- 
nati. 

The  Weidners  will  live  near  the  VS 
unit  and  the  University  of  Cincinnati 
and  serve  as  facilitators  in  building  house 
fellowships  which  might  eventually  be- 
come a church. 

Mark  is  a 1973  graduate  of  Menno- 
nite Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart,  Indiana. 


A woman  and  the  only  one  of  her  children  to  survive  the  disastrous  earthquake  in 
central  Mexico  sit  in  the  ruins  of  their  home  in  Orizaba,  one  of  the  worst  hit  com- 
munities. The  quake  struck  a 300-square-mile  area,  killing  hundreds  and  destroying 
thousands  of  homes. 


560 


OCTOBER  2,  1973 


Asians  plan  joint  mission  to  Bangladesh 


A mission  to  Bangladesh  from  other 
Asian  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ 
churches  has  been  approved  by  the  ex- 
ecutive committee  of  the  Asia  Menno- 
nite Conference. 

Der  Mennonit,  a European  periodical, 
reported  recently  on  the  decision,  which 
was  made  in  July  in  Pati,  Indonesia.  Al- 
though members  from  Vietnam,  Taiwan, 
and  Korea  were  unable  to  get  visas  in 
time  to  attend,  six  members  were  present 
for  the  four-day  meeting:  P.  J.  Malagar 
and  D.  J.  Arthur  from  India,  Takashi 
Yamada  from  Japan,  Everett  Metzler 
from  Hong  Kong,  and  Suhadiweko  Djojo- 
dihardjo  and  Charles  Christano  from  In- 
donesia. 

The  executive  committee  said  the  mis- 
sion to  Bangladesh  would  be  an  inde- 
pendent initiative  of  the  Asia  Menno- 


nites,  but  would  not  be  an  exclusively 
Asiatic  matter.  The  committee  is  hoping 
the  work  can  be  done  cooperatively  with 
Mennonite  organizations  in  Europe  and 
North  America.  The  bulk  of  the  finances 
are  expected  from  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  and  the  Council  of  Mission 
Board  Secretaries  in  North  America  and 
International  Mennonite  Organization 
and  Europaisches  Mennonitisches  Evan- 
gelisations-Komitee  in  Europe. 

Mere  evangelization  with  the  Word  is 
an  incomplete  way  to  accomplish  God’s 
purposes  in  the  world,  the  committee 
said.  Thus,  relief  work  is  also  planned. 

The  executive  committee  also  decided 
to  arrange  a second  Asia  Mennonite 
Conference  in  1976  in  the  Muria  area 
of  Indonesia.  The  first  conference  was 
in  India  in  1971.  The  committee  con- 


tacted various  Mennonite  churches  in 
the  area  during  its  July  meeting. 

The  committee  will  meet  again  in 
1975  in  Taiwan  or  Vietnam. 

The  feeling  of  solidarity  among  the 
various  Asian  Mennonite  communities 
would  certainly  be  strengthened  through 
such  a conference,  the  committee  said. 
Otherwise  the  individual  churches  must 
always  see  themselves  as  independent. 

In  other  action,  the  executive  commit- 
tee planned  for  a work  camp  for  young 
people  next  year  in  Bangladesh.  If  this 
location  is  not  possible,  Indonesia  would 
be  host.  Mr.  Malagar  said  he  hoped 
that  a number  of  non-Christian  young 
people  can  also  take  part. 

The  executive  committee  also  discussed 
the  possible  publication  of  Christian 
writing  in  the  coming  years. 


Graduate  seminar  grapples  with  faith 


“Again  I can  take  Christianity  seriously. 

“My  confidence  in  Christianity  as 
clothes  which  I can  wear  has  been  re- 
newed.” 

Such  were  comments  by  young  adults 
who  participated  in  the  eighth  summer 
graduate  seminar  by  student  services 
committees  of  several  Mennonite  branch- 


tian  self-understanding  (Gospel  of 
Mark) .” 

— Perry  Yoder,  Bluffton  College,  on 
“Biblical  thought  and  modern  world 
views.” 

Student  Services  Secretary  Virgil  J. 


Brenneman  has  noted  that  participants 
have  rated  the  event  “as  representing 
the  best  spent  education  dollar  in  the 
Mennonite  church.”  One  couple  con- 
tributed $250  toward  the  1973  seminar 
in  appreciation  for  an  earlier  experience. 


es. 

Students  from  Vancouver  to  Philadel- 
phia and  from  New  Orleans  to  Winni- 
peg gathered  for  ten  August  days  in 
southern  Michigan’s  rustic  Mennonite 
Youth  Village  for  intensive  encounter 
with  the  Bible  and  Anabaptist-Menno- 
nite  heritage  in  relation  to  university 
life  today. 

The  seminar  provided  opportunity  to 
grapple  with  concerns  of  Christian  faith 
in  the  midst  of  intellectual  and  social 
change,  along  with  the  more  practical 
person  to  person  sharing  of  faith,  Di- 
rector Helmut  Harder  says.  Harder  is 
a theology  professor  at  Canadian  Men- 
nonite Bible  College,  Winnipeg. 

Although  only  nine  of  the  twenty-two 
preregistrants  showed  up,  the  group 
worked  hard  during  the  three  daily  ses- 
sions. Resource  persons  who  stimulated 
the  encounter  were : 

— Walter  Klaassen,  University  of  Wa- 
terloo and  Conrad  Grebel  College,  on 
“Anabaptism:  A look  at  our  history.” 

— John  Lapp,  Goshen  College,  on 
“The  gospel  of  peace  in  the  midst  of 
world  affairs.” 

— Willard  Swartley,  Eastern  Menno- 
nite College,  on  “Holy  history  and  Chris- 


Among  the  participants  in  this  summer’s  graduate  seminar  were  John  Shearer,  Wa- 
terloo, Ontario;  Lester  Hackman,  Des  Allemands,  Louisiana;  Helmut  Harder,  di- 
rector, Winnipeg,  Manitoba;  and  Sharon  Snyder,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania. 


THE  MENNONITE 


561 


Colombians  show  new  social  concern 


When  Oliva  de  Bastidas — a member  of 
the  Mennonite  church  in  Bogota,  Co- 
lombia, since  1967 — saw  the  needs  of 
hundreds  of  urban  old  people  without 
shelter,  food,  medical  care,  or  love,  she 
started  the  city’s  first  home  for  the  aged. 

She  didn’t  apply  to  North  America 
for  funds.  She  got  together  eleven  wom- 
en from  several  Protestant  churches  in 
Bogota  and  formed  the  Interdenomina- 
tional Committee  of  Evangelical  Wom- 
en. The  women  visited  churches — both 
Protestant  and  Catholic — to  raise  funds 
and  they  bought  a two-story  house  near 
the  Bogota  Mennonite  Church. 

In  operation  since  the  first  of  the  year, 
the  house  now  has  seven  residents  plus 
Ms.  Bastidas,  who  lives  and  eats  with 
them.  And  because  of  the  large  number 
of  requests  for  admission,  Ms.  Bastidas 
is  considering  moving  into  larger  quarters 
if  additional  funds  are  available. 

Traditional  Colombian  society  provid- 
ed a place  for  the  elderly  within  the  ex- 
tended family.  The  extended  family  is 
breaking  down  to  the  nuclear  family  in 
the  cities,  however,  and  many  older  peo- 
ple are  unable  to  care  for  themselves 
without  the  concern  of  people  like  Ms. 
Bastidas. 

The  establishment  of  the  home  for 
the  aged  is  just  one  example  of  the  grow- 


Olivia  de  Bastidas 

ing  social  concern  among  Protestants  in 
Colombia,  according  to  Howard  Habeg- 
ger,  executive  secretary  of  the  Commis- 
sion on  Overseas  Mission  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church. 

Mr.  Habegger,  a former  missionary  in 
Bogota,  visited  Colombia  again  in  lune 
to  attend  a Goals-Priorities-Strategy  meet- 
ing of  the  Colombian  Mennonite  Church. 

He  said  evangelicals  in  Bogota  have 
formed  a coalition  called  the  Futuro 
Juvenil  to  attack  some  of  the  city’s  so- 
cial problems.  One  of  these  problems  is 
the  number  of  street  urchins,  young  boys 
without  parental  guidance  who  roam  the 
streets,  scavenging  and  stealing. 

Protestants  in  Colombia  are  also  ex- 
periencing greater  freedom  from  re- 
straints by  the  government  or  the  Cath- 
olic Church  regarding  witnessing,  es- 
tablishing new  churches,  and  reaching 


out  in  social  action.  Some  Protestants  j 
and  Catholics  are  meeting  together  in 
small  groups  to  pray  and  share  their  faith. 

Mr.  Habegger  said  the  Roman  Cath-  j 
olic  Church  in  Colombia  is  changing 
rapidly,  particularly  because  of  two  par- 
allel movements. 

The  first  is  “a  spiritual  awakening  < 
with  charismatic  overtones.”  He  said  that 
at  several  large  Roman  Catholic  schools 
in  Bogota,  young  people  meet  regularly 
to  sing,  pray,  and  testify.  The  meetings 
are  highly  personal  and  spiritual  with 
some  charismatic  manifestations. 

The  second  movement  is  the  growing 
group  of  priests  who  are  political  acti- 
vists. The  Golconda  Priest  Movement  \ 
has  strong  adherents  in  Colombia  who 
are  putting  pressure  on  the  Roman  Cath-  - 
olic  hierarchy  to  provide  finances  to  help 
the  poor  and  oppressed.  The  priests  are 
also  openly  critical  of  some  government 
policies. 

Mr.  Habegger  said  priests  from  both  J 
movements  come  to  the  home  of  mis- 
sionary lohn  Wiebe  to  buy  literature. 

He  said  the  feeling  among  Protestants 
was  “Let’s  get  moving  now.” 

“I’m  excited  to  see  the  new  optimism 
among  Protestants  and  the  new  spiritual 
awakening  within  Colombia  s Roman 
Catholic  Church,”  Mr.  Habegger  said. 


Family  learning  extended  to  whole  church 


A new  experiment  in  Christian  education 
— phase  2 — began  in  September  at  the 
Mennonite  Community  Church,  Fresno, 
California. 

The  congregation  will  take  the  basic 
idea  of  Christian  education  for  the  total 
family,  begun  two  years  ago  by  a group 
of  four  families  in  the  church,  and  apply 
the  idea  to  the  whole  congregation. 

For  the  fall  quarter,  the  congregation 
will  combine  all  ages  “from  two  to  nine- 
ty-two” into  a common  education  expe- 
rience. (One  class  of  older  people  will 
continue  to  meet  in  its  traditional  man- 
ner.) Parents  and  their  children  may  be 
in  the  same  learning  group,  and  the 
planners  hope  both  can  benefit — parents 
in  better  understanding  their  children, 
children  in  having  a variety  of  adults  as 
resources. 

“We  want  to  create  an  environment 
of  loving,  so  the  child  will  feel,  ‘Here  is 
a loving  church,’  ” said  Pastor  George 
Stoneback. 

The  general  theme  will  be  love  and 


reconciliation,  but  environment  will  be 
as  important  as  content,  said  Mr.  Stone- 
back.  “We’re  not  here  to  teach  but  to 
motivate  the  young  people  to  become 
Christians.” 

One  of  the  patterns  for  the  new  Chris- 
tian education  venture  is  the  group  of 
four  families  in  the  congregation  that 
began  meeting  in  1971  for  family  edu- 
cation experiences.  Frank  Ward,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  the  Commission  on 
Education,  met  with  the  group  several 
times  when  it  was  starting. 

This  group  met  for  several  hours  once 
a month  for  camp-outs,  Bible  study  with 
role  plays  or  puppet  shows,  or  other 
learning  experiences. 

The  other  pattern,  said  Mr.  Stone- 
back,  is  the  First  Congregational  Church 
of  Everett,  Washington,  which  has  used 
as  part  of  the  Christian  education  helping 
children  make  jelly,  watching  eggs  hatch, 
sharing  stories  of  covered-wagon  days, 
and  preparing  communion  bread  and 
wine. 


The  Fresno  congregation  planned  an 
open  meeting  September  9 and  set  the 
start  of  the  new  program  for  Septem- 
ber 16. 

Participants  will  meet  for  seventy-five 
minutes  on  Sunday  mornings  and  divide  ' 
into  interest  groups  in  different  corners 
of  the  fellowship  hall. 

“Groups  will  vary,”  said  Mr.  Stone- 
back.  “Some  people  will  be  leaders,  some 
enablers,  someone  might  talk  to  a kid 
who  is  not  interested  in  what  is  going 
on.”  Others  will  use  their  skills  as  story-  4 
tellers  and  teachers  of  crafts  on  a team 
basis.  Anyone’s  unique  skills  can  be  used.. 

At  least  once  a month  the  participants 
will  begin  with  a breakfast  at  the  church. 

Another  advantage  of  the  new  setup, 
Mr.  Stoneback  said,  is  that  it  eliminates 
the  complaint  that  “my  child  has  no  : 
other  children  his  own  age  in  Sunday 
school.”  The  primary  group  is  small 
this  year. 

Educational  coordinators  are  Frances 
Ewy  and  Lorene  Weinbrenner. 


562 


OCTOBER  2,  1973 


Work  camp  held 
at  Taiwan  orphanage 

Twenty-five  young  people  from  Menno- 
nite  churches  in  Taipei,  Taichung,  and 
Hw alien,  Taiwan,  participated  in  a week- 
long  work  camp  this  summer  at  the  Ta- 
tung Children’s  Home  near  Taipei.  Among 
them  was  Sz-Hwei  Wang  (above).  The 
young  people  leveled  a playground  and 
laid  a cement-block  path.  The  work  camp 
was  followed  by  a retreat  for  sixty  young 
people.  The  retreat  included  a presenta- 
tion by  Peter  Kehler  on  the  history  of 
the  Mennonite  church  and  a talk  by  Paul 
Lin  on  Anabaptist-Mennonite  doctrine. 

Two  U.S.  couples 
going  to  Africa  meeting 

Two  Mennonite  couples  from  Markham, 
Illinois,  and  Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma, 
will  be  among  the  delegates  to  the  Af- 
rican Afro-Americas  Inter-Mennonite 
Unity  Conference  (afram)  November 
4-1 1 in  Limuru,  Kenya. 

The  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  through  the  Commission  on 
Home  Ministries,  has  named  as  its  rep- 
resentatives to  the  conference  John  and 
Ponce  Cook,  members  of  the  Markham 
Community  Mennonite  Church,  and 
Gene  and  Pam  King,  members  of  the 
Trinity  Mennonite-Presbyterian  Church 
in  Oklahoma  City. 

Before  the  conference  the  Cooks  will 
visit  Mennonite  congregations  in  Zaire 
and  Zambia.  The  Kings  will  visit  Men- 
nonites  in  Zaire  before  the  conference 


and  in  Tanzania  following  the  confer- 
ence. 

The  Kings  are  employed  by  the  Okla- 
homa City  public  school  system,  Gene 
as  a counselor  and  Pam  as  a teacher. 
John  Cook  is  employed  by  the  Correc- 
tions Department  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Attending  the  afram  conference  will 
be  black  Mennonites  from  the  United 
States,  Jamaica,  the  Dominican  Repub- 
lic, and  six  countries  in  Africa. 

Muriel  Stackley  takes 
COE  editorial  post 

Muriel  Thiessen  Stackley  has  been  ap- 
pointed to  a half-time  position  as  an 
editor  of  Christian  education  curricula 
for  the  Commission  on  Education. 

She  will  work  at  the  central  offices 
of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  in  Newton,  Kansas. 

Ms.  Stackley  has  recently  spent  sev- 
enteen months  in  Botswana,  teaching 
English  to  teenagers  who  were  not  in 
secondary  school. 

She  previously  worked  at  the  General 
Conference  offices  as  editor  of  the  youth 
page  and  editorial  assistant  of  The  Men- 
nonite from  1959  to  1962  and  has  taught 
English  at  the  University  of  Kansas  in 
Lawrence. 

Religious  book  sales  go  up 
9 million  dollars  in  1971-72 

Religious  book  sales  increased  $9  million 
from  1971  to  1972,  according  to  annual 
estimates  issued  here  by  the  Association 
of  American  Publishers. 

Total  sales  in  two  religion  categories 
were  $126  million  in  1972,  compared 
with  $117  million  the  previous  year,  the 
new  figures  show. 

Of  the  two  categories,  the  larger  dol- 
lar-volume  increase  was  in  the  sale  of 
Bibles,  Testaments,  hymnals,  and  prayer- 
books.  The  jump  was  from  $56  million 
in  1971  to  $63  million  last  year. 

“Other  religious”  increased  $2  million, 
from  $61  million  to  $63  million. 

In  1972,  juvenile  paperbacks  showed 
a sharp  decline,  while  business  books 
showed  the  largest  increase — 17  percent. 

As  a whole,  the  book  industry  reported 
total  sales  of  $3.2  billion  in  1972.  The 
sum  was  3 percent,  or  $75  million,  over 
1971,  but  the  percentage  of  increase  was 
2.4  lower  than  the  year  before. 

The  publishers’  association  said  the 
drop  in  the  percentage  of  increase  re- 
flected a continuing  slowdown  in  the 
economy  and  drastic  cuts  in  education 
and  library  budgets. 


Restrictions  lifted  in  time 
Zaire  Mennonites  convene 

In  spite  of  earlier  government  regulations 
prohibiting  religious  gatherings  except 
for  Sunday  morning  worship,  the  Zairian 
Mennonites  met  in  July  for  their  annual 
meeting. 

Government  controls  on  such  meet- 
ings were  loosened  before  the  meeting, 
and  representatives  from  the  districts 
convened  at  Banga. 

Eight  new  pastors  were  approved  for 
ordination,  and  a pastor  will  be  assigned 
to  Kinshasa,  when  members  there  feel 
able  to  support  him.  Representatives  re- 
quested the  conference  to  open  three 
new  districts — Kasadisadi,  Muena  Ditu, 
and  Mbindjikila. 

Although  a shortage  of  secondary 
school  teachers  continues  and  funds  are 
limited,  the  conference  made  plans  to 
open  a second  year  of  junior  high  at 
Kayongo  and  a third-year  science  sec- 
tion at  Banga  and  Kalonda.  Kandala  is 
considering  opening  a professional  train- 
ing school. 

Construction  of  a maternity  ward  at 
Kamayala  and  dispensaries  at  Kabeya- 
Kamauga  and  Kikwit  were  taken  under 
consideration.  The  assembly  decided  that 
requests  for  medical  doctors  for  Nyanga, 
Mutena,  and  Banga  could  not  be  filled 
and  that  the  present  doctors  should  train 
nurses  to  fill  those  gaps. 

Finances  were  a critical  problem  for 
the  conference,  which  instructed  its  gen- 
eral secretary,  Kabangy  Djeke  Shapasa, 
to  solicit  funds  from  overseas  churches 
and  to  request  funds  from  Africa  Inter- 
Mennonite  Mission  to  put  roofs  on  ten 
church  buildings. 

Although  the  legal  representative  for 
the  conference  is  limited  to  two  consecu- 
tive terms  by  the  constitution,  Kakesa 
Khakha  Gasala’s  term  was  extended 
one  year  while  he  trains  a successor. 
The  assistant  legal  representative,  Tshi- 
lembu  Nicodeme  resigned  to  give  full 
time  to  his  government  assignment  as 
state  inspector  for  primary  education. 

The  conference  reappointed  Frieda 
Guengerich  as  director  of  the  girls’  school 
at  Nyanga,  scheduled  to  open  in  Sep- 
tember. LaVerna  Dick  will  be  allowed 
to  spend  more  time  in  teaching  and  cur- 
riculum development. 

Speakers  for  the  conference  were  Mis- 
sionary James  E.  Bertsche  on  “The  mis- 
sion: Our  responsibility,”  Professor 

Mbonza  Kikunga  on  “The  church:  Our 
responsibility,”  and  Kabeye  Mukita 
Ngandu,  regional  president  of  the  West 
Kasai  Church  of  Christ  in  Zaire. 


THE  MENNONITE 


563 


1 


RECORD 


Ministers 


Harry  Howard,  pastor  of  the  Calvary 
Church,  Aurora,  Ore.,  submitted  his 
resignation  late  in  August.  He  had  been 
on  a three-months  leave  of  absence. 
Plans  for  the  future  are  indefinite  but 
for  the  present  he  intends  to  remain  in 
Aurora.  Paul  Roth  has  been  the  interim 
pastor. 

Workers 


Jerilyn  Banman,  Canton,  Kans.,  start- 
ed one  year  of  General  Conference  vol- 
untary service  Aug.  27  in  Phoenix,  Ariz. 
She  is  a nurse  aide  at  the  Beatitudes  Re- 
tirement Center.  Jerilyn  is  a member  of 
the  Alexanderwohl  Church,  Goessel, 
Kans.,  and  has  attended  Hesston  (Kans.) 
College.  Her  parents  are  Otto  and  Ade- 
line Banman,  Canton. 

Michael  Brandt,  Hillsboro,  Kans.,  has 
begun  two  years  of  General  Conference 
voluntary  service  in  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 
He  will  be  involved  in  housing  repairs 
and  construction.  Michael  is  a member 
of  the  Tabor  Church,  Newton,  Kans., 
and  has  attended  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton.  His  parents  are  Raymond  and 
Grace  Brandt,  Hillsboro. 

Denise  Butler,  Bethesda  Church,  Hen- 
derson, Neb.,  is  serving  as  a day-care 
worker  in  the  General  Conference  vol- 
untary service  unit  in  Hutchinson,  Kans. 
She  will  work  for  one  year,  with  the 
option  of  extending  to  two  years.  Denise 
is  a 1973  graduate  of  Henderson  Com- 
munity High  School  and  is  the  daughter 
of  Grant  and  Edith  Buller  of  Hender- 
son. 

Carolyn  Cox,  Salina,  Kans.,  has  begun 
a year  of  voluntary  service  in  Arvada, 
Colo.,  with  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite  Church.  She  will  be  a community 


Dickey  Enns 


Jm  ■* 

Banman  Brandt 


service  worker  in  Arvada  and  work  in 
the  local  Mennonite  congregation.  Car- 
olyn, a member  of  the  Trinity  United 
Methodist  Church  in  Salina,  is  a 1972 
graduate  of  Bethel  College,  North  New- 
ton, Kans.,  and  has  attended  Harvard 
Divinity  School,  Boston,  Mass. 

Lynn  Dickey,  Buffalo,  Wyo.,  is  serv- 
ing at  least  one  year  with  the  General 
Conference  voluntary  service  unit  in 
Wichita,  Kans.  Her  job  assignment  is 
secretary  for  the  Community  Planning 
Council.  Lynn  is  a 1972  graduate  of 
the  University  of  Illinois  and  is  a mem- 
ber of  the  Union  Congregational  Church 
in  Buffalo. 

Charlotte  Enns,  Arnaud,  Man.,  has 
begun  a year  of  voluntary  service  as  a 
day-care  worker  in  Hutchinson,  Kans., 
under  the  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite Church.  She  is  a member  of  the  Ar- 
naud Church  and  is  a 1973  graduate 
of  Mennonite  Collegiate  Institute,  Gret- 
na, Man.  Her  parents  are  John  and  Ag- 
nes Enns  of  Arnaud. 

Donald  Esau,  First  Mennonite  Church, 
Beatrice,  Neb.,  is  serving  two  years  in 
Hammon,  Okla.,  under  the  General  Con- 
ference Commission  on  Home  Minis- 
tries. He  will  work  with  4-H  and  co- 
operative farm  projects.  The  Hammon 
voluntary  service  unit  works  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  predominantly  Indian  Beth- 
el Church.  Don  is  a graduate  of  Tri- 


Esau  Fopp 


Buller  Cox 


County  High  School,  DeWitt,  Neb.,  and 
has  attended  the  University  of  Nebraska.  ;{ 
He  is  the  son  of  Harvey  G.  and  Betty 
Esau  of  rural  Beatrice. 

Carolyn  Ann  Fopp,  Great  Falls,  Mont., 
is  serving  a minimum  of  one  year  in 
General  Conference  voluntary  service 
in  Hammon,  Okla.  She  will  be  a Head 
Start  teacher  and  recreation-youth  work-  k 
er.  Carolyn  is  a 1969  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Oregon  with  a BA  in  rec-  : 
reation  and  counseling. 

Darlene  Girling,  Brandon,  Man.,  has 
begun  voluntary  service  as  a day-care 
worker  in  Markham,  111.  Her  term  of 
service  is  one  year.  Darlene  is  a 1972 
graduate  of  Virden  High  School  and  is 
the  daughter  of  Armer  and  Mary  Girl- 
ing, Shoal  Lake,  Man. 

Kathy  Hiebert,  Winkler  (Man.)  ^ 
Bergthaler  Church,  is  serving  for  one 
year  at  the  Community  Day  Nursery  in 
Markham,  111.,  under  General  Confer- 
ence voluntary  service.  She  is  a 1973 
graduate  of  Garden  Valley  Collegiate 
Institute  and  is  the  daughter  of  Henry 
and  Elizabeth  Hiebert,  Winkler.  ' 

Merry  Wood  Hutton,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  has  been  assigned  for  one  year  to 
General  Conference  voluntary  service 
in  Oklahoma  City,  Okla.  She  will  be  en- 
gaged in  community  service  in  a housing 
project  or  day-care  center.  Merry  has 
attended  Ohio  University  and  is  the  ■< 


.<;«</<&  __  * a*  ..  :*m 

Girling  Hiebert 


564  OCTOBER  2,  1973 


i 


I 


Kaufman 


Klassen 


Lautt 


Hutton 


daughter  of  Kathryn  Hutton,  Cincinnati. 

Bernice  Kaufman,  Eden  Church, 
Moundridge,  Kans.,  has  started  General 
Conference  voluntary  service  in  Liberal, 
Kans.  She  will  serve  for  one  year  as  a 
day-care  worker  at  the  Sunshine  Center. 
Bernice  has  attended  Bethel  College, 
North  Newton,  Kans.  Her  parents  are 
Howard  and  Neva  Kaufman,  Mound- 
ridge. 

Irene  Klassen,  Altona  (Man.)  Berg- 
thaler  Church,  is  serving  ten  months  of 
General  Conference  voluntary  service  as 
a children’s  worker  at  the  East  Wayne 
Center,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  Irene  is  a 
1973  graduate  of  W.  C.  Miller  Collegiate 
Institute  and  is  the  daughter  of  David 
and  Helen  Klassen,  Altona. 

Christine  Lautt,  Buhler  (Kans.)  Church, 
began  a two-year  term  of  service  on  May 
8 with  mcc  in  Akron,  Pa.  She  is  serving 
as  layout  artist.  Christine  attended 
Friends  University,  Wichita,  Kans.,  and 
Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kans. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  Arnold  and  Ruth 
Siemens,  Buhler. 

Delilah  Mierau,  Langham  (Sask.) 
Church,  is  serving  one  year  as  a day- 
care worker  at  the  Sunshine  Center, 
Liberal,  Kans.  She  is  a 1973  graduate 
of  Rosthern  Junior  College,  Rosthern, 
Sask.,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Henry  J. 
and  Mary  Mierau,  Langham. 

J.  Lome  Peachey  has  been  appointed 
editor  of  Christian  living  magazine,  suc- 
ceeding Daniel  Hertzler,  who  resigned 
to  become  editor  of  Gospel  herald.  A 
graduate  of  Eastern  Mennonite  College 
and  Syracuse  (N.Y.)  University  School 


Regier 


of  Journalism,  Mr.  Peachey  has  been 
editor  of  With  magazine  since  its  found- 
ing in  1968.  He  was  assistant  editor  of 
Christian  living  from  1964  to  1969. 
Christian  living  is  a monthly  home  and 
community  magazine  published  by  Men- 
nonite Publishing  House,  Scottdale,  Pa., 
since  1954. 

Connie  Penner,  Oak  Lake  (Man.) 
Church,  is  serving  an  additional  year 
as  a day-care  worker  in  Hutchinson, 
Kans.  She  began  her  service  under  the 
General  Conference  July  1,  1972.  Con- 
nie is  the  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Abe  Penner  of  Oak  Lake. 

Janice  Regier,  First  Church,  Newton, 
Kans.,  is  serving  a minimum  of  one  year 
under  General  Conference  voluntary 
service  in  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  She  will  be 
a bus  driver  and  children’s  worker  at 
the  East  Wayne  Center.  Janice  is  a 
graduate  of  Hesston  (Kansas)  High 
School  and  has  attended  Bethel  College, 
North  Newton,  Kans.  Her  parents  are 
Edwin  and  Ella  Regier  of  rural  Newton. 

Stan  and  Pat  Senner,  Buhler,  Kans., 
have  become  voluntary  service  workers 
under  the  General  Conference  in  Seattle, 
Wash.  Both  will  serve  one  year,  working 
with  environmental  concerns.  Pat  will 
also  work  at  the  Seattle  Mental  Health 
Center.  Both  graduated  in  1973  from 
Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kans., 
Stan  in  natural  science  and  psychology 
and  Pat  in  biology  and  environmental 
studies.  Stan,  a member  of  the  Buhler 
Church,  is  the  son  of  Robert  and  Rachel 
Senner,  Buhler.  Pat  is  the  daughter  of 
Paul  A.  and  Bernice  Albrecht,  Clare- 


P. Senner  S.  Senner 


THE  MENNONITE  565 

j 


Penner 


Mierau  Peachey 


mont,  Calif.,  and  has  attended  Clare- 
mont United  Church  of  Christ. 

Patty  Shelly,  Bethel  College  Church, 
North  Newton,  Kans.,  is  serving  for  one 
year  under  the  General  Conference  in 
Arvada,  Colo.  She  will  be  a music  teach- 
er at  the  A to  Z Child  Care  Center 
and  work  in  the  local  Mennonite  con- 
gregation. Patty  has  attended  Bethel 
College,  North  Newton,  and  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Ken  and  June  Shelly,  North  New- 
ton. 

Fredrick  Steiner,  former  editor  of  the 
Pandora  (Ohio)  Times,  has  joined  Go- 
shen College  as  assistant  for  news  serv- 
ices. His  assignment  includes  reporting 
and  photographic  coverage  for  both  print 
and  electronic  media.  Mr.  Steiner,  twen- 
ty-three, is  a native  of  Bluff  ton,  Ohio, 
and  a former  student  of  Bluffton  Col- 
lege. He  is  a 1972  graduate  of  the  School 
of  Journalism  of  Bowling  Green  State 
University.  He  is  a member  of  Grace 
Church,  Pandora. 

Bill  Wiebe,  Abbotsford,  B.C.,  has  been 
appointed  associate  general  secretary  by 
the  Mennonite  Brethren  Board  of  Mis- 
sion Services,  Hillsboro,  Kans.  Mr.  Wie- 
be is  head  of  the  science  department  in 
Abbotsford  Senior  Secondary  School. 

Erika  Wiebe,  Superb  Church,  Kerro- 
bert,  Sask.,  has  begun  a year  of  General 
Conference  voluntary  service  in  Mark- 
ham, 111.  She  is  a day-care  worker  in 
the  Community  Day  Nursery.  Erika  is 
a 1973  graduate  of  Rosthern  Junior 
College,  a secondary  school  in  Rosthern, 
Sask.,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Henry  and 
Agatha  Wiebe,  Kerrobert. 


Shelly  E.  Wiebe 


vJi\v/n\u]u^^wn\vn\m^\WiMv^ 


Get  a pen  or  pencil, 
then  check  the 
value  which  you 
rate  higher 
in  each  of  the 
following  pairs: 


A 

B 

□ 

Generosity 

□ 

Thrift 

□ 

Patience 

□ 

Action 

n 

Cooperation.... 

□ 

Competition 

□ 

Modesty 

n 

Self-confidence 

□ 

Respect  for  age 

□ 

Stress  on  youth 

□ 

Living  for  today 

□ 

Planning  for 
tomorrow 

□ 

Harmony  with 

nature 

□ 

Mastery  over 
nature 

□ 

The  old  ways 

are  best 

□ 

The  new  is  best 

□ 

Time  is  with  us 

□ 

Time  flies 

□ 

Live  like  others  

□ 

Get  ahead  of 
others 

□ 

Religion  perme-  

ates  all  life 

□ 

Religion  is  a 
segment  of  life 

^sssaMS 


If  the  values  you  checked  were  mostly  in  Column  A,  you  agree  with  values  that  most  American  Indian  people  hold 
important.  If  they  were  in  Column  B,  you  share  the  predominant  values  of  western  white  culture. 

Look  again  at  Columns  A and  B.  Are  the  values  listed  in  one  nearer  the  teachings  of  Christ  than  those  in  the  other? 
God  has  given  many  good  gifts,  strengths,  and  values  to  the  Indian  people.  The  entire  church  can  be  greatly  en- 
riched and  helped  if  they  are  properly  recognized  and  used. 

To  the  Indian  churches  and  the  Hopi  Mission  School,  we  who  are  non-Indian  Mennonites  want  to  say  it  is  possible 
to  be  truly  Indian  and  at  the  same  time  truly  Christian.  God  makes  no  distinction;  in  Christ  He  accepts  us  both. 

No  human  set  of  values  is  ever  completely  Christian.  In  both  Indian  and  in  western  white  culture  we  need  Christ  s 
help  to  bring  our  values  in  line  with  what  He  wants  them  to  be. 

For  more  information  on  how  you  can  support  vital  Indian  ministries  or  workers,  write  to: 

COMMISSION  ON  HOME  MINISTRIES  or  MENNONITE  PIONEER  MISSION 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  671  14  600  Shaftesbury  Boulevard 

Winnipeg,  Manitoba  R3P  0M4 


566 


OCTOBER  2,  1973 


LETTERS 

i 


Much  needed  note  sounded 

Dear  Larry:  The  current  issue  of  The 
Mennonite  (September  4)  is  one  of  your 
best. 

Floyd  Bartel  sounded  a much  needed 
| note  on  the  importance  of  sound  doc- 
trine— the  neglected  ingredient.  It  may 
I seem  unusual  for  someone  within  the 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  to  stress 


that  instead  of  action,  but  this  is  exactly 
how  I feel.  All  that  we  do  must  have  a 
sound  doctrinal  or  theological  base. 

Elmer  Neufeld’s  article  was  a good 
one  on  missions;  the  Lois  Barrett  Janzen 
article  on  Canada-U.S.  relations  was  well 
written  and  extremely  informative.  The 
mcc  ad  came  through  well.  In  addition, 
you  had  a good  selection  of  interesting 
letters. 

The  frosting  on  The  Mennonite  “cake” 
was  Alvin  Beachy’s  back-page  editorial 
on  priorities.  William  T.  Snyder,  execu- 
tive secretary,  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee, Akron,  Pa.  17501  Sept.  7 


MEDITATION 


i Say  it  isn't  so 


j Every  Sunday  for  years  and  years  Aristophanes  Harris  had  gone  to  church  and 
at  the  close  of  the  service  had  repeated  with  the  congregation,  “May  the  words  of 
1 my  mouth  and  the  meditations  of  my  heart  be  acceptable  in  thy  sight,  O Lord,  my 
strength  and  my  redeemer.” 

But  this  Sunday  he  was  sick  and  had  stayed  in  bed  and  the  service  was  almost 
over  before  he  remembered  to  catch  it  on  the  radio.  As  he  turned  the  knob,  the  con- 
gregation was  just  saying  these  same  closing  words  and  he  joined  in. 

Then,  because  he  didn’t  like  the  program  that  followed,  he  turned  the  radio  off. 
An  eerie  stillness  filled  the  house. 

At  church  these  particular  words  always  signaled  the  close  of  the  service,  the 
stampede  toward  the  door,  and  the  rush  home  to  Sunday  dinner  and  the  afternoon’s 
I activities. 

But  this  time  the  words  were  followed  by  the  silence  of  an  empty  house. 

Then,  out  of  the  silence,  Aristophanes  heard,  “They  weren’t.” 

He  raised  up  in  bed  and  looked  around,  but  saw  no  one. 

Again  the  voice  said,  “They  weren’t.” 

“What?”  Aristophanes  asked  hesitantly,  wondering  what  was  happening. 

“They  weren’t  acceptable,”  the  voice  replied.  “Your  words  and  meditations — 

Ethey  weren’t  acceptable.” 

Aristophanes  sat  up  straight.  “What?” 

“Every  week  you  go  out  and  live  your  life,  completely  oblivious  to  what  God  has 
told  you,  then  you  go  to  church  on  Sunday  and  ask  God  to  make  everything  you’ve 
done  OK.” 

“But—” 


“All  week  you  completely  ignore  what  he’s  told  you,  then  on  Sunday  you  ask 
him  to  turn  it  all  around  into  something  good — ” 

Aristophanes  pulled  the  covers  up  over  his  head  to  avoid  hearing  any  more. 
“Everything’s  all  right,”  he  assured  himself.  “What  I say  and  do  is  acceptable 
because  I ask  God  to  make  it  acceptable.  That’s  the  way  I’ve  always  done  it — and 
so  has  everyone  else  I know.”  Barbara  Jurgensen 


All  I ever  need 

There  is  Someone  I know 
Who  by  loving  me  so 
Is  making  my  life  worth  living. 
He’s  the  reason  I’m  here 
And  I don’t  need  to  fear; 

He’ll  tell  me  what  I am  to  do. 


He  has  given  me  light. 

He  has  shown  me  his  might, 

And  all  I need  do  is  trust  him. 

He’s  my  hope  till  the  end, 

Ever-loving  best  friend. 

How  can  I thank  him  but  follow! 

Connie  Schrag 


Contents 


At  the  Lord's  table:  Tumult  and  calm  554 


Ordination:  A progress  report  555 


Responses  to  the  ordination  report  556 


Fancy  building  559 

News  560 

Record  564 

Letters  567 

Say  it  isn't  so  567 

All  I ever  need  567 

The  ministerial  marketplace  568 


CONTRBUTORS 

Jacob  J.  Enz  is  on  the  faculty  of  Men- 
nonite Biblical  Seminary,  Elkhart,  lnd. 
46514. 

The  five  men  who  responded  to  the 
ordination  report  are  all  pastors  or  for- 
mer pastors.  Both  women  have  taken 
seminary  training. 

Ruth  Naylor's  address  is  Route  2,  Box 
151,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817. 

Barbara  Jurgensen,  who  has  such  a 
delightful  knack  of  giving  serious  mat- 
ters a light  touch,  lives  at  5135  S. 
Kimbark,  Chicago,  III.  60615. 

Connie  Schrag's  home  is  on  Route  2, 
Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


CREDITS 

The  cover  photo  is  by  Mark  Wiens,  an 
ardent  fifteen-year-old  photographer  from 
North  Newton,  Kans.,  whose  father  is 
on  the  Bethel  College  faculty;  554,  560, 
RNS;  563,  Peter  Kehler. 


Meimonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.  48106. 


THE  MENNONITE 


567 


The  ministerial  marketplace 

The  ordination  question,  which  is  treated 
elsewhere  in  this  issue,  leads  quite  naturally  to 
two  related  questions:  What  effect  is  the  increased 
cost  of  a full-time  pastor  having  on  congregations 
(particularly  smaller  ones)?  And  what  are  the 
trends  in  ministerial  availability?  Is  there  a short- 
age or  a surplus? 

Lyle  E.  Schaffer,  parish  consultant  for  the 
Yokefellow  Institute,  Richmond,  Indiana,  has 
made  some  helpful  comments  and  cited  several 
important  implications  concerning  the  current 
state  of  the  ministerial  marketplace  in  a recent 
issue  of  The  parish  paper. 

A full-time  pastor  who  graduated  from  semi- 
nary this  year,  writes  Mr.  Schaffer,  will  cost  a 
congregation  between  $11,000  and  $15,000  in 
1974.  The  cash  salary  will  be  in  the  $7,200- 
$7,800  range.  In  addition  to  this  the  congrega- 
tion will  need  to  pay  for  housing  or  provide  a 
housing  allowance  ($l,800-$4,500),  pension  and 
health  insurance  ($900-$l,800),  and  an  automo- 
bile allowance  ($600-$  1,200). 

Mr.  Schaffer  cautions  that  the  above  amounts 
should  not  be  misinterpreted  as  suggesting  that 
pastors  are  overpaid.  “The  congregation  which 
paid  its  young  seminary  graduate  a total  com- 
pensation of  $8,000  in  1964,”  he  writes,  “should 
be  paying  $14,000  (total  compensation)  to  a dif- 
ferent seminary  graduate  in  1974  if  it  expects  to 
keep  up  with  the  increases  in  compensation  re- 
ceived by  other  persons  in  the  labor  force.” 

Then  there  is  the  second  question  about  the 
available  supply  of  ministers.  Pastors  waiting  for 
calls  from  a congregation  would  likely  indicate 
that  there  is  a tightening  up  of  the  supply  of  pas- 
tors. It  is  becoming  more  difficult  to  get  an  as- 
signment. Smaller  congregations  which  have  tra- 
ditionally had  a full-time  pastor,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  likely  to  report  a pastoral  shortage  be- 
cause they  are  experiencing  more  difficulty  in 
finding  someone  to  fill  their  pulpits. 

If  the  ministerial  supply  question  is  looked  at 
statistically,  however,  a number  of  the  Protestant 
denominations  are  moving  toward  a surplus  situ- 
ation. The  same  would  appear  to  hold  true  for 
the  General  Conference. 


What  implications  do  the  rising  costs  of  having 
a full-time  pastor  and  the  shift  toward  a surplus 
of  ministers  have  for  our  conference  and  for  its 
congregations?  Mr.  Schaffer  lists  several: 

“1.  How  many  congregations  are  being  priced 
out  of  the  marketplace  by  the  continued  increase 
in  the  cost  of  employing  a recent  seminary  grad- 
uate?” (Mr.  Schaffer  goes  on  to  say  that  a de- 
nomination with  a million  members  will  have 
about  forty  to  sixty  smaller  congregations  each 
year  which  will  find  themselves  unable  to  replace 
their  departing  pastor.  The  General  Conference, 
at  that  rate,  would  have  an  average  of  two  or 
three  new  congregations  each  year  losing  the 
services  of  a full-time  minister. ) 

“2.  How  many  more  congregations  will  delib- 
erately delay  replacing  a departing  pastor  in 
order  to  save  money  while  depending  on  an 
interim  or  supply  preacher? 

“3.  What  do  these  trends  suggest  should  be 
the  responsibility  of  those  persons  responsible  for 
encouraging  young  men  and  women  to  enter  sem- 
inary? Should  they  be  warned  that  seminary 
graduation  does  not  guarantee  a job  as  a min- 
ister? Should  admission  standards  in  the  semi- 
naries be  raised? 

“4.  What  do  these  trends  say  to  the  adminis- 
trators of  the  denominational  pension  funds?  One 
approach  to  a tight  job  market  has  been  to  en- 
courage older  persons  to  retire  sooner.  What 
would  be  the  financial  impact  on  the  pension 
funds  of  an  age  sixty  or  sixty-two  retirement 
policy  for  pastors? 

“5.  . . . (How  can  the  conference)  encourage 
the  more  competent  pastors  to  remain  in  the 
ministry  and  encourage  the  least  competent  to 
leave  the  professional  ministry?”  (And  a related 
question  for  our  conference  is  how  can  it  help 
people  who  leave  the  pastoral  ministry  after  many 
years  of  service  to  find  a fulfilling  new  vocation?) 

The  future  direction  of  the  pastoral  ministry 
needs  a thorough  and  sensitive  look  by  our  con- 
ference, by  the  seminary  community,  and  by  our 
congregations.  This  issue  should  appear  on  many 
agendas  during  the  coming  year,  lk 


The 

MennonUe 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:36  OCTOBER  9,  1973 


Love 

who 

all 

them 

your 

curse 

who 

do 

enemies. 

you 

beg 

to 

do 

and 

from 

you." 

good 

pray 

you. 

'Be 

to 

for 

Do 

compassionate. 

those 

those 

to 

as 

who 

who 

others 

your 

hate 

maltreat 

what 

Father 

you; 

you." 

you 

is 

bless 

Give 

would 

compassionate." 

those 

to 

have 

A review  of  John  Howard  Yoder’s  book  The  politics  of  Jesus  begins  on  page  580. 


The 

rich 

man 

and 

Ta&arus 

revisited 


Peter  J.  Ediger 


There  was  a rich  nation 

whose  people  were  clothed  in  fashionable  wardrobes  with 
dresses  and  suits  for  every  season 
and  who  feasted  sumptuously  every  day. 

And  at  their  gates 

in  city  streets  and  mountain  hollows  were  poor  people 
who  desired  crumbs  from  the  rich  nation’s  economy. 

Moreover,  rats  in  city  slums  ate  from  the  meager  supplies  of 
the  poor, 

sometimes  chewing  their  children  in  bed  at  night. 

And  across  the  waters  were  millions  of  people  dying  from 
hunger  and  malnutrition. 


And  in  the  summer  of  seventy-three 
inflation  increased  in  the  rich  nation; 

food  prices  soared  and  there  was  talk  of  a scarcity  of  certain 
items. 

>< 

Jfi 

And  a certain  rich  man  r- 

who  had  lived  his  days  on  earth  in  luxury 
and  was  suffering  the  hellfires  of  regrets  for  ignoring  his  poor 
brother  Lazarus  - 

looked  upon  the  earth  and  saw  his  rich  brothers  and  sisters 
in  America  'ij 

filling  their  freezers  and  hoarding  food  in  their  houses. 

And  he  lifted  his  eyes  and  saw  Father  Abraham,  and  Lazarus  T 
in  his  bosom. 

And  he  called  out, 

Father  Abraham,  have  mercy  on  my  rich  brothers  and  sisters 
in  America! 

Send  Lazarus  to  warn  them  lest  they  also  come  to  this  place  j. 
of  torment! 

Send  Lazarus  to  warn  them  of  the  hell  which  comes  from 
hoarding! 

Send  Lazarus  to  warn  them  to  open  their  eyes  to  the  hungry  4 
people  around  them! 

Send  Lazarus  to  warn  them  of  the  fires  of  revolution  which 
will  sweep  across  the  earth 
unless  my  brothers  and  sisters  open  their  hearts 
to  the  poor  within  their  gates 
and  across  their  shores. 

4 

And  Father  Abraham  said, 

They  have  Moses  and  the  prophets — let  them  heed  their  . 
message. 

They  have  Jesus  and  the  witness  of  the  apostles — 
let  them  hear  the  Word  of  the  Lord  and  do  it. 


And  the  rich  man  said, 

No,  Father  Abraham,  they  don’t  understand. 

They  have  the  words  of  Moses,  but  they  have  not  taken  them 
to  heart. 

They  have  read  the  sayings  of  the  prophets,  but  they  have 
not  felt  that  the  message  is  for  them.  { 

They  have  listened  to  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  but  they  have 
found  many  ways  of  not  living  them. 

They  have  admired  the  courageous  witness  of  the  apostles 
but  they  dismissed  economic  sharing 
as  an  experiment  which  failed. 


570 


OCTOBER  9,  1973 


idea 


So  now.  Father  Abraham, 

some  more  drastic  measures  are  needed; 

if  someone  goes  to  them  from  the  dead,  they  will  change 
their  ways. 


And  Father  Abraham  said  to  him, 

If  they  do  not  hear  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
if  they  dismiss  as  irrelevant  the  witness  of  Jesus  and  the 
apostles, 

neither  will  they  be  convinced 
if  someone  should  rise  from  the  dead. 


Single  feats  of  daring 


LaVonne  Platt 


Even  if  you  are  on  the  right  track,  you  will  get  run  over  if  you  just  sit  there. 


Students  who  remember  quotations 
such  as  this  one  that  Bennie  Bargen 
wrote  on  the  blackboard  in  his  class- 
room would  never  accuse  their  teacher 
of  just  sitting  there.  Although  physical- 
ly crippled  from  a childhood  attack  of 
polio  so  that  he  spent  most  of  his  life 
on  crutches,  Bennie  Bargen  had  an  un- 
fettered mind  that  was  always  moving 
ahead.  As  Esko  Loewen,  pastor  of  the 
Bethel  College  Church,  said,  “When  Ben- 
nie had  an  idea  he  ran  with  it.” 

“No  person  in  the  Bethel  College 
community  has  made  more  impact  than 
Bennie  Bargen,”  said  Arnold  Wedel,  a 
member  of  the  Bethel  faculty  and  one 
of  his  former  students.  Many  of  Ben- 
nie Bargen’s  friends,  colleagues,  and  stu- 
dents whom  I interviewed  said  that  their 
lives  were  sparked  with  much  greater 
meaning  because  of  his  influence. 

Born  in  Mountain  Lake,  Minnesota, 
Bernhard  Bargen  came  to  Kansas  in 
1921  as  secretary  to  Bethel  College 
President  J.  H.  Langenwalter.  After 
working  and  studying  at  Bethel,  he  com- 
pleted his  BA  degree  at  Friends  Univer- 
sity in  Wichita  and  his  MA  degree  at 
the  University  of  Kansas. 

Following  seven  years  of  high  school 
teaching,  Bennie  joined  the  Bethel  fac- 
ulty in  1935.  Most  of  his  remaining 
years,  except  for  a period  in  the  early 
1950s  when  he  was  manager  at  the 
Mennonite  Press,  Bennie  Bargen  taught 
secretarial  studies  at  Bethel.  A few  years 
before  his  retirement  in  1970  he  quit 
teaching  to  reorganize  the  college  mail- 
ing list,  greatly  increasing  the  efficiency 
of  that  office. 

Although  highly  recognized  for  his  vo- 
cational specialty  in  secretarial  studies, 
Bennie  Bargen  was  most  noted  for  the 
philosophy  and  actions  of  her  life  as  he 
attempted  to  be  true  to  his  vision  of 
Christian  discipleship.  ‘ He  would  have 


insisted  he  did  not  live  the  way  Christ 
did,  but  I know  he  tried  very  hard  to 
pattern  his  life  after  Jesus’  life,”  his 
daughter  Joyce  said  of  her  childhood 
recollections.  “The  New  Testament  was 
the  most  important  source  of  Christian 
instruction  in  our  home,”  she  added. 

“His  vision  of  the  Christian  commu- 
nity and  his  faith  in  the  power  of  love 
rather  than  politics  to  mold  society  were 
a challenge  to  students  and  friends,” 
wrole  Bethel  faculty  member  Dwight 
Platt  in  a tribute  to  Bennie  Bargen  in 
the  Bethel  alumni  bulletin. 

Bennie  Bargen  had  a sense  of  cer- 
tainty in  the  things  he  believed.  “He 
could  not  be  dictated  to  if  he  felt  some- 
thing was  not  as  he  thought  it  should 
be,”  said  his  wife,  Esther. 

“He  was  a prophet  to  society  and  its 
horrid  inconsistencies,”  said  Esko  Loe- 
wen. “His  life  was  a powerful  statement 
that  stimulated  people  to  examine  their 
convictions  and  try  to  live  by  them,” 
Mr.  Loewen  continued.  “Bennie  lived  in 
terms  of  ideals.  In  his  logical  consistency 
there  was  no  half  way.  He  saw  every- 
thing as  ultimates.” 

Like  the  biblical  prophets,  Bennie  Bar- 
gen faced  opposition.  “He  was  disregard- 
ed by  most  of  his  contemporaries  be- 
cause his  ideas  were  angular  to  the  gen- 
eral sentiment,”  said  Wayne  Wiens,  who, 
like  many  of  Bennie’s  closest  friends, 
was  much  younger. 

Ahead  of  his  time,  Bennie  took  many 
unpopular  stands  which  now  would  be 
accepted.  Although  physically  he  could 
not  keep  up  with  the  Bethel  students 
whom  he  joined  in  an  antiwar  demon- 
stration walk  in  1968,  symbolically  he 
was  leading  the  way.  Long  before,  he 
had  supported  his  sons,  Ralph  and  El- 
don, who  were  among  the  first  draft 
resisters  in  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite Church  when  the  draft  was  re- 


instituted following  World  War  II. 

His  opposition  to  war  had  led  him  to 
request  that  his  salary  be  held  at  a 
level  that  would  not  require  him  to  pay 
taxes.  He  was  attracted  to  the  idea  of 
communal  living  and,  for  a time  in  the 
late  1950s,  was  a member  of  the  Bruder- 
hof  in  Rifton,  New  York,  long  before 
any  Mennonites  except  the  Hutterites 
were  open  to  the  idea  of  intentional 
communities. 

Bennie  Bargen  did  not  vote,  even  in 
faculty  meetings,  because  he  believed  it 
to  be  divisive.  He  opposed  the  school 
grading  system  on  the  grounds  that  it 
was  judgmental.  Few  people  understood 
his  complex  vision  of  a moneyless  so- 
ciety. 

For  many  years  Bennie  Bargen  taught 
college  Sunday  school  classes  at  the 
Bethel  College  Church.  When  it  was  his 
turn  to  teach,  the  room  was  always 
packed.  “He  had  a sound  knowledge  of 
the  Bible  and  enjoyed  discussing  reli- 
gious and  philosophical  questions,”  said 
E.  G.  Kaufman,  Bethel  president  during 
most  of  the  years  Bennie  taught  at  the 
college. 

Bennie  had  what  his  daughter  de- 
scribed as  “an  insatiable  appetite  for 
human  relationships.”  She  said,  “He 
would  have  been  perfectly  content  to  be 
surrounded  by  people  twenty-four  hours 
a day.” 

It  was  partly  the  search  for  a rela- 
tionship of  deeper  caring,  of  Christian 
brotherhood  expressed  in  an  intimate 
society,  that  brought  about  Bennie  Bar- 
gen’s decision  to  join  the  Society  of 
Brothers  in  Farmington,  Pennsylvania, 
in  the  summer  of  1972.  According  to 
his  daughter,  Joyce,  his  experiences  at 
the  Bruderhof  in  the  final  four  months 
of  his  life  were  a realization  of  that  goal. 

Esko  Loewen  described  Bennie’s  rela- 
tionships with  others  in  this  way.  “Peo- 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year,-  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


1 


: 


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572 


OCTOBER  9,  1973  : 


pie  were  a stimulus  to  Bennie.  If  you 
went  to  see  him,  this  of  itself  was  very 
important  to  him.  There  was  never  a 
hint  of  wondering  why  you  had  come. 
He  made  everybody  feel  significant.” 
Many  of  their  North  Newton  friends 
told  me  of  the  “front-porch  hospitality” 
for  which  Bennie  and  Esther  Bargen  were 
well-known. 

Even  after  his  retirement  Bennie  Bar- 
gen maintained  an  interest  in  Bethel  stu- 
dents. Mrs.  Harold  Boschman,  a Para- 
guayan student,  said,  “Every  night  for 
an  entire  semester  Bennie  helped  me 
with  my  bookkeeping.  Not  once  did  he 
say  he  was  busy  or  had  other  plans.” 

The  artist,  Robert  Regier,  credits  Ben- 
nie Bargen  with  having  given  him  a 
start  in  his  career  in  graphic  arts.  “Ken 
Hiebert  and  I had  designed  a church 
bulletin  cover  which  we  took  to  Men- 
nonite  Press  where  Bennie  was  in  charge. 
Despite  the  fact  that  neither  of  us  had 
had  any  experience  or  knowledge  in 
techniques  of  using  art  or  photography 
in  publication,  Bennie  bought  that  first 
design  and  many  subsequent  ones.” 
While  still  students,  Bob  became  the 
first  staff  artist  at  the  press  and  Ken 
was  employed  in  offset  printing  and 
photography. 

“Bennie  was  willing  to  commit  him- 
self because  he  had  a lot  of  faith  in  us 
that  really  wasn’t  justified  by  perform- 
ance at  that  point,”  said  Bob  Regier. 


“I’m  not  sure  what  direction  my  career 
would  have  gone  if  it  had  not  been  for 
Bennie  Bargen.” 

Bennie’s  friendships  were  with  chil- 
dren as  well  as  adults.  He  saw  every 
person  as  an  individual.  Reading  to  his 
own  children  with  his  rich  interpretive 
voice,  delighting  neighbor  children  with 
explanations  of  the  ingenious  gadgets  he 
invented,  and  entertaining  his  grandchil- 
dren by  the  hour  were  important  to 
Bennie.  Amy  Wiens,  a young  neighbor 
of  the  Bargens,  said,  “When  we  moved 
away,  Bennie  wrote  letters  to  my  brother 
and  me.”  When  a baby  was  bom  at  the 
Bruderhof  shortly  after  Bennie’s  death 
on  November  14,  1972,  the  children 
there  insisted  that  he  be  named  Bern- 
hard. 

Although  personal  relationships  were 
of  utmost  importance  to  Bennie,  his 
encounters  with  others  were  seldom 
merely  social.  As  Esther  Bargen  de- 
scribed her  husband,  “Nearly  every- 
thing he  did  was  by  intellect.  At  meal- 
times Bennie  would  throw  out  a question 
and  the  family  would  bat  it  back  and 
forth.  He  loved  the  interchange  of  ideas.” 

Bennie’s  granddaughter,  Daryl  Koehn, 
told  of  loosely  using  the  word  “estab- 
lishment.” He  immediately  asked  me 
what  I meant.  I tried  to  define  ‘the  es- 
tablishment’ but  none  of  my  attempts 
could  withstand  his  questioning.  Finally 
I gave  up,  and  to  this  day  I no  longer 
use  the  phrase.” 

“Few  people  retain  the  keen  curiosity 
and  childlike  interest  throughout  life 
that  gave  Bennie  such  a zest  for  living 
and  such  enthusiasm  for  sharing  ideas 
with  people,”  said  Harold  Schultz,  presi- 
dent of  Bethel  College.  “That  enthusi- 
asm was  contagious.  One  of  my  pleasures 
was  testing  ideas  on  him  and  knowing 
that  he  was  open  and  honest  enough  to 
tell  me  candidly  what  he  thought.  Ben- 
nie was  a free  spirit  who  touched  my 
life  with  wit  and  wisdom,  and  his  in- 
fluence lives  on.” 

In  the  classroom  Bennie  was  ahead 
of  his  time  in  teaching  methods,  using 
visual  techniques  and  on-the-spot  dia- 
grams to  illustrate  his  points.  He  had  a 
personal  interest  in  every  student  that 
often  sparked  new  ideas  in  their  think- 
ing. E.  G.  Kaufman  said,  “His  classes 
were  an  inspiration.  He  was  very  popu- 
lar with  the  students.” 


Long  before  interdisciplinary  courses 
were  discussed  in  academic  circles,  Ben- 
nie Bargen  proposed  a cooperative  proj- 
ect to  integrate  the  work  of  his  secre- 
tarial students  with  that  of  an  English 
class  research  project  which  Honora 
Becker  had  undertaken  with  her  stu- 
dents. The  results  of  this  joint  project 
was  a bound  volume,  Pioneers  in  pro- 
file, a series  of  research  interviews  writ- 
ten by  Miss  Becker’s  class  and  typed  and 
bound  by  Bennie  Bargen’s  class. 

Wayne  Wiens  illustrated  Bennie’s  far- 
sighted approach  to  education  with  the 
following  anecdote.  “In  the  late  1960s 
I attended  a seminar  on  innovative  teach- 
ing methods  at  Claremont,  California. 
I came  back  with  great  enthusiasm  for 
a technique  which  I thought  would  be  a 
new  idea  to  Bennie,  who,  I am  convinced, 
had  more  knowledge  about  contempo- 
rary education  than  any  other  person  I 
have  known  at  Bethel.  Bennie  listened 
to  my  explanation  of  the  unique  method. 
Then  he  said,  ‘I  tried  that  in  1930  and 
I’ll  tell  you  why  it  doesn’t  work.’  ” 

Always  systematic  and  inventive,  Ben- 
nie’s work  at  the  college  mailing  list 
office  and  the  Mennonite  Press  utilized 
the  principles  of  efficiency  engineering. 
Both  institutions  continue  to  use  many  of 
the  techniques  he  introduced.  “I  wouldn’t 
want  to  try  to  get  along  without  his  sys- 
tem,” said  Dan  Epp  of  the  Mennonite 
Press. 

Sometimes  called  “the  gadget  man,” 
Bennie  Bargen  invented  numerous  sec- 
retarial aids,  a few  of  which  were  pat- 
ented by  a typewriter  company.  His 
rolltop  desk  was  garnished  with  count- 
less inventions  so  he  could  operate 
efficiently  with  little  moving  about.  “No 
one  else  could  be  so  organized  and  in- 
novative with  a simple  basic  desk,”  said 
Bob  Regier. 

Bennie  Bargen  viewed  problems  not 
as  obstacles  but  as  challenges  which  re- 
quired solutions.  Whether  in  office  or- 
ganization, teaching  techniques,  philo- 
sophical viewpoints,  or  life-styles,  he  had 
a perpetual  concern  for  alternatives.  He 
was  never  content  with  the  status  quo. 
One  of  the  daily  quotations  which  he 
wrote  on  the  blackbaord  in  his  class- 
room epitomizes  how  his  life  spoke  to 
others.  It  said,  “A  single  feat  of  daring 
can  change  the  whole  conception  of 
what  is  possible.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


573 


VSer  uncovers  needs  of  Atlanta's  elderly 


This  month  a Mennonite  volunteer  who 
has  been  working  to  develop  trust  and 
friendship  with  the  elderly  in  five  Atlanta 
neighborhoods  is  turning  over  responsi- 
bility for  the  program  to  an  Atlanta 
resident.  Jean  Wyse,  an  mcc  volunteer 
from  Archbold,  Ohio,  pioneered  the 
work. 

Constant  draining  of  the  elderly’s  mon- 
etary and  emotional  resources  in  the 
city  of  Atlanta  has  forced  many  older 
people  to  withdraw  into  their  homes, 
afraid  to  trust  anyone.  Focusing  her  ef- 
forts on  building  relationships  with  senior 
citizens,  Jean  Wyse  began  to  keep  a 
map  of  where  people  she  met  were  lo- 
cated and  to  file  their  names,  addresses, 
and  special  needs.  Five  weeks  after  she 
began  the  project  Jean  had  learned  to 
know  thirty  senior  citizens. 

“I  was  on  my  bicycle  every  day  and 
would  find  people  on  their  porches,” 
Jean  said.  “Some  people  I’d  meet  at  bus 
stops  or  at  the  grocery  store.  Usually 
all  it  takes  is,  ‘Good  morning.  How  are 
you  today?’  So  many  older  people  are 
lonely  and  no  one  takes  the  time  to 
sit  down  and  talk  with  them.” 

This  summer  Lucy  Whelchel,  a local 
resident  interested  in  working  with  the 
elderly,  spent  several  days  a week  ac- 
companying Jean  on  visits.  She  is  taking 
over  this  work  on  a part-time  basis. 


A local  school  is  providing  her  support. 

“We’ve  uncovered  a lot  of  problems 
that  older  people  have,”  Jean  said.  “Our 
society  is  always  in  a hurry,  especially 
in  the  city.  Older  people  have  a hard 
time  crossing  streets,  going  through  doors, 
or  traveling  by  bus.  Some  people  we’ve 
met  live  alone  and  don’t  eat  well.  Others 
can’t  get  out  to  get  groceries  or  can't 
find  someone  to  mow  their  lawn.  Some 
are  suspicious  because  they’ve  been 
ripped  off  by  salesmen  and  delivery  peo- 
ple. 

“One  ninety-two-year-old  woman  need- 
ed new  window  shades  so  I bought  them 
and  helped  her  put  them  up.  That  made 
her  day.  Afterwards  she  wanted  to  pay 
me.  I wouldn’t  take  anything.  That  blew 
her  mind.  She  said  people  don’t  do 
things  without  being  paid  these  days.” 

“I  met  another  lady  whose  husband 
had  died  several  months  before.  She 
never  went  out  of  the  house  for  more 
than  twenty  or  thirty  minutes  at  a time. 
She  cried  all  the  time,  too.  She  hadn’t 
worked  through  her  grief  so  she  could 
get  on  with  her  living. 

“I’ve  been  trying  to  involve  her  in  a 
sewing  program  in  a church  near  her 
house.  She  said  she  couldn’t  walk  that 
far.  I said,  ‘Phooey.  You  can  walk  or 
drive.  I’ll  walk  with  you.’  If  she  gets  out 
of  the  house  just  two  afternoons  a week, 


she’s  going  to  start  coming  out  of  that 
shell.”  v 

During  the  first  month  of  work  Jean 
learned  that  the  city  government  had 
only  a limited  program  for  the  elderly 
in  Atlanta.  Other  neighborhoods  were 
higher  on  the  need  priority  list.  Funding 
for  Meals  on  Wheels,  for  example,  was 
not  available  for  the  five  neighborhoods 
in  which  Mennonites  are  working. 

“Our  society  has  programs  for  chil-  * 
dren,”  Jean  emphasized.  “After  that  peo- 
ple begin  to  work.  But  when  you’re  old  A 
there’s  nothing.  It’s  really  sad  because 
older  people  have  much  to  give.” 

n 

Mennonite  community 
in  Zaire  joins  WCC 

The  Mennonite  Community  of  Zaire  was 
one  of  four  new  churches  from  Zaire, 
Indonesia,  and  Japan  accepted  into  the 
membership  of  the  World  Council  of  < 
Churches  August  29. 

Bom  of  the  work  of  North  American 
Mennonite  missionaries  through  Congo 
Inland  Mission  (now  Africa  Inter-Men- 
nonite  Mission),  the  Mennonite  Com- 
munity is  at  work  in  three  provinces  of  ' 
Zaire:  Bandundu,  West  Kasai,  and  East 
Kasai.  Total  membership  is  38,643. 

The  other  new  member  from  Zaire  is 
the  Community  of  Light,  like  the  Men- 
nonite Community,  a constituent  body 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Zaire  ( Eglise 
du  Christ  au  Zaire).  The  Community  4 
of  Light  is  an  independent  church  formed 
in  1962.  It  has  some  100,000  members 
in  East  Kasai,  West  Kasai,  Katanga, 
and  Kinshasa.  Governed  on  principles 
similar  to  those  of  the  Kimbanguist 
Church,  the  community  is  especially  ac- 
tive in  the  field  of  education.  < 

The  new  member  church  in  Indonesia 
is  the  Gereja  Kristen  Protestan  Simalun- 
gun,  which  stands  in  the  Lutheran  tra- 
dition. Started  by  German  missionary 
work  at  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
the  Simalungun  Protestant  Church  has 
110,000  members  and  forty-two  pastors,  i 

Some  25,000  Orthodox  Christians  be- 
long to  the  Japanese  Orthodox  Church, 
which  is  organized  in  three  dioceses  with 
more  than  thirty  priests,  of  whom  all 
but  two  are  Japanese. 


Mrs.  Conley,  an  Atlanta  resident,  visits  with  MCC  volunteer  Jean  Wyse,  who  has 
been  seeking  out  elderly  persons  who  need  help  of  various  kinds.  Mrs.  Conley  told 
.lean,  “I’m  going  to  stay  in  this  house  as  long  as  I can  crawl.”  Jean  will  be  turning 
her  work  with  the  elderly  over  to  a local  person  this  month. 


574 


OCTOBER  9,  1973 


The  John  R.  Dycks:  Living  the  VS  way 


John  R.  Dyck  and  his  wife  Paula  have 
made  voluntary  service  a way  of  life  for 
over  twenty-five  years.  Since  1947  when 
they  moved  from  their  farm  to  Rosthem, 
Saskatchewan,  he  has  managed  a con- 
ference-related bookstore,  served  as  sec- 
retary-treasurer of  Rosthem  Junior  Col- 
lege, helped  build  the  chapel  at  the  Elk- 
hart seminary,  headed  the  mcc  programs 
in  Paraguay  and  Korea,  and,  most  re- 
cently, managed  Mennonite  Foundation, 
an  arm  of  the  Conference  of  Menno- 
nites  in  Canada. 

The  income  from  their  farm  in  Sas- 
katchewan, which  they  have  rented  out 
since  1965,  has  provided  their  basic  sup- 
port. With  the  exception  of  about  a 
year  at  RJC,  John  has  given  full-time 
service  on  a VS-type  allowance  to  vari- 
ous church  agencies  for  the  past  twenty- 
six  years. 

John  R.,  as  he  is  affectionately  called 
by  his  many  friends,  concluded  his  two- 
year  period  of  service  with  Mennonite 
Foundation  at  the  end  of  August.  One 
of  his  dreams,  the  establishment  of  an 
inter-Mennonite  Canadian  foundation, 
was  realized  earlier  this  year.  The  new 
organization,  the  Mennonite  Foundation 
of  Canada,  has  the  Conference  of  Men- 
nonites  in  Canada  and  three  other  confer- 
ferences  on  its  membership  roll. 

Mr.  Dyck  felt  that  a new  man  should 
head  this  enlarged  program,  and  he 
therefore  indicated  to  his  board  earlier 
this  year  that  he  would  be  terminating 
his  job  with  the  foundation  this  summer. 

His  two  years  as  the  Canadian  Con- 
ference’s first  foundation  representative 
were  mostly  happy  ones,  he  said.  His 
eyes  began  to  glisten  when  he  related 
how  close  he  had  come  to  feel  toward 
the  many  new  people  he  had  come  to 
know  during  this  time.  His  files  list  over 
300  persons  from  Ontario  to  British 
Columbia  with  whom  he  has  had  ongoing 
conversations  about  their  estates  and  oth- 
er stewardship  matters.  Additionally,  he 
had  many  one-time  interviews  to  help 
people  with  decisions  about  their  wills. 

His  usual  procedure  was  to  make  a 
preliminary  visit  to  a community  to  speak 
at  church  meetings  and  to  solicit  the 
names  of  people  who  might  be  interested 
in  his  services.  Eater  he  would  return  to 
call  on  the  persons  who  had  been  sug- 
gested to  him. 

Mr.  Dyck  viewed  the  foundation  more 
as  a stewardship  program  than  as  a 
money-raising  apparatus.  Some  people 
criticized  him  for  taking  this  approach. 


Paula  and  John  R.  Dyck 


They  felt  that  the  foundation  should 
take  more  of  a “hard  sell”  line.  Mr.  Dyck 
acknowledges  that  a broader  steward- 
ship program  is  a slower  way  to  get 
dollars,  but  he  is  convinced  that  it  is 
a sounder  way. 

“It  is  almost  frightening,”  he  said, 
“how  much  the  Ford  has  given  to  our 
people  and  how  much  they  have  stashed 
away  in  the  bank.”  Some  people,  he 
said,  were  happy  for  his  contacts.  They 
wanted  counsel.  Several  changed  their 
wills  as  a result  of  these  conversations, 
writing  over  between  10  and  100  percent 
of  their  estates  to  the  conference  and 
MCC. 


“But  there  were  also  times  when  I 
felt  like  crying,”  he  admitted.  Some  peo- 
ple would  say,  “You’re  right,  John,” 
but  they  wouldn’t  make  any  move  to 
give  the  church  a bigger  slice  of  their 
holdings. 

Mr.  Dyck  feels  strongly  that  the 
foundation’s  program  must  be  focused 
on  people  at  every  income  level,  not 
only  on  the  well-to-do.  The  foundation 
must  also  show  a compassionate  con- 
cern for  the  persons  who  offer  to  turn 
over  all  or  some  of  their  possessions  to 
the  foundation.  He  cited  the  case  of  an 
unmarried  woman  who  had  just  reached 
retirement  age  and  who  offered  to  give 
a large  portion  of  her  land  and  money 
to  the  conference.  Mr.  Dyck  counseled 
her  rather  to  give  the  money  and  prop- 
erty to  the  church  as  a revocable  trust. 
This  would  permit  her  to  recall  the  mon- 
ey if  she  would  ever  be  in  real  need  of 
it. 

Where  will  John  R.  and  Paula  Dyck 
go  now?  They  hope  to  do  some  traveling 
in  North  America.  “I  can  get  excited 
about  living  a day  at  a time,”  he  said. 
“At  this  moment  we’re  not  tied  down. 
We’re  not  opting  out  of  society,  but 
we’re  not  looking  for  a new  assignment 
either.”  Some  of  the  Dycks’  friends, 
however,  wouldn’t  be  surprised  if  some 
new  assignment  will  have  sought  out 
John  R.  before  too  many  months  have 
passed.  Larry  Kehler 


Special  education  courses  set 


A recent  survey  by  Mennonite  Mental 
Health  Services  indicates  that  several 
Mennonite  colleges  offer  opportunities 
for  students  to  work  with  the  mentally 
retarded  and  other  handicapped  persons. 

Dean  Mark  Houshower  of  Bluffton 
College  reported  that  two  special  edu- 
cation courses  will  be  taught  there  this 
year.  The  courses  are  taught  after  hours 
to  accommodate  working  teachers.  “In- 
troduction to  the  education  of  mentally 
retarded  children  and  youth”  provides 
background  and  detailed  knowledge  for 
the  education  of  the  mentally  handi- 
capped. “Psychology  and  education  of 
exceptional  children  and  youth”  is  a 
systematic  study  of  the  characteristics 
and  abilities  of  children  who  differ  from 
the  normal. 

Marion  Deckert,  dean  of  instruction 
at  Bethel  College,  reported  that  the  As- 
sociated Colleges  of  Central  Kansas,  of 
which  Bethel  and  Tabor  colleges  are 


members,  offer  a comprehensive  program 
in  special  education.  Twenty-two  hours 
of  special  education  courses  are  offered 
through  the  six-college  consortium,  thus 
constituting  a state  approved  program  in 
special  education  for  elementary  edu- 
cation majors. 

Developed  by  Bethel  faculty  member 
Earl  Zehr,  the  program  includes  basic 
courses  in  special  education  and  upper 
level  courses  in  mental  retardation. 

Of  special  interest  is  the  interterm 
during  January  1974,  when  the  field 
work  for  “Environment  of  the  excep- 
tional child”  will  be  carried  out  in  Eng- 
land, where  special  education  is  quite 
advanced. 

Vernon  Neufeld,  director  of  mmhs, 
stated  that  part  of  the  mmhs  effort  in 
behalf  of  the  mentally  retarded  is  to  en- 
courage more  persons  to  prepare  for 
careers  in  special  education. 


THE  MENNONITE 


575 


Team  will  seek  to  spark  interest  in  service 


An  mcc  service  team  is  scheduled  to 
tour  ten  states  from  early  October  to 
mid-December  to  share  service  experi- 
ences and  inform  other  young  people  of 
the  expanding  range  of  world  needs  and 
service  opportunities  through  various 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  or- 
ganizations. 

The  team  includes  five  volunteers  re- 
turning from  service  in  four  continents 
and  representing  several  Mennonite 
groups. 

Donna  Kampen,  Fiske,  Saskatchewan, 
a member  of  the  Ebenfeld  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  congregation,  has 
been  serving  as  a child-care  worker  in 
Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  in  a program 
sponsored  jointly  by  Eastern  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions  and  mcc. 

Kenneth  Lehman,  Harrisonburg,  Vir- 
ginia, a member  of  the  Parkview  Men- 
nonite congregation,  was  a tap  volun- 
teer in  Santa  Cruz,  Bolivia. 

Menno  Wiebe 


Linda  Yoder  Lehman  is  a member 
of  the  Forks  Mennonite  congregation, 
Middlebury,  Indiana.  She  served  in  Bo- 
livia with  her  husband  Kenneth. 

J.  Luke  Myers,  Blountstown,  Florida, 
is  a member  of  the  Bethel  Conservative 
Mennonite  congregation.  Luke  has  just 
returned  from  three  years  in  tap  in  Ni- 
geria. 

Tom  Rutschman,  returning  the  end 
of  September  from  a term  of  Pax  serv- 
ice at  the  International  Protestant  Foyer 
in  Brussels,  Belgium,  is  a member  of 
the  Hutterthal  General  Conference 
Mennonite  congregation  in  Freeman, 
South  Dakota. 

During  their  time  of  service,  team 
members  have  found  numerous  oppor- 
tunities to  give  verbal  witness  to  their 
faith  along  with  their  regular  service 
activities.  Kenneth  and  Linda  Lehman 
helped  organize  vacation  Bible  school 
in  rural  areas  near  Santa  Cruz.  Tom 


Rutschman,  son  of  Uruguayan  missionary 
parents,  preached  frequently  in  a Spanish 
Protestant  congregation  in  Brussels.  Oth- 
er team  member  share  firsthand  expe-  , 
riences  of  putting  their  faith  and  wit- 
ness into  action. 

The  team’s  itinerary  is  being  planned 
with  flexibility.  Pastors,  youth  leaders,  a 
Sunday  school  teachers,  and  Mennonite 
fellowship  leaders  interested  in  having 
the  team,  or  individual  members  of  the 
team,  available  for  discussions  or  pro- 
gram presentations  should  contact  the 
mcc  Akron  office. 

The  team’s  general  itinerary  includes: 
Pennsylvania  (October  6-19),  Ohio  (Oc- 
tober 20-29),  Indiana  (October  31 -No-  M 
vember  7),  Illinois  (November  9-11), 
Kansas  (November  13-18),  Nebraska,  * 
South  Dakota,  and  Minnesota  (Novem- 
ber 20-25),  Iowa  (November  27-29), 
Chicago  area  (November  30-December  , 
2),  and  Virginia  (December  5-8). 


resigns  MPM  position 


Menno  Wiebe  has  resigned  as  executive 
secretary  of  the  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mis- 
sion, a position  which  he  has  held  since 
1964.  His  resignation,  will  become  ef- 
fective in  September  1974. 

Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission  is  the  out- 
reach arm  of  the  Conference  of  Menno- 
nites  in  Canada.  It  carries  on  a program 
of  evangelism  and  community  develop- 
ment in  a dozen  native  communities  in 
Manitoba  and  Saskatchewan. 

Under  Mr.  Wiebe’s  leadership,  a blend 
of  evangelism  and  social  service  was  de- 
veloped which  has  been  well-received 
by  the  Indian  communities  in  both  north- 
ern reserves  and  in  urban  areas  such  as 
Selkirk  and  Winnipeg. 

Active  congregations  under  native 
leadership  have  emerged  in  several  of 
these  locations.  Despite  their  growing  in- 
dependence, these  groups  continue  to 
welcome  the  services  of  white  Christian 
teachers  and  community  workers. 

In  Winnipeg,  mpm  has  developed  a 
program  which  provides  pastoral  min- 
istries, youth  sports  activities,  and  coun- 
seling and  referral  services. 

Cooperative  planning  and  mutual  re- 
spect between  native  and  white  people 
have  been  key  elements  in  mpm’s  mission 
philosophy  which  Mr.  Wiebe  has  sought 
to  implement.  He  and  his  board  have 
attempted  to  help  both  native  people 
and  whites  to  rediscover  the  merits  of 
the  Indians’  culture  and  heritage.  Both 


Menno  Wiebe 


groups  invite  him  frequently  to  discuss 
and  share  his  insights  on  native  issues. 

Fred  Unruh,  Regina,  chairman  of  the 
Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission  board  of  di- 
rectors, described  Mr.  Wiebe  as  an  able 
and  respected  spokesman  for  the  cause 
of  Christian  mission  as  a partnership 
ministry  across  cultural  lines. 

Mr.  Wiebe  grew  up  in  Mount  Lehman, 
B.C.  His  education  was  received  at  the 
Mennonite  Educational  Institute,  Clear- 
brook,  British  Columbia;  Canadian  Men- 
nonite Bible  College,  Winnipeg;  Bethel 
College,  North  Newton,  Kansas;  and 
Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminar- 
ies, Elkhart,  Indiana.  In  1970  he  com- 
pleted his  MA  degree  in  anthropology 
at  the  University  of  Manitoba. 


He  and  his  wife,  Lydia,  and  their  two 
children,  Rhonda  and  Tom,  live  in  Win- 
nipeg. 

The  Wiebes  have  not  yet  announced 
their  plans  for  the  future.  ^ 

Oklahoma  convention  reports 
increased  book  sales 

Although  the  Oklahoma  Convention 
was  in  Inola,  in  the  corner  of  the  state, 
eighteen  of  nineteen  member  General 
Conference  Mennonite  churches  sent 
representatives  September  14-16. 

The  convention  reappointed  Lyman 
Sprunger  of  Canton  as  director  of  its 
bookrack  evangelism  program,  which 
sold  more  than  8,000  books  during  the  * 
last  year.  This  was  an  increase  of  2,000 
over  the  previous  year. 

The  convention  also  decided  to  give 
another  $200  scholarship  to  an  Okla-  * 
homa  student  attending  Mennonite  Bib- 
lical Seminary  in  Elkhart,  Indiana. 

Two  Oklahoma  churches  — Eden  , 
Church,  Inola,  and  Herold  Church,  Cor- 
dell— have  begun  the  goal-setting  process 
of  the  Evangelism-in-Depth  program. 

New  officers  elected  for  two-year  * 
terms  were  Erwin  A.  Albrecht,  pastor 
of  the  Eden  Church,  Inola,  as  vice-pres- 
ident, and  Joycelyn  Stucky,  member  of 
the  Bethel  Church,  Hydro,  was  elected 
secretary. 


OCTOBER  9,  1973 


Amnesty  Week  activities  encouraged 


October  14-22  has  been  designated  as 
Amnesty  Week  by  Clergy  and  Laity 
Concerned.  The  Commission  on  Home 
Ministries  is  urging  General  Conference 
Mennonite  congregations  to  mention  this 
concern  in  their  services  October  21  and 
to  form  local  action  groups  to  work  to- 
ward amnesty  legislation. 

Harold  Regier,  General  Conference 
secretary  for  peace  and  social  concerns, 
said,  “As  Mennonites  who  have  opposed 
war  and  sought  alternatives  to  partici- 
pation in  war,  we  should  be  particularly 
sensitive  and  responsive  to  people  who 
have  also  opposed  the  war  but  found  it 
impossible  to  secure  conscientious  ob- 
jector status  or  who  chose  to  resist  en- 
tirely the  Selective  Service  System,  which 
makes  the  fighting  of  war  possible.” 

He  felt  it  would  be  appropriate  for 
Mennonites  to  be  leaders  in  the  struggle 
to  grant  unconditional  amnesty  to  war 


The  interdependence  of  men  and  women 
will  be  the  focus  of  the  fifth  annual 
Peace  Assembly  sponsored  by  the  mcc 
Peaces  Section.  The  assembly  will  be 
held  November  9-10  at  Camp  Friedens- 
wald,  Cassopolis,  Michigan. 

The  purpose  of  the  assembly  is  to 
help  men  and  women  understand  more 
fully  their  interdependence.  If  success- 
ful, the  assembly  will  sensitize  its  par- 
ticipants to  how  discriminatory  language, 
distorted  values,  and  sexual  stereotypes 
prevent  men  and  women  from  fully  us- 
ing their  gifts  in  church  and  society. 

The  assembly  will  convene  Friday 
afternoon,  November  9,  with  a look  at 
the  significance  of  the  issue  in  light  of 
the  roles  of  men  and  women  in  history. 
Other  sessions  will  focus  on  the  sociali- 
zation process  by  which  men  and  women 
are  channeled  into  different  societal  roles, 
women  and  religion,  and  the  implications 
of  changed  male/ female  relationships  for 
practices  and  values  in  North  American 
society.  Interspersed  between  panel  dis- 
cussions, lectures,  small  group  discus- 
sions, and  open-mike  sessions  will  be 
several  films  and  a short  drama  produced 
by  a group  of  women. 

The  Peace  Section  task  force  on  wom- 
en in  church  and  society  is  helping  plan 
the  program.  Members  of  the  task  force 
are  Dorothy  Nyce,  Lora  Oyer,  Lois  Keen- 
ey, Luann  Habegger,  Ruth  Stoltzfus,  and 
Ted  Koontz. 


resisters  whose  actions  “we  believe  were 
much  more  right  than  the  actions  of 
those  who  insisted  the  war  be  fought. 
The  Sunday  before  Veterans  Day  (in  the 
U.S.)  seems  an  appropriate  time  to  re- 
mind ourselves  of  those  others  who  for 
conscience’  sake  refused  to  kill.” 

Clergy  and  Laity  Concerned  is  sug- 
gesting a number  of  actions  to  begin 
the  public  amnesty  campaign: 

1.  Reach  local  congregations  during 
Amnesty  Week  through  sermons,  church 
bulletins,  leaflets,  and  circulation  of  de- 
nominational statements  on  amnesty. 
(The  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
Peace  Section  statement  on  amnesty, 
adopted  in  March,  is  printed  in  The 
Mennonite , April  24  issue.) 

2.  Reach  the  general  public  through 
the  news  media — press  conferences,  talk 
shows,  letters  to  the  editor  of  local  news- 
papers (with  copies  to  Congresspeople). 


The  facilities  at  Camp  Friedenswald 
will  handle  250  persons.  The  winterized 
cabins  and  dormitories  will  accommodate 
150  to  200  persons.  Meals  will  be  pro- 
vided by  the  camp.  Total  costs  for  two 
nights’  lodging,  registration  fee,  linens, 
and  all  meals  will  be  between  $17  and 
$20. 

Some  additional  winterized  space  at 
a lower  rate  will  be  available  for  those 
who  bring  sleeping  bags.  Separate  cook- 
ing facilities  will  be  open  only  to  those 
who  bring  sleeping  bags  and  who>  wish 
to  prepare  their  own  meals. 

People  planning  to  attend  the  assem- 
bly are  strongly  encouraged  to  register 
in  advance  so  the  camp  management 
will  be  able  to  provide  necessary  facil- 
ities. For  registration  and  travel  instruc- 
tions write  to  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee, Peace  Section,  21  S.  12th  St., 
Akron,  Pennsylvania  17501. 

Task  force  on  women 
report  now  available 

The  first  of  a series  of  reports  by  the 
mcc  Peace  Section  task  force  on  women 
in  church  and  society  is  available  for 
distribution.  These  reports  focus  on  the 
role  of  women  in  church  and  society  and 
provide  a forum  for  sharing  concerns, 
ideas,  and  resource  materials. 

For  copies  write  to  the  mcc  Peace 
Section. 


3.  Hold  a public  rally  on  Veterans 
Day,  October  22,  with  local  or  national 
resource  speakers. 

4.  Organize  a local  coalition  on  am- 
nesty, or  organize  a public  hearing  on 
amnesty  and  invite  Congresspeople,  state 
legislators,  city  officials,  and  news  re- 
porters. 

5.  Work  with  draft,  veterans,  military, 
and  other  counseling  agencies  to  develop 
counseling  services  around  the  amnesty 
issue,  and  contact  families  of  potential 
amnesty  recipients  to  offer  support  and 
counseling  services. 

6.  Offer  films,  speakers,  and  written 
resources  to  high  school  and  university 
teachers  and  classes. 

“Der  Mennonit”  will 
cease  publication 

Der  Mennonit,  a German  Mennonite 
monthly,  will  cease  publication  at  the 
end  of  the  year,  its  publishing  commis- 
sion has  announced. 

The  commission  said  it  made  the  de- 
cision after  thorough  examination  of 
about  265  answers  to  an  inquiry  regard- 
ing the  form  of  the  publication.  A final 
attempt  to  find  an  acceptable  basis  for 
joint  continuation  of  the  paper  failed. 

The  magazine  has  been  published 
jointly  for  twenty-six  years  by  the  Ver- 
einigung  der  Deutschen  Mennonitenge- 
meinden  and  the  Verbcind  Badischer- 
wuerttembergischer-bciyerischer  Menno- 
nitengemeinden.  In  the  future  the  two 
German  conferences  will  establish  sepa- 
rate papers.  The  last  issues  of  Der  Men- 
nonit will  focus  on  distinctives  of  the 
Verband  and  Vereinigung. 

Kaufman  writes  book 
on  GC  pioneers 

A new  book  by  former  Bethel  College 
president  Ed.  G.  Kaufman  has  just  been 
published  by  the  college. 

Titled  General  Conference  Mennonite 
pioneers,  the  book  is  a compilation  of 
fifty-eight  short  biographies  beginning 
with  John  H.  Oberholtzer  and  the  break 
with  the  (Old)  Mennonites  in  1847. 

It  is  divided  into  five  sections:  The 
founding  fathers,  Pioneers  in  education 
(subdivided  under  the  Wadsworth  School, 
Halstead  Seminary  and  Bethel  College, 
Bluffton  College,  Freeman  Junior  Col- 
lege, and  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary), 
Pioneers  in  publication,  Missionary  pio- 
neers, and  Later  pioneers. 


Peace  Assembly  announced 


THE  MENNONITE 


577 


Nominating  committee  plans 
first  meeting  in  November 

The  nominating  committee  for  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  will  meet  November  28- 
29  in  Minneapolis  for  the  first  time  to 
suggest  persons  to  nominate  for  elective 
offices  during  the  1974-77  triennium. 

Elections  will  be  at  the  General  Con- 
ference sessions  August  1974  in  St.  Cath- 
arines. Ontario. 

Two  members  of  the  nominating  com- 
mittee are  appointed  by  the  Conference 
of  Mennonites  in  Canada  and  one  each 
by  the  five  district  conferences  in  the 
United  States. 

Members  ratified  by  the  General 
Board  in  August  are  William  Block, 
chairman,  Winnipeg;  Leonard  Wiebe, 
secretary,  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana;  Erwin 
Cornelsen,  Vancouver,  British  Colum- 
bia; Richard  Ratzlaff,  Hutchinson,  Kan- 
sas; Paul  N.  Roth,  Chnby,  Oregon;  Har- 
old D.  Thieszen,  Mountain  Lake,  Min- 
nesota; and  Viola  K.  Weidner,  Allen- 
town, Pennsylvania. 

Offices  to  be  filled  next  August  are 
president,  vice-president,  secretary,  pro- 
gram committee  (two  members),  Gen- 
eral Board  (three  members),  Schowalter 
Foundation  board  (one  member),  Com- 
mission on  Overseas  Mission  (three  mem- 
bers), Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
(three  members).  Commission  on  Educa- 
tion (three  members),  Division  of  Ad- 
ministration (four  members),  and  Men- 
nonite  Biblical  Seminary  board  (five 
members).  Except  for  the  three  officers, 
whose  terms  are  three  years,  all  positions 
carry  six-year  terms. 

Incumbents,  including  those  eligible 
for  reelection,  are  listed  in  the  1973-74 
Handbook  of  information,  which  has 
been  sent  to  all  General  Conference  con- 
gregations. 

Heinz  Janzen,  general  secretary,  said 
the  committee  would  welcome  sugges- 
tions for  nominations  before  its  Novem- 
ber meeting. 

The  nominating  committee  is  required 
by  the  bylaws  to  nominate  two  persons 
for  each  office  to  be  filled. 

Applications  open  for 
mental  health  scholarships 

Next  April  Mennonite  Mental  Health 
Services  will  give  four  $500  scholarships 
to  undergraduate  and  graduate  students 
in  mental  health-related  fields.  Applica- 
tion forms  and  supporting  data  should 
be  completed  by  March  1,  1974. 

An  applicant  must  be  a college  junior, 
senior,  or  graduate  student  with  a de- 


clared major  and  a vocational  interest 
in  mental  health.  Candidates  are  ex- 
pected to  have  a minimum  college  grade 
average  of  C+  and  to  show  a vital  in- 
terest and  participation  in  the  Christian 
church. 

Financial  need,  voluntary  service  ex- 
perience, attendance  at  a church-related 

RECORD 


Workers 


Laura  Mae  Dyck  has  begun  a one-year 
term  of  service  with  mcc  in  Newfound- 
land. She  is  teaching  in  an  elementary 
school.  Laura  received  an  education  cer- 
tificate from  the  University  of  Manitoba. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  Mary  Dyck,  Mor- 
den,  Man.,  and  a member  of  the  Morden 
Bergthaler  Church. 

Shirley  Dyck,  Hague  (Sask.)  Church, 
has  begun  a two-year  term  of  service 
with  mcc  at  its  headquarters  in  Akron, 
Pa.  She  is  serving  as  secretary  in  the 
voluntary  service  department.  Shirley  at- 
tended the  Saskatchewan  Institute  of 
Applied  Arts  and  Sciences.  She  is  the 
daughter  of  Dan  and  Susie  Dyck,  Hague. 

Kathy  Freyenberger  has  begun  a two- 
year  term  of  service  with  mcc  in  New- 
foundland, teaching  in  an  elementary 
school.  Kathy  received  a BS  in  elemen- 
tary education  from  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton,  Kans.  She  is  the  daughter  of 
Robert  and  Mildred  Freyenberger,  Craw- 
fordsville,  Iowa,  and  a member  of  Eicher 
Emmanuel  Church,  Wayland,  Iowa. 

Edith  Kampen  has  begun  a two-year 
term  of  service  with  mcc  in  Winnipeg, 
Man.  She  is  serving  as  a social  worker 
at  Alexander  Place,  an  institution  for 
students  who  are  unable  to  function  in 
a regular  school  setting.  Edith  received 
a bachelor’s  degree  in  Christian  educa- 
tion from  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible 
College,  Winnipeg.  She  is  the  daughter 
of  Peter  and  Hertha  Kampen,  Fiske, 
Sask.,  and  a member  of  the  Charleswood 
Church,  Winnipeg. 

Ellen  Kempf,  Shickley,  Neb.,  has  be- 
gun voluntary  service  under  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church  as  a 
fifth-  and  sixth-grade  teacher  at  the  Hopi 
Mission  School,  Oraibi,  Ariz.  She  will 
teach  a minimum  of  one  year.  Ms.  Kempf 
is  a graduate  of  Hesston  (Kans.)  Col- 
lege and  Goshen  (Ind.)  College.  She 
is  a member  of  the  Salem  Mennonite 
Church,  Shickley. 


college,  and  membership  in  a Mennonite, 
Brethren  in  Christ,  or  Church  of  the 
Brethren  congregation  will  be  taken  into 
consideration. 

Applications  are  available  from  the 
director  of  Mennonite  Mental  Health 
Services,  1105  North  Wishon,  Fresno, 
California  93728. 


Freyenberger 


Kampen 


578  OCTOBER  9,  1973 


E.  Klaassen  J.  Klaassen 


Jacob  and  Eva  Klaassen  have  begun  a 
two-year  term  of  service  with  mcc  in 
Newfoundland.  Jacob  is  serving  as  a 
teacher  and  Eva  as  a substitute  teacher. 
Jacob  received  a BA  and  a BEd  in  his- 
tory from  the  University  of  Saskatche- 
wan, Saskatoon.  Jacob  is  the  son  of 
Henry  and  Elizabeth  Klaassen,  Rosthern, 
Sask.  Eva  is  the  daughter  of  Frank  and 
Anne  Harder,  Saskatoon.  The  Klaassens 
are  members  of  the  Hague  Mennonite 
Church,  Hague,  Sask. 


Neufeld 


Ray  Neufeld  has  begun  a two-year 
term  of  service  with  mcc  at  its  head- 
quarters in  Akron,  Pa.  He  is  serving  as 
a truck  driver.  Ray  is  the  son  of  Jake 
and  Wanda  Neufeld,  Drake,  Sask.,  and 
a member  of  the  North  Star  Church, 
Drake. 

Donna  Leaper  Peters,  Henderson, 
Neb.,  has  begun  a term  of  General  Con- 
ference voluntary  service  in  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.  She  will  serve  until  October  1974. 
Ms.  Peters  is  a member  of  the  Evangel- 
ical Mennonite  Brethren  Church  in  Hen- 
derson. 


Siemens 

Leonard  Siemens  has  begun  a two- 
year  term  of  service  with  mcc  at  its 


headquarters  in  Akron,  Pa.  He  is  serv- 
ing in  maintenance.  Leonard  is  the  son 
of  Ruben  and  Katherine  Siemens,  Lang- 
horn,  Sask.,  and  a member  of  the  Zoar 
Church,  Langhorn. 


Wiebe 

David  Wiebe,  Steinbach  (Man.) 
Church,  has  begun  a one-year  term  of 
teaching  service  with  mcc  in  Labrador. 
David  received  an  associateship  certifi- 
cate in  teaching  from  the  University  of 
Manitoba.  He  is  the  son  of  Isaac  and 
Susan  Wiebe,  Steinbach,  Man. 


Wiens 


Wayne  Wiens  has  begun  a two-year 
term  of  service  with  mcc  at  Wiltwyck 
School  for  Boys,  Yorktown  Heights,  N.Y. 
He  is  serving  as  a nature  guide  for 
Wiltwyck,  a school  for  predelinquent 
boys  from  the  New  York  City  area. 
Wayne  is  the  son  of  William  and  Mary 
Wiens,  Drake,  Sask.,  and  a member  of 
the  North  Star  Church,  Drake. 


Yost 


Elizabeth  Ann  Yost,  First  Church, 
Bluffton,  Ohio,  is  serving  one  year  in 
the  Hamilton,  Ont.,  voluntary  service 
unit.  She  will  be  a club  worker  at  the 
Welcome  Inn  and  hold  an  earning  posi- 
tion for  the  voluntary  service  unit.  Beth 


has  attended  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton, 
Ohio,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Burrton  and 
Elnore  Yost,  Bluffton. 

Ministers 


James  Frazier  has  resigned  as  pastor  of 
the  Moencopi  Church,  Tuba  City,  Ariz., 
effective  Oct.  15.  He  began  his  work  at 
Moencopi  in  1972  and  has  been  in- 
volved in  Indian  ministries  since  1965. 

Lawrence  Klippenstein  has  been  serv- 
ing as  pastor  of  the  Altona  (Man.)  Church 
since  July  1.  During  the  previous  year 
he  served  in  a three-person  team  min- 
istry in  this  congregation  along  with  Paul 
I.  Dyck  and  Ed  Cornelson.  Mr.  Klip- 
penstein is  a former  faculty  member  at 
Elim  Christian  Education  Center,  Al- 
tona. 

A.  C.  Siebert  has  become  pastor  of 
the  Friedensberg  Church,  Avon,  S.D.  He 
has  formerly  held  pastorates  at  the  First 
Church,  Glendive,  Mont.;  Sweet  Home 
(Ore.)  Church;  and  Saron  Church,  Or- 
ienta,  Okla. 

John  W.  Sprunger  has  been  licensed 
and  has  become  assistant  pastor  of  the 
First  Church,  Berne,  Ind.  He  holds  a 
master  of  divinity  degree  from  Grace 
Theological  Seminary,  Winona  Lake, 
Ind.,  and  is  continuing  postgraduate  stud- 
ies there. 

Calendar 


Oct.  19-21 — Western  District  Confer- 
ence annual  sessions,  Clinton,  Okla. 

Oct.  25-27 — Consultation  on  the  role 
of  women  in  the  church,  Elkhart,  Ind. 

Oct.  31-Nov.  2 — Mcc  self-study  ses- 
sions 

Nov.  4-1 1 — African  Afro-Americas 
Unity  Conference,  Nairobi,  Kenya 

Nov.  28-29  — General  Conference 
nominating  committee,  Minneapolis 

Aug.  1-7,  1974 — General  Conference 
triennial  sessions,  St.  Catharines,  Ont. 

Canadian 

Nov.  16-18 — Conference  on  theology 
of  evangelism,  Winnipeg 
Central 

Oct.  26-28 — Evangelism  task  force  re- 
treat, Camp  Friedenswald,  Cassopolis, 
Mich. 

Northern 

Oct.  28 — Mission  festival,  Salem 

Church,  Freeman,  S.D.;  Ferd  and  Viola 
Ediger,  speakers 

Pacific 

Oct.  12-13 — Inter-Mennonite  offender 
seminar,  Fresno,  Calif. 


THE  MENNONITE 


579 


«f 


REVIEW 


The  politics  of 

The  politics  of  Jesus,  by  John  Howard 
Yoder  (William  B.  Eerdmans  Publishing 
Co.,  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  1972,  176 
pp.,  paper,  $3.45)  is  reviewed  by  Alvin 
J.  Be  achy,  associate  professor  of  Bible 
and  religion.  Bethel  College,  North  New- 
ton, Kansas. 

Those  who  seek  to  read  and  under- 
stand this  book  will  find  that  they  have 
undertaken  a task  which  is  at  once  re- 
warding and  exacting.  Though  the  book 
grew  out  of  a series  of  papers  first  read 
at  various  study  conferences,  it,  never- 
theless, has  a basic  underlying  unity.  That 
unity  grows  out  of  a quarrel  which  the 
author  has  with  mainline  Christian  eth- 
icists,  both  Protestant  and  Roman  Cath- 
olic, for  their  failure  to  take  Jesus  as  the 
norm  in  the  realm  of  political  and  social 
ethics. 

The  author  maintains  that  in  the  New 
Testament  Jesus  is  regarded  as  the  norm, 
not  only  in  the  Gospels  where  we  might 
expect  this  to  be  the  case,  but  also 
throughout  the  Pauline  Letters  and  the 
Pastoral  Epistles,  and  where  we  might 
least  expect  it,  in  the  Apocalypse  itself. 

While  mainline  Christianity  has  been 
glad  to  accept  Jesus  as  the  agent  of  per- 
sonal salvation,  leaping  like  the  creed 
from  the  cradle  to  the  cross,  John  Yoder 
insists  that  Jesus  saw  himself  as  an  agent 
of  radical  social  change.  Consequently 
he  called  into  being  in  the  “midst  of  a 
society  characterized  by  very  stable  re- 
ligiously undergirded  family  ties,  a com- 
munity of  voluntary  commitment,  willing 
for  the  sake  of  its  calling  to  take  upon 
itself  the  hostility  of  the  given  society” 
(p.  45). 

In  chapters  one  through  six,  Dr.  Yoder 
explores  the  question  whether  the  teach- 
ings and  example  of  Jesus  are  such  that 
they  provide  the  substance  for  guidance 
in  social  ethics  and  concludes  that  the 
answer  is  yes,  since  his  deeds  show  such 
a coherent  conscious  social  political  char- 
acter and  direction  that  his  words  are 
inseparable  from  them. 

In  the  second  part  of  the  book,  chap- 
ters 7-12,  the  author  examines  several 
strands  of  the  apostolic  ethical  tradition 
and  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
long-held  view  that  there  is  such  a hiatus 
between  the  human  Jesus’  proclamation 


Jesus 

of  the  kingdom  in  Jerusalem  and  the 
worship  of  the  heavenly  Christ  in  the 
Gentile  churches  of  Greece  and  Asia 
Minor  that  the  example  of  Jesus  can  in 
no  way  serve  as  a model  for  the  disciple 
is  not  supported  by  the  New  Testament 
itself.  The  sources,  when  examined  in 
the  light  of  the  persistent  question  which 
John  Yoder  asks  throughout  the  book, 
reveal  an  apostolic  ethic  that  is  shaped 
by  the  example  of  the,  Jesus  of  the  Gos- 
pels. 

In  the  first  part  of  the  book.  Dr.  Yoder 
concentrates  largely  on  the  Gospel  of 
Luke  in  order  to  highlight  for  us  the  so- 
cial and  political  dimensions  of  the  min- 
istry of  Jesus  which  have  heretofore 
been  largely  overlooked.  Were  it  not  for 
the  fact,  he  says,  that  the  liturgical  use 
of  the  Magnificat  had  made  us  dull  of 
hearing,  we  could  not  fail  to  hear  the 
call  to  political  and  social  reform  that 
is  present  in  this  hymn. 

But  why  is  it  that  we  have  not  heard 
in  the  Gospel  story  the  proclamation  of 
at  least  the  possibility  of  a messianic 
ethic?  Mr.  Yoder  suggests  a number  of 
reasons  (pages  16-19),  which  are  here 
given  in  sharply  reduced  summary  form. 

1.  The  ethic  of  Jesus  is  an  ethic  for  an 
interim  which  Jesus  thought  would  be 
very  brief.  He  did  not  need  to  be  con- 
cerned for  the  survival  of  the  structures 
of  a solid  society,  because  he  thought 
the  world  would  soon  pass  away. 

2.  Jesus  was,  as  his  Franciscan  and 
Tolstoyan  imitators  have  said,  a simple 
rural  figure.  His  radical  personalization 
of  all  ethical  problems  is  possible  only 
within  a village  society  where  everyone 
knows  everyone  and  has  time  to  trust 
the  other  as  a person. 

3.  Jesus  and  his  followers  lived  in  a 
world  over  which  they  had  no  control. 
It  was,  therefore,  natural  that  they  should 
conceive  of  their  exercise  of  social  re- 
sponsibility as  being  limited  to  that  of 
the  faithful  witnessing  minority. 

4.  The  nature  of  Jesus’  mission  was 
ahistorical  by  definition.  He  dealt  with 
spiritual,  not  social  matters,  with  the 
existential,  and  not  the  concrete.  He 
proclaimed  not  social  change  and  obedi- 
ence, but  atonement. 

5.  Jesus  was  a radical  monotheist.  He 
pointed  men  away  from  their  local  and 


finite  values  and  proclaimed  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  only  one  worthy  of  being  J 
worshiped.  The  impact  of  this  radical 
discontinuity  between  God  and  man  is  | 
to  relativize  all  human  values,  so  that 
the  will  of  God  cannot  be  identified 
with  any  one  ethical  answer  or  given 
any  human  value  since  all  are  finite. 

6.  Or  the  reason  may  be  more  dog-  J 

matic  in  tone.  Jesus  came,  after  all,  to  , 

give  his  life  for  the  sins  of  men.  How  J 

the  death  of  Jesus  works  our  justifica- 
tion is  a divine  miracle  and  mystery;  J 

how  he  died,  or  the  kind  of  life  which 
led  to  the  kind  of  death,  is  therefore 
ethically  immaterial. 

John  Yoder  then  points  out  that  all 
of  these  contemporary  interpretations  of  I 
Jesus  have  one  thing  in  common.  They 
reject  the  human  life  of  Jesus  as  the 
norm  in  Christian  ethics.  Whether  we 
heed  the  current  call  of  neoorthodoxy 
to  be  “realistic”  and  “responsible,”  or 
take  the  more  classical  approach  of  na-  * 
tural  theology,  “we  have  an  affirmation 
that  it  is  by  studying  the  realities  around 
us,  not  by  hearing  a proclamation  of 
God  that  we  discern  the  right”  (p.  20). 

But  what,  the  author  then  asks,  be- 
comes of  the  concept  of  revelation  if 
Jesus  is  not  normative  for  Christian 
ethics?  And  why  should  this  abandon- 
ment of  Jesus  apply  to  ethical  truth  only?  , 
“What  is  the  meaning  of  the  incarnation 
if  Jesus  is  not  normative  man?  If  he  is 
a man  but  not  normative,  is  this  not  the  I 
ancient  ebionitic  heresy?  If  he  be  some- 
how authoritative  but  not  in  his  human- 
ness, is  this  not  a new  gnosticism?”  (p. 

22).  1 

Dr.  Yoder’s  proposal  is  that  we  read 
the  Gospel  without  making  the  usual 
prior  negative  assumptions  about  its  so- 
cial relevance,  or,  more  sharply  stated, 
to  read  it  with  the  persistent  and  con- 
stantly present  question,  “Is  there  here 
a social  ethic?”  The  author,  by  concen- 
trating on  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  sketches 
an  understanding  of  Jesus  of  which  it 
might  be  said  that  such  a Jesus  would 
not  only  be  relevant,  but  also  normative 
for  a contemporary  Christian  social  ethic  j 
(p.  23).  John  Yoder  makes  it  plain  that 
he  is  not  trying  to  build  a bridge  between 
the  canonical  text  and  the  historical 
Jesus  as  he  actually  was,  but  rather  to 


580 


OCTOBER  9,  1973 


speak  to  those  “modern  ethicists  who 
have  assumed  that  the  only  way  to  get 
from  the  gospel  story  to  ethics,  from 
Bethlehem  to  Rome,  or  to  Washington 
or  Saigon,  was  to  leave  the  story  be- 
hind” (p.  25). 

Contrary  to  the  notion  so  widespread 
throughout  all  of  pietistic  Protestantism 
that  Jesus  preached  an  inner  and  spiritual 
kingdom  only,  the  author  affirms  that 
he  put  the  messianic  expectation  in  the 
most  expressly  social  terms.  “The  lan- 
guage of  the  kingdom  is  chosen  from 
the  political  realm.”  Furthermore,  John 
Yoder  maintains,  Jesus’  own  concept  of 
what  his  kingdom  would  look  like  was 
shaped  by  what  had  occasionally  hap- 
pened in  Israel’s  history  during  the  Jubi- 
lee year.  The  prescriptions  for  the  Jubi- 
lee year  were  four  in  number: 

1 . The  fallow  year,  which  was  not 
only  rest  for  the  land  and  provision  for 
the  poor,  but  also  a call  to  trust  in  the 
providence  of  God.  2 and  3.  Remission 
of  debts  and  liberation  of  slaves.  4.  The 
redistribution  of  capital. 

Mr.  Yoder  maintains  that  the  second 
and  third  were  central  rather  than  mar- 
ginal in  the  message  of  Jesus.  Both  the 
parable  of  the  merciless  servant  (Mt.  18: 
23-35)  and  the  parable  of  the  unjust 
steward  (Lk.  16:1-13)  are,  according  to 
him,  best  understood  as  warnings  that 
had  to  do  with  violations  of  practices 
concerning  the  Jubilee  year. 

The  issue,  as  he  sees  it,  is  not  whether 
Jesus  emphasized  a spiritual  kingdom, 
in  contrast  to  a sociopolitical  one,  but 
rather  Jesus’  rejection  of  violent  revolu- 
tion as  a means  of  bringing  in  a kingdom 
in  which  the  latter  dimensions  were 
strongly  visible.  Jesus  does  not  repri- 
mand his  disciples  for  expecting  him  to 
set  up  a new  social  order,  but  for  failing 
to  understand  the  nature  of  that  new  so- 
cial order  which  he  does  intend  to  set 
up.  The  novelty  of  its  character  is  not 
that  it  is  not  social  or  not  visible,  but 
that  it  is  marked  by  an  alternative  to  the 
accepted  patterns  of  leadership. 

The  alternative  to  how  the  kings  of 
the  earth  shall  rule  is  not  “spirituality” 
but  “servanthood.”  Jesus’  refusal  to  cap- 
italize upon  his  golden  opportunity  to 
lead  a violent  revolution  at  the  time  of 
the  triumphal  entry  is  a revelation  of  the 
fact  that,  though  the  new  order  con- 
demns and  displaces  the  old,  it  does 
not  do  so  with  the  arm  of  the  old. 

“Here  at  the  cross  is  the  man  who 
loves  his  enemies,  the  man  whose  righ- 
teousness is  greater  than  that  of  the 
Pharisees,  who  being  rich  became  poor, 
who  gives  his  robe  to  those  who  took  his 


cloak,  who  prays  for  those  who  despite- 
fully  use  him.  The  cross  is  not  a detour 
or  a hurdle  on  the  way  to  the  kingdom, 
nor  is  it  even  the  way  to  the  kingdom; 
it  is  the  kingdom  come”  (p.  61). 

He  who  would  be  a member  of  the 
kingdom,  therefore,  will  not  be  able  to 
avoid  the  cross.  “The  believer’s  cross  is 
no  longer  any  and  every  kind  of  suf- 
fering, sickness,  or  tension,  the  bearing 
of  which  is  demanded.  The  believer’s 
cross  must  be,  like  his  Lord’s,  the  price 
of  his  social  nonconformity.  It  is  not, 
like  sickness  or  catastrophe,  an  inex- 
plicable, unpredictable  suffering;  it  is  the 
end  of  a path  freely  chosen  after  count- 
ing the  cost”  (p.  97). 

John  Yoder  states  that  “the  one  temp- 
tation the  man  Jesus  faced — and  faced 
again  and  again — was  the  temptation  to 
exercise  social  responsibility,  in  the  in- 
terest of  justified  revolution,  through 
the  use  of  available  violent  methods. 
Social  withdrawal  was  no  temptation  to 
him;  that  option  (which  most  Christians 
take  part  of  the  time)  was  excluded  at 
the  outset.  Any  alliance  with  the  Saddu- 
cean  establishment  in  the  exercise  of 
conservative  social  responsibility  (which 
most  Christians  choose  the  rest  of  the 
time)  was  likewise  excluded  at  the  out- 
set. We  understand  Jesus  only  if  we  can 
empathize  with  this  threefold  rejection: 
the  self-evident,  axiomatic,  sweeping  re- 
jection of  both  quietism  and  establish- 
ment responsibility,  and  the  difficult,  con- 
stantly reopened,  genuinely  attractive  op- 
tion of  the  crusade”  (p.  98). 

Mr.  Yoder’s  quarrel,  as  we  have  al- 
ready indicated,  is  with  the  modem 
Christian  ethicist  who  insists  that  Jesus 
is  not  normative  for  political  ethics  be- 
cause he  had  nothing  to  say  on  the  sub- 
ject. He  states  that  now  we  have  seen 
that  Jesus  did  have  something  to  say 
on  the  subject  of  politics,  and  that  he 
said  little  that  is  not  somehow  related 
to  it;  it  is  clear  that  the  Gospel  will  not 
let  the  modern  ethicist  off  the  hook  (p. 
99). 

The  author  affirms  that  in  thus  pre- 
senting a Jesus  who  took  the  social  and 
political  dimensions  of  his  kingdom  se- 
riously, he  is  not  seeking  to  present  a 
Jesus  who  is  other  than  the  portrait  of 
Jesus  we  find  in  the  New  Testament. 
We  “seek  simply  to  demonstrate  that 
the  view  of  Jesus  we  have  proposed  is 
more  radically  Nicene  and  Chalcedonian 
than  other  views.  We  do  not  here  advo- 
cate an  unheard-of  modern  understand- 
ing of  Jesus;  we  ask  rather  that  the  im- 
plications of  what  the  church  has  al- 
ways said  about  Jesus  as  Word  of  the 


Father,  as  true  God  and  true  Man,  be 
taken  more  seriously,  as  relevant  to  our 
social  problems,  than  ever  before”  (p. 
105). 

Says  Mr.  Yoder,  We  are  not  in  a 
situation  where,  according  to  the  sys- 
tematic tradition,  we  must  choose  be- 
tween the  prophet  and  the  institution, 
for  “the  Jubilee  which  Jesus  proclaims 
is  not  the  end  of  time,  pure  event  with- 
out duration,  unconnected  to  either  yes- 
terday or  tomorrow.  The  Jubilee  is  pre- 
cisely an  institution  whose  functioning 
within  history  will  have  a precise,  prac- 
ticable, limited  impact.  It  is  not  a per- 
petual social  earthquake,  rendering  im- 
possible any  continuity  of  temporal  ef- 
fort, but  a periodic  revision  permitting 
new  beginnings”  (pp.  107-108). 

It  would,  in  the  opinion  of  this  re- 
viewer, not  be  stretching  Mr.  Yoder’s 
interpretation  of  the  church  too  far  to 
say  that  he  sees  it  as  in  some  sense  em- 
bodying these  facets  of  the  Jubilee  year. 
The  church  is  called  to  be  both  the 
conscience  and  the  servant  of  society 
and  must  therefore  guard  her  “other- 
ness.” 


A revolutionary 
mandate... 


by  John  Howard  Yoder 


“Convincing  (and  exciting)  exegesis  that 
Jesus’  ethic  is  an  undated,  consciously  rev- 
olutionary mandate  about  property,  the 
stranger,  violence,  and  love.  To  accept  the 
Yoder  case  is  to  see  the  messianic  procla- 
mation of  our  Lord  in  vivid,  new  imperative .” 

— Dr.  John  Oliver  Nelson, 
Kirkridge  Retreat  Center 

“A  book  of  supreme  importance  . . . skillful, 
learned  and  courageous  . . . invites  and 
urges  the  reader  to  reconsider  and  revise 
his  prejudices,  to  make  new  decisions,  and 
to  take  a bold  stand." 

— Markus  Barth, 
Pittsburgh  Theological 
Seminary 

176  pages.  Paper,  $3.45 

ll^WM.  B.  EERDMANS  PUBLISHING  CO. 

255  JEFFERSON  AVE.,  S.E.,  GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICH.  49502 


THE  MENNONITE 


581 


The  author  calls  our  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  systematic  tradition  calls 
us  to  choose  between  the  catastrophic 
kingdom  and  the  inner  kingdom.  Since 
Jesus  was  wrong  in  his  estimate  that 
the  kingdom  was  coming  soon,  he  must 
have  been  referring  to  an  inner  kingdom 
and  was  obviously  using  mythical  lan- 
guage in  order  to  do  it.  “Once  again 
if  Jesus  is  the  Christ  we  must  refuse  this 
choice.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  a social 
order  and  not  a hidden  one.  It  is  not  a 
universal  catastrophe  independent  of  the 
will  of  men;  it  is  that  concrete  jubilary 
obedience,  in  pardon  and  repentance, 
the  possibility  of  which  is  proclaimed 
beginning  right  now,  opening  up  the 
real  accessibility  of  a new  order  in  which 
grace  and  justice  are  linked,  which  men 
have  only  to  accept.  It  does  not  assume 
time  will  end  tomorrow;  it  reveals  why 
it  is  meaningful  that  history  should  go 
on  at  all”  (p.  108). 

John  Yoder  maintains  that  the  social 
stance  of  the  early  church,  particularly 
with  respect  to  the  way  the  church 
handled  the  problems  of  power  and  evil, 
was  shaped  by  a “core  memory”  of  the 
way  Jesus  had  lived  and  died.  He  traces 
that  social  stance  under  the  categories 
of  “participation,”  “imitation,  and  ^dis- 
cipleship,”  and  concludes  that  if  “the 
apostles  had  and  taught  at  least  a core 
memory  of  their  Lord’s  earthly  min- 
istry in  its  blunt  historicity,  then  this 
centering  of  the  apostolic  ethic  upon  the 
disciples’  cross  evidences  a substantial, 
binding,  costly  social  stance.  There  have 
perhaps  been  times  when  the  issues  of 
power,  violence,  and  peoplehood  were 
not  at  the  center  of  ethical  preoccupa- 
tions; but  in  the  waning  twentieth  cen- 
tury they  certainly  are,  and  the  redis- 
covery of  this  ethic  of  ‘responsibility’ 
or  of  ‘power’  can  no  longer  at  the  same 
time  claim  to  be  Christian  and  bypass 
the  judgment  or  the  promise  of  the  Suf- 
fering Servant’s  exemplarity”  (p.  131). 

I wrote  this  review  the  day  after  Ber- 
nard L.  Barker  gave  to  the  world  that 
remarkable  glimpse  into  his  own  mind 
at  the  Watergate  hearings  of  the  Senate 
Select  Committee.  The  fact  that  he  had 
gotten  orders  from  his  superior,  E.  How- 
ard Hunt,  whom  he  very  much  admires, 
was  sufficient  reason  to  blot  out  all  other 
ethical  considerations  for  him.  Yet  how 
different  is  Mr.  Barker  really  from  the 
rest  of  us  who  in  this  contemporary  eth- 
ical situation  often  see  effectiveness  in 
moving  toward  a goal  that  someone  else 
may  have  set  for  us  as  the  only  moral 
yardstick? 

Dr.  Yoder  observes  that  Christians 


in  our  age  are  obsessed  with  the  meaning 
and  direction  of  history.  “Social  ethical 
concern  is  moved  by  a deep  desire  to 
make  things  move  in  the  right  direction. 
Whether  a given  action  is  right  or  not 
seems  to  be  inseparable  from  the  question 
of  what  effect  it  will  cause”  (pp.  233- 
34).  Behind  this  manner  of  approach 
to  political-social  ethics,  he  says,  lie 
three  distinguishable  assumptions,  which 
may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

1.  It  is  assumed  that  the  relationship 
of  cause  and  effect  is  visible,  under- 
standable, and  manageable,  so  that  if 
we  make  our  choices  on  the  basis  of 
how  we  hope  society  will  be  moved,  it 
will  be  moved  in  that  direction.  2.  It  is 
assumed  that  we  are  adequately  in- 
formed to  be  able  to  set  for  ourselves 
and  for  all  society  the  goal  toward 
which  we  seek  to  move  it.  3.  Inter- 
locked with  these  two  assumptions  and 
dependent  upon  them  for  its  applica- 
bility is  the  further  postulate  that  ef- 
fectiveness in  moving  toward  these  goals 
is  itself  a moral  yardstick”  (p.  235 — 
italics  mine). 


John  Yoder  rejects  the  validity  of 
these  three  assumptions  and  character- 
izes them  as  but  another  instance  of  the 
long  habit  of  Christian  tradition’s  re- 
jection of  Jesus  as  the  norm  in  the  realm 
of  political  and  social  ethics.  The  exam- 
ple of  Jesus  calls  us  to  surrender  our 
“handle  on  history.”  For  as  the  author 
states,  where  the  tradition  tells  us  that 
we  must  choose  between  respect  for  per- 
sons and  participation  in  the  movement 
of  history,  “Jesus  refuses  because  the 
movement  of  history  is  personal.  Be- 
tween the  absolute  agape  which  lets  it- 
self be  crucified,  and  effectiveness  (which 
it  is  assumed  will  usually  need  to  be 
violent)  the  resurrection  forbids  us  to 
choose,  for  in  the  light  of  resurrection, 
crucified  agape  is  not  folly  (as  it  seems 
to  the  Hellenizers  to  be)  and  weakness 
(as  the  Judaizers  believe)  but  the  wisdom 
and  power  of  God”  (p.  114).  Before  we 
are  too  vigorous  in  our  criticism  of 
Bernard  L.  Barker,  then  perhaps  we 
should  all  reflect  on  the  fact  that  John 
Yoder’s  book  is  a call  for  judgment  to 
begin  at  the  house  of  God. 


MEDITATION 


The  giant  cross 


All  of  you,  then,  are  Christ’s  body,  and  each  one  is  a part  of  it.  1 Cor.  12:27 
In  Everett,  Washington,  the  747  superjet  flies  through  the  air  with  the  ease  of  an 
eagle.  The  spectacular  plane  provides  a thrilling  sight  as  it  pierces  the  sky  over 
Puget  Sound.  The  great  iron  bird  has  a wing  span  of  almost  200  feet,  a length  of 
231  feet  (over  two-thirds  the  length  of  a football  field),  and  a height  of  a building 
of  five  stories.  It  weighs  over  300  tons.  Yet,  it  rolls  down  a runway  and  flies  off  the 
ground  like  an  arrow,  roaring  through  the  heavens,  circling  easily,  and  touching 
down  lightly  in  a landing  approach  that  is  so  smooth  the  pilots  say  it  almost  lands 
itself. 

This  plane  is  an  amazing  sight,  and  even  those  most  closely  associated  with  its 
production  are  as  enthralled  as  those  who  observe  its  flight  for  the  first  time.  Thou- 
sands of  component  parts,  perfected  to  the  most  minute  degree,  each  dependent  on 
the  other,  comprise  the  dynamic  power  required  to  lift  the  huge,  improbable  plane. 
Each  person  involved  in  its  construction  contributed  to  its  success,  yet  the  same 
simple  principle  of  flight  is  applied  as  to  that  of  the  bird. 

Likewise,  the  church  of  today  has  become  large  and  complex.  It  attempts  to 
heal  the  wounds  of  a changing  world  and  answer  the  needs  of  a complicated  and 
confused  society.  The  increased  obligations  hang  heavily  upon  a church  that  is  test- 
ed and  torn  by  negative  attitudes  that  wear  and  wrench  the  church  like  the  fatigue 
and  stress  tests  exerted  on  the  747. 

More  than  ever,  Christians  are  challenged  to  bear  the  responsibility  of  the  gospel 
individually.  The  structure  of  the  church  is  an  intricate  combination  of  various 
skills  and  abilities  that  complement  each  other.  No  part  is  too  small  and  all  are  units 
within  the  form  of  the  body  of  Christ  we  call  a church.  Every  one  is  necessary  in 
order  to  insure  a “perfect  flight.”  Personal  dedication  and  discipline  provide  the 
power  of  a renewed  church.  Granted,  the  challenge  is  greater  than  ever,  but  we  em- 
ploy the  “same  principle  of  flight.”  The  message  is  the  same.  The  principles  of  God  s 
kingdom  are  eternal:  witnessing  to  the  life  and  love  of  Christ.  Joy  and  excitement 
are  experienced  by  each  one  who  responds  to  his  appeal. 


582 


OCTOBER  9,  1973 


Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  giant  747  proclaims  its  own  up-to-date  message  of 
discipline  and  dedication  to  the  world  as  its  shadow  sweeps  the  land  with  the  pilot’s 
ever-present  companion  in  the  shape  of  a giant  cross.  Pat  Baxter 


LETTERS 


German  books  available 

Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  I am  writing  to  you 
for  help  or  information.  We  have  on 
hand  a complete  set  of  Daechfels  Bibel- 


werk,  seven  books  in  all.  They  are  in 
excellent  condition,  and  we  feel  that 
someone  who  still  depends  on  using  the 
German  language  could  use  these  books 
to  good  advantage. 

If  any  school  or  individual  is  inter- 
ested in  them,  they  may  contact  me.  I 
do  not  expect  to  make  money  on  them, 
but  they  should  be  worth  the  cost  of 
shipping.  Frank  J.  Schmidt,  Route  1, 
Box  594,  Dallas,  Ore.  97338  Sept.  12 


PMORITT 


ANABAPTIST 
FAITH 
AND  LIFE 


Strengthen  the  Anabaptist-Mennonite  emphasis 
on  discipleship,  brotherhood,  love,  peace 
and  nonresistance,  being  sensitive  to  the  unity 
of  the  larger  Christian  church  of  which 
we  are  a part. 


Ife 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


Contents 


The  rich  man  and  Lazarus  revisited  570 


Single  feats  of  daring  572 

News  574 

Record  578 

The  politics  of  Jesus  580 

The  giant  cross  582 

Letters  583 


More  dollars,  but  fewer  volunteers  584 
CONTRIBUTORS 

Peter  J.  Ediger  is  pastor  of  the  Arvada 
Mennonite  Church,  5927  Miller,  Arvada, 
Colo.  80004. 

LaVonne  Platt's  address  is  Route  2, 
Newton,  Kans.  67114. 

Pat  Baxter  is  at  home  at  5848  Hem- 
lock, Great  Bend,  Kans.  67530. 

Edgar  Stoesz  wrote  his  article  on  mon- 
ey and  volunteers  from  the  vantage 
point  of  his  position  as  MCC  director 
of  Latin  America.  He  lives  in  Akron,  Pa. 

CREDITS 

571,  Rohn  Engh,  Pine  Lake  Farm,  Star 
Prairie,  Wise.  54026,  RNS;  573, 
Mennonite  Historical  Library,  North 
Newton,  Kans.  67117;  574,  Gayle  Ger- 
ber Koontz,  MCC. 


Meimontte 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.  48106. 


THE  MENNONITE 


583 


More  dollars , but  fewer  volunteers 


Edgar  Stoesz 

For  twenty-five  years  Mennonite  and  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  youth  have  generously  volunteered 
themselves  for  international  service.  During  much 
of  this  time  administrators  of  service  programs 
have  been  under  pressure  to  provide  more  serv- 
ice opportunities  for  all  who  apply.  Suddenly  in 

1972  the  number  of  volunteers  leveled  off  and  in 

1973  it  dropped.  Why? 

The  first  and  most  obvious  reason  is  that 
Caesar,  through  the  U.S.  Selective  Service  Sys- 
tem, is  no  longer  sending  “laborers  into  the  har- 
vest.” Christian  service  agencies  learned  to  de- 
pend on  the  military  process  to  recruit  their 
workers.  It  was  convenient  and  effective.  Recruit- 
ment and  promotion  on  both  congregational  and 
churchwide  levels  grew  lax.  Now  the  draft  has 
dropped  away  and  this  inadequacy  is  exposed. 

But  the  draft  does  not  explain  everything. 
Other  factors  contribute  to  the  problem.  A new 
generation  is  coming  of  age.  This  generation  is 
less  certain  about  the  value  of  international  serv- 
ice. Whereas  the  volunteers  of  the  1960s  were 
motivated  by  the  admiration  of  the  Pax  example 
of  the  1950s,  to  the  youth  of  the  1970s  interna- 
tional service  has  become  routine.  The  drama  has 
died  down.  The  service  halo  has  dimmed. 

The  youth  of  the  1970s  live  by  a different 
value  system.  Fewer  are  found  on  campuses, 
which  have  been  second  only  to  the  Selective 
Service  System  in  recruitment  effectiveness.  A 
new  mood  prevails  on  campuses.  Youth  has  seen 
the  frantic  activity  of  two  decades,  which  also  in- 
cludes secular  service  programs,  and  is  asking 
what  it  has  accomplished. 

Recently  three  young  Mennonites  visited  Bo- 
livia. They  looked  it  over  and  found  it  interesting. 
They  were  impressed  with  the  need  and  what  was 
being  done  there  by  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee volunteers.  But  in  spite  of  being  eligible 
for  the  urgent  openings  which  existed  there,  they 
felt  no  need  to  get  personally  involved.  They  re- 
turned home  to  earn  more  money  for  another 
travel  excursion. 

The  mission  and  service  agencies  of  the  Men- 


nonite church  have  two  constituencies.  The  older 
contributes  most  of  the  funds.  The  younger  do- 
nates most  of  the  services.  The  two  need  each 
other  for  maximum  effectiveness.  During  the  past 
year,  financial  contributions  have  held  up  well,  but 
enlistments  are  down.  What  are  the  implications 
of  more  dollars  and  fewer  volunteers?  They  are 
that  service  programs  will  need  to  be  built  more 
on  money  and  less  on  people.  This  is  not  a happy 
prospect  for  church  agencies  whose  personnel 
resources  have  made  them  the  envy  of  other  de- 
nominations. Governments  and  other  secular  agen- 
cies can  write  checks,  but  the  genius  of  the 
church  and  the  message  of  the  gospel  is  repre- 
sented by  people. 

The  service  programs  of  the  Mennonite  church, 
including  conferences  and  mcc,  have  won  the 
respect  and  admiration  of  other  denominations 
and  secular  organizations.  The  nature  of  these 
programs  has  changed  and  is  now  changing  in 
response  to  the  times.  The  experience  of  two 
decades  has  been  programmed  into  the  action 
models  of  the  1970s.  More  changes  will  be  made 
in  the  future  as  the  Mennonite  church  seeks  to 
align  its  resources  with  the  needs  of  the  third 
world. 

Service  agencies  have  brought  some  of  this 
problem  on  themselves.  The  availability  of  vol- 
unteers has  been  taken  for  granted.  Perhaps  de- 
cision makers  have  keyed  too  much  on  the  money 
constituency  and  not  enough  on  potential  volun- 
teers. Both  are  needed,  but  a balance  must  be. 
maintained. 

Parents,  pastors,  youth  counselors,  and  service 
agencies  must  present  youth  with  a clear,  forth- 
right, sincere  call  to  service.  Youth  is  needed, 
and  youth  needs  to  serve.  A new  generation  of 
Mennonites  must  be  cautioned  against  isolation- 
ism and  the  pervading  influence  of  futility  and 
materialism.  They  must  be  challenged  to  update 
the  example  of  previous  generations  who  in  this, 
century  have  gone  beyond  their  sheltered  com- 
munities to  heal,  feed,  and  preach  deliverance, 
through  Christ. 


Meimonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:37  OCTOBER  16,  1973 


The  white  man  does  not  understand  the  Indian  for  the  reason  that  he  does  not  understand  America. 

He  is  too  far  removed  from  its  formative  processes.  The  roots  of  the  tree  of  his  life  have  not  yet  grasped  the 
rock  and  soil.  The  white  man  is  still  troubled  with  primitive  fears;  he  still  has  in  his  consciousness  the  perils  of  this 
frontier  continent,  some  of  its  vastness  not  yet  having  yielded  to  his  questing  footsteps  and  inquiring  eyes. 

He  shudders  still  with  the  memory  of  the  loss  of  his  forefathers  upon  its  scorching  deserts  and  forbidding  moun- 
taintops.  The  man  from  Europe  is  still  a foreigner  and  an  alien.  And  he  still  hates  the  man  who  questioned  his  path 
across  the  continent. 


But  in  the  Indian  the  spirit  of  the  land  is  still  vested;  it  will  be  until  other  men  are  able  to  divine  and  meet  the 
rhythm.  Luther  Standing  Bear 


God  has 

ten 
some  new 

Brokers  and 

sisters 

torus 

Malcolm  Wenger 


David  Habegger  once  said,  “In  the 
Christian  family  we  do  not  choose  our 
brothers  and  sisters;  God  chooses  them 
for  us.”  God  not  only  chooses  our  broth- 
ers and  sisters,  he  gives  them  gifts  that 
are  needed  for  the  health  and  maturity 
of  the  entire  Christian  family. 

Whenever  a new  member  enters  a 
family,  that  family  is  never  the  same 
again.  If  it  is  God’s  family,  the  new 
member  will  bring  gifts  that  can  en- 
hance and  strengthen  the  family  and 
make  it  more  like  God  wants  it  to  be. 

Paul  is  explicit  about  this,  “Christ  has 
given  each  of  us  special  abilities — what- 
ever he  wants  us  to  have  out  of  his  rich 
storehouse  of  gifts.  . . . Why  is  it  that 
he  gives  us  these  special  abilities  to  do 
certain  things  best?  It  is  that  God’s  peo- 
ple will  be  equipped  to  do  better  work 
for  him,  building  up  the  church,  the 
body  of  Christ,  to  a position  of  strength 
and  maturity”  (Eph.  4:7  and  12). 

As  we  ponder  the  apostle’s  words,  we 
tend,  I suspect,  to  limit  our  thinking  to 
the  people  we  associate  with  on  Sunday 
morning.  I would  invite  you  to  consider 
a wider  application  of  the  concept. 

God  has  been  choosing  brothers  and 
sisters  for  us  from  many  tribes,  tongues, 
and  nations,  from  many  cultures  and 
backgrounds.  We  have  already  begun  to 
profit  from  the  ministry  of  such  people 
as  Takashi  Yamada  of  Japan,  Armando 
Hernandez  of  Colombia,  Paul  Lin  of 
Taiwan,  and  Kakesa  Khakha  Gasala  of 
Zaire.  However  for  the  Mennonites  of 
Canada  and  the  United  States  it  may 
be  that  God’s  purpose  for  our  growth 
and  maturity  may  be  enhanced  especially 
by  the  North  American  Indian  brothers 
and  sisters  that  he  has  chosen  for  us 


and  the  gifts  and  insights  that  he  has 
given  to  them.  1 wonder  if  we  are  mak- 
ing the  most  of  these  opportunities  for 
growth  that  God  is  making  available  to 
the  Mennonite  church? 

May  I share  a few  of  the  ways  that 
Cheyenne  Indian  Christians  have  been 
of  help  to  me? 

They  have  helped  me  to  distinguish 
some  of  my  cultural  values  from  the 
Christian  faith  and  to  realize  that  peo- 
ple with  other  values  might  be  more 
Christian  than  I. 

Had  you  asked  me,  I would  have 
said  that  I was  a generous  person.  How- 
ever, I gradually  discovered  that  the 
Cheyenne  were  generous  beyond  any- 
thing I was  willing  to  do  and  that  my 
values  were  actually  thrift  and  foresight. 

When  the  engine  of  the  Volkswagen  * 
I was  driving  in  Nebraska  suddenly  gave 
out  on  a windy,  rainy  day,  an  Indian 
friend  came  to  my  rescue.  “Why  don’t 
you  take  my  car  to  get  to  your  meet- 
ing,” he  offered.  “I  just  bought  it  last 
week  and  it  should  be  in  good  shape.” 
Would  I have  loaned  my  car  to  an  In-  ' 
dian  friend?  A glib  reading  of  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  is  no  longer  possible 
for  me.  Such  passages  as,  “So,  do  not 
worry  about  tomorrow,”  or  “Lend  and  j 
expect  nothing  back,”  seem  easier  for  I 
some  of  my  Indian  brothers  than  for  me. 

My  Cheyenne  friends  seem  to  say,  \ 
“Time  is  with  us,”  while  I say,  “Time 
flies.”  I look  back  with  regret  on  oppor- 
tunities to  relate  to  people  that  were 
missed  forever  because  my  concept  of 
time  and  scheduling  was  too  rigid. 

When  Joe  Walks  Along,  pastor  of  the 
Petter  Memorial  Mennonite  Church  at  ■ 
Lame  Deer,  Montana,  was  at  the  Men- 


nonite  World  Conference  in  Amsterdam, 
some  Dutch  youth  wanted  to  talk  with 
him  at  lunch  time.  “Before  we  were 
through,”  Joe  said  later,  “I  noticed  sup- 
per was  about  to  be  served.” 

I have  a feeling  that  nature  should 
be  controlled.  I faithfully  mow  my  lawn 
and  trim  trees  and  bushes.  I feel  that 
roads  should  be  straight  and  level  in 
spite  of  hills  and  valleys. 

The  Cheyennes  tried  to  live  in  har- 
mony with  nature.  Even  the  killing  of 
game  for  food  was  seen  as  a regrettable 
necessity  for  which  one  asked  pardon. 
As  our  attempts  to  control  nature  threat- 
en us  with  disaster,  we  might  well  search 
together  with  our  Indian  brothers  for 
the  ways  we  can  be  responsible  stew- 
ards of  the  world  God  has  given  us. 

One  could  say  more  about  the  white 
man’s  stress  on  youth  and  the  Indian’s 
respect  for  age,  about  our  individualism 
and  their  respect  for  relationship  and 
community,  about  our  tendency  to  put 
our  faith  in  a compartment  isolated 
from  other  aspects  of  our  lives,  while 
the  Indian  tended  to  see  religion  perme- 
ating the  whole  of  life.  But  these  illus- 
trations will  show  that  each  culture  has 
its  differing  values  and  each  needs  to 
test  its  values  by  the  lordship  of  Jesus. 

My  Cheyenne  brothers  and  sisters  have 
helped  me  to  understand  more  clearly 
the  essential  nature  of  the  church.  One 
of  the  first  things  we  Mennonites  did 
in  our  ministry  to  the  North  American 
Indian  was  to  build  church  buildings. 
Most  of  these  were  rectangular  white 
frame  buildings  filled  with  rows  of  bench- 
es facing  a raised  platform  which  was 
sometimes  flanked  by  a piano  and  an 
organ. 


One  of  the  names  the  Cheyennes  gave 
to  the  preacher  was,  “The  one  who 
talks  down  (from  a higher  place).”  To 
a people  used  to  meeting  in  the  circle 
of  the  tipi  with  all  participants  seated 
on  the  ground,  this  must  have  been 
strange.  Thinking  about  the  Anabaptist 
ideal  of  a church  as  a caring  fellowship 
of  believers,  each  with  unique  gifts,  and 
each  qualifying  as  a priest  before  God, 
one  wonders  if  the  church  buildings  we 
brought  with  the  gospel  were  more  of 
a hindrance  than  a help. 

While  living  with  Cheyennes  I began 
to  understand  how  easy  it  is  for  us  to 
wrap  our  gospel  presentation  in  inap- 
propriate or  even  non-Christian  trap- 
pings. One  of  the  names  used  by  the 
Cheyenne  for  Easter  is  Vovozevecinaxtoz, 
“The  eating  of  eggs.”  Missionaries  tried 
to  change  it  to  Evhaohamaheones,  “Res- 
urrection day,”  but  failed.  Western  cus- 
tom made  a more  lasting  impact  than 
Christian  doctrine. 

I have  been  helped  to  understand  that 
to  be  the  church  there  must  be  a peo- 
ple committed  to  Christ,  to  the  fellow- 
ship of  believers,  and  to  a ministry  in 
Christ’s  name  to  the  world.  Beyond  the 
unchangeable  basics  there  is  freedom  to 
express  the  commitment  and  ministry  in 
a variety  of  differing  ways  which  are 
conditioned  by  culture.  A drum  might 
be  as  acceptable  as  an  organ  in  praising 
God. 

As  we  seek  to  share  the  good  news 
in  this  year  of  evangelism,  our  Indian 
brothers  and  sisters  can  help  us  to  under- 
stand that  evangelism  is  not  trying  to 
get  people  to  be  like  us  but  that  through 
faith  in  Christ  they  can  be  accepted  by 
God  and  that  we  will  accept  them  too. 


Cheyenne  Christians  have  also  taught 
me  about  forgiveness.  In  February  I 
was  invited  by  a Cheyenne  family  to  join 
in  celebrating  their  parents’,  Oliver  and 
Elizabeth  Risingsun’s,  golden  wedding 
anniversary.  Oliver’s  father  had  fought 
against  Custer  trying  to  save  the  Chey- 
enne’s land  and  way  of  life  from  the 
white  invaders.  Oliver  knew  of  the  suf- 
fering, injustice,  and  hearbreak  whites 
had  inflicted  on  his  people.  For  years 
he  had  seen  Christianity  as  the  white 
man’s  religion  and  not  for  him. 

Through  the  loving  ministry  of  In- 
dian Christians  of  another  tribe  during 
his  son’s  illness,  Oliver  came  to  under- 
stand that  the  good  news  was  for  all 
men,  that  he  was  included.  In  February, 
I,  a white  man,  was  warmly  welcomed 
as  a brother  in  Christ,  in  spite  of  all 
that  had  happened  in  the  past.  I entered 
into  the  miracle  of  forgiveness,  I too 
was  accepted. 

How  can  we  learn  from  our  Indian 
Christian  brothers  and  sisters?  We  need 
to  meet  in  a setting  where  we  approach 
one  another  as  equals  in  Christ.  We 
need  to  be  expectant  and  confident  that 
God  has  given  our  brother  gifts  for 
our  good  and  our  maturity  in  Christ. 

Some  time  ago  the  Cheyenne  and 
Arapaho  churches  in  Oklahoma  invited 
a dozen  white  families  to  their  camp 
meeting.  “You  tell  us  what  it  means  to 
be  a Mennonite  of  European  back- 
ground and  we  will  share  with  you 
what  it  means  to  be  a Mennonite  of 
Indian  background,”  they  suggested. 
This  is  the  kind  of  experience  where  the 
family  of  God  can  come  to  maturity  by 
the  exercise  of  the  gifts  Christ  has  given 
to  each  one. 


The  Cheyennes,  writes  Malcolm  Wenger, 
try  to  live  in  harmony  with  nature. 

Even  the  killing  of  game  for  food 
is  seen  as  a regrettable  necessity 
for  which  one  asks  for  pardon. 

He  goes  on  to  enumerate  many  of  the  things  that  he  has 
learned  from  his  Cheyenne 
brothers  and  sisters. 


THE  MENNONITE 


587 


Winter  nights  in  northern  Manitoba 
come  quickly.  Even  before  supper  the 
sun  settles  into  the  spruce  trees  leaving 
only  the  stars  and  moon  to  light  the 
trails  over  the  frozen  lake. 

The  Little  Grand  Rapids  Indian  re- 
serve, 250  miles  northeast  of  Winnipeg, 
is  one  of  these  northern  winter  para- 
dises. It  is  Ojibwa  (Chippewa)  country. 
The  treaty  Indian  population  on  the  re- 
serve stands  at  650. 

A few  whites  also  live  there.  They 
are  traders,  teachers,  nurses,  and  church 
workers.  Bush  pilots  make  regular  trips 
into  this  isolated  community  to  deliver 
supplies  and  make  emergency  trips  to 
the  nearest  hospital. 

The  people  of  Little  Grand  Rapids, 
despite  many  changes,  retain  strong  con- 
nections with  their  tradition,  some  less 
visible  than  others.  They  have  been  less 
seriously  disrupted  by  the  coming  of  the 
Europeans  than  the  plains  Indians  who 
ceded  their  lands  to  the  pioneer  farmers 
of  the  1870s.  So  far  the  woodlands  of 
the  northern  Ojibwa  remains  remarkably 
untouched. 

Jake  Dyck,  his  wife,  Katy,  and  their 
little  son,  Hans,  live  at  Little  Grand 
Rapids.  They  are  the  Mennonite  church 
workers  and  came  to  Little  Grand 
Rapids  at  the  request  of  the  chief  and 
a number  of  others. 

Both  Jake  and  Katy  have  had  previous 
transcultural  exposure.  Jake  served  a vol- 
untary service  term  in  Haiti  and  Katy 
worked  in  Vietnam,  both  under  the  Men- 
nonite Central  Committee. 


Jake’s  skidoo  was  stolen  just  before 
supper  one  winter  evening.  He  didn’t 
even  hear  it  start.  When  he  went  to  lock 
it  up  just  after  dark,  the  skidoo  was 
gone.  It  was  an  expensive  new  power 
toboggan  recently  donated  by  Jake’s 
home  church. 

Jake  remained  unruffled.  He  might 
check  around  in  the  morning,  he  said. 
He  did  mention  it  to  a few  of  the  In- 
dian friends  who  visited  the  house  that 
evening,  but  without  excitement. 

Through  a small  spot  cleared  from  the 
frosted  window  the  next  morning,  Jake 
spotted  his  yellow  skidoo  out  on  the  lake. 
It  had  run  out  of  gas.  There  was  also 
some  minor  damage. 

Jake  decided  to  leave  the  skidoo  on 
the  lake  for  a while — maybe  a day  or 
two.  Of  course  he  needed  it,  but  this 
time  for  something  else  than  travel. 

Irregularities  occur  frequently  at  Little 
Grand  Rapids.  Drunkenness,  violent  in- 
juries, and  break-ins  happen  so  often 
that  the  irregular  tends  to  become  the 


regular.  It  is  not  always  possible  to  tell 
acceptable  from  nonacceptable  behavior, 
especially  where  alcohol  or  property  are 
involved. 

Leaving  the  skidoo  on  the  lake  was  a 
beautiful  move  on  Jake’s  part,  but  not 
manipulative.  There  was  no  malice  in 
his  intention.  He  wasn’t  trying  to  get 
even.  Nor  did  he  want  sympathy.  More 
than  anything  else  he  wanted  to  learn 
and  to  understand. 

Mission  people  are  not  there  to  jump 
whenever  there  is  an  irregularity.  Chris- 
tians are  not  like  policemen  who  wait 
for  others  to  make  false  moves,  and 
then  judge.  Within  another  culture  there 
is  every  reason  in  the  world  to  avoid 
calling  the  shots  by  labeling  irregulari- 
ties and  then  providing  imported  reme- 
dies. 

Jake  respected  the  wisdom  of  his  In- 
dian friends  enough  to  let  them  make 
the  first  move  on  this  theft.  He  could 
have  gone  out  first  thing  in  the  morning, 
brought  the  skidoo  into  the  shed,  and 


teoch,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  «>ntext  of  Christian .love  and 3 .t"  ^^nferl^nno^ 


588 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 


Menno  Wiebe 


Next  morning,  Jake  spotted  his 
yellow  skidoo  out  on  the  lake. 

He  decided  to  leave  it  there  for  a while. 


ground  his  teeth,  maybe  with  the  resolu- 
tion to  buy  a bigger  padlock.  By  leav- 
ing the  skidoo  sitting  out  there  for  ev- 
eryone to  see,  he  permitted  the  people 
of  the  entire  community  to  gain  first- 
hand observation  and  then  formulate 
their  own  judgment  on  the  event.  They 
did. 

There  were  local  assessments  about 
the  irregularity  and  some  suggested  cor- 
rectives. The  church  man,  respected  as 
he  is,  allowed  for  local  answers  suited 
for  local  problems.  Jake  treated  his 
community  as  a mature  decision-making 
body.  The  older  men  and  younger  local 
leaders  thereby  were  acknowledged  not 
as  a mission  worker’s  audience  but  as 
his  colleagues. 

Jake  and  Katy  are  searching  for  ways 
in  which  to  come  to  terms  with  the  on- 
going clash  of  two  almost  irreconcilable 
cultures.  One  such  clash  is  evident  in 
the  conflicting  notions  of  ownership. 
The  Ojibwa  own  ideas,  the  European 
whites  own  things.  The  skidoo  is  a thing. 
A gadget.  Property.  And  it  belongs  to 
the  Mennonite  preacher  guy — like  the 
boat,  and  the  house,  the  tools,  and  the 
stocked-up  groceries.  And  the  white  man’s 
notions  of  ownership,  that  is,  the  rela- 
tionship of  man  to  things,  is  to  the  In- 
dians an  occasion  for  endless  marvel. 
Tamper  with  white  man’s  property, 
threaten  his  belief  in  ownership,  and  he 
hits  the  roof. 

The  missionaries  have  long  ago  ob- 
served that  Indians  ascribe  spirits  to 
trees,  stones,  and  deceased  humans  and 
promptly  dubbed  that  belief  as  pagan. 


No  less  pagan,  however,  is  the  white’s 
intense,  personal  relationship  to  his 
gadgets. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  a stolen  pow- 
er toboggan  at  Little  Grand  Rapids? 
Among  the  other  motivations  there  is 
probably  some  testing  going  on.  It  is  a 
means  of  gaining  some  information.  The 
Indian  too  wants  to  learn  about  whites. 
What  does  the  “thief”  want  to  know?  He 
wants  to  discover  more  about  the  un- 
preached gospel  of  ownership.  So  he 
asks: 

Does  this  guy  really  believe  in  things? 

Will  he  get  uptight  over  the  theft? 

Since  he  doesn’t  get  drunk,  will  he  be 
capable  of  getting  angry — and  show  it? 

What  happens  in  that  great  big  white 
world  with  its  billions  of  gadgets  when 
someone  challenges  the  “spiritual”  rela- 
tionship between  people  and  their  things? 

It’s  not  as  though  ownership  is  a 
completely  foreign  notion  to  the  wood- 
lands Ojibwa.  Ownership  is  indeed  part 
of  Ojibwa  philosophy.  But  whatever  was 
owned  was  not  subject  to  the  deteriora- 
tion of  moth  and  rust.  Songs  were  owned, 
like  dreams  and  visions.  And  these  orig- 
inated with  the  owners.  These  were  pro- 
vided in  response  to  the  dream  quest 
during  which  the  individual  fasted  in 
the  solitude  of  the  forest.  At  that  point 
the  individual  also  became  the  “owner” 
of  power  (manitohke).  This  power  en- 
titled him  to  exercise  certain  authority 
over  others,  and  as  could  be  expected, 
the  occasion  for  contest  with  others  sim- 
ilarly endowed.  But  ownership  hardly 
applied  to  gadgets.  That  notion  came 


with  the  guns,  kettles,  and  steel  knives. 
And  along  with  the  European  trade  goods 
came  the  notion  of  the  intense  relation- 
ship between  the  gadgets  and  their  pos- 
sessions. 

Power  toboggans  and  outboard  mo- 
tors are  continuations  of  gadget  innova- 
tion. They  represent  the  irreversible  in- 
troductions of  technology.  The  acquisi- 
tion of  the  guns  as  a hunting  device 
completely  upset  the  communal  buffalo 
hunts  for  the  plains  Indian  by  individual- 
izing the  chase.  The  power  toboggans 
and  outboards  have  had  similar  effects 
on  the  fishing  and  trapping  economy  of 
the  woodlands  Algonquins. 

With  technological  changes  come  ide- 
ological changes.  One  problem  of  Chris- 
tian ideologists  is  that  they  surrender  too 
much  ideology  for  the  technological  gad- 
gets. Gadgets  there  will  probably  need 
to  be,  but  gadgets  need  not  be  gods  who 
determine  our  behavior. 

For  the  Indian  people  a return  to  a 
pre-Columbian  economy  and  world  view 
is  not  an  option.  Ownership  of  things, 
i.e.,  the  white  belief  in  owning  property, 
is  invading  Indian  concepts,  but  against 
strong  resistance.  The  unwillingness  for 
an  ideological  surrender  to  gadget  own- 
ership is  a noble  resistance.  Some  rather 
resort  to  apathy.  That  is  not  noble. 

Some  are  exploring  possible  alterna- 
tives, such  as  a more  modest  relation- 
ship to  things.  Skidoos,  guns,  flashlights, 
and  tools  can  also  be  borrowed  for  a 
while,  sometimes  for  an  extended  while, 
especially  from  relatives  and  good  friends. 
And  Jake  Dyck  is  a good  friend. 


THE  MENNONITE 


589 


\ lAYS 


Sioux  in  Rapid  City  face  many  problems 


Emma  LaRoque 

Approximately  10,000  Indians  live  in 
Pennington  County  of  South  Dakota. 
Four  to  seven  thousand  Sioux  reside  in 
or  around  Rapid  City,  the  largest  town 
in  Pennington  County.  Most  of  them 
came  from  the  surrounding  reservations. 
Many  of  them  come  hoping  to  find  jobs. 

Unfortunately,  things  usually  do  not 
go  according  to  hopes  for  many  of  the 
people.  Urban  life  is  hardly  more  prom- 
ising than  reservation  life. 

One  of  the  first  difficulties  Indians 
face  when  they  arrive  in  the  city  is 
housing.  Either  they  cannot  find  any, 
or  when  they  do,  it  is  usually  substan- 
dard. 

Cathy  O’Brien,  a worker  for  the  Unit- 
ed Renters  Council,  said,  “There  is  just 
nothing  for  them  to  rent.”  Since  last 
year’s  flood,  rent  has  skyrocketed  in  the 
city.  In  some  cases  a two-bedroom  suite 
has  gone  up  from  $80  to  $180.  Those 
Indians  who  were  not  flood  victims  and 
cannot  receive  any  special  funding  are 
hit  the  hardest.  They  simply  cannot  af- 
ford apartments. 

Sometimes  blatant  racism  is  involved 
in  housing,  even  in  low-income  housing. 
Some  landlords  immediately  raise  their 
rent  when  they  know  Indians  are  inquir- 
ing. Getting  an  apartment  guarantees 
nothing  for  the  Indians.  A common  tac- 
tic by  a few  landlords  is  to  scare  Indians 
out  without  any  written  notices,  and 
sometimes  for  reasons  unknown.  This 
forces  overcrowding  among  friends  and 
relatives. 

When  Indians  come  to  the  city  they 
are  usually  unskilled.  This  factor  com- 
bined with  discrimination  on  the  part 
of  many  white  employers  makes  it  hard 
for  Indians  to  find  jobs.  Consequently, 
60  percent  of  the  urban  Indian  popu- 
laton  is  employed.  “However,”  explains 
Jeanne  White,  “the  jobs  are  the  kind 
nobody  else  wants  or  they  are  low-pay- 
ing and  provide  no  advancement.”  Ms. 
White  is  president  of  a recently  formed 
South  Dakota  Indian  Businessmen’s  As- 
sociation with  the  purpose  of  “helping 
to  promote  and  assist  the  growth  and 
development  of  Indian  business  con- 
cerns.” 

As  high  as  60  percent  of  the  1,200 
Indian  students  drop  out  of  the  Rapid 


City  public  schools.  Children  stay  away 
because  they  have  inadequate  clothing, 
no  bus  service  (many  live  beyond  the 
two-and-a-half-mile  limit  that  a state 
school  bus  will  go),  and  the  school  cur- 
riculum is  meaningless. 

An  Indian  mother  explained,  “They 
refuse  to  go  on  because  of  the  school 
system.  The  federal  guidelines  set  and 
computerize  the  system.  There  is  not  a 
thing  the  administrators  can  do.  They 
do  not  know  the  type  of  lives  we  live.” 

Dr.  Paul  Anderson,  a school  board 
member,  explained  that  optional  Indian 
studies  are  “being  worked  into  the  cur- 
riculum.” Textbooks  with  biased  pas- 
sages are  also  being  reviewed,  he  said. 

Dr.  Charles  Lindly,  superintendent  of 
Rapid  City  public  schools,  expressed 
much  concern  about  the  lack  of  trust 
between  Indian  parents  and  teachers.  He 
said  he  is  searching  for  ways  to  bridge 
the  communication  gap,  as  well  as  im- 
prove on  the  Indian  courses. 

The  more  obvious  problem  facing  In- 
dians in  Rapid  City  as  elsewhere  is  al- 
coholism and  its  consequences.  South 
Dakota  has  a law  against  public  intoxi- 
cation which  puts  a lot  of  Indians  in 
jail.  Rapid  City  Attorney  Ray  Woodsend 
said  that  75  to  80  percent  of  all  crime 
committed  by  Indians  is  alcohol  related. 
He  surmised  that  if  alcoholism  would  be 
treated  as  a disease  rather  than  a crime 
in  Indians  the  city  court’s  work  would 
be  lessened  by  half. 

But  chances  for  a comprehensive 
treatment  are  slim  because  the  city  has 
not  found  it  economically  feasible  to 
build  a center  for  alcoholic  problems. 
There  is  an  Alcoholics  Anonymous  but 
Judge  Tice  feels  part  of  the  problem  is 
“with  middle-class  institutions  and  a mid- 
dle-class AA  program.  We  don’t  under- 
stand the  Indian  culture.” 

Mary  Wright,  a Sioux  woman  orig- 
inally from  Pine  Ridge  Reservation,  di- 
rects a referral  and  counseling  program 
for  families  whose  members  suffer  from 
alcohol  difficulties.  Ms.  Wright  feels  that 
the  only  way  one  can  overcome  drinking 
problems  is  with  the  help  and  encour- 
agement of  one’s  family.  However,  lack 
of  funds  and  trained  counselors  is  a 
handicap  to  Ms.  Wright’s  program.  The 


biggest  problem,  she  says,  is  that  Indians 
cannot  afford  to  go  for  help  elsewhere 
even  when  they  are  referred. 

The  above  selected  problems  are  com- 
plicated and  intricately  interrelated. 
Readers  are  encouraged  not  to  see  these 
difficulties  as  isolated  from  each  other, 
but  rather  to  try  to  appreciate  the  fact 
that  the  problems  run  in  cycles.  To  try 
seriously  to  solve  these  problems  would 
mean  to  work  comprehensively  in  each 
area  at  the  same  time.  This  means  that 
we  should  never  be  satisfied  with  hap- 
hazard and  half-hearted  summer  proj- 
ects. It  means  that  trained  people  are 
needed  to  commit  their  lives  for  a peo- 
ple who  have  been  hurt  in  a most  in- 
sistent and  tragic  way. 

Filming  on  Asia 
mission  study  begins 

On-location  filming  began  in  early  Sep- 
tember for  mission  study  films  of  the 
Mennonite  church  in  Japan,  India,  and 
Indonesia. 

A film  from  each  of  the  three  coun- 
tries is  planned.  The  project  is  sponsored 
by  the  inter-Mennonite  Mission  and  Ref- 
erence Committee  in  North  America  in 
cooperation  with  overseas  churches. 

A film  team  from  Ken  Anderson  Stu- 
dios, Winona  Lake,  Indiana,  is  produc- 
ing the  films.  The  scripts  were  written 
by  Ken  Anderson  in  consultation  with 
national  leaders.  Harold  Weaver,  Elk- 
hart, Indiana,  serves  as  executive  pro- 
ducer, representing  the  North  American 
committee  in  relating  to  overseas  church- 
es and  the  film  team. 

The  films  are  to  become  the  basis  for 
the  1974  mission  study  in  Mennonite 
congregations  in  North  America,  al- 
though they  have  been  planned  to  be 
useful  in  their  own  countries,  too.  Print- 
ed study  materials  will  cover  other  Asia 
countries  where  Mennonite  churches  are 
emerging.  Each  film  will  be  fifteen  to 
twenty  minutes  long.  Release  prints  are 
expected  by  July  1,  1974. 

The  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  Mennonite  Church,  Mennonite 
Brethren  Church,  and  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  are  involved  in  support 
of  the  filming  projects. 


590 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 


An  apostolic  adieu  for  Jim  and  Anna  Juhnke 

Dwayne  Martin 


“Excuse  me,  sir,”  said  the  usher.  “But 
don’t  you  have  a jacket?” 

A jacket!  But  this  is  Africa.  I scon 
realized,  however,  that  I had  come  to  a 
very  special  celebration.  Botswana  mcc 
director  Jim  Juhnke  and  his  family  were 
returning  to  the  United  States  the  end 
of  July.  The  entire  Gaborone  congre- 
gation of  the  Apostolic  Spiritual  Heal- 
ing Church  had  dressed  in  their  blue 
and  white  uniforms  to  say  farewell. 

After  a brief  discussion  the  ushers 
pardoned  my  naked  arms  and  led  me 
to  the  front  row.  The  building  was 
shaped  like  a cross.  The  men  sat  in  its 
right  arm.  Women  filled  the  left  arm 
and  body,  and  the  children  squatted  be- 
hind them  at  the  cross’s  foot,  except 
for  the  two  Juhnke  children  who  wan- 
dered between  their  parents. 

The  service  began  with  a prayer,  or 
rather,  three  hundred  prayers.  Each 
person  raised  his  voice  to  God,  and  for 
several  minutes  the  clamor  filled  the 
hall.  Then  the  minister’s  voice  spread 
like  oil  on  troubled  waters,  “Amen  . . . 
amen  . . . amen  . . .”  until  all  was  still. 

“Today  we  have  come  to  say  fare- 
well to  our  friends,  Jim  and  Anna 
Juhnke,”  began  the  minister.  Pastor 
Motswaela’s  eyes  shone  with  a rare  zeal, 
and  his  square  beard  made  him  look 
like  a Sunday  school  drawing  of  the 
Apostle  Paul  or  Phillip.  “Professor 
Juhnke  has  been  our  father.  . . As 
he  continued  I wondered  how  the  church 
survived  before  the  Juhnkes  came. 

Jim’s  speech  reminded  the  group  that 
there  is  no  other  foundation  laid  than 
Jesus  Christ.  At  home  we  don’t  wear 
uniforms.  We  don’t  clap  and  dance.  You 
have  taught  us  many  things.  You  have 
taught  us  that  there  are  other  ways  to 
worship.” 

So  far  I had  heard  only  stately  hymns, 
but  these  soon  gave  way  to  repetitious 
jingle  tunes  with  clapping  hands  and 
swaying  bodies.  At  offering  time  the  en- 
tire congregation  danced  up  to  the  altar 
to  bring  their  gifts  to  the  Lord.  Some 
waved  money  in  their  hands,  while  the 
shy  and  the  poor  hid  it  in  their  fists, 
but  each  person  twisted  and  jived  his 
way  around  the  altar,  placed  his  offering 
in  the  plate,  and  danced  back  to  his 
seat,  where  he  continued  the  singing 
and  clapping  for  the  rest. 

When  all  the  coins  and  bills  were 
counted  the  minister  announced  that 
they  had  collected  $100  for  the  Juhnkes 


Jim  and  Anna  Juhnke  returned  to  North 
Newton,  Kansas,  this  summer  after  a 
two-year  stint  of  MCC  service  in  south- 
ern Africa.  They  were  on  leave  of  ab- 
sence from  Bethel  College.  In  Botswana, 
Anna  ( top ) taught  at  the  Gaborone  sec- 
ondary school.  Jim,  who  directed  the 
Botswana  program  and  also  carried  out 
some  assignments  in  South  Africa,  is 
shown  in  the  bottom  photo  chatting 
with  Paxman  Lowell  Histand  {left). 


to  buy  provisions  on  their  trip  home. 
How  do  you  accept  money  offered  by 
undernourished  children? 

The  Juhnkes  had  promised  that  we 
would  get  home  by  one  o’clock,  but 
the  speeches,  songs,  and  prayers  con- 
tinued. Pastor  Motswaela  looked  at  me 
and  said,  “I  fear  our  visitor  who  came 
with  Juhnkes  will  never  come  and  wor- 
ship with  us  again.  As  you  can  see  it  is 
already  half  past  one,  and  I am  sure  he 
must  be  getting  hungry.”  I had  forgot- 


ten food,  but  the  two  Juhnke  children 
had  not. 

Someone  held  up  a beautifully  woven 
basket.  “Normally  we  give  these  gifts 
to  the  men,”  said  Pastor  Motswaela. 
“But  who  is  it  that  uses  a basket?”  Ev- 
eryone pointed  to  Anna.  “Right!  The 
woman  uses  a basket.” 

Anna’s  turn  at  speechmaking  had 
come.  She  spoke  on  “Trust  and  obey,” 
which  they  all  knew  and  sang  eagerly. 
Jim  and  Anna  gave  the  church  a Bible 
commentary  and  a set  of  paperback 
books.  The  head  of  the  women’s  group 
rose  to  say  how  helpful  these  would  be 
in  the  church  library. 

The  pastor  opened  a box,  revealing  a 
black  Bible.  “When  I sent  Israel  to  the 
store  to  buy  a Bible,  he  came  back  with 
an  English  Bible.  Now  how  are  people 
in  America  supposed  to  know  Professor 
Juhnke  has  been  to  Botswana  if  he  re- 
turns with  an  English  Bible?”  Everyone 
laughed.  “So  I said,  ‘Go  back  and  bring 
a Tswana  Bible.’  And  who  is  the  Bible 
for?”  All  pointed  to  Jim,  “Right.  It’s  for 
Professor  Juhnke.” 

He  laid  his  hands  on  the  Bible.  As 
he  prayed  his  intense  bubbly  voice  float- 
ed above  the  singing  of  the  people.  He 
handed  the  Bible  to  Jim  and  said,  “When- 
ever Professor  Juhnke  is  unwell  he  must 
lie  down  with  his  head  on  this  Bible. 
And  the  prayers  of  the  congregation  will 
go  forth  and  heal  him.” 

“The  first  reading  from  this  Bible  is 
going  to  be  done  by  Professor  Juhnke.” 
Motswaela  chose  a verse  from  Hebrews. 
Jim  stumbled  bravely  through  the  Ts- 
wana words,  and  despite  attempts  at 
politeness  the  giggles  leaked  out. 

Next  all  four  Juhnkes  knelt  while  the 
minister  laid  his  hands  on  their  heads. 
After  the  twenty-third  repetition  of  “O 
a tsamaya  kwa  seding,”  I felt  like  shout- 
ing, “Please  get  off  it!”  My  hands  were 
aching,  but  everyone  else  went  right  on 
clapping  and  having  a great  time.  Then 
the  first  two  rows  from  each  wing 
marched  up  to  shake  hands  and  wish 
the  Juhnkes  farewell.  And  then  about 
five  special  groups  sang  farewell  songs. 

Finally  the  minister  looked  at  the 
clock  and  said  with  obvious  pride,  “As 
you  can  see,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  is 
a quarter  past  two.  We  must  have  had 
very  important  work  to  do  today  to  keep 
us  here  this  long.”  Jim  said  a short  bene- 
diction, and  at  last  we  marched,  front 
row  first,  out  into  the  African  sunshine. 


THE  MENNON1TE 


591 


f 


New  phase  of  church  planting  to  begin 


Church  planting  is  ready  for  phase  4 
and  a new  emphasis,  said  twenty-three 
district  and  provincial  representatives 
who  attended  a consultation  on  church 
planting  September  18-19  in  Chicago, 
called  by  the  General  Conference’s  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries. 

The  establishment  of  urban  churches 
to  gather  city  Mennonites,  which  flour- 
ished during  the  1950s  and  early  1960s, 
must  now  give  way  to  a new  form  of 
church  planting,  the  representatives  said. 
But  they  did  not  spell  out  the  specific 
form  of  the  new  churches  to  be  started. 
Instead,  they  endorsed  flexibility  and  sug- 
gested a variety  of  forms:  traditional 
“sanctuary”  churches,  house  churches, 
intentional  communities,  interdenomina- 
tional congregations,  and  congregations 
of  house  churches. 

Representatives,  who  included  mission 
committee  chairmen,  conference  minis- 
ters, and  district  presidents,  set  five  goals 
for  church  planting: 

1.  That  each  district  recruit  at  least 
one  person  or  family  who  would  qual- 
ify for  and  be  ready  to  do  new  church 
planting  within  the  next  twelve  months. 

2.  That  every  congregation  consider 
what  church  planting  within  this  trien- 
nium  means  for  them  and  that  they  give 
a progress  report  to  their  district  or 
provincial  missions  committee  within  one 
year. 

3.  That  the  district  conference  and 
Dave  Whitermore  (chm  church  planting 
secretary)  within  this  year  study,  affirm, 
and  strengthen  what  is  already  happen- 
ing in  church  planting. 

4.  That  chm  and  the  districts  train 
small  group  leaders  for  house  church 
planting  during  1974. 

5.  That  Palmer  Becker  (chm  execu- 
tive secretary)  encourage  the  (inter- 
Mennonite)  Home  Ministries  Council  to 
establish  an  inter-Mennonite  agency  for 
church  planting. 

Impetus  for  the  consultation  came 
from  the  Commission  on  Home  Minis- 
tries annual  meeting  last  February,  when 
five  commission  members  read  papers, 
and  the  commission  declared  the  city 
church  movement  dead  and  committed 
itself  to  a new  phase  of  church  plant- 
ing. The  commission  at  that  time  gave 
approval  to  hiring  Dave  Whitermore  for 
the  church  planting  assignment  and  called 
for  “a  two-day  consultation  to  consider 
our  church  planting  directions.” 

At  the  consultation,  Leland  Harder 
of  Elkhart,  Indiana,  now  on  a special 


part-time  assignment  in  church  plant- 
ing with  chm,  presented  a lengthy  paper 
on  the  history  of  General  Conference 
church  planting. 

Phase  1,  he  said,  was  the  era  of  rural 
church  extension,  1860-1900.  The  Gen- 
eral Conference’s  first  mission  work  after 
it  was  established  was  the  support  of 
traveling  ministers,  known  as  Reisepre- 
diger,  whose  assignment  was  to  draw 
scattered  churches  closer  in  spirit,  help 
struggling  new  churches  to  grow,  and 
bring  them  all  into  conference  member- 
ship and  participation. 

From  1900  to  1940  the  conference 
began  establishing  inner  city  missions 
to  “claim  the  urban  world  for  Christ.” 
The  success  of  these  ventures  “was  not 
immediately  apparent,”  said  Mr.  Harder, 
and  some  churches  were  still  drawing 
mission  subsidy  forty  years  after  they 
had  been  established. 

The  third  phase  of  church  planting, 
1940-1965,  “had  the  Mennonite  nucleus 
itself  as  the  first  concern — gathering  up 
the  lost  sheep  of  Menno”  as  Menno- 
nites moved  from  farm  to  city.  The 
Board  of  Missions  created  a committee 
on  city  churches,  city  church  pastors 
convened  occasionally,  a city  church 
publication  was  started,  a city  church 
field  secretary  was  hired.  (The  com- 
mittee on  city  churches  was  abolished 
in  1969,  when  the  Commission  on  Home 
Ministries  was  formed.) 

City  churches  had  higher  proportions 
of  members  of  non-Mennonite  back- 
ground than  rural  churches,  but  among 
all  city  churches,  only  a few  gained 
more  than  10  percent  of  their  members 
from  non-Mennonite  sources. 

The  most  important  lesson  which  the 
city  church  movement  brought  into  fo- 
cus, Mr.  Harder  said,  “is  that  the  Men- 
nonite church,  General  Conference  in 
particular,  cannot  depend  on  a pious 
rural  community  to  perpetuate  itself.  . . . 
Corollary  to  this  is  the  obvious  conclu- 
sion that  the  church  cannot  depend  on 
cultural  traits  to  identify  its  real  Men- 
nonite quality.  Only  a deeper  prepara- 
tion for  Christian  life  with  strong  spir- 
itual support  can  continue  a believers’ 
church  in  competition  with  a distract- 
ing rival  environment.” 

Mr.  Harder  concluded,  “Whatever  the 
character  of  this  new  thrust  (phase  4), 
it  will  not  be  like  any  of  the  preceding 
three  strategies,  nor  will  it  be  totally  un- 
like any  one  of  them.  It  will  probably 
have  rural  as  well  as  urban  aspects  of 


ecology.  It  may  have  less  concern  for 
money  and  property  and  give  more  at- 
tention to  the  intensity  of  the  authentic 
Christian  community.” 

Henry  Gerbrandt  of  Winnipeg,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  the  Conference  of  Men- 
nonites in  Canada,  also  presented  a pa- 
per on  the  history  of  church  planting  in 
Canada.  He  said  the  period  following 
World  War  I was  spent  founding  new 
churches  with  recent  Russian  immigrants,  , 
building  church  buildings,  and  provid- 
ing ministerial  services.  The  movement 
to  the  cities  began  following  World  War 
II,  and  now  these  city  churches  are  be- 
coming  the  backbone  of  the  Conference 
of  Mennonites  in  Canada. 

The  recent  immigration  of  many  Cana- 
dian Mennonites,  their  strong  German 
life-style,  and  government  encourage- 
ment to  retain  ethnic  identity  have  not 
encouraged  outreach  of  transfer  from 
one  church  to  another,  Mr.  Gerbrandt 
said. 

He  said  two  options  for  the  future 
were  using  the  mainline  evangelical  ap-  / 
proaches  of  groups  like  Campus  Cru- 
sade with  its  individualistic  emphasis, 
or  placing  more  emphasis  on  people- 
hood,  Mennonites’  own  discipleship,  and 
witnessing  to  other  church  groups. 

Participants  in  the  consultation  worked 
part  of  the  time  in  four  strategy  groups 
on  guidelines  on  basic  strategy,  the  meet- 
inghouse/sanctuary church  model  of 
church  planting,  house  churches  and  in- 
tentional communities,  and  “interchurch” 
churches. 

Bethel  enrollment 
jumps  25  percent 

Registration  figures  after  three  weeks 
of  classes  showed  a total  of  564  per- 
sons enrolled  at  Bethel  College,  of  which 
487  were  full-time  students. 

Vemelle  Waltner,  registrar,  said  that 
last  year,  after  two  weeks  of  classes, 
Bethel  had  registered  445  students,  403 
for  full-time  work  and  42  part-time. 

The  increase  represents  a 25  percent 
jump,  and  to  her  knowledge  this  is  the 
highest  percentage  of  increase  in  the 
state.  Average  increases  have  been  un- 
der 2 percent. 

Registration  by  classes  shows  the  fol- 
lowing totals:  freshmen  199,  sopho- 

mores 110,  juniors  124,  seniors  72,  and 
specials  59.  There  are  253  new  students, 
including  transfers. 


592 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


October  16,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 


Emerging  church  looks  at 
three  resources 

There  are  helpful  resources  now  avail- 
able for  the  contemporary  church  of 
the  mid-seventies. 

Relational  theology  has  been  redis- 
covered in  this  decade.  It  has  focused 
on  meaningful  relationships  in  the  com- 
munity of  faith  as  the  basis  for  spiritual 
growth.  The  small  group  movement,  as 
, seen  through  the  eyes  of  the  Yokefel- 
low movement,  Faith-at-Work  Fellow- 
ship, and  Lay  Witness  Mission,  has 
gained  new  momentum  as  well  as  valid- 
ity. Relational  theology  has  nurtured  a 
more  complete  Christian  life-style  by 
| placing  dialog  as  a necessary  ingredient. 

Transactional  analysis  is  a second  re- 
source that  has  emerged  in  this  decade. 

| It  is  also  compatible  with  the  small 
group  movement.  With  just  a basic  un- 
derstanding of  TA,  the  nonprofessional 
can  participate  in  the  process  of 
^ growth  groups  and  therapy.  TA  is  a 
simplified  approach  to  an  understanding 
of  personality,  communications,  and  in- 
terpersonal relationships.  Vast  numbers 
of  congregations  are  now  utilizing  TA 
and  applying  it  to  Christian  education 
as  well  as  counseling  services. 

A third  resource  that  is  compatible 
with  the  small  group  movement  is  the 
Serendipity  group  process  techniques  as 
developed  by  Lyman  Coleman.  The  Ser- 
endipity books  and  workshops  have  at- 
tracted thousands  of  avid  fans.  Seren- 
dipity revolves  around  the  four  bases  of 
self-sharing,  affirmation,  community  or 
fellowship  building,  and  celebration.  Ser- 
endipity utilizes  relational  Bible  study 
as  an  important  ingredient  in  team  build- 
ing as  well  as  developing  biblical  liter- 
acy. The  Serendipity  group  process  is 
noteworthy  for  the  renewal  movement 
and  is  compatible  with  TA  and  rela- 
tional theology. 

Because  of  these  three  resources  and 
their  commonality  I am  more  hopeful 
and  optimistic  for  the  emerging  church 
as  an  instrument  of  renewal  in  this  age. 
I rejoice  with  those  congregations  that 
have  taken  advantage  of  them  and  are 
now  seeing  the  fruits  of  their  efforts. 
Brant  Loper,  Yokefellow  Institute  news- 
letter 


Members  respond  to  conference  goals 

Goal  No.  1 To  generate  congregational  excitement  over  serious  discipleship. 

Editor’s  note:  Members  of  congregation  and  district  committees  are  being  asked  to 
respond  to  one  of  the  ten  goals.  Each  month  statements  enlarging  upon  these  goals 
will  appear  in  the  Reporter. 

Discipleship  means  involvement 

Three  words:  excitement,  serious,  and  discipleship.  The  youth  would  say  those 
words  are  “heavy,”  for  discipleship  means  a full,  free,  and  honest  following  of  the 
leadership  of  our  Christ,  and  serious  says  that  we’re  not  going  to  “play  church”  any- 
more, not  going  to  just  talk  about  commitment,  but  really  be  the  people  God 
bought  us  to  be,  and  excitement — well,  that’s  the  one  we  have  the  least  of  about 
anything,  even  though  it  is  a sign  of  being  alive — in  the  Spirit  as  well  as  in  the  flesh! 

There  is  no  way  we  can  say  we  are  disciples  of  Jesus  without  really  “following  in 
his  footsteps.”  And  that  means  being  seriously  involved  in  the  life  situations  which 
need  messages  of  peace  and  caring  love,  for  where  there  was  hurt  and  sorrow  Jesus 
reached  out  to  touch,  and  heal,  and  lift  up.  Nick  Kassabaum,  CD  peace  and  service 
committee 

Discipleship  breaks  with  status  quo 

Discipleship  like  happiness  is  different  things  to  different  people.  Serious  disciple- 
ship is  difficult  to  discern  from  outward  signs  as  only  God  knows  what  is  in  the 
heart.  Jesus’  requirements  for  discipleship  were  quite  rigid  (Lk.  14:26,  33;  John 
13:34,  35).  Individuals  may  be  serious  and  excited  about  their  endeavors  but  to  get 
a whole  congregation  to  be  excited  with  them  is  difficult.  It  is  good  to  have  full  at- 
tendance at  church  but  serious  discipleship  is  more  than  attending  meetings. 

An  excited  congregation  will  be  more  concerned  about  what  its  members  are  doing 
outside  the  church  than  having  record-breaking  attendances.  A congregation  should 
be  more  excited  over  the  ones  who  venture  out  in  serious  discipleship  than  the 
ninety-nine  who  remain  in  the  status  quo.  Max  Sprunger,  member  of  Camp  Friedens- 
wald  committee 

Civil  religion  versus  discipleship 

There  are  two  assumptions  here  that  relate  to  obvious  definition  questions.  What  is 
meant  by  1)  “serious  discipleship”  and  2)  “excitement”? 

I would  guess  that  one  refers  to  Anabaptist  history,  the  Golden  Age  of  our  her- 
itage. However,  it  is  one  thing  to  read  and  get  heady  about  this  glorious  past,  and 
another  to  get  people  excited  about  “doing  it”  today.  Such  discipleship  appears 
“radical,”  whereas  most  of  us  think  and  live  “middle  of  the  road.” 

And  when  some  exceptional  soul  is  moved  to  radical  decisions  and  acts,  the  reac- 
tion noted  in  affected  congregations  often  is  other  than  positive  excitement.  (Serious 
disciples  like  prophets  are  appreciated  most  from  afar.)  We  cannot  assume  that 
congregational  excitement  will  follow  serious  discipleship. 

For  what  are  the  chances  of  serious  discipleship  on  a congregational  basis  in  our 
church-type  churches  when  there  are  so  many  other  things  people  are  more  excited 
about?  Furthermore,  we  can  only  begin  to  hope  for  such  widespread  discipleship 
when  we  can  accept  the  unpleasant  notoriety  that  so  often  accompanies  radical  dis- 
cipleship. We  cannot  assume  that  more  than  a small  percentage  of  our  members 
will  ever  be  open  to  a different  and  strange  Spirit  and  to  the  rigors  of  serious/radical 
discipleship.  Cultural  and  civil  religion  die  too  hard.  Harry  Spaeth,  secretary  of  CD 
conference 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-l 


Models  for  pastor's  salary  explored 


brotherhood  it  should  be  possible  to  cents  per  mile  thereafter.  Churches  were 


share  such  information  in  determining 
what  another  brother  should  have  to 
live  on.  There  is  also  the  assumption 
that  if  the  pastor’s  family  has  special 
needs  that  it  would  be  right  for  him  to 
receive  more  than  the  average  salary. 

Only  rarely  does  one  hear  of  a con- 
gregation using  this  method.  In  our  so- 
ciety where  income  is  a means  of  ob- 
taining social  standing,  it  is  too  threat- 
ening to  be  open  about  finances.  So  let’s 
look  at  a second  model. 

The  church  model 

A number  of  denominations  have  re- 
cently sought  to  do  something  about 
the  low  level  of  salaries  for  pastors. 
Committees  made  up  of  laymen  have 
been  appointed  to  make  the  recom- 
mendations. In  1969  a denomination 
quite  similar  to  the  Mennonites  came 
up  with  the  following:  They  suggested 
that  a pastor  without  seminary  training 
receive  a basic  salary  of  $5,200  plus 
parsonage  or  a salary  of  $7,200  without 
parsonage.  For  a pastor  with  seminary 
education  they  suggested  a basic  salary 
of  $6,000  plus  parsonage  or  $8,000  with- 
out. The  pastor  without  a seminary  edu- 
cation should  then  receive  $200  incre- 
ment per  year  up  to  sixteen  years  of 
service.  The  pastor  with  a seminary  de- 
gree should  receive  $250  per  year  incre- 
ment. At  the  end  of  sixteen  years  of 
service  the  pastor  with  a seminary  de- 
gree would  be  receiving  a basic  salary 
of  $10,000  plus  parsonage  or  $12,000  if 
the  pastor  supplied  his  own  home. 

This  is  a very  orderly  way  of  setting 
a “fair”  salary  for  the  pastor.  If  all  our 
churches  would  follow  this  pattern  the 
pastors  would  be  treated  equally  on  the 
basis  of  the  amount  of  education  and 
the  number  of  years  they  had  served. 

In  addition  to  the  wages  paid  the  de- 
nomination recommended  a pastor  re- 
ceive a two-week  vacation  each  year  for 
the  first  three  years,  three  weeks  during 
the  fourth  to  sixth  years  of  service,  and 
four  weeks  after  seven  years  of  service. 
It  was  further  suggested  that  a car  al- 
lowance be  figured  at  ten  cents  a mile 
for  the  first  15,000  miles  and  seven 


urged  to  enroll  their  pastor  in  the  pen- 
sion plan  and  the  hospitalization  plan. 
There  is  another  important  item  that 
should  not  be  missed.  It  was  recommend- 
ed that  the  salary  schedule  be  adjusted 
each  year  according  to  the  increase  or 
decrease  in  the  cost  of  living  based  on  , 
the  U.S.  Department  of  Consumer  Price 
Index.  This  is  important  for  the  cost  of 
living  has  been  rising  at  a rate  better 
than  4 percent  per  year.  Taking  this 
factor  into  account,  a pastor  with  a 
seminary  degree  who  started  serving  in 
1969  at  a salary  of  $6,000  plus  par- 
sonage should  have  received  the  fol- 
lowing increases:  (See  bottom  chart). 

It  is  the  assumption  of  this  model 
that  unless  the  pastor  receives  the  cost  ■> 
of  living  increase,  he  will  actually  be 
receiving  a decrease  in  salary,  as  the 
yearly  increment  is  more  than  the  cost 
of  living  increase  only  the  first  year. 

This  model  has  some  disadvantages, 
particularly  to  pastors  who  are  young 
and  who  have  less  training.  Some  might 
rightly  question  whether  older  persons 
need  much  higher  salaries.  But  this 
means  that  the  young  pastors  should 
then  be  started  at  a higher  figure.  But 
this  pattern  does  not  propose  to  be  the 
brotherhood  pattern  which  was  present- 
ed first.  It  seeks  to  use  some  of  the 
standards  that  are  accepted  in  the  world, 
and  most  pastors  would  be  happy  if 
they  were  applied  regularly. 

The  professional  model 

A third  model  would  be  to  use  the 
salary  scales  of  professional  workers  in 
the  community.  A variety  of  figures 
could  be  used,  but  one  that  is  very  read- 
ily available  is  the  scale  for  public  school 
teachers.  Let  us  look  at  these  figures  for 
a community  in  Indiana.  The  starting  ^ 
salary  for  a teacher  with  a bachelor’s 
degree  is  $7,425  for  a 9 Vi  months  con- 
tract. Using  this  for  a pastor  we  would 
need  to  adjust  it  for  WVz  months  and 
the  starting  salary  would  be  $8,987. 
The  schedule  lists  annual  increments* 
and  in  addition  there  are  periodic  cost 
of  living  increases. 

For  a person  wth  a master’s  degree 


The  elder  deacon  was  driving  me  home 
in  his  Cadillac  following  a church  bud- 
get preparation  meeting  when  he  turned 
to  me  and  said,  “It  really  bothers  me 
that  we  are  not  paying  you  a more  ade- 
quate salary.”  By  his  statement  he  was 
opening  the  way  for  me  to  tell  how 
we  were  doing  financially.  We  were  in  a 
bind.  With  four  children  we  were  find- 
ing it  almost  impossible  to  make  any 
progress  with  the  debts  we  had  ac- 
cumulated. And  we  were  living  frugally. 

In  spite  of  our  situation  I shrugged 
off  his  words  with  some  offhanded  com- 
ment to  the  effect  that  we  were  making 
it.  After  all,  who  wants  to  admit  that 
they  cannot  manage  their  money  even  if 
the  amount  is  small?  But  as  I thought 
about  it  and  talked  it  over  with  my 
wife,  I was  not  satisfied  with  my  re- 
sponse. If  the  deacon  was  truly  feeling 
that  we  were  not  receiving  an  adequate 
amount,  and  we  felt  the  same  way,  then 
we  should  have  been  able  to  talk  about 
it.  Actually  the  deacon  was  a good  friend 
who  lived  modestly  and  his  company- 
owned  car  did  not  really  reveal  his  style 
of  life  and  his  stewardship.  So  in  a day 
or  two  I went  to  visit  him  and  brought 
up  his  comment  and  the  fact  that  I had 
not  been  honest  with  him  in  my  re- 
sponse. The  result  was  that  the  amount 
allocated  for  the  pastor’s  salary  in  the 
budget  was  increased. 

There  are  persons  in  every  congrega- 
tion who  are  concerned  that  the  amount 
of  money  the  pastor  receives  for  his 
services  be  adequate.  But  it  is  not  al- 
ways clear  to  such  persons  how  that 
amount  should  be  determined.  If  the 
person  has  not  lived  on  a set  salary,  he 
does  not  have  the  personal  experience 
from  which  to  draw  to  make  such  a 
decision.  Therefore  I would  like  to  sug- 
gest three  ways  in  which  a church  can 
work  on  this  problem. 

The  brotherhood  model 

One  suggestion  that  has  been  around 
for  some  time  is  that  the  pastor  should 
receive  approximately  the  average  sal- 
ary of  the  families  in  the  congregation. 

In  smaller  congregations  it  is  not  too 
difficult  to  estimate  the  taxable  income 
of  the  majority  of  the  families.  If  that 
seems  a little  difficult,  the  church  coun- 
cil can  be  used  for  setting  the  figure.  1970 
This  means  that  the  church  officers  1971 

would  need  to  be  open  about  their  in-  1972 

come  and  willing  to  talk  about  it.  In  a 1973 


Basic  salary 

Yearly  increment 

4 percent 
Cost  of  living 

T otal  salary 

$6,000 

250 

240 

$6,490 

6,490 

250 

260 

7,000 

7,000 

250 

280 

7,530 

7,530 

250 

301 

8,081 

A-2 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 


Group  studies  its  heritage 


(one  year  less  than  a seminary  Master 
of  Divinity  degree)  the  9 Vi -months  sal- 
ary is  $8,020.  For  the  11  Vi -months  pe- 
riod, this  would  come  to  $9,706  as  a 
starting  salary.  This  scale  places  the  pas- 
tor on  a par  with  teachers  of  the  com- 
munity who  have  a comparable  secular 
job.  It  is  also  a salary  that  most  pastors 
would  find  acceptable. 

Other  considerations 

In  setting  a pastor’s  salary  it  would 
be  well  for  the  committee  as  a whole 
i to  keep  in  mind  the  Golden  Rule.  In- 
stead of  seeing  how  frugal  they  can  be, 
the  members  should  treat  the  pastor  as 
, they  would  like  to  be  treated. 

Secondly,  there  should  be  an  annual 
I review  in  which  the  committee  seeks  to 
take  in  account  all  the  factors  that 
[ should  be  considered.  The  pastor  should 
not  have  to  be  in  a position  of  request- 
ing an  increase.  But  if  the  church  has 
not  brought  up  the  subject,  he  should 
feel  free  to  raise  the  issue  and  the  broth- 
erhood should  be  able  to  give  him  a 
considerate  hearing. 

Thirdly,  churches  need  to  be  aware 
that  when  the  cost  of  living  is  rising 
rapidly,  any  salary  increment  that  does 
not  equal  the  rising  cost  is  a salary  de- 
duction. If  members  are  receiving  com- 
parable deductions,  then  it  would  be 
appropriate  for  the  pastor  to  be  treated 
equally. 

Fourthly,  a church  that  prizes  the 
brotherhood  concept  should  not  settle 
too  easily  for  a rigid  pattern,  but  should 
seek  to  be  open  to  talking  about  how 
we  are  doing  in  stewardship. 

Fifthly,  in  a tithing  congregation  it 
takes  only  ten  families  to  give  a pastor  an 
average  salary,  and  the  pastor’s  tithe 
will  go  quite  a way  in  helping  to  cover 
other  expenses.  David  Habegger 

General  Conference  1974 
seeks  nominations 

The  nominating  committee  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  is  looking  for  sugges- 
tions on  who  should  run  for  General 
Conference  offices  and  commission  seats. 

Heinz  Janzen,  general  secretary,  said 
the  nominating  committee  would  meet 
late  this  year  to  draw  up  a list  of  per- 
sons to  be  nominated  at  the  triennial 
sessions  of  the  General  Conference  Aug- 
ust 3-9,  1974,  in  St.  Catharines,  Ontario. 

Those  whose  terms  will  end  in  1974 
and  those  who  are  eligible  for  reelection 
can  be  ascertained  from  the  conference’s 
Handbook  of  Information,  published  an- 
nually. 


The  Mennonite  Heritage  Fellowship  of 
the  Normal  Mennonite  Church  was  start- 
ed in  February  1970  as  an  informal  in- 
terest group  and  has  been  meeting  each 
month  since  then,  except  for  the  sum- 
mer months.  The  group  meets  in  the 
homes  of  the  participants  and  various 
aspects  of  Mennonite  history  and  life 
are  explored,  usually  with  one  of  those 
attending  in  charge.  The  group  is  par- 
ticularly interested  in  learning  more  about 
and  preserving  the  Mennonite  spiritual 
and  cultural  heritage.  Though  there  is 
little  formal  organization,  Myma  Park 
has  been  in  charge  of  making  program 
plans.  Some  of  the  topics  for  various 
programs  have  been:  “Mennonite  ori- 

Whitermore  assists 
in  church  extension 

David  Whitermore,  who  completed  an 
itineration  assignment  with  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries  in  June, 
began  a new  assignment  in  church  ex- 
tension July  1 under  chm. 

The  invitation  to  the  new  assign- 
ment through  the  end  of  the  triennium, 
grew  out  of  discussion  at  the  recent 
annual  meeting  of  the  commission.  There 
commission  members  and  district  mis- 
sion committee  members  saw  a need  for 
more  leadership  from  chm  in  church 
extension.  They  pointed  to  a readiness 
in  the  conference  for  new  initiatives  in 
church  extension  and  an  openness  to 
varied  forms  of  church  extension,  in- 
cluding house  churches,  intentional  com- 
munities, and  “daughter”  congregations. 

“The  city  church  movement  of  the 
1950s  has  kind  of  died,”  said  Palmer 
Becker,  chm  executive  secretary.  “But 
there  are  a lot  of  people  in  communities 
in  North  America  that  could  be  helped 
with  an  Anabaptist  type  of  fellowship. 
A number  of  congregations  are  expres- 
sing some  interest  in  starting  a new  con- 
gregation.” 

Mr.  Whitermore’s  job  description  in- 
cludes developing  a strategy  for  church 
extension  in  consultation  with  district 
home  missions  committees  and  others 
at  a specially  called  meeting  later  this 
year. 

He  will  work  in  the  CD  during  No- 
vember to  find  appropriate  locations  for 
new  churches,  while  living  in  Elkhart, 
Indiana. 

He  will  also  help  in  promotion  in 
“developing  a church  extension  mental- 
ity in  the  General  Conference.” 


gins — The  Anabaptists,”  “Joseph  Stuckey 
and  the  beginning  of  the  Central  Con- 
ference,” “The  Apostolic  Christian 
Church,”  “The  Hutterite  colonies,”  “His- 
tory of  the  First  Mennonite  Church  of 
Normal,  Illinois,”  “Mennonite  family 
histories,”  “Mennonite  burial  places  in 
central  Illinois,”  “The  Stahley  family 
from  Switzerland  to  Illinois,”  “Sleeping 
preachers.” 

The  Mennonite  Heritage  Fellowship 
also  sponsored  two  films  for  the  church- 
es of  the  community — Christianity  in 
Russia  released  by  the  Union  of  Evan- 
gelical Christians-Baptists  of  the  USSR 
and  presented  by  Cornelius  Krahn  in 
1971,  and  in  1972  the  documentary  Men- 
nonite history  film,  The  quiet  in  the 
land,  produced  by  the  Christopher  Dock 
Bicentennial  Committee.  Evelyn  Bertsche 

Leland  Harder  aides  CHM 
as  church/planting  consultant 

Leland  Harder,  professor  of  practical 
theology  at  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary, 
Elkhart,  Indiana,  has  been  named  a part- 
time  consultant  in  church  planting  with 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

The  appointment,  approved  by  the 
chm  executive  committee  August  15, 
will  be  for  one-third-time  services  during 
the  fall  semester. 

Mr.  Harder’s  assignment  will  include: 

— consultation  with  Dave  Whitermore, 
primary  staff  person  in  church  planting, 
on  theology  and  strategy  of  establish- 
ing new  congregations. 

— analysis  of  the  church  planting 
which  the  General  Conference  has  done 
in  the  last  few  years  and  what  can  be 
learned  from  that. 

— updating  of  the  nonresident  mem- 
ber survey  and  analysis  of  where  Men- 
nonites  are  moving. 

His  assignment  will  begin  with  the 
consultation  on  church  planting  spon- 
sored by  chm  September  18-19  in  Chi- 
cago. Invited  to  the  consultation  are 
district  ministers,  district  and  provin- 
cial representatives  (mostly  from  home 
missions  committees),  and  other  re- 
source people. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-3 


John  Sprunger 


Sprunger  licensed 

John  Sprunger  was  licensed  for  the  min- 
istry September  9 at  the  same  service 
where  Kenneth  Bauman  was  installed  as 
pastor.  John  is  a graduate  of  Winona 
Lake  Seminary  and  is  continuing  his 
work  toward  a master’s  degree  one  day 
a week.  John  and  his  wife,  Debby,  are 
living  in  Berne. 

Boynton  has  interim  pastor 

Herschel  Thompson  of  Lincoln  Christian 
College  began  as  interim  pastor  August 
5 at  the  Boynton  Church,  Hopedale, 
Illinois.  The  congregation  is  continuing 
their  search  for  a pastor  who  can  live 
in  the  community  and  serve  the  congre- 
gation. 

Project  calendars  sent  to  U.S. 
General  Conference  churches 

Project  calendars  for  September  1973  to 
August  1974  were  mailed  July  15  to  all 
U.S.  churches  in  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church 

For  each  month,  the  seventeen-by- 
eleven-inch  appointment  calendar  will 
mention  special  projects  to  which  Sun- 
day school  classes  or  other  church  groups 
may  contribute,  major  church  holidays, 
and  General  Conference  and  district  con- 
ference events. 

The  project  calendar  will  replace  the 
Echo  project  booklets  previously  sent 
out  by  the  Office  of  Stewardship  and 
Promotion.  Additional  projects  not  men- 
tioned on  the  calendar  will  be  available 
from  the  central  offices  upon  request. 


ton,  Illinois,  will  work  primarily  with  the 
women  in  Zaire.  She  will  be  a teacher 
at  the  Bible  school  in  Kalonda,  Zaire. 
She  has  worked  in  Zaire  since  1946.  Ms. 
Guengerich  has  attended  Fort  Wayne 
(Indiana)  Bible  School;  Bluff  ton  Col- 
lege, Bluff  ton,  Ohio  (BS);  Illinois  State 
College  in  Normal,  and  Mennonite  Bib- 
lical Seminary,  Elkhart,  Indiana. 

Anna  V.  Liechty,  a member  of  the 
First  Mennonite  Church,  Berne,  Indiana, 
will  be  a teacher  at  the  Nyanga  High 
School  after  her  return  to  Zaire.  She 
has  served  in  Zaire  since  1946.  Ms. 
Liechty  has  attended  Moody  Bible  School 
and  holds  BS  and  BA  degrees. 

Service  assignments  given 

Dennis  Ray  Donelson,  Hopedale,  Illi- 
nois, is  serving  a one-year  voluntary 
service  assignment  with  the  Mennonite 
congregation  in  Markham,  Illinois.  He 


is  a maintenance  worker  at  the  Commu- 
nity Day  Nursery,  located  in  the  build- 
ing of  the  Markham  Mennonite  Church. 
Dennis  is  a member  of  the  Boynton 
Church,  Hopedale,  Illinois. 

Todd  and  Lyn  Gratz  have  been  ap- 
pointed by  mcc  as  volunteer  service  work- 
ers to  Meadow  Lake,  Saskatchewan,  Can- 
ada, as  recreational  director  for  youth 
in  the  community  which  has  a consider- 
able Indian  population.  They  started 
in  late  August.  They  are  now  taking 
training  at  mcc  headquarters  in  Akron, 
Pennsylvania. 

Elizabeth  Ann  Yost,  First  Church, 
Bluffton,  Ohio,  is  serving  one  year  in 
the  Hamilton,  Ontario,  voluntary  service 
unit.  She  will  be  a club  worker  at  the 
Welcome  Inn  and  hold  an  earning  posi- 
tion for  the  voluntary  service  unit.  Beth 
has  attended  Bluffton  College,  Bluffton, 
Ohio,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Burrton 
and  Elnore  Yost,  Bluffton. 


•••• 


940  persons  in  the 


More  than  three  billion  persons  inhabit  our  global  village.  If  this  world 
population  were  compressed  into  a community  of  1000  persons  60 
residents  would  represent  the  population  of  the  USA.  The  Americans'  life 
expectancy  in  years  would  be  almost  twice  that  of  the  other  940  persons. 
Of  the  60  Americans  the  lowest  income  group  would  be  better  off  than  the 
average  in  the  rest  of  the  world. 

North  American  Christians  have  a special  responsibility  to  share  the  time 
and  material  wealth  God  has  given.  Following  Christ's  way  of  humility  and 
love  commits  us,  at  home  and  overseas,  to  the  800  persons  — in  1000  — 
who  are  hungry,  poor  and  sick;  the  500  persons  who  are  unable  to  read  or 
write;  the  670  persons  who  do  not  know  Christ. 

Share  yourself  and  your  money  for  Jesus'  sake.  He  says,  "Much  will  be 
expected  from  the  one  who  has  been  given  much." 


Two  women  workers 
return  to  Zaire 

Additional  missionaries  under  Africa  In- 
ter-Mennonite  Mission  (aimm)  returned 
to  Zaire  in  August. 

Frieda  Guengerich,  a member  of  the 
Calvary  Mennonite  Church,  Washing- 


A-4 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 


I 

First  Church  members  respond 
to  Buffalo  Creek  disaster 

Do  you  remember  the  Buffalo  Creek 
flood  disaster  in  West  Virginia? 

On  February  26,  1972,  a dam  broke 
at  the  end  of  a valley  and  followed  the 
path  of  Buffalo  Creek,  washing  several 
towns  away  (from  Saunders  to  Man, 
West  Virginia)  as  it  went.  To  many  of 
us,  this  was  a tragedy  and  an  item  for 
| prayer  or  maybe  for  passing  conversa- 
tion. But  that  was  over  a year  ago. 

We  would  probably  have  forgotten 
about  Buffalo  Creek  if  it  had  not  been 
for  the  article  a short  time  ago  in  The 
, Blufftort  news  about  Ralph  and  Francis 
Sommer  of  Pandora,  volunteering  to 
head  up  the  Buffalo  Creek  Mennonite 
Disaster  Service  unit. 

At  the  First  Church  this  spring,  an 
area  of  discussion  had  been  “Vacations 
j with  a purpose.”  Several  families  and 
young  people  decided  to  spend  a week 
of  this  summer  at  Buffalo  Creek.  The 
group  left  Bluff  ton  June  11  with  part  of 
them  returning  home  June  15  and  the 
remainder  June  19.  Those  involved  in 
the  project  were  Richard,  Marsha,  and 
Paul  Weaver;  Richard  and  Mary  Pan- 
nabecker;  Stan,  Anita,  Kathy,  Emy,  and 
Lori  Bohn;  Diane  Zimmerly;  Faye 
Sprunger  (Berne,  Indiana);  Sue  and 
Jenny  Schirch;  Cynthia  Lehman;  and 
Becky  Koemer. 

The  “emergency”  stage  is  over,  but  for 
the  people  of  the  Buffalo  Creek  Valley, 
the  tragic  day  in  February  is  very  real 
in  their  minds  and  in  their  lives.  One 
hundred  and  twenty-five  persons  died  in 
the  flood  and  many  homes  were  de- 
stroyed or  damaged  beyond  repair. 

The  Bluffton  group  helped  with  basic 
cleanup  projects  and  small  repair  proj- 
ects. Tasks  included  painting,  recrea- 
tion area  cleanup,  the  tearing  down  of  a 
coal  shed,  tearing  up  a damaged  porch 
and  patio  area  for  reconstruction,  and 
cleaning  up  the  remains  of  a home  that 


had  been  destroyed  to  make  way  for  a 
play  area  for  the  community. 

Since  the  “emergency”  is  over,  the 
government  assistance  has  ceased  ex- 
cept for  the  mobile  homes  provided  im- 
mediately after  the  flood.  One  basic  need 
now  is  for  more  skilled  persons  to  help 
work  on  new  homes  or  put  new  furnaces 
in,  etc.,  into  repaired  dwellings.  Another 
need  is  our  concern  and  our  desire  to 
work  with  persons  in  this  area  and  others 
long  after  disaster  strikes.  Our  atten- 
tion is  given  to  crises  when  it  is  new  to 
us  but  we  must  continue  support  and 
give  assistance  to  others  long  after  that 
newness  wears  off. 

Those  participating  in  this  project 
will  not  forget  the  Buffalo  Creek  dis- 
aster. The  feeling  and  thoughts  of  a 
family  returning  to  a completely  de- 
stroyed house  was  felt,  but  only  a little, 
by  those  helping  to  clean  up  the  re- 
mains of  a home.  It  is  now  a part  of 
their  lives  even  though  they  were  only 
involved  a short  time.  By  becoming  in- 
volved, it  is  much  more  meaningful  and 
important  than  just  reading  about  places 
or  talking  to  someone  else  who  has  been 
involved.  Bluffton  news 

The  Dove  of  God 

The  Dove  of  God 
brings  the  good  news 
of  Shalom-peace 
to  the  mind 
to  the  heart 
to  the  spirit  of  man 
in  the  Fellowship  of  Jesus 

The  Dove  of  God 

sends  the  good  news  of  Shalom-peace 

to  the  hurts 

to  the  corruptions 

to  the  alienations  of  men 

by  the  Fellowship  of  the  Spirit. 


Volunteer  shares  faith 
with  Appalachian  friends 

I’ve  changed  my  image  of  Appalachia. 
Isolated  families,  tumbled-down  shacks, 
worn-out  farms,  hills  scarred  by  coal 
mines,  extreme  poverty,  and  ignorance 
were  all  part  of  my  mental  picture. 
And  it  is  all  there.  But  there’s  another 
part — beautiful  mountains,  adequate  to 
beautiful  housing,  schools,  churches,  and 
friendly  people.  Especially  friendly  peo- 
ple who  have  time  to  “set  and  talk.” 

Buffalo  Creek  valley  was  an  ugly 
place  when  we  arrived  in  January. 

But  then  we  began  to  meet  people. 
We  listened  as  they  shared  their  frus- 
trations and  a cup  of  coffee  with  us. 
They  had  to  tell  over  and  over  of  the 
terrible  morning  in  February  1972  when 
the  dam  broke.  All  had  lost  family  or 
friends  or  both.  And  all  wanted  to  leave 
their  government  trailers  and  go  back  to 
their  plot  of  land.  They  were  thankful 
for  their  temporary  housing,  but  a year 
had  passed  and  the  government  was 
still  making  unfulfilled  promises. 

A new  highway  and  sewer  system  was 
to  go  through  the  valley  and  no  one 
was  allowed  to  go  back  to  their  piece 
of  land  if  it  would  be  in  the  right-of- 
way.  If  a house  was  still  standing,  it 
couldn’t  be  moved  into.  But  the  high- 
way couldn’t  make  up  its  mind  about 
final  plans.  And  people  had  to  pay 
taxes  on  the  land  they  couldn’t  live  on. 

We  had  come  to  help  people  get  back 
into  their  homes.  Most  couldn’t  go  back, 
so  we  also  felt  frustration.  But  we  could 
continue  to  listen  and  to  share. 

Where  people  were  allowed  to  return, 
homes  have  been  repaired,  fences  built, 
walks  poured,  and  one  new  house  built 
— in  the  name  and  spirit  of  Christ.  But 
most  important  we’ve  shared  our  faith 
with  our  new  friends.  At  least  one  said, 
“I  never  had  any  use  for  the  church  be- 
fore. You’ve  made  me  think.”  Frances 
Sommer 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-5 


Return  to  normal  growth, 
says  economics  professor 

Henry  Rempel,  professor  of  economics  at 
the  University  of  Manitoba  in  Winnipeg, 
said  at  the  mcc  Peace  Assembly  that 
the  North  American  economy  is  a tu- 
mor on  the  rest  of  the  world,  which,  if 
not  treated  soon,  might  well  destroy  the 
whole  world.  And  to  be  a participant  in 
this  tumor  is,  in  and  of  itself,  an  act  of 
violence. 

Growth  of  the  body  can  be  beautiful, 
but  there  is  a feedback  mechanism  in 
the  body  which  brings  growth  under 
control,  he  said.  “If  the  feedback  fails, 
we  call  this  cancer.  Growth  is  the  ide- 
ology of  a cancer  cell.” 

He  pointed  out  that  even  if  a 3 per- 
cent increase  in  real  income  (our  pres- 
ent rate)  were  possible  for  the  next 
hundred  years,  by  then  other  countries 
would  have  the  military  capability  to 
do  something  about  it.  North  Amer- 
ican governments  will  have  to  devote 
more  to  defense  simply  to  hang  on  to 
their  way  of  life. 

“It  is  possible  not  to  have  a military 
establishment  only  if  we  check  our 
growth,  and  return  to  normal  growth, 
growth  that  takes  in  the  whole  of  man- 
kind,” Mr.  Rempel  said. 

He  suggested  several  ways  to  deal  with 
our  cancer  and  redistribute  the  power 
of  wealth: 

— work  on  an  effective  support  sys- 
tem for  an  alternative  life-style.  (It 
can’t  be  done  on  individual  New  Year’s 
resolutions.) 

— create  an  alternative  ethic  for  busi- 
ness behavior. 

— construct  effective  feedback  mech- 
anisms through  which  minorities  can  ex- 
press themselves  without  getting  the  per- 
mission of  the  majority. 

— remove  all  tariffs  on  goods  from 
developing  nations. 

— create  a vision  that  a better  life 
is  possible. 

“It  is  the  strength  of  our  vision  and 
not  our  numbers  that  will  determine 
our  success,”  Mr.  Rempel  concluded. 

College-church  magazine 
has  new  editor 

George  Lehman,  Newton,  Kansas,  has 
been  named  editor  of  forum,  a monthly 
magazine  for  college  and  university  stu- 
dents published  jointly  by  the  Student 
Services  Committee  of  the  Mennonite 
Board  of  Mission  (Mennonite  Church) 
and  the  Commission  on  Education  (Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Church). 


Litany  of  justice 

Leader : the  average  yearly  income  of  the  African  is  $85,  and  the  Asian,  $105. 

People:  Lord,  how  can  it  be  that  the  Grateful  Dead  make  more  money  than 
thousands  of  Africans  and  Asians  together,  by  borrowing  Oriental  and  African 
music? 

Leader : The  American  Indian  is  yet  to  gain  his  full  freedom.  Is  he  so  great  a 
threat? 

People : Lord,  what  has  happened  in  the  hidden  corners  of  our  history  that  we 
would  like  to  keep  buried  at  Wounded  Knee? 

Leader:  Our  refrigerators  bulge  with  perishables  because  of  low-paid,  migrant, 
“stoop”  labor. 

People:  Lord,  do  we  not  herd  them  into  labor  camps? 

Leader:  Youth  are  given  heavy  sentences  for  drug  use,  while  adults  refuse  laws 
for  murderous,  drunken  driving. 

People:  Lord,  why  do  we  insist  on  perfections  according  to  age? 

Leader:  The  “right  to  be  violent”  is  denied  to  black  and  brown  citizens  but  we 
insist  on  bombing  our  enemies  until  they  are  forced  to  sign  an  “honorable  peace” 
treaty. 

People:  Lord,  how  can  we  be  saved  from  our  contradictions? 

Leader:  Lord,  congressionally  approved  funds  for  the  poor  are  impounded  from 
welfare  to  itt,  Lockheed,  and  Standard  Oil.  The  biggest  warfare  budget  in  history 
is  not  seen  as  inflationary  while  the  “widow’s  mite”  the  oeo  receives  becomes  the 
scapegoat. 

People:  Send  us  protesters  for  justice,  kindness,  and  humble  marching  with  our 
God,  because  they  speak  for  the  dispossessed — and  finally  for  all  mankind. 

Leader:  Lord,  teach  us  what  it  means, 

People:  That  you  died  the  death  of  a criminal. 

Leader:  Lord,  open  our  wills  to  your  justice,  your  mercy,  your  steadfast  love  as 
a right  for  all  mankind.  Teach  us  that  no  man  is  truly  free  unless  all  are  free— free 
to  be  bound  by  your  freedom. 

People:  We  dedicate  ourselves  to  your  way  of  justice,  and  kindness  as  we  humbly 
walk  with  you,  our  Lord  and  our  God.  Champaign 


Prayer  of  dedication 

O Lord,  who  has  led  us  from  bondage  into  freedom,  from  a land  of  restrictions  to 
a country  with  greater  opportunities,  help  us  to  use  this  freedom. 

Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  to  the  body  which,  apart  from  thee,  enslaves  us 
through  its  passions. 

Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  of  the  soul  which,  apart  from  thee,  dreams  of  im- 
mortality and  fills  us  with  pride. 

Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  to  the  soil  which,  apart  from  thee,  becomes  an  ob- 
ject of  idolatry. 

Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  to  the  home  which,  apart  from  thee,  leaves  us  no 
time  for  others  and  for  prayer. 

Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  to  success  which,  apart  from  thee,  causes  our  souls 

to  die.  . 

Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  to  the  self  which,  apart  from  thee,  leads  into  the  hell 

of  estrangement. 

Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  of  possessions  which,  apart  from  thee,  can  never 
satisfy. 

Deliver  us  from  the  bondage  to  freedom  as  an  end.  in  itself,  since  apart  from  thee, 
freedom  is  slavery. 

O God,  in  whose  service  is  perfect  freedom,  teach  us  how  to  lose  our  lives  for 
Jesus’  sake  in  order  that  we  may  find  them. 

Amen.  ( Prayer  by  Pieter  de  Jong  from  research  group  for  European  Migration 
Problems) 


A-6 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 


i 


Theme  . . . “For  everything  its  season, 
and  for  every  activity  under  heaven  its 
time.  . Ecclesiastes  3:1. 

Mission  sparks  interest  in 
young  people  within  church 

Can  young  people  today  be  interested 
in  missions  when  television,  school  activ- 
ities, and  sports  are  contending  for  their 
time,  thoughts,  and  energies? 

Yes,  there  are  children  and  young 
people  within  our  churches  who  are  in- 
terested in  missions.  Yes,  there  are  those 
dedicated  parents  and  Young  Mission 
Workers’  leaders  who  are  sparking  that 
interest.  Those  people  who  believe  that 
God  has  a plan  for  each  of  these  youth- 
ful lives,  that  now  is  the  best  time  for 
them  to  find  it  and  that  by  prayerfully 
working  together  it  can  be  a rewarding 
experience  for  all. 

Yes,  some  have  said,  “Our  children 
are  too  busy  with  school  and  club  ac- 
tivities. There  isn’t  time  for  a Young 
Mission  Workers’  organization.”  But 
others  have  said,  “They  are  busy  but 
we  wish  to  help  them  learn  that  in  this 
busy  world  we  need  to  ‘seek  first  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness.’  ” 
Some  have  said,  “We  haven’t  enough 
children  in  our  church  to  have  a ymw.” 
But  there  are  those  who  have  been 
blessed  in  working  with  a group  of  only 
five. 

There  may  be  some  of  the  youth 
within  our  conference  who  couldn’t  name 
a missionary  and  the  field  on  which 
he  is  serving.  But  one  ymw  group 
made  a study  of  Japan  this  year.  At  dif- 
ferent meetings  they  studied  the  coun- 
try and  customs,  learned  to  know  our 
missionaries  in  Japan,  had  a missionary 
on  furlough  speak  to  them,  made  a 
scrapbook  showing  our  way  of  life,  and 


WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


A 


sent  it  to  Japan  where  it  is  being  used 
in  church  classes. 

One  ymw  group  picked  missionary 
children’s  birthdays  from  Missions  today 
and  wrote  to  them. 

Another  leader  reported,  “We  picked 
ten  of  the  older  ladies  in  our  church 
and  assigned  two  girls  to  each  lady. 
During  the  year  the  girls  are  to  visit 
them  a couple  of  times  a month,  run- 
ning errands  if  needed,  remembering 
their  birthdays.  They  made  gifts  for 
their  ladies  at  Christmas  and  caroled 
for  them  and  plan  to  have  a party  for 
them  in  the  spring.  These  girls  have 
found  mission  work  at  home! 

A copy  of  a most  interesting  cook- 
book compiled  by  another  group  of 
girls  was  received.  This  was  used  as  a 
money-making  project  for  missions. 

One  leader  expressed  this  concern. 
“We  wish  more  of  our  parents  would 
feel  obligated  and  willing  to  bring  their 
children  to  meetings  and  also  be  more 
faithful  in  giving  money  for  their  vari- 
ous projects.” 

May  we  each  ask  ourselves  these 
three  questions.  What  is  my  church  do- 
ing for  our  youth — one  of  the  greatest 
resources  we  have  for  doing  God’s  mis- 
sion work  today  and  tomorrow?  What 
am  I doing?  Prayerfully  ask,  “Dear  God, 
what  do  you  want  me  to  do?”  Betty 
Krehbiel,  YMW  sponsor,  Western  Dis- 
trict ( Used  by  permission ) 

Mission  study  guides  are  here 

By  the  time  you  read  this,  your  president 
should  have  received  the  1973-74  Guide 
to  mission  study.  Perhaps  program  com- 
mittees are  already  busy  planning  the 
programs  for  the  new  year.  We  hope 
that  you  will  find  this  booklet  very  help- 
ful as  you  plan  your  study  for  1973-74. 

The  new  theme  verse,  which  appears 
on  this  page,  is  also  the  theme  for  our 
year  of  study.  The  contents  are  again 
divided  into  eight  sessions.  Three  of  the 
sessions  are  on  “Overseas  mission,” 
three  sessions  on  “Home  ministries,”  and 
two  sessions  on  “Education.”  The  last 
twenty  pages  are  filled  with  worship 
service  suggestions,  as  well  as  many  ad- 
ditional program  ideas. 

The  editors  have  put  together  a very 
helpful  and  exciting  Guide  for  your 
use.  If  your  society  has  not  been  using 
this  booklet  in  the  past,  we  encourage 
you  to  look  into  this  new  one  very  care- 
fully. It  could  be  an  adventure  as  well 
as  a growing  experience  for  each  one  of 
your  members.  More  copies  are  avail- 
able from  the  wma  office.  Box  347, 
Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


The  Women’s  Society  of  the  Ebenezer 
Church  promotes  two  “all-day  sewings” 
each  year.  Projects  include  anything 
from  quilts,  baby  blankets,  comforters, 
and  bandages  to  boy’s  shirts  and  pants. 
Pictured  here  are  possible  future  knot- 
ters  of  comforters  at  the  Ebenezer 
Church. 

Ebenezer  women  at  work 

Our  society,  the  Ebenezer  Mennonite 
Women’s  Society  of  Bluffton,  Ohio,  has 
two  “all-day  sewings”  each  year.  One 
of  these  is  in  March  and  the  other  in 
November.  On  these  days  we  make  a 
quilt  for  a returning  missionary,  as  well 
as  baby  blankets  and  large  comforters. 
Many  of  these  blocks  are  cut  at  monthly 
meetings.  Some  members  make  booklets 
and  awards  from  used  cards,  while  oth- 
ers are  tearing  and  rolling  bandages. 

Many  remnant  pieces  are  turned  in 
throughout  the  year.  Two  of  our  mem- 
bers, Olive  Steiner  and  Burnette  Moser, 
use  these  to  make  girls’  blouses,  skirts 
and  jumpers  and  boys’  shirts  and  pants. 
Last  winter  over  two  hundred  pieces 
were  made,  weighing  a total  of  forty- 
six  pounds.  All  of  these,  together  with 
seventy-three  pounds  of  used  clothing 
and  fifteen  pounds  of  comforters,  were 
taken  to  the  World  Relief  Commission 
at  Nappanee,  Indiana.  Mrs.  Willis  J. 
Amstutz,  Pandora,  Ohio 


Material  for  this  page  should  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Marjorie  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, III.  61701. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A -7 


Church  oppresses  women 

“The  Christian  church  has  done  as  much  as  any  other  institution  in  the  modem 
world  to  oppress  women,”  charges  a thirty-two-year-old  Roman  Catholic  nun,  “may- 
be even  more. 

“For  nearly  2,000  years,  the  male  leaders  of  the  church  have  told  women  to  sit 
back,  shut  up,  and  put  up  because  God,  Jesus,  and  St.  Paul  have  commanded  it. 
But  now  religious  women  are  beginning  to  realize  that  God  is  not  necessarily  male, 
that  Jesus  wasn’t  a male  chauvenist,  and  that  St.  Paul’s  hang-ups  about  women  are 
no  more  to  be  tolerated  than  those  of  Hugh  Hefner.” 

The  women’s  liberation  movement  offers  organized  religion  a unique  opportunity 
to  recover  the  authentic  biblical  doctrine  of  the  radical  equality  of  men  and  women. 
It  also  provides  the  impetus  for  discovering  Jesus’  message  of  freedom  from  bond- 
age— including  sexual  bondage.  — from  Adam’s  rib  to  women’s  lib  by  Kenneth 
Woodward,  McCalls,  June  1971 


VITAL  STATISTICS 


First  resource  index  ready 

Resources  for  Sunday  school  and  other 
study  groups  in  the  local  congregation 
publicized  quarterly  through  the  new 
Christian  Education  Resource  Index 
(ceri)  , was  developed  jointly  by  the 
Commission  on  Education  and  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries. 

Loris  Habegger,  general  editor  for 
coe,  said  the  resource  mailings  would 
give  congregations  summaries  of  and  rec- 
ommendations for  courses  of  study  in 
Bible  study  groups,  Sunday  school  elec- 
tive courses,  midweek  Bible  study,  and 
other  auxiliary  educational  study  groups. 

Included  in  the  first  mailing  is  infor- 
mation on  “Moral  issues  in  the  control 
of  birth,”  Anabaptism : Neither  Catholic 
nor  Protestant,  A new  vision,  and  Com- 
municating the  good  news. 

Mr.  Habegger  said  the  resources 
would  have  an  indexing  system  similar 
to  that  used  by  the  Church  of  the  Breth- 
ren, since  the  Commission  on  Education 
would  also  be  promoting  the  Brethren 
keysort  file  for  curriculum  resources. 

Your 

Answer 

Lincoln  estate  totals  $725,000 

Here  was  a person  into  whose  hands 
had  accumulated  nearly  three-fourths  of 
a million  dollars,  according  to  report 
of  the  will  as  filed  for  probate.  How  it 
came  about,  obviously  the  news  item 
did  not  indicate.  But  such  accumulation 
could  only  take  place  through  commerce 
in  some  way  or  in  a socioeconomic  or- 
der. Somehow  through  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  economic  tides  she  was  able  to  chan- 
nel into  her  own  reservoir  a substantial 
part  of  the  whole.  Now  she  is  gone  and 
the  distribution  is  pending. 

A significant  part  of  that  will  accrue 
to  state  and  federal  governments  through 
estate  and  inheritance  taxes.  But  no  pro- 
vision was  made  for  God’s  cause  to  be 
furthered  by  any  designated  portion  for 
such  purposes.  Hence  nothing  can  now 
be  so  appropriated.  Only  if  the  few  who 
stand  to  profit  by  her  provisions  will  now 
take  it  upon  themselves  to  allocate  some 
part  of  their  portions,  to  his  cause,  can 
his  works  be  profited  by  what  he  made 
possible. 

Will  they  do  that?  Would  you?  Com- 
mittee for  encouragement  of  estate 
planning 


BIRTHS 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  Saundra 
and  Charles  Niswander,  Christian  David, 
July  12;  to  Tom  and  Connie  Klingler, 
Jonathon  Scott,  July  14;  to  the  Dan 
Steiners,  Philip  Lynn,  July  23. 

Eighth  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  the  Tom 
Swiharts,  Matthew  Todd,  July  18. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  the  Richard  K. 
Yoders,  Jason  Kent,  Aug.  1;  to  the  Rob- 
ert Pattersons,  Troy  Lee,  Aug.  4;  to  the 
Tad  Wullimans,  Roberta  Jo,  Aug.  27. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  Dave  and 
Linda  Reichenbach,  Heather  Ann,  Aug. 
4;  to  John  and  Barbara  Watkins,  Anne 
Christine,  June  11;  to  Terry  and  Phyllis 
Reynolds,  Sheila  Ann,  Aug.  19;  to  Den- 
nis and  Sue  Neer,  Steven  Norris,  Aug. 
22. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  the  Jim 
Lemleys,  Stephen  James,  Aug.  14;  to 
the  Frank  Youngs,  Scott  Douglas,  Aug. 
6;  to  the  Kreg  Scheys,  Carey  Jo,  Aug.  27. 


NEW  MEMBERS 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Ida  Schindler,  David 
Roth,  Harvey  Hirschy,  Wilbert  Beer, 
Mrs.  Carl  Amstutz. 

First,  Nappanee,  Ind.:  Rosco  Cripe,  Sr. 
Meadows,  Chenoa,  111.:  Alan  Grusy, 
July  18. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  W.  A.  Howe, 
July  18. 

MARRIAGES 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  Tom 
Albrecht,  Berry  Miller. 


Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Linda  Snyder 
and  Richard  Montgomery,  July  7;  Greg 
Amstutz  and  Patty  Dunifon,  July  21. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Linda  Liechty  and 
Marvin  Schwartz,  Aug.  4;  Clifton 
Sprunger  and  Susan  Eileen  Beam,  Aug. 
11;  Joanne  Sprunger  and  Tony  Brown, 
Aug.  25;  Kevin  Lehman  and  Gyneth 
Neuenschwander,  Aug.  18. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  John  Sommers 
and  Elaine  Sue  Andrews,  June  30;  Doug- 
las Mead  and  Doris  Ewing,  August  4; 
Kris  Heiks  and  Mike  Sherman,  Sept.  15; 
Merry  Brauen  and  Gene  Augsburger, 
Sept.  1 ; George  Franzee  and  Shirley 
Steckshulte,  Aug.  25. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  John  Ernst  and 
Nena  Hamilton,  Aug.  3. 

Grace,  Chicago,  111.:  John  Frailey  and 
Carol  Kluever,  June  30;  Danny  Foyed 
and  Deborah  Ann  Barnes,  June  23. 

Pulaski,  Pulasksi,  Iowa:  Thomas  Clem- 
ens and  Priscilla  Wyse,  Aug.  25. 

Apostolic,  Trenton,  Ohio:  Teresa  Wine- 
berg  and  Michael  Diesh,  Aug.  17. 

United,  Peoria,  111.:  Kenneth  Calvert 
and  Ruth  Benko,  Aug.  4. 

ANNIVERSARIES 

Carlock,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leslie  Whit- 
mer,  Aug.  20,  50th;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Guy 
Myers,  Aug.  27,  59th. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Alvin 
Kennel,  Aug.  1,  50th;  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Harve  Nussbaum,  Aug.  5,  56th;  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  T.  H.  Soldner,  Aug.  29,  53rd. 

Material  for  the  Central  District  Reporter  should 
be  sent  to:  Jacob  T.  Friesert,  2625  Pleasant 

Plain,  Elkhart,  Ind.  46514. 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 

1 * 


A-8 


Conference  ties  discussed 


Vernard  Eller  to  speak 
at  Bluffton  conference 

Vernard  Eller,  professor  of  religion  at 
LaVeme  College,  LaVeme,  California, 
will  be  the  featured  speaker  at  a con- 
ference on  Christian  faith  and  contempo- 
rary culture  at  Bluffton  College  No- 
vember 12-14. 

Millard  Lind,  professor  at  Goshen 
Biblical  Seminary,  will  serve  as  Bible 
study  leader.  Pastors  of  Eastern  and 
Central  District  Mennonite  churches 
and  Bluffton  area  ministers  have  been  in- 
vited to  participate  in  the  conference, 
previously  known  as  the  annual  Bible 
lectures. 

Designed  primarily  for  ministers,  the 
conference  will  also  include  sessions  in 
which  faculty  members  and  students  will 
participate. 

The  conference  will  open  with  a ses- 
sion primarily  for  ministers.  The  topic 
is  “Wars  of  Yahweh  and  Jesus’  non- 
resistance:  Reconciling  the  relation  of 
Old  and  New  Testaments.” 

The  next  day  at  9:30  a.m.  Mr.  Eller 
will  speak  on  “Jacques  Ellul,  the  Chris- 
tian in  an  age  of  technology.” 

He  will  address  the  entire  campus 
community  in  forum  at  11  a.m.  on  the 
topic  “Morality  and  ethics.” 

He  will  also  be  the  dinner  speaker 
that  day.  His  topic  is  “The  Christian 
in  an  affluent  culture.” 

Dr.  Eller,  an  ordained  and  active  min- 
ister of  the  Church  of  the  Brethren,  is 
the  author  of  several  books.  Among 
them  are  Kierkegaard  and  radical  dis- 
cipleship,  King  Jesus’  manual  of  arms 
for  the  armless,  and  The  simple  life : The 
Christian  stance  toward  possessions. 


Representatives  of  all  five  provincial  con- 
ferences met  with  the  Canadian  Con- 
ference’s executive  committee  and  its 
constitutional  task  force  for  two  days 
in  September  to  take  a careful  look  at 
interconference  relationships. 

Although  twenty-one  leaders  at  the 
meeting  agreed  that  there  has  been  some 
overlapping  between  the  provincial  and 
Canadian  conferences,  they  concurred 
that  the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in 
Canada  continues  to  serve  a useful  func- 
tion and  should  be  continued.  There 
was  consensus  that  the  Bible  college 
and  native  ministries  programs  should  be 
operated  at  a national  level.  They  also 
wanted  a national  approach  to  minis- 
terial placement,  and  most  of  them  pre- 
ferred a Canadawide  approach  to  pub- 
lications. 

They  also  agreed  that  the  conference 
membership  is  a diverse  group  of  peo- 
ple. Both  geography  and  the  Mennonite 
people’s  neighbors  have  influenced  the 
direction  of  their  development. 

This  diversity,  among  other  things,  has 


Denominations  need  a procedure  for 
identifying  and  reaching  pastors  or  for- 
mer pastors  with  problems,  said  John  E. 
Golisch,  pastoral  care  consultant  and 
clinical  psychologist  who  spoke  with  the 
General  Conference’s  committee  on  the 
ministry  September  20-21  in  Chicago. 

Mr.  Golisch,  affiliated  with  the  Luth- 
eran Church-Missouri  Synod,  has  been 
involved  in  counseling  ministers  who  are 
having  difficulties  in  the  ministry  or  in 
finding  new  pastorates.  He  often  guides 
them  into  therapy  or  into  other  voca- 
tions. 

Mr.  Golisch  provided  the  committee 
with  a list  of  resources  and  seminars 
which  could  help  the  conference  in  deal- 
ing with  pastors  with  problems.  He  told 
the  committee  it  should  establish  pro- 
cedures for  identifying  these  people,  for 
developing  programs  to  help  them,  for 
educating  ministers  on  how  to  plan  their 
careers,  and  for  developing  programs  for 
those  who  must  leave  the  ministry  for 
some  reason. 

In  the  past,  some  ministers  have  iden- 
tified their  job  with  God.  They  need  to 
give  more  attention  to  personal  growth 
and  family  life,  Mr.  Golisch  said. 

In  addition  to  consulting  with  Mr. 
Golisch,  the  committee  on  the  ministry 


meant  that  major  church-planting  stages 
have  come  to  the  provinces  at  different 
times.  The  churches  from  other  provinces 
should  stand  ready  to  help  their  sister 
provincial  conferences  during  these  pe- 
riods of  expansion. 

This  phase  of  the  discussion  involved 
the  question  of  subsidies  to  emerging 
congregations.  It  was  felt  that  the  finan- 
cial support  should  come  from  the  Cana- 
dian Conference,  but  that  administrative 
oversight  should  be  provided  by  a group 
consisting  of  representatives  from  the 
provincial  and  Canadian  conferences  as 
well  as  from  the  local  church  or  church- 
es. This  type  of  formula  has  already 
been  applied  in  recent  months  to  two 
new  church  developments  in  northern 
British  Columbia  and  Saskatchewan. 

The  three-member  constitutional  task 
force  will  incorporate  the  input  from  this 
meeting  in  its  draft  of  a new  constitu- 
tion for  the  Conference  of  Mennonites 
in  Canada.  The  constitution  is  scheduled 
to  be  ready  for  presentation  to  the  con- 
ference’s 1975  sessions. 


adopted  a policy  to  encourage  local  con- 
gregations to  set  aside  time  and  money 
for  continuing  education  for  pastors. 
Some  congregations  and  district  confer- 
ences are  already  budgeting  for  this,  the 
committee  noted. 

The  committee  also  sent  back  to  staff 
for  further  development  an  evaluation 
form  for  use  by  pastors  and  congrega- 
tions about  six  months  before  a pas- 
tor’s term  expires. 

The  evaluation  instrument  would  al- 
low both  the  pastor  and  the  church 
council  to  evaluate  themselves  and  then 
talk  about  any  problems  before  the  vote 
of  confidence  is  taken. 

Often  congregations  have  no  system 
and  don’t  consider  the  whole  gamut  of 
a minister’s  task,  the  committee  said. 

The  evaluation  forms  will  be  revised 
soon  and  presented  to  congregations 
through  district  ministerial  committees 
or  equivalent  persons  in  districts  which 
do  not  have  ministerial  committees. 

The  committee  on  the  ministry  de- 
cided to  wait  on  revision  of  the  new 
statement  on  ordination  and  church  lead- 
ership until  more  responses  have  come 
in  from  General  Conference  members. 
Few  congregations  have  requested  the 
study  guide  accompanying  the  statement. 


Help  sought  for  pastors 


THE  MENNONITE 


593 


i 


RECORD 


Brubaker 


Enns 


E.  Epp 


R.  Epp 


L.  Gratz 


T.  Gratz 


Workers 


Doris  Brubaker,  Nappanee,  Ind.,  is  be- 
ginning a year  of  service  with  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  voluntary  service  unit 
in  Upland,  Calif.  She  will  work  at  the 
Montclair  Community  Center  and  Free 
Clinic.  Doris,  a member  of  the  North 
Main  Mennonite  Church  in  Nappanee, 
is  a graduate  of  Hesston  College,  Hess- 


ton,  Kans.,  and  has  attended  Goshen 
College,  Goshen,  Ind. 

Irene  Enns,  Dawson  Creek,  B.C.,  will 
be  a General  Conference  volunteer  for 
at  least  one  year  in  Elkhart,  Ind.  Her 
assignment  is  with  the  Elkhart  County 
Association  for  the  Retarded.  She  is 
a member  of  the  Coaldale  (Alberta) 
Church  and  is  a 1972  graduate  of  the 
Galt  School  of  Nursing,  Lethbridge, 
Alta. 

TWELVE 
BECOMING 


<%iograpRies  ofcMennonifo  disciples  from 
tf\<2  SixfeenfR  fo  fRo  f^toontistR  Qentury 


Faith  and  Life  Press,  in  announcing  the  publication  of  the 
new  book,  Twelve  Becoming,  makes  the  possibility  of  ap- 
preciating history  at  every  age  level  a reality.  Author 
Cornelius  J.  Dyck  has  written  the  book  consisting  of  twelve 
biographies  to  show  history  as  a process — not  just  a static 
record  of  events.  Twelve  personalities  from  representative 
Mennonite  bodies  reflect  Christian  discipleship  from  the  six- 
teenth through  the  present  century.  The  illustrations  by 
Richard  Loehle  add  to  the  mood  of  reality  in  the  book;  each 
biography  contains  a full  page  illustration.  This  is  a book 
about  disciples  rather  than  heroes.  Reading  these  stories 
should  provide  encouragement  to  today's  disciples  in  the 
process  of  ‘‘becoming."  A teacher's  manual  for  use  with 
children's  classes  is  in  preparation.  Churches  and  families 
will  want  to  use  this  book  in  many  ways  and  on  many 
occasions.  126  pp.  $4.50 


Order  from:  FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORES 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 
Berne,  Indiana  4671  1 


FELLOWSHIP  BOOKCENTER 
159  Henderson  Highway 
Winnipeg,  Manitqba  R2L  1 L4 


Roger  and  Elaine  Buller  Epp  of  Beat- 
rice, Neb.,  have  been  assigned  by  the  ' 
General  Conference  Mennonite  Church 
to  the  Phoenix,  Ariz.,  voluntary  service 
unit.  They  will  serve  two  years,  Roger 
as  a Head  Start  aide  and  Elaine  as  a 
nurse.  Roger  is  a member  of  the  Beat-  4 
rice  Church  and  received  a BS  in  in- 
dustrial arts  from  Bethel  College,  North 
Newton,  Kans.  Elaine  is  a member  of 
the  Zion  Church,  Elbing,  Kans.,  and  is 
a graduate  of  the  Bethel  Deaconess 
School  of  Nursing,  Newton,  Kans. 

Todd  and  Lyn  Gratz  have  begun  a 
two-year  term  of  service  with  mcc  in 
Saskatchewan.  They  are  serving  as  recre- 
ational directors  at  Meadow  Lake,  an 
institution  for  troubled  youth.  Todd  re- 
ceived a BS  in  English  and  Lyn  a BS 
in  social  studies  from  Bluffton  College 
in  Ohio.  Todd  is  the  son  of  J.  Richard 
and  Betty  Gratz,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  and  a 
member  of  the  Ebenezer  Church,  Bluff- 
ton. Lyn  is  the  daughter  of  John  and 
Marian  Noterman,  Sarasota,  Fla.  Lyn, 
a Methodist,  attended  the  First  Menno- 
nite Church,  Bluffton. 

Joan  Huebert,  Henderson,  Neb.,  has 
joined  the  Markham,  111.,  voluntary  serv- 
ice unit  of  the  General  Conference  Men-  < 
nonite  Church.  She  will  serve  one  year, 
half  time  as  secretary  for  the  Sheltered 
Care  Workshop  and  half  time  as  teacher 
aide  in  the  Community  Day  Nursery. 
She  is  a member  of  the  Bethesda  Church, 
Henderson,  and  is  the  daughter  of  Led 
and  DeLoris  Huebert,  Henderson. 


OCTOBER  16,  1973, 


594 


holiday  Seasons  aqd  Special  Occasions 

Cash  Project  Suggestions  1973-74 

Mennonite  Central  Committee  offers  this  list  of  gift  suggestions  for  use  by  congregations  or  families 
especially  during  the  holiday  seasons.  Sunday  schools,  vacation  Bible  schools  or  youth  groups  may 
find  the  list  useful  in  expressing  Christian  compassion  for  the  poor.  (Matt.  25:34-40)  These  sugges- 
tions are  parts  of  ongoing  vital  programs. 


India  Drought  Assistance  $75  is  needed  for 
one  day's  activity  of  the  Mennonite  Service 
Agency  in  Bihar,  India.  Local  people  are 
hired  to  build  dams,  fish  ponds,  and  irriga- 
tion canals  so  that  the  recurrent  problem  of 
drought  may  be  overcome. 

Jordan  Kindergartens  $50  will  provide  a 
kindergarten  experience  for  a five-year-old 
refugee  child  in  Jordan.  MCC  pays  for  local 
teachers,  rental  of  space,  and  teaching 
materials. 


Brazil  Health  Centers  $40  a month  under- 
writes the  MCC  support  of  one  of  seven 
health  centers  in  poverty-stricken  north- 
eastern Brazil  where  mothers  are  taught  the 
basics  of  family  nutrition,  child  care,  and 
home  management. 

Paraguay  Leprosy  Program  $100  is  needed 
each  week  to  assist  the  leprosy  work  at 
Kilometer  81  in  eastern  Paraguay.  Control 
of  leprosy  is  a priority  with  inpatient  and 
outpatient  care. 


Medical  Care — Nhatrang,  Vietnam  $250 
provides  the  MCC  share  of  the  medical  pro- 
gram at  Nhatrang  for  one  week.  Operated 
by  the  Evangelical  Church  of  Vietnam  and 
MCC,  Nhatrang  serves  40,000  patients  each 
year  and  trains  nursing  assistants. 

Sheets  $2  will  provide  one  72  x 90  inch 
white  sheet  for  an  overseas  hospital.  MCC 
and  Mennonite  mission  workers  see  need 
for  20,000  sheets.  Requests  come  from  10 
countries.  A new  sheet  feels  just  as  refresh- 
ing to  a Third  World  refugee  as  it  does  to 
a North  American. 


Haiti  Clinics  $2.50  provides  the  subsidy 
needed  above  patient  charges  for  the  opera- 
tion of  10  clinic  visits  at  Grande  Riviere  du 
Nord.  MCC  and  Haitian  staff  annually  con- 
duct thirty-five  thousand  consultations. 


Bolivia  Teacher  $200  provides  one  month 
of  support  for  a 25-pupil  school  and  a 
teacher  in  Bolivia. 


Paraguay  Indian  Medical  Care  $300  pro- 
vides the  MCC  support  needed  to  supply 
one  week  of  medical  care  for  7,500  Indians 
in  the  Paraguayan  Chaco. 


Towels  800  will  purchase,  pack,  and  ship 
one  bath  towel.  Requests  for  towels  total 
50,000.  Quality  towels  feel  comfortable  to 
persons  of  all  skin  colors. 

Yard  Goods  500  a yard  is  the  average  price 
MCC  pays  for  the  cloth  purchased  for  over- 
seas distribution.  Requests  from  overseas 
total  600,000  yards  or  340  miles  of  material. 

Sewing  Machines  for  Africa  $100  provides 
an  income-producing  machine  for  one  indi- 
vidual in  an  African  sewing  project.  Ma- 
chines are  needed  in  Sudan,  Zambia,  Ethi- 
opia,. Botswana,  Zaire,  Nigeria. 

Small  Livestock  in  Zaire  $3  will  provide 
one  rabbit  or  12  chicks  for  a Zairian  family. 
Paxmen  are  teaching  the  people  better 
methods  of  raising  and  caring  for  small  live- 
stock so  that  their  diets  will  improve. 


Appalachia  Family  Services  $200  a month 
provides  the  support  for  one  family  services 
worker  in  Whitesburg,  Kentucky.  MCC  ad- 
ministers this  program  which  seeks  to  im- 
prove the  quality  of  life  for  low-income 
persons. 

Atlanta  Senior  Citizens  $200  supports  a 
volunteer  in  a senior  citizens  project  in  At- 
lanta, Georgia.  As  their  financial  and  emo- 
tional resources  drain  away,  many  elderly 
persons  withdraw.  A volunteer  is  encourag- 
ing these  people  to  develop  skills  and  be- 
come active  again  in  their  community. 

Training  Moroccan  Orphans  $350  a month 
provides  a vocational  teacher  in  Morocco. 
Some  of  the  276  teen-age  boys  in  the  or- 
phanage in  Oujda  will  get  three  years  of 
vocational  training , learning  skills  to  make 
them  self-sufficient. 


Give  through  your  regular  congregational  or  conference  channels,  designating  clearly 
the  project.  Canadians  may  give  through  MCC  provincial  channels. 


MCC 

Akron,  PA  17501 


MCC  (Canada) 

Winnipeg,  Man.  R3T  2C8 


REVIEW 

Half-breed:  A proud  and  bitter  legacy 


Half-breed,  by  Maria  Campbell  ( Mc- 
Clelland and  Stewart  Limited,  Toronto, 
1973,  157  pp.,  $5.95)  is  reviewed  by 
Susan  Hiebert,  a free-lance  writer  from 
Crystal  City,  Manitoba. 

When  I read  Duncan  Campbell  Scott’s 
poem  The  half-breed  girl,  I used  to  wish 
the  poet  had  asked  the  girl  what  she 
was  thinking.  As  it  is,  the  writing  is  a 
glimpse  of  what  a white  man  thought  he 
saw  in  a human  bom  of  two  races.  Now 
at  last,  in  her  well-written  and  disturb- 
ing book,  a half-breed  girl  is  answering 
the  white  man's  stare. 

In  Maria  Campbell’s  true  story  of  what 
it  was  like  to  grow  up  and  become  a 
half-breed  woman  in  Canada,  she  often 
speaks  of  being  loved,  or  of  loving.  On 
page  27  she  writes,  “Grannie  Dubuque’s 
brother  was  chief  on  his  reserve  and  as 
they  loved  me,  I often  stayed  with  them. 
The  theme  runs  like  a strong  and  in- 
sistent thread  through  the  entire  book, 
and  all  that  happens  to  her  appears  to 
be  a result  of  being  loved  or  not  being 
loved. 

White  people  in  Saskatchewan,  where 
Maria  Campbell  was  bom,  generally  did 
not  love  her  or  her  people.  As  a result, 
Maria  had  difficulty  loving  herself  and 
learned  to  hate  her  people,  not  because 

Family  planning  films 
draw  Sumatran  crowds 

Family  planning  films,  shown  by  mcc 
volunteers  Jim  and  Cathy  Bowman  and 
local  workers,  have  been  drawing  crowds 
of  500  to  3,000  people  in  Sumatra. 

“This  is  the  first  opportunity  for  most 
of  the  villagers  to  see  movies,”  Mr. 
Bowman  noted.  “Even  though  the  sub- 
ject matter  is  less  than  thrilling,  they 
do  not  want  to  miss  it.” 

Since  beginning  work  in  Sumatra  two 
years  ago,  mcc  has  been  working  to 
promote  family  planning,  a high  pri- 
ority for  the  country,  with  little  success 
until  the  last  two  months,  when  the  au- 
diovisual approach  was  tried. 

Plans  call  for  the  audiovisual  program 
to  be  enlarged  to  include  presentations 
on  agriculture,  health,  nutrition,  and  de- 
velopment. 

they  were  unlovable  but  because  she 


wanted  to  identify  with  the  dominant 
society  which,  like  Scott,  looked  at  her 
and  her  people  with  eyes  that  did  not 
understand.  A good  portion  of  the  book 
describes  her  fight  to  accept  herself  in 
spite  of  what  her  neighbors  did  to  her 
image  of  a half-breed.  She  goes  on  to 
document  that  Indians  did  not  accept 
her  white  blood  any  more  than  the 
white’s  accepted  her  red  ancestry,  and 
she  was  truly  a member  of  what  Louis 
Riel  called  “Canada’s  lost  people.” 

The  fact  that  the  book  is  written  by 
a metis  about  a metis’  life  shouldn’t 
make  it  less  disturbing  to  a reader.  She 
is  not  writing  about  a distant  land  or  a 
faraway  past,  but  about  us,  now.  Much 
of  the  story  could  be  told  by  any  woman, 
and  many  a man,  in  Canada,  since  Half- 
breed  sets  out  some  of  white  society’s 
attitudes  which  are  quite  sick,  but  which 
middle-class  white  people,  and  Menno- 
nites  generally,  usually  escape  because 
of  our  affluent  and  conformist  life-style. 

Few  churches  talk  about  the  truth 
that  Maria  Campbell  discovered,  which 
is  that  women  can  earn  more  money  by 
selling  sex  than  by  working  hard  at 
anything  else.  Christians  have  known  for 
centuries  that  until  laws  and  attitudes 
are  changed,  prostitution  and  marriage 
are  the  only  means  for  a woman  to 
acquire  the  big  money.  Maria  Campbell 
talks  about  it  candidly. 

Not  everything  in  the  book  is  sad. 
Miss  Campbell  beautifully  depicts  the 
people  of  her  childhood,  recreating  them 
for  us  in  all  their  human  splendor.  They 
are  individuals,  people  with  big  hearts, 
small  hearts,  good  and  bad  intentions, 
people  with  laughter  on  their  lips  and 
tears  and  hopes  and  fears  in  their  eyes. 
The  strong  point  of  the  book  is  this  por- 
trayal of  the  people  who  loved  her  when 
she  was  a little  girl. 

There  is  nothing  that  can  be  said 
about  the  chapters  which  tell  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  half-breed  people 
blended  their  Indian  culture  with  white 
religion  and  came  up  with  a recipe  of 
merrymaking  during  religious  holidays 
which  will  surely  seem  heathen  to  Men- 
nonites,  except  don’t  skip  them.  Just 
carry  on  reading,  and  you’ll  have  a bet- 
ter understanding  of  metis  culture. 

What  we  call  Canada  and  white  so- 


Maria  Campbell 


ciety  is  a rising  star  for  us,  but  for  the 
metis  it  was  a curtain  on  the  Indian 
way  of  life.  The  Indian  blood  is  strong 
and  vibrant  in  the  veins  of  Maria  Camp- 
bell and  her  people,  and  it  was  not  easy 
for  them  to  adapt  to  white  farmers  who 
became  the  owners  of  their  country  and 
their  neighbors  in  a relatively  short  pe- 
riod of  time.  The  description  of  the  at- 
tempts her  father  made  at  farming,  the 
back-breaking  work  the  men  and  women 
of  her  half-breed  community  performed 
and  the  pay  they  received  from  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  their  country  was  being 
sold  and  given,  should  make  every  Chris- 
tian weep. 

From  the  reading  of  Maria  Camp- 
bell’s story  comes  an  awareness  of  a 
wonderful,  gifted,  courageous,  misunder- 
stood, and  neglected  group  of  Canadians 
we  all  know  as  half-breeds.  She  makes 
them  come  out  of  the  shadows,  where 
Canadians  have  put  them,  and  they  stand 
before  us  with  the  sun  shining  down  on 
them.  The  question  with  which  I put  the 
book  down  after  reading  it  is  why  do  we 
give  them  their  place  in  the  sun  grudg- 
ingly, as  if  we  have  a right  to  say  who 
stands  in  the  light  of  God’s  earth? 


596 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 


Christians  and  old  clothes 


From  the  book  Half-breed:  A proud 
and  bitter  Canadian  legacy.  It  is  re- 
printed by  permission  of  the  Canadian 
Publishers,  McClelland  and  Stewart 
Limited,  Toronto. 

The  immigrants  who  came  and  home- 
steaded the  land  were  predominantly 
Germans  and  Swedes.  On  small  farms 
they  raised  pigs,  poultry,  a few  cows, 
and  a bit  of  grain.  I remember  these 
people  so  well,  for  I thought  they  must 
be  the  richest  and  most  beautiful  on 
earth.  They  could  buy  pretty  cloth  for 
dresses,  ate  apples  and  oranges,  and 
they  had  toothbrushes  and  brushed  their 
teeth  every  day.  I was  also  afraid  of 
them.  They  looked  cold  and  frighten- 
ing, and  seldom  smiled,  unlike  my  own 
people  who  laughed,  cried,  danced, 
fought,  and  shared  everything.  These 
people  rarely  raised  their  voices  and 
never  shared  with  each  other,  borrow- 
ing or  buying  instead.  They  didn’t  un- 
derstand us,  just  shook  their  heads  and 
thanked  God  they  were  different. 

During  Christmas  they  would  drive 
by  all  the  half-breed  houses  and  drop 
boxes  off  at  each  patch.  Dad  would  go 
out,  pick  up  the  box  and  bum  it.  I 
cried,  because  I knew  it  contained  cakes 
and  good  things  to  eat  and  clothing  that 
I had  seen  their  children  wear.  This  was 
always  a bad  day  for  Dad  as  he  would 
be  very  angry,  and  Mom  would  tell  me 
to  be  very  quiet  and  not  ask  questions. 
Our  neighbors  all  wore  this  cast-off  fin- 
ery, and  as  I got  older  and  started  school 
I was  glad  Daddy  had  burned  the  clothes 
because  the  white  girls  would  laugh 
when  my  friends  wore  their  old  dresses 
and  say,  “Mom  said  I should  put  it  in 
the  box  as  my  Christian  duty.”  By  the 
time  I reached  the  age  of  ten  I had  the 
same  attitude  as  Cheechum  about  Chris- 
tians, and  even  today  I think  of  Chris- 
tians and  old  clothes  together. 

All  our  people  were  Roman  Catholic, 
but  at  that  time  we  had  neither  a priest 
nor  a church.  Mom  was  happy  when 
the  Germans  built  their  church.  They 
were  Seventh-Day  Adventists  and  wor- 
shiped on  Saturday.  She  wasn’t  pleased 
with  this  but  overlooked  it,  sure  that 
God  would  understand  and  forgive  her 
for  attending.  The  important  thing  was 
to  go  to  church. 

In  spite  of  Dad’s  pleading  and  Chee- 
chum’s  disapproval  and  wrath,  I was 
dressed  up  and  taken  with  Mom  in  the 
wagon.  She  had  told  me  so  much  about 


God  and  churches  that  I was  fairly 
jumping  out  of  my  too-tight  shoes.  We 
arrived  late  and  as  we  walked  in  the 
minister  saw  us  and  stopped  talking,  so 
everyone  turned  and  looked  at  us.  There 
was  no  place  to  sit  except  in  the  front 
pew,  where  Mom  knelt  down  and  start- 
ed to  say  her  rosary.  A lady  leaned  over 
and  said  something  to  her,  whereupon 
Mom  took  my  hand  and  we  left.  We 
never  went  back  and  it  was  never  dis- 
cussed at  home. 

The  men  used  to  tell  of  the  only  time 
an  evangelist  minister  came  to  our  part 
of  the  country  to  try  to  civilize  us.  He 
was  a Saint-Denys.  He  had  been  saved 
from  a life  of  sin  by  the  evangelists  and 
now  he  was  coming  back  to  do  the 
same  for  his  people. 

In  the  community  lived  an  old,  old 


man  called  Ha-shoo,  meaning  Crow.  He 
was  a Cree  medicine  man.  Ha-shoo  loved 
to  chant  and  play  the  drum.  When  Saint- 
Denys  arrived  he  asked  some  young  men 
to  go  about  the  settlement  and  tell  peo- 
ple about  the  church  services.  When  the 
messenger  arrived  at  Ha-shoo’s  house, 
the  old  man  asked,  “What  do  they  do?” 
The  boy  said,  “Oh,  Grandfather,  they 
talk  and  sing.”  The  old  man  answered, 
“I’ll  be  there  and  I’ll  bring  my  drum.” 
So  to  the  service  he  went.  The  min- 
ister conducted  it  in  Cree  with  lots  of 
hollering  and  stamping.  Finally  he  said, 
“Now  we  will  sing.”  Old  Ha-shoo,  who 
was  sitting  on  the  floor,  took  up  his  drum 
and  began  to  chant.  The  minister  yelled, 
“Ha-shoo,  you  s.o.b.!  Get  . . . out  of 
here!”  The  old  man  got  up  and  left, 
and  so  did  the  rest  of  the  congregation. 


Improving  her  reading  skills 

Studies  in  such  countries  as  India  and  Tunisia  have  shown  that  many  persons  who 
have  learned  to  read  lapse  into  illiteracy  within  a year  because  they  do  not  reinforce 
their  learning.  This  is  usually  because  there  is  nothing  at  their  level  for  them  to 
read,  or  because  they  are  not  motivated  to  read.  To  help  overcome  these  problems, 
the  American  Bible  Society  has  launched  a program  called  “Good  news  for  new 
readers,"  a program  aimed  at  helping  newly  literate  persons  attain  normal  reading 
skills  through  a Scripture  literacy  program.  Here  a woman  in  Guatemala  receives 
her  first  Scripture  literacy  selection. 


THE  AAENNONITE 


597 


LETTERS 


Revised  declamation 

Dear  Larry:  There  have  been  a lot  of 
sad  words  in  our  nation  and  our  church- 
es about  Watergate.  Mr.  Nixon  himself 
has  said  that  we  need  to  move  on  be- 
cause there  are  many  important  things 
which  must  still  be  worked  out.  He  is 
right,  and  we  should  be  able  to  move  on 
past  it  and  get  to  work.  Amidst  the 
many  tragic  moments  surrounding  Wat- 
ergate there  have  been  some  lighter  ones 
which  prove  that  we  Canadians  and 
Americans  can  be  resilient  when  the  go- 
ing gets  tough. 

About  the  funniest  thing  I have  read 
in  a long  time  was  an  editorial  which 
appeared  in  the  August  16  issue  of  the 
Snohomish  tribune.  It  is  a reprint  of  an 
editorial  which  appeared  in  a recent 
Sheldon  Mason  County  journal.  There 
is  hope  if  we  can  laugh  at  ourselves  and 
our  foibles.  I hope  you  can  use  the  edi- 
torial in  its  entirety  in  one  of  the  forth- 
coming issues  of  The  Mennonite  . . . 
Harold  Thiessen,  1412  Third  St.,  Sno- 
homish, Wash.  98290  Sept.  1 1 

Editor’s  note.  Space  does  not  permit  us 
to  reprint  the  entire  editorial  from  the 
Snohomish  tribune,  but  here’s  a taste  of 
it.  Its  title  is  “ The  declamation  of  inde- 
pendence.” 

Watching  the  incredible  performance 
of  John  (Time  Frame)  Ehrlichman  be- 
fore Senator  Ervin’s  talk  show  panel 
produced  the  urge  to  speculate  how  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  would  read 
if  Thomas  Jefferson  had  possessed  Ehr- 
lichman’s  mentality  and  command  of  the 
language.  Herewith  a small  sample. 

We  hold  these  truths,  at  this  point 
in  time,  to  be  self-evident;  retaining  the 
right,  of  course,  to  offer  a value  judg- 
ment based  on  the  exigencies  of  the  par- 
ticular mood  at  the  time  of  reference; 
that  all  men  are  created,  I believe  that 
is  the  word,  although  I don’t  find  it  in 
my  log,  equal;  bearing  in  mind,  however, 
that  in  matters  of  national  security  the 
king  has  power  to  suspend  that  equal- 
ity; that  they  are  endowed — to  put  this 
in  proper  perspective  it  should  be  point- 
ed out  that  this  does  not  refer  to 
political  endowments,  particularly  po- 
litical endowments  made  in  the  heat  of 
a campaign,  which  neither  the  king  nor 
I are  aware  of  since  we  are  busy  with 


important  matters  of  -state  — by  their 
Creator — there  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind 
who  the  Creator  is  and  I don’t  think 
there  is  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  loyal 
American  as  to  who  he  is,  regardless  of 
whether  or  not  that  citizen  has  been  em- 
ployed by  him,  presently,  or  at  any  other 
point  in  time — with  inherent — possibly 
not  the  most  precise  word  in  this  con- 
text— and  inalienable  rights — rights  are 
relative,  of  course,  and  subject  to  sus- 
pension by  the  king.  . . . 

Film  downgrades  Indians 

Dear  Editor:  The  Reader’s  digest  first 
motion  picture  Tom  Sawyer  has  every- 
thing a true-blood  American  could  want. 
It  has  adventure,  romance,  humor,  and 
homespun  philosophy.  It  has  hayrides, 
fireworks,  sack  races,  apple  pie,  and 
Aunt  Polly’s  motherly  love. 

Tom  Sawyer,  played  by  the  freckle- 
faced, redhead  Johnny  Whitaker,  of 
television’s  Family  affair,  evokes  waves 
of  nostalgia  for  boyhood  innocence  with 
his  unmalicious  “magnanimous  lies,”  mis- 
chief, and  bravery.  Sentimentality  at- 
tacks when  he  finally  says,  “I  love  you,” 
to  Aunt  Polly. 

The  movie  has  been  receiving  rave 
reviews  and  is  considered  a first-rate 


family  entertainment.  The  controversial  ’ 
movie  critic  Rex  Reed  in  New  York 
daily  news  describes  it  as  a film  with 
“enormous  quality  and  richness  ...  a 
wholesome  treat.”  The  editors  of  the  i 
Reader’s  digest  are  happy  that  it  is  nei- 
ther violent  nor  pornographic. 

But,  alas,  it  is  violent.  Oddly,  the  1 
only  evil  character  is  Injun  Joe.  He  is  « 
portrayed  as  a base,  heartless  murderer, 
and  liar.  Even  the  movie’s  only  white 
trash,  the  drunkard  Muff  Potter,  out- 
shines Injun  Joe  in  every  possible  way. 
“Somethin  about  Injun  Joe  freezes  your  J 
blood,”  says  hero  Tom  Sawyer. 

Indians  today  are  struggling  to  im-  * 
prove  their  image  that  Hollywood  has 
insistently  distorted.  Was  it  necessary  for 
the  Reader’s  digest  to  add  insult  to  in- 
jury  under  the  guise  of  theatrical  real- 
ism? Would  anything  of  quality  have 
been  lost  if  Mark  Twain’s  prejudices 
of  the  nineteenth  century  had  been  omit- 
ted? One  of  the  things  that  motivated 
the  Reader’s  digest  to  produce  Tom  Saw- 
yer was  that  they  wanted  to  “participate 
positively  in  the  marvelous  medium  of 
film.”  Certainly,  in  our  twentieth  cen- 
tury  of  Wounded  Knees  even  a less  sin- 
ister and  more  humane  characterization 
of  Injun  Joe  would  have  been  more 
positive. 


MEDITATION 


The  Beatitudes  according  to  the  natural  man 

Blessed  are  the  poor — except  that  I don’t  want  to  be  one  of  them. 

Blessed  are  the  meek — they  make  it  easier  for  me  to  get  what  I want. 

Blessed  are  the  people  of  my  color,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth. 

Blessed  are  those  who  hunger  and  thirst  to  see  right  prevail — 

then  I can  leave  it  up  to  them  and  not  have  to  get  too  concerned 
about  it  myself. 

Blessed  are  the  merciful — may  they  always  be  merciful  to  me. 

Blessed  are  the  peacemakers — I get  so  angry  when  people  won’t  be 

peaceable  that  I could  take  them  and  bang  their  heads  together. 

I could  shoot  them,  even. 

Blessed  are  we  who  are  pure  in  heart — we  deserve  a lot  of  credit. 

People  really  should  show  us  more  respect  and  give  us  the 
honor  due  us. 

Blessed  are  those  who  have  suffered  persecution  for  the  cause  of 
right — I wouldn’t  want  to  get  that  involved  myself,  but  I’m 
glad  somebody  is — it  makes  my  life  easier. 

Barbara  Jurgensen 


OCTOBER  16,  1973 


598 


Indeed,  Tom  Sawyer  has  everything  an 
American — a white  American,  that  is — 
could  want.  Because  if  you  are  Indian 
as  I am,  you  will  realize  with  distress 
and  sadness  that  after  the  trimmings  are 
stripped  from  the  movie,  it  depicts  not 
much  more  than  a glorified  cowboys- 
and-Indians  mentality.  Emma  LaRoque, 
Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Ind.  46526 

Aug.  10 

Retreat  into  relationships 

Dear  Editor:  I am  compelled  to  write 
by  two  articles  in  the  September  18  is- 
sue which  I found  very  compelling.  One 
is  Anita  Lehman’s  article  advocating  a 
part-time  job  in  order  to  have  “more 
time  for  relationships.”  The  other,  which 
seems  to  me  a counterpoint,  is  Lois  Jan- 
zen’s  editorial  “Letting  go  and  leaving 
behind,”  in  which  she  states,  “Even  fam- 
ily loyalties  can  be  idolatrous  and  be- 
come the  final  excuse  why  we  cannot 
take  risks  for  God’s  kingdom.” 


We  cannot  deny  that  relationships  are 
important  and  that  the  marriage  rela- 
tionship is  the  most  important  of  them 
all.  However,  is  there  not  a point  at 
which  even  the  marriage  relationship  is 
meant  to  be  a means  to  serving  the 
world  rather  than  an  end  in  itself?  If  a 
marriage  relationship  consumes  time  and 
energy  to  the  extent  that  part-time  in- 
stead of  full-time  work  become  necessary 
in  order  to  maintain  the  marriage,  then 
perhaps  some  questions  need  to  be  asked 
about  why  the  relationship  is  taking  an 
unjustifiable  amount  of  energy  away 
from  involvement  in  the  needs  of  our 
time. 

The  “retreat  into  relationships”  can  be- 
come a massive  cover-up  for  the  lack  of 
meaningful  vocational  commitment.  As 
Lois  Janzen  reminds  us,  even  relation- 
ships (including  marriage)  are  subject 
to  the  question  of  where  our  loyalties 
really  are.  Melvin  D.  Schmidt,  655  South 
Lorraine,  Wichita,  Kans.  67211  Sept.  19 


Contents 

God  has  chosen  some  new  brothers 


and  sisters  for  us  586 

Jake  and  Katy  Dyck's  skidoo  588 

News  590 

Record  594 

Half-breed:  A proud  and  bitter 

legacy  596 

Christians  and  old  clothes  597 

Letters  598 

The  Beatitudes  according  to  the 

natural  man  598 

The  way  I feel  now  600 


Keeping  our  overseas  workers  posted  600 
CONTRIBUTORS 

Luther  Standing  Bear  is  a Sioux  Indian. 

Malcolm  Wenger  is  in  charge  of  the 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries'  Indian 
programs.  His  address  is  Box  347,  New- 
ton, Kans.  67114. 

Menno  Wiebe,  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 
Winnipeg  R3P  0M4,  heads  the  Cana- 
dian Conference's  native  ministries. 

Emma  LaRoque,  who  comes  from  Al- 
berta, is  a student  at  Goshen  College  in 
Indiana.  During  the  summer  she  had  an 
MCC  writing  assignment.  She  is  a native 
person. 

Dwayne  Martin  is  an  MCC  volunteer 
teacher  in  Botswana. 

Barbara  Jurgensen's  address  is  5135 
South  Kimbark,  Chicago  60615. 

John  Funk,  740  Goulding  St.,  Win- 
nipeg R3G  2S4,  is  native  handicrafts 
coordinator  for  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mis- 
sion. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  a Canadian  Department  of  North- 
ern Affairs  photo  by  Don  Konrad;  586, 
Rohn  Engh,  Pine  Lake  Farm,  Star  Prairie, 
Wise.  54026;  588,  Gerald  Loeween, 

Box  86,  Fort  Whyte,  Man.  R0G  0R0; 
591,  Burton  Buller,  MCC;  597,  RNS. 


TTip 

Mennonite 

Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen,-  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 


THE  FIRST  IN  A NEW  SERIES: 

CLASSICS  OF  THE  RADICAL  REFORMATION 

jpae  tgGcicy  op 
iftictoaeL  <ockttle rz. 

Translated  and  edited  by  John  H.  Yoder 


The  fanatics  or  radicals  of  the  sixteenth  century  reformation 
were  otherwise  known  as  "Anabaptists."  Michael  Sattler  has 
been  called  by  both  admirers  and  critics  the  most  significant  of 
the  original  Anabaptist  leaders.  Now  Sattler’s  writings  and 
scholars' comments  on  them  come  alive  for  the  first  time  in  the 
English  language.  Experience  through  this  book  the  visions  and 
feelings  of  an  early  Anabaptist  in  his  own  words. 

Dr  John  C.  Wenger  and  Dr.  Myron  S Augsburger  served  as 
consultants  to  the  editor.  ' 

Cloth  $9.95 

Order  from 

Faith  and  Life  Bookstore 
Newton,  Kansas,  or  Berne,  Indiana 


AMJ  A Herald  Press  Book. 


fHE  MENNONITE 


599 


The  way  / feel  it  now 


John  Funk 

Our  seeming  cultural  superiority  has  successful- 
ly isolated  us  from  a whole  nation  of  people.  We 
bump  into  them  occasionally,  but  do  not  feel 
them.  We  see  them  but  refuse  to  recognize  them. 
They  are  our  neighbors,  yet  we  do  not  know 
who  they  are.  Few  people  have  conscience  pangs 
severe  enough  to  make  even  token  efforts  to 
bridge  the  gulf  that  separates  our  peoples.  No 
people  is  subjected  to  as  much  poverty,  discrim- 
ination, and  misunderstanding  as  the  Indian  peo- 
ple living  among  us. 

I hear  Indian  people  saying,  “We  are  a peo- 
ple.” “We  are  God’s  children.”  “Recognize  us, 
for  we  are  brothers  and  sisters.”  Few  listen  and 
fewer  hear.  Indians  are  a distinct  people.  Three 
hundred  years  of  trying  to  assimilate  them  with- 
out success  is  proof  of  that. 

I have  witnessed  numerous  forces  of  our  so- 
ciety’s grinding  process  on  the  humanity  of  In- 
dian people.  They  are  forced  to  stand  in  lines 
formed  by  our  highly  specialized  bureaucracy; 
forced  into  unskilled  roles;  forced  to  be  content 
with  poor  housing,  poor  educational  facilities, 
poor  medical  services;  forced  to  compete  on  our 


terms  in  our  society.  They  are  politically,  reli- 
giously, and  economically  exploited. 

A lesser  people  would  long  have  been  ground 
out  of  existence. 

As  the  white  society  gnaws  at  Indian  human- 
ity, we  are  gnawing  at  our  own.  We  judge  pov- 
erty but  can’t  remember  when  we  were  poor. 
We  accept  generalized  statements  about  Indians, 
but  don’t  know  one  Indian  by  name.  We  dis- 
criminate simply  by  letting  society  determine  our 
attitude  towards  Indians.  And  we  become  less 
human.  We  understand  that  our  money  is  used 
for  the  poor,  the  unemployed,  and  the  Indians. 
We  don’t  understand  that  our  affluent  society  dis- 
criminates against  people  who  by  design  are  kept 
at  a distance.  We  dehumanize  ourselves  by  our 
discrimination  and  lack  of  understanding. 

For  every  Indian  sleeping  on  bare  pavement 
in  our  cities,  for  every  alcoholic  Indian  belching 
at  a lamp  post,  for  every  diseased  Indian  in  our 
sanitariums,  for  every  Indian  living  in  poor  hous- 
ing, for  every  Indian  who  falls  by  the  educational 
wayside,  society  becomes  less  human,  the  church 
less  credible,  and  theology  less  divine. 


Keeping  our  overseas  workers  posted 


Persons  working  abroad  in  mission  and  serv- 
ice projects  usually  feel  a strong  need  for  con- 
tact with  their  churches  and  communities  back 
in  North  America.  Church  periodicals  play  an 
important  role  in  keeping  them  posted.  But  these 
magazines  and  newspapers  take  so  long  getting 
to  some  countries  by  surface  mail  that  the  over- 
seas personnel  become  frustrated  waiting.  Here’s 
a recent  letter  from  an  mcc  volunteer  in  Latin 
America. 

“To  help  you  understand  the  problem  as  we 
see  it,  please  note  the  following:  The  Mennonite 
arrives  by  surface  mail  very  sporadically,  and 
usually  two  to  four  months  after  it  is  mailed. 
During  the  past  year  we  have  received  only  twen- 
ty-one issues.  Why  almost  half  didn’t  arrive,  I 
don’t  know.  It  is  frustrating  to  receive  three  or 
four  copies  at  one  time  and  have  half  the  issues 
missing.  Obviously  following  the  dialog  in  the 
Letters  section  becomes  futile.  . . . We  are  fed 
up  with  this  kind  of  surface  mail  nonservice  and 
if  we  find  no  alternative  to  paying  $24  per  year 


for  postage  alone,  we  probably  will  be  forced  to 
terminate  our  subscription.” 

Both  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  and 
mcc  have  been  approached  about  the  possibility 
of  providing  air  mail  subscriptions  for  all  their 
overseas  units,  but  they  have  indicated  that  it  is 
unfeasible  financially  for  them. 

A more  feasible  alternative  would  seem  to  be 
for  families  or  congregations  to  provide  air  mail 
subscriptions  for  their  members  or  friends. 

To  send  The  Mennonite  air  mail  to  Bangla- 
desh, India,  Indonesia,  Japan,  Jordan,  Taiwan, 
Vietnam,  or  Zaire  currently  costs  $28  per  year. 
For  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Colombia,  and  Paraguay,  the 
cost  is  $24  per  year. 

Consider  the  possibility  of  including  the  cost 
of  an  air  mail  subscription  for  a church  worker 
in  your  congregational  or  family  budget  for  1974. 
The  communications  and  morale  boost  that  such 
a thoughtful  gesture  would  give  our  personnel 
abroad  would  far  exceed  the  50  or  60  cents  a 
week  that  it  costs,  lk 


3 111 


The 

Mennoiiite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:38  OCTOBER  2 3,  1973 


Leighton  Ford 


A journalist  who  had  been  watching 
the  Senate  Watergate  hearings  comment- 
ed that  he  saw  those  trim,  clean-cut 
young  witnesses  testifying  and  wanted 
to  ask:  “What’s  a nice  boy  like  you  do- 
ing in  a place  like  this?’’ 

But,  deep  down,  he  says,  he  knows 
the  answer.  From  the  cradle  on  it’s  been 
drummed  into  them  that  cover-ups  are 
desirable.  Every  time  they  turn  on  the 
TV  or  thumb  through  a magazine  they 
see  people  covering  up  wrinkles,  blem- 
ishes, and  gray  hair. 

At  some  point  each  of  us  is  tempted 
to  cover  up,  not  just  the  wrinkles  in  our 
face  but  the  blemishes  in  our  soul.  And 
how  remarkable  the  Bible  is  in  that  it 
doesn’t  attempt  to  cover  up  the  mistakes 
of  its  heroes,  but  shows  them,  warts  and 
all. 

Take,  for  example,  a scandal  that 
rocked  the  administration  of  ancient  Is- 
rael which  involved  sexual  misbehavior, 
intrigue,  lying,  elaborate  cover-ups,  and 
finally  murder.  And  it  reached  right  into 
the  palace  and  implicated  the  great  King 
David  himself.  The  Bible  makes  no  at- 
tempt to  censor  these  dark  pages;  in- 
stead it  details  the  story  of  David’s  fall 
and  recovery.  And,  most  remarkable  of 
all,  it  includes  some  personal  poetry  in 
which  David  pours  out  his  feelings.  A 
modern  writer  might  call  the  story  “The 
candid  confessions  of  a king.”  The  com- 
plete account  can  be  found  in  2 Samuel 
11-12  and  Psalms  32  and  51. 

To  bring  this  long-ago  story  up  to 
date  and  apply  it  to  you  and  me,  I want 
to  use  a modern  technique  and  have  an 
imaginary  interview  with  King  David, 
using  the  facts  and  words  recorded  in 
the  Bible,  with  a few  Additions.  I think 
we’ll  find  he  has  an  important  lesson 
to  teach  all  of  us:  sin  is  something  we 
all  do  (though  that  doesn’t  excuse  us). 
What  matters  is  whether  our  sin  is  cov- 
ered up  or  covered  over,  whether  its 
hidden  or  forgiven.  And  that’s  the  dif- 
ference between  guilt  and  release,  be- 
tween living  in  death  and  living  in  real 
life! 

And  now,  an  interview  with  King 
David. 

Interviewer : King  David,  we  appre- 
ciate your  granting  us  this  interview. 
It  must  be  painful  and  embarrassing  for 
you  to  discuss  some  of  these  matters. 


Some  people  wonder  what  your  motive 
is  . . . would  you  mind  telling  us? 

King  David : Of  course.  I have  only 
two  motives.  One  is  to  bring  glory  to 
my  God,  for  what  other  god  is  like  ours, 
a God  who  pardons  us  so  freely  and 
whose  grace  is  so  free?  Secondly,  I think 
by  telling  my  story  I can  help  other  peo- 
ple, by  letting  them  know  that  when  we 
fall  down  it  isn’t  necessarily  the  end 
and  that  the  only  truly  happy  man  is 
the  one  who  knows  his  sins  have  been 
forgiven. 

I:  Very  well.  King  David,  can  you 
reconstruct  for  us  the  events  that  led  to 
what  has  become  known  as  the  Bath- 
sheba  affair? 

K:  Certainly.  I’ve  gone  over  them 
many  times  since.  It  all  began  in  the 
spring  one  year,  the  time  when  kings 
usually  go  forth  to  battle.  That’s  when 
I made  my  first  mistake.  Enemies  were 
attacking  us  and  I should  have  gone  out 
to  lead  our  troops  myself.  But  instead 
I sent  my  top  general,  Joab,  and  I re- 
mained at  Jerusalem.  I guess  I was  tired 
and  vulnerable.  Well,  anyway,  late  one 
afternoon  I got  up  from  a nap  and  was 
walking  on  the  roof  of  my  house.  That’s 
when  I saw  a woman  bathing  ...  a very 
beautiful  woman.  I made  inquiries  and 
found  that  her  name  was  Bathsheba  and 
that  her  husband  was  a man  named 
Uriah  who  was  away  fighting  in  the 
army.  The  situation  was  perfect,  so  (and 
I take  no  pride  in  relating  this)  I sent 
for  her  and — we  had  an  affair. 

/:  King  David,  some  of  your  friends 
have  tried  to  defend  you  by  saying  this 
woman  surely  knew  you  might  be  watch- 
ing and  deliberately  tried  to  entice  you. 
Do  you  agree? 

K:  Frankly,  I don’t  know.  The  point 
is,  I could  have  turned  away.  But  I 
didn’t.  It  was  just  that  one  time  . . . 
such  a small  thing  really.  Then  a few 
weeks  later  it  got  complicated;  Bath- 
sheba told  me  she  was  pregnant. 

/:  And  what  then? 

K : I know  now  what  I should  have 
done.  I should  have  confessed  it  im- 
mediately to  the  Lord  and  to  her  hus- 
band. But  I just  couldn’t  bring  myself 
to  do  it.  So  I had  Uriah  recalled  from 
the  front  lines,  supposedly  to  brief  me 
on  the  military  situation.  In  reality  my 
purpose  was  to  have  him  spend  the  night 


with  his  wife  and  cover  up  what  had 
happened.  But  it  didn’t  work.  Uriah  had 
such  a strong  sense  of  duty  that  he  re- 
fused to  go  to  his  house  while  his  fellow 
soldiers  were  in  the  field.  I was  furious. 
I sent  him  back  to  the  army,  ordered 
General  Joab  to  put  him  at  the  hottest 
place  in  the  battle.  My  orders  were 
followed.  Uriah  was  killed. 

/:  So  the  matter  seemed  to  be  hushed 
up. 

K:  Perfectly.  So  I thought.  Later  I 
married  Bathsheba  and  she  bore  me  a 
son.  I’d  forgotten  only  one  thing.  God. 
He  knew  about  it.  And  he  wasn’t  pleased. 

7:  How  did  you  come  to  realize  that? 

K:  One  day  Nathan,  a true  man  of 
God,  a prophet,  asked  to  see  me.  I’d  al- 
most have  to  say  he  tricked  me  into 
accusing  myself.  He  told  me  a story 
about  a rich  man  with  many  flocks  and 
a poor  man  who  had  only  one  little 
lamb  which  was  a special  pet  for  his 
family.  The  rich  man  had  some  com- 
pany come  and  instead  of  killing  one  of 
his  own  flock  he  took  the  poor  man’s 
one  lamb.  I was  furious!  I told  Nathan 
this  rich  man  deserved  to  die  and  I’d 
see  to  it  that  he  gave  the  poor  man  four 
lambs  back. 

Nathan  just  looked  at  me  and  I felt 
my  conscience  start  to  crawl.  Then  he 
quietly  said,  “King  David,  you  are  the 
man.”  Suddenly  I realized  God  knew. 

Finally,  I said  to  Nathan,  “I  have 
sinned  against  the  Lord.”  And  Nathan 
said  the  Lord  would  put  away  my  sin 
but  that  the  child  Bathsheba  had  borne 
would  die. 

7:  And  did  it? 

K : Yes,  and  I learned  a hard  lesson. 
That  God  can  forgive  our  guilt  but  the 
consequences  of  our  sin  can’t  all  be 
undone.  The  baby  died,  the  enemies  of 
the  Lord  mocked  my  faith,  we’ve  had 
problems  in  our  household  since.  What 
starts  as  a tiny  temptation  grows  into  a 
major  disaster.  I learned  never  to  fool 
with  sin.  But  I also  learned  how  great 
God’s  forgiveness  is. 

7:  King  David,  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury a lot  of  people  say  they  don’t  need 
forgiveness  because  they  don’t  feel  “guil- 
ty.” What  would  you  say  to  them? 

K:  Well,  I’d  say  that  sin  does  more 
than  give  us  an  uneasy  conscience.  It 
breaks  our  relation  with  God.  After  my 


experience  of  forgiveness  I was  on  good 
terms  with  God  again.  And  with  that, 
life  became  deliciously  new.  Security, 
purpose,  joy — all  that  I’d  lacked  I re- 
covered. The  Lord  became  real  again. 

7:  King  David,  could  you  now  sum  up 
the  lessons  you’ve  learned? 

K : Yes,  in  two  parts.  First,  don’t 
minimize  sin.  When  I wrote  Psalm  32 
I tried  to  bring  this  out  by  using  four 
different  words:  “Blessed  is  he  whose 
transgression  is  forgiven,  whose  sin  is 
covered,  to  whom  the  Lord  imputes  no 
iniquity,  in  whose  spirit  there  is  no  de- 
ceit.” “Transgression”  means  mutiny,  as 
if  my  soldiers  turned  against  their  com- 
mander. “Sin”  means  missing  the  mark; 
“iniquity”  means  to  twist  away  from 
God’s  path;  and  “deceit,”  of  course, 
means  to  cover  it  all  up.  So  I’ve  learned 
that  we  human  beings  are  not  naturally 
good.  We  are  rebels  who’ve  missed  the 
mark,  left  the  right  road,  and  tried  to 
cover  up  our  tracks.  Unless  we  face  up 
to  this,  our  homes,  our  nation,  ourselves 
will  fall  apart. 

Secondly,  I’ve  learned  that  no  sin  is 
too  great,  no  sinner  too  bad  to  be  for- 
given. But  I think  it’s  important  to  re- 
alize that  we  confess  to  God,  for  sin 
isn’t  just  against  men;  it’s  against  God. 
And  only  God  can  forgive. 

7:  Any  final  words? 

K:  Yes,  we  have  only  two  ways  to 
deal  with  sin — to  try  to  cover  up  or  to 
let  God  cover  it  over.  The  answer  isn’t 
silence;  it’s  no  rationalization.  I found 
that.  I couldn’t  hide  my  sin  and  I 
couldn’t  forget  it. 

7:  Thank  you,  King  David. 

And  so  the  interview  ends. 

But  the  truth  lives  on.  What  even 
King  David  didn’t  know,  you  and  I 
know  today.  King  David’s  greater  son 
. . . the  Lord  Jesus  . . . would  come  as 
the  Messiah  to  pour  out  his  life’s  blood 
on  a cruel  cross  for  the  covering  of  our 
sins. 

Don’t  cover  up  . . . open  up  . . . let 
God  cover  over.  You’ll  be  able  to  say 
with  David,  “Happy  is  the  man  whose 
sins  are  forgiven,  whose  transgressions 
are  pardoned.  Happy  is  the  man  whom 
the  Lord  does  not  accuse  of  doing  wrong, 
who  is  free  from  all  deceit.” 

Forgiveness  is  in  Christ  for  you.  Reach 
out  and  take  him  now. 


THE  MENNONITE 


603 


Reflections  on  a Swan  Lake  summer 


1 


Willard  and  Elma  Waltner 


■ 


) 

i 


Camp — a highlight  of  summer,  most 
everyone  who  has  ever  attended  a ses- 
sion will  agree.  A program  of  Bible 
study,  crafts,  recreation,  quiet  times  and 
rap  sessions,  renewing  acquaintances, 
and  making  new  friends.  A lot  of  ac- 
tivity packed  into  a few  short  days  that 
appeals  to  youth  in  our  fast-paced  twen- 
tieth century. 

But  what  of  the  camp  staff  members 
who  are  responsible  for  seeing  that  no- 
body feels  left  out,  for  solving  any 
problems  that  might  arise,  for  keeping 
things  running  smoothly?  Is  it  also  a 
time  for  building  pleasant  memories  or 
a hectic  series  of  weeks  to  be  lived 
through?  What  inspires  young  adults  to 
spend  their  summer  as  members  of  a 
camp  staff? 

Those  who  serve  at  Swan  Lake  Chris- 
tian Camp,  the  Northern  District’s  camp 
on  Swan  Lake,  near  Viborg,  South  Da- 
kota, are  probably  typical  of  camp  staff- 
ers throughout  the  denomination  regard- 


less of  the  geographical  location  of  the 
particular  camp.  Nine  staffers  worked 
with  Curtis  and  Barbara  Gaylord,  the 
camp  director  and  his  wife,  during  the 
1973  camping  season.  Camps  included 
a wide  span  of  age  groups  from  ten- 
year-olds  to  silver-haired  senior  adults. 
In  retrospect,  as  the  season  ended,  the 
director  and  his  staff  assessed  the  season 
and  their  feelings  concerning  it.  Why 
had  they  come?  What  did  they  give  and 
what  did  they  gain  from  the  experience? 
Was  it  with  an  “I  hope  I can  do  it 
again”  or  an  “I’m  glad  it’s  over”  feeling 
that  they  said  good-bye  to  the  last  group 
of  campers  and  to  fellow  staff  members? 

Why  had  they  come  in  the  first  place? 

For  some,  now  college  age  or  older 
as  a rule,  their  happy  experiences  as 
campers  themselves  in  an  earlier  day 
sparked  the  desire  to  return.  Some  had 
been  camp  counselors  previously  and 
thought  working  the  entire  summer  on 
the  staff  would  be  a followup. 


Ed  said,  “I  had  been  here  two  sum- 
mers ago  as  a counselor.  For  me,  as 
far  as  summers  go,  this  is  the  only  sort 
of  thing  that  makes  sense  because  I like 
to  interact  with  kids.  It’s  a good  atmos- 
phere and  I like  working  with  the  staff. 
Right  now  I am  sort  of  between  things.  ' 
I graduated  from  college  two  years  ago 
and  did  service  in  Boston.  I am  finishing 
up  my  term  here  because  there  was  no 
summer  program  where  I had  been  sta- 
tioned. I plan  to  return  to  school  in  the  ' 
fall.” 

For  Marci,  it  was  the  desire  for  a J 
change  that  brought  her  to  Swan  Lake. 

“I  had  been  working  in  hospitals  and 
nursing  homes  for  several  summers  and 
was  tired  of  working  indoors  and  a regu- 
lar eight-hour  day.  I wanted  something 
different,  to  get  out.  I thought  camp 
would  be  a good  change.” 

Her  twin  brother,  Monte,  agreed. 
“My  coming  here  was  really  sort  of  by 
accident,”  he  said.  “I  was  looking  for 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  Genera!  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


604 


OCTOBER  23,  1973 


something  for  the  summer  and  knew 
that  Marci  was  coming  here.  When  she’d 
talked  to  Curtis  he  mentioned  that  he 
was  short  on  male  staff  so  I talked  to 
him.  I thought  the  experience  would  be 
I different.  I’d  never  done  the  same  thing 
two  summers  in  a row.  I was  looking 
for  something  new.” 

And  did  he  find  something  new? 

“Yes  indeed,  and  it  has  been  a good 
experience,”  he  said. 

The  staffers  had  no  favorites  among 
the  different  age  groups  of  campers.  As 
one  of  them  said,  “They  were  so  differ- 
ent that  at  this  point  I couldn’t  pick  a 
particular  one  as  best.  Maybe,  after  a 
while,  I will  look  back  and  one  will  stand 
out  particularly  in  my  mind,  but  not 
now.”  And  the  rest  of  the  staff  heartily 
agreed. 

Camp  director  Curtis  Gaylord  expand- 
ed the  idea  a bit.  “You  like  one  for  one 
reason,  another  for  something  else.  It’s 
hard  to  compare  one  camp  with  another. 
How  can  you  draw  comparisons  between 
Outpost,  where  there  was  a large  age 
range,  with  a camp  held  here  where  all 
the  campers  are  nearly  the  same  age? 
Or  senior  high  to  junior  high?  They  are 


so  different  in  terms  of  the  type  of  ap- 
proach that  we  as  a staff  take  towards 
them.” 

One  camp  was  for  special  education 
youngsters,  and  Ed  remarked  that  work- 
ing with  these  children  with  their  handi- 
caps was  a refreshing  experience. 

“I  had  never  worked  with  youngsters 
like  that  before.  They  don’t  have  a lot 
of  the  problems  that  other  children  do. 
They’re  happier  and  more  ready  to  ex- 
press themselves,  very  appreciative,  too.” 

On  the  top  end  of  the  age  scale,  all 
the  staffers  enjoyed  working  with  the 
senior  adult  group.  One  of  them  de- 
scribed that  bunch  of  campers  as  “fan- 
tastic. These  older  campers  wanted  to 
get  to  really  know  us,  as  young  people. 
It  was  really  great.  At  home  I am  al- 
ways so  busy  I never  seem  to  have  time 
to  visit  with  older  people.  And  they  were 
so  eager  to  share  with  each  other.  Quite 
a contrast  to  the  senior  high  group  who 
were  hesitant  to  speak  out  and  share  in 
the  big  group,  though  they  were  quite 
willing  to  do  so  when  divided  into  small- 
er groups.” 

The  counselors  felt  that  they  had 
learned  much  themselves  through  the 


summer.  Laura  explained  it,  “I’ve  learn- 
ed a great  deal  about  how  to  relate  to 
people,  and  relationships.  We’ve  talked 
this  over  at  staff  meetings — how  to  be 
really  open  and  honest  instead  of  having 
only  surface  type  relationships.  I have 
learned  to  do  this  but  it’s  risky,  in  a 
way.  In  order  to  get  to  know  people,  I 
find  I must  let  them  really  get  to  know 
me,  too.  That  is  the  way  I’ve  gotten  to 
know  other  people  well,  but  only  when 
I’ve  done  that.” 

In  a way  they  looked  on  the  summer 
with  mixed  feelings  as  to  whether  they 
would  want  to  do  it  again.  One  of  them 
remarked,  “I’m  not  sure.  This  has  been 
such  a good  summer  that  I would  be 
comparing  any  that  follow  with  this  one 
and  am  afraid  they  wouldn’t  be  as  good.” 

Director  Curtis  probably  wrapped  it 
all  up  when  he  said,  “At  the  end  of  a 
season  I have  the  feeling  ‘I  don’t  think 
I want  to  do  it  again’  but  after  a period 
of  time  the  feeling  changes.  It’s  sort  of 
like  riding  a rapids  in  a canoe.  Just 
when  you  finish  you  say  ‘I  wouldn’t  do 
that  again,’  but  after  a few  days  you’re 
ready  to  go  back  and  start  in  again.  It’s 
that  way  with  counseling.” 


THE  MENNONITE 


605 


\ IMS 


New  members  come  from  Mennonite  fold 


Most  new  members  of  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  congregations  are 
gained  by  baptism  of  members’  children 
or  by  transfer  from  other  churches.  Only 
3 percent  are  by  baptism  of  people  of 
no  church  background. 

These  were  some  of  the  findings  from 
analysis  of  statistical  forms  prepared  by 
General  Conference  churches  for  the 
past  six  years. 

These  findings  should  be  a way  of 
testing  whether  effective  evangelism  is 
taking  place  in  the  General  Conference, 
said  Malcolm  Wenger  of  the  Commis- 
sion on  Home  Ministries  staff. 

Mr.  Wenger  said  that  study  of  sta- 
tistical forms  from  1967  to  1972  shows 
that  the  greatest  inflow  of  new  members 
into  the  General  Conference  is  by  bap- 
tism of  people  of  Mennonite  parentage 
and  background.  In  six  years,  the  re- 
porting churches  (about  88  percent)  bap- 
tized 7,719  persons  of  Mennonite  back- 
ground, 532  of  other  church  back- 
ground, and  294  of  no  church  back- 
ground. 


Almost  as  many  new  members  came 
by  transfers  from  other  churches.  In  six 
years,  the  reporting  churches  took  in 
7,435  members  in  this  way,  6,585  by 
letter  and  850  by  confession  of  faith. 
During  the  last  two  years  (the  only  years 
for  which  this  information  was  avail- 
able), over  half  of  these  transfers  came 
from  other  General  Conference  church- 
es. 

“The  winning  of  our  own  children  to 
a voluntary  commitment  to  Christ  is  an 
important  kind  of  evangelism  not  to  be 
neglected,  but  it  is  not  the  evangelism 
that  shares  the  gospel  message  with 
those  outside  the  Christian  family,”  Mr. 
Wenger  said. 

Similarly,  “transfer  membership  is  im- 
portant in  retaining  people  already  won 
for  Christ  and  the  church,”  Mr.  Wenger 
said,  “but  this  is  not  true  church  growth; 
it  does  not  reflect  an  evangelism  that 
cares  for  those  outside  the  Christian 
faith.” 

He  said  the  Institute  of  Church  Growth 
suggests  three  categories  for  church 


growth:  “biological”  growth,  or  evan- 
gelism of  children  of  believers;  transfer 
growth;  and  conversion  growth,  or  win- 
ning people  of  non-Christian  parentage 
to  the  faith.  Using  these  categories,  the  i 
General  Conference  for  the  last  six  years 
would  have  54  percent  biological  growth, 

43  percent  transfer  growth,  and  3 per- 
cent conversion  growth. 

“There  may  be  better  terms  to  de- 
scribe growth,”  Mr.  Wenger  said,  “but 
these  terms  highlight  how  effective  (or  , 
ineffective)  we  have  been  in  winning 
some  of  the  100,000,000  non-Christians 
in  North  America.” 

During  the  six  years,  baptism  of  per- 
sons of  nonchurch  background  reached 
a low  in  1970,  with  only  twenty-eight 
reported,  down  from  sixty-two  in  1967, 
forty  in  1968,  and  thirty-three  in  1969. 

Mr.  Wenger  saw  a possible  upward 
trend.  In  1971,  fifty-four  persons  of  non- 
church background  were  baptized.  Thir- 
ty-three of  the  306  General  Conference 
congregations  reporting  indicated  at 
least  one  such  baptism.  In  1972  the 
number  had  grown  to  thirty-four  church- 
es baptizing  a total  of  seventy-seven. 

But  these  figures  seem  slim  compared 
to  the  goal  of  baptizing  300  nonchurched 
people  in  1973,  set  by  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries. 

Mr.  Wenger  quoted  Leland  Harder  in 
the  Fact  book  of  congregational  mem- 
bership, where  he  writes,  “The  early 
Anabaptist  commitment  to  an  aggres- 
sive evangelism,  to  recruit  new  members 
who  were  true  believers,  has  been  large- 
ly replaced  by  an  in-group  birth  rate 
as  the  means  of  perpetuation.” 

Mr.  Harder’s  studies  indicate  that  be- 
tween 1960  and  1970  the  percentage  of 
members  of  the  General  Conference  who 
were  of  non-Mennonite  parentage  in- 
creased only  from  8.5  percent  to  9.1 
percent.  But  the  studies  also  show  that 
the  Mennonite  birth  rates  in  Canadian 
and  U.S.  congregations  have  fallen  sharp- 
ly in  the  last  decade  and  that  transfers 
flowed  out  twice  as  fast  as  they  came  in. 

“There  have  already  been  some  grati- 
fying experiences  as  a result  of  Key  73 
that  cannot  be  caught  by  statistics,”  Mr. 
Wenger  said.  “But  if  our  commitment  ! 
to  evangelism  is  real,  there  should  be 
some  new  people  in  the  family  of  God.” 


"Biological' 

Growth 


Transfer 

Growth 


Conversion 

Growth 


1500 


tI 


1.000  A 


nil 
1 1 1 1 1 
inn 


■ I 1 1 1 


1 1 ii  i 


500  - 


II  11 

I I II 

II  II 
II  II 


67  68  69  70  71  72  67  68  69  70  71  72  I 67  68  69  70  71  72 


606 


OCTOBER  23,  1973 


Volunteers  explore  defusing  Vietnam  fields 


Exploratory  work  in  the  countryside  of 
Vietnam  to  find  ways  to  help  local 
farmers  clear  their  land  of  unexploded 
bombs  will  begin  in  October.  Mcc  sec- 
ond-term volunteers  Earl  and  Pat  Mar- 
tin, Paoli,  Pennsylvania,  will  do  initial 
research. 

Two  to  four  million  undetonated 
bombs  now  lying  in  the  fields  and  for- 
ests of  Vietnam  prevent  refugee  farm- 
ers from  returning  to  their  homes  and 
preparing  their  land  for  crop  produc- 
tion. The  Martins  will  explore  the  ex- 
tent of  the  problem,  what  the  Vietna- 
mese themselves  can  do  about  it,  and 
what  ways  foreign  agencies  like  mcc 
may  be  able  to  help. 

“The  disincentive  for  returning  to 
the  countryside — threat  of  arrest,  con- 
tinual bombing  and  general  warfare, 
and  the  danger  of  unexploded  ordnance 
— must  be  tremendous  for  the  refugees,” 
Earl  reflected.  “Whatever  we  can  do  to 
help  them  achieve  their  aspirations  of 
returning  seems  to  be  along  the  right 
lines.” 

Returning  to  the  land  seems  to  be  in 
the  long-term  interests  of  the  Vietnamese 
people.  Although  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment trained  some  members  of  the 
army  of  South  Vietnam  in  ordnance 
disposal,  it  appears  that  little  is  being 
done  so  far  to  clear  the  fields. 

“This  is  the  kind  of  project  Americans 
should  be  doing — to  the  extent  that  we 
are  responsible  for  the  unexploded 
bombs  and  artillery  shells  in  the  fields 
and  villages,”  Earl  said.  “The  work  also 
has  the  potential  for  making  a strong 
peace  witness  both  in  Vietnam  and  the 
United  States.  It  is  a truly  Christian 
service.” 

But  the  mission  is  dangerous.  During 
his  months  researching  the  problems  of 
ordnance  disposal  for  the  Indochina  Re- 
search Center  in  Washington,  D.C.,  Earl 
found  that  much  detonation  work  is 
with  fuses,  some  of  them  quite  compli- 
cated. Experienced  Pentagon  people 
commented  that  the  work  is  an  “in- 
herently dangerous  game,”  “not  a job 
for  amateurs,”  and  even  “kills  some 
people  who  know  what  they’re  doing.” 

At  the  present  Earl’s  work  will  in- 
volve research  rather  than  actual  det- 
onation. Ordnance  disposal  requires  six 
or  seven  months  of  specialized  training. 
However,  the  Martins,  who  have  a daugh- 
ter, Lara  Mai,  gave  a great  deal  of  con- 
sideration to  the  possibility  of  a family 
person  being  involved  in  high  risk  work. 


“We  are  ready  to  follow  this  road 
wherever  it  leads,”  the  Martins  con- 
cluded. “The  question  is  bound  to  come 
up:  Don’t  you  love  your  family?  Don’t 
you  have  any  feeling  of  responsibility 
for  your  child?  It  is  here  we  believe  the 
crux  of  the  issue  lies.  It  is  precisely  be- 
cause we  do  love  our  daughter  that  we 
feel  it  important  to  work  at  cleaning  up 
the  countryside  in  Vietnam.  It  is  be- 
cause of  our  humanity  that  we  would 
work  with  this  problem. 

“We  are  child  not  only  to  our  par- 
ents, but  to  all  parents.  We  are  mother 
and  father  not  only  to  Lara  but  to  all 
children.  If  anyone  is  threatened  by  un- 
exploded ordnance  in  the  fields  and  gar- 
dens of  Vietnam,  that  person  is  our 


“The  post-war  war,”  a new  slide  set  pro- 
duced by  the  National  Action/ Research 
on  the  Military  Industrial  Complex 
(narmic)  is  now  available  from  Men- 
nonite  Central  Committee  audiovisual  de- 
partment. The  slides  are  a sequel  to 
“The  automated  air  war.” 

The  set  of  160  slides  tells  how  the 
United  States  continues  to  support  the 
war  in  Vietnam  since  the  Paris  Agree- 
ments last  January  27. 

“It’s  important  material,”  noted  Wal- 
ton Hackman,  executive  secretary  of  the 
Peace  Section.  “The  war  in  Vietnam  is 


A fifty-five-year-old  farmer  has  designed 
and  built  a waterwheel  in  an  African  vil- 
lage where  such  a device  had  never  been 
seen. 

Albert  Drudge,  volunteer  with  mcc 
in  Zaire,  decided  there  must  be  a better 
way  of  supplying  water  to  people  around 
the  Nyanga  mission  hospital,  schools, 
and  farms  than  the  traditional  method 
of  hauling  it  from  a stream  two  miles 
away. 

Mr.  Drudge’s  farming  background  in 
Stouffville,  Ontario,  had  not  provided 
much  experience  in  waterwheels.  But  in 
September  1972  he  heard  about  and 
went  to  see  a working  waterwheel  at  a 
Catholic  mission  station  at  Kansanze, 
some  miles  from  Nyanga. 

“At  that  time  I had  no  idea  I would 
build  one,”  Mr.  Drudge  said.  “I  was  just 
curious  as  to  how  a waterwheel  works.” 


child,  that  person  is  our  brother,  our 
sister,  our  mother,  our  father.  No  per- 
son’s life  is  more  or  less  dispensable 
than  another  person’s.” 

The  Martins  previously  served  with 
mcc  in  Vietnam  from  1966  to  1969. 
Earl,  who  speaks  Vietnamese  fluently, 
recently  received  a master’s  degree  in 
Asian  studies  from  Stanford  Univer- 
sity. Pat,  a registered  occupational  ther- 
apist, hopes  to  do  some  therapy  work. 

“It  is  really  the  Vietnamese  and  only 
the  Vietnamese  who  can  bring  spiritual 
healing  back  to  their  own  land  and 
people,”  Earl  emphasized.  “Perhaps  a 
few  foreigners  can  be  servants  to  them 
during  this  process,  but  the  main  job  is 
theirs  alone.” 


continuing  with  Americans  in  sport  shirts 
instead  of  Americans  in  uniforms  aiding 
the  South  Vietnamese  army.” 

The  slides  also  point  out  United  States 
support  of  South  Vietnam’s  treatment  of 
political  prisoners  and  training  of  police 
who  are  harassing  civilians. 

The  narmic  slides  are  sent  at  no  cost 
with  carousel  trays  and  a written  script. 
An  abbreviated  version  will  soon  be 
available.  The  set  should  be  reserved  at 
least  one  month  in  advance.  Write  the 
AV  Department,  MCC,  21  South  12th 
St.,  Akron,  Pennsylvania  17501. 


But  the  idea  grew.  By  December  Mr. 
Drudge  had  worked  out  a plan  in  his 
head  and  put  enough  of  it  on  paper  to 
merit  a grant  from  the  Canadian  Inter- 
national Development  Agency  for  the 
waterwheel  project. 

Cida  requires  local  people’s  involve- 
ment in  projects  they  fund.  Ten  Zairian 
men  working  with  Mr.  Drudge  dug  a 
channel  to  divert  the  stream  and  exca- 
vated a dam.  They  hauled  gravel  from 
an  abandoned  diamond  mine  twelve 
miles  away  across  the  Kasai  River  and 
cement  from  Kananga  at  a cost  of  $7.00 
a bag. 

The  seven-foot  wheel  powers  a pump 
to  lift  water  400  feet  to  a storage  tank 
at  the  African  Inter-Mennonite  Mission 
station  one  mile  away.  From  there,  a 
distribution  system  of  pipes  will  carry 
water  to  the  various  station  facilities. 


Slides  show  post-war  war 


Waterwheel  built  in  Zaire 


THE  MENNONITE 


607 


Program  set  for  1974  General  Conference 


“Jesus:  Free  to  follow,  bound  to  choose” 
has  been  chosen  as  the  theme  for  the 
triennial  General  Conference  sessions  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Sessions  will  be  August  1-7, 
1974,  on  the  campus  of  Brock  Univer- 
sity, St.  Catharines,  Ontario. 

The  youth  and  adult  program  com- 
mittees, meeting  in  St.  Catharines  Sep- 
tember 22-23,  set  an  outline  for  the 
conference  program,  including  Bible 
study,  board  reports,  special  interest 
groups,  speakers,  a centennial  opera, 
and  a communion  service. 

Opening  each  weekday  will  be  Bible 
study  led  by  David  Schroeder,  profes- 
sor at  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  Col- 
lege, Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  and  small 
group  discussions  of  the  biblical  mate- 
rial. The  same  small  groups  will  also 
meet  for  thirty  minutes  following  each 
evening  session. 

Following  the  Bible  studies  will  be 
reports  from  each  of  the  conference’s 
three  commissions,  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary,  and  the  Division  of  Adminis- 
tration. 

Conference  business,  including  elec- 
tions and  resolutions,  will  be  primarily 
in  early  afternoon  on  Friday,  Saturday, 
Tuesday,  and  Wednesday. 

Late  afternoon  will  be  devoted  to 
“insight”  groups  on  such  topics  as  fam- 
ily, the  charismatic  movement,  the  role 
of  women,  Christian  unity,  and  civil  re- 
ligion. 

General  sessions  will  be  each  eve- 
ning, with  speakers  yet  to  be  announced. 

Unruhs  accept 
Wounded  Knee  leadership 

Robert  and  Myrtle  Unruh,  Bloomfield, 
Montana,  long-time  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  workers  in  Paraguay,  have 
volunteered  for  a term  with  Mennonite 
Disaster  Service  to  provide  leadership 
for  the  rebuilding  programs  under  way 
in  the  Wounded  Knee,  South  Dakota, 
area. 

The  Unruhs  arrived  in  Wounded  Knee 
September  19,  and  are  now  headquar- 
tered at  the  Porcupine  Ridge  Menno- 
nite Church  not  far  away.  Pastor  Ted 
Standing  Elk  is  hosting  the  workers  and 
giving  his  services  as  program  advisor. 

The  goal  of  the  rehabilitation  program 
in  Wounded  Knee  is  to  repair  and  win- 
terize homes  of  the  Sioux  Indian  peo- 
ple whose  property  was  damaged  dur- 
ing the  recent  disturbances  there. 


Sunday  morning  will  include  a spe- 
cial worship  service  prepared  by  Men- 
nonites from  the  Kitchener,  Ontario, 
community,  to  celebrate  and  recall  Ana- 
baptist principles  and  what  they  mean 
to  Mennonites  today. 

Sunday  afternoon  and  evening  will 
include  tours  of  the  area  plus  two  per- 
formances of  an  opera  being  prepared 
for  the  Mennonites  in  Manitoba,  who 
will  be  celebrating  in  1974  the  centen- 
nial of  the  coming  of  Mennonites  from 
Russia  to  the  prairie  states  and  provinces 
of  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

Heinz  Janzen,  general  secretary  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  said  the  conference  would  in- 
clude opportunity  for  congregational  and 
personal  testimony. 

Resolutions,  he  said,  should  have  been 
tested  in  a local  congregation,  commis- 


sion or  division,  insight  group,  resolu- 
tions committee,  or  other  group  before 
being  brought  to  the  conference  floor. 

Youth  will  share  most  sessions  with 
adults,  but  will  have  some  youth  in- 
sight groups,  special  speakers,  and  a 
youth  celebration  the  last  morning. 

Afternoon  tours  for  youth  will  in- 
clude bicycle  hikes.  Other  afternoon  ac- 
tivities will  focus  on  creative  expression 
of  the  discipleship  theme  through  drama, 
music,  sculpture,  and  photography.  A 
coffeehouse  and  film  theater  are  planned 
from  9 to  11  each  evening. 

Seventh-  and  eighth-graders  may  par- 
ticipate in  a camp  for  the  week,  and 
other  daytime  sessions  are  planned  for 
younger  children. 

Lodging  will  be  available  in  hotels, 
motels,  campgrounds,  university  dormi- 
tories, and  (for  youth)  churches. 


Award  for  Wycliffe 

The  Summer  Institute  of  Linguistics,  affiliated  with  Wycliffe  Bible  Translators,  re- 
ceived this  1973  Ramon  Magsaysay  Award  for  International  Understanding  in 
ceremonies  in  Manila,  Philippines.  The  award,  recognized  as  the  Asian  Nobel  Peace 
Prize,  was  presented  to  the  institute  “in  recognition  of  its  inspired  outreach  to  non- 
literate tribespeople,  recording  and  teaching  them  to  read  their  own  languages  and 
enhancing  their  participation  in  the  larger  community  of  man.”  Missionary-linguists 
of  seventeen  nationalities  serving  with  the  institute  in  twenty-five  nations  and  560 
languages  have  been  trained  at  facilities  in  Great  Britain,  Germany,  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  and  the  United  States  (University  of  Oklahoma,  University  of  North  Da- 
kota, University  of  Washington,  Gordon  College,  and  the  institute’s  International 
Linguistic  Center,  Dallas,  Texas). 


608 


OCTOBER  23,  1973 


Mennonites  speak  out  on  death  penalty 


Twenty  states  including  Ohio  and  In- 
diana have  reinstated  death  penalty  laws 
since  the  Supreme  Court  invalidated  all 
standing  laws  on  capital  punishment, 
June  29,  1971.  Courts  in  two  other 
states  have  construed  legislation  to  al- 
low the  death  penalty.  Such  laws  affect 
the  future  of  twenty-three  people  facing 
the  death  penalty. 

Concerned  Mennonites  in  Pennsylvan- 
ia are  now  calling  on  the  Pennsylvania 
state  government  not  to  reinstate  cap- 
ital punishment.  Mcc  Peace  Section  rep- 
resentative James  Drescher  from  Lan- 
caster and  John  K.  Stoner,  of  the  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  Commission  on  Peace  and 
Social  Concerns,  recently  visited  state 
legislators  to  voice  their  concerns.  This 
year  the  Pennsylvania  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives passed  a mandatory  capital 
punishment  bill  which  the  Senate  must 
now  pass,  reject,  or  replace  with  an- 
other bill.  One  person  in  Pennsylvania 
is  on  death  row. 

“I  get  the  feeling  our  officials  are  re- 
acting to  the  public’s  law  and  order  feel- 
ings,” Mr.  Drescher  said.  “I  think  we 
have  a lot  of  public  education  to  do.” 

The  U.S.  Supreme  Court  decided  two 
years  ago  that  existing  state  laws  were 
“cruel  and  unusual  punishment,”  since 
the  administration  of  the  death  penalty 
was  provably  unfair.  Poor  and  minority 
group  people  on  death  row  were  more 
often  executed  than  wealthier,  white 
people  in  the  same  situation. 

Following  the  Court’s  decision,  states 
can  either  make  the  use  of  capital  pun- 


ishment more  fair  and  efficient  by  pass- 
ing laws  that  reduce  discrimination  and 
delay,  or  repeal  the  death  penalty  en- 
tirely. 

Nine  of  the  twenty  states  which  have 
reinstituted  capital  punishment  laws  have 
passed  mandatory  death  penalty  laws; 
eleven  have  enacted  a nonmandatory 
death  penalty.  Mandatory  laws  require 
death  for  specified  crimes  such  a pre- 
meditated murder,  while  nonmandatory 
laws  separate  jury  conviction  and  sen- 
tencing of  the  defendant. 

No  states  have  formally  abolished 
capital  punishment  since  the  1971  de- 
cision. If  the  twenty-eight  states  which 
have  not  yet  taken  action  decide  to  pass 
no  laws,  they  will  have,  in  effect,  re- 
jected the  death  penalty.  However  more 
of  the  states  are  expected  to  draw  up 
new  death  penalty  legislation. 

“At  least  fourteen  states  had  abol- 
ished capital  punishment  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  decision,”  noted  Walton 
Hackman,  executive  secretary  of  mcc 
Peace  Section.  “It  had  begun  to  seem 
as  if  public  opinion  was  favoring  abol- 
ishment. Now  it  seems  that  opinion  is 
swinging  the  other  way.” 

At  a recent  Pennsylvania  state  judi- 
ciary committee  meeting,  fifteen  wives 
of  members  of  the  Fraternal  Order  of 
Police  or  of  deceased  policemen  stood 
in  the  Capitol  lobby  with  signs  advocat- 
ing the  death  penalty.  In  contrast  Men- 
nonites have  done  more  in  direct  minis- 
tries to  offenders  than  in  voicing  their 
opinions  to  state  governments  concern- 


ing capital  punishment  legistlation. 

“Our  convictions  on  this  matter 
should  be  as  well  thought  through  as 
those  concerning  military  service,”  writes 
John  H.  Yoder  in  The  Christian  and 
capital  punishment.  “We  should  con- 
tribute to  the  awakening  of  public  opin- 
ion by  speaking  to  our  neighbors  and 
writing  to  newspapers.  We  should  wit- 
ness to  legislators,  especially  if  and  when 
abolition  legislation  is  being  considered. 
. . . We  should  remind  ourselves  that 
when  we  are  instructed  to  ‘pray  for 
kings  and  all  who  are  in  high  places’  it 
is  concrete  things  like  this  which  we 
are  to  have  in  mind.” 

Bible  college  delays 
building  start 

The  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College 
building  committee  has  decided  to  post- 
pone the  starting  date  for  the  construc- 
tion of  its  addition  to  spring  in  1974. 
Earlier  a September  starting  time  had 
been  announced. 

The  original  decision  to  begin  con- 
struction as  soon  as  the  plans  were 
ready  was  based  on  the  expectation 
that  the  required  subcontractors  would 
be  readily  available  in  fall. 

The  project  is  a 15,000-square-foot 
addition  to  the  north  of  the  classroom 
wing  built  on  two  floors.  The  addition 
will  include  a chapel,  office  space  for 
college  and  conference  administration, 
a bookstore,  and  lounge  areas  on  the 
main  floor. 


Anabaptist  Curriculum  Project  sets  budget 


Three  denominations  publishing  a new 
Anabaptist  Curriculum  have  set  a 
$2,000,000  budget  through  1978. 

Representatives  of  the  General  Con- 
ference Mennonite  Church,  Mennonite 
Church,  and  Brethren  in  Christ  Church 
met  September  23-25  as  the  publishers’ 
council  and  editorial  council  for  the  cur- 
riculum project.  The  Church  of  the 
Brethren  also  sent  a representative  to 
the  editorial  council. 

The  budget  will  include  development, 
publishing,  manuscripts,  and  salaries  over 
the  five-year  period. 

The  council  scheduled  the  first  year 
of  the  two-year  cycle  of  material  to  be 
available  to  congregations  by  September 
1977,  with  the  second  year  to  be  ready 
September  1978. 


The  curriculum  will  include  nursery 
through  grade  eight,  with  possible  later 
expansion  to  youth  and  adult  materials. 
Kindergarten  material  will  probably  be 
a revision  of  the  current  kindergarten 
curriculum,  which  was  written  more  re- 
cently than  the  rest  of  the  present  grad- 
ed series. 

Loris  Habegger,  a General  Conference 
representative  on  the  editorial  council, 
said  the  council  went  over  its  objec- 
tives for  the  curriculum,  including  a 
clear  Anabaptist  identity,  parallels  with 
real  life  experience,  and  material  on  a 
behavioral  as  well  as  intellectual  level. 

Mr.  Habegger  also  said  the  editorial 
council  will  try  to  develop  a curricu- 
lum that  is  usable  in  house  churches  and 
small  congregations  as  well  as  in  large 


congregations  with  a separate  class- 
room for  each  one  or  two  grades. 

The  editorial  council  will  continue  to 
meet  quarterly  to  develop  themes,  se- 
lect writers,  and  edit  material. 

The  schedule  calls  for  writing  of  the 
first  year’s  material  to  begin  in  June 
1975. 

Elected  as  chairman  of  the  editorial 
council  was  Helmut  Harder  of  Winni- 
peg, a member  of  the  (General  Confer- 
ence) Commission  on  Education’s  De- 
partment of  Literature  Development. 
James  Horsch  of  Scottdale,  Pennsylvania, 
is  secretary. 


THE  MENNONITE 


609 


Colleges  will  emphasize  continuing  education 


Enrollment  is  up  at  almost  all  General 
Conference  Mennonite  colleges  this  year, 
but  the  number  of  eighteen-  to  twenty- 
two-year-olds  will  drop  by  1977. 

Presidents  of  Bethel,  Bluffton,  Canadi- 
an Mennonite  Bible,  Conrad  Grebel, 
and  Freeman  colleges  and  of  Menno- 
nite Biblical  Seminary  met  September 
2 1 with  the  Department  of  Higher  Ed- 
ucation of  the  Commission  on  Education 
to  discuss  these  and  other  common  con- 
cerns. 

Robert  Kreider,  serving  part  time  for 


Medical  work  started  by  Mennonites 
thirteen  years  ago  in  Abiriba,  Nigeria, 
has  been  successfully  handed  over  to 
Nigerians.  In  August  Nyle  Kauffman,  a 
medical  doctor  and  the  last  mcc  repre- 
sentatives on  Abiriba,  left  the  area. 

The  Mennonite  Board  of  Missions 
first  sent  workers  to  Abiriba  in  1960  to 
help  staff  the  hospital.  The  mission  board 
planned  to  supply  doctors,  nurses,  and 
administrators  to  the  hospital  for  ten 
years.  After  that  time  it  was  expected 
that  Nigerians  would  carry  on  the  work. 

Transfer  of  leadership  to  Nigerians 
progressed  well  until  interrupted  by  the 
Nigerian  civil  war  in  1967.  During  the 
war  the  hospital  was  nearly  destroyed. 
Most  of  the  buildings  were  heavily  dam- 
aged and  all  hospital  equipment  was  lost. 
At  that  time  the  Mennonite  Board  of 
Missions  withdrew  from  the  country. 
Mcc  became  the  Mennonite  umbrella 
organization  in  the  country  and  coop- 


A major  workshop  on  contemporary  bib- 
lical preaching  will  be  held  at  the  Asso- 
ciated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries, 
Elkhart,  January  28  to  February  1, 
1974.  It  will  be  sponsored  by  the  semi- 
naries and  area  Mennonite  conferences. 

The  workshop  is  designed  for  pastors 
and  for  seminarians  as  well  as  others 
interested  in  the  renewal  of  faithful  bib- 
lical preaching  which  speaks  relevantly 
to  the  contemporary  human  situation. 

Forenoon  sessions  throughout  the  week 
will  focus  on  biblical  interpretation  in 
preaching.  Primary  resource  persons  for 
these  sessions  will  be  James  D.  Smart 
of  Toronto,  author  of  The  interpretation 
of  Scripture  and  The  strange  silence  of 


coe  in  the  area  of  higher  education, 
said  colleges  and  the  Department  of 
Higher  Education  may  need  to  redirect 
their  energies  toward  the  needs  of  those 
over  twenty-two,  particularly  in  contin- 
uing education. 

Those  at  the  meeting  suggested  that 
the  department  send  a brochure  to 
churches  listing  courses  and  personnel 
for  continuing  education. 

Also  suggested  was  the  possibility  of 
dhe’s  cooperating  with  the  (Old)  Men- 
nonite Board  of  Education  in  such  areas 


erated  with  the  Friends  in  crisis  work. 

Various  voluntary  agencies,  including 
mcc,  sent  personnel,  equipment,  and 
funds  to  rebuild  the  hospital  after  the 
war.  By  this  time  the  hospital  was  under 
local  management.  Expatriates  were  in- 
volved in  medical  or  rehabilitation  work. 

Two  years  ago  the  reconstruction  and 
reequipping  of  the  hospital  and  rural 
health  facilities  were  completed.  In 
1971  the  Kauffmans  were  sent  as  the 
last  personnel  from  the  American  Friends 
Service  Committee  and  mcc. 

A doctor  whose  home  is  Abiriba  will 
replace  Mr.  Kauffman  for  six  months. 

“There  are  a fair  number  of  doctors 
in  the  East  Central  State.  Getting  one 
to  come  to  Abiriba  is  largely  a problem 
of  paying  him  enough,”  Dr.  Kauffman 
explained.  “Abiriba  has  the  necessary 
resources  to  attract  doctors  to  its  hos- 
pital. As  long  as  mission  or  other  groups 
furnish  doctors,  Abiriba  won’t  do  it.” 


the  Bible  in  the  churches,  and  John  How- 
ard Yoder  of  Elkhart,  as  well  as  other 
members  of  the  seminary  faculties. 

Afternoon  sessions  will  focus  on  the 
communication  issues  in  contemporary 
preaching.  Primary  resource  persons  will 
be  LeRoy  Kennel,  associate  professor 
of  communications  at  Bethany  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  and  Kenneth  Bauman 
(Berne,  Indiana),  recently  president  and 
professor  of  preaching  at  Union  Bib- 
lical Seminary,  Yeotmal,  India. 

Evening  sessions  will  be  devoted  to 
the  experience  of  preaching  itself. 

This  workshop  is  a new  form  of  the 
January  inter-Mennonite  school  for  min- 
isters held  annually  at  the  seminaries. 


as  demographic  studies  and  financial 
planning. 

The  group  emphasized  that  the  future 
of  the  colleges  depended  on  the  support 
from  the  Mennonite  constituency  in  stu- 
dents and  money.  Dhe  will  continue 
to  promote  the  colleges  as  a whole 
through  bulletin  covers,  the  back  of 
Sunday  school  quarterlies,  and  other 
ways. 

The  department  has  not  been  meeting 
regularly  with  the  college  and  seminary 
presidents,  but  the  group  has  decided 
to  meet  again  at  least  as  soon  as  Sep- 
tember 1974. 

China  watcher  doubts 
evangelism  prospects 

A Hong  Kong  clergyman  doesn’t  agree 
with  evangelicals  who  anticipate  oppor- 
tunities to  conduct  evangelistic  work  in 
mainland  China  as  the  country  opens 
to  foreigners. 

Raymond  Whitehead,  now  back  in 
Hong  Kong  after  visiting  here  on  fur- 
lough, said  the  baggage  of  “cultural  im- 
perialism” which  went  along  with  Amer- 
ican missionaries  before  the  Communist 
takeover  remained  a barrier  to  old-style 
evangelism. 

The  representative  of  the  National 
Council  of  Churches  supported  his  pes- 
sism  with  these  points: 

1.  African  and  Asian  Christians  may 
be  able  to  discuss  with  the  Chinese  the 
religious  questions  on  which  Americans 
had  best  keep  silent. 

2.  Faint  vestiges  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  the  church  can  still  be  found 
in  the  People’s  Republic. 

3.  The  Communist  revolution  in 
China  has  had  a spiritual  dimension,  dis- 
cerned in  a kind  of  cultural  religion  and 
in  the  humanistic  thought  of  Chairman 
Mao. 

Concerning  American  participation  in 
evangelism  in  China,  he  remained  ada- 
mant. “There  will  never  be  a return  to 
the  missionary  situation  before  1949,”  he 
said. 

He  said  Tanzanians  studying  in  China 
have  asked  to  go  to  church  and  services 
have  been  arranged  for  them. 

“The  Chinese  accept  them  as  brothers 
from  the  third  world  and  yet  the  Tan- 
zanians are  Christians.  African,  Asian, 
and  Latin  American  Christians  don’t  car- 
ry with  them  the  same  stigma  of  the  old 
colonial  powers  and  the  foreign  trad- 
ers; therefore  they  are  not  suspect.” 


Nigerian  Mission  completed 


Workshop  on  preaching  set 


610 


OCTOBER  23,  1973 


RECORD 


Enns  Imbrie 


Workers 


Paul  Albrecht , Claremont,  Calif.,  has 
accepted  a three-year  appointment  to 
the  President’s  Council  of  Advisors  of 
, Bethel  College.  Approved  by  the  Bethel 
Board  of  Directors  last  year,  the  Pres- 
ident’s Council  serves  as  special  advisors, 
sharing  their  expertise  and  experience 
in  the  various  areas  of  college  operations. 
Dr.  Albrecht  is  dean  of  Claremont 
Graduate  School  and  professor  of  busi- 
ness economics.  He  is  a 1947  graduate 
of  Bethel  College. 

Barbara  Enns,  Beamsville,  Ont.,  is 
serving  for  one  year  with  the  General 
Conference  voluntary  service  unit  in 
Markham,  111.  She  will  work  at  the  day- 
care center  or  the  Sheltered  Care  Work- 
shop. Barbara’s  home  church  is  the  Beth- 
any Church,  Virgil,  Ont.  She  is  the 
daughter  of  John  and  LaVina  Enns  of 
rural  Beamsville. 

Edward  Imbrie,  Jr.,  Erie,  Pa.,  is  a 
new  member  of  the  Oklahoma  City  vol- 
untary service  unit  under  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church.  He  will 
work  for  one  year  in  Our  Wonder  House, 
a day-care  center.  Edward  is  a member 
of  the  Bower  Hill  Community  Church 
in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  and  has  attended 
Grove  City  College,  Grove  City,  Pa.  His 
parents  are  Edward  and  Jean  Imbrie  of 
Pittsburgh. 

Rita  Loewen,  Winnipeg,  Man.,  is  be- 
ginning a General  Conference  volun- 
tary service  assignment  in  Liberal,  Kans. 
She  will  work  for  one  year  as  a teacher 
aide  in  the  Sunshine  Day-Care  Center. 
She  has  attended  Sargent  Ave.  Church 
in  Winnipeg  and  is  a 1973  graduate  of 
Sturgeon  Creek  Regional  Secondary 
School  in  Winnipeg.  Rita  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  Loewen, 
Winnipeg. 


Loewen  McKee 

Elfrieda  McKee,  Hydro,  Okla.,  is 
starting  one  year  of  General  Conference 
voluntary  service  in  Upland,  Calif.  She 
will  serve  in  the  Pacific  State  Hospital 
for  Mentally  Retarded  in  Pomona,  Calif. 
A member  of  the  Bethel  Church  in  Hy- 
dro, Elfrieda  has  attended  Bethel  Col- 
lege, North  Newton,  Kans.,  and  South- 
western State  College,  Weatherford, 
Okla.  Her  parents  are  Robert  and  Wil- 
ma McKee  of  Hydro. 


Calendar 


Nov.  9-10 — Mcc  Peace  Assembly, 
Camp  Friedenswald,  Cassopolis,  Mich. 

Nov.  28-29  — ■ General  Conference 
nominating  committee,  Minneapolis 

Aug.  7,  1974  — General  Conference 
triennial  sessions,  St.  Catharines,  Ont. 

Canadian 

Nov.  20-23 — British  Columbia  Min- 
isters Course,  Clearbrook,  B.C.;  G.  W. 
Peters,  speaker 

Nov.  24 — Mcc  (Manitoba)  annual 
meeting,  North  Kildonan  Mennonite 
Brethren  Church,  Winnipeg 
Western 

Oct.  29-30 — Menno  Simons  lecture  se- 
ries, Bethel  College,  North  Newton, 
Kans.;  William  Stringfellow,  speaker 

Nov.  18  — Harvest  festival,  Eden 
Church,  Moundridge,  Kans.;  Harry  Mar- 
tens, speaker 


Conference  budget 


$2,250,000 

2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 

1,000,000 

750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


J FMAMJ  JASOND 


September  was  another  good  month  in  terms  of  financial  support  for  General  Con- 
ference programs.  May  and  June  were  slow,  but  all  other  months  have  exceeded 
the  comparable  months  of  1972.  A total  of  about  $140,000  more  has  been  received 
in  1973  than  during  comparable  period  in  1972.  This  is  an  increase  of  about  10 
percent.  However,  it  should  be  noted  that  this  year  poverty  projects  are  included 
in  the  budget.  Consequently,  we  have  65  percent  of  the  budget  in  at  this  time;  last 
year  at  the  same  time  the  percentage  figure  was  63.2.  Wm.  L.  Friesen,  conference 
treasurer 


61  1 


THE  MENNONITE 


REVIEW 

Divine  history  written  in  human  lives 


Twelve  becoming,  by  C.  J.  Dyck  (Faith 
and  Life  Press,  Newton,  Kansas,  1973, 
126  pp.,  $4.50)  is  reviewed  by  W aide- 
mar  Regier,  pastor  of  the  Rosthern 
(Sask.)  Mennonite  Church. 

“What  do  we  take  along  to  read?”  This 
was  one  of  the  questions  our  family 
asked  as  we  prepared  to  go  on  our  vaca- 
tion this  summer.  “Well,  not  too  much” 
was  my  reply.  “I  am  just  not  in  the 
mood  for  preparing  a long  reading  list.” 
However,  I had  just  received  my  copy 
of  Twelve  becoming  in  the  mail.  I had 
been  reading  some  comments  about  the 
book  and  browsed  through  a copy  at 
the  Canadian  Conference.  It  looked  in- 
teresting. We  did  take  it  with  us,  among 
a few  other  books. 

My  wife,  Hildegarde,  and  I agreed 


that  we  would  read  a chapter  a day  with 
the  children  after  one  of  our  meals. 
But  when  we  suggested  the  idea  to  the 
children,  there  was  an  agonizing  groan 
from  some  and  an  enthusiastic  “yes” 
from  others.  Our  children  are  ages  nine 
through  fourteen. 

By  the  third  evening,  they  were  asking 
about  our  “Mennonite  story.”  Of  special 
interest  was  the  one  on  David  Toews, 
since  in  Rosthern  we  had  just  finished 
celebrating  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
immigrations  from  Russia  in  the  1920s. 

Twelve  becoming  is  a book  of  twelve 
biographies  of  Mennonite  disciples  from 
the  sixteenth  through  the  twentieth  cen- 
turies. So  states  the  subtitle.  It  is  writ- 
ten on  the  basis  of  documents  and  vari- 
ous sources  by  Cornelius  J.  Dyck,  pro- 
fessor of  church  history  at  Associated 

TWELVE 
BECOMING 


John  Oberholtzer 


Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  in  Elk- 
hart, Indiana. 

Biographies  make  history  come  to  life. 

It  might  even  be  said  that  history  con-  ' 
sists  of  a procession  of  personalities,  or 
that  it  is  a travelog  of  experiences.  But 
even  better  is  the  concept  that  history 
is  a procession  of  people  in  the  process 
of  becoming  . . . believers,  followers, 
witnesses,  and  human  beings  . . . people 
in  search  of  meaning  for  their  lives. 

Twelve  becoming,  an  interesting  and 
creative  title,  is  written  for  the  people 
in  the  church.  The  stories  bulge  with 
interesting  detail  and  personal  glimpses 
into  the  lives  of  these  disciples.  Some- 
times one  feels  like  asking:  Are  these 
persons  not  being  idolized?  But  then 
comes  an  incident  or  comment  that  as- 
sures us  that  these  were  real  people,  ft 
with  the  good  and  the  bad.  They  are  not 
yet  perfect  but  in  the  process  of  becom-  V 
ing.  And  we  begin  to  share  in  their 
dreams  as  well  as  the  realities  about 
them,  in  their  hopes  and  the  disillusion- 
ment they  experienced.  This  is  not  really 
hero  worship.  It  is  not  a moralistic  pre-  ; 
sentation  of  persons.  It  is  really  divine 
history  written  in  human  lives. 

The  choice  of  the  “twelve  disciples” 
is  about  the  best  that  could  have  been 
made.  There  is  a lot  of  scope  here, 
covering  five  centuries  and  spanning  five 
continents  and  four  national  groups. 
There  are  representatives  from  different 
sections  of  the  Mennonite  family  and 
representing  people  from  various  walks 
of  life.  But  there  is  only  one  woman! 
However,  all  are  Anabaptist  and  Chris- 
tian. And  the  walls,  hopefully,  keep 
coming  down! 

The  book  has  helpful  features,  such 
as  maps  and  illustrations,  well  done 


cBiograpffies  ofcffiennonife  disciples from 
Me  SixfeenM  to  Me  fTioentieM  Qeniury 

Faith  and  Life  Press,  in  announcing  the  publication  of  the 
new  book.  Twelve  Becoming,  makes  the  possibility  of  ap- 
preciating history  at  every  age  level  a reality.  Author 
Cornelius  J.  Dyck  has  written  the  book  consisting  of  twelve 
biographies  to  show  history  as  a process — not  just  a static 
record  of  events.  Twelve  personalities  from  representative 
Mennonite  bodies  reflect  Christian  discipleship  from  the  six- 
teenth through  the  present  century.  The  illustrations  by 
Richard  Loehle  add  to  the  mood  of  reality  in  the  book;  each 
biography  contains  a full  page  illustration.  This  is  a book 
about  disciples  rather  than  heroes.  Reading  these  stories 
should  provide  encouragement  to  today's  disciples  in  the 
process  of  “becoming.''  A teacher's  manual  for  use  with 
children’s  classes  is  in  preparation.  Churches  and  families 
will  want  to  use  this  book  in  many  ways  and  on  many 
occasions.  126  pp.  $4.50 


Order  from:  FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORES  FELLOWSHIP  BOOKCENTER 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114  159  Henderson  Hjghway 

Berne,  Indiana  4671  1 Winnipeg,  Manitoba  R2L  1 L4 


> 

OCTOBER  23,  1973 


612 


by  Richard  Loehle.  I can  recognize  the 
features  of  Joe  Walks  Along  and  Har- 
old Bender,  but  David  Toews  is  a stran- 
ger in  the  sketch.  John  Hiebert’s  cover 
design  is  imaginative  and  supports  the 
theme  of  the  book.  The  crossbars  on 
the  lower  half  of  the  cover,  with  partial 
glimpses  of  the  sketches  in  the  book 
give  subtle  invitation  to  find  out  what’s 
inside.  They  are  also  symbolic  of  the 
fact  that  the  biographies  themselves  are 
only  glimpses  into  the  lives  of  a few 
representative  disciples. 

Aside  from  the  fact  that  the  book  is 
enjoyable  reading,  it  can  be  used  in  very 
different  ways,  as  is  suggested  by  Frank 


Ward  in  the  preface.  One  minister  friend 
told  me  he  wanted  to  use  it  on  Sunday 
mornings  to  share  with  his  people.  The 
stories  could  be  dramatized  by  youth 
and  children’s  groups.  The  book  is  a 
good  resource  in  Mennonite  history  and 
theology  and  is  well  suited  for  supple- 
mentary reading  in  catechism  instruction 
classes.  It  can  be  helpful  in  sharing  our 
story  with  non-Mennonites. 

I would  like  to  commend  the  Com- 
mission on  Education,  Faith  and  Life 
Press,  and  the  author,  C.  J.  Dyck,  for 
a job  well  done  and  one  which  will  serve 
the  cause  of  Christian  discipleship  for 
many  years. 


LETTERS 


Charismatic  confusion 

Dear  Editor:  Having  recently  been  fed 
a one-sided  diet  on  the  charismatic  re- 
newal and  its  results,  first  in  The  Men- 
nonite (September  11  issue)  and  then 
in  Der  Bote  and  the  Mennonite  reporter, 
one  wonders  why  there  is  such  urgency 
to  spread  this  questionable  teaching. 

Admittedly,  an  absence  of  warm,  fer- 
vent Christianity  is  quite  evident  in  the 
mainline  denominations  of  our  day.  Be- 
lievers are  frustrated  by  the  spiritual 
ineptness  of  appointed  leaders.  Hungry 
hearts  are  longing  for  a deeper  and  more 
intimate  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ. 
The  deficiency  of  spiritual  power,  the 
coldness  of  Christian  love,  and  the  weak- 
ness of  the  church  are  causing  seeking 
souls  to  yearn  for  an  experience  that  is 
more  than  form  and  ceremony.  As  a 
result,  many  are  turning  to  the  new 
Pentecostalism,  with  its  emphasis  upon 
the  charismatic  gifts. 

Granted,  the  mainline  churches  have 
failed  to  give  proper  teaching  on  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  his  work.  This  is  an 
error.  However,  there  is  still  the  danger 
that  the  Pentecostal-charismatic  move- 
ment is  a worse  error.  The  fear  of  the 
Pharisees  at  the  time  of  Christ’s  cruci- 
fixion could  well  be  applied  here:  “So 
the  last  error  shall  be  worse  than  the 
first”  (Mt.  27:64b). 

In  reading  the  detailed  report  by  Lois 
Barrett  Janzen  one  cannot  help  but  ask: 
Where  is  the  evidence  of  the  J‘sound 
mind”  which  we  receive  by  the  Holy 
Spirit?  (2  Tim.  1:7). 

When  Ed  Goerzen  stresses  the  point 
“that  not  only  to  speak  in  tongues  is  to 
be  held  out  but  all  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit,” 
one  wonders  again,  why  has  not  some- 
one received  or  practiced  the  gift  of  “the 
discerning  of  spirits”?  (1  Cor.  12:10). 
The  living  Bible  says,  “He  gives  some- 
one else  the  power  to  know  whether 
evil  spirits  are  speaking  through  those 
who  claim  to  be  giving  God’s  message 
— or  whether  it  is  really  the  Spirit  of 
God  who  is  speaking.”  If  this  would 
be  done  in  all  seriousness,  the  chances 
are  that  it  would  be  revealed  as  coming 
from  a demon  in  the  guise  of  an  angel. 

The  way  these  testimony  and  prayer 
meetings  are  held  and  the  photos  on  the 
cover  of  The  Mennonite  (September  11 
issue)  do  not  at  all  make  the  impression 
of  being  Christlike. 


PRIORITY 


ECONOMIC 
DEVELOP- 
MENT 


Assist  economic  development 
in  Mennonite  church  areas 
and  solicit  technical  and 
financial  resources 
beyond  those  of  COM  to 
accomplish  this  task. 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


THE  MENNONITE 


613 


Is  it  any  wonder,  when  the  chairman 
of  the  West  Abbotsford  Church  is  a 
member  of  the  charismatic  movement, 
that  they  would  have  tense  moments 
over  the  movement?  One  of  the  biggest 
controversies  has  been  over  the  (water) 
baptism  of  several  teenage  boys  by  Hen- 
ry Wiebe,  a layman,  at  a non-Mennonite 
camp.  It  should  be  noted  that  the  bap- 
tism took  place  without  even  notifying 
the  boys’  parents  and  that  the  mode  of 
baptism  used  was  immersion.  Why  this 
mode?  The  mode  of  baptism  by  immer- 
sion is  one  more  unbiblical  teaching  that 
crept  into  the  church  through  heretical 
sects. 

Which  is  the  way  out  of  this  dilemma? 

1.  Our  leaders  and  pastors  must  realize 
that  a shepherd  is  there  to  lead  his  sheep 
instead  of  following  them. 

2.  They  must  realize  that  their  fur- 
ther duty  is  to  be  watchmen. 

3.  They  must  tend  the  flock  of  God 
that  is  in  their  charge  not  by  constraint 
but  willingly,  not  as  domineering  over 
those  in  their  charge  but  as  examples 
to  the  flock. 

4.  It  may  have  been  that  in  times  past 
bishops  and  pastors  were  domineering. 
Now  they  seem  to  have  swung  over  to 
the  other  extreme.  Often  they  are  ques- 
tion marks  instead  of  exclamation  marks. 

We  have  to  begin  anew  teaching  the 
full  counsel  of  God. 

I hope  it  will  not  be  felt  that  I am 
trying  to  suppress  renewal  in  our  church- 
es. My  intention  is  to  warn  against  well- 
meant,  but  false  teachings,  teachings  that 
are  based  on  experience  and  feeling, 
rather  than  on  the  Word  of  God. 

“Do  not  be  led  away  by  diverse  and 
strange  teachings;  for  it  is  well  that  the 
heart  be  strengthened  by  grace,”  Paul 
wrote  to  the  elders  of  Ephesus.  “I  know 
that  after  my  departure  fierce  wolves 
will  come  in  among  you,  not  sparing 
the  flock,  and  from  among  yourselves 
will  arise  men  speaking  perverse  things, 
to  draw  away  disciples  after  them.” 

Having  had  occasion  to  live  with  the 
Pentecostal  people  in  the  Homewood- 
Carman-Winnipeg  area  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  and  repeatedly  having  seen 
the  sad  results  of  their  influence  on  indi- 
viduals who  wanted  to  serve  Christ  truly, 
and  having  seen  our  churches  which 
opened  their  doors  to  these  teachers  sore- 
ly splintered  into  many  factions,  and 
having  compared  this  present  charismat- 
ic movement,  sometimes  called  the  neo- 
Pentecostal  movement,  I cannot  help  but 
be  deeply  concerned  for  those  dear 
brethren  in  the  faith  who  are  in  search 
of  a deeper  experience  in  their  Chris- 


tian lives  but  who  are  misdirected  and 
falsely  taught.  This  erroneous  teaching 
is  based  on  Scripture  verses  taken  out 
of  context.  It  is  therefore  dangerous  and 
misleading. 

I hope  that  you  do  not  think  that  I 
am  being  unkind,  but  years  ago  I suf- 
fered so  much  through  this  sort  of 
teaching  that  today  I will  do  almost  any- 
thing to  deliver  my  fellow  Christians 
from  this  cruel  bondage.  Don’t  misun- 
derstand me.  There  is  a higher  life  and 
experience  to  be  possessed  by  us  here 
and  now,  but  this  life  as  we  shall  see 
by  and  by  is  one  of  growth  and  devel- 
opment, not  one  of  satisfaction  and  com- 
placency. The  Scriptures  are  perfectly 
clear.  Never  in  this  life  shall  we  be 
satisfied  with  the  life  we  are  living,  nor 
shall  we  ever  be  the  Christians  we  ought 
to  be,  nor  shall  we  ever  be  as  saintly 
as  we  should  like  to  be,  nor  shall  we 
be  wholly  free  from  sin,  nor  will  our 
service  be  as  fruitful  as  it  ought  to  be. 
Never  in  this  life  will  we  be  satisfied 
with  ourselves,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  the  more  we  grow  to  be  like  him, 
the  more  we  will  be  conscious  of  our 
own  sin  and  failure. 

Regard  with  suspicion  those  who  make 
you  feel  as  though  you  are  a spiritual 
outsider.  Humble,  Christlike  people  al- 
ways consider  others  better  than  them- 
selves. 

I have  known  a number  of  sober 
Christian  people  who,  after  claiming  to 
have  received  “the  gift  of  tongues,”  lost 
control  of  both  their  human  emotions 
and  natural  passion.  The  Corinthian 
church,  which  made  so  much  of  tongues, 
permitted  unspeakable  immorality  to  go 
unjudged  in  its  fellowship,  and  it  was 
splintered  into  four  groups.  The  New 
Testament  has  far  less  to  say  concerning 
the  gift  of  tongues  as  a manifestation 
of  the  Spirit  than  many  would  have  us 
believe.  This  sign  is  referred  to  only  once 
in  the  four  Gospels  (Mk.  16:17),  three 
times  in  the  Book  of  Acts,  and  in  only 
one  epistle  (1  Cor.). 

I would  not  be  so  harsh  as  to  deny 
emphatically  that  Christian  people  today 
speak  in  tongues,  but  without  hesitation 
I do  say  that  very  many  people  who 
claim  to  speak  in  tongues  are  not  speak- 
ing under  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  but  simply  jabbering  as  a result 
of  uncontrolled  emotions.  Moreover,  it 
is  evident  that  many  who  claim  to  have 
the  gift  of  interpretation  of  tongues  do 
little  more  than  speak  nonsense.  If  what 
they  are  translating  into  their  native 
tongues  is  indeed  inspired  directly  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  then  every  word  of  it  ought 


to  be  faithfully  recorded:  When  read, 
it  should  bear  a striking  resemblance  to 
Psalm  23,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  1 
Corinthians  13,  and  the  rest  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. The  oft-quoted  passage  from  Acts  5 
2,  “In  the  last  days  God  said,  I will 
pour  out  my  Spirit  upon  all  mankind,” 
cannot  convincingly  be  applied  to  this 
twentieth-century  Pentecostal  movement 
as  a fulfillment  of  Joel’s  prophecy  be- 
cause Peter  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
when  their  enemies  said  they  were  full  j 
of  wine,  claims  that  they  had  just  wit-  ^ 
nessed  the  fulfilling  of  this  promise. 

How  desperately  we  need  a real  move- 
ment of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  church 
today.  And  how  we  lack  men  of  God 
who  are  able  to  expound  the  Scriptures 
rightly  and  fearlessly  proclaim  the  lord- 
ship  of  Jesus  Christ.  That  is  what  the 
apostles  did.  Not  once  do  they  refer  in 
their  writings  to  how  wonderful  their 
experience  was  when  on  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost the  Holy  Spirit  was  poured  out 
upon  them.  Instead,  they  lift  up  the  risen  * 
Savior  as  Lord  of  Lords.  It  is  precisely 
at  this  point  that  I feel  a lack  in  the  4 
present  charismatic  movement.  They  sel- 
dom call  our  Savior  by  his  proper  name, 

“the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.”  “No  one  can 
say,  ‘Jesus  is  Lord,’  except  by  the  Holy 
Spirit”  (1  Cor.  12:3b).  Let  us  not  fool 
ourselves,  no  matter  how  reverently  and 
piously  we  may  speak  of  God  the  Fa- 
ther,  if  we  do  not  give  the  same  honor 
to  his  son,  the  Father  will  not  accept  our 
honor  either  (John  5:2  and  23).  D.D. 
Klassen,  Box  417,  Carman,  Man.  ROG 
0J0  Sept.  28 

Not  like  peas  in  a pod 

Dear  Editors:  I read  The  Mennonite 
faithfully  every  week,  just  as  I do  News- 
week. Your  articles  are  most  interesting. 

I do  believe  you  have  improved  by  ex- 
panding and  including  the  far  stretches 
of  Canadian  life  and  times  in  your  cov- 
erage. 

The  article  by  Robert  S.  Kreider  in 
the  September  25  issue  was  exceptionally 
good.  I have  felt  this  way  all  my  life, 
and  sometimes  you  wonder  if  you  are 
alone  and  perhaps  a bit  of  a loner. 

We  are  more  interesting  to  ourselves 
and  others  if  we’re  not  all  “just  peas  in 
a pod.” 

Thanks,  too,  for  your  help  with  the 
American  Indian.  If  ever  we  owed  a 
people  to  be  “our  brothers’  keeper,” 
surely  they  are  the  ones.  We  need  to 
help  them  to  help  themselves.  We  do  all 
need  our  human  dignity!  Patricia  Myers, 
Route  3,  Box  59,  Towanda,  Pa.  18848 

Sept.  26  f 


614  OCTOBER  23,  1973 


Contents 


MEDITATION 


Lighting  a small  candle 

For  the  messengers  God  sends 
telling  to  us  the  age-old  truths 
parents 
teachers 
writers 
friends 
pastors 

bringing  the  good  news 
Lord  of  all,  we  raise  this 
our  song  of  grateful  praise. 

Lord,  we  know  your  Word  is  the  seed, 
the  sowing  time  is  always, 
and  the  reward  is  sure. 

Help  us  to  get  in  tune  with  Christ  and  his  compassion 
so  we  will  not  find  it  so  hard  to  keep  in  touch 
with  humanity’s  needs. 

Help  us  not  to  expect  you  to  use  us  as  a lighthouse  somewhere  else 
if  you  can’t  use  us  as  a candle  where  we  are. 

We  want  to  understand 
that  we  don’t  need  to  be  stars 
in  order  to  shine  for  Jesus, 
for 

it  was  by  the  ministry  of  a mere  candle  that 
a woman  recovered  her  lost  piece  of  silver. 

Make  us  to  know  that  the  torch  of  Christianity 
may  be  lit  in  the  church, 

but  it  does  its  best  burning 
in  the  shop 
and  in  the  street. 

Make  us  realize  that  the  biggest  work 
a Christian  can  do 
is  to  find  his 
brother 
friend 

and  introduce  him 
to  you. 

Bless  those  who  light  others  to  Christ  in  this  world, 
for 

they  will  find  their  small  candle 
here  turned  into 
a 

shining 

star 

over 

there. 

Amen. 

Polly  Nickel 


Covered  up  or  covered  over  602 

Reflections  on  a Swan  Lake  summer  604 

News  606 

Divine  history  written  in  human  lives  612 

Letters  613 

Lighting  a small  candle  615 

MEDA:  A concrete  response  to 

cries  for  help  616 


COVER 

Summer  camp  provides  opportunities  for 
many  activities,  including  times  to  re- 
flect and  to  sort  out  one's  thinking.  The 
cover  photo  was  taken  at  the  Swan  Lake 
Camp  near  Viborg,  S.D.  See  the  story  on 
pages  604-5. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Evangelist  Leighton  Ford's  article  is  a 
condensation  of  a radio  sermon  he  pre- 
sented on  the  Hour  of  Decision. 

Willard  and  Elmp  Waltner  are  free- 
lance writers  and  photographers  from 
Freeman,  S.D. 

Polly  Nickel  of  the  Grace  Mennonite 
Church,  Regina,  Sask.,  wrote  the  medi- 
tation for  a special  service  featuring 
Mennonite  Pioneer  Mission  workers  Jake 
and  Wanda  Neufeld. 

J.  W.  Fretz  is  faculty  member  and  im- 
mediate past  president  of  Conrad  Grebel 
College,  Waterloo,  Ont. 

CREDITS 


Cover,  604-5,  Willard  Waltner,  Box  190, 
Freeman,  S.D.  57029;  602,  John  Hie- 
bert;  608,  RNS. 


Mennonite 

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Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
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Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.  48106. 


THE  MENNONITE 


615 


MEDA:  A concrete  response  to 

J.  Winfield  Fretz 

Several  weeks  ago  the  members  of  Mennonite 
Economic  Development  Associates  received  a let- 
ter from  Lloyd  J.  Fisher,  meda’s  executive  di- 
rector, stating  the  following: 

“Meda  has  accepted  a new  project  with  a 
group  of  Christians  in  the  Philippines.  James 
Metzler,  under  the  Eastern  Mennonite  Board  of 
Missions,  is  the  link  between  the  church  and 
meda.  . . . This  project  is  a hog  project.  The 
plan  suggests  a unit  of  twelve  gilts  and  one  boar 
to  begin  with.  These  animals  will  be  cared  for 
and  remain  at  one  central  location.  The  pigs 
will  be  given  to  local  farmers  to  fatten.  The 
weaner  pigs  will  be  purchased  by  the  farmer  for 
cash  or  will  be  fattened  on  contract.  If  cash  is 
paid  for  the  pigs,  the  contract  will  end.  If  the 
pigs  are  fattened  on  contract  the  project  will  con- 
tinue to  furnish  the  feed  and  split  the  profits.  A 
locally  produced  balanced  feed  will  be  used  and 
disease  control  is  included  in  the  management." 

The  budget  calls  for  $5,000. 

Here  in  a nutshell  is  an  illustration  of  one  of 
the  millions  of  human  needs  in  the  world.  And 
here  in  a nutshell  also  is  one  concrete  response 
to  the  cry  for  help  from  one  of  the  nonaffluent 
areas  of  the  world.  The  members  of  meda  rep- 
resent over  a hundred  North  American  business- 
men who  are  religiously  motivated  to  use  their 
God-given  talents  to  help  where  help  is  needed. 
They  comprise  that  growing  number  of  Chris- 
tians who  are  no  longer  willing  to  confine  their 
compassion  to  “prayer  and  fasting.”  When  their 
brothers  in  need  ask  for  bread  they  are  no  longer 
willing  to  give  them  a stone. 

Meda  has  tried  to  help  hundreds  of  individ- 


cries  for  help 

uals.  It  has  tried  by  seeking  to  understand  the 
nature  of  the  needs  among  those  who  have  ap- 
pealed for  help;  it  has  advanced  large  and  small 
sums  of  money  where  that  seemed  to  be  the  need. 
It  has  supplied  mechanical  equipment  where  that 
was  unavailable  and  needed.  It  has  provided  man- 
agement counsel  and  technical  advice  where  that 
has  been  asked  for. 

The  members  of  meda  at  significant  expense 
to  themselves  have  traveled  great  distances  to 
look  after  projects  and  to  give  personal  encour- 
agement to  partners  engaged  in  small  and  large 
projects  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 

I am  a member  of  meda  because  I believe  in 
the  goals  and  purposes  of  meda.  I am  a member 
because  I am  inspired  by  the  sincerity  of  the  men 
who  constitute  this  organization.  I am  a member 
of  meda  because  of  what  I have  learned  and  am 
learning  about  Christian  stewardship  of  time,  per- 
sonal talents  and  money.  I am  a member  of 
meda  because  it  is  an  effective  form  of  Chris- 
tian witness  through  service.  I am  a member  of 
meda  because  I would  like  many  others  to  see 
this  as  an  attractive  means  of  service  and  a per- 
sonal challenge  to  use  their  resources. 

The  pig  project  in  the  Philippines  is  just  one 
of  hundreds  carried  on  in  South  America,  Africa, 
Asia,  Indonesia,  and  Central  America.  Every 
member  is  assigned  to  a committee  of  his  choice. 
The  organization  is  not  exclusive.  It  invites  all 
who  wish  to  invest  funds,  time,  energy  in  behalf 
of  Christian  people  in  need.  It  is  an  unofficial 
arm  of  the  Mennonite  churches  and  works  co- 
operatively with  the  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee. 


lilt* 

Mennonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:39  OCTOBER  3 0,  1973 


Anne  Neufeld  Rupp 


The  day  sits  down  upon  its  feet 
Colder  than  hell  on  a market  street: 

Kicked  by  a crowd 
Killed  by  defeat 

Because  he  wanted  enough  to  eat. 

Wild  is  the  wind  and  wild  is  the  wheat 
The  day  sits  up  and  picks  at  the  meat 
Which  lies  half-starved  on  a village  street: 

Cursed  by  a crowd 

Kicked  by  defeat 

Because  it  wanted  enough  to  eat. 

And  the  hollow  owl  in  the  hollow  tree 
Stuffs  up  his  head  and  looks  at  the  sea; 
Blind  eyes  blackened  by  destiny 
Hugging  his  hymn,  “Who,  who  are  we?” 
Holding  the  whisper,  “Sons  of  the  free.” 

The  day  dies  down  on  the  dirty  street 
Broken  the  wind  and  broken  the  wheat; 

Blood  on  the  housetops  and  blood  on  the  feet: 
Faces  like  people  are  naked  and  neat: 

Scattered  like  pigeons  on  the  muted  street: 

Killed  by  the  enemy 
Cursed  by  defeat 

Because  they  wanted  enough  to  eat. 


Who’s  bringing  communism? 

The  answers  to  this  question  are  mul- 
tiple. 

The  leftists. 

The  liberals. 

The  pinkos. 

The  “better-red-than-dead”  cowards. 

The  pacifists. 

The  students. 

The  blacks. 

The  Maoists. 

The  you-name-its.  You  may  go  ahead 
and  name  it.  Everyone  else  is.  Name 
any  group  that  threatens  you,  any  group 
that  demands  change.  Any  group  that 
gains  a following  of  the  other  kind  of 
people  not  of  us  and  our  kind. 

“They”  are  bringing  communism! 

“They”  are  undermining  our  way  of 
life! 

“They”  will  cause  the  downfall  of  us 
all! 

But  let’s  examine  this,  honestly. 

Who  is  bringing  communism? 

If  it  is  coming  upon  our  land,  and 
if  it  may  someday  overthrow  our  gov- 
ernment, who  is  to  blame  for  it  all? 

Shall  we  look  for  the  danger  to  the 
right  or  to  the  left?  Ridiculous  question, 
right?  If  there  is  any  threat  from  com- 
munism, it  must  come  from  the  left,  not 
so?  Not  so! 

It  may  well  be  that  those  who  are  do- 
ing most  to  bring  communism — in  our 
nation  and  in  our  world — are  not  the 
leftists  who  favor  change,  but  the  right- 
ists who  defend  the  status  quo  at  any 
cost.  Not  the  liberals  who  lean  toward 
socialism,  but  the  conservatives  who  re- 
sist any  and  all  change  because  it  threat- 
ens their  security  and  prosperity. 

Our  greatest  danger  may  well  be  to 
the  right,  not  to  the  left.  Having  tipped 
my  hand,  I want  to  explain  why  I have 
the  audacity  to  suggest  such  a thing. 

Christian  writer  and  thinker  John 
Drescher  wrote  as  follows  in  the  Gospel 
herald  (February  18,  1970,  issue): 

“Injustice  brings  communism.  When- 
ever people  are  robbed  of  their  just 
rights,  whenever  laws  are  on  the  side 
of  injustice  and  favor  the  rich  over  the 
poor,  whenever  a land  lets  its  rich  be- 
come richer  while  its  poor  become  poor- 
er it  prepares  the  ground  for  commu- 
nism. 

“Racism  brings  communism.  Putting 
white  or  black  or  Indian  or  brown  on 
top  or  bottom  plants  the  seeds  for  com- 


UJho 

David  A ugsburger 

Ten  thousand  Mexicans  demonstrated  outside  the  U.S.  Embassy  in  Mexico 
City  following  the  military  coup  in  Chile.  The  military  take-over  of  Chile 
heightened  support  for  communism  in  many  parts  of  the  world. 


munism.  Whenever  people  of  different 
races  are  placed  in  different  classes  or 
because  of  race  are  condoned  or  con- 
demned, communism  has  fertile  soil. 

“Preachers  and  other  persons  who 
preach  only  ‘pie  in  the  sky’  really  call 
for  the  coming  of  communism.  To  deny 
the  social  implications  of  the  gospel  and 
do  nothing  about  the  social  ills  of  our 
age  is  creating  the  climate  for  commu- 
nism to  grow.  To  call  farm  and  other 
‘nice’  forms  of  government  subsidy 
i ‘aid’  and  to  call  help  for  the  poor  and 
needy  ‘welfare,’  while  demanding  the 
former  and  denouncing  the  latter  is 
planting  the  seeds  of  communism. 

“People  who  live  in  expensive  homes, 
drive  big  cars,  and  live  in  luxury  bring 
communism.  These  are  the  ones  who  are 
hit  first  when  communism  comes  because 
such  accumulate  to  themselves  while 
those  around  find  it  nigh  impossible  to 
live. 

“People  who  run  businesses,  reaping 
large  profits  while  keeping  employees  at 
the  lowest  possible  standards  and  wages 
bring  communism.  This  inequality  be- 
gins to  bum  and  rebellion  rises  within 
the  heart.  Only  when  people  are  exploit- 
ed does  communism  have  a chance. 

“Doctors,  dentists,  lawyers,  and  other 
professionals  who  charge  exorbitant  fees 
bring  communism.  It  is  when  the  poor 
feel  caught  by  those  who  have  the  ad- 
vantage to  make  unreasonable  demands 
that  communism  crouches  at  the  door. 

“Lawmakers  who  think  more  of  the 
next  election  than  of  the  next  generation 
bring  communism.  A lack  of  concern 
for  the  common  man  and  the  putting  of 
personal  prestige  and  pursuits  above  peo- 
ple spells  the  death  of  democracy  and 
opens  the  door  to  communism. 

“All  such  and  others  who  put  per- 
sonal gain  before  concern  for  persons 
rightly  need  to  fear  communism  the 
most  and  be  warned  that  unless  they 
change  their  course  the  curse  of  com- 
munism and  revolution  shall  come  and 
that  right  early.” 

It  is  not  the  enemies  of  democracy 
that  are  bringing  communism  to  the 
Western  Hemisphere,  but  its  friends. 
Friends  who  oppress,  extort,  abuse,  and 
misuse  people  as  well  as  things.  With 
friends  like  this,  who  needs  enemies? 

And  the  greatest  tragedy  of  all — 
these  friends  of  democracy  do  their  de- 
structive work  largely  under  the  banner 


of  Christianity  and  under  the  blessing  of 
many,  many  of  its  practitioners  and 
preachers. 

They  are  the  people  who  insist,  “Our 
nation  is  God’s  nation.  We  must  stop 
communism  as  Christians  by  doing  what 
we’ve  been  doing,  only  doing  it  better 
and  better.  So  any  method  we  may  use 
to  oppose  them  is  God’s  method,  any 
means  is  justified!” 

Is  that  Christianity?  No,  hardly.  Any 
simplistic  claims  that  “Christianity  is  the 
answer  to  communism”  are  false.  The 
Christian  answer  is  not  a rival  system 
for  organizing  an  economy,  for  running 
a society,  for  establishing  a government. 
As  I read  the  Bible,  Christianity  is  not 
capitalism.  It  is  not  even  democracy.  It 
is  a new  style  of  life-love-service-salva- 
tion-and-witness  that  can  and  has  sur- 
vived within  any  and  every  kind  of  po- 
litical and  economic  system. 

The  Christian  answer  is  not  an  an- 
swer to  communism.  It  is  an  answer  to 
communists.  It  is  an  answer  to  people 
as  persons.  It  is  an  answer  for  persons 
as  human  beings.  It  is  an  answer  for 
human  beings  to  become  sons  of  God. 

Christianity  is  a new  value  system. 

Instead  of  power  and  might  which 
both  communism  and  capitalism  value 
supremely,  Christ  presents  a cross.  It 
shows  that  the  way  of  God  is  the  way 
of  suffering,  the  way  of  love,  the  way 
of  self-sacrifice. 

Since  the  cross,  success  on  man’s 
terms  is  no  longer  necessary,  survival 
as  a man  is  no  longer  a necessity.  The 
way  of  Christ — trusting  God  in  life, 
death,  and  resurrection — are  a possi- 
bility. 

So  the  man  who  follows  the  way  of 
Jesus  finds  a new  answer  that  deals  with 
the  real  problems  that  are  causing  world 
growth  of  communism. 

First,  the  man  who  follows  Christ 
knows  that  any  Christian  answer  must 
be  a repentant  answer.  Repentant  that 
we  have  made  Christianity  a support  and 
comfort  for  the  haves — instead  of  a 
great  concerned  movement  to  care  for 
the  have-nots. 

The  New  Testament  clearly  teaches 
such  repentant  concern  for  the  have- 
nots  by  the  haves.  Listen: 

And  now,  you  plutocrats,  is  the  time 
for  you  to  weep  and  moan  because  of 
the  miseries  in  store  for  you!  Your  rich- 
est goods  are  ruined,  your  hoard  of 


clothes  is  moth-eaten,  your  gold  and 
silver  are  tarnished.  Yes,  their  very  tar- 
nish will  be  the  evidence  of  your  wick- 
ed hoarding  and  you  will  shrink  from 
them  as  if  they  were  red-hot.  You  have 
made  a fine  pile  in  these  last  days,  haven’t 
you!  But  look,  here  is  the  pay  of  the 
reaper  you  hired  and  whom  you  cheat- 
ed, and  it  is  shouting  out  against  you! 
And  the  cries  of  the  other  laborers  you 
swindled  are  heard  by  the  Lord  of  hosts 
himself  (James  5:1-4,  Phillips). 

Jesus  called  haves  to  care  about  have- 
nots  — in  concrete  ways.  Do  you  care? 

The  Christian  answer  must  also  re- 
pent of  our  un-Christlike  ways  of  de- 
fending our  prosperous  status  quo: 

— Repent  of  sanctifying  the  means  we 
use  by  the  end  we  see.  Not  only  the 
communists  are  willing  to  do  any  wrong 
that  evil  may  come.  True,  “atheistic 
communists”  crushed  Hungary  in  1956. 
But  “Christian  France”  brutalized  Al- 
geria in  1959.  True,  “atheistic  commu- 
nists” crushed  Czechoslovakia  in  1969. 
But  what  of  “Christian  America’s”  My 
Lai? 

-—Repent  of  supporting  those  in  privi- 
leged positions  while  ignoring  those  in 
need  and  want.  Have  we  not  failed  to 
give  hope  to  oppressed  peoples  while 
we  were  giving  comfort  to  the  oppres- 
sors? Have  we  not  blessed  the  colonial 
exploitation  in  the  past,  or  the  economic 
spoilation  of  the  present  because  it  en- 
riches our  nation  at  the  expense  of 
theirs? 

— Repent  of  softening  the  claims  of 
Christ  in  its  call  to  sacrificial  commit- 
ment of  life,  future,  and  possessions. 

Is  not  the  Christian  answer — truly — 
the  repentant  answer?  Demonstrated  in 
repentant  attitudes  of  concern  for  all 
men  everywhere?  Practiced  in  repentant 
actions  of  sacrificial  living,  giving,  and 
serving  that  others  may  share  the  good 
of  this  life — and  the  good  of  the  life  to 
come? 

Only  such  repentant  persons  are 
among  those  who  are  not  bringing  com- 
munism. 

What  about  you  and  your  style  of 
life? 

Are  you  a part  of  the  problem  that 
is  making  our  world  a hotbed  for  revo- 
lution? 

Or  are  you  a part  of  the  repenting 
solution? 


THE  MENNONITE 


619 


. . And  we  pray  for  those  who  know 
firsthand  the  cost  of  the  sin  of  this  na- 
tion.” These  words  are  from  the  prayer 
of  a Senate  aide  at  a recent  recommit- 
ment service  for  members  of  Dunamis. 

The  sin  of  this  nation — malnutrition 
and  starvation  in  our  own  rich  land,  the 
grieving,  maimed,  and  dead  from  the 
Indochina  war,  the  growing  incurable 
bitterness  of  the  imprisoned,  the  op- 
pressed in  other  nations  whose  dicta- 
torial governments  could  not  exist  with- 
out the  support  of  our  own  government, 
etc. — the  list  of  those  who  must  pay 
the  price  of  the  sin  of  this  nation  goes 
on  and  on. 

Fallible  men  and  women  in  positions 
of  power  make  decisions  which  result  in 
justice  and  injustice,  and  life  and  death 
for  thousands  of  people  in  this  and  other 
countries.  Those  of  us  who  thrive  in 
spite  of  the  sin  of  this  nation  know  that 
we  are  called  to  bind  up  the  wounds  of 
those  who  must  pay  the  awful  price  for 
that  sin.  But  what  is  our  call,  our  re- 
sponsibility to  the  decision  makers?  Have 
we  thought  deeply  enough  about  that? 


Dunamis,  a movement  begun  in  Wash-  fj 
ington,  D.C.,  is  a means  for  Christians 
to  relate  to  the  political  power  structure 
of  the  country.  The  word  dunamis  is  > 
the  Greek  New  Testament  word  for 
power  — the  power  ( dunamis ) of  the  * 
Spirit,  which  in  Acts  transformed  ordi- 
nary people  into  powerful  spokesmen 
who  changed  the  course  of  history. 

Many  of  the  men  and  women  who 
are  the  decision  makers  feel  a loneliness 
under  the  weight  of  their  burden.  Can 
we  ask  them  to  take  courageous  stands  * 
without  the  support  to  do  so?  They  also  * 
need  to  be  sensitized  to  the  consequen-  ' 
ces  of  their  actions  upon  human  suffer- 
ing. Can  we  stand  quietly  by  when  we 
see  decisions  made  that  destroy  life  and 
dignity? 

What  then  shall  be  the  pattern  of  ‘i 
obedience  to  those  of  us  who  are  called 
to  be  the  “salt  of  the  earth”  to  the  po- 
litical establishment? 

One  of  two  approaches  has  usually 
been  taken  by  Christians  in  relation  to  j 
the  government:  a lobbying-pressure  ap- 
proach which  depends  upon  volume  for  4 


persuasion,  or  praying  for  those  in  au- 
thority, but  doing  so  with  little  knowl- 
edge of  what  officials  really  experience 
or  of  the  issues  with  which  they  must 
grapple.  Our  prayers  “for  those  in  au- 
thority over  us”  are  almost  as  automatic 
as  a child’s  “Now  I lay  me  down  to 
sleep.”  After  having  prayed,  we  often 
do  lay  ourselves  down  to  sleep  instead 
of  offering  ourselves  to  be  sent. 

Any  politician’s  life  is  full  of  those 
trying  to  pressure  him,  argue  with  him, 
or  extract  some  promise  or  favor  from 
him.  Most  people  regard  the  politician 
as  one  who  is  to  be  won  over  for  one 
side  or  another,  and  even  the  church 
and  its  representatives  have  often  failed 
to  treat  the  politician  as  a person.  Some 
ministers  of  churches  attended  by  the 
powerful  readily  boast  of  the  dignitary 
in  their  congregation.  They  thus  idol- 
atrously  place  that  person  on  a pedestal 
and  deny  him  even  the  brotherhood 
and  life  which  are  the  unique  gift  of 
the  church. 

Commenting  on  the  inadequate  re- 
sponse of  the  church  to  the  powerful, 
Senator  Mark  Hatfield  says,  “A  politi- 
cian confronts  within  himself  deep  ques- 
tions about  the  issues  and  decisions  he 
must  make.  He  needs  to  find  people 
with  whom  he  can  honestly  share  and 
confide  his  thoughts  in  order  to  think 
through  the  troubling  choices  he  must 
make.  As  one  in  political  life  faces  such 
decisions,  he  often  must  confront  deep 
moral  issues  and  questions  of  funda- 
mental values  and  ethics.  In  the  midst 
of  those  dilemmas  he  can  profit  from 
those  who  will  think  through  these  ques- 
tions with  him  from  the  perspective  of 
faith,  and  ever  with  the  support  of 
prayer.  Churchmen  should  view  the  poli- 
tician not  merely  as  someone  who  has 
to  be  ‘lobbied,’  but  their  aim  should  be 
to  build  honest  personal  relationships 
with  politicians,  based  on  true  concern, 
love,  and  understanding.” 

Commitments  made  by  each  member 
of  Dunamis  are  simple,  yet  serious. 
Each  person  commits  himself  or  her- 
self Cl)  to  study  and  reflect  on  a par- 
ticular issue  which  will  enable  him  or 
her  to  become  prophetic  in  that  area  (a 
resource  used  is  Washington  memo 
from  mcc’s  Peace  Section  office  in  the 
capital),  (2)  to  study  the  Bible  in  a 
serious  and  disciplined  way  and  to  pray 
for  at  least  one  member  of  Congress, 
and  (3)  to  build  a continuing  relation- 


ship as  a pastor  and  prophet  with  that 
Congressperson. 

Regular  financial  contributions  are  a 
natural  part  of  the  commitment,  one  in 
which  persons  from  outside  our  group 
also  participate. 

Ministers  and  lay  people  are  likely 
to  regard  themselves  either  as  “pastors” 
or  as  “prophets.”  “Pastors”  are  those 
concerned  chiefly  about  personal  salva- 
tion, ministering  to  the  personal  prob- 
lems of  other  individuals  and  leaving 
untouched  their  social  responsibilities 
and  sins.  Of  these,  Senator  Hatfield  says, 
“They  have  a tendency  to  blind  them- 
selves to  the  theological  dimensions  of 
the  problems  faced  in  the  political  realm, 
thinking  only  of  the  personal  needs  of 
those  who  hold  office.”  Our  “prophets” 
feel  that  the  church  cannot  remain  silent 
on  questions  of  our  nation’s  misplaced 
priorities,  war,  and  oppression.  But  with- 
out concern  for  the  people  who  are  ad- 
dressed, the  message  after  a time  falls 
on  deaf  ears. 

“In  relation  to  the  powerful,”  com- 
ments my  co-staff  worker  in  Dunamis, 
a former  Senate  employee,  “our  ‘pas- 
tors’ are  often  unwilling  to  speak  the 
truth.  They  value  access  to  the  powerful 
so  much  that  they  are  unable  to  risk 
any  sort  of  confrontation  and  often 
even  justify  themselves  by  saying  that 
they  have  a good  ‘contact’  for  the  king- 
dom. Our  ‘prophets’  are  sometimes  so 
intent  upon  uttering  a word  of  judgment 
that  they  refuse  to  do  the  work  required 
to  speak  the  truth  in  love." 

Speaking  to  seminary  students,  Sen- 
ator Hatfield  said,  “Our  need  today  is 
for  pastor-prophets.  In  combining  these 
two,  the  church  has  a unique  means  for 
influencing  the  politician’s  thinking,  his 
values,  and  his  political  choices.  . . . 
If  the  church  is  not  a pastor  to  the  poli- 
tician, its  prophetic  message  will  not  be 
received;  it  will  fall  on  dry  ground.  But 
if  the  church  is  not  a prophet  to  the 
politician,  its  pastoral  responsibility  will 
remain  incomplete;  there  will  be  no  vis- 
ion, no  stimulus  for  growth,  and  ‘the 
people  will  perish.’  ” 

A member  of  Congress  responding  to 
a Dunamis  relationship  said  that  the  ex- 
pression of  “true  Christian  love”  was 
appreciated  “more  than  I can  tell  you” 
and  added  that  in  the  long  run  this 
could  be  the  type  of  political  involve- 
ment more  meaningful  than  any  other 
and  that  many  members  of  Congress 


would  cherish  this  relationship  more 
than  any  other  they  have. 

In  Washington,  D.C.,  Dunamis  groups 
form  around  critical  issues  such  as  mil- 
itary spending,  migrant  education,  and 
adequate  food  for  the  world.  Those  who 
have  similar  concerns  form  a group 
around  that  concern.  They  then  “adopt” 
the  Congressional  committee  responsible 
for  that  area:  the  Senate  or  House  com- 
mittees on  armed  services,  education, 
foreign  relations,  etc.  Next  they  ac- 
quaint themselves  thoroughly  with  the 
agenda,  the  workings,  and  the  personnel 
on  that  committee,  concentrating  indi- 
vidually on  one  or  two  persons. 

In  other  parts  of  the  country  Duna- 
mis groups  work  with  their  own  Con- 
gressional delegations  as  well  as  their 
local  officials.  Though  we  are  still  small, 
there  is  the  beginning  of  a Dunamis  in- 
terest in  other  countries. 

Most  essential  to  the  existence  of 
Dunamis  is  the  mission  group  concept 
of  the  Church  of  the  Saviour  in  Wash- 
ington. In  it  groups  commit  themselves 
both  to  the  inward  journey  of  spiritual 
growth  and  development  and  the  out- 
ward journey  of  obedience  in  some  task. 

“To  intelligently  support  those  in  pow- 
er,” says  Yvonne  Franklin,  a member  of 
Dunamis  and  a professional  staffer  on 
a Congressional  committee,  “will  take 
not  only  the  discipline  of  Scripture  study 
and  prayer,  but  the  discipline,  as  well, 
of  the  study  of  the  function  of  Con- 
gress and  the  critical  issues  confronting 
the  nation.” 

“We  need  responses  from  people  in 
our  churches  to  sound  the  call  to  these 
good  men  and  women  in  Congress,” 
says  Yvonne.  “They  need  renewed  hope, 
courage,  vision,  love,  support,  imagina- 
tion, and  compassion.  We  see  our  Duna- 
mis call  as  no  less  important  than  that 
of  the  ancient  prophets  in  warning  Is- 
rael’s kings  of  the  folly  of  pursuing  war 
and  armaments  at  the  expense  of  justice 
to  the  poor  and  the  oppressed  in  the 
land.” 

The  Dunamis  mission  in  Washington, 
D.C.,  asks  churches  to  look  again  at 
their  responsibility  to  the  decision  mak- 
ers. We  believe  that  many  individuals 
in  our  churches  might  be  called  to  form 
groups  that  will  join  with  us. 

If  you  receive  this  information  about 
Dunamis  as  good  news,  we  invite  you 
to  contact  us  at  2025  Massachusetts  Ave., 
N.W.,  Washington,  D.C.  20036. 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teoch,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite^ 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114* 


THE  MENNONITE 


621 


NEWS 

MPM  sorts,  integrates  religion-culture  issues 


When  German-Canadian  Mennonites  en- 
counter the  Ojibwa  and  Cree  of  northern 
Manitoba,  the  culture  and  religion  of 
each  are  affirmed  and  called  into  ques- 
tion. 

This  time  the  Mennonites  were  af- 
firming and  asking  the  questions  at  a 
cross-cultural  theological  seminar  Octo- 
ber 3-5  in  St.  Norbert,  Manitoba,  a 
suburb  of  Winnipeg.  The  seminar  was 
sponsored  by  Mennonite  Pioneer  Mis- 
sion, the  native  ministries’  arm  of  the 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada. 

Sometimes  the  question  was  phrased, 
“How  can  we  present  the  gospel  with- 
out excess  cultural  baggage?”  or  “How 
can  we  affirm  the  good  in  Indian  cul- 
ture and  religion  when  presenting  the 
gospel?” 

Others  phrased  the  question  more  crit- 
ically, “Is  the  essence  of  the  gospel  be- 
ing lost  if  we  affirm  too  much  of  Indian 
culture?” 

The  group  of  about  fifty  at  the  sem- 
inar was  mostly  white — board  members, 
mpm  personnel,  conference  representa- 
tives, pastors,  and  a few  other  invitees — 
with  about  half  a dozen  Indians. 

This  limited  cross-cultural  communi- 
cation at  the  seminar  was  lamented,  but 
Fred  Unruh  of  Regina,  Saskatchewan, 
board  chairman,  pointed  out,  “The  ques- 
tions we  are  asking  are  white  men’s 
questions.” 

The  consultation  did  not  draw  up  a 
theological  statement,  but  there  were 
some  areas  of  consensus,  sensed  by 
Adolf  Ens  of  Ottawa,  who  had  been 
asked  to  be  “assessor”  for  the  seminar. 

First,  the  group  felt  that  it  need  not 
reject  everything  in  Indian  culture  as 
non-Christian.  Yet  the  uniqueness  of 
Jesus  has  to  be  affirmed,  it  said.  Some- 
where in  the  middle,  mpm  is  to  work, 
affirming  some  aspects  of  Indian  cul- 
ture (such  as  the  sharing  ethic),  negat- 
ing some  aspects,  altering  others. 

Second,  the  Old  Testament  can  be  a 
model  for  how  to  embody  theology  in 
another  setting.  The  Hebrews  adapted 
Babylonian  legends  to  give  their  own 
message.  Abraham,  Moses,  the  Hebrews 
in  exile — all  encountered  other  cultures 
and  transformed  elements  of  them  into 
new  structures. 


In  all  instances,  Christian  workers  need 
to  listen  as  well  as  preach.  When  new 
conflicts  are  encountered,  perhaps  Men- 
nonites need  a new  “Jerusalem  council” 
to  decide  on  those  matters  for  which 
there  is  no  precedent. 

Finally,  the  Mennonite  constituency 
needs  to  be  kept  informed  of  what  is 
happening  with  mpm  workers  and  the 
communities  they  serve  — in  order  to 
squelch  rumors,  to,  give  feedback,  and 
to  be  open  to  the  possibility  that  the  en- 
counter with  Indian  peoples  may  allow 
Mennonites  to  see  what  is  non-Christian 
in  their  own  culture. 

The  seminar  participants  first  listened 
to  a description  of  Indian  culture  at  the 
time  of  the  first  contact  with  whites,  pre- 
sented by  anthropologist  Roland  Fisch, 
who  is  beginning  service  with  mpm  at 
the  Hole  River  Reservation. 

Among  the  Algonquians,  including  the 
Ojibwa  and  Cree,  sharing  was  a part 
of  a social  structure  of  equality.  Status 
was  gained  by  the  persons  who  gave 
away  the  most,  he  said.  The  chief  was 
usually  the  poorest  man  in  the  band. 
During  the  Feast  of  the  Dead,  the  fam- 
ily of  the  deceased  gave  away  every- 
thing. Among  some  tribes  goods  were 


redistributed  periodically,  much  as  the 
Hebrews  redistributed  wealth  during  the 
Jubilee  Year.  In  some  cases,  even  whole 
tribes  of  enemies  were  adopted. 

Harmony  was  another  important  prin- 
ciple governing  relationships  with  peo- 
ple and  nature.  Open  confrontation  and 
competition  were  to  be  avoided.  No  one 
gave  orders. 

Rose  Jackson  from  Winnipeg  also  told 
the  seminar  of  the  valuable  aspects  of 
her  Indian  upbringing  at  her  grandpar- 
ents’ knees.  The  Indian  has  respect  for 
those  who  are  different,  she  said.  “When 
the  Indian  gives  thanks,  he  fasts.  . . . 
My  mother  would  not  waste  even  sandy 
water.” 

Culture  and  religion  proved  difficult 
to  separate.  Indians,  it  was  pointed  out, 
have  not  viewed  religion  as  a separate 
compartment  of  life.  For  them,  religion 
permeates  all  of  life.  Keeping  the  dis- 
tinction between  the  two  categories  is 
hardly  more  desirable  for  Christians, 
several  people  said. 

“Is  the  gospel  valid  unless  it  is  in- 
corporated in  a culture?”  asked  Menno 
Wiebe,  mpm  executive  secretary.  “Faith 
has  to  be  expressed  through  a culture. 
That’s  the  meaning  of  the  incarnation.” 


Raymond  Duck  from  Bloodvein  River,  Manitoba,  ( far  right ) played  and  sang  a h 
Saulteaux  version  of  "In  the  sweet  by  and  by.”  Later  other  participants  in  the  MPM  $ 
seminar  joined  him  for  "If  you’re  happy  and  you  know  it,  say  amen.”  \ 


622 


OCTOBER  30,  1973 


‘‘My  faith  includes  all  that  I believe 
j about  the  world,”  said  David  Schroeder, 
professor  of  New  Testament  at  Cana- 
dian Mennonite  Bible  College.  “I  am  also 
able  to  say  that  my  world  view  has 
changed  over  the  years,  yet  I still  pro- 
j fess  to  have  the  same  faith.” 

But  the  questions  remained:  What  of 
j Indianness  is  Christian?  What  is  un- 
christian? What  is  on  neutral  ground? 

Most  participants  agreed  that  the  In- 
dian sharing  ethic  was  more  Christian 
than  the  practice  of  many  Mennonites. 

“The  Scripture  from  Matthew  6 on 
‘taking  no  thought  for  the  morrow’  is 
one  I have  never  been  able  to  preach  on,” 
commented  Abe  Hoeppner,  mpm  work- 
er at  Bloodvein  River. 

On  the  other  hand,  no  one  wanted  to 
bless  everything  in  Indian  religion/cul- 
: ture.  But  who  makes  the  decision  what 
is  Christian  and  non-Christian? 

“We  need  to  rely  on  our  native  Chris- 
. tians  to  make  these  decisions  for  them- 
selves,” said  Mr.  Wiebe. 

“But  will  they  then  just  be  feeding 
t back  to  us  what  we  have  told  them?” 
asked  Ed  Goerzen,  mpm  board  member 
from  Mission  City,  British  Columbia. 

There  were  also  some  practical  ques- 
' tions:  Can  missionaries  use  the  word 
manitou  to  mean  a personal  God  when 
that  was  not  the  original  meaning? 

The  Gospel  of  John  uses  the  Greek 
word  logos  for  Christ,  even  though  the 
word  means  a rational  force,  Mr.  Schroe- 
der pointed  out. 

Vic  and  Norma  Funk,  mpm  workers 
i at  Pauingassi,  asked  for  counsel  on 
, whether  to  stay  as  mission  personnel. 
Local  native  Christians  provide  leader- 
ship in  the  church,  and  Vic  has  been 
given  a place  in  the  community  as  friend 
who  repairs  engines,  operates  the  saw- 
mill, and  teaches  Bible  classes.  How 
does  the  missionary  know  when  to  help 
the  congregation  by  leaving? 

A longer  discussion  came  over  the 
issue  of  “syncretism,”  variously  defined, 
usually  with  a negative  connotation: 
“Are  we  merely  combining  two  religions, 
or  can  Jesus  be  seen  as  the  fulfillment 
of  Indian  history,  just  as  he  was  the  ful- 
fillment of  Hebrew  history?” 

“Jesus  is  not  the  fulfillment  of  all  re- 
ligions,” said  Henry  Funk,  board  vice- 
chairman,  from  Drake,  Saskatchewan. 
“You  can’t  take  Christ  out  of  Jewish 
history  and  tack  him  on  to  any  pagan 
religion.” 

“God  has  been  and  is  at  work  in  the 
history  of  every  people,”  said  Mr. 
Schroeder.  “Truths  of  God  may  be 
known  by  non-Christian  peoples.  We 


Menno  Wiebe 


David  Schroeder 


Rose  Jackson 


Fred  Unruh 


Roland  Fisch 


need  to  listen  and  learn  from  what  God 
has  done  with  other  peoples.” 

Raymond  Duck,  a layman  from  Blood- 
vein  River,  told  the  group,  through  an 
interpreter,  “Man  was  made  in  the  im- 
age of  God,  but  was  in  need  of  a savior. 
We  knew  this  before  we  had  the  Bible.” 

Henry  Gerbrandt,  Canadian  Confer- 
ence executive  secretary,  added,  “To 
see  that  Jesus  is  the  fulfillment  of  all 
truth  is  not  syncretism.  Jesus  is  the  ful- 
fillment of  all  God-given  truth.” 

“Is  the  Bible  the  only  place  we  go 
for  truth?”  questioned  board  member 
Ernie  Sawatsky. 

“No,”  said  Mr.  Gerbrandt,  “but  Scrip- 
ture is  the  norm.” 

The  seminar  also  dealt  with  the  need 
to  begin  a mission  work  with  a humble, 
humble,  listening  attitude. 

Adam  Cuthand,  an  Anglican  Cree 
minister  from  Winnipeg,  told  the  group 
of  a Mexican  bishop  who  allows  no  one 
to  begin  mission  work  in  a new  area 
until  the  worker  has  studied  the  lan- 
guage and  lived  with  the  people  for  two 
years. 

“The  first  step  in  missions,”  said  Mr. 
Wiebe,  “is  to  stand  in  solidarity  with  our 
fellowman.  We  ought  to  say — no  more 


evangelization  without  friendship.  We 
need  to  see  a person  not  as  merely  a 
potential  convert,  but  as  a potential 
brother  in  Christ.” 

The  seminar  was,  in  a sense,  a place 
for  board  members  and  constituency 
representatives  to  get  in  touch  with  and 
put  in  theological  terms  what  mpm 
workers  have  been  experiencing.  New 
ground  had  to  be  covered,  mpm  could 
not  simply  adopt  the  foreign  missions 
model  because  of  the  interaction  be- 
tween sending  churches  and  mission 
churches. 

The  seminar  recognized  there  have 
been  problems,  however,  in  communi- 
cating what  is  happening  in  northern 
Manitoba  to  the  churches  in  southern 
Manitoba  and  the  rest  of  Canada.  The 
conference  needs  to  find  better  ways  for 
people  at  Pauingassi  to  relate  to  the 
wider  Mennonite  brotherhood.  Language, 
customs,  and  distance  are  barriers,  but 
Indians  as  well  as  those  of  German  back- 
ground have  something  to  offer  to  the 
encounter. 

“Our  most  difficult  task  these  days,” 
someone  observed,  “has  been  to  look  at 
how  we  are  enslaved  by  our  culture.” 
Lois  Barrett  Janzen 


THE  MENNONITE 


623 


MMA-planned  conference  focuses  on  abortion 


Twenty  General  Conference  persons  ap- 
pointed by  the  education  and  home  min- 
istries commissions  were  among  the  105 
people  who  attended  a two-day  confer- 
ence on  abortion  sponsored  by  the  Men- 
nonite  Medical  Association  October  5-6 
in  Chicago. 

The  meeting,  according  to  mma  presi- 
dent LeRoy  Lapp  of  Morgantown,  West 
Virginia,  was  not  an  attempt  to  work 
out  a position  on  the  life  termination 
question.  Its  intention  was  to  enable 
people  from  various  disciplines  and  walks 
of  life  to  share  their  insights  and  con- 
cerns about  the  abortion  question. 

There  was  a near  50-50  ratio  of  men 
to  women  at  the  conference,  but  all  but 
one  of  the  six  papers  were  presented  by 
men.  Helen  Alderfer  of  Scottdale,  Penn- 
sylvania, the  lone  woman  on  the  roster 
of  speakers,  focused  her  address  on  the 
personal  aspect  of  abortion.  She  related 
several  case  histories  of  women  who 
went  through  the  process  of  deciding 
what  to  do  about  unwanted  pregnancies. 
It  is  estimated,  she  said,  that  there  are 
thirty  million  abortions  a year  in  the 
world. 

LeRoy  Walters,  an  ethicist  who  is 
serving  in  the  research  division  of 
Georgetown  University’s  medical  center 
in  Washington,  D.C.,  skirted  the  abor- 
tion question  in  his  keynote  address, 
“Ethical  issues  at  the  boundaries  of 
life.”  His  presentation  touched  on  test- 
tube  fertilization,  fetal  experimentation, 
and  the  prolongation  of  life. 

Dr.  Walters  suggested  three  “middle 
axioms  for  medical  ethics”  in  his  con- 
clusion. These  were  ( 1 ) human  life 
should  be  respected  and  revered,  (2) 
the  weak  and  defenseless  are  especially 
to  be  protected,  and  (3)  physical  health 
and  life  are  relative,  not  absolute  goods. 

Theologian  Ross  T.  Bender  of  Elk- 
hart, Indiana,  spoke  on  the  religious 
perspectives  of  the  abortion  question. 
His  assertion  that  “many  problems  of 
anxiety  are  resolved  when  one  is  loving- 
ly surrounded  by  a caring-sharing  com- 
munity of  which  one  is  a part”  was  af- 
firmed. But  several  smaller  discussion 
groups  indicted  Mennonite  congregations 
for  having  done  far  too  little  caring  and 
sharing  for  people  who  need  support. 
Several  participants  commented  that 
women  contemplating  an  unwanted 
pregnancy  would  not  be  likely  to  go  to 
the  church  for  counsel  because  so  little 
intimate  sharing  is  usually  done  there 
on  issues  of  any  sort. 


“Abortion:  Some  social  considera- 

tions” was  presented  by  Ted  Koontz  of 
the  mcc  Peace  Section  staff,  Akron, 
Pennsylvania.  Among  the  causes  he  list- 
ed for  the  increased  acceptance  of  abor- 
tion were  ( 1 ) a dramatic  shift  in  the 
world  population  picture  which  has  con- 
tributed greatly  to  a desire  to  prevent 
births,  (2)  a subtle  change  in  people’s 
values  caused  by  scientific  and  techno- 
logical advances,  and  (3)  a shift  away 
from  interpreting  human  experiences 
through  a theological  framework  in 
which  right  and  wrong,  valuable  and 
worthless,  etc.,  are  determined  by  ref- 
erence to  an  outside  authority,  such  as 
God. 

“Our  concern,”  said  Mr.  Koontz, 
“should  not  be  to  turn  the  clock  back 
somehow  but  to  learn  how  rightly  to 
use  the  techniques  which  have  been  de- 
veloped to  rightly  weigh  the  various  val- 
ues, both  of  relatively  recent  origin  and 
of  ancient  origin,  which  come  to  play 
in  abortion  decisions.” 

Speaking  about  the  argument  that 
abortion  violates  the  “sanctity  of  human 
life,”  Mr.  Koontz  noted  that  sanctity 
of  human  life  cannot  be  solely  concerned 
with  the  bodily  survival  of  individual 
persons. 

He  quoted  from  Daniel  Callahan’s 
book  Abortion'.  Law,  choice,  and  mo- 
rality to  identify  five  distinct  spheres 
which  must  be  accounted  for  under  the 
heading  of  sanctity  of  life: 

“(a)  The  survival  and  integrity  of 
the  human  species,  (b)  the  integrity  of 
family  lineages,  (c)  the  integrity  of 
bodily  life,  (d)  the  integrity  of  personal 
choice  and  self-determination,  mental, 
and  emotional  individuality,  and  (e)  the 
integrity  of  personal  bodily  individual- 
ity.” 

“Abortions  are  never  good,”  said  Mr. 
Koontz.  “They  can,  at  their  best,  be  only 
the  least  bad  of  a number  of  bad  op- 
tions.” 

Marvin  Ewert,  administrator  of  Beth- 
el Deaconess  Hospital  in  Newton,  Kan- 
sas, during  the  discussion  period  follow- 
ing his  presentation  on  “Institutional  re- 
sponsibilities with  reference  to  abortion,” 
said  that  no  Mennonite-operated  hos- 
pital to  his  knowledge  will  provide  any 
abortions  on  demand.  He  said,  how- 
ever, that  “therapeutic”  abortions  were 
being  done. 

Some  participants  wondered  if  it 
would  not  be  better  to  close  down  a 
hospital  rather  than  to  submit  to  a gov- 


ernment or  court  order  to  perform  an 
abortion.  There  is  some  speculation  that 
hospitals  in  remote  areas  may  be  forced 
to  provide  this  service  on  demand  even 
against  their  wishes.  Some  responded 
that  a church-operated  hospital  may,  in 
fact,  be  the  very  type  of  helping  com- 
munity which  some  women  need  when 
they  are  in  the  process  of  deciding 
whether  or  not  to  get  an  abortion.  Wil- 
liam Dunn,  administrator  of  the  Bloom- 
ington, Illinois,  hospital,  said,  “These 
present  challenges  give  the  church  the 
opportunity  to  be  a caring  community 
in  a situation  of  need  through  these  hos- 
pitals. This  is  no  time  to  get  out.” 

It  was  reported  at  the  conference  that 
the  General  Conference  and  the  Menno- 
nite Church  had  recently  been  given  a 
Schowalter  grant  to  help  disseminate  in- 
formation to  their  congregations  on  the 
abortion  question.  An  interconference 
reference  group  has  been  set  up  to 
carry  out  this  project.  Larry  Kehler 

Drug  companies  donate 
vitamins  for  Chad 

A delivery  of  33A  million  vitamin  pills 
arrived  unexpectedly  at  mcc  headquarters 
in  Akron,  Pennsylvania,  October  1.  The 
pills,  worth  $58,800  were  donated  by 
Upjohn  Company,  Kalamazoo,  Michi- 
gan, for  famine  relief  in  Chad.  A second 
smaller  shipment  from  Mead  Johnson 
Laboratories  arrived  the  same  day. 

Interchurch  Medical  Assistance,  Inc., 
at  mcc’s  request,  donated  one  million 
vitamin  pills  and  antibiotics  from  its 
stock  and  contacted  major  drug  com- 
panies including  Upjohn  and  Mead  John- 
son for  additional  donations.  Ima  is  a 
nonprofit  organization  which  collects  do- 
nated drugs  and  hospital  supplies  to  be 
distributed  overseas  by  medical  mission 
and  relief  agencies  of  North  American 
Protestant  churches. 

Vern  Preheim,  Zaire  director,  inform- 
ed Akron  of  nutrition  needs  in  Chad 
following  his  visit  to  that  country  in 
July.  Mr.  Preheim  requested  IV2  million 
vitamin  pills,  liquid  vitamins  for  babies, 
and  some  antibiotics  to  be  distributed 
through  the  twenty  dispensaries  and  hos- 
pitals operated  by  missions  in  Chad. 

“We  aren’t  planning  to  ship  all  the 
vitamins  now,”  said  Fred  Swartzendrub- 
er,  assistant  in  the  material  aid  depart- 
ment. “Some  vitamins  may  be  shipped 
to  Upper  Volta.” 


624 


OCTOBER  30,  1973 


Ad  hoc  pastors'  group  meets  in  Minneapolis 


An  informal  group  calling  itself  the 
Mennonite  Pastors  Fellowship  met  Sep- 
tember 25-26  in  Minneapolis  to  “check 
with  each  other  on  where  the  winds  of 
God  are  blowing  today.” 

The  small  ad  hoc  group  first  met  in 
Wichita,  just  before  the  urban  pastors’ 
seminar  last  February  at  Camp  Men- 
noscah,  Kansas.  Future  meetings  are 
planned,  but  no  dates  have  been  set. 

Five  papers  were  presented  at  the 
meeting  in  Minneapolis.  Peter  Ediger, 
Arvada  Church,  Arvada,  Colorado,  pre- 
sented a paper  on  Mennonite  minority 
identity;  David  Habegger,  Hively  Ave. 
Church,  Elkhart,  Indiana,  a paper  on  the 


personal  spiritual  quest;  Melvin  D. 
Schmidt,  Lorraine  Ave.  Church,  Wich- 
ita, Kansas,  on  “Biblical  perspectives 
for  the  church”;  and  Stanley  Smucker, 
Trinity  Mennonite-Presbyterian  Church, 
Oklahoma  City,  on  implications  of  the 
Oklahoma  City  experiment  for  the  Men- 
nonite Church.  Ron  Hunsicker,  Charles- 
wood  Church,  Winnipeg,  prepared  a pa- 
per on  small  groups  in  the  church,  but 
could  not  attend  the  meeting. 

The  sharing  on  theological  issues  fac- 
ing the  church  was  free  and  honest,  ac- 
cording to  the  participants. 

One  said,  “In  my  twenty  years  of  min- 
istry I have  never  been  in  as  honest  a 


group  as  this  one.”  The  group  dealt  with 
personal  as  well  as  corporate  issues,  al- 
though the  group  consensus  at  the  end 
was  to  stress  corporate  issues. 

The  ad  hoc  nature  of  the  group  had  its 
drawback,  the  group  felt,  in  that  no 
formal  channels  for  sending  out  invita- 
tions were  used.  Word-of-mouth  invita- 
tions reached  possibly  one  hundred  pas- 
tors in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
Of  those,  eleven  attended. 

Any  pastor  or  person  with  pastoral 
interest  who  wants  to  be  in  touch  with 
this  fellowship  group  may  contact  David 
Habegger  or  Ron  Hunsicker.  Melvin  D. 
Schmidt 


Teachers  learn  firsthand  about  learning 


Helene  Riesen,  author  of  this  article,  is 
a Sunday  school  teacher  at  First  Men- 
nonite Church,  Winnipeg,  Manitoba. 

It  was  a rainy  Friday  evening  in  Sep- 
tember, when  the  Sunday  school  teach- 
ers of  First  Mennonite  Church  of  Win- 
nipeg, together  with  lohn  Neufeld,  their 
minister,  and  Cornelia  Lehn,  director  of 
children’s  work  for  the  General  Con- 
ference, presently  teaching  at  cmbc,  set 
off  for  a weekend  retreat  at  Camp  Arnes. 
Puns  about  “retreating”  . . . laughter 
. . . stumbling  through  puddles  in  the 
dark,  laden  with  sleeping  bags  and  suit- 
cases . . . reservations  expressed  ...  it 
seemed  a dubious  beginning. 

“Serendipity”  is  a word  coined  by  Ly- 
man Coleman  to  define  relationship 
games  we  played  that  gradually  loosened 
up  the  group.  Before  Friday  evening  was 
over,  men  and  women — young,  middle- 
aged,  or  old — were  no  longer  self-con- 
sciously trying  to  be  friendly,  but  were 
chatting  honestly  with  each  other. 

Saturday  morning  saw  the  beginning 
of  a series  of  intensive  study  sessions. 
We  had  experienced  a development  in 
relationships  within  our  own  group  and 
so  were  well  primed  to  consider  the 
question  of  relationships  with  respect  to 
our  Sunday  school  classes:  the  student- 
teacher  relationship  as  well  as  the  inter- 
relationships of  the  students.  Next  came 
sessions  on  “How  we  learn”  and  “Meth- 
odology,” stressing  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  learning.  An  afternoon  spent 
planning  lessons  was  extremely  useful, 
as  we  divided  into  groups  according  to 
the  ages  we  taught  and  shared  ideas. 
Before  the  weekend  was  over,  we  were 


speaking  frankly  not  only  about  various 
aspects  of  teaching  Sunday  school,  but 
were  getting  down  to  the  nitty-gritty  of 
our  basic  beliefs.  A discussion  on  con- 
version and  on  dealing  with  this  question 
in  class  sparked  considerable  response. 

Of  course,  in  teaching  us  how  to 
teach,  Ms.  Lehn  and  Mr.  Neufeld  had 
an  ideal  opportunity  to  demonstrate 
what  they  were  talking  about.  As  a mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  entire  retreat  became  a 
demonstration  of  the  various  principles 
of  learning  we  were  discussing. 

To  demonstrate  the  benefits  of  involv- 
ing as  many  of  our  senses  as  possible 
in  the  learning  process,  we  were  asked 
to  do  research  on  a plant  called  jewel- 
weed.  Books  were  passed  out  and  we  all 
dutifully  read  the  section  on  the  jewel- 
weed.  How  dramatically  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  plant  itself  altered  the  dis- 
cussion of  a somewhat  dull  topic!  We 
broke  the  stem,  noted  the  rhubarb-like 
scent  of  the  plant,  and  were  delighted 
when  the  little  seeds  exploded  from  the 
warmth  of  our  palms. 

Other  examples  come  to  mind.  We 
were  made  aware  of  the  value  of  small 
group  discussion,  of  artistic  response  to 
a story  or  lesson,  of  research,  of  “prac- 
ticing what  we  preach”  whenever  pos- 
sible, of  flexibility  and  variety  of  ap- 
proach. But  for  me,  one  of  the  most  sig- 
nificant sessions  dealt  with  the  art  of 
storytelling:  “Nobody  loved  Zacchaeus.” 

The  retreat  was  a model  of  organiza- 
tion and  careful  planning,  and  the  re- 
sults, I believe,  exceeding  the  expecta- 
tion of  nearly  everyone.  For  the  first 
time,  many  of  the  Sunday  school  teach- 
ers were  getting  practical  help  with  the 


problems  and  challenges  of  teaching.  For 
most  of  us,  however,  the  opportunity  to 
get  to  know  each  other  was  the  most 
significant  single  aspect  of  the  retreat. 

The  weekend  was  a “gift”  in  the  real 
sense  of  the  word  — a gift  from  the 
church,  which  financed  the  venture;  a 
gift  from  the  Sunday  school  superin- 
tendents, who  helped  to  organize  it;  and 
above  all,  a gift  from  Ms.  Lehn  and 
Mr.  Neufeld,  who  gave  so  generously 
of  themselves  and  of  their  wealth  of 
experience  in  planning  and  executing  it. 

Winnipeg  judge  hears 
film  obscenity  case 

fudge  John  J.  Enns,  a member  of  the 
First  Mennonite  Church,  Winnipeg,  pre- 
sided at  the  obscenity  trial  involving  the 
controversial  motion  picture  Last  tango 
in  Paris  earlier  this  month.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  six  days  of  hearings  on  Oc- 
tober 10,  he  indicated  that  he  hoped  to 
have  a decision  ready  by  October  26. 

The  film  was  seized  from  a Winnipeg 
theater  in  May  on  orders  from  the  prov- 
ince’s attorney  general. 

Among  those  appearing  on  behalf  of 
the  Crown  was  A.  C.  Forrest,  editor  of 
the  United  Church  observer,  who  called 
the  film  a bore.  A1  Reimer,  a film  critic 
for  the  Canadian  Broadcasting  Corpora- 
tion and  a regular  contributor  to  Men- 
nonite mirror,  was  among  the  persons 
who  spoke  for  the  defense.  Mr.  Reimer, 
who  teaches  eighteenth-century  literature 
at  the  University  of  Winnipeg,  felt  that 
there  was  no  attempt  in  the  film  to 
linger  on  or  romanticize  the  sexual  ac- 
tivity. 


THE  MENNONITE 


625 


Mennonite  and  United  churches  share  minister 


Susan  Hiebert 

In  an  atmosphere  of  goodwill  and  broad- 
mindedness, two  rural  Manitoba  church- 
es from  different  denominations  have 
begun  an  arrangement  which  sees  them 
sharing  the  salary  and  services  of  the 
same  minister.  The  most  westerly  par- 
ish of  the  Carmen  Presbytery  of  the 
United  Church  of  Canada,  containing 
the  areas  of  Holmfield,  Neelin,  Cart- 
wright, and  Mather,  has  always  been  too 
large  for  one  minister  to  serve  well,  but 
the  United  Church  budget  did  not  allow 
a salary  for  two  people. 

The  United  Church  minister  in  charge 
discovered  a financial  surplus  on  the  par- 
ish books  in  1972  and  suggested  the 
church  look  to  the  possibility  of  shar- 
ing the  services  of  the  minister  of  the 
Mennonite  mission  at  Mather. 

The  Mather  Mennonite  congregation 
was  faced  with  a familiar  modern  rural 
problem.  Until  1972  they  had  elected 
leaders  from  among  their  members,  but 
their  two  ordained  ministers  had  left  the 
community.  There  was  no  one  ready  to 
accept  the  position  in  the  time-honored 
fashion,  and  the  group  felt  it  was  not 
large  enough  to  utilize  a full-time  hired 
minister. 

It  was  the  Cartwright  United  Church 
group  which  approached  the  Mennonite 
community  with  the  proposal  that  they 
help  them  pay  the  salary  of  a Menno- 
nite minister  and  obtain  a portion  of 
his  services.  With  little  opposition,  the 
plan  was  adopted  by  the  five  churches 
concerned  and  Carmen  Presbytery. 

The  shared  services  began  in  July  of 
this  year,  with  new  ministers  in  both 
churches.  The  Mennonite  church  hired 
Peter  Buhler,  thirty-three,  a graduate  of 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College, 
Winnipeg,  and  Ken  Gellinger,  formerly 
of  Ottawa,  was  appointed  to  the  parish 
by  the  United  Church. 

The  area  has  about  3,000  people  who 
list  themselves  as  United  Church  ad- 
herents on  the  census  form.  Of  these, 
about  110  families  participate  actively 
in  church  life.  The  Mennonite  church 
has  about  100  members. 

The  churches  do  have  different  dog- 
mas, such  as  adult  versus  child  baptism, 
pacifism  versus  participation  in  the  armed 
forces,  and  a rigid  United  Church  form 
of  worship  as  opposed  to  a more  in- 
formal, ever-changing  air  in  the  Men- 
nonite church.  Cultural  backgrounds  also 
differ  widely. 

We  asked  Lloyd  Mayor,  a farmer  and 


Peter  Buhler 


chairman  of  the  Mather  United  Church 
board,  how  the  average  person  was  re- 
acting to  the  idea  that  the  two  churches 
are  close  enough  to  share  a minister. 

“We’re  not  all  that  different.  The 
Mennonites  have  accepted  a lot  of  our 
English  culture,  and  I think  we  could 
do  with  some  of  their  religion,”  he  said. 

“It’ll  be  a good  thing  if  we  can  for- 
get our  differences  and  get  to  know 
each  other  better,”  he  continued. 

The  same  sentiments  were  expressed 
by  Garth  and  Norma  Barry,  Cartwright. 
Norma  said  they  curled,  shopped,  visited, 
and  did  business  with  the  Mennonites. 
Why  not  worship  together?  The  bar- 
riers between  the  faiths  were  already 
broken  down  during  the  past  few  sum- 
mers when  the  Church  of  God  in  Christ, 
Mennonite  (Holdeman),  moved  its  serv- 
ices into  the  United  Church  building 
while  the  United  Church  minister  took 
his  vacation. 

Eddie  Hildebrand  of  the  Mather 
Mennonite  congregation  felt  that  the 
great  privilege  in  this  arrangement,  be- 
sides being  grateful  to  the  United  Church 
for  carrying  part  of  the  financial  re- 
sponsibility, was  that  the  two  groups 
would  get  to  know  each  other.  “I’ve 
lived  here  all  my  life,  and  I don’t  really 
know  any  of  the  United  Church  people 
well.  Maybe  now  we’ll  share  more  of 
each  other’s  private  lives  through  the 
church.” 

George  Martens,  living  at  Cartwright 


and  attending  Mather  Mennonite,  en- 
couraged the  shared  service  from  the 
beginning.  “I  visit  with  the  people,  and 
I read  the  United  Church  observer,  and 
sometimes  I go  to  their  special  services. 
I don’t  think  we  are  so  different.  We 
probably  know  more  about  them  than 
they  know  about  us,  and  that  is  our 
fault.” 

Mr.  Martens,  who  came  to  Canada 
from  Russia  in  the  1920s,  said  now  that 
the  language  barriers  are  gone  the  peo- 
ple should  make  an  effort  to  get  to- 
gether. Mrs.  Martens  is  a member  of 
both  the  Mennonite  and  United  ladies’ 
aid. 

Dogma  seems  to  have  played  a small 
part  in  whether  the  Mennonite  minister 
should  share  his  services  and  whether 
the  United  Church  should  accept  them. 
Mr.  Buhler  is  flexible  in  his  views  and 
doesn’t  feel  that  the  United  Church  will 
demand  anything  of  him  which  his 
conscience  will  not  allow  him  to  per- 
form. 

Officially  his  time  is  designated  as 
65  percent  Mennonite  and  35  percent 
United  Church,  but  he  feels  that  he  and 
Mr.  Gellinger  will  be  able  to  work  out 
a schedule  which  will  be  compatible 
with  the  work  load.  Mr.  Gellinger  pre- 
sents the  same  sermon  in  the  four  Unit- 
ed Churches,  while  Mr.  Buhler  has  to 
adapt  his  sermons  to  fit  the  two  differ- 
ent service  formats. 

“I’m  not  happy  that  Peter  is  defined 
as  minister  to  both  churches  and  I am 
strictly  a United  Church  minister,”  said 
Mr.  Gellinger.  He  hopes  to  be  able  to 
make  guest  appearances  in  the  Menno- 
nite pulpit. 

The  mandate  to  minimize  the  differ- 
ences and  maximize  the  similarities  of 
two  Christian  churches  is  not  being  tak- 
en lightly  by  Peter  Buhler  and  Ken 
Gellinger.  Both  men  express  a keen  de- 
sire to  break  down  historical  church 
divisions  and  approach  people  on  a hu- 
man, person-to-person  level. 

And  that  financial  surplus  in  the  Cart- 
wright United  Church  books  which  start- 
ed the  whole  thing?  It  was  a mistake  in 
someone’s  adding  and  subtracting.  But 
once  the  idea  of  sharing  a minister  had 
been  put  to  the  people,  there  was  no 
turning  back.  It  was  a genuine  grass- 
roots movement  which  led  the  people 
to  believe  that  they  could  worship  to- 
gether, Mennonite  and  United,  and  God 
could  be  honored  by  the  sharing  process. 


626 


OCTOBER  30,  1973 


Goering  replaces  Dyck  in  WMA  position 


Gladys  Goering  of  Moundridge,  Kan- 
sas, has  begun  work  as  coordinator  of 
the  Women’s  Missionary  Association. 

She  replaces  Dorothea  Dyck,  execu- 
tive secretary  of  wma  since  1962,  who 
resigned  October  5.  Ms.  Dyck  will  con- 
tinue to  serve  as  a consultant  to  wma 
until  the  end  of  the  triuennium  next 
year. 

Ms.  Goering  will  complete  Ms.  Dyck’s 
term,  which  extends  until  the  next  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  August  1974.  She 
will  serve  part  time  at  the  conference 
offices  in  Newton,  Kansas,  maintaining 
contact  between  General  Conference 
commissions  and  boards  and  women’s 
groups  across  North  America.  The  wma 
office  will  also  serve  as  a unifying  agen- 
cy for  all  women’s  groups.  Her  task  will 
differ  somewhat  from  Ms.  Dyck’s  job 
description  because  of  the  current  reas- 

Seminaries  show 
enrollment  increase 

The  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical  Sem- 
inaries, Elkhart,  Indiana,  continue  to 
show  a steady  increase  in  numbers  of 
students. 

Present  enrollment  for  the  two  sem- 
inaries is  123  compared  to  103  a year 
ago,  98  two  years  ago,  and  87  three 
years  ago.  Goshen  Biblical  Seminary 
this  fall  reports  80  full-time  and  part- 
time  students;  Mennonite  Biblical  Sem- 
inary reports  43. 

Not  included  in  the  123  figure  are 
six  “ministers  in  vicinity”  who  are  tak- 
ing refresher  courses  on  an  audit  basis. 
In  addition,  twenty-three  persons  are 
taking  classes  on  a spouse-privilege  ba- 
sis, a cost-free  auditing  arrangement  for 
spouses  of  full-time  students.  Nor  do 
the  above  statistics  include  the  eight 
students  enrolled  in  the  St.  Joseph  Val- 
ley Clinical  Pastoral  Education  program, 
a cooperative  venture  of  the  Associated 
Seminaries,  the  Notre  Dame  School  of 
Theology,  and  Oaklawn  Psychiatric  Cen- 


Dorothea  Dyck  Gladys  Goering 


sessment  of  women's  work  in  the  church. 

Ms.  Goering  has  resigned  from  six 
years  as  wma  advisor  for  the  Western 
District  Conference  and  as  advisor  chair- 

RECORD 


Ministers 


Hedy  Sawadskv,  director  of  Christian 
education  at  the  Bethesda  Church,  Hen- 
derson, Neb.,  has  resigned,  effective  at 
the  end  of  1973,  to  take  a similar  posi- 
tion at  the  Zion  Church,  Souderton,  Pa. 

James  Schrag,  pastor  of  the  Tabor 
Church,  Newton,  Kans.,  was  ordained 
there  Oct.  14.  He  is  a 1973  graduate 
of  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary.  Elkhart, 
Ind. 

Herschel  Thompson  of  Lincoln  Chris- 
tian College,  Lincoln,  111.,  began  serving 
the  Boynton  Church,  Hopedale,  111.,  as 
interim  pastor  in  August. 

Paul  H.  Wikerd  was  chosen  Oct.  7 
as  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  Allen- 
town, Pa.  He  had  been  serving  as  the 
congregation’s  interim  pastor.  His  last 
previous  pastorate  was  at  the  Kempton 
(Pa.)  Fellowship. 


man.  She  has  been  involved  for  a num- 
ber of  years  in  women’s  work  at  the 
district  level  and  has  worked  with  the 
education  committee  of  the  Western  Dis- 
trict Conference.  She  is  a member  of 
the  First  Mennonite  Church  of  Chris- 
tian, Moundridge,  and  a graduate  of 
Bethel  College,  North  Newton,  Kansas. 

Ms.  Dyck  began  work  part  time  in 
the  wma  office  in  1954  as  treasurer  and 
office  secretary.  She  has  served  as  West- 
ern District  wma  advisor.  She  was  wma 
vice-president  from  1954  to  1961  and 
president  of  the  Congo  Inland  Mission 
(now  Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission) 
auxiliary  from  1957  to  1961.  She  became 
wma  executive  secretary  in  1962.  Ms. 
Dyck  is  now  working  at  the  Bethel  Home 
for  the  Aged,  Newton,  Kansas. 


rural  Goshen.  Marilyn  is  a 1973  gradu- 
ate of  Goshen  College,  Goshen,  Ind., 
with  a BA  in  elementary  education. 

Allen  and  Elaine  Schmidt,  Newton, 
Kans.,  have  begun  a one-year  term  of 
Christian  service  in  Terrace,  B.C.,  un- 
der Mennonite  Brethren  Missions/Serv- 
ices. Allen  will  be  working  as  a psychi- 
atric aide  and  Elaine  as  a secretary  in 
a hospital.  Both  are  graduates  of  Tabor 
College,  Hillsboro,  Kans.  Elaine  is  a 
member  of  the  Zion  Church,  Elbing, 
Kans.  Allen  is  a member  of  the  Park- 
view  Mennonite  Brethren  Church,  Hills- 
boro. 

Tanya  Schultz,  Winnipeg,  Man.,  has 
been  assigned  to  General  Conference 
voluntary  service  in  Markham,  111.  She 
will  serve  ten  months  to  one  year  at  the 
Community  Day  Nursery.  Tanya  is  a 
member  of  the  Burrows  Bethel  Church 
in  Winnipeg  and  is  a 1973  graduate  of 
River  East  Collegiate  High  School. 


ter. 

There  are  twice  as  many  women  stu- 
dents this  year  as  last  year.  Eight  stu- 
dents are  involved  in  the  on-campus 
Overseas  Mission  Training  Center  pro- 
gram. Two  students  are  in  the  Congre- 
gationally  Supervised  Pastoral  Educa- 
tion program:  one  in  London,  Ontario, 
and  the  other  in  Indianapolis,  Indiana. 
Two  more  students  are  living  and  work- 
ing in  Chicago  in  the  Urban  Ministries 
Program  for  Seminarians. 


Workers 


Marilyn  Fern  Miller,  Goshen,  Ind.,  is 
serving  one  or  two  years  as  a kinder- 
garten teacher,  teacher  aide,  and  secre- 
tary at  the  Hopi  Mission  School,  Oraibi, 
Ariz.  Her  volunteer  assignment  is  under 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  She  is  a member  of  the  East 
Goshen  Mennonite  Church  and  the 
daughter  of  Lynn  and  Lavine  Miller  of 


Miller 


Schultz 


THE  MENNONITE 


627 


REVIEW 

King  Jesus'  manual  of  arms  for  the  armless/ Liberation  ethics 


King  Jesus’  manual  of  arms  for  the  arm- 
less, by  Verncird  Eller  (Abingdon  Press, 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  1973,  205  pp, 

$4.75)  and  Liberation  ethics,  by  John 
M.  Swomley  ( Macmillan , New  York, 
1972,  238  pp.,  ppb.,  $1.95)  are  reviewed 
by  Harry  Huebner  of  the  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College  faculty.  Mr. 
Huebner  heads  CMBC’s  peace  seminar. 

Christians  have  the  responsibility  to 
discern  what  it  means  to  be  faithful  or 
to  take  up  the  cross  and  follow.  Within 
the  Anabaptist  tradition  we  have  spent 
much  time  discussing  this.  But  to  a large 
extent  we  have  left  untouched  a more 
basic  question:  “How  can  the  kingdom, 
which  Jesus  announces  to  be  at  hand, 
be  fully  realized?”  Is  it  a gift  from  God 
or  is  God’s  will  on  earth  done  by  man? 
If  it  is  a gift,  then  it  would  seem  to  be 
news  to  some  of  our  peace  activists, 
for  they  appear  to  act  as  if  it  is  all  up 
to  them,  and  if  it  is  not,  it  would  seem 
to  surprise  some  nonactivists,  since  they 
appear  to  think  that  God  doesn’t  need 
their  help. 

To  state  it  this  way  is  to  state  it  too 
sharply,  but  perhaps  it  is  helpful  to  get 
at  certain  issues  found  in  some  current 
peace  literature. 

Vernard  Eller,  in  his  book  King  Jesus’ 
manual  of  arms  for  the  ’armless,  goes 
from  Genesis  to  Revelation  with  the 
question:  “What  does  God  will  man  to 
do?”  His  thesis  is  that  our  modern  peace 
activists  are  not  fighting  God’s  “war” 
as  God  would  want  it. 

In  popular  style,  which  makes  for 
very  easy  reading,  but  to  this  reader  it’s 
as  much  of  a handicap  as  an  asset,  Mr. 
Eller  deals  with  some  key  events  in  the 
history  of  God’s  salvation  for  man.  The 
first  significant  event  which  we  find  re- 
curring in  history  has  to  do  with  how 
God  deals  with  war.  God  is  not  opposed 
to  war;  he  commands  wars.  He  himself 
is  seen  as  the  leader  in  battle.  In  fact 


the  early  Israelites  looked  upon  war  as 
holy. 

But  what  can  we  conclude  from  this? 
Mr.  Eller  says  that  this  does  not  mean 
that  man  builds  God’s  kingdom  by  help- 
ing God  fight  wars.  Rather  this  means 
that  if  there  is  any  fighting  to  be  done 
(and  when  this  is  the  case  it  is  up  to 
God)  then  God  will  do  it  for  man.  Man 
is  not  holy  enough  to  fight  God’s  wars. 

This  was  Israel’s  sin  when  they  chose 
a king.  They  did  so  to  protect  them- 
selves, to  fight  for  themselves.  Hence, 
they  no  longer  needed  God  to  fight  for 
them.  This  was  against  the  will  of  God 
then  and  it  is  equally  against  the  will 
of  God  to  fight  God’s  wars  today- — • 
even  if  it  is  the  war  of  peace.  “Holy 
war  is  the  only  starting  point  from  which 
to  get  to  holy  peace”  (p.  64). 

Holy  war  then  is  to  be  our  model 
for  building  God’s  kingdom,  i.e.,  we 
must  “wait  for  Yahweh”  as  God  want- 
ed the  Israelites  to  do.  But  what  does 
this  actually  mean  for  us?  The  life  and 
death  of  Jesus  tell  this  story,  says  Mr. 
Eller.  As  Jesus  was  the  suffering  ser- 
vant, taking  upon  himself  human  suffer- 
ing (and  ultimately  death),  or  as  the  Bible 
says  “the  sins  of  the  world,”  so  we  are 
to  absorb  suffering,  hostility,  anger,  sin, 
etc.  Such  pacifism  can  make  sense  only 
in  the  holy  war  tradition. 

Christians  can  fight  in  complete  de- 
fenselessness because  they  know  that 
God  is  fighting  for  them.  This  means 
that  even  if  death  is  a result,  all  is  not 
lost.  In  God’s  fight  resurrection  is  a 
reality. 

The  last  chapter  of  Vernard  Eller’s 
book  is  an  unfortunate  one,  but  crucial 
to  his  main  thesis.  He  entitles  it  “Notic- 
ing the  absence  of  what  wasn’t  there  (in 
the  Bible).”  It  is  unfortunate  for  two 
reasons:  first,  because  he  concludes  far 
too  much  from  the  absence  of  some- 
thing, and  second,  rather  than  placing 
the  peace  activist  in  the  sound  biblical 


context  which  he  has  provided  and  let- 
ting this  provide  the  appropriate  cor- 
rective, he  seems  to  be  saying  that  the 
peace  activist  does  not  belong  in  the 
Christian  tradition  at  all. 

Christians  are  not  called  to  bring 
about  social  change  (p.  194).  The  Bible 
does  not  give  us  a political  ethic  (p. 
197).  The  way  of  the  suffering  servant 
is  nonpolitical  in  character  (p.  199).  The 
Christian  ought  never  to  engage  in  civil 
disobedience  (p.  200).  While  one  can 
readily  agree  that  many  peace  activists 
are  overzealous,  non-Christian,  haughty, 
etc.,  and  that  it  is  imperative  for  the 
Christian  to  look  at  the  biblical  tradi- 
tion for  the  roots  of  his  ethic,  there  is 
nothing  there  that  would  make  it  in- 
consistent with  peace  activism,  as  Mr. 
Eller  suggests.  Instead  a perspective 
provides  a helpful  corrective  to  Christian 
activists. 

John  Swomley’s  Liberation  ethics  is 
an  almost  perfect  example  of  what  Ver- 
nard Eller  does  not  find  in  the  Bible. 
Mr.  Swomley,  who  is  a political  scien- 
tist, examines  how  violence  has  func- 
tioned in  revolutions  in  the  past  and 
from  that  concludes  that  an  ethic  of 
revolutionary  change  which  will  break 
the  bonds  of  oppression  and  set  man  , 
free  must  necessarily  be  nonviolent. 

His  primary  thesis  is  that  it  has  been 
violence  which  has  led  to  enslavement, 
whether  the  violence  of  an  oppressive 
structure  or  the  violence  associated  with 
the  attempted  overthrow  of  such  a struc-  ; 
ture.  Violent  revolution  cannot  bring  , 
about  liberation.  Instead  it  merely  sub-  , 
stitutes  one  form  of  oppression  (vio-  s 
lence)  for  another.  Mr.  Swomley  com-  , 
petently  demonstrates  this,  using  the  , 
Russian,  Cuban,  Chinese,  and  Algerian  ( 
revolutions  as  examples.  |j 

But  how  can  nonviolence  bring  about  ri 
liberation?  It  can  if  enough  concerned 
men  and  women  get  together  and  pool  j t 
their  creative  imagination  and  come  up  ( 
with  effective  strategies  which  will  even-  C| 
tually  result  in  revolutionary  change  lib-  js 
erating  oppressed  minorities,  B 

John  Swomley  himself  mentions  some  j 
strategies  for  liberation:  (1)  the  evils  of  V( 
the  oppressive  system  must  be  exposed,  „ 
(2)  the  people  involved  in  liberation  must 
organize,  (3)  evil  systems  must  be  dis- 
obeyed— -this  will  demonstrate  their  lack  |s 


628 


OCTOBER  30,  1973 


1) 


' of  power,  (4)  oppressive  functions  of  the 
| system  can  be  usurped  by  sit-ins,  dis- 
, ruptions,  etc.,  and  (5)  alternative  sys- 
terns  can  be  formed. 

Although  Mr.  Swomley’s  book  is  gen- 
erally well  written,  it  did  raise  some 
questions  in  the  mind  of  this  reader: 
(1)  Where  does  he  get  his  ethic?  (2) 
What  does  he  mean  by  liberation?  (3) 
It  seems  that  he  is  saying  that  in  the 
past  we  have  seen  that  violent  means  of 
change  have  never  been  liberating,  and 
nonviolent  means  of  change  will  be.  The 
problem  with  this  is  that  there  is  no 
guarantee  for  it.  In  fact  Christianity 
demonstrates  that  nonviolence  does  not 
| work  that  way.  This  would  also  be  Ver- 
nard  Eller’s  main  criticism  of  Mr.  Swom- 
i ley. 

Mr.  Eller  would  say  that  it  is  not  a 
question  of  whether  violence  or  non- 
violence works  at  all,  but  it’s  a question 
of  whether  or  not  you  are  doing  the  will 
of  God.  Mr.  Swomley  could  reply:  If 
liberation  is  ever  to  be  brought  about, 
history  teaches  us  that  it  cannot  be 
brought  about  by  the  violent  means  of 
men.  And  with  that  we  must  agree. 

Both  authors  seem  to  agree  that  lib- 
eration is  the  goal  of  mankind,  and  that 
it  cannot  be  obtained  by  the  violent 
means  of  men,  but  they  still  have  a 
basic  disagreement  regarding  how  the 
kingdom  is  brought  about. 

If  asked,  each  would  accuse  the  other 
of  being  too  one-sided.  Mr.  Eller  would 
say  of  John  Swomley  that  he  attributes 
the  establishment  of  God’s  kingdom  to 
man’s  good  works,  and  Mr.  Swomley 
would  accuse  Mr.  Eller  of  attributing  it 
only  to  God.  Stated  this  way,  both  are 
naturally  extremes. 

Mr.  Eller  comes  close  to  correctly  stat- 
ing the  relationship  between  God’s  work 
and  man’s  work  in  building  the  king- 
dom, but  then  creates  problems  for  him- 
self by  being  too  critical  of  the  political 
activist.  It  is  clear  that  the  key  to  this 
relationship  is  to  be  found  in  Jesus 
Christ,  and  more  specifically  in  the  rela- 
tionship between  his  death  and  resur- 
rection. 

The  cross  is  the  symbol  of  ultimate 
obedience  and  resurrection  the  symbol 
of  ultimate  victory.  But  one  does  not 
causally  follow  the  other.  Resurrection 
is  a gift  of  God  to  the  obedient.  Man 
is  called  to  be  faithful  (obedient)  and 
if  Mr.  Eller  says  that  this  does  not  in- 
volve political  activism,  I must  disagree 
with  him. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  Mr.  Swomley 
suggests  that  political  activism  can  estab- 
lish the  kingdom,  I must  also  disagree 


with  him.  The  kingdom,  like  resurrection, 
is  a gift  of  God.  Man  is  called  to  be 
faithful. 

Recent  releases 

Peace  and  nonviolence,  by  Edward  Gui- 
nan  (ed.),  ( Paulist  Press,  Paramus,  New 
Jersey,  1973,  174  pp  , $4.50;  distributed 
by  Griffin  House  in  Canada,  $4.95). 

This  book  contains  thirty-three  essays, 
letters,  poems,  etc.,  written  by  men  and 
women  from  various  backgrounds.  It  is 
a valuable  collection  of  materials,  pro- 
viding access  in  a single  volume  to  what 


would  otherwise  require  a small  library. 

HH 

The  pacifists:  Soldiers  without  guns,  by 
Mark  Liberman  ( Praeger , New  York, 
1972,  122  pp.,  $6.75;  distributed  in  Can- 
ada by  Burns  and  MacEachern  Ltd.). 

One  of  the  best  ways  of  encountering 
the  peace  position  is  to  hear  the  story 
of  pacifists.  This  book  contains  short 
biographies  of  William  Penn,  William 
Garrison,  Jane  Addams,  John  Holmes, 
A.  J.  Muste,  and  the  Berrigans.  Encount- 
ers such  as  these  make  pacifism  much 
more  than  a mere  position,  hh 


You, 
mean  I 

con 

get 

college 

credit. 

for 

my 

/ervice? 


; “Where  Scholarship  and  Service 
i Make  a Difference” 


Are  you 

an  MCC  Trainee  in  Holland 
in  VS  in  Atlanta,  Arvada,  Fort 
Wayne 

in  Peace  Corps,  VISTA,  or  other 
service  program? 

Or  contemplating  such  service? 

AT  BETHEL  service  is  recognized  as 
learning,  for  which  you  can  earn 
the  equivalent  of  one 
semester's  credit. 

BUT,  you  need  to  apply  while  on  a 
service  assignment  or  prior 
to  entering  it. 


For  more  infor- 
mation on  how  to 
make  this  service- 
learning program 
work  for  you, 
write  to  Dean 
Marion  Deckert, 
Bethel  College, 
North  Newton, 

KS  67117. 


Bethel  College 
North  Newton, 
Kansas  671 17 


r 


THE  MENNONITE 


629 


LETTERS 


Ordination  response 

Dear  Editor:  I want  to  express  my 
appreciation  to  The  Mennonite  for 
bringing  such  a timely  subject  as  the 
ordination  report  (October  2 issue)  to 
its  readers.  I would  have  liked  a re- 
sponse from  someone  other  than  a pas- 
tor or  seminary-trained  person. 

In  reacting  to  the  responses,  I will 
limit  my  remarks  to  Mr.  Janzen’s  state- 
ment: “The  church  would  certainly  make 
a big  mistake  by  calling  a crusader  for 
women’s  liberation  to  the  ministry.  Her 
whole  stance  would  be  out  of  character 
with  the  ministry  as  such.” 

In  thinking  of  the  individual  persons 
I have  met  in  the  women’s  movement 
over  the  past  months,  I ask  myself — 
what  about  this  woman’s  stance  makes 
her  unfit  for  the  ministry?  Could  it  be 
her  compassion  for  her  fellow  human 
beings,  her  sensitivity  to  the  needs  and 
frustrations  of  others,  or  her  responsive- 
ness to  the  injustices  she  sees  in  our  so- 
ciety and  culture  which  suppress,  in- 
hibit, and  devalue  her  sisters? 

Indeed,  she  may  be  out  of  character. 
Bernita  Boyts,  9138  Forley,  Overland 
Park,  Kans.  66212  Oct.  2 

Editor’s  note.  Several  people  besides 
pastors  and  seminary  graduates  were  in- 
vited to  give  their  views  on  the  ordina- 
tion report  but  they  did  not  respond. 

Enhance  commissionings 

The  following  response  to  the  ordina- 
tion progress  report  was  solicited  by 
The  Mennonite  but  inadvertently  missed 
when  the  report  and  responses  to  it 
were  published  in  the  October  2 issue. 
We  are  pleased  to  add  it  to  the  dialog  at 
this  time.  Editor 

The  first  section  of  the  progress  re- 
port is  a clear  and  succinct  summary  of 
our  understanding  of  the  believers’ 
church  concept  and  of  the  nature  of 
ministry  and  priesthood  within  such  a 
church.  Rejection  of  the  categories  of 
laity  and  clergy,  and  hence  of  the  need 
for  a special  class  of  person  to  perform 
sacramental  actions,  is  explicitly  affirmed. 
Congregations  wishing  to  use  this  docu- 
ment as  a guideline  for  ordering  their 
group  life  would  do  well  to  grasp  this 
section  clearly  and  proceed  to  draw 


practical  implications  for  their  situation 
from  it. 

The  other  two  sections  are  much  less 
clear  in  their  understanding  of  church 
and  ministry.  They  assume  it  to  be  nor- 
mal for  a congregation  to  set  apart  “a 
person  . . . for  the  designated  task  of 
church  leadership.”  The  ordination,  by 
which  the  person  is  so  set  apart,  does 
not  “in  itself  impart  or  transfer  a di- 
vine gift  or  authority,”  nor  does  it 
“automatically”  confer  a lifelong  status. 
Nevertheless,  the  key  prerequisite  for 
becoming  an  acceptable  church  leader 
has  been  met  with  (nonrepeatable?)  or- 
dination. Henceforth  he  needs  merely  to 
be  commissioned  by  successive  congre- 
gations wishing  to  use  his  leadership. 
This  reflects  a church  concept  quite  dif- 
ferent from  that  suggested  by  Section  I. 
It  consists  of  congregations  each  having 
a “pastor”  (III.D)  who  has  once  been 
set  apart  (II)  essentially  for  life  (III.B) 
and  whose  most  vital/crucial  places  of 
exercising  church  leadership  are  at  the 
pulpit  and  the  communion  table  (III.E). 

Since  commissioning  is  the  act  by 


which  a congregation  formally  asks/ 
authorizes  a person  to  minister  in  spe- 
cific ways  at  a given  place  and  for  a 
given  period  of  time,  that  would  ap- 
pear in  practice  to  be  the  more  im- 
portant ceremony.  And  that  also  would 
appear  to  be  the  more  appropriate  place 
for  examination  of  the  candidate  so  that 
a closer  correlation  between  ability  and 
need,  gift  and  function  can  be  attained 
rather  than  requiring  the  candidate  to 
have  all  the  “skills,”  “abilities,”  “quali- 
ties,” etc.  (III.D)  traditionally,  but  un- 
scripturally,  expected  of  an  ordained 
pastor.  Adolf  Enns,  1705  Heatherington 
Rd.,  Ottawa,  Out.  K1V  8T8 


About  Letters:  To  encourage  readers 
to  express  themselves  on  a variety  of 
issues,  we  try  to  use  all  letters  submitted 
for  publication.  Brevity  is  encouraged. 
Longer  letters  will  be  shortened.  Un- 
signed correspondence  will  not  be  pub- 
lished, although  we  may  withhold  names 
for  valid  reasons  in  special  situations. 
Editor. 


TWELVE 

BECOMING 


cBiograptUos  ofcMennonito  disciples from 
ftto  SixfeentR  to  tRe  ^wontietR  Qentury 


Faith  and  Life  Press,  in  announcing  the  publication  of  the 
new  book,  Twelve  Becoming,  makes  the  possibility  of  ap- 
preciating history  at  every  age  level  a reality.  Author 
Cornelius  J.  Dyck  has  written  the  book  consisting  of  twelve 
biographies  to  show  history  as  a process — not  just  a static 
record  of  events.  Twelve  personalities  from  representative 
Mennonite  bodies  reflect  Christian  discipleship  from  the  six- 
teenth through  the  present  century.  The  illustrations  by 
Richard  Loehle  add  to  the  mood  of  reality  in  the  book;  each 
biography  contains  a full  page  illustration.  This  is  a book 
about  disciples  rather  than  heroes.  Reading  these  stories 
should  provide  encouragement  to  today’s  disciples  in  the 
process  of  “becoming."  A teacher's  manual  for  use  with 
children’s  classes  is  in  preparation.  Churches  and  families 
will  want  to  use  this  book  in  many  ways  and  on  many 
occasions.  126  pp.  $4.50 


Order  from:  FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORES 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  671 14 
Berne,  Indiana  .4671 1 


FELLOWSHIP  BOOKCENTER 
159  Henderson  Highway 
Winnipeg,  Manitoba  R2L  1 L4 


630 


OCTOBER  30,  1973 


Contents 


MEDITATION 


j Love  is  the  answer 

\ln  quietness  and  in  confidence  shall  be  our  strength. 

The  cry  today  is,  “We  want  our  rights!  We  want  what’s  coming  to  us!”  If  we  got 
what  we  have  coming  to  us,  if  God  should  mete  out  to  us  that  which  we  deserve, 
we  would  all  be  in  hell  begging  for  mercy  and  for  a drop  of  water. 

“Fear  God  and  keep  his  commandments:  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man” 

. (Eccles.  12:13).  Jesus  said  that  the  first  and  greatest  commandment  is,  “Thou  shalt 
i love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy 

I might.” 

When  we  accept  Christ  we  love  God  and  everyone.  There  will  be  no  secret 
discipleship.  It  will  be  day  after  day  with  Christ,  and  he  will  lead  us  in  paths  of 

II  righteousness,  and  happiness  will  bubble  over  in  us  and  we  won’t  keep  it  to  our- 
selves. And  when  sorrows  come,  and  they  do  in  every  man’s  life,  we  will  be  able 

| to  take  it. 

Give  yourself  to  Christ,  fully  accept  him,  be  a born-again  Christian,  and  follow 
the  leading.  Don’t  be  a lukewarm  Christian  because  you  can’t  be  on  both  sides  of 
the  fence.  Real  Christianity’s  promises  are  absolutely  tremendous.  In  Acts  1:8 
there  is  such  a promise.  It  is  written  for  you  and  me.  “You  shall  receive  power 
when  the  Holy  Spirit  has  come  upon  you.”  Jesus  was  speaking  to  discouraged, 
frustrated  people  in  an  upper  room  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  They  reached  for  the 
power  and  it  came  down.  Like  the  roar  of  a mighty  wind  and  transformed  them. 
They  had  a tremendous  influence  of  power  through  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  were 
[surged  with  energy.  They  went  out  from  that  place  to  the  ends  of  the  world  preach- 
ing, teaching,  and  exemplifying  Jesus  Christ  in  their  lives  and  they  started  the 
greatest  spiritual  revolution  in  history.  They  became  people  of  power.  So  can  we. 

Read  1 Corinthians  13.  Love  is  the  answer.  Perhaps  we  could  pray  something  like 
this:  “Oh  Spirit  of  God,  work  out  that  same  perfect  love  in  me  that  I see  in  Jesus.” 
Then  we  can  love  all  people — poor,  rich,  middle  class,  no  matter  who — even  if  we 
don’t  go  along  with  their  deeds  or  ways  of  thinking. 

“God  so  loved — he  gave  Jesus”  (Jn.  3:16). 

“Jesus  so  loved — he  died  for  all  men”  (1  Cor.  15:3). 

“The  Holy  Spirit  so  loved — he  is  calling  all  who  are  not  saved”  (Jn.  6:44;  16:7-11). 

God  proved  his  love  by  giving  Jesus.  Jesus  proved  his  love  by  coming  into  the 
world.  The  Holy  Spirit  daily  proves  his  love  for  us  by  troubling  our  hearts  about 
receiving  Jesus  as  our  Savior. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  be  saved.  Receive  Jesus  by  faith  and  God  will  save  you. 
Receive  Jesus  now,  believe  in  your  heart  that  he  died  for  you.  Ask  him  to  save  you 
now,  and  remember  it  matters  not  what  we  may  do  or  give.  If  it  is  not  done  or  given 
in  love  it  is  to  no  avail.  We  may  give  of  time,  energy,  talents,  money — we  might 
even  be  burned  at  the  stake.  But  unless  these  are  done  with  love,  they  will  accom- 
plish nothing  (1  Cor.  13). 

Does  your  heart  seem  withered?  Take  Jesus!  He’ll  water  it  and  make  it  bloom 
again.  Read  your  Bible  daily. 

God  made  such  a beautiful  country.  He  put  man  on  it  to  care  for  the  lovely  state- 
ly trees  and  long  green  grass  and  good  clean  air  everywhere,  blue-green  water,  the 
brightness  of  the  sky,  perfection  all  around,  and  he  can  do  it  to  our  hearts,  clean 
them  and  purify  them  and  put  love  into  them,  so  we  can  love  everyone  through  his 
great  love  for  us. 

Let’s  try  to  be  as  perfect  as  everything  God  made  and  try  to  keep  our  world  that 
way  no  matter  what  it  takes. 

Let’s  get  back  to  our  early  forefathers’  way  of  living.  They  helped  each  other. 
With  the  help  of  God  through  Christ  we  can  get  that  same  love  for  our  fellowmen. 

Charley  W . Schmidt 


Because  they  wanted  enough  to  eat  617 


Who  is  bringing  communism?  618 

Dunamis  620 

News  622 

Arms  for  the  armless/Liberation 

ethics  628 

Letters  630 

Love  is  the  answer  631 

A painful  dilemma  632 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Anne  Neufeld  Rupp's  address  is  5732 
Floyd,  Shawnee  Mission,  Kans.  66202. 

David  Augsburger,  religious  broadcast- 
er from  Harrisonburg,  Va.,  presented  his 
sermon  on  the  causes  of  communism  on 
the  Abundant  Life  radio  program,  which 
is  sponsored  by  Faith  and  Life  Communi- 
cations, the  mass  media  arm  of  the  Con- 
ference of  Mennonites  in  Manitoba. 

Marian  Franz  works  half  time  as  a 
staff  member  of  Dunamis,  2025  Massa- 
chuetts  Ave.,  N.W.,  Washington,  D.C. 
20036. 

Susan  Hiebert,  a free-lance  writer  from 
Crystal  City,  Man.,  writes  for  both  radio 
and  the  print  medium.  Her  byline  ap- 
pears frequently  in  the  Winnipeg  Free 
Press  and  other  Canadian  publications. 

Charley  W.  Schmidt  lives  in  Hesston, 
Kans.  67062  (500  S.  Streeter). 

CREDITS 

Cover  and  618,  RNS;  622-23,  Lois  Jan- 
zen. 


TflP 

Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
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Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager*:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1 C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.  48 1 06. 


fHE  MENNONITE  631 


A painful  dilemma 

Abortion  poses  a painful  dilemma  for  Menno- 
nites,  as  it  does  for  many  other  persons.  The 
termination  of  the  life  of  a fetus  seems  so  incon- 
gruous with  a nonresistant  world  view,  but  the 
more  one  looks  at  the  issue,  the  more  complex 
it  becomes  and  the  less  apparent  a simple  answer 
becomes. 

The  issue  has  so  many  nooks  and  crannies 
that  people  are  tempted  to  throw  up  their  hands 
in  dismay  and  to  vow  that  they’re  not  going  to 
get  involved  in  its  intricacies  any  further.  Such  an 
attitude,  unfortunately,  often  leads  to  a stubborn 
but  uninformed  position  on  either  the  pro  or  anti 
side  of  the  question. 

Although  the  recent  seminar  on  life  and  hu- 
man values  sponsored  by  the  Mennonite  Medical 
Association  provided  few  new  insights  (see  the 
news  report  elsewhere  in  this  issue),  it  did  make 
a good  effort  to  look  at  the  breadth  of  the  prob- 
lem. The  papers  on  the  theological,  personal, 
social,  and  institutional  dimensions  of  the  issue, 
and  also  the  modest  amount  of  discussion  which 
was  possible  in  the  conference’s  crowded  format, 
recognized  that  a naive  adherence  to  an  abso- 
lutist position  is  not  enable.  The  point  was  made 
that  even  the  most  determined  opponents  of  abor- 
tions among  medical  doctors  acknowledge  the 
legitimacy  of  abortions  under  certain  circumstanc- 
es, albeit  extraordinary  ones. 

The  conference  did  not  develop  a position  pa- 
per, nor  did  it  seek  to  achieve  consensus.  It  did, 
however,  provide  some  helpful  food  for  thought. 
A few  morsels  follow: 

— The  prolongation  of  physical  life  is  not  the 
highest  good  which  the  medical  profession  should 
seek  to  achieve.  It  should  place  greater  emphasis 
on  helping  people  to  develop  their  full  potential 
for  personhood. 

— The  church  was  urged  not  to  forget  the  fu- 
ture as  it  contemplates  this  issue.  A doctor  re- 
minded the  conference  that  medical  and  other 
technology  is  making  continuous  and  rapid  ad- 
vances. If  the  church  codifies  a rigid  position  on 
the  basis  of  its  present  understanding,  it  will 
likely  be  left  totally  out  of  the  picture  very  soon. 

— Christian  congregations  were  encouraged  to 
do  much  more  to  surround  their  members,  as 


well  as  their  neighbors,  with  care  and  concern 
when  they  face  the  decision  of  how  to  respond 
to  unwanted  pregnancies.  These  women  are  often 
looking  for  someone  with  whom  they  can  dis- 
cuss the  options  that  are  open  to  them.  Christian 
doctors  and  counselors  who  take  a hardline  posi- 
tion against  abortion  are  not  likely  to  be  ap- 
proached by  women  who  need  help  in  making  a 
decision.  Some  of  the  participants  at  the  confer- 
ence further  urged  church  people  not  to  turn  off 
their  love  and  compassion  for  a woman  when  she 
decides  to  have  a pregnancy  terminated. 

— Just  as  there  was  not  much  support  for  an 
absolutist  anti-abortion  stance,  there  seemed  to 
be  little  or  no  support  for  an  individualistic  “abor- 
tion on  demand”  approach.  The  discussion  groups 
almost  all  echoed  the  sentiment  that  group  in- 
volvement and  support  was  essential  if  an  abor- 
tion was  to  be  considered  at  all. 

— One  of  the  speakers  encouraged  people  to 
watch  their  language  when  they  discuss  abortion. 
It  is  not  helpful,  he  said,  to  use  “loaded  words 
such  as  murder  and  homicide”  to  describe  the 
event.  “There  are  sound  reasons  for  opposing 
abortion,”  he  said,  “but  I am  personally  not 
helped  in  identifying  them  by  calling  abortion 
murder.” 

— Abortions  were  not  recognized  as  a good 
solution  under  any  circumstance.  “They  can,  at 
best,  be  the  least  bad  of  a number  of  bad  op- 
tions,” said  one  speaker. 

— A better  program  of  sex  education  in  the 
family  and  in  the  church  was  suggested  as  an 
important  Christian  responsibility. 

General  Conference  churches  will  be  studying 
the  abortion  issue  further  during  the  coming  year. 
It  is  not  likely  that  the  fuzzy  line  between  “ac- 
ceptable” and  “unacceptable”  abortions  will  be- 
come much  more  clearly  defined  through  this 
process.  As  one  doctor  at  the  seminar  stated, 
“Each  case  is  unique.”  Each  situation  needs  to 
be  examined  separately.  The  answers  may  not 
all  come  out  the  same.  Our  prayer  is  that  the 
process  of  education  on  this  issue  will  broaden 
the  boundaries  of  our  compassion  for  people 
who  personally  become  caught  up  in  the  need  to 
make  a decision  on  this  difficult  question,  lk 


Thp 

Mennonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


God  was  the  first  of  the  big  spenders! 

His  creative  love  was  spent 
to  spin  the  world  in  space. 

His  creative  love  was  spent 
to  put  man  in  charge. 

His  only  son  was  sent 

to  redeem  man  from  greedy  thoughts  of  ownership 
to  thoughts  of  reconcilement. 


8:40  NOVEMBER  6,  1973 


Today,  now,  think  on  these  things. 

What  kind  of  spender  are  you? 
How  do  you  respond  with  your  ability? 
Your  ability  to  love? 

Your  ability  to  care? 

Your  ability  to  share? 

All  that  God  seeks  is 
Your  all,  no  more. 

He  wants  you 

to  be  a big  spender. 


GIVING 
from  the  heart, 
with  the  head 


A statement  prepared  by  ten  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  agencies,  including  the  General  Conference  Com-  I 
mission  on  Overseas  Mission  and  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee 


At  a missionary  prayer  meeting  over- 
seas, one  person  prayed  that  people  at 
home  might  “give  with  wisdom.”  In  dis- 
cussion before  the  prayer  meeting  the 
tragedy  of  a certain  work  had  been 
discussed.  The  leader  of  the  project  was 
out  of  fellowship  with  his  church.  His 
claims  of  what  he  was  doing  went  far 
beyond  the  actual  performance.  When 
approached  by  a charitable  organization 
to  which  he  had  appealed  for  help,  he 
admitted  that  he  kept  no  records  of 
money  coming  in  or  going  out.  Yet,  a 
well-known  North  American  organiza- 
tion is  making  a vigorous  appeal  for 
funds  to  underwrite  the  activities  of  this 
man. 


An  agency  that  calls  itself  “tax-ex- 
empt nonprofit  missionary  organization 
. . . to  the  Communist  world”  boasted 
in  its  publicity  that  it  had  delivered  by 
special  airplane  “in  one  day  160,000 
copies  of  gospels  and  tracts  to  a Com- 
munist country.”  To  a Mennonite  lead- 
er, a representative  of  that  organization 
confided  that  the  gospels  and  tracts  had 
not  actually  been  delivered  inside  the 
country,  but  had  been  sealed  in  plastic 
envelopes  and  dumped  into  the  ocean, 
hoping  that  they  would  float  ashore. 
Not  aware  of  this  agency’s  deceptive 
publicity  and  exaggerated  claims,  one 
Mennonite  reported,  that  when  a repre- 
sentative came  into  his  church,  the  hearts 


and  purses  of  the  listeners  were  open.  ,j 

This  is  not  a new  problem 

Unworthy  causes  have  plagued  phil-  J' 
anthropy  and  missions  for  many  years. 
This  is  particularly  true  in  prosperous  ^ 
times,  especially  in  relation  to  the  evan- 
gelical segment  of  Christianity.  Conse-| 
quently  such  missions  generally  make  £| 
their  pitch  to  evangelical  people.  These  j 
leaders  seek  to  be  aired  on  radio  sta- 
tions which  are  in  the  center  of  con-  ^ 
servative  communities.  One  radio  sta- 
tion manager  stated  that  he  could  fill  all 
of  his  broadcast  time  by  airing  only  re-  to 
ligious  radio  programs  - — - each  with  its  i | 
own  fund-raising  appeal,  of  course.  ^ 


li 


634 


NOVEMBER  6,  1973 


The  late  A.  W.  Tozer,  well-known 
pastor  in  his  own  denomination  and  ed- 
1 itor  of  the  magazine  published  by  the 
[ Christian  and  Missionary  Alliance 
Church,  warned  that  Christians  should 
I give  “generously,  but  wisely”!  In  a 
strong  presentation  he  stated,  “The  ten- 
derhearted saints  think  with  their  feel- 
ings and  pour  out  consecrated  wealth 
indiscriminately  on  projects  wholly  un- 
| worthy  of  their  support.”  Studies  have 
shown  that  giving  is  80  percent  emotion, 
i and  only  20  percent  the  result  of  delib- 
erate decision. 

The  nae  warns  that  “.  . . in  this  day 
of  opportunity,  the  National  Association 
of  Evangelicals  calls  the  attention  of 
evangelical  people  everywhere  to  the  dis- 
turbing fact  that  there  are  individuals 
and  organizations  whose  message,  meth- 
ods, and  lack  of  financial  accountability 
make  them  highly  suspect  and  in  some 
cases  unworthy  of  support.” 

Clyde  W.  Taylor,  the  executive  sec- 
retary of  the  Evangelical  Foreign  Mis- 
sions Association,  has  written  an  ar- 
ticle entitled,  “Caution:  Evangelical 

swindlers  at  work.”  It  is  a strong  article 
pleading  with  evangelical  Christians  not 
to  be  taken  in  by  unworthy  causes. 

Which  missions  are  reliable? 

This  question  is  raised  many  times. 
Many  appeals  reach  our  people  through 
the  mails,  over  the  radio,  by  direct  solici- 
tation, and  other  means.  It  is  only  right 
that  these  causes  be  investigated. 

This  article  is  intended  to  raise  some 
relevant  questions  and  provide  guide- 
lines for  giving  from  the  heart  but  also 
with  the  head.  We  do  not  call  into  ques- 
tion the  integrity  of  the  many  reputable 
and  worthy  mission  and  service  organi- 
zations. These  organizations  are  also 
concerned  about  the  problem  of  un- 
scrupulous individuals  and  groups.  Ask- 
ing questions  such  as  the  following  may 
help  clarify  the  picture: 

Who  directs  the  work?  It  is  important 
to  find  out  as  much  as  possible  about 
those  who  direct  the  work.  Some  North 
American  promoters  of  mission  activity 


have  amassed  large  personal  fortunes. 
Do  not  be  carried  away  by  flowery 
words,  pet  religious  phrases,  and  strong 
emotional  appeals  that  give  the  impres- 
sion of  representing  a righteous  cause. 
“Ye  shall  know  them  by  their  fruits.” 
If  in  doubt,  investigate  the  life  and  rep- 
utation of  the  key  person  or  persons. 

Another  basic  question,  though  dif- 
ficult to  determine,  is  whether  the  work 
is  guided  by  a responsible  board.  It  is 
possible  to  establish  a legal  board  with- 
out the  members  actually  participating 
in  the  work.  This  is  done  to  create  a 
good  impression.  Try  to  determine 
whether  or  not  the  board  really  under- 
stands the  work  and  is  actually  in- 
volved in  directing  it. 

Is  an  accurate  financial  statement 
available?  Some  organizations  will  not 
release  financial  figures. 

One  person  wrote  to  the  headquarters 
of  an  independent  mission  organization 
and  asked  for  a financial  statement.  It 
replied  that  it  did  not  release  figures 
since  it  raised  questions  in  people’s 
minds. 

A contributor  has  the  right  to  know 
how  his  money  is  being  spent. 

How  much  money  goes  for  overhead 
and  fund  raising?  Administration  and 
office  expenses  are  normal  and  necessary 
in  any  enterprise.  These  are  often  called 
overhead  expenses. 

These  costs  will  depend  on  the  nature 
of  the  work,  geographical  spread  of  the 
constituency,  scope  of  outreach,  and 
services  rendered.  There  are  different 
ways  to  make  a financial  report,  and  it 
is  not  always  easy  to  fully  understand 
the  operations  of  a totally  independent 
organization.  Sometimes  financial  state- 
ments are  provided,  but  they  are  so  com- 
plex or  obscure  that  it  is  difficult  to 
determine  what  share  is  being  spent  for 
overhead. 

In  evaluating  overhead  and  fund-rais- 
ing expenses  one  must  be  careful  to  use 
the  same  guidelines  for  all  organizations. 
Two  organizations  might  claim  rather 
widely  divergent  figures  as  overhead  and 
yet  spend  the  same  amount. 


Some  groups  are  known  to  spend  more 
than  50  percent  for  administrative  over- 
head. This  is  obviously  too  much.  A per- 
son would  not  want  to  give  knowingly 
to  an  organization  which  has  exorbitant 
overhead  costs  and  spends  only  a small 
share  of  its  money  in  actual  program 
outreach.  A suggested  reasonable  over- 
head might  be  10  to  20  percent. 

Does  the  money  create  overdependen- 
cy? Stewardship  privileges  and  responsi- 
bilities rest  upon  Christians  all  over  the 
world.  The  aim  in  the  use  of  money,  as 
well  as  other  resources,  is  scriptural  part- 
nership with  sister  churches  in  other  na- 
tions. 

People  who  are  being  helped  want 
and  should  retain  their  self-respect.  We 
should  not  do  for  them  what  they  can 
do  for  themselves.  Responsible  growing 
churches  in  other  nations  will  want  to 
share  in  stewardship.  In  many  cases  they 
will  be  given  oversight  and  administra- 
tion of  program. 

Yet,  there  is  one  North  American 
agency  which  advertises  that  it  pays  all 
costs  in  a particular  work  in  a foreign 
country. 

“We  are  laborers  together  with  God” 
(1  Cor.  3:9).  The  “household  of  God” 
is  one  (Gal.  6:10).  It  is  not  “we”  and 
“they”  working  together,  but  “us.”  In 
this  glorious  partnership  all  members 
seek  to  be  faithful. 

Are  the  statistics  reliable?  One  or- 
ganization says  that  it  can  reach  a cer- 
tain number  of  people  for  Christ  for 
every  dollar  contributed.  Another  mis- 
sion claims  more  converts  than  there 
are  people  in  that  country.  One  group 
claims  seven  thousand  converts,  but  none 
could  be  found  afterwards.  Still  another 
group  told  a Mennonite  leader  that  it 
felt  justified  in  deliberately  exaggerat- 
ing results  in  order  to  stimulate  the  faith 
of  the  contributors. 

Do  the  claims  made  seem  reasonable? 
Are  they  in  line  with  what  others  are 
doing?  Beware  of  unusual  claims — many 
exaggerate  stories  in  order  to  attract 
contributions. 


THE  MENNONITE 


635 


Is  the  need  clearly  defined?  It  is  easy 
to  refer  to  the  “unreached  millions”  or 
the  “multitudes  without  Christ.”  The 
need  and  call  for  “literature”  has  be- 
come a cliche.  One  organization  pro- 
duced huge  numbers  of  small  tracts  and 
distributed  these  widely,  but  rather  in- 
discriminately and  without  adequate  fol- 
low-up. 

The  strategic  needs  vary  in  different 
countries  and  within  a country  from  time 
to  time.  Resources  need  to  be  geared  to 
these  needs.  And  this  presents  another 
temptation  that  not  all  organizations  are 
able  to  resist.  For  example,  a typhoon 
hit  Hong  Kong,  causing  homes,  includ- 
ing a twelve-story  apartment  building,  to 
slip  off  the  hillside  with  the  rain  and 
mud.  For  several  days  this  disaster  made 
headlines  in  the  international  press.  One 
agency  used  this  occasion  for  a dramatic 
appeal  for  funds  through  its  newsletter. 
However,  the  contributions  received  were 
used  for  the  agency’s  institutions  and  not 
only  for  the  typhoon  victims. 

Are  the  objectives  consistent  with  New 
Testament  principles?  Conservative  right- 
wing  ministers  and  religious  organiza- 
tions appeal  by  radio,  TV,  and  the  print- 
ed word  to  Mennonites  because  of  our 
conservative  social  habits.  In  reality, 
however,  there  is  a serious  confusion 
of  which  many  contributors  are  not 
aware.  While  Mennonites  seek  to  main- 
tain a faithful  believers’  church  and  are 
committed  to  the  Anabaptist  concept  of 
discipleship  in  all  areas  of  life,  the  con- 
servative radio  preachers  have  a very 
different  theology  and  strategy.  Many  of 
these  people  and  organizations  tend  to 
be  superpatriotic.  In  their  ultimate  goals 
and  strategies  they  often  stand  in  sharp 
contrast  to  the  principles  of  the  New 
Testament. 

Under  the  guise  of  being  a Bible-be- 
lieving  evangelist,  one  radio  preacher  sup- 
ports an  increased  military  budget  to 
fight  Communism.  Through  his  paper 
and  radio  ministry,  he  is  able  to  raise 


$2.5  million  a year  “to  preach  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ  and  the  gospel  of  free  en- 
terprise.” His  messages  consist  of  strong 
anti-Communism  with  dabs  of  religious 
fundamentalism. 

Principles  used  by  Mennonite 
agencies 

The  following  list  of  principles  in  the 
operation  of  missions  and  service  agen- 
cies is  not  intended  to  be  exhaustive,  but 
indicates  the  direction  we  seek  to  go: 

Plant  churches.  They  seek  to  use  all 
resources  in  such  a way  that  a syste- 
matic program  of  church  planting  is 
developed.  This  includes  working  to- 
gether with  the  national  churches  in 
joint  mission  outreach  to  other  cultural 
groups  or  geographic  areas. 

Train  workers.  One  of  the  urgent  pri- 
orities of  the  church  is  to  train  national 
workers.  The  Lord  is  “no  respecter  of 
persons.”  He  has  distributed  gifts  to  his 
people  in  every  place.  Mennonite  and 
Brethren  in  Christ  missions  and  mcc 
seek  to  improve  national  leadership  train- 
ing, giving  particular  attention  to  lay 
leaders. 

Use  the  mass  media.  The  song  has  it: 
“Go  tell  it  on  the  mountains,  . . .”  The 
message  is  to  be  told  everywhere.  Lit- 
erature and  radio  are  used.  In  some 
cases,  broadcasts  that  we  sponsor  are  the 
only  gospel  programs  in  that  particular 
language  area.  To  reach  people  with  the 
gospel  via  radio  it  must  be  done  in  the 
context  of  programs  that  are  geared  to 
follow-up  and  individual  contact.  (An  ex- 
ception are  the  several  Mennonite  radio 
programs  beamed  to  Russia.  No  personal 
follow-up  is  possible  there.) 

Christian  literature  is  a precious  re- 
source and  needs  to  be  used  wisely.  Fre- 
quently literature  is  distributed  through 
hospitals,  schools,  local  churches,  and  the 
mail.  Wherever  possible,  the  use  of  lit- 
erature is  related  to  the  larger  program 


and  witness  so  that  adequate  follow-up  : t 
can  be  assured. 

( 

Build  brotherhood.  The  church  is 
mission.  Every  Christian,  wherever  he  is, 
is  involved.  The  highest  form  of  service  ( 
is  that  which  is  motivated  by  the  in-  \ 
dwelling  Christ  and  love  for  others,  bring-  | 
ing  forth  a consistent  witness  in  word  , 
and  deed  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  a 
Spirit.  Consequently,  every  missionary  t 
and  mcc  worker  is  a part  of  the  broth-  j 
erhood  at  home  and  the  brotherhood  ; 
abroad.  It  is  the  brotherhood  that  as-  , 
sumes  responsibility  for  the  work,  shar-  i 
ing  in  partnership  according  to  need  and  ( 
available  resources  under  the  guidance  i . 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  ( 

Aim  at  a full-orbed  ministry.  Jesus  s 
preached,  taught,  healed,  and  fed  the  | 
hungry.  He  was  concerned  about  the  ( 
whole  man.  Therefore,  we  make  no  apol-  | 
ogy  for  engaging  in  medical,  educa-  ( 
tional,  and  agricultural  work  along  with 
preaching  and  direct  evangelism.  Jesus  ( 
said  that  he  had  come  that  men  ’’might  , 
have  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  a 
more  abundantly”  (Jn.  10:10).  ( 

Conclusion  f 

We  thank  God  for  the  many  mission 
and  service  boards  that  operate  with  j 
integrity  and  in  obedience  to  the  Great 
Commission.  These  we  do  not  call  into  ^ 
question.  f 

We  do,  however,  warn  against  those 
organizations  and  individuals  who  do  not 
operate  on  the  high  ethical  standards  set  c| 
by  our  Lord  and  clearly  taught  by  Scrip-  ^ 
ture.  Those  whose  message,  method,  and 
lack  of  financial  accountability  make  l 
them  suspect  are  not  worthy  of  support. 

We  believe  giving  to  the  work  of  the  o 
church  should  be  done  generously,  from 
a warm  and  grateful  heart.  But  it  should  j 
also  be  done  with  a cool  and  discerning  ^ 
head.  When  in  doubt  about  the  agency  ^ 
or  cause,  don’t  give.  , 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  g 

It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  Genera!  Conference  Mennonite  L 

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636 


NOVEMBER  6,  1973 


NEWS 


War  stops  MCC  work  in  the  Middle  East 


Because  of  war  in  the  Middle  East, 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  work  in 
two  refugee  camps  in  Jordan  is  sus- 
pended for  the  present  time.  Programs 
continue  in  Jerusalem  and  Beit  Jala. 
Teachers  in  Cairo  are  safe  and  well. 

“I  would  guess  the  projects  have  been 
closed  as  a precautionary  move  since 
Jordan  entered  the  war,”  said  Robert 
W.  Miller,  Asia  and  Middle  East  di- 
rector. “The  people  in  Jordan  are  prob- 
ably concerned  about  possible  retalia- 
tion from  Israel.” 

Projects  in  Marka  and  Talbiyeh  (Zi- 
r zia)  camps  include  kindergartens  and 
1 women’s  community  center  programs. 
The  camps  are  from  two  to  ten  miles 
outside  of  Amman,  Jordan’s  capital  city, 
and  twenty-five  miles  from  Israeli-oc- 
| cupied  West  Bank. 

“Many  of  the  Arab  teachers  and  in- 
structors for  the  refugee  camp  projects 
live  in  Amman  and  go  out  to  the  camps 
during  the  day,”  Mr.  Miller  said.  “The 
teachers’  families  probably  prefer  they 
don’t  travel  in  case  fighting  would  erupt.” 

So  far  most  of  the  military  opera- 
tions have  been  in  the  Golan  Heights 
area,  fifty  to  100  miles  north  of  Amman, 
and  in  the  Sinai  Desert  east  of  the  Suez 
Canal. 

The  mcc  staff  is  alerting  Middle  East 
personnel  to  its  readiness  to  respond  to 
the  relief  of  war  sufferers  on  either  side. 

Five  workers  are  located  in  Jordan, 
four  in  Jerusalem,  five  in  Beit  Jala,  just 
outside  Jerusalem,  and  four  in  Cairo, 
Egypt.  There  are  no  plans  for  moving 
volunteers  from  their  present  assign- 
ments. 

The  Jordanian  kindergartens  serve  320 
children  in  Marka  Camp  and  180  chil- 
dren in  Talbiyeh  Camp.  Mennonite  vol- 
unteer Gwen  Peachey  supervises  the 
kindergarten  program. 

The  women’s  community  center  pro- 
grams are  aimed  at  training  women  in 
sewing,  literacy,  and  home  economics. 
The  Marka  Camp  program  includes  an 
eleven-months  home  economics  course 
for  twenty-five  girls.  A home  economics 
class  has  just  been  started  at  Talbiyeh 
Camp  in  a recently  constructed  center 
building.  This  is  the  first  time  since  1970 
that  this  type  of  education  is  being  of- 


fered in  the  camp.  Beth  Heisey,  volun- 
teer from  Manheim,  Pennsylvania,  works 
with  the  program. 

Workers  in  the  Middle  East  were 
aware  of  tension  long  before  the  recent 
outbreak  of  fighting  which  closed  the 
centers. 

“Every  week  our  office  windows  rat- 
tle from  Israeli-flown  American  planes 
breaking  the  sound  barrier,  either  doing 
maneuvers  or  reconnaissance  missions 
or  on  their  way  to  another  bombing 
mission,”  Urbane  Peachey  wrote  in  Feb- 
ruary. “On  most  visits  to  the  Jordan 
Valley  I hear  the  activity  of  aircraft  in 
the  distance.” 

In  addition  to  the  kindergarten  and 
women’s  center  work,  the  Middle  East 
program  includes  teachers  at  the  Ram- 
ses College  for  Girls  in  Cairo,  commu- 


nity and  economic  development  proj- 
ects, and  a clinic  and  health  program  in 
Jordan.  In  West  Bank,  volunteers  work 
with  a Mennonite  Boys  School,  a needle- 
work project  involving  600  Palestinian 
women,  and  a sewing  and  training  cen- 
ter. 

“The  position  of  the  United  States  is 
difficult  but  it  appears  to  be  the  only 
nation  that  may  serve  as  a possible 
mediator  for  a lasting  settlement  in  the 
Middle  East,”  said  William  Snyder,  ex- 
ecutive secretary.  “If  the  war  continues 
and  the  United  States  unconditionally 
backs  Israel’s  military  effort,  its  poten- 
tial as  a mediator  will  likely  erode.  The 
outbreak  of  war  in  the  Middle  East 
should  prompt  Christians  to  pray  for 
peace  lest  increased  violence  leads  to 
more  suffering.” 


This  photo,  made  from  175  miles  above  the  earth  by  Gemini  astronauts  in  the 
1960s,  focuses  on  the  Middle  East  area,  where  war  has  been  raging  between  Israel 
and  several  Arab  countries.  Fighting  has  been  limited  to  two  fronts — along  the  Suez 
Canal  at  left  center  and  in  the  G&lan  Heights  at  upper  left  center. 


THE  MENNONITE 


637 


Responsibility  for  India  church  affirmed 


The  Bharatiya  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite  Church  in  India  will  begin  a new 
thrust  in  evangelism  and  church  planting 
in  1974,  with  a goal  of  four  thousand 
new  members  by  1984.  The  church  con- 
ference will  also  assume  full  responsi- 
bility for  the  Christian  nurture  program 
which  has  been  operated  by  the  mission 
conference.  Strong  affirmation  for  a 
continuing  missionary  presence  in  India 
came  from  the  governing  body  of  the 
church  conference. 

These  were  among  the  decisions  made 
during  a conjoint  meeting  of  the  church 
conference  governing  body,  the  mission 
conference,  and  the  Commission  on  Over- 
seas delegation  September  17-18  in  Rai- 
pur, India. 

The  Raipur  conference  was  the  first 
of  its  kind  in  the  seventy-three-year  his- 
tory of  the  General  Conference  Menno- 
nite  Mission  in  India.  The  decisions  made 
by  the  thirty-five  people  at  Raipur  sig- 
naled a new  direction  in  terms  of  church 
and  mission  structure,  shifting  responsi- 
bility from  the  church  conference  and 
establishing  direct  fraternal  relationships 
between  the  Bharatiya  Mennonite  Church 
and  the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion. 

The  conference  was  the  climax  of  a 
five-week  visit  to  India  for  members  of 
the  com  delegation  — Elmer  Neufeld, 
commission  chairman;  Howard  Habeg- 
ger,  com  executive  secretary;  Robert 
Ramseyer,  director  of  the  Overseas  Mis- 
sion Training  Center;  and  Vemey  Un- 
ruh,  com  secretary  for  Asia. 

Prior  to  the  Raipur  conference,  the 
delegation  visited  the  major  areas  of 
church-mission  work  in  central  India — 
Champa,  Ambikapur,  Korba,  lagdeesh- 
pur,  and  Saraipali.  Present  programs 
were  evaluated  in  the  light  of  the  GPS 
priorities  adopted  by  the  commission  in 
1972.  Lengthy  consultations  with  pastors, 
missionaries,  evangelists,  church  coun- 
cils, and  church  and  institutional  lead- 
ers laid  the  foundations  for  the  Raipur 
conference. 

The  Bharatiya  Mennonite  Church 
Conference  has  been  autonomous  since 
1943.  Missionaries  have  worked  with 
the  churches  but  maintained  a parallel 
mission  conference  organization.  Since 
the  mid-fifties  mission  work  was  the 
primary  responsibility  of  four  major 
boards — education,  medical,  literature, 
and  Christian  nurture.  Indians  as  well 
as  missionaries  have  served  as  members 
of  the  four  boards.  Some  administrative 


positions  have  been  assumed  by  Indian 
leaders. 

This  arrangement  avoided  some  prob- 
lems but  created  others.  It  focused  most 
of  the  missionary  personnel  and  financial 
resources  in  a mission  organization  rath- 
er than  the  Bharatiya  church. 

In  1959  mission-paid  evangelism  was 
terminated,  and  the  responsibility  for 
evangelism  and  church  planting  was  giv- 
en to  the  struggling  Indian  church.  At 
the  same  time,  the  mission  conference 
turned  its  attention  toward  enlarging 
and  maintaining  education  and  medical 
institutions  with  substantial  subsidies 
from  North  America.  These  institutions 
have  undergirded  the  church  and  pro- 
vided needed  training  and  employment 
for  hundreds  of  Christians.  But  the  in- 
stitutions tended  to  overshadow  the 
church. 

Decisions  made  at  the  Raipur  con- 
ference were  intended  to  strengthen  the 
Bharatiya  church  conference  by  turn- 
ing over  the  work  of  Christian  nurture 
to  it  and  limiting  the  expansion  of  mis- 
sion institutions. 

The  Raipur  meetings  convened  with 
apprehensions  by  missionaries  and  some 
India  church  leaders.  A conjoint  meet- 
ing between  mission  and  church  con- 
ference had  never  before  taken  place 
in  India.  The  city  of  Raipur  has  a his- 
tory of  being  anti-Christian.  Gass  Me- 
morial Center,  where  the  meetings  were 
scheduled,  had  been  burned  by  religious 


fanatics  in  1957.  It  was  feared  that  a 
large  concentration  of  North  Americans 
at  the  center  might  create  serious  prob- 
lems. 

The  conjoint  conference  gave  the 
North  American  delegation  opportunity 
to  clarify  and  interpret  to  missionaries 
and  church  leaders  some  of  the  new 
mission  policies  to  which  the  commis- 
sion is  committed.  The  implications  of 
com’s  goals,  priorities,  and  strategy 
(GPS)  were  discussed.  Old  patterns  and 
assumptions  were  tested  in  the  light  of 
today’s  needs  and  future  resources. 

The  Raipur  conference  was  preceded 
by  four  days  of  meetings  of  the  indi- 
vidual boards  and  the  church  confer- 
ence governing  body.  These  discussions 
resulted  in  recommendations  which  were 
later  considered  by  the  conjoint  body. 

For  the  medical  board  the  crucial 
issue  was  affiliation  with  a larger  India 
medical  organization.  Mission  hospitals 
in  India  find  it  increasingly  difficult  to 
continue  independently.  Administrative 
questions,  medical  care  procedures,  per- 
sonnel needs,  and  financial  matters  are 
areas  in  which  wider  advice  and  con- 
sultation are  needed. 

The  Emmanuel  Hospital  Association 
(eha)  was  formed  several  years  ago  to 
meet  these  concerns.  One  of  the  associa- 
tion’s functions  is  to  insure  that  hos- 
pitals, begun  by  missions  as  a Christian 
witness  and  service,  will  be  maintained 
for  that  purpose. 


The  meeting  of  missionaries,  Indian  church  leaders,  and  COM  delegates  was  the 
first  such  joint  decision  making  in  the  history  of  General  Conference  Mennonite 
missions  m India. 


638 


NOVEMBER  6,  1973 


There  was  strong  consensus  at  Raipur 
that  immediate  steps  be  taken  by  the 
two  mission  hospitals,  Champa  Christian 
and  Sewa  Bhawan  at  Jagdeeshpur,  to 
affiliate  with  eha  this  year. 

Mission  schools  constitute  the  largest 
| institutional  work  in  India,  requiring  40 
percent  of  the  India  field  budget.  Schools 
i were  started  early  in  the  mission  pro- 
gram to  provide  education  for  children 
of  Christian  parents  and  train  leaders 
for  the  churches.  Today  there  are  twelve 
primary  schools,  two  middle  schools,  and 
two  higher  secondary  schools.  In  ad- 
dition, the  mission  opened  Beacon,  an 
. English  medium  school,  in  Korba  in 
1966.  This  school  has  expanded  rapidly 
and  now  includes  kindergarten  through 
grade  eleven  plus  two  branch  schools. 
It  is  in  need  of  more  facilities.  Beacon 
school  has  been  self-supporting,  except 
for  some  initial  funds  for  equipment 
and  classrooms. 

A serious  problem  being  faced  in 
Christian  schools  is  increasing  govern- 
ment restrictions  on  teaching  the  Bible 
as  part  of  the  school  curriculum.  Ques- 
tions were  raised  by  the  delegation  re- 


[ Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission  will 
I send  a delegation  of  four  to  Zaire,  Le- 
sotho, and  possibly  other  countries  in 
southern  Africa  next  summer,  accord- 
ing to  the  decision  of  the  aimm  board 
at  its  semiannual  meeting  October  12- 
13  in  Chicago. 

The  delegation  will  go  to  Zaire  at  the 
invitation  of  the  Mennonite  Community 
of  Zaire,  which  has  asked  the  aimm  del- 
egates to  evaluate  the  effects  and  prob- 
lems of  the  fusion  of  church  and  mis- 
sion, which  took  place  in  1971. 

In  Zaire,  the  delegation  will  also  eval- 
uate the  relationship  of  aimm  to  the 
Zaire  church  (cmza),  set  goals  together 
with  the  cmza,  talk  about  new  approach- 
es in  evangelism,  study  the  future  of 
mission-church  finances,  and  evaluate 
the  agriculture,  seminary,  broadcasting, 
and  literature  programs  in  Zaire. 

All  three  denominations  participating 
in  aimm  will  have  members  on  the  dele- 
gation: General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  (Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion), two;  Evangelical  Mennonite 
Church,  one;  and  Evangelical  Menno- 
nite Brethren  Church,  one. 

The  delegation  will  also  visit  Lesotho, 
where  aimm  sent  two  workers  for  the 
first  time  this  year.  The  agenda  will  in- 
clude decisions  on  the  need  for  addi- 


garding  the  evangelistic  outreach  of  the 
schools,  ratio  of  Christian  to  non-Chris- 
tian students,  development  of  church 
leaders,  governmental  regulations,  and 
financial  subsidies  from  com. 

The  delegation  stated  clearly  that  “in 
the  light  of  total  GPS  priorities  estab- 
lished by  the  commission”  com  would 
not  increase  subsidies  for  the  operation 
of  mission  schools.  Nor  would  funds  be 
available  for  enlarging  the  present  facili- 
ties, including  a $60,000  proposal  for 
a new  Beacon  school  building. 

In  fight  of  the  urgent  need  for  voca- 
tional training,  it  was  agreed  that  com 
would  provide  resources  on  a project- 
to-project  basis  to  encourage  the  voca- 
tional training  of  youth.  Com  will  fur- 
nish some  funds  for  basic  equipment. 

Christian  literature  has  been  a pri- 
ority and  has  included  production,  pub- 
lication, and  distribution.  Much  of  the 
production  and  publication  has  been 
done  in  cooperation  with  the  Mennonite 
Church  of  India  through  the  Mennonite 
Literature  and  Radio  Council  (melarc). 
Reading  rooms  and  bookstores  have  been 
two  of  the  primary  means  of  distribu- 


tional personnel  and  on  the  direction  of 
the  program. 

The  board  encouraged  the  delegation 
to  visit  a few  other  countries  in  south- 
ern Africa,  such  as  Botswana  and  Swazi- 
land, to  investigate  the  opportunities 
for  mission  outreach. 

Tentative  dates  for  the  trip  are  June 
9 to  July  3. 

At  its  October  meeting,  the  aimm 
board  set  a $115,000  budget  for  1974. 
This  represents  a $1,000  increase  over 
1973.  This  budget  includes  money  only 


The  new  girls’  school  in  Nyanga,  Zaire, 
opened  October  3 with  nine  students. 

Frieda  Guengerich,  director  of  the 
school,  said  six  students  were  from  Ny- 
anga, two  from  Kandala,  and  one  from 
Banga.  A tenth  student,  from  Nyanga, 
has  enrolled  since  school  began. 

The  school,  intended  to  help  upgrade 
education  for  girls,  will  be  supported 
for  the  first  two  years  by  the  Women’s 
Auxiliary  of  the  Africa  Inter-Mennonite 
Mission.  After  two  years,  the  Zairian 
Government  can  begin  support  of  the 
school,  which  is  at  a postprimary  level. 

The  school  is  using  a section  of  the 


tion.  Action  was  taken  at  Raipur  to  be- 
gin discussions  for  transferring  the  lit- 
erature program  to  the  church  confer- 
ence at  a future  date. 

The  governing  body,  composed  of 
fourteen  members,  met  with  the  delega- 
tion for  two  sessions. 

In  addition  to  increasing  the  church 
community  membership  to  10,000  (in- 
cluding children),  the  church  hopes  to 
raise  the  average  adult  giving  from  twen- 
ty-two to  thirty  rupees  or  more  annually 
(a  36  percent  increase)  through  a five- 
year  program  of  stewardship  education. 

New  channels  for  communication  and 
fraternal  relationships  between  com  and 
the  church  conference  were  agreed  up- 
on at  Raipur.  The  church  conference 
was  invited  to  participate  in  com’s  Over- 
seas Churchman  Study-Service  Program 
which  brings  church  leaders  from  over- 
seas to  North  America. 

The  Raipur  decisions  mark  the  end  of 
an  era  of  missions  in  India  and  opens  a 
new  day  for  missions  based  on  the  firm 
foundations  of  the  past  but  geared  to 
the  realities  of  today  and  tomorrow. 
Howard  Habegger  and  Verney  Unruh 

Africa 

for  aimm  administration  and  the  bud- 
gets of  the  Mennonite  Community  of 
Zaire  and  the  Mennonites  in  South  Ka- 
sai province.  Of  this  figure,  com  is  re- 
sponsible for  71  percent. 

Not  included  in  the  budget  is  support 
of  missionaries,  which  is  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  conferences  sending  them. 

The  aimm  board  accepted  the  invita- 
tion to  hold  one  of  its  two  meetings  in 
1974  in  Steinbach,  Manitoba.  In  its 
sixty-year  history,  the  board  has  never 
met  in  Canada. 


dorm  as  a classroom  until  the  other 
building  is  finished.  LaVerna  Dick,  who 
has  special  training  in  home  economics, 
is  also  teaching  at  the  school. 

The  aimm  Women’s  Auxiliary  also 
heard  reports  that  Kakesa  Kafutshi  and 
Kakesa  Khakha  Gasala  have  translated 
a correspondence  course  on  marriage. 
Four  hundred  copies  have  been  printed, 
and  it  is  being  used  in  the  women’s 
sewing  programs  at  the  home  economics 
centers. 

In  addition,  Leona  Schrag  and  two 
Zairian  women  are  collaborating  to  write 
a Bible  study  course  for  women. 


AIMM  delegation  plans  visit  to 


Girls'  school  opens  in  Zaire 


THE  MENNONITE 


639 


Kansas  agriculturist  in  Greece  digs  in 


H.  Lee  Brumback 

There  are  many  young  North  Amer- 
icans who  have  served  or  are  serving 
as  developers  in  overseas  assistance  pro- 
grams. However,  few  have  served  as 
long  as  four  years.  Living  and  working 
at  the  “grassroots”  in  another  culture 
for  this  length  of  time  can  cause  im- 
portant changes,  if  the  developer  is 
sensitive  and  skilled.  Larry  Goerzen  of 
Newton,  Kansas,  is  such  a person. 

Mr.  Goerzen  first  came  to  Greece 
in  1969.  On  the  island  of  Crete,  he  was 
assigned  as  a technician  to  a feedmill 
operated  by  the  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee. He  remembers  this  first  experi- 
ence: “I  learned  a lot  about  myself 

through  working  with  others.” 

The  frustrations  of  his  first  attempts 
to  communicate  in  Greek  only  made 
him  more  determined  to  concentrate  on 
language.  Slowly  his  proficiency  in  Greek 
improved,  as  did  his  understanding  of 
cultural  differences: 

“While  one  cannot  always  agree  with 
everything  that  makes  another  culture 
what  it  is,  one  has  to  accept  it.  This 
means  tolerance  of  many  things  not 
readily  understandable.” 

Crete  also  was  a proving  ground  for 
testing  his  skills  as  an  animal  science 
graduate  of  Kansas  State  University. 
During  the  two  years  Mr.  Goerzen  spent 
in  Crete,  he  standardized  the  operating 
procedures  for  the  feedmill,  prepared 


new  feed  formulations,  and  doubled  pro- 
duction. Nevertheless,  the  most  impor- 
tant part  of  this  assignment  was,  in  the 
paradoxical  role  of  the  developer,  “to 
work  himself  out  of  a job.”  He  trained 
Vassilious  Lyviaris  to  manage  the  feed- 
mill  and  make  rations  as  well  as  op- 
erate and  maintain  the  milling  machin- 
ery. At  the  end  of  two  years,  the  feed- 
mill  was  under  Greek  operation. 

A feedmill  had  been  set  up  in  the 
southernmost  state  of  continental  Greece 
by  the  Greek  Union  of  Cooperatives 
through  the  assistance  of  Church  World 
Service.  Their  problem  was  to  find  some- 
one who  could  manage  and  direct  the 
operation  of  this  new  feedmill.  Larry 
Goerzen  was  the  answer. 

His  work  in  cws's  Mani  Project  be- 
gan much  the  same  way  as  in  Crete, 
but  with  three  distinct  advantages:  he 
was  fluent  in  Greek,  he  understood  the 
Greek  culture,  and  he  knew  what  was 
required  in  managing  a feedmill.  It 
now  took  him  only  one  year  to  set  up 
an  operational  procedure  for  the  mill, 
make  rations,  and  train  John  Papanakos 
as  the  manager.  He  admits  that  his  first 
few  months  at  the  coop  feedmill  were 
rough: 

“The  biggest  problem  . . . was  to  get 
all  the  feedmill  processes  organized  with 
everything  running  in  an  efficient  man- 
ner.” 


He  also  recalls  that  it  took  tw< 
months  just  to  check  out  and  adjust  thi 
milling  machinery.  During  this  perioc 
he  had  to  prepare  rations  as  well  as  bu'j 
and  arrange  for  transportation  of  feec 
concentrates.  In  the  first  month  of  op 
eration,  the  feedmill  produced  less  thar 
three  tons.  Only  a year  later  the  mil  i 
was  completely  under  Greek  operation  i 
producing  170  tons  of  feed  per  month 
in  thirteen  different  formulations. 

Concurrent  with  these  activities,  Mr 
Goerzen  made  extension  visits  to  area 
farmers.  These  visits  gave  him  oppor- 
tunities to  assist  farmers  with  their  live- 
stock management  problems  and  adver- 
tise feed  for  the  mill.  On  one  farm  he 
set  up  an  experiment  which  compared 
the  performance  of  hogs  fed  local  feeds 
with  those  on  feedmill  mixes.  Results  of 
the  experiment  showed  that  farmers 
would  have  more  profit  by  using  feed- 
mill  mixes  to  fatten  their  hogs. 

Mr.  Goerzen’s  work  at  the  coop  feed- 
mill  and  with  extension  did  not  go  un- 
noticed by  the  Greek  Agriculture  Serv- 
ice. They  solicited  his  help  in  teaching 
nutrition  in  village  short  courses.  They 
also  requested  and  received  his  assist- 
ance in  working  with  more  than  thirty 
farmers  who  were  setting  up  new  live- 
stock operations  in  the  state  of  Laconia. 

More  recently,  Mr.  Goerzen  has  been 
involved  with  cws’s  livestock  program. 
In  this  program  planned  in  cooperation 
with  the  Greek  Agriculture  Service, 
more  than  100  head  of  goats  and  hogs 
are  being  imported  from  North  Amer- 
ica to  Laconia  during  1973.  Laconia’s  - 
first  swine  breeding  station  will  be  estab-  t 
fished  from  twenty-four  of  the  hogs.  ( 
Another  part  of  the  cws  livestock  pro-  ( 
gram  has  been  to  locate,  transport,  and  } 
sell  100  outstanding  Greek  goats  at  50  ,j 
percent  of  their  original  cost  to  farmers  jj 
of  the  Mani  peninsula.  „ 

Because  Mr.  Goerzen  has  grown  in  fc 
his  Greek  experience,  he  still  finds  time  , 
to  prepare  popular  publications  for  farm-  a 
ers.  « 

Larry  Goerzen’s  story  could  end  here  j, 
but  really  it  is  just  a beginning.  Last 
December  Larry  married  Dora  Damou-  h 
lakis  of  Hania,  Crete.  Their  marriage  a 
brings  new  hopes  and  new  directions  w 
through  a hybridization  of  cultures  for  « 
the  advancement  of  mankind  in  service  ai 
to  whatever  community  they  find  them- 
selves. 


Below,  Larry  Goerzen  {left)  confers  with  John  Papanakos,  the  feedmill  manager. 
Larry  is  the  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Milton  H.  Goerzen  of  Route  2,  Newton,  Kansas. 
He  is  a member  of  the  Tabor  Mennonite  Church,  Newton. 


640 


NOVEMBER  6,  1973 


1! 


Peter  J.  Dyck,  MCC  Europe  and  North  Africa  director;  Ruth  Wiebe,  secretary; 
; and  Doreen  Harms  with  the  MCC  tracing  files. 

Another  family  reunited 


Peter  J.  Dyck 

; Almost  routinely,  but  with  a bit  more 
j excitement  in  her  voice  than  usual,  Do- 
1 reen  Harms  of  the  mcc  staff  in  Akron, 
Pennsylvania,  handed  me  a letter.  “Here 
1 is  another  Findefall." 

“Findefall”  in  literal  German  trans- 
lation is  a “finding  case.”  In  our  office 
1 jargon  “Findefall”  refers  to  a missing 
relative  who  has  been  found  through  the 
, mcc  tracing  service. 

It  seems  incredible  that  a husband 
: and  wife  should  be  separated  involun- 
tarily and  without  knowledge  of  each 
other’s  whereabouts  for  thirty-two  years. 
We  paged  through  the  file  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  E.  and  their  children.  According 
to  the  tracing  service  records,  Mrs.  E. 
first  filed  the  information  about  her 
missing  husband  in  1953.  Hopeful  that 
he  would  be  found  soon  and  that  mcc 
would  help  them  get  reunited,  she  wrote 
at  the  bottom  of  the  vital  statistics  page: 
“The  children  and  I wish  you  God’s 
blessing  for  this  work.” 

During  the  long  years  of  war  they 
hoped  for  peace  and  a happy  reunion 
at  home.  But  when  the  war  ended,  there 
was  no  home  to  return  to.  Instead  of  the 
warm  embrace,  there  came  the  cold 
and  lean  refugee  years. 

And  the  long  silence. 

Just  how  long  that  silence  and  wait- 


ing had  been  was  forcibly  driven  home 
to  Mr.  E.  when  he  realized  that  his 
two  daughters,  who  had  been  six  and 
ten  when  he  saw  them  last,  were  now 
thirty-six  and  forty  years  old. 

As  Mr.  E.  contemplated  the  cruel 
fate,  if  fate  it  was,  that  tossed  him  east- 
ward to  Siberia  and  carried  his  wife 
and  children  westward  to  British  Co- 
lumbia, Canada,  he  composed  his  first 
letter  to  them.  Why  did  you  wait  thirty 
years  to  find  me,  he  asks.  Then  realizing 
that  she  could  pose  the  same  question 
to  him,  he  changes  the  subject,  rejoices 
that  at  long  last  they  know  of  each 
other’s  whereabouts,  apologizes  for  hav- 
ing forgotten  how  to  write  in  German 
and  inquires  about  the  children. 

In  the  mcc  tracing  service,  there  are 
still  many  hundreds  of  such  cases  un- 
solved. With  the  passing  of  years  the 
hurt  of  the  separated  families  may  di- 
minish somewhat,  especially  as  they  give 
up  hope  and  believe  their  loved  one  is 
dead.  But  every  time  there  is  a Finde- 
fall hundreds  of  separated  husbands  and 
wives  begin  to  hope  again.  They  won- 
der who  the  next  case  to  be  solved  will 
be.  And  when  it  is  their  own  wife  or 
husband,  it  isn’t  a case,  it’s  a person 
with  a name  and  a face.  It’s  an  answer 
at  last  to  thirty  years  of  prayer. 


Students  prepare 
index  for  Der  Bote 

Der  Bote,  which  will  be  fifty  years  old 
in  1974,  is  being  indexed  through  the 
special  initiative  of  several  students  and 
the  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College’s 
archives  committee. 

The  indexing  project  has  been  funded 
by  grants  from  Opportunities  for  Youth, 
a federal  government  program  to  pro- 
vide young  people  with  meaningful  sum- 
mer employment,  and  the  Mennonite 
Foundation  of  Canada. 

The  $7,800  grant  from  Opportunities 
for  Youth  enabled  eight  students  to  work 
at  the  preparation  of  a preliminary  index. 

A $2,000  Mennonite  Foundation  grant 
to  the  cmbc  archives  committee  will  per- 
mit it  to  hire  two  project  participants 
for  the  coming  year  to  complete  the  in- 
dexing and  to  prepare  it  for  publication. 
Peter  Rempel  and  Vernon  Epp,  both 
students  at  cmbc  and  both  participants 
in  the  summer  project,  are  working  at 
this  phase  of  the  project.  They  are  hop- 
ing to  have  the  project  completed  by 
August  1974.  In  the  process,  a perma- 
nent card  index  for  Der  Bote  will  be  pre- 
pared and  maintained  at  the  college. 

CMBC  will  sponsor 
evangelism  conference 

The  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College, 
Winnipeg,  will  sponsor  a conference  on 
theology  and  evangelism  November  15- 
18.  The  theme  of  the  conference  is 
“Bringing  the  good  news  to  people.” 

Eight  or  more  action  groups  from 
congregations  across  Canada  have  con- 
sented to  come  and  share  ways  in  which 
they  have  worked  at  the  task  of  evan- 
gelism in  their  own  communities.  These 
will  become  the  focal  points  for  a series 
of  small  group  discussions. 

The  speaker  for  the  conference  will 
be  Leonard  Wiebe,  pastor  of  the  Maple- 
wood Mennonite  Church,  Fort  Wayne, 
Indiana. 

This  conference  grows  out  of  a con- 
tinued concern  in  the  Conference  of 
Mennonites  in  Canada  for  church  re- 
newal. During  recent  years  a number  of 
organizations  have  developed  special 
methods  and  approaches  to  evangelism. 
A number  of  congregations  have  adopt- 
ed such  approaches;  others  have  devel- 
oped their  own.  This  conference  is  de- 
signed to  be  a clearinghouse  for  testing 
what  is  being  done  with  other  groups 
who  have  similar  interests  in  bringing 
the  good  news  to  people. 


THE  MENNONITE 


641 


RECORD 


Ministers 


Lome  Friesen  was  ordained  as  an  in- 
dustrial chaplain  by  the  Charleswood 
Church  in  Winnipeg  Oct.  7.  He  will 
serve  as  Protestant  chaplain  at  the  Long 
Spruce  hydro  development  project  near 
Gillarn  in  northern  Manitoba.  Mr.  Frie- 
sen, who  has  been  appointed  by  the 
Nelson  River  Interchurch  Chaplaincy 
Committee,  began  his  service  in  August. 
The  committee  has  representatives  from 
the  Anglican,  Lutheran,  Mennonite,  Pres- 
byterian, and  United  churches.  He  is  a 
graduate  of  cmbc,  University  of  Win- 
nipeg, and  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary. 
Before  returning  to  Manitoba,  Mr.  Frie- 
sen completed  a year  of  clinical  pastoral 
education  in  Whitesburg,  Ky. 

Wilmer  Martin,  Jr.,  was  ordained  Sept. 
23  at  the  Bethany  Church,  Quakertown, 
Pa.  In  January  he  accepted  a call  to 
the  pastorate  at  the  Kempton  (Pa.)  Fel- 
lowship. Mr.  Martin  has  worked  in 
business  administration,  child-care  serv- 
ices, and  has  been  a lay  minister  of  the 
Eastern  District  since  1962. 

Henry  and  Etna  Neufeld  have  been 
appointed  to  a pastoral  ministry  among 
the  native  people  of  Winnipeg  and  north- 
ern Manitoba.  They  began  this  new  Men- 
nonite Pioneer  Mission  assignment  on 
Sept.  1.  Prior  to  this  assignment,  the 
Neufelds  spent  two  years  in  a pastoral 
ministry  in  Springstein,  Man.,  and  fif- 
teen years  in  the  Indian  community  of 
Pauingassi,  some  175  airmiles  north- 
east of  Winnipeg. 


W.  Martin 


E.  Neufeld 


H.  Neufeld 


Workers 


Janette  Gerig  has  joined  the  staff  of 
Mennonite  Board  of  Missions,  Elkhart, 
Ind.,  as  secretary  in  the  personnel  of- 
fice. Her  parents  are  Mr.  and  Mrs. 


Floyd  Basinger  of  Route  1,  Pandora, 
Ohio.  During  the  past  year  the  Gerigs 
lived  in  Freeman,  S.D.,  where  she  work- 
ed as  a nurse  aide  and  substitute  teach- 
er. He  taught  junior  high  and  high  school 
music.  They  are  members  of  Salem- 
Zion  Church,  Freeman. 

Charles  and  Diana  Graber  have  be- 
gun a three-year  term  of  service  with 
mcc.  After  one  year  of  language  study 
in  Belgium,  the  Grabers  will  serve  as 
teachers  in  Zaire,  Africa.  Charles  is  the 
son  of  Edna  Graber,  Freeman,  S.D., 
and  a member  of  the  Salem  Church, 
Freeman.  Diana  is  the  daughter  of  Ran- 
som and  Mary  Stucky,  Burrton,  Kans., 
and  a member  of  the  First  Mennonite 
Church  of  Christian,  Moundridge. 

James  and  Ruth  Martin  have  begun 
a three-year  term  of  service  with  mcc 
in  Katete,  Zambia.  James  is  teaching 
at  Katete  Secondary  School  and  Ruth 
is  serving  as  a nurse.  James  is  the  son 
of  Abraham  and  Maryanne  Martin, 
Waterloo,  Ont.,  and  is  a member  of  St. 
Jacobs  Mennonite  Church,  St.  Jacobs, 
Ont.  Ruth  is  the  daughter  of  Nick  and 
Margaret  Driedger,  Wheatley,  Ont.,  and 
a member  of  the  Leamington  United 
Mennonite  Church. 

Leona  Mumbauer,  East  Swamp  Church, 
Quakertown,  Pa.,  has  been  assigned  to 
Rapid  City,  S.D.,  under  the  Christian 
Service  Corps,  American  Indian  Mission. 


Joanne  Phillips,  Bechtelsville,  Pa.  has 
begun  a one-year  term  of  voluntary  serv- 
ice with  the  Mennonite  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, as  a teacher  aide  at  a Montessori 
day-care  center  in  Indianapolis.  She  is 
a member  of  the  Hereford  Church,  Bally, 
Pa. 

William  and  Ingrid  Reimer  have  be- 
gun a three-year  term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Bukuru,  Nigeria.  William  is 
the  son  of  George  and  Olga  Reimer, 
Winnipeg,  Man.,  and  a member  of 
North  Kildonan  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church,  Winnipeg.  Ingrid  is  the  daughter 
of  Peter  and  Else  von  Kampen,  Winni- 
peg, and  a member  of  Springfield  Heights 
Church,  Winnipeg. 

George  and  Karen  Thompson  left  for 
a three-year  term  of  service  with  mcc 
in  Sudan.  George  will  teach  in  a post- 
secondary school  in  Atbara,  northern  Su- 
dan. Karen’s  assignment  is  yet  to  be 
determined.  Shortly  before  the  Thomp- 
sons left  all  Sudanese  schools  were  tem- 
porarily closed  because  of  student  un- 
rest. Higher  schools  are  expected  to 
open  the  first  of  November.  Until  then, 
George  and  Karen  will  study  Arabic. 
George  is  the  son  of  George  and  Ira 
Belle  Thompson,  Mebane,  N.C.  Karen 
is  the  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Carrie 
Diener,  Elkhart,  Ind.  The  Thompsons 
are  members  of  Neil  Ave.  Church,  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio. 


Gerig 


C.  Graber 


D.  Graber 


J.  Martin 


Phillips 


R.  Martin 


642  NOVEMBER  6,  1973  If 


A meaningful  Christmas  that  really  happened 


Hilda  Janzen 

-It  was  six  months  till  December,  but 
plans  for  Christmas  were  already  in  the 
making.  Our  daughter  and  her  family 
had  just  returned  from  Zaire  in  Central 
Africa  for  a year  of  furlough.  Wasn’t 
one  reason  for  coming  home  to  get 
acquainted  with  the  family  and  “start 
off  where  we  left  off”  with  the  parents 
land  brothers  and  their  families?  No  time 
.seemed  better  than  Christmas  for  our 
family  “togethering.” 

Ten  years  had  elapsed  since  we  had 
been  together.  Through  marriage  and 
birth  new  faces  had  been  added.  For 
all  to  be  home  some  would  have  to 
travel  from  Montreal,  Quebec,  and  Mid- 
dletown, Wisconsin;  others  lived  nearby. 
This  raised  a number  of  questions:  How 
many  days  will  we  be  together?  Will  the 
time  be  long  enough  for  all  to  get  ac- 
quainted with  each  other?  One  mother 
added,  What  about  our  family  tradi- 
tions— can  they  be  incorporated  too? 
Many  other  ideas  and  questions  kept 
shuttling  back  and  forth  via  letter  and 
telephone  till  Christmas. 

To  honor  him  who  had  few  earthly 
possessions  was  uppermost  in  our  mind 
as  we  tried  to  find  guidelines  for  our 
giving  of  gifts  within  the  family.  We 
were  looking  for  worth  and  meaning,  a 
communion  and  fellowship  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  giving  and  receiving  of 
gifts. 

Although  we  agreed  in  principle,  opin- 
ions varied.  The  answer  finally  was,  let 
each  one  work  out  his  own  solution, 
bearing  in  mind  the  ideal  of  the  others 
in  the  family;  through  the  use  of  our 
talents  give  that  which  the  other  would 
love  to  receive. 

Some  in  our  family  also  raised  the 
question  of  seeking  a visible  alternative 
to  the  war  in  Vietnam.  On  November 
4-6,  1971,  the  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee Peace  Section  in  St.  Louis  draft- 
ed a proposal:  . . Mcc  is  prepared  to 

receive  any  gifts  designated  for  medical 
work  in  North  Vietnam.  . . .”  Our  fam- 
ily found  this  an  acceptable  avenue  and 
agreed  that  each  make  a voluntary  con- 
tribution to  this  cause  through  our  local 
church. 

The  two-week  holiday  started  several 
days  before  Christmas.  Remarks  like  “I 
know  something  you  don’t  know.  . 
charged  the  air  with  excitement.  I cap- 
italized on  the  energies  and  hosted  a 
cookie-decorating  party.  Mothers  and 


their  children  gathered  around  the  ex- 
tended dining  room  table  upon  which 
were  containers  of  cookies,  water  color 
brushes,  and  cups  of  food  coloring. 
While  the  little  artists  were  creating  fan- 
tastic designs  on  stars,  balls,  bells,  and 
wreaths,  their  mothers  assembled  a gin- 
gerbread house.  The  excitement  in  the 
dining  room  was  contagious — Grandpa 
and  the  fathers  joined  the  group.  As 
the  afternoon  waned,  not  a cookie  was 
left  that  had  not  been  decorated  or  eat- 
en. The  “breaking”  of  cookies  and  the 
“pouring”  of  coffee  had  begun  the  com- 
munion that  was  to  be  a part  of  our  “to- 
gethering” in  the  days  to  come. 

As  a hostess  I knew  from  past  ex- 
perience that  one  guest  likes  coffee,  an- 
other prefers  tea,  and  the  children  want 
neither.  Why  not  plan  a drink  bar  where 
each  can  make  the  drink  of  his  choice? 
Near  the  coffeemaker  with  “hot  water 
only”  were  jars  of  instant  coffee,  tea 
bags,  spiced  tea  mix,  hot  chocolate  mix, 
marshmallows,  and  a jar  with  pepper- 
nuts. 

There  was  only  one  other  place  as 
popular  as  the  drink  bar,  and  it  was  the 
Christmas  tree.  It  was  decorated  with 
white  lights,  cookies  the  children  had 
decorated,  an  angel,  and  a few  candy 
canes.  (Tinsel  seemed  superfluous.)  The 
cookies  were  for  eating,  and  only  five 
were  left  when  the  holidays  were  over. 
Why  not?  The  tree  belonged  to  the  chil- 
dren— it  had  no  “forbidden  fruit”  on  it! 

The  Kansas-grown  Christmas  tree 
was  large  but  not  large  enough  for  its 
outstretched  branches  to  bless  all  the 
packages  at  its  base.  Had  we  not  as- 
sured each  other  it  would  be  a simple 
Christmas?  “Lie  be  ist  erfinderisch.” 
(Love  is  inventive.)  loy  and  laughter 
filled  the  room  as  ten  adults  and  seven 
children  gave  and  received  what  had 
been  prepared  in  love. 

There  were  homemade  kits  for  the 
would-be  carpenter,  artist,  and  seam- 
stress; the  handcrafted  items  were  of 
macrame,  stitchery,  and  candles — orig- 
inals in  their  own  right.  There  were 
mugs  and  wooden  suit  hangers  to  be 
used-now- an d-taken-home-later.  To  be 
redeemed  later  were  tickets  to  a theater 
performance,  including  a supper  invita- 
tion, and  another  had  gift  certificates 
“from  our  house  to  your  house.  . . .” 
Personalized  inscriptions  made  ordinary 
items  special:  Happiness  is  a dust  cloth 


and  a red  danger  flag  for  the  car,  pick- 
up, or  truck.  Stuffed  toys,  hid  in  brown 
shopping  bags  fashioned  into  doghouses, 
delighted  the  little  tots.  And  heirlooms 
from  an  overfull  household  were  handed 
down  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  generation. 

After  the  little  ones  were  excused 
from  the  table,  mugs  were  once  more 
filled.  It  was  at  such  times  that  Grandpa, 
the  son-in-love  (credit  for  this  expres- 
sion goes  to  a friend  of  mine),  and  three 
sons  presented  their  respective  devotions. 
They  shared  out  of  the  depth  of  their 
experiences;  there  was  praise  for  being 
part  of  a Christian  family;  in  humble 
excitement  they  spoke  of  the  leading  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  their  lives  and  the 
respect  we  have  for  each  other  even 
when  opinions  differ. 

Luke  2 came  alive  as  the  grand- 
children assembled  the  nativity  scene 
as  one  of  the  family  devotions.  With  ex- 
citement, laughter,  talking,  and  maybe 
some  pushing,  the  angels,  shepherds, 
lambs,  and  the  holy  family  were  in  place. 
Everybody  had  done  his  thing,  and  we 
were  ready  to  sing  “Silent  night,  holy 
night”  when  one  grandchild  said,  “Grand- 
ma, where  are  the  wise  men?”  Many 
times  thereafter,  with  childlike  devo- 
tion, they  would  pause  at  the  manger  to 
rearrange  the  scene  and  retell  portions 
of  the  story  to  each  other. 

At  the  most  unexpected  occasion  one 
of  our  granddaughters  presented  me  with 
the  interpretation  of  “God  is  every- 
where.” She  had  been  listening  to  The 
purple  puzzle  tree  record  and  was  over- 
whelmed at  this  great  doctrine.  In  ballet 
form  she  dramatized  God  being  above 
her,  below  her,  and  standing  on  tiptoe, 
throwing  her  arms  high  as  she  shouted, 
“God  is  also  inside  of  me!” 

Yes,  worship  takes  on  many  forms 
when  we  include  children. 

In  retrospect: 

We  now  can  sift  the  facts  from  excite- 
ment; 

The  towel  and  basin  from  dirty  dishes; 

The  incarnate  from  the  material  gifts; 

The  communion  and  fellowship  from 
small  talk. 

Material  on  this  page  has  been  provided 
by  the  Women’s  Missionary  Association. 
With  this  issue,  the  WMA  page  is  being 
terminated.  A new  WMA  publication 
will  be  inserted  in  The  Mennonite,  be- 
ginning in  April  1974. 


THE  MENNONITE 


643 


Mennonite 


belongs  in  every  home 


I 

[ 


46  sixteen-page  issues  each  year 


Feature  articles  emphasizing  Bible 
study,  the  Christian  life,  the  P 

family,  mission,  service,  reconciliation, 
social  concerns,  and  current  issues  8 


News  about  the  General  Conference 

and  the  church  at  large  a 


Meetinghouse — a quarterly  joint 
issue  with  Gospel  herald 


D 

? 

0 


0 


Book  and  film  reviews 


8 

o 


Letters  from  readers 


n 

a 


1 


Inserts,  including  the  mission 
magazine  Encompass  and  the  new 
publication  of  the  Women’s  Missionary 
Association 


It 


es 


Congregations  find  that  when  their  families  are 
reading  the  same  periodical  it  helps  to  build 
the  fellowship  of  believers  within  the  congre- 
gation and  among  churches  within  the  confer- 
ence. This  is  the  time  to  check  if  all  families 
and  single  members  from  your  church  are  on 
the  mailing  list. 

Who  pays?  How  much?  Since  both  the  con- 
gregation and  the  General  Conference  benefit 
from  the  Every  Home  Plan,  both  contribute 
toward  the  cost  of  publishing  The  Mennonite. 
The  suggested  congregation's  share  for  1974  is 
$5.00  per  home. 

The  method  used  to  raise  the  local  portion 
of  the  cost  is  for  the  congregation  to  decide. 


Some  congregations  include  the  cost  in  their 
budgets  and  pay  it  as  any  other  item  of 
expense. 

Opportunity.  Here  is  an  opportunity  to  supply 
one  piece  of  Christian  literature  to  every  home 
every  week.  Use  The  Mennonite  and  its  inserts 
in  both  your  nurture  and  outreach  programs. 

If  you  want  more  information  or  if  you 
have  decided  to  start  a new  plan,  write  to: 


hi 

le 

» 

m 

hi 

tr 

T 

11 

ai 


Every  Home  Plan 
The  Mennonite 
Box  347 

Newton,  Kansas  67114. 


644 


NOVEMBER  6,  1973 


letters 


Veterans  not  ignored 

The  original  draft  of  the  following  let- 
ter was  lost,  accounting  for  its  belated 
appearance.  We  apologize  for  this  un- 
fortunate delay  in  the  letter  s publica- 
tion. Editor 

Dear  Editor:  After  reading  the  article 
by  Walton  Hackman  (July  10  issue),  I 
must  write  this  letter.  I am  sick  at  heart 
to  think  that  Mr.  Hackman,  who  I sup- 
pose considers  himself  an  honest  man, 
could  write  such  untruths  about  his 
government,  as  to  the  treatment  given 
our  veterans. 

I am  a veteran  of  WW  I.  One  son  is 
a veteran  of  WW  II,  one  son  and  two 
nephews  are  veterans  of  the  Korean 
War,  and  two  grandnephews  of  the  Viet- 
nam War.  I am  well  qualified  to  speak 
of  the  horrors  of  war  and  also  qualified 
to  give  the  honest  facts  about  our  treat- 
ment after  the  war. 

I was  in  and  out  of  government  hos- 
pitals many,  many  times  after  I re- 
turned and  am  still  being  cared  for  at 
government  expense  for  an  injury  re- 
ceived during  my  service  (fifty-four 
years  ago).  I received  excellent  care  and 
treatment.  Does  that  sound  as  if  our 
government  doesn’t  give  us  the  help  we 
need  when  we  need  it?  In  another  case, 
a man  lost  both  legs  while  in  service. 
The  government  gave  him  artificial 
limbs,  built  him  a home,  specially  de- 
signed for  his  disability,  a specially  built 
car,  a job  in  the  post  office,  besides  his 
disability  pay.  Any  man  can  receive 
training  of  any  type  or  any  care  nec- 
essary if  he  wishes,  unless  he  was  dis- 
honorably discharged.  He  will  also  re- 
ceive treatment  for  drug  addiction,  if 
he  wishes. 

Our  sons  were  helped  through  col- 
lege by  our  government.  Of  course,  they 
worked,  too,  which  was  right.  Sons, 
nephews,  grandnephews  all  received,  if 
needed,  help  with  education,  vocational 
training,  medical  care,  or  compensation. 
These  young  men  are  all  doing  well  in 
their  life’s  work,  for  which  I thank  God 
and  government. 

I called  the  Veterans  Affairs  Depart- 
ment at  the  Illinois  State  University, 
and  was  told  that  1,300-plus  former 
servicemen  are  enrolled  there.  They  also 
have  a program  called  Outreach.  It  is 


designed  for  men  who  hadn’t  finished 
high  school,  to  be  trained  until  they  can 
enter  college.  That  doesn’t  sound  as  if 
“chances  of  veterans’  receiving  an  edu- 
cation are  remote”  as  was  stated  in  Mr. 
Hackman’s  article.  And  this  is  only 
one  of  several  hundred  good  universities 
in  the  U.S. 

Now,  about  unemployment.  If  Mr. 
Hackman  had  written  to  the  Illinois 
Veterans  Commission  in  Springfield,  he 
would  have  received  a brochure  created 
for  the  purpose  of  assisting  veterans, 
servicemen,  their  dependents,  and  sur- 
vivors. Here  are  the  headings,  not  de- 
tails as  I do  not  wish  to  make  this  letter 
too  long:  (1)  Bonus— Vietnam  service; 

(2)  Preference  in  job-finding  assistance, 

(3)  Federal  Civil  Service  preference; 

(4)  Compensation;  (5)  Educational 
benefits;  (6)  Vocational  training;  (7) 
Unemployment  compensation;  (8)  Hos- 
pitalization, VA  hospitals;  (9)  Outpa- 
tient care;  (10)  Farm  loan  benefits,  and 
(11)  GI  loans. 

There  are  fourteen  more  listed.  Is 
this  “coming  home  to  a dark  night  of 
frustration”  as  Mr.  Hackman  said  a 
U.S.  senator  stated?  I would  like  the 
name  of  the  senator.  Of  course,  one 
finds  malcontents  in  every  walk  of  life 
if  one  goes  out  to  really  find  them.  This 
is  a free  country.  We  don’t  get  sent  to 
Siberia! 

Now,  about  labor.  Reports  from  the 
Department  of  Labor,  second  quarter  of 
1973:  Unemployed:  age  20-24,  9.5  per- 
cent; 25-29,  4.1  percent;  and  nonwhite, 

1 1 percent. 

Some  are  in  college,  some  are  dis- 
abled, while  some  have  no  desire  to 
work. 

In  the  Reader’s  digest  (July  1973) 
there  is  an  article  from  U.S.  news  and 
world  report  (page  12)  telling  of  the 
efforts  of  Governor  Robert  D.  Ray  of 
Iowa,  who  is  directing  a six-state  search 
for  GI  jobs.  The  leaders  of  National 
Alliance  of  Businessmen  and  the  Jobs 
for  Veterans  program  set  a goal  of  filling 
150,000  jobs  with  veterans  by  June  30. 
They  surpassed  this  by  nearly  50,000 
jobs! 

Of  course  our  government  has  many 
faults,  but  it  is  founded  on  high  prin- 
ciples, so  instead  of  tearing  it  apart, 
why  not  praise  it  for  the  good  it  does? 
When  I read  in  the  article  by  Mr.  Hack- 


man that  some  churches  ignored  the 
veteran,  I was  aghast.  What  church? 
That  is  not  a Christian  act,  and  cer- 
tainly never  happened  in  my  Mennonite 
church.  William  M.  Cutler,  506  North 
School  St.,  Normal,  III.  61761.  Aug.  2 

Two  fine  articles 

Dear  Larry:  I have  thoroughly  en- 
joyed two  articles  in  the  last  two  issues 
of  The  Mennonite  (September  5 and 
October  9 issues). 

Probably  no  one  can  sum  up  a situa- 
tion, and  summarize  it  in  such  a way 
that  other  people  will  be  challenged, 
as  well  as  Robert  Kreider.  His  article, 
“Influenced,  but  not  imprisoned,  by  our 
heritage,”  attests  to  this  fact.  It  is  a 
great  article  in  content  as  well  as  style. 

I never  had  the  privilege  of  knowing 
Bennie  Bargen,  about  whom  La  Vonne 
Platt  wrote  “Single  feats  of  daring.”  I 
wish  I had  known  him.  I think  he  was 
the  kind  of  person  who  enriched  all  the 
lives  of  those  who  came  in  contact  with 
him.  LaVonne’s  article  highlighted  this 
particular  quality  about  him.  It  is  a fine 
piece  of  work. 

Now  a word  for  the  editorials  here 
lately.  They  have  also  been  very  stimu- 
lating. Keep  up  the  good  work,  both  in 
choosing  fine  articles  and  in  writing  good 
editorials.  La  Vernae  J.  Dick,  819  Stump 
St.,  Dallas,  Ore.  97338  Oct.  10 

Why  did  Evelyn  die? 

Dear  Editor:  Last  week  when  Evelyn 
Renee  was  burned  to  death  in  Rox- 
bury,  the  nation  recoiled  in  horror.  Hav- 
ing known  Evelyn  just  slightly,  I don’t 
believe  it  surprised  her  as  much  as  it 
did  most  Americans.  Often  we  are  so 
busy  plastering  that  we  can’t  see  the 
writing  on  the  wall.  The  conditions  of 
her  death  have  been  hanging  over  us 
for  as  long  as  I can  remember,  and  her 
death  will  be  of  value  only  if  it  awak- 
ens us  to  these  conditions. 

Please  print  this  for  Evelyn.  Edward 
Dick,  Route  1,  Farmer  City,  III.  61842 

For  Evelyn 

(The  bombs  flash  over  paddy  fields 
spewing  jellied  petrol  indiscriminately 
over  target-bodies.) 

(The  jell-like  brain  cells  from  Allen- 
de’s  head  splatter  over  the  walls  of  the 
presidential  palace.) 


THE  MENNONITE 


645 


A fair  faint  friend  named  Evelyn  was 
burned  to  death  when  the  high  cost  of 
“regular”  caused  her  to  run  out  of  gas, 
and  some  war-torn,  city-refugee  soul 
sold  bodies  acted  in  desperate,  perverted 
revenge. 

Who  poured  that  gasoline  over  her 
five-foot  frame? 

Who  is  in  the  business  of  selling  bod- 
ies for  oil  for  bodies  for  copper  for 
bodies? 

Who — what  arrogant  God-headless — 
knows  the  value  of  a pound  of  flesh  and 
the  cost  of  keeping  the  American  popu- 
lace pacified — who  designs  pacification 
plans  in  conjunction  with  programs  for 
expanded  Southeast  Asian  oil  produc- 
tion? 


The  Profiteer 
The  Moneychanger 

Me?  No,  I’m  just  a working  man/ 
woman.  My  bread  is  made  of  wheat  I 
eat  and  no  cakes  of  blood. 

And  I cannot  sit  by  spending  the 
paper  (beginning  to  smell  of  blood) 
on  pointless  niceties  which  dull  my  body 
to  my  own  undernourishment  and  my 
soul  to  my  misunderstandings. 

I stop:  I’ll  use  my  shovel  only  to  turn 
the  soil  for  a crop  of  food  and  to  put 
out  the  fires  of  burning  flesh.  No  more 
war — only  resistance — we  are  occupied. 

Waiting  for  wise  words 

Dear  Larry:  People  are  waiting  for  a 
wise  word  on  the  “heritage”  concern 
that  is  growing  around  us.  ...  I believe 
Robert  Kreider  said  that  word  (Septem- 
ber 25  issue),  and  I feel  he  said  it  very 
well. 

It  is  not  easy  always  to  know  just 
where  the  museums,  ethnicity,  Anabap- 
tist heritage,  stone  monuments,  centen- 
nial celebrations,  and  Mennonitism  fit 
into  our  lives  today.  But  I do  think  that 
comments  such  as  those  by  Robert 
Kreider  will  help  us  travel  the  right 
way. 

Please  send  me  a dozen  extra  copies 
of  that  issue,  if  available,  to  use  as  dis- 
cussion starters  and  for  sharing  with 
those  on  the  outside  who,  in  many  cases 
more  than  the  insiders,  want  to  know 
what  is  going  on. 

Thanks,  and  keep  the  issue  as  alive 
as  you  can.  Lawrence  Klippenstein,  ex- 
ecutive secretary  of  the  Manitoba  Men- 
nonite  centennial  steering  committee, 
Altona,  Man.  Oct.  11 


MEDITATION 


Adopting  a church  "child" 


I HAD  JUST  finished  presenting  the  need  for  estate  planning  and  proper  will  making  B 
to  the  congregation.  As  usual  at  such  meetings,  people  came  up  to  me  after  the  f 
formal  session  to  ask  questions,  seek  additional  counsel,  and  ask  for  private  inter-  » 
views.  r 

An  older  couple  approached.  Their  opening  question  was,  “We  are  now  convinced  ) 
that  our  old  wills  need  to  be  reviewed  and  revised.  Will  you  give  us  some  guidance?”  £ 
e ore  I had  time  to  respond,  they  asked  their  second  question,  “How  much  si 
would  you  recommend  that  we  designate  for  church  causes,  for  the  Lord’s  work?” 

Because  this  was  our  first  acquaintance,  I needed  to  ask  how  many  children  they  [ 
had  and  to  get  some  idea  of  their  assets.  Their  holdings  were  about  average  by  » 

North  American  standards.  They  had  five  children,  all  reasonably  well-established  o 
on  their  own. 

I then  presented  a number  of  possible  church  causes  for  their  consideration  I also 
suggested  they  think  in  terms  of  percentages  rather  than  dollar  amounts  or  about  * £ 
specific  pieces  of  property.  “This  is  an  opportunity,”  I repeated,  “to  give  evidence  o 
of  our  gratitude  to  God  for  all  the  comforts  we  have  enjoyed  and,  above  all,  for  ti 
Jesus  Christ  who  has  meant  much  in  our  lives  through  his  church  and  its  program.”  u 

n an  effort  to  be  more  specific,  I suggested  that  10  percent  should  be  the  minimum  ti 
to  give  to  church  causes  by  way  of  the  will.  This  would  be  in  keeping  with  the  giving-  a 
while-living  principle  or  the  tithe. 

“Another  alternative,  when  there  are  a number  of  children  and  the  holdings  are  '-  o 
modest,  as  in  your  case,  would  be  to  adopt  a church  cause  as  an  additional  child”  I « 
further  suggested.  “As  I mentioned  during  the  meeting,  this  could  include  causes  v 
such  as  missions,  relief,  educational  institutions,  hospitals,  homes  for  the  aging  and 
so  on.” 

Although  I always  hope  that  a few  in  the  audience  will  take  up  the  idea  of  adopt-  ii 
ing  a church  child,  I was  not  prepared  for  this  couple’s  reaction.  j 

Actually,  said  the  husband,  “we  want  to  adopt  three  church  children  to  share  ll 
equally  with  our  own  five  children.” 

These  people,  I feel,  are  living  by  this  paraphrase  of  Luke  12:20-21:  “As  you  n 
lay  up  treasures  for  yourself,  be  sure  you  also  are  rich  toward  God.”  a 

Harry  E.  Martens  o 


The  gift  » 

Joyce  Shutt  n 


Taking  my  broken  soul  V 

you  gently  knead  u 

with  fingers  of  love  ti 

this  lump  of  shattered  clay. 

With  vision  undaunted 

you  set  about  your  task  of  creation 

bringing  to  life  i 

a work  of  rarest  beauty. 

Beneath  your  firm  sustaining  touch 

you  mold  the  clay  of  my  life 

patiently  supporting 

tenderly  caressing 

deftly  encouraging 

till  my  broken  twisted  form  grows 

straight  and  true  in  gracefulness 

reborn  into  life 

unique  and  beautiful. 


I! 


646 


NOVEMBER  6,  1973 


REVIEW 


Bang  the  drum 

Bang  the  drum  slowly,  distributed  by 
Paramount  Pictures,  produced  by  Mau- 
rice and  Lois  Rosenfield,  directed  by 
John  Hancock,  and  based  on  a novel  by 
Mark  Harris,  is  reviewed  by  film  critic 
Dave  Pomeroy,  13  Madison  Ave.,  Os- 
j sining,  New  York  10562. 

Death  is  the  new  obscenity.  To  deal 
with  our  feelings  about  the  act  and  art 
I of  dying  is  too  threatening  for  most  of 
us  most  of  the  time. 

This  fact  of  current  life  is  what  makes 
Bang  the  drum  slowly  such  an  extra- 
ordinary film  experience.  With  real  sen- 
timent but  without  sentimentalizing,  by 
| using  baseball  as  a milieu  but  not  let- 
i ting  the  film  become  a “sports”  story, 
t and  through  impeccable  characteriza- 
' tions  and  warm,  witty  humor,  Drum  is 
I one  of  the  most  significant  films  to  deal 
with  the  human  interrelationships  in- 
volved in  the  act  of  dying. 

Comparisons  with  Brian’s  song  and 
even  Love  story  will  be  inevitable  but 
inaccurate.  For  whereas  these  two  films 
deal  primarily  with  twosomes  faced  with 
j the  death  of  one  of  the  pair,  part  of 
; the  genius  of  Drum  is  the  gradual  aware- 
ness of  a whole  team  (including  man- 
[ agement)  and  their  response  to  one  an- 
I other  as  well  as  the  dying  player.  The 
I irony  in  Henry  Wiggen’s  cynical  com- 
ment, “We  all  know  we’re  going  to  die; 
( that’s  why  people  are  so  nice  to  each 
other,”  is  disproved  in  a small  way  by 
[ the  New  York  Mammoths’  responsive- 
ness. 

At  first  it  is  only  superstar  pitcher 
Wiggen  (Michael  Moriarty) — intelligent, 

I wheeler-dealer,  charming  mixture  of  sen- 
timent and  cynicism — who  accompanies 


slowly 

his  roommate,  bumpkin,  third-string 
catcher  Bruce  Pearson  (Robert  de  Niro), 
to  the  Mayo  Clinic  where  Bruce  learns 
he  has  Hodgkin’s  disease.  Despite  their 
differences  in  background  and  person- 
ality, Henry  determines  that  Bruce’s  last 
year  shall  be  one  of  fulfillment.  So  he 
ties  Bruce  to  himself  contractually,  keeps 
the  knowledge  of  his  dying  from  a sus- 
picious manager,  and  only  begins  to  al- 
low the  information  out  in  a beautiful 
moment  when  he  confides  it  to  the  catch- 
er Bruce  replaced  in  order  to  stop  the 
team’s  “ragging”  of  Bruce. 

As  the  team  becomes  aware,  their  feel- 
ings about  themselves  and  subsequent  on- 
field play  improve  in  a subtly  meaning- 
ful counterpoint,  which  Henry  recog- 
nizes as  he  attends  Bruce’s  funeral  right 
after  the  Mammoths  have  won  the 
World  Series. 

Indeed,  relative  newcomer  director 
John  Hancock  uses  such  filmic  devices 
as  slow-motion  to  masterful  effect.  There 
is  not  an  ounce  of  fat  in  this  film. 

Some  incidental  baseball  detail  mars 
the  perfection  of  Drum : in  one  long- 
shot  we  see  the  bases  clear  after  a bat- 
ter has  just  doubled;  in  this  fictionalized 
setting  the  leagues  are  mixed  (the 
Mammoths  play  both  Baltimore  and  St. 
Louis).  For  the  real  sports  fan  there 
is  relatively  little  on-field  action,  but  of 
course  that’s  not  the  point.  Baseball  here 
acts  as  metaphor,  challenging  competi- 
tiveness as  the  basis  for  which  life-in- 
the-face-of-death  need  be  lived. 

It  is  Henry  Wiggen’s  fundamental  hu- 
man decency,  despite  cynicism  and  un- 
likeness to  his  dying  friend,  that  makes 
Bang  the  drum  slowly  a to-be-remem- 
bered  statement. 


Looking  Up  By  Joe  Giacalone 


Contents 


Giving  from  the  heart,  with  th 

e head  634 

News  

637 

Record  

642 

A meaningful  Christmas  that 
really  happened 

643 

Letters  

645 

Adopting  a church  "child 

646 

The  gift  

646 

Bang  the  drum  slowly  

647 

Uncritical  lovers  or  unloving 

critics  648 

How  to  live  on  less  than  $200 
per  year  

648 

COVER 

November  1 1 is  Stewardship  Sunday. 
The  material  on  the  cover  is  adapted 
from  several  pieces  produced  by  the 
Commission  on  Stewardship  of  the  Na- 
tional Council  of  Churches. 

CONTRIBUTORS 

H.  Lee  Brumback  is  Church  World  Serv- 
ice representative  in  Greece. 

Hilda  Janzen  lives  on  Route  3,  New- 
ton, Kans.  671  14. 

Harry  E.  Martens  is  estate  planning 
consultant  for  the  Mennonite  Founda- 
tion, 1110  North  Main,  Goshen,  Ind. 
46526. 

Joyce  Shutt's  address  is  Route  1, 
Orrtanna,  Pa.  17353. 

J.  L.  Willicuts  is  editor  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Friend,  600  East  Third  St.,  New- 
berg,  Ore.  97132. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Commission  on  Stewardship,  NCC; 
634,  637,  647,  RNS. 


Mennonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 

Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbor, 
Mich.  481  06. 


THE  MENNONITE 


647 


Uncritical  lovers  or  unloving  critics 

J.  L.  Willicuts 


In  his  annual  report,  David  Le  Shana,  presi- 
dent of  George  Fox  College,  quoted  from  an 
address  given  by  John  W.  Gardner  to  Cornell 
University.  Using  a prophetic  allegory,  Mr.  Gard- 
ner noted  the  observations  of  twenty-third-century 
scholars  regarding  twentieth-century  education  in 
America.  His  comments  could  very  well  apply 
to  the  organized  church: 

“The  twenty-third-century  scholars  made  an- 
other exceptionally  interesting  observation.  They 
pointed  out  that  twentieth-century  institutions 
were  caught  in  a savage  cross  fire  between  un- 
critical lovers  and  unloving  critics.  On  the  one 
side,  those  who  loved  their  institutions  tended  to 
smother  them  in  an  embrace  of  death,  loving 


their  rigidities  more  than  their  promise,  shielding 
them  from  life-giving  criticism.  On  the  other  side 
there  arose  a breed  of  critics  without  love,  skilled 
in  demolition  but  untutored  in  the  arts  by  which 
human  institutions  are  nurtured  and  strength- 
ened and  made  to  flourish.  Between  the  two  the 
institutions  perished. 

“The  twenty-third-century  scholars  understood 
that  where  human  institutions  were  concerned, 
love  without  criticism  brings  stagnation,  and  criti- 
mism  without  love  brings  destruction.  And  they 
emphasized  that  the  swifter  the  pace  of  change, 
the  more  lovingly  men  had  to  care  for  and  criti- 
cize their  institutions  to  keep  them  intact  through 
the  turbulent  passages.” 


How  to  live  on  less  than  $200  per  year 


There  are  many  reasons  why  giving  to  our 
Christian  world  mission  is  far  from  what  it  should 
and  could  be.  Surely  one  of  them  is  that  we  do 
not  understand  . . . really  understand  . . . how 
many  people  live  (for  “live”  read  “survive”). 

In  many  parts  of  the  world  today,  income  for 
a family  is  less  than  $200  a year!  Can  we  know 
what  it  means  to  live  on  less  than  $200  a year? 

In  a book  entitled  The  great  assent  Robert 
Heilbronner  suggests  twelve  steps  by  which  we 
comparatively  affluent  North  Americans  could 
learn  what  it  is  like.  He  takes  as  his  model  the 
typical  North  American  family  living  in  a small 
suburban  home.  Then  he  suggests  how  you  can 
refashion  your  expenses  to  meet  the  worldwide 
standard: 

First,  take  away  your  furniture,  except  for  a 
few  old  blankets,  a kitchen  table,  and  one  chair. 
Then  take  away  all  your  clothing,  except  for  the 
oldest  dress  and  one  shirt  or  blouse  for  each  mem- 
ber of  the  family.  Leave  only  one  pair  of  shoes 
for  the  head  of  the  household. 

Empty  the  pantry  and  refrigerator  except  for 


a small  bag  of  flour,  some  sugar  and  salt,  a few 
moldy  potatoes  for  tonight’s  dinner,  a handful  of 
onions,  and  a dish  of  dried  beans. 

Dismantle  the  bathroom,  shut  off  the  water, 
and  remove  the  electric  wiring.  Now,  take  away 
the  house  itself  and  move  into  the  toolshed.  Re- 
move all  the  other  houses  in  the  neighborhood 
and  set  up  a shantytown  in  their  place. 

Cancel  all  subscriptions  to  newspapers,  maga- 
zines, and  book  clubs.  (This  is  no  great  loss  since 
the  family  is  now  illiterate. ) 

Move  the  nearest  clinic  or  hospital  ten  miles 
away,  and  put  a midwife  in  charge  instead  of  a 
doctor. 

Throw  out  all  bankbooks,  stock  certificates, 
pension  plans,  and  insurance  policies  and  leave 
yourself  a hoard  of  only  $5.00. 

Give  the  head  of  the  family  three  tenant  acres 
to  cultivate.  On  this  he  can  raise  $300  in  cash 
crops,  of  which  one-third  will  go  to  the  landlord 
and  one-tenth  to  the  local  moneylender.  Lop  off 
twenty-five  to  thirty  years  from  your  fife  expect- 
ancy. Good  luck. 


OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


Ward  W.  Shelly 


It  was  at  the  Winnipeg  General  Con- 
ference sessions  of  1956  that  I was  first 
elected  to  the  mission  board  and  dis- 
covered the  wide  variety  of  concerns 
under  its  jurisdiction,  from  North  Amer- 
ican Indians  to  missions  around  the 
world,  city  churches  in  U.S.  and  Canada, 
and  homes  for  girls  in  Ontario — this  in 
addition  to  the  many  subcommittees  such 
as  church  unity,  ministerial,  and  evange- 
lism. 

The  executive  secretaries  who  served 
during  my  seventeen  years  with  the  board 
were  John  Thiessen,  Orlando  Waltner 
(acting),  Andrew  Shelly,  and  Howard 
Habegger,  but  it  was  really  Wilhelmina 
Kuyf  who  oriented  me  to  the  work  of 
the  board. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  experi- 
ences was  the  interviewing  of  missionary 
applicants.  To  hear  the  clear  testimony 
of  their  conversion,  their  faith,  and  their 
convictions  was  inspiring,  and  to  see 
young  doctors,  nurses,  and  others  from 
many  academic  areas  respond  to  the  call 
of  the  Lord  was  challenging.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  were  times  when  the 
board  had  to  reject  or  postpone  the 
sending  of  applicants  or  recall  a mis- 
sionary for  a variety  of  reasons.  This 
was  always  a time  of  real  heart  search- 
ing and  self-examination. 

There  were  times  of  crisis  on  the 
board,  times  of  sharp  differences.  During 
my  early  years  on  the  board  some  mem- 
bers would  temporarily  walk  out  of  the 
room,  weeping  audibly.  This  impressed 
upon  me  the  seriousness  with  which  each 
board  member  took  his  responsibility. 

I will  always  remember  S.  F.  Panna- 
becker.  At  first  I thought  he  was  disin- 
terested or  half  asleep  but  then  suddenly 
he  would  respond  with  an  answer  to  a 
difficult  situation. 

A colorful  member  was  J.  J.  Thiessen. 


When  there  was  a question  concerning 
the  support  of  projects  in  Canada  or  in 
South  America,  his  was  always  the  final 
word.  His  familiar  response  was,  “We 
must  do  it.” 

When  the  seminary  moved  out  of 
Chicago  and  the  matter  of  supporting 
the  Woodlawn  Church  came  up,  I moved 
that  we  support  the  church  with  the 
provision  that  Delton  Franz  remain  there 
at  least  three  years. 

When  the  board  hesitated  to  produce 
films  on  our  overseas  mission  work  be- 
cause of  cost,  I pressed  for  it  by  declar- 
ing it  was  not  as  expensive  as  the  sup- 
port we  were  giving  to  the  Every  Home 
Plan. 

These  have  been  years  of  transition, 
change,  and  innovation.  In  1959  we 
made  the  difficult  decision  to  cease  pay- 
ing native  evangelists  in  India  with  Amer- 
ican funds.  That  same  year  the  city 
church  committee  was  formed  by  the 
board,  making  a real  impact  on  the  con- 
ference. 

There  has  been  a complete  change  in 
the  operation  in  Zaire  during  which  time 
many  of  our  missionaries  underwent  se- 
vere strain  but  they  responded  nobly 
during  the  crisis,  and  native  leadership 
in  Zaire  is  in  a healthy  position. 

When  I first  joined  the  board.  Cath- 
olics in  Colombia  were  stoning  our  mis- 
sionaries. Today  they  are  studying  the 
Bible  together.  In  1960  we  investigated 
the  possibility  of  starting  a church  in 
Bogota.  Today  there  is  a full  and  thriving 
church  there  that  is  establishing  an  out- 
post in  another  part  of  the  city. 

The  remarkable  working  together  of 
Mennonite  boards  of  various  conferences 
is  a refreshing  experience. 

The  missionary  interest  and  evange- 
listic endeavors  of  our  lower  South 
American  brethren  and  the  establish- 


ment of  a lower  South  America  confer- 
ence has  been  a rewarding  experience. 
This  has  helped  to  eliminate  much  of  the 
earlier  tension  that  existed  among  the 
colonies  and  among  the  Indians,  the 
Paraguayans,  and  the  Mennonites. 

In  recent  months  all  mission  property 
in  India  has  been  assigned  to  an  Evan- 
gelical Trust  Association  in  India. 

Recently,  together  with  Mennonite 
Biblical  Seminary,  we  have  inaugurated 
a missionary  training  program  directed 
by  Robert  Ramseyer. 

The  visits  of  staff  and  board  person- 
nel to  the  fields  has  developed  during 
the  last  decade  or  so,  beginning  with 
Andrew  Shelly. 

There  were  some  areas  of  concern 
that  were  perennial  and  for  long  years 
defied  solution,  such  as  the  cost  of  the 
Every  Home  Plan  of  The  Mennonite, 
Bible  und  Pflug,  and  the  field  papers, 


Ward  Shelly 


650 


NOVEMBER  13,  1973 


Cracks 
in  a god’s 
great  rock 
chest 

Mary  Derksen 


as  well  as  the  handling  of  certain  per- 
sonnel problems,  difficult  situations  in 
Mexico,  and  how  much  to  spend  for 
bricks  and  mortar  on  the  mission  field. 

There  were  times  of  financial  crisis. 
Sometimes  this  was  relieved  by  the  re- 
ceiving of  bequests  or  by  a special  of- 
fering by  the  Berne  church  or  some  other 
congregation.  Then  there  was  the  faith- 
ful Women’s  Missionary  Organization, 
which  raised  substantial  amounts  for 
various  projects  and  for  general  use. 

For  a number  of  years  I was  chair- 
man of  the  evangelism  committee  under 
com.  The  congregations  became  engaged 
in  simultaneous  evangelism  programs 
with  a diversity  of  approaches.  A special 
effort  was  usually  made  between  Ash 
Wednesday  and  Pentecost.  Many  of  our 
pastors  conducted  evangelistic  services 
in  conference  churches.  J.  J.  Esau  was 
our  official  evangelist  and  for  many  years 
he  had  a busy  schedule.  We  had  an 
evangelistic  sermon  contest  and  winners 
of  the  best  evangelistic  sermons  were 
rewarded  with  a book  credit  at  a Men- 
nonite  bookstore. 

The  special  meeting  in  1972  called 
GPS  (goals,  priorities,  and  strategies), 
involving  board  members,  office  staff, 
missionaries,  and  representatives  from 
various  parts  of  the  world,  helped  us 
to  set  goals,  select  priorities,  and  plan 
strategy  for  the  1972-82  decade. 

At  this  point  in  history  there  is  a 
conflict  between  the  emphasis  on  over- 
seas missions  and  missions  at  home. 
While  the  need  at  home  is  tremendous, 
it  has  been  observed  that  to  minimize 
the  importance  of  overseas  mission  can 
cause  the  entire  program  of  a local 
church  to  dry  up.  God  loves  the  whole 
world  and  we  must  say  with  Jesus, 
“These  things  ye  ought  to  have  done 
and  not  let  the  other  undone.” 


The  blue  sky  stretches  above  us. 

Spring-green  bamboo  trees  wave  gently  on  the  hillsides. 

We  leave  the  valley 

and  climb  man-made  cement  log  steps. 

Our  guide  stops. 

Before  us  are  the  famous  stone  Buddhas  carved 
into  the  face  of  the  mountain. 

He  tips  his  hat  to-  the  gods 

and  begins  a detailed  description. 

There  are  many  gods,  great  and  small; 

some  with  faces  washed  away  by  the  storms  of  time. 
Time!  Yes,  thirteen  hundred  years,  maybe  longer, 
these  gods  have  stood  their  ground. 

Cracks  in  the  great  rock  chest 
and  a shoot  of  green  emerging. 

A weed!  God’s  curse  on  mankind  growing  from  a god! 

More  steps  . . . more  gods, 
carved  tediously  into  rock  by  man; 
carved  by  man,  wim  was 
created  by  God! 

Here  lies  a head,  fallen  from  its  body. 

There  rocks  prop  a deity,  cracked  and  broken. 

I turn  my  back  on  the  gods  to 
gaze  across  the  valley. 

I lift  my  eyes  to  the  hills  and  beyond.  . . 

to  the  Lord  who  made  them. 

Can  these  gods  make  such  a claim? 

No! 

They  just  sit,  day  after  day, 
year  after  year, 
century  after  century, 
in  the  same  spot  where  man  put  them, 
helpless,  gradually  crumbling 

despite  noble  efforts  to  save  them. 

“Look  to  me  and  be  saved, 

you  peoples  from  all  comers  of  the  earth; 

for  I am  God,  there  is  no  other!”  (Isa.  45:22,  New  English  Bible ) 


THE  MENNONITE 


651 


Secondary  education  in  Zaire 
Training  leaders 


John  E.  Klaassen 


Early  Congo  Inland  Mission  workers 
saw  education  as  an  avenue  of  wit- 
nessing to  the  love  of  God  and  as  a 
means  to  Christian  leadership  training. 
Primary  schools  were  thus  opened  soon 
after  cim  mission  work  began  in  the 
then  Belgian  Congo. 

During  the  1930s  Belgian  courses  and 
methods  of  study  were  introduced.  In- 
struction in  French  was  increased.  By 
1948  cim  accepted  Belgian  Government 
subsidies  for  its  schools.  During  the  1950s 
primary  school  graduates  had  a choice 
of  entering  prep  school  (a  preparatory 
year  for  students  interested  in  a full 
secondary  education)  or  eap  (a  two- 
year  teacher-training  school). 

Political  unrest  slowed  the  develop- 
ment of  a full  secondary  school  program 
in  the  cim  area.  Not  until  1967  did  the 
first  senior  secondary  school  class  of 
fifteen  students  obtain  state  diplomas. 
Since  that  time  six  cmza  (Mennonite 
Community  of  Zaire)  graduating  class- 
es, or  approximately  230  students,  have 
written  government  examinations  for 
state  diplomas. 

Though  Zaire’s  level  of  literacy  is 
claimed  to  be  around  80  percent,  sec- 
ondary school  enrollment  is  far  from 
this  level.  Only  a quarter  of  a million 
students  out  of  the  country’s  population 
of  twenty  million  were  in  secondary 
schools  in  1970-71.  These  students  were 
distributed  among  four  state-subsidized 
school  systems:  the  official  or  state,  Cath- 
olic separate,  Protestant  separate,  and 
Kimbanguist  separate  school  systems.  Of 


these,  the  Catholic  system  is  still  the 
largest,  having  about  three  times  as  many 
students  as  the  Protestant  system,  which 
is  second. 

Nearly  8,000  teachers  (1971  figures), 
of  which  over  3,000  were  foreigners, 
taught  in  these  school  systems.  In  the 
next  five  years,  with  more  and  more 
Zairian  students  graduating  from  higher 
institutions  of  learning,  the  ratio  of  Zair- 
ian to  foreign  secondary  school  teachers 
will  gradually  increase.  Since  there  is 
still  a great  shortage  of  qualified  teach- 
ers, the  implications  of  the  reduction  of 
foreign  teaching  personnel  may  not  be 
as  great  as  it  appears  on  the  surface. 
However,  in  developing  countries  this 
aspect  can  be  controlled  largely  by  the 
existing  or  changing  political  climate. 

The  Zaire  Mennonite  Church  Com- 
munity has  two  well-established  second- 
ary schools  and  another  six  in  various 
stages  of  development.  Each  school  is 
subsidized  by  the  state  and  follows  the 
state  course  of  study  and  organizational 
directives.  Each  school  has  one  or  two 
educational  emphases.  The  Nyanga  sec- 
ondary school  emphasizes  teacher  train- 
ing and  science  education  with  a chem- 
istry-biology option.  The  Mukedi  sec- 
ondary school’s  emphasis  is  on  teacher 
training.  The  cmza’s  developing  second- 
ary school  system  is  focusing  on  science 
with  a physics-math  option,  literature- 
history,  and  professional  training. 

Students  graduating  with  a pedagogy 
diploma  are  qualified  to  teach  at  the 
primary  school  level.  Students  graduat- 


ing with  a science  or  literature-history 
diploma  normally  go  into  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning. 

Whenever  anything  has  been  written 
in  the  past  about  education  in  Zaire,  the 
girl-to-boy  ratio  has  been  reported  as 
being  low.  The  reason  given  has  been 
the  conception  of  womanhood  held  by 
the  average  citizen.  Though  state  pri- 
mary school  statistics  today  show  a ra- 
tio of  about  two  girls  to  three  boys,  the 
same  records  show  a ratio  of  about  two 
girls  to  seven  boys  for  secondary  schools. 

The  ratio  tends  to  be  higher  in  city 
schools  than  in  country  schools.  For 
example,  the  secondary  school  ratio  for 
Kinshasa  is  two  girls  to  three  boys, 
whereas  for  cmza’s  Mukedi  secondary 
school  it  is  one  girl  to  ten  boys.  So  far 
only  one  Mennonite  girl  has  received  a \ 
state  diploma.  Overall,  there  is  a slow 
increase  in  the  girl-to-boy  ratio. 

Since  the  number  of  primary  schools 
and  their  enrollments  are  much  greater 
than  the  number  of  secondary  schools 
and  their  enrollments,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  a great  number  of  primary 
school  students  in  Zaire  never  have  the 
opportunity  to  go  to  secondary  school. 
State  statistics  indicate  that  for  one  hun- 
dred students  enrolled  in  primary  schools, 
there  are  only  about  eight  students  en- 
rolled in  secondary  schools.  The  problem  , 
is  more  acute  in  rural  schools  than  in  | 
city  schools.  | 

Cmza  primary  school  director  Lemba 
Francois  feels  that  about  50  percent  of  s 

students  in  Kikwit  primary  schools  en-  ( 


THE  MENNONITE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  C 

It  is  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church.  Second-class  postage  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 
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652 


NOVEMBER  13,  1973 


I 


Buildings  at  the  Nyanga  secondary  school  in  Zaire 


ter  secondary  schools.  Though  statistics 
to  that  effect  are  not  available,  it  is  like- 
ly that  for  cities  like  Kinshasa  and  Lu- 
bumbashi  the  percentage  of  primary 
school  graduates  entering  secondary 
schools  is  substantially  higher.  However, 
in  the  Mukedi  school  system,  junior 
high  school  counselor  Gumanda  Ven- 
ance  reports  that  over  a period  of  three 
years,  only  about  seventy  out  of  every 
300  primary  school  graduates  enter  our 
cmza  secondary  system. 

Though  all  phases  of  secondary  school 
activity  are  controlled  by  the  state  to 
some  degree,  the  most  direct  control  is 
exercised  in  the  matter  of  instruction. 
All  courses  are  state  courses,  and  state 
school  officials  occasionally  make  in- 
spections of  organizational,  administra- 
tive, and  instructional  procedures.  Senior 
students  obtain  secondary  school  diplo- 
mas only  after  having  successfully 
passed  a series  of  written,  oral,  and 
practical  state  examinations.  The  passing 
rate  in  these  examinations  has  in  bygone 
years  been  around  or  below  the  50 
percent  mark. 

In  recent  years  the  state  has  begun 
to  dictate  to  the  four  main  school  sys- 
tems which  types  of  secondary  schools 
they  will  be  allowed  to  open  in  any  giv- 
en area.  This  is  an  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  state  to  create  a balanced  dis- 
tribution of  schools  throughout  the  coun- 
try. 

In  addition  to  these  controls,  the 
state  insists  on  daily  patriotic  exercises 
during  which  official  chants,  yells,  and 
the  national  party  anthem  are  taught  and 
practiced. 

Aside  from  these  state  roles,  our  cmza 
church  still  enjoys  some  measure  of  con- 
trol over  its  secondary  schools.  Govern- 
ment communications  and  finances  to 


the  schools  are  fed  through  the  office  of 
the  church  legal  representative  instead 
of  being  sent  directly  to  the  school.  Di- 
rectors, teachers,  and  office  and  custo- 
dial staff,  foreign  or  local,  are  hired  and 
dismissed  by  this  same  office.  Construc- 
tion projects  for  educational  purposes 
are  initiated  and  carried  out  under  the 
direction  of  the  church. 

Possibly  one  of  the  most  important 
powers  the  church  still  has  is  in  the 
choice  of  a student  counselor  called  pre- 
fet  de  discipline.  Both  the  Nyanga  and 
the  Mukedi  secondary  schools  have  Chris- 
tian counselors.  Mukedi’s  counselor  is  an 
ordained  pastor. 

The  cmza,  through  its  appointed  coun- 
selors, is  able  to  direct  the  teaching  of 
Bible  and  Christian  ethics  in  the  sec- 
ondary school.  The  state  curriculum  al- 
lows for  moral  or  religious  education  in 
any  school.  Basically,  the  student  has 
the  right  to  choose  the  faith  in  which 
he  would  prefer  to  take  his  religious  in- 
struction. However,  the  student,  in  mak- 
ing application  to  our  cmza  school,  au- 
tomatically opts  for  instruction  in  the 
Protestant  faith.  Hence,  only  one  course 
in  religion  is  taught  to  all  our  students. 

The  freshman  course  contains  church 
history.  The  sophomore  and  junior  cours- 
es emphasize  Bible  doctrine,  and  the 
senior  course  deals  with  lessons  of  prac- 
tical Christian  living.  These  courses  are 
generally  taught  by  the  counselor. 

Aside  from  the  regular  classes,  morn- 
ing chapels  with  teacher,  student,  and 
local  pastor  participation  are  conducted 
daily.  Student  singing  groups  participate 
in  the  Sunday  morning  worship  services 
held  in  the  local  church.  In  some  cases 
Sunday  school  discussion  classes  are  or- 
ganized by  the  school  for  its  students. 

It  is  a sobering  activity  to  reminisce 


on  what  students  who  have  terminated 
their  secondary  education  in  our  schools 
are  doing  today.  Take,  for  example,  the 
1967  cmza  graduating  class  of  fifteen  stu- 
dents. From  that  group  has  come  a stu- 
dent at  etek  (the  Theology  School  of 
Kinshasa),  an  assistant  to  the  general 
secretary  of  the  National  University  of 
Lubumbashi,  a student  counselor  at  Ny- 
anga secondary  school,  a director  of  per- 
sonnel for  the  Protestant  Education  Of- 
fice in  Kinshasa,  a director  of  the  Men- 
nonite  Brethren  secondary  school  in 
Kikwit,  several  other  directors  in  Bap- 
tist, Mennonite  Brethren,  cmza,  and  state 
junior  high  schools,  and  a few  who  are 
continuing  their  education  in  the  Na- 
tional University  of  Zaire. 

It  is  sobering  because  in  six  years 
some  of  these  secondary  school  gradu- 
ates have  attained  heights  of  responsi- 
bility normally  given  only  to  men  who 
have  years  of  experience.  But  it  is  just 
as  sobering  to  think  in  terms  of  their 
potential  as  Christian  witnesses  in  these 
positions.  Have  they  in  the  past  received 
at  our  hands  enough  guidance,  coun- 
seling, and  instruction  to  be  able  now 
to  effectively  represent  the  claims  of 
Christ  wherever  they  may  go?  Are  pres- 
ent-day students  getting  enough  of  this 
Christian  guidance  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  because  of  the  teacher  shortage  we 
are  forced  to  take  into  our  schools  teach- 
ers of  all  shades  of  moral  conduct? 

In  view  of  what  has  been  said  above, 
can  we  withdraw  from  secondary  edu- 
cation in  Zaire?  No!  As  long  as  the 
doors  are  open,  we  have  a responsibility 
to  God  and  our  Zaire  Mennonite  broth- 
erhood to  aid  in  the  training  of  their 
young  people  until  they  can  staff  their 
schools  with  qualified  Christian  teach- 
ers. 


THE  MENNONITE 


653 


NEWS 


Western  District  adds  two  "house  churches" 


Two  congregations  were  admitted  to  the 
Western  District  Conference  at  its  an- 
nual session  October  19-21  in  Clinton, 
Oklahoma — but  with  more  than  the  rou- 
tine discussion  and  approval. 

The  new  congregations — Ecumenikos 
in  Johnson  County,  Kansas,  and  the  New 
Creation  Fellowship  in  Newton,  Kansas, 
have  different,  often  more  stringent, 
membership  requirements  from  most  oth- 
er congregations  in  the  district. 

The  conference,  which  met  in  a dirt- 
floored  cattle  ring  hung  with  beadwork 
and  banners  at  the  Custer  County  Fair- 
grounds near  Clinton,  was  hosted  by 
the  four  Indian  congregations  in  Okla- 
homa: Koinonia  Church,  Clinton;  Beth- 
el Church,  Hammon;  Mennonite  Indian 
Church,  Seiling;  and  Zion  Church,  Can- 
ton. The  attempt  for  exchange  between 
white  and  Indian  cultures  was  evidenced 
in  the  tours  of  the  area,  the  Indian  meal 
prepared  Saturday  evening,  and  the 
choice  of  the  conference  speaker — Cecil 
Corbett,  a Nez  Perce-Choctaw  who  is 
executive  director  of  the  Cook  Christian 
Training  School  in  Tempe,  Arizona. 


The  admission  of  the  two  new  church- 
es had  originally  been  scheduled  with 
seven  other  agenda  items  from  1:50  to 
3 p.m.  on  Friday,  the  first  day  of  the 
conference.  But  the  intense  discussion 
took  most  of  the  afternoon  and  part  of 
the  next  morning,  when  the  votes  were 
taken,  and  even  continued  on  Sunday 
afternoon. 

Most  of  the  discussion  concerned  Ecu- 
menikos, a congregation  started  last  year 
in  suburban  Kansas  City  by  five  denom- 
inations: General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  Christian  Church  (Disciples  of 
Christ),  United  Methodist  Church,  Unit- 
ed Church  of  Christ,  and  United  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  U.S.A.  The  West- 
ern District  Mennonite  Conference  was 
the  fifth  denominational  body  to  accept 
the  congregation  into  membership. 

Ecumenikos  staff  member  Terry  Wood- 
bury told  the  conference  that  the  con- 
gregation has  thirty  “covenant”  mem- 
bers and  seventy  others  who  participate 
in  worship,  house  churches,  and  deci- 
sion making.  The  congregation  is  highly 
pluralistic  and  has  attracted  many  young 


Music  and  pantomime  combined  for  “The  Lord's  Prayer"  during  the  communion 
service  Sunday  afternoon. 


adults  who  had  earlier  rejected  Chris- 
tianity. 

Ecumenikos’  definition  of  membership 
immediately  sparked  controversy  on  the 
conference  floor.  The  principal  questions 
concerned  the  congregation’s  failure  to 
subscribe  to  the  General  Conference 
statement  of  faith  and  its  admitting  to 
full  participation  those  who  had  not 
become  covenant  members  and  who  have 
not  confessed  the  centrality  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

“No,  as  a congregation,  we  do  not 
accept  the  General  Conference  state- 
ment of  faith,”  said  Mr.  Woodbury. 
“No  denomination  can  expect  us  to  look 
like  their  denominational  church  if  we 
are  to  carve  an  ecumenical  future.” 

Covenant  members  sign  an  ecumenical 
faith  definition  which  acknowledges  the 
Christian  tradition  and  the  centrality  of 
Jesus  Christ,  making  a commitment  of 
time  and  money,  and  write  a personal 
covenant  with  the  church  community. 
“This  personal  covenant  catches  more  of 
the  Anabaptist  sense  of  Ecumenikos  than 
anything  else,”  Mr.  Woodbury  said. 

“Most  people  in  my  denomination 
(Presbyterian),”  he  said,  “don’t  know 
what  they  believe  when  they  say,  ‘I 
will,  I will,  I will.’  That  would  not  be 
the  case  with  Ecumenikos.” 

A number  of  members  of  the  con- 
gregation, including  those  who  are  not 
covenant  members,  have  requested  and 
participate  in  a theology  house  church, 
which  is  seeking  to  develop  a theology 
for  the  congregation. 

“I  have  felt  very  good  about  the  at- 
titude of  Ecumenikos,”  said  Ron  Kreh- 
biel,  chairman  of  the  home  mission  com- 
mittee. “They  are  endeavoring  to  do 
something  our  Anabaptist  forefathers 
did — reach  outside  the  denominational 
lines.” 

The  New  Creation  Fellowship,  an  in- 
tentional community  of  nine  adults  re- 
ceived less  discussion  because  of  the 
press  for  time. 

But  some  delegates  admitted  feeling 
threatened  by  the  high  commitment  the 
fellowship  requires  of  members.  The  nine 
adults  and  their  children  live  in  three 
houses  on  the  same  block  in  Newton, 
meet  for  worship  and  decision  making, 
share  all  income,  practice  church  dis- 


i 


i1 

ii 

tl 


'll' 


654 


NOVEMBER  13,  1973 


In  the  setting  of  a red-dirt  cattle  ring  at  the  Custer  County  Fairgrounds,  delegates 
discussed  the  admitting  of  two  new  congregations  to  the  Western  District  Conference. 


cipline  according  to  Matthew  18:15-22, 
and  seek  to  live  a “life  of  Christian  dis- 
cipleship  and  sharing  in  the  spirit  of 
God’s  love.” 

John  Braun  of  Buhler,  Kansas,  com- 
mented, “They  set  standards  of  economic 
sharing  far  beyond  what  I see  elsewhere 
in  the  church  and  far  beyond  what  I 
am  prepared  to  do.  If  the  active  mem- 
bers in  my  home  church  even  tithed 
their  income,  we  would  have  a budget 
of  $1,000,000  a year.  But  I’m  glad  to 
be  threatened  in  this  way.” 

One  questioner  asked  why  they  could 
not  join  one  of  the  other  General  Con- 
ference churches  in  Newton. 

“I  suppose  we  have  much  the  same 
reasons  other  churches  in  Newton  had 
for  starting,”  said  fellowship  member 
David  Janzen.  “They  had  certain  needs 
that  were  not  met  in  the  congregations 
v/here  they  were  and  found  that  by  draw- 
ing together  with  others  they  could  meet 
those  needs.” 

The  doctrinal  question  came  up  again. 
“We  have  no  problem  saying  yes  to  the 
General  Conference  statement  of  faith, 
but  it  is  out  of  our  style  to  witness  in 
that  form.  Our  biggest  witness  as  a 
community  is  simply  our  life  together 
of  love  and  sharing,”  a fellowship  mem- 
ber answered. 

The  affirmative  votes  for  both  groups 


were  comfortably  over  the  two-thirds 
majority  needed:  313-112  for  Ecumeni- 
kos  and  300-103  for  New  Creation  Fel- 
lowship. 

Invited  speaker  Cecil  Corbett  told  the 
conference  that  the  gospel  should  be  in- 
clusive of  all  peoples.  “We  need  to  de- 
velop a mission  to  that  mosaic  called 
man  and  develop  an  openness  to  enter 
into  dialog,”  he  said. 

Mr.  Corbett  said  Indians  are  searching 
for  identity  and  a new  social  order.  The 
gospel  must  be  preached  in  a way  which 
does  not  destroy  the  things  of  value  in 
Indian  religion. 

“The  church  has  been  too  much  in- 
terested in  supplanting  the  Indian  faith 
rather  than  supplementing,  or  comple- 
menting, it,”  Mr.  Corbett  said. 

Tours  on  Saturday  afternoon  took 
conference-goers  to  the  site  of  the  Bat- 
tle of  the  Washita,  where  Custer’s  troops 
massacred  almost  an  entire  Cheyenne 
village  in  1868,  to  the  burial  ground  of 
the  Bethel  Church,  to  a hog-raising  proj- 
ect which  is  being  helped  with  some 
General  Conference  funds,  and  to  an 
Indian  museum. 

The  conference  ended  Sunday  after- 
noon with  a sermon  by  Mr.  Corbett, 
responses  from  delegates,  and  commu- 
nion, which  included  fry  bread. 


Participants  in  the  conference  spent  Sat- 
urday afternoon  touring  the  cemetery  of 
the  Bethel  Mennonite  Church  ( above ) 
and  the  site  of  the  Battle  of  the  Wa- 
shita. 


THE  MENNONITE 


655 


Pastors'  evaluation  forms  prepared 


Evaluation  forms  for  pastors  and  church 
councils  have  been  developed  by  the 
General  Conference  ministerial  place- 
ment office  and  are  available  to  congre- 
gations, said  D.  C.  Wedel,  ministerial 
placement  director. 

The  forms  are  an  attempt  to  help  the 
pastor  evaluate  himself  and  the  church 
council  evaluate  the  pastor  six  months 
before  his  term  expires.  The  forms  are 
not  ends  in  themselves,  however,  but 
are  designed  to  initiate  conversation  be- 
tween the  pastor  and  council,  to  clarify 
their  relationship,  and  to  help  them  work 
out  their  differences. 

Mr.  Wedel  hopes  the  forms  will  elim- 


inate such  experiences  as  a pastor’s  be- 
ing voted  out  without  his  ever  finding 
out  why,  or  a congregation’s  becoming 
unhappy  with  a pastor  because  of  one 
aspect  of  his  work  but  never  looking  at 
his  total  job. 

The  forms — one  for  the  pastor  and 
a corresponding  one  for  the  church 
council — have  been  mailed  in  prelimi- 
nary form  to  district  ministers,  district 
presidents,  and  ministerial  committees. 

Mr.  Wedel  said  one  congregation  had 
already  requested  the  forms,  which  were 
expected  to  be  off  the  press  in  October. 

“Some  ministers  may  feel  threatened 
by  the  forms,”  said  Mr.  Wedel,  “but  the 


evaluation  goes  on  anyway  every  week.” 

The  forms  will  try  to  bring  the  eval- 
uation process  into  the  open. 

The  minister’s  self-evaluation  form 
will  help  him  determine  how  well  he 
thinks  he  is  doing  and  to  check  if  there 
are  areas  he  is  neglecting. 

The  council’s  evaluation  form  asks 
questions  about  the  tasks  of  the  council 
and  the  pastor.  It  can  help  the  pastor 
to  know  how  the  council  members  are 
feeling  and  the  council  to  realize  what 
areas  of  work  it  is  delegating  to  the 
pastor. 

Mr.  Wedel  said  similar  forms  are  being 
used  in  other  denominations. 


Summer  service:  Receiving  and  giving 


The  following  article  was  written  by 
seventeen-year-old  Carol  Ann  Gilliom  of 
Bluffton,  Indiana , who  participated  in 
a General  Conference  work  c amp  last 
summer  in  Champaign-Urbana,  Illinois. 
“This  is  my  second  work  camp,”  she 
said.  “The  experiences  are  too  rewarding 
to  be  kept  quiet.” 

After  traveling  200  miles,  I stood  in 
front  of  the  voluntary  service  unit  in 
Champaign,  Illinois,  on  a hot  June  day. 
I knocked  on  the  door  and  said  nervous- 
ly, “Hi,  I’m  Carol.” 

To  this,  I felt  a puzzled  “Who?”  from 
the  volunteer  opening  the  door.  Here  I 
was  in  blue-jean  shorts,  a “War  is  not 
healthy  for  children  and  other  living 
things”  T-shirt,  sweaty  palms,  and  a 
nervous  smile.  I was  ready  to  change 
the  world. 

I met  the  two  other  work  campers, 
Linda  Schrag  and  Wynette  Flickner 
from  Kansas,  and  the  six  resident  vol- 
unteers. Our  bedroom  consisted  of  a 
corner  of  the  living  room.  Bedspreads 
were  hung  from  the  ceiling  as  walls, 
sleeping  bags  served  as  beds,  and  suit- 
cases took  the  place  of  chests  of  drawers. 

The  first  week  was  spent  getting  to 
know  the  volunteers,  the  community, 
and  the  church.  We  worked  at  the  Car- 
roll  Addition  Community  Center  with 
our  work  camp  leader,  Bob  Voth,  who 
is  the  center’s  director.  Here  we  set  up 
a library  and  cleaned  up  the  office  and 
recreation  room.  We  worked  and  played 
with  the  children,  who  ranged  from  ele- 
mentary age  to  junior  high. 

That  Sunday  we  met  the  people  of  the 
Mennonite  church  in  Champaign-Urbana. 


They  seemed  excited  with  having  their 
first  work  camp  in  the  unit. 

From  July  5-12  volunteer  Amelia  Lehl, 
Pastor  Jim  Dunn,  and  we  three  work 
campers  participated  in  a bicycle  tour 
of  Mennonite  city  churches  and  VS  units 
in  Illinois.  The  280.3  miles  of  pedaling 
was  with  seventeen  other  Christians  and 
the  Out-Spokin’  group  from  Elkhart,  In- 
diana. This  tour  helped  us  to  learn  to 
appreciate  our  muscles,  our  beautiful 
countryside,  and  the  hard  work  of  Chris- 
tians giving  their  lives  as  a service  to 
Jesus  Christ. 

We  began  our  last  two  weeks  with 
the  unit  with  a relaxing  picnic  in  a park 
in  the  country.  That  week  we  three 
worked  at  the  Empty  Tomb,  run  by  a 
group  of  Christians  who  distribute  food, 
clothing,  and  concern.  When  not  work- 
ing there,  we  worked  at  the  center  with 
Bob  or  helped  Jim  with  secretarial  work 
at  the  church. 

A new  volunteer,  Gladys  Diener,  ar- 
rived while  we  were  in  Champaign.  She 
became  like  a sister  to  me — someone  I 
could  turn  to  with  problems  and  joys. 
One  afternoon  Linda,  Wynette,  Gladys, 
and  I canvassed  three  city  blocks  for 
Key  73.  This  experience  expanded  our 
minds  with  other  people’s  views  and  out- 
looks on  life. 

Our  last  week  in  Champaign  was  spent 
assistant  teaching  at  Bible  school  with 
elementary  children  and  working  at  the 
center.  The  week,  like  the  month,  passed 
too  quickly  and  soon  it  was  Friday, 
July  27,  our  last  day  to  be  together. 
That  evening  the  church  had  an  ice 
cream  social.  Jim  Dunn  presented  us 
certificates  of  thanks  for  sharing  with 


them  and  the  community  for  a month. 

The  Christian  brotherhood  of  the 
church  and  VS  unit  strengthened  my  be- 
lief in  our  Christian  duty  of  service. 
My  work  camp  experience  cannot  be 
chalked  up  as  just  another  experience  to 
be  forgotten.  I didn’t  change  the  world, 
but  maybe  I helped  a small  part  of  it. 

Illinois  pastors 
meet  jointly 

Thirty-five  ministers  from  General  Con- 
ference and  Mennonite  Church  congre- 
gations attended  the  Illinois  Mennonite 
ministers’  retreat  October  7-8  at  Camp 
Menno  Haven,  Tiskilwa,  Illinois. 

The  retreat  was  jointly  sponsored  by 
the  Central  District  Conference  and  the 
Illinois  Conference. 

The  group  heard  J.  C.  Wenger,  pro- 
fessor at  Associated  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminaries,  Elkhart,  Indiana,  give  two 
lectures  on  “Principles  of  biblical  in- 
terpretation.” John  Howard  Yoder,  an- 
other ambs  professor,  shared  two  lec- 
tures on  practical  hermaneutics:  “ ‘Rulers 
of  the  Gentiles’  and  the  problem  of  the 
state”  (Mt.  20:25)  and  “A  new  world 
view  on  the  role  of  persons  in  the  New 
Testament”  (2  Cor.  5:17). 

Willard  Claassen,  Christian  education 
specialist  at  Hesston  College,  Hesston, 
Kansas,  led  sessions  on  group  process 
and  decision  making.  Milo  Kauffman, 
interim  pastor  at  Morton,  Illinois,  gave 
two  meditations  on  Christian  steward- 
ship, and  Emma  Richards,  copastor  at 
the  Lombard  (Illinois)  Church,  gave 
the  communion  meditation.  J.  Frederick 
Erb 


656 


NOVEMBER  13,  1973 


Taiwan  hospital  warehouse  burns 

Fire  destroyed  a warehouse  containing  medical  supplies  and  equipment  October  4 
at  Mennonite  Christian  Hospital,  Hwalien,  Taiwan.  Roland  Brown,  medical  director 
for  the  hospital,  said  the  loss  was  probably  about  $40,000,  including  the  frame 
structure,  bulk  storage  of  drugs,  and  a shipment  of  hospital  and  medical  supplies 
which  had  arrived  from  Mennonite  Central  Committee  only  a few  hours  before. 
Insurance  will  cover  about  half  the  loss.  Above,  off-duty  employees  and  friends  of 
the  hospital  salvage  some  canned  goods  and  soap  from  the  rubble  of  the  building. 

Evangelicals  plan  declaration 


Evangelical  leaders  will  gather  in  Chi- 
cago November  23-25  for  a workshop 
to  prepare  a declaration  on  evangelicals 
and  social  concern. 

In  announcing  the  strategy  session, 
which  will  take  place  at  the  Wabash 
Street  ymca,  Ronald  J.  Sider,  acting 
director  of  Messiah  College  in  Phila- 
delphia, commented: 

“A  development  of  historic  significance 
has  clearly  occurred  in  the  last  decade. 
Eight  years  ago  the  ‘death  of  God’  the- 
ology captured  national  headlines;  today 
Key  73  and  the  Jesus  people  have  re- 
placed that  deceased  fad.  A conservative 
religious  tide  is  sweeping  the  country. 
Theological  conservatives  constitute  a 
‘new  religious  majority.’  ” 

In  this  respect,  Mr.  Sider  said,  the 
workshop  will  tackle  one  major  ques- 
tion: “How  can  evangelicals  best  meet 
the  challenge  of  this  new  development 
and  take  advantage  of  this  historic  op- 
portunity to  proclaim  the  entire  biblical 
message  of  concern  for  the  whole  man?” 

More  than  fifty  evangelicals  have  been 
invited  to  take  part.  Among  the  invited 
participants  are:  Joseph  Bayly,  vice-pres- 
ident, David  C.  Cook  Publishing  Co., 


Elgin,  Illinois;  Dale  Brown,  of  the 
Church  of  the  Brethren;  Leighton  Ford, 
evangelist;  Mark  Hatfield;  Carl  F.  H. 
Henry,  editor-at-large,  Christianity  To- 
day; Rufus  Jones,  general  director,  Con- 
servative Baptist  Home  Mission  Society, 
Wheaton,  Illinois. 

Also,  William  J.  Petersen,  executive 
editor,  Eternity  magazine;  Paul  Rees, 
vice-president-at-large,  World  Vision; 
Tom  Skinner,  president,  Tom  Skinner 
Associates;  and  Foy  Valentine,  executive 
secretary.  Southern  Baptist  Christian 
Life  Commission. 

Mennonite  politician 
takes  case  to  court 

Two  Winnipeg  Mennonites  have  been 
drawn  into  a major  political  controversy 
in  Manitoba.  In  the  process  the  Menno- 
nite community  has  become  divided. 

Alfred  Penner,  a Mennonite  Brethren 
layman,  gave  Premier  Ed  Schreyer  a 
close  fight  in  the  Rossmere  riding  in  the 
June  29  provincial  elections.  Only  a 
few  hundred  votes  separated  the  two. 

The  returning  officer  for  Rossmere  was 
George  Epp,  a professor  at  the  University 


of  Manitoba  and  Mennonite  Brethren 
Bible  College  and  a lay  minister  at  the 
Springfield  Heights  Mennonite  Church. 

After  the  election,  Mr.  Penner  chal- 
lenged the  legality  of  the  vote,  basing  his 
case  on  the  Election  Act,  which  reads 
that  no  “ministers,  priests,  or  ecclesias- 
tics under  any  form  or  profession  of 
religious  faith  or  worship”  are  to  per- 
form the  duties  of  returning  officers. 

Mr.  Penner  has  now  taken  this  case 
to  court,  asking  that  the  election  be 
voided. 

Mr.  Epp  said  he  had  taken  the  Elec- 
tion Act’s  clause  on  clergymen  to  mean 
people  who  hold  positions  such  as  pas- 
tors or  leaders  of  congregations  when 
he  took  the  assignment. 

Mr.  Penner’s  decision  to  make  an 
issue  out  of  the  “minister’s”  position  has 
hurt  Mr.  Epp.  Because  Mr.  Epp  was 
appointed  by  the  provincial  New  Demo- 
cratic (socialist)  government,  rumors 
about  his  “lack  of  Christian  commit- 
ment” began  to  circulate  in  the  commu- 
nity. Some  people  in  Rossmere  and  else- 
where in  the  province  equate  the  NDP 
type  of  socialism  with  communism.  Calls 
to  the  Epp  residence  became  so  abusive 
that  they  finally  had  to  get  an  unlisted 
telephone  number. 

As  of  this  writing,  it  is  not  known 
when  the  case  will  be  heard  before  the 
courts.  Meanwhile  it  has  become  a na- 
tional front-page  story.  Two  Mennonite 
adversaries  in  the  political  ring  make 
big  headlines. 

Alberta  congregations 
sponsor  missions  workshop 

Rosemary,  Vauxhall,  Taber,  and  Coal- 
dale  Mennonite  churches  in  Alberta  held 
a joint  missions  workshop  recently,  with 
Paul  Boschman  as  speaker. 

Mr.  Boschman,  employed  by  both  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  and 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  told  workshop  participants  that 
missions  is  not  just  for  those  who  go 
away  from  their  home  town  but  for 
everyone. 

Mr.  Boschman,  a former  missionary 
in  Japan,  told  of  the  structure  of  the 
Japanese  church,  which  was  based  on 
the  talents  of  the  members.  There  were 
those  who  could  administer,  those  who 
could  preach,  those  who  could  pray, 
those  who  could  teach,  and  those  who 
could  witness.  This  constituted  a simple 
structure  and  allowed  each  member  to 
do  his  part  with  the  gift  he  had.  Mary 
Anne  Wiebe 


THE  MENNONITE 


657 


Words  & deeds 

A day-care  program  that  began  with  two 
children  three  years  now  has  expanded 
to  forty-two  children  in  two  day-care 
centers  in  Hutchinson,  Kansas.  Spon- 
sored by  First  Church  in  Hutchinson, 
the  program  is  the  largest  child  devel- 
opment program  in  town.  It  receives 
federal  funds  for  the  school  lunch  pro- 
gram, commodities  from  the  U.S.  De- 
partment of  Agriculture,  grants  from  the 
United  Fund  and  federal  revenue  shar- 
ing, federal  reimbursement  for  parents 
who  cannot  afford  to  pay  more  than  ten 
or  twenty  cents  a day,  and  free  Neigh- 
borhood Youth  Corps  workers.  The  cen- 
ters have  also  become  a lab  for  nursing 
students  and  college  students.  Six  vol- 
untary service  workers  are  now  assigned 
to  the  day-care  centers.  The  day-care 
concern  began  in  two  Sunday  school 
classes  five  years  ago. 


An  MCC  volunteer  in  Nigeria,  Martha 
Graber,  was  among  100  chosen  to  help 
with  national  education  planning  in  Sep- 
tember. Ms.  Graber,  Freeman,  South 
Dakota,  was  one  of  seven  members  of 
the  home  economics  group  working  on 
curriculum  reform  at  a workshop  spon- 
sored by  the  Nigeria  Educational  Re- 
search Council.  Participants  were  se- 
lected from  nominations  by  the  various 
state  ministries  of  education,  state  school 
boards,  and  universities.  Ms.  Graber,  a 
member  of  the  faculty  of  education  at 
Ahmadu  Bello  University,  represented 
the  northern  region. 


Once  a month  chapel  at  Freeman  Junior 
College  takes  on  a new  format.  On  this 
day  all  students  and  faculty  members 
divide  into  teams  and  walk  over  to  the 
Salem  home  for  the  aged  for  the  chapel 
period.  Instead  of  group  worship,  each 
team  goes  into  a different  room  to  visit 
with  the  residents  there.  The  idea  was 
suggested  by  Harriet  Rutschman,  fjc’s 
Spanish  instructor. 


A million  dollars  are  needed  to  help 
some  13,000  refugees  from  different 
parts  of  Latin  America  to  leave  Chile. 
The  World  Council  of  Churches  is  mak- 
ing an  appeal  to  raise  this  amount  from 
church-related  agencies.  The  council  has 
stressed  the  urgency  of  the  situation  since 
those  refugees  wishing  to  leave  must  do 
so  by  December  31.  The  refugees  are 
being  processed  by  the  Chilean  National 
Refugee  Committee,  which  consists  of 


representatives  from  Lutheran,  Meth- 
odist, Methodist  Pentecostal,  and  Roman 
Catholic  churches. 


The  Dutch  Mennonite  Peace  Group  cel- 
ebrated its  fiftieth  anniversary  at  its  an- 
nual conference  in  Elspeet,  Netherlands, 
this  summer.  The  celebration  also  hon- 
ored Cor  Inja,  who  has  served  for  twen- 
ty-five years  as  a counselor  for  conscien- 
tious objectors.  Mr.  Inja,  who  bases  his 
pacifism  on  the  New  Testament,  has 
counseled  at  least  5,000  conscientious 
objectors  during  his  years  of  service. 


The  Situation 


William  Keeney,  secretary  of  studies  for 
the  mcc  Peace  Section,  represented 
North  American  Mennonites  at  the  cele- 
bration. 


Cantos  deLibertad,  or  Songs  of  free- 
dom, is  the  name  of  the  new  hymnal 
produced  by  the  Honduras  Mennonite 
Church  this  year.  It  was  produced  in 
order  to  gather  hymns,  songs,  and  chor- 
uses that  are  Latin  or  at  least  adapted 
to  the  Latin  environment.  A set  of  cas- 
settes has  been  prepared  to  aid  in  learn- 
ing the  songs. 


DOLLAR 

DEVALUATION 

HURTING 

OVERSEAS 

MISSION 


It  is  costing  $50,000  more  this  year  for  the  same  overseas  mission  work  than 
was  budgeted  for  1973  because  ... 

• The  dollar  was  devalued  by  10  percent  two  weeks  after  the  1973  COM 
program  was  finalized. 

• Inflation  is  worse  in  most  countries  than  in  North  America  (double  our  rate 
in  Japan  and  triple  our  rate  in  Colombia). 

Examples 

• Allowances  in  Zaire  had  to  be  increased  $54  per  month  per  missionary. 

• In  Japan  our  program  is  costing  $2,500  more  than  what  was  originally 
needed. 

Options 

OPTION  A:  Increased  giving  this  fall  and  in  1974. 

OPTION  B:  Reduce  the  overseas  program  in  1974.  Our  mission  program  must 
match  available  funds. 

Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114 

600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,  Man.  R3P  0M4 


658 


NOVEMBER  13,  1973 


Good  food  is  the  best  medicine 


The  following  report  was  prepared  by 
Frieda  Neufeld,  an  MCC  volunteer  in 
Bangladesh. 

He  looked  like  a corpse. 

Barely  breathing,  Naim  could  not 
stand  or  sit  by  himself.  And  he  would 
not  eat.  Judging  by  his  bone  structure, 
I took  him  to  be  four  or  five  years  old 
when  he  was  brought  to  us  six  weeks 
ago  by  his  parents. 

Our  child  feeding  center  in  Saidpur 
was  already  full.  All  nine  cribs  were 
occupied,  with  thirty  more  babies  and 
children  on  mats  on  the  floor.  But  when 
a mother  comes  begging  us  to  take  an- 
other starving  youngster,  we  cannot  say 
no. 

Last  May,  Sylvia  Schwab,  who  is  a 
Swiss  nurse,  and  I came  to  open  a feed- 
ing center  for  mcc  in  Saidpur  in  north- 
western Bangladesh.  This  is  no  normal 
town.  It  is  teeming  with  refugee  fam- 
ilies living  in  warehouses,  railway  cars, 
bamboo  shelters,  and  even  in  an  unfin- 
ished cinema  hall,  pushing  the  town’s 
population  to  one  hundred  thousand, 
twice  its  normal  size. 

These  are  Biharis,  the  non-Bengali 
Muslims  of  Bangladesh,  who  have  come 
to  this  railway  center  to  huddle  together 
for  safety  with  others  of  their  kind  who 
were  already  living  there.  Though  many 
of  them  worked  for  the  railroad,  gov- 
ernment, or  industry  before  Bangladesh 
won  its  independence  from  Pakistan  in 
1971,  they  are  now  without  work. 

The  Biharis  are  political  and  social 
outcasts.  The  country’s  new  government 
would  like  to  send  them  to  Pakistan, 
one  thousand  miles  away,  a country  in 
which  neither  they  nor  any  of  their  an- 
cestors have  ever  lived.  The  Bengalis 
want  to  get  rid  of  them  because  they 


A child-care  worker  gives  a bottle  to 
one  of  the  forty  babies  at  the  MCC  chil- 
dren’s center  in  Scddpur,  Bangladesh. 


supported  or  supposedly  supported  Pak- 
istan against  the  Bengalis  in  the  struggle 
for  independence.  They  are  thus  refugees 
in  a country  where  most  of  them  have 
lived  for  more  than  twenty  years. 

With  food  in  extremely  short  supply, 
the  children  suffer  first  and  most  of  all. 
We  started  to  tube  feed  Naim  right  away 
in  order  to  get  some  fluids  into  his  body. 
Slowly  he  improved. 

How  much  better  he  looks  today! 
He  has  changed  remarkably,  more  than 
we  ever  expected.  He  eats,  sits  up,  and 
has  started  to  walk.  He  even  smiles.  He 
now  has  a good  chance  to  survive  and 
his  parents  are  overjoyed. 

We  begin  each  day  at  nine  in  the 
morning  with  our  forty  children.  Before 
they  return  home  at  four  in  the  after- 
noon, we  have  given  them  at  least  three 
meals  and  have  treated  them  for  sores 
or  infections.  Under  this  intensive  care, 
they  gain  weight  rapidly  and  in  six  or 
eight  weeks  can  be  discharged. 

When  these  children  no  longer  need 
to  come  to  our  clinic,  they  are  added 
to  the  list  of  more  than  250  children 
to  whom  we  send  food  every  day.  Three 
times  a day  we  prepare  cereal,  CSM, 
or  WSB  (the  latter  two  being  special 

Head  named  for  mental 

Jack  J.  Fransen,  Fresno,  California,  will 
direct  the  mental  retardation  program 
for  Mennonite  Mental  Health  Services 
the  next  two  years.  The  assignment 
will  begin  January  1,  1974. 

Mr.  Fransen  currently  is  chief  social 
worker  at  the  Central  Valley  Regional 
Center  for  the  mentally  retarded,  a six- 
county  program  operated  by  Kings  View 
of  Reedley  under  a contract  with  the 
State  of  California.  He  has  been  with 
the  center  since  its  beginning  in  1969. 
He  is  responsible  for  recruiting,  plan- 
ning, and  directing  a social  service  pro- 
gram for  2,000  mentally  retarded  indi- 
viduals and  their  families,  involving 
twenty-five  social  workers  and  four  so- 
cial work  supervisors. 

Prior  to  coming  to  Fresno,  Mr.  Fran- 
sen served  as  social  worker  in  several 
Canadian  programs.  From  1957  to  1967 
he  was  connected  with  Indian  affairs  of- 
fices in  the  provinces  of  Ontario,  Mani- 
toba, and  Alberta.  He  is  a graduate  of 
Bethel  College  in  Kansas,  with  a mas- 
ter’s degree  in  social  work  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Toronto. 

The  services  of  Mr.  Fransen  as  a con- 


food  preparations  — corn/soya/ milk  or 
wheat/soya  blend).  Volunteer  student 
workers  take  this  prepared  food  through- 
out the  town  and  the  camps  by  bicycle, 
rickshaw,  and  even  by  foot. 

In  the  near  future,  we  are  expecting 
a shipment  of  milk  powder  from*  the 
Swiss  Mennonite  churches.  We  will  then 
open  several  milk  feeding  centers. 

In  order  to  find  the  most  severe  cases 
of  malnutrition,  we  have  a team  of  vol- 
unteers measuring  each  child  in  Saidpur 
by  the  QUAC  Stick — a measure  of  a 
child’s  arm  circumference  in  ratio  to  his 
height.  This  method,  which  was  developed 
by  a Quaker  relief  team  in  Nigeria,  is 
a reliable  guide  that  finds  the  children 
who  need  medical  and  nutritional  aid. 

We’re  not  always  as  successful  with 
other  children  as  we  were  with  Naim. 
Nadeem  was  a tiny  seven-months-old 
child  who  weighed  no  more  than  a two- 
months  infant.  He  was  loved  by  every- 
one. But  when  he  was  a few  weeks  old, 
his  mother  became  ill,  and  he  experi- 
enced some  feeding  problems.  He  had 
been  with  us  about  three  weeks  when  he 
became  ill.  We  did  everything  we  could 
for  him,  but  nothing  seemed  to  help. 
Ten  days  later  he  died. 

retardation  program 


Jack  J.  Fransen 


sultant  and  advisor  are  being  made  avail- 
able to  the  broader  Mennonite  con- 
stituency. He  will  help  parents,  congre- 
gations, conferences,  and  other  church 
agencies  meet  their  responsibilities  for 
the  mentally  handicapped.  He  expects 
to  assess  needs  and  resources  in  Menno- 
nite communities  where  he  may  be  in- 
vited, and  recommend  procedures  and 
action.  Resource  materials  will  be  avail- 
able to  parents  and  congregations  through 
the  mental  retardation  office. 

Inquiries  about  the  mental  retarda- 
tion services  may  be  made  to  the  mmhs 
office,  1105  North  Wishon,  Fresno,  Cal- 
ifornia 93728. 


RECORD 

Calendar 


N[ov.  28-29 — General  Conference  nom- 
inating committee,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

Dec.  27-31 — Urbana  73,  Inter-Varsity 
missionary  convention,  University  of  Il- 
linois, Urbana,  111. 

Canadian 

Nov.  24 — MCC  (Manitoba)  annual 
meeting.  North  Kildonan  Mennonite 
Brethren  Church,  Winnipeg 
Pacific 

Nov.  17-18 — Harvest  mission  festival, 
First  Church,  Aberdeen,  Idaho;  lohn 
and  leanne  Zook,  speakers 
Western 

Nov.  17-18 — Thanksgiving  mission  fes- 
tival, First  Church,  Hutchinson,  Kans. 

Deaths 


Walter  A.  Yoder,  a former  member  of 
the  Board  of  Business  Administration  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  died  Sept.  24  in  Bloomington, 
111.  A member  of  First  Church,  Normal, 
111.,  he  had  also  served  on  the  board  of 
Bluffton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio.  Mr. 
Yoder,  born  Aug.  12,  1903,  at  Danvers, 
111.,  was  a real  estate  lawyer  and  county 
judge.  He  had  recently  resided  in  Clear- 
water, Fla. 


Workers 


J.  Hildebrandt  T.  Hildebrandt 


Jakob  and  Tina  Hildebrandt  have  be- 
gun a three-year  term  of  service  with 
mcc  in  Keffi,  Nigeria.  They  are  serv- 
ing as  teachers  at  Keffi  Government 
College.  Jakob  previously  served  in  Ni- 
geria in  1965-68.  The  Hildebrandts  are 
members  of  the  Bergthaler  Church, 
Winkler,  Man. 


Richert  Tieszen 


Anton  Richert  has  begun  a one-year 
term  of  service  with  mcc  in  Mande- 
ville,  Jamaica.  He  is  teaching  at  Church 


Teachers’  College.  He  is  a member  of 
the  Lorraine  Ave.  Church,  Wichita, 
Kans. 

Keith  Tieszen  has  begun  a two-year  j 
term  of  service  with  mcc  in  Manchester,  ;| 
Jamaica.  Kenneth  is  teaching  at  Holm-  j] 
wood  Technical  High  School.  Kenneth  ij 
is  the  son  of  LeVern  and  Margaret 
Tieszen,  Aberdeen,  Idaho. 

Correction 

The  author  of  “Dunamis:  Pastor-proph- 
ets to  people  in  power”  (October  30  is-  j 
sue)  was  Marian  Franz  of  Washington,  ; 


PRIORITY 


URBAN 

WITNESS 


Establish  new  caring 
communities  of  believers 
(churches)  in  urban  areas, 
including  also  the  more 
educated  and  middle  classes. 


Wm W 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


660 


NOVEMBER  13,  1973 


If 


Glimpses  of  India 

Photos  by  Vic  Reimer 


Photographer  Vic  Reimer  took  the  above  picture  twenty  miles 
from  Mussoorie,  India,  where  he  teaches  at  Woodstock  School. 
A cross  has  inexplicably  been  placed  near  a temple  to  the  goddess 
Kali  on  top  of  the  fountain  of  Sirkhunda,  which  has  an  elevation 
of  9,100  feet.  The  ruined  stone  house  on  the  left  is  the  former 
home  of  the  resident  priest.  {Below)  A one-day  bazaar  in  a 
village  near  Jagdeeshpur,  M.P.  (Right)  Qutb  Minor,  Delhi.  It  is 
a 234-foot  tower  erected  in  the  thirteenth  century.  It  is  one  of  the 
earliest  monuments  of  the  Afghan  period  in  India.  The  wall 
decorations  consist  of  intricately  carved  Arabic  quotations  from 
the  Koran. 


THE  MENNONITE 


LETTERS 


Peace  through  meditation 

Dear  Editor:  A few  Sundays  ago  my 
heart  rejoiced  to  attend  a Mennonite 
church  where  after  the  church  service 
they  had  a meditation  class.  There  were 
about  seven  adults  there  older  than  I. 
The  leader  started  off  with  a few  simple 
breathing  and  relaxing  exercises,  and 
then  we  were  asked  to  imagine  a wave 
of  peace  coming  upon  us.  Then  we 
were  silent  for  about  fifteen  minutes, 
putting  our  minds’  attention  on  this 
peace  within. 

My  heart  rejoiced  because  for  almost 
two  years  I have  been  studying  the  med- 
itation and  teachings  of  Guru  Maha- 
rajJi,  the  fifteen-year-old  Sat  Guru.  Sat 
means  “true,”  and  Gum  means  “dispeller 
of  darkness  and  revealer  of  light.”  Many 
of  you  may  wonder  how  this  fits  in  with 
Christianity.  For  me  it  fits  in  beauti- 
fully because  for  me  the  purpose  of 
Christianity  is  to  bring  me  closer  to  the 
experience  of  God. 

Guru  MaharajJi  says  religion  means 
realization  of  God.  The  practice  of  his 
teachings  brings  about  this  experience. 
Through  the  knowledge  he  reveals,  you 
experience  the  soul  as  (1)  inner  divine 
light — “When  thine  eye  be  single  thy 
whole  body  will  be  full  of  light,”  (2) 
inner  divine  music,  (3)  divine  nectar — 
“the  well  of  living  water,”  and  (4)  as 
the  holy  Word  of  God,  or  holy  name — 
that  “Word  that  was  in  the  beginning 
was  with  God  and  was  God” — the  word 
or  primordial  vibration,  unmanifest  en- 
ergy that  existed  before  us,  from  which 
we  came  and  to  which  we  will  return. 
This  word  cannot  be  spoken  with  mouth 


or  mind,  though  it  is  spoken  about  all 
through  the  Scriptures. 

The  Bible  has  in  it  the  beautiful  sto- 
ries and  divine  words  of  the  perfect  mas- 
ter and  savior  Jesus  Christ  when  he  was 
on  earth  in  human  form,  revealing  the 
true  path  to  God.  But  when  he  was 
here,  how  many  recognized  him?  Only 
a few.  Those  who  had  strong  concepts 
and  expectations  about  how  he  would 
appear  externally  thought  he  must  be  a 
false  prophet  or  anti-God  and  so  they 
crucified  the  Perfect  Master  of  Love. 

This  shows  us  that  God  is  not  limited 
to  man’s  concepts  and  expectations  of 
how  he  should  come.  The  only  way  to 
know  is  by  the  fruit — by  the  inner  ex- 
perience of  what  he  teaches.  Those  who 
came  to  Christ  humbly,  sincerely,  and 
in  need  received  such  a great  inner  ex- 
perience that  truly  connected  them  to 
God.  You  can  never  judge  by  the  outer 
appearances  or  there  is  danger  of  the 
same  misunderstanding  that  they  had 
about  Christ. 

Guru  MaharajJi  does  not  claim  to  be 
a messiah  but  a humble  servant  of  God. 


if 

i 

j 

? 

ti 

( 

in 

■ 

» 

i 


The  first  written  Anabaptist  theology 


THE  THEOLOGY  OF 

ANABAPTISM 

ROBERT  FRIEDMANN 


No.  1 5 in  the  Studies  in  Anabaptist 
and  Mennonite  History  Series. 

The  Anabaptists  practiced  a unique  approach  to  the  Word  of  God. 
They  were  too  busy  living  the  gospel  to  develop  a systematized 
theology.  Each  person  was  responsible  for  his  knowledge  of  the- 
ological ideas.  His  sole  authority  was  the  Bible. 

THE  THEOLOGY  OF  ANABAPTISM,  made  possible  by  Robert 
Friedmann's  lifetime  of  dedication  to  Anabaptist  studies,  sum- 
marizes their  understandings  of  Scripture  and  their  implications 
for  Christian  living. 

A Herald  Press  book.  Cloth  $7.95 


HERALD  PRESS 
Scottdale,  Pa.  15683 


ORDER  FROM 

FAITH  AND  LIFE  BOOKSTORE 
NEWTON,  KANSAS 
OR/BERNE,  INDIANA 


However,  he  does  say  that  the  know]-, 
edge  he  gives,  if  received  with  a hum- 
ble, sincere  heart,  will  bring  you  peace — 
and  offers  this  to  every  human  being. 

My  suggestion  is  that  every  reader 
check  this  out  with  an  open  heart.  Do 
not  let  scepticism  blind  you  from  the; 
truth.  Be  discriminative — check  it  out.! 
Everyone  I know  who  has  received  the 
divine  knowledge  from  Guru  MaharajJi 
and  meditates  upon  it  feels  those  waves 
of  peace  that  passeth  understanding,  the 
truth  which  is  the  consciousness  of  bliss, 
a love  of  God  they  never  imagined  ex- 
isted. 

We  are  having  a festival  in  Houston 
November  8-10  at  the  Astrodome  called 
Millennium  73  in  celebration  that  we  are 
in  the  dawn  of  a new  age  where  true 
peace,  consciousness  of  love,  and  truth  I 
will  again  prevail.  Shri  Guru  MaharajJi; 
will  speak  on  this  holy  knowledge  which 
is  for  all  humanity,  can  be  practiced 
even  if  you  are  a Christian — can  help 
you  experience  every  Christian  ideal  you 
have.  Ruth  Juhnke,  1410  High  St.,  Den- 
ver, Colo.  80206  Oct.  12 


HI 


662 


NOVEMBER  13,  1973 


Contents 


MEDITATION 


Is  Christ's  missionary  mandate  still  valid? 

!Go  to  the  whole  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  all  mankind  (Mk.  16:15,  TEV ) . 
,The  formation  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite  Church  over  a century  ago 
was  led  by  men  who  were  convinced  of  the  validity  of  the  missionary  mandate  of 
Christ.  The  intervening  years  have  proved  that  leaders  and  laymen  generally  ac- 
cepted the  Great  Commission  as  from  the  Lord  himself,  placing  a permanent  obliga- 
tion on  his  church. 

Since  then,  the  Board  of  Missions  has  sent  out  over  700  missionaries  from  over 
100  congregations.  Our  churches  have  contributed  twenty-five  million  dollars  to 
this  work.  The  Lord  has  honored  this  commitment.  Today  the  Mennonite  Church  in 
Zaire  has  more  members  than  our  total  in  the  U.S.,  and  nearly  double  as  many  as 
the  Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada. 

But  today  our  attitude  toward  the  Great  Commission  has  changed.  Doubts  and 
growing  intellectual  problems  with  the  basic  concept  of  the  Christian  mission  now 
:ace  us.  They  threaten  the  nerve  of  effective  Christian  outreach.  We  need  to  under- 
hand the  real  thought  involved.  Helpful  books  on  the  subject  include:  Stephen  Neill’s 
Hall  to  mission  (Fortress  Press,  Philadelphia,  1970),  and  Elton  Trueblood,  The 
validity  of  the  Christian  mission  (Harper  & Row,  New  York,  1972). 

First,  there  is  an  increased  emphasis  on  religious  toleration.  The  Jew,  the  Bud- 
dhist, the  atheist — all  of  us  must  learn  to  live  together  peacefully  in  the  same  world. 
Attempts  to  convert  Jews,  Hindus,  or  others  are  resented  and,  according  to  this 
/iew,  should  be  stopped. 

Is  this  argument  a valid  one?  The  tightly  bound  feet  of  Chinese  women  were 
oosened  as  the  Christian  gospel  made  its  impact  in  China  earlier  this  century.  The 
orcible  burning  of  widows  on  the  funeral  pyres  of  Hindu  husbands  was  stopped  in 
India  when  the  force  of  the  liberating  gospel  was  applied.  The  gospel  of  Christ 
:hanged  Naga  headhunters  of  northeast  India  to  effective  leaders  in  India  and  the 
vorld  in  two  generations.  Will  the  strong  advocates  of  religious  toleration  resist 
uch  changes?  Are  there  not  many  other  situations,  in  our  society  as  well  as  over- 
eas,  to  which  the  liberating  power  of  the  gospel  needs  to  be  applied? 

Another  doubt  about  Christian  missions  stems  from  a growing  recognition  of  the 
veaknesses  and  failures  of  our  own  civilization — affluence,  pollution,  racism,  Viet- 
iam,  Watergate,  poverty,  and  others. 

I know  no  missionary  who  would  deny  these  failures.  In  fact,  they  embarrass  and 
linder  him  in  effective  work.  But  is  that  reason  enough  to  stop  working  for  Christ? 
Are  not  two  basically  different  entities  being  confused,  which  are  not  synonymous? 
Yhen  India  became  politically  independent  in  1947,  some  people  expected  the  mis- 
ionaries  to  leave  with  the  British  rulers.  This  did  not  happen.  The  difference  be- 
ween  the  Christian  messengers  and  political  masters  became  clear.  A new  openness 
o the  gospel  began.  We  need  to  distinguish  even  more  between  Christianity  and 
western  civilization  to  give  us  new  freedom  in  obeying  Christ’s  mandate. 

Is  the  deepest  doubt  perhaps  in  the  validity  of  the  gospel  itself?  Does  Jesus  Christ 
eally  offer  good  news  to  all  other  religions? 

Elton  Trueblood  replies:  “The  ultimate  and  permanent  case  for  the  Christian 
nission  rests  directly  upon  the  conception  that  the  Christian  faith  is  true.  ...  In 
he  long  run,  the  best  reason  for  dedication  to  the  spread  of  the  faith  of  Christ  is 
ae  conviction  that  this  faith  conforms  to  reality  as  does  no  other  alternative  of 
/hich  we  are  aware. 

“There  is,”  Mr.  Trueblood  concludes,  “abundant  reason  to  believe  that  the  central 
onvictions  of  Christianity  are  true  and  that  the  central  commitment  is  justified. 
Vhat  follows  then?  Simply  this:  the  saving  truth  must  be  brought  to  as  many 
»eople  as  possible,  regardless  of  where  we  live.  The  case  for  foreign  missions,  as 
gainst  work  at  home,  is  simply  the  observation  that  geographical  limitations  do  not 
ount  at  all.  Differences  of  geography  and  differences  of  culture  are  not  excuses  for 
ailure  to  spread  what  men  and  women  everywhere  deeply  need.  Herein  lies  the 
ogency  of  the  Great  Commission.”  Lubin  W.  Jantzen 


Seventeen  years  on  the  board  650 

Cracks  in  a god's  great  rock  chest  651 
Secondary  education  in  Zaire  652 

News  654 

Record  660 

Glimpses  of  India  661 

Letters  662 

Is  Christ's  missionary  mandate 

still  valid?  663 

Distances  664 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Ward  W.  Shelly  is  pastor  of  the  Calvary 
Mennonite  Church,  Washington,  III. 
61571. 


Mary  Derksen,  19  Kumi,  Nakatsuru, 
Oita,  Japan  870,  is  a COM  missionary. 

John  E.  Klaassen  is  a General  Confer- 
ence missionary  sent  by  Africa  Inter- 
Mennonite  Mission  to  teach  in  the  sec- 
ondary school  at  Mukedi,  Zaire. 

Vic  Reimer,  formerly  a teacher  at  Ros- 
thern  (Sask.)  Junior  College,  now  is  a 
COM  appointee  to  Woodstock  School, 
Mussoorie,  India. 

Lubin  W.  Jantzen,  candidate  secre- 
tary, is  part  of  the  Newton-based  COM 
administrative  staff. 

Elmer  Neufeld,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  is  COM 
chairman. 

CREDITS 

654-5,  Willard  Claassen;  662,  Christian 
Chronicle,  Box  4055,  Austin,  Texas 
78751. 

Meiinonite 


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Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
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ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee-.  Jake  Harms, 
chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arboi. 
Mich.  481  06. 


HE  MENNONITE 


663 


Distances 

Elmer  Neufeld 

Elmer  Neufeld  was  a member  of  the  COM  delega-  home  from  Calcutta.  Howard  Habegger,  Verney 
tion  which  made  a five-week  visit  to  India  in  August  Unruh,  and  Robert  Ramseyer  were  the  other  mem- 
and  September.  His  editorial  was  written  en  route  bers  of  the  delegation. 

The  distance  from  Chicago  to  Calcutta  is  almost  halfway  around  the 
world — near  half  of  25,000  miles. 

Calcutta  is  clearly  on  the  other  side  of  the  world  we  know. 

The  young  Mennonite  couple  in  Calcutta  confesses  that  they  must  place 
some  distance  between  themselves  and  the  masses  of  Calcutta  to  be  able  to 
live  in  that  city. 

A city  of  more  than  8,000,000  men,  women,  and  children — 
huddled  together  over  100,000  per  square  mile. 

With  an  estimated  750,000  “bustee”  (ghetto)  dwellers. 

And  75,000  or  more  street  sleepers. 

Vast  areas  without  any  modern  sewers — only  crude  privies. 

Poverty,  rations,  black  markets,  hunger,  disease,  beggars,  gangs, 
violence,  squalor. 

The  distance  between  Mountain  Lake  and  Champa  is  almost  as  great. 

The  P.  A.  Penners  traveled  that  distance  in  1900  and  pitched  their  tent 
among  those  on  the  other  side. 

God  only  knows  the  real  distance  between  the  “First  Mennonite”  churches 
of  North  America  and  the  Hindu  temples  of  those  still  chanting  prayers  to 
Krishna,  and  Ganesh,  and  Durga,  and  Siva,  and  Brahma,  and  Vishna. 

I can  still  hear  the  plaintive  chanting  in  the  temple  of  Raipur. 

The  sent  ones  from  the  First  Mennonites  in  Canada  and  the  United  States  are 
still  crossing  the  distances  to  meet  the  staggering  needs  of 
body  and  soul  in  India. 

A land  of  550,000,000  people, 

with  a per  capita  income  of  roughly  $ 1 00, 

and  a Christian  community  of  about  2 percent. 

I am  writing  these  notes  on  a Boeing  707  racing  across  the  distance 
from  Calcutta,  Delhi,  and  Bombay  to  New  York  and  Chicago. 

We  have  no  707  jet  to  cross  the  human  existential  distances  between 
the  Chicagos  and  the  Calcuttas,  the  Mountain  Lakes  and  Champas, 
the  Waldheims  and  Saraipalis,  the  Bernes  and  Jagdeeshpurs. 

What  do  you  do  when  you  face  such  hopelessly  massive  need, 
my  travel  companion  asked  in  Calcutta. 

You  do  something — or  you  do  nothing. 

You  choose  between  bringing  the  few  loaves,  or  eating  them  all  yourself. 

The  incarnation  of  God  in  Christ  is  about  distances. 

He  was  not  of  our  world,  but  he  came  into  our  world. 

He  came  into  our  world  with  grace,  and  truth,  and  love. 

“As  thou  didst  send  me  into  the  world,  so  I have  sent  them  into  the  world.” 

We  are  not  able  to  eradicate  the  distances  that  separate  us  from  the 
physically  and  spiritually  destitute  peoples  of  this  world. 

But  we  can  do  something! 

What  will  you  and  I,  who  live  in  the  land  of  luxury,  do  in  these  months  of 
harvest  and  Thanksgiving  and  Christmas  to  cross  the  distances  that 
separate  us  from  the  Calcuttas  of  this  world? 


The. 

Meiinomte 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:42  NOVEMBER  2 0,  1973 


Jacob  W . Elias 


& 


According  to  the  well-known  adage, 
everyone  talks  about  the  weather.  Next 
to  the  weather  the  most  frequent  topic 
of  casual  conversation  must  be  sports. 

A frequently  used  opener  when  friends 
meet  is,  “What  did  you  think  of  the 
game  last  night?”  An  animated  discus- 
sion usually  follows  in  which  the  ills  or 
fortunes  of  the  home  team  are  lamented 
or  lauded,  depending  on  the  outcome  of 
“the  game  last  night.”  The  game  being 
discussed,  almost  without  exception,  is 
not  the  local  interschool  soccer  match 
or  some  amateur  sport  event.  It  is  the 
latest  nationally  televised  encounter  be- 
tween the  professionals  in  sport,  usually 
baseball,  football,  hockey,  or  basketball. 

Big-time  sports  are  booming.  This 
boom  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that 
television  has  introduced  the  big  games 
right  into  our  living  rooms.  At  the  flick 
of  a switch  we  can  get  a front  row  view 
of  all  the  action.  An  added  feature,  not 
available  to  those  watching  the  action 
live,  is  the  instant  replay  of  all  high- 
lights. Armchair  sports  fans  are  thereby 
relieved  of  the  necessity  of  concentrating 
fully  on  the  game.  A sudden  rise  of  in- 
tensity in  the  background  crowd  noise 
is  the  signal  that  something  noteworthy 
has  just  happened.  It  is  then  possible  to 
quickly  come  back  to  full  alert  in  time 
to  watch  the  replay.  In  this  way,  even 
the  nonathlete  is  equipped  to  rehash  the 
game  when  he  meets  his  associates  the 
next  day. 

As  with  the  weather,  so  with  sports, 
there  are  those  who  make  a profession 
out  of  analysis  and  prediction.  After 
each  big  game,  sportswriters  and  sports- 
casters  do  their  thing:  They  analyze, 

criticize,  editorialize,  and  glamorize.  All 
of  this  professional  conversation  on  ra- 
dio and  TV  and  in  the  newspapers  en- 
courages the  armchair  sports  fans  to 
keep  on  watching — and  to  keep  on  talk- 
ing. 

Big  business  has  been  quick  to  see  the 
potential  for  profit  in  sports.  The  fact 
that  “sports”  and  ’’finance”  are  common- 
ly combined  into  one  section  in  daily 
newspapers  is  a daily  reminder  that  the 
big  game  and  the  big  money  go  hand  in 
hand.  Many  sports  fans  buy  expensive 


season  tickets.  The  armchair  fan  may 
feel  that  he  is  getting  away  with  a bar- 
gain but  there  are  many  advertisers  who 
have  full  confidence  in  his  vulnerability 
to  their  persuasiveness.  It  is  clearly  evi- 
dent that  big  business  is  making  big 
money  through  big-time  sports.  Every- 
body talks  about  sports,  and  everybody 
does  something  about  it:  They  pay  big 
money  to  support  this  national  pastime 
of  watching  the  big  games. 

What  about  Christians?  Are  they 
caught  up  in  this  national  pastime  as 
well?  Many  are.  Sports  promoters  posted 
inconspicuously  in  church  lobbies  on  the 
morning  after  the  Saturday  night  game 
would  be  pleased  to  note  that  here  and 
there  spontaneous  discussion  groups  have 
formed  to  talk  about  the  game.  The 
only  problem  is  that  the  song  leader  in 
opening  the  worship  service  rudely  in- 
terrupts this  informal  exchange. 

Sports  promoters  posted  to  spy  on 
churches  would  also  be  pleased  to  note 
that  even  though  church  programs  some- 
times conflict  with  the  big  games,  many 
churchgoers  put  first  things  first.  They 
watch  the  game. 

The  Tuesday  evening  church  council 
meeting  during  an  important  football 
game,  the  midweek  prayer  meetings  dur- 
ing Hockey  night  in  Canada,  and  the 
morning  worship  service  on  Grey  Cup 
Sunday  are  rude  ecclesiastical  encroach- 
ments into  sacred  sports  time.  Of  course, 
many  churches  are  becoming  more  ac- 
commodating. They  schedule  their  events 
on  the  nights  that  are  free.  In  fall,  with 
baseball  drawing  to  a climax,  football 
gaining  momentum,  and  hockey  begin- 
ning a new  season,  this  kind  of  sched- 
uling becomes  somewhat  tricky.  Inev- 
itably some  scheduling  errors  are  made, 
resulting  in  poor  attendance  at  the 
church  meetings.  However,  everyone  un- 
derstands, because  there  is  a game  on 
that  night. 

Today’s  sports  boom  is  affecting  our 
churches.  Historically  speaking  there  is 
sad  irony  in  this  fact.  A sports  boom  in 
the  early  Christian  era  also  affected  the 
churches  but  there  was  a difference. 
Years  ago,  Christians  often  went  to  the 
games.  They  were  fed  to  the  lions,  while 


the  pagans  in  the  bleachers  cheered. 
Christians  still  go  to  the  games,  but  now 
the  Bombers  and  Roughriders  (and  other 
“pagans”)  feed  on  the  Lions,  while  the 
Christians  in  the  bleachers  cheer. 

The  time  is  ripe  for  a close  look  at 
the  impact  which  spectator  sports  is 
having  on  the  church.  At  first  appear- 
ance, the  way  in  which  Christians  of 
today  are  being  swept  along  in  the  sports 
boom  may  seem  quite  harmless  com- 
pared to  the  slaughter  of  early  Chris- 
tians in  the  gladiatorial  games.  Might  it 
be,  however,  that  the  long-term  impact 
of  today’s  spectator  sports,  being  more 
subtle,  is  also  more  devastating? 

The  time  and  money  spent  by  Chris- 
tians in  watching  the  big  games  certain- 
ly merit  a serious  second  look.  How-  < 
ever,  beyond  the  stewardship  question 
there  are  other  less  obvious  factors  to 
consider.  One  is  the  subtle  impact  which 
the  underlying  philosophy  of  sports  can  ' 
have  on  our  thinking  and  our  behavior. 

“Winning  isn’t  everything;  it  is  the  only 
thing.”  So  spoke  the  late  Vince  Lom- 
bardi, renowned  football  coach.  In  this 
statement  he  summarized  neatly  the 
sports  philosophy:  The  purpose  of  the 
game  is  to  win.  When  the  home  team 
wins  a coveted  sports  prize  there  is 
joyous  celebration.  When  the  home  team 
hits  a slump,  the  game  analysis  in  the 
sports  pages  and  in  casual  conversa- 
tions becomes  morbid.  Everybody  wants 
a winner. 

When  the  Blazers  hockey  team  of  the 
World  Hockey  Association  was  pur-  I 
chased  and  moved  to  Vancouver  it  was 
reported  that  here  at  last  Vancouverites 
would  have  a playoff  team.  If  the  Lions 
and  the  Canucks  get  us  down  by  losing 
all  the  time,  we  can  begin  to  get  all  fired 
up  about  the  Blazers  as  they  blaze  their 
way  to  victory! 

Even  though  lip  service  is  paid  to  the 
importance  of  sportsmanship,  the  thing 
that  really  matters  in  sports  is  that  your 
team  win. 

Unofficially  the  name  of  the  game,  es-  P 
pecially  in  football  and  hockey,  appears 
to  be:  Maim  your  man  before  he  maims 
you.  A body  check  in  hockey  which 
sends  a player  sprawling  against  the 


666 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


Catrses  CShristians  watch 


THE  MENNONITE 


667 


boards,  or  a bone-crushing  tackle  in 
football  which  grounds  the  quarterback 
behind  the  line  of  scrimmage  are  sure 
to  please  a crowd,  especially  when  the 
opposition  is  being  punished  in  this  way. 
Most  crowds  also  react  enthusiastically 
to  an  unauthorized  display  of  violence, 
such  as  frequently  happens  when  hockey 
players  drop  their  sticks  and  gloves  in 
favor  of  more  direct  one-to-one  com- 
bat. Violence,  as  much  as  skill  and  ac- 
curacy, is  what  attracts  many  spectators 
to  the  big  games. 

This  win-at-any-cost  philosophy  on  the 
sports  field  tends  to  get  transferred  to 
other  realms  as  well.  For  example,  dog- 
eat-dog  competition  in  the  business 
world,  Watergate  tactics  in  the  political 
world,  and  bombing  raids  into  the  Cam- 
bodians’ world  give  vivid  testimony  to 
the  fact  that  the  sports  philosophy  also 
operates  in  the  larger  game  of  life. 

It  is  often  implied  that  children  learn 
good  citizenship  on  the  sports  field.  This 
is  probably  true.  By  participating  in 
some  sports  and  by  watching  the  big- 
time  games,  they  learn  that  it  is  very  im- 
portant to  win.  They  learn  that  a good 
citizen  strives  to  win  success  for  himself 
and  his  team,  using  to  good  advantage 
any  strategy  that  will  further  his  cause. 
Aggression,  force,  and  violence  bring  vic- 
tory on  the  sports  field;  what  happens 
to  the  opposing  team  doesn’t  really  mat- 
ter. In  the  same  way,  a good  citizen 
vigorously  asserts  himself  to  gain  new 
territory  for  himself  and  his  business  or 
country,  regardless  of  the  consequences 
for  the  other  side. 

The  problem  with  this  kind  of  good 
citizenship  is  that  it  isn’t  Christian. 
Christ  did  not  advise  his  followers  to 
be  fiercely  competitive  in  their  own  be- 
half. Actually  he  taught  the  exact  re- 
verse: “If  any  man  would  come  after 
me,  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up 
his  cross  and  follow  me.  For  whoever 
would  save  his  life  will  lose  it;  and  who- 
ever loses  his  life  for  my  sake,  he  will 
save  it”  (Lk.  9:23-24,  rsv).  The  person 


who  feels  compelled  to  win  for  himself 
is  actually  a loser. 

Those  who  follow  the  way  of  Jesus 
will  oppose  the  win-at-any-cost  philoso- 
phy of  sports,  wherever  it  manifests  in 
society.  Instead  of  competing  fiercely  in 
their  own  behalf,  they  will  give  them- 
selves in  behalf  of  others. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  by  some  that 
Paul  occasionally  compared  the  Chris- 
tian life  to  a race,  which  also  is  com- 
petitive. This  comparison  does  not  nec- 
essarily put  the  Christian  stamp  of  ap- 
proval on  competitive  sport.  Nor,  for 
that  matter,  do  analogies  drawn  from 
the  military  or  from  agriculture  put  the 
stamp  of  approval  on  the  occupation  of 
soldier  or  farmer  (Cf.  2 Tim.  2:1-7). 

In  1 Corinthians  9:24-27  Paul  uses 
the  analogy  of  athletics  at  some  length. 
Since  the  rage  in  spectator  sport  among 
the  Greeks  of  that  time  was  athletics, 
including  the  famous  Olympic  games, 
Paul  communicated  Christian  truth  us- 
ing language  that  most  people  under- 
stood well,  the  language  of  athletics. 

It  is  clear,  however,  that  in  using  the 
language  of  competitive  sports  to  de- 
scribe the  Christian  life,  Paul  points  out 
the  differences  even  more  clearly  than 
the  similarities.  “In  a race  all  the  run- 
ners compete  but  only  one  receives  the 
prize.” 

The  prize  in  the  Christian  life,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  not  limited  to  one  winner: 
“So  run  that  you  may  obtain  it.”  This 
encouragement  isn’t  given  to  an  indi- 
vidual, some  superstar  runner  from  Cor- 
inth; it  is  directed  to  “the  church  of 
God  which  is  at  Corinth.” 

The  main  lesson  which  Paul  seeks 
to  teach  in  comparing  the  Christian  life 
to  competitive  sport  has  to  do  with  the 
value  of  discipline  and  self-control.  “Ev- 
ery athlete  exercises  self-control  in  all 
things.”  In  the  Christian  life  it  is  also 
important  to  exercise  self-control,  but 
with  a different  goal  in  view.  Athletes 
do  it  “to  receive  a perishable  wreath, 
but  we  an  imperishable.”  (Today,  of 


course,  athletes  discipline  themselves  in 
order  to  perform  well  enough  to  land 
the  big  contracts,  which  run  into  the 
six-  or  even  seven-digit  amounts. ) 

The  challenge  to  live  a disciplined  life 
does  not  have  much  appeal  in  our  self- 
indulgent  society.  That,  in  part,  explains 
the  rapid  upsurge  of  spectator  sports.  It 
is  more  appealing  to  watch  disciplined 
athletes  perform  than  to  be  disciplined 
ourselves.  We  are  becoming  a nation  of 
spectators  who  sit  back  and  watch  while 
others  act. 

When  watching  the  big  game,  the  av- 
erage spectator  knows  that  he  will  never 
be  called  on  to  play.  Deep  down  he  also 
knows  that  he  cannot  really  affect  the 
outcome,  regardless  of  how  loudly  he 
cheers.  And  under  pressure  he  will  ad- 
mit that  actually  the  outcome  doesn’t 
really  matter.  Even  so,  he  still  watches, 
and  he  still  cheers. 

Somehow  it  is  more  appealing  to 
watch  disciplined  athletes  on  the  playing 
field,  where  the  outcome  ultimately  does 
not  really  matter,  than  to  be  disciplined 
ourselves  in  the  arena  of  daily  life, 
where  the  outcome  really  matters  and 
where  our  involvement  could  help  de- 
termine the  outcome.  Many  people,  in- 
cluding those  within  the  churches,  are 
more  informed  about  the  unreal  world 
of  sports  than  about  the  real  world  of 
famine-afflicted  India  or  even  the  pov- 
erty in  the  neighboring  block. 

In  the  arena  of  daily  life  there  are 
people  who  need  people  who  are  ablaze, 
not  with  sports  fever,  but  with  the  love 
of  Christ.  Those  who  are  filled  with  the 
love  of  Christ  will  express  that  love,  not 
in  fierce  competition  in  their  own  be- 
half but  in  a selfless  giving  of  themselves 
for  others.  That  requires  self-control  at 
its  highest:  The  desires  and  demands 
of  the  self  are  under  the  control  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  kind  of  self- 
control  leads,  not  to  the  experience  of 
winning  by  defeating  others,  but  rather 
to  the  experience  of  winning  others  by 
denying  self  and  following  Christ. 


It  k nublkhpj  mot,v°t®'  and1  b„u,ld  ,he  Chnst.an  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 

ChLh  feP  July  a"d  August  and  tbe  last  ^ weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 

office^  60n  ^ fffd  at  North  Newton  Kans  67117.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 

ottice.  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


668 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


NEWS 


Schowalter  Foundation  okays  peace  program 


The  Schowalter  Foundation  has  given 
' general  approval  to  a three-year,  com- 
prehensive program  of  congregational 
peace  education  by  the  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  Peace  Section  and  a 
number  of  its  constituent  groups. 

The  program  would  be  a $63,000 
package  over  the  years  1973-76,  with 
''financial  support  from  the  Schowalter 
t Foundation,  Peace  Section,  and  Institute 
of  Mennonite  Studies.  The  $12,500  for 
^ the  program,  tentatively  approved  by 
the  Schowalter  Foundation  for  1974,  is 
part  of  $25,000  in  1974  requests  to  the 
foundation  for  peace  projects. 

The  foundation  trustees  took  up  the 
matter  of  the  peace  proposals  at  their 
semiannual  meeting  in  October,  when 
j they  approved  more  than  thirty  projects 
| of  the  Mennonite  Church,  General  Con- 
• ference  Mennonite  Church,  and  Church 
1 of  God  in  Christ,  Mennonite,  plus  other 
■ Mennonite-related  organizations. 

Included  in  the  projects  were  $10,000 
for  mcc  projects  in  South  America; 
$6,000  for  a two-year  Church  of  God 
in  Christ,  Mennonite,  community  devel- 
opment project  in  Haiti;  $6,000  toward 
construction  of  a youth  center  for  the 
Bethel  Mennonite  Church  in  Hammon, 
Oklahoma;  $10,000  for  a two-year  proj- 
' ect  of  help  to  the  mentally  retarded 
through  Mennonite  Mental  Health  Serv- 
i ices;  and  $4,500  for  continuation  of  the 
| joint  Meetinghouse  publication  of  The 


Mennonite  and  Gospel  herald  plus  an 
inter-Mennonite  editors’  conference. 

Other  projects  included  scholarships, 
peace  literature  development,  publica- 
tion of  two  books,  ministers’  and  mis- 
sionaries’ retirement  aid,  continuing  ed- 
ucation for  ministers,  and  Schowalter 
peace  lectures  at  Bethel  College. 

The  congregational  peace  education 
program,  developed  at  the  request  of  the 
Schowalter  Foundation,  would  begin  its 
first  year  with  the  development  of  peace 
education  materials  by  William  Keeney, 
who  has  already  begun  such  work. 

Phase  2 would  be  implementation  of 
the  congregational  program.  Mcc  will 
select  a staff  person  to  mobilize  church 
agencies  which  have  relationships  to  con- 
gregations. The  staff  person  may  person- 
ally enter  into  a few  pilot  congregation- 
al programs  but  in  general  will  deal  with 
congregational  leaders  through  work- 
shops, conferences,  ministers’  meetings, 
weekend  seminars,  and  special  courses 
in  educational  institutions. 

This  second  phase  will  probably  get 
under  way  during  late  spring  or  early 
summer  of  1974. 

The  peace  education  package  was  de- 
veloped by  mcc  at  the  request  of  the 
Schowalter  trustees.  One  of  the  late 
Jacob  A.  Schowalter’s  highest  priorities 
was  peace  education,  and  the  trustees 
felt  that  during  times  when  the  church 
is  not  faced  with  conscription  and  when 


the  country  is  not  directly  involved  in 
open  warfare,  Mennonites  are  apt  to 
neglect  congregational  New  Testament 
peace  teachings. 

Overall  planning  for  the  project  will 
be  the  joint  responsibility  of  representa- 
tives from  the  various  Mennonite  con- 
ference bodies,  a representative  of  the 
Institute  of  Mennonite  studies,  and  the 
mcc  Peace  Section. 

The  amount  of  grants  approved  this 
year  was  larger  than  usual  because  a 
large  share  of  the  Schowalter  assets  is 
in  farmland.  Farm  income  has  been 
about  75  percent  above  average  during 
the  past  fiscal  year. 

Herman  Andres 
will  retire 

Schowalter  Foundation  trustees  have  set 
up  a screening  committee  to  process  ap- 
plications for  the  position  of  adminis- 
trator of  the  Foundation. 

Herman  J.  Andres,  administrator  for 
seventeen  years,  will  retire  at  the  end 
of  1974. 

The  screening  committee  was  asked  to 
bring  the  names  of  two  or  more  inter- 
ested and  qualified  persons  to  the  March 
1974  meeting  of  the  trustees. 

Members  of  the  screening  committee 
are  Ernest  Bachman,  Raymond  Becker, 
William  Friesen,  Howard  Hershberger, 
and  Adin  Holderman. 


Hanoi  churches  meet  three  times  a week 


Protestant  church  life  in  North  Viet- 
nam  continues  unabated  despite  the  de- 
struction of  church  buildings  by  Amer- 
ican bombers,  according  to  Graeme 
Jackson,  deputy  director  of  the  World 
Council’s  Commission  on  Interchurch 
‘Aid,  Refugee,  and  World  Service. 

Reporting  on  a seven-day  visit  to 
Hanoi,  Mr.  Jackson  said  the  10, 000- 
member  Evangelical  Church  of  North 
Vietnam  had  twenty-six  pastors  and 
preachers  active  throughout  the  country. 
Two  Sunday  services  are  held  by  most 
’congregations  plus  an  evangelistic  serv- 
ice on  Thursdays. 

Pastors  are  employed  full  time,  and 


their  salaries  are  paid  by  the  local  con- 
gregations. Conversions  are  reported  and 
six  to  eight  months  of  training  are  given 
before  baptism.  Although  the  training 
school  for  pastors  was  closed  due  to  the 
bombing,  it  is  hoped  to  resume  training 
soon.  Ample  Bibles  are  available  but  a 
new  translation  is  needed. 

Mr.  Jackson  and  Sam  Isaac  of  the 
Christian  Conference  of  Asia  staff  held 
a lengthy  discussion  with  the  chairman 
of  the  church.  Pastor  Hoang  Kim  Phuc, 
and  its  general  secretary,  Pastor  Bui 
Hoanh  Thu.  They  welcomed  continu- 
ing contacts  with  the  World  Council  of 
Churches  and  the  Asia  Conference. 


In  meeting*  with  the  Red  Cross,  the 
two  church  representatives  received  re- 
quests for  assistance  which  they  pre- 
sented to  the  board  of  the  Fund  for 
Reconstruction  in  Indochina  in  mid- 
November. 

Under  an  earlier  decision  taken  by 
this  board,  the  $5  million  requested  from 
World  Council  member  churches  will  be 
used  as  follows:  $2  million  to  help  the 
people  of  North  Vietnam,  $2  million 
for  South  Vietnam,  and  the  remaining 
$1  million  for  Cambodia  and  Laos.  At 
its  next  meeting  the  board  is  due  to  re- 
ceive reports  on  the  needs  and  priorities 
in  South  Vietnam  as  well  as  Hanoi. 


THE  MENNONITE 


669 


Changes  recommended  for  church  and  women 


Greater  representation  of  women  on 
conference  boards,  a new  direction  for 
the  Women's  Missionary  Association, 
and  a broad  program  of  congregational 
education  on  the  role  of  women  in 
church  and  society  were  recommended 
by  participants  in  a consultation  on  the 
role  of  women  in  the  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  Church. 

The  consultation,  held  October  25-27 
on  the  campus  of  the  Associated  Men- 
nonite Biblical  Seminaries  in  Elkhart, 
Indiana,  was  called  by  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries.  The  commission 
began  looking  at  the  role  of  women  in 
conference  structures  when  it  realized 
in  1972  that  all  fourteen  members  of 
the  commission  were  men.  It  added  two 
voting  representatives  of  the  Women’s 
Missionary  Association,  but  the  General 
Board  said  this  would  require  a change 
in  the  bylaws  to  be  legal. 

Attending  the  consultation  were  com- 
mission and  General  Board  members  and 
staff;  a seminary  board  member,  fac- 
ulty, and  students;  wma  executive  coun- 
cil members;  mcc  Peace  Section  repre- 
sentatives; and  a number  of  other  special 
invitees — about  fifty-six  in  all.  Thirty- 
seven  were  women. 

The  group  listened  to  presentations  on 
the  historical  role  of  women,  New  Testa- 
ment interpretation  of  women’s  roles, 
the  Women’s  Missionary  Association, 


and  what  women  are  doing  in  the  church 
now.  Then  the  participants  divided  into 
task  groups  to  formulate  specific  recom- 
mendations for  action  within  the  con- 
ference. 

Recommendations  overlapped  since  the 
task  groups  did  not  have  time  to  co- 
ordinate their  suggestions.  Among  the 
recommendations  were  the  following: 
— that  the  new  Anabaptist  Curricu- 
lum Project  include  stories  about  wom- 
en from  Anabaptist  and  Bible  history 
at  a ratio  of  at  least  one  woman  to  two 
men  and  that  modern  women  be  shown 
not  only  as  mothers  but  as  Mennonite 
Disaster  Service  workers,  missionaries, 
and  ministers.  The  emphasis,  the  task 
group  said,  should  be  on  the  sharing 
and  affirming  of  gifts  of  both  sexes.  The 
group  also  urged  curriculum  writers  to 
be  sensitive  about  language  images,  such 
as  “brotherhood,”  “fathers  of  the  faith,” 
or  “God  of  our  fathers.” 

— that  the  Mennonite  colleges  and 
seminaries  undertake  biblical  scholarship, 
courses,  research,  and  seminars  on  the 
role  of  women.  Another  group  asked  the 
schools  to  create  experiences  that  sensi- 
tize pastors,  teachers,  chaplains,  and 
counselors  to  the  needs  of  women.  The 
seminary  was  asked  to  use  female  stu- 
dents and  wma  people  to  represent  the 
seminary  to  local  congregations. 

— that  women  be  better  represented 


Representatives  from  small  groups  at  the  consultation  gather  in  the  middle  of  the 
room  to  decide  on  topics  for  the  next  day’s  task  groups. 


as  speakers,  nominees,  and  leaders  of  in- 
sight groups  at  the  1974  General  Con- 
ference in  St.  Catharines,  Ontario.  Two 
women  were  appointed  to  write  to  dis-il 
trict  and  provincial  wmas  for  names: 
of  qualified  women  to  stand  for  elec-!1 
tion.  Others  were  delegated  to  speak  to 
the  program  committee  about  the  inclu-i 
sion  of  women  in  all  aspects  of  confer- 
ence programming. 

— that  the  Commission  on  Home  Min- 
istries, in  cooperation  with  the  Commis- 
sion on  Education  and  the  Women’s 
Missionary  Association,  hire  a resource 
person  to  work  for  the  next  triennium 
in  the  areas  of  women’s  concerns  and 
discerning  and  affirming  the  gifts  of  all 
persons  in  the  church.  Among  the  sug- 
gestions were  providing  help  for  congre- 
gations in  establishing  small  groups 
where  gifts  can  be  affirmed,  organizing 
consciousness-raising  seminars  for  region- 
al church  leaders,  sending  out  teams  of 
men  and  women  to  work  at  conscious- 
ness-raising in  local  congregations,  and 
publicizing  and  developing  resource  ma- 
terials for  adult  education  in  this  area. 

— that  the  General  Board  authorize 
wma  to  appoint  one  voting  member  to 
each  commission  and  the  seminary 
board.  There  were  some  questions  wheth- 
er wma  ought  to  continue  as  a separate 
“auxiliary”  organization,  and  the  task 
force  called  for  a reevaluation  of  wma 
at  the  Council  of  Commissions  in  1980. 
The  group  suggested  that  wma  change 
its  name  to  Women  in  Mission  and  that 
the  wma  executive  committee  appoint  a j< 
“think  tank”  to  explore  new  programs  i* 
and  projects  and  report  back  by  August  , 
1974. 

— that  wma  get  a cross-cultural  per-  ji 
spective  through  appointment  of  repre- 
sentatives to  such  groups  as  Women’s  In- 
ternational League  for  Peace  and  Free- 
dom, League  of  Women  Voters,  and 
mcc  Peace  Section  seminars  in  Wash- 
ington, D.C.  The  same  task  group  asked 
the  colleges  and  seminaries  to  offer  a 
course  on  “The  role  of  women  in  cul- 
tural and  economic  strata  of  the  U.S. 
and  Canada”  during  the  1974-75  school 
year. 

— that  the  Commission  on  Education 
develop  a study  series  on  single  persons 
and  that  the  colleges  offer  a course  on 
changing  life-styles,  including  concerns 
of  single  persons.  Chm  was  asked  to 
promote  workshops  on  the  family  con- 
stellation and  human  needs  and  to  iden-  j 
tify  human  and  written  resources. 


670 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


— that  Mennonite  periodicals  and  the 
, Commission  on  Education  publish  ar- 
j tides,  books,  Sunday  school  material, 
and  study  guides  on  women’s  issues. 
One  suggestion  was  a biography  of  wom- 
en in  the  church. 

— that  Faith  and  Life  Radio  and  Tele- 
vision do  the  next  series  of  one-minute 
communication  spots  on  the  human  lib- 
eration issue. 

— that  chm  and  the  colleges  send  out 
teams  of  study  leaders,  musicians,  or 
dramatists  to  interested  church  groups 
to  deal  with  women’s  issues. 

— that  David  Schroeder  of  Winnipeg 
(who  was  present  at  the  consultation) 

; give  at  least  one  of  his  Bible  studies  at 
the  General  Conference  on  the  role  of 
women. 

In  a final  evaluation,  many  partici- 
j pants  expressed  appreciation  for  the  Bi- 
| ble  study  presented  by  Josephine  Massyn- 
berde  Ford,  professor  of  theology  at 
Notre  Dame  University  and  part-time 
Greek  exegesis  professor  at  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries  this  se- 
mester. 

Ms.  Ford  analyzed  the  meaning  of 
Greek  words  in  some  of  the  “problem” 
passages  of  the  Epistles  and  concluded 
that  Paul  was  not  teaching  the  subordi- 
nation of  women.  The  word  hupotasso, 
used  in  Ephesians  5:22-23,  is  usually 
translated  “be  subject  to”  but  is  different 
from  the  word  used  for  children  and 
slaves.  A better  translation  would  be 
( “be  deferential  to”  or  “be  polite  to.” 

She  also  said  that  the  word  usually 
translated  as  “servant”  in  Romans  16: 
1-2  when  referring  to  Phoebe  is  the 
same  word  translated  as  “deacon”  with 
regard  to  men.  Prostatis  has  the  conno- 
tation of  “chief  leader”  not  “helper,” 
she  said.  Because  of  the  circumcision 
law,  it  was  easier  for  Gentile  women  to 
become  Jews,  and  many  women  held 
high  positions  in  the  synogagues,  which 
were  the  base  of  many  early  Christian 
churches. 

Dorothy  Yoder  Nyce  of  Goshen,  In- 
diana, spoke  on  the  roles  of  the  sexes  in 
the  creation  accounts  of  Genesis.  The 
subjugation  of  women  was  a perversion 
of  creation,  not  its  intent,  she  said. 

Other  speakers  were  C.  J.  Dyck  of 
Elkhart,  Indiana,  on  the  role  of  women 
in  sixteenth-century  religious  movements, 
Dorothy  Nickel  Friesen  of  Elkhart  on 
Mennonite  women  from  1947  to  1957, 
and  Gayle  Gerber  Koontz  of  Akron, 
Pennsylvania,  on  modem  Christian  fem- 
inism. 

The  presentation  by  the  wma  opened 
the  eyes  of  some  younger  women  at  the 


consultation  to  the  capable  leadership 
on  the  wma  executive  council.  Wma 
women  told  of  the  beginnings  of  wom- 
en’s work  before  the  General  Conference 
was  even  formed  and  of  the  half  a mil- 
lion dollars  in  money  and  material  aid 
which  wma  provides  the  General  Con- 
ference, district  and  provincial  confer- 
ences, and  mcc  each  year.  But  the  wma 
council  was  open  to  changing  its  direc- 
tion. 

“Should  wma  disband  or  is  it  a func- 
tional part  of  the  conference?”  asked 
Gladys  Goering,  new  wma  coordinator. 

“We  don’t  want  to  be  tacked  on,” 
said  Martha  Nickel,  wma  second  vice- 
president.  Lois  Barrett  Janzen 

Key  73  committee 
evaluates,  looks  ahead 

A new  effort  to  build  on  Key  73  has 
been  proposed  by  an  ad  hoc  group  which 
met  following  the  final  meeting  of  the 
Key  73  central  committee  October  22 
in  St.  Louis. 

The  consensus  of  the  ad  hoc  group, 
chaired  by  Victor  Nelson  of  the  Billy 
Graham  Evangelistic  Association,  was 
that  the  new  effort  should  not  be  a con- 
tinuation of  Key  73  but  a new  grouping 
that  might  include  some  agencies  not  in 
Key  73.  It  would  provide  a forum  to 
explore  further  possibilities  in  evange- 
lism. Mr.  Nelson  was  authorized  to  con- 
vene such  a group  in  Chicago  in  March 
1974. 

Leslie  Hunt  of  the  Anglican  Church 
of  Canada  told  the  central  committee, 
“The  structure  (of  Key  73)  is  finished. 
The  thrust  goes  on.” 

His  feelings  were  echoed  by  Leighton 
Ford,  speaker  at  the  evening  banquet, 
who  said  that  ways  should  be  found  to 
capitalize  on  the  opportunities  that  the 


Option  1.  The  person  would  give  half  time  each 
to  Faith  and  Life  Communications  (FLC)  and  to 
Faith  and  Life  Radio  and  Television  (FLRT).  The 
FLC  assignment  would  include  the  production  of 
a weekly  fifteen-minute  English-language  radio 
program,  keeping  in  touch  with  two  German 
broadcasts,  and  doing  some  counseling  in  the 
area  of  marriage  and  family  life.  The  FLRT 
assignment  would  include  work  with  inter- 
Mennonite  production  groups  on  TV  and  radio 
spots  and  doing  media  education  in  General 
Conference  churches  in  the  U.S.  and  Canada. 


seed  sowing  of  Key  73  has  given  to 
maintain  the  unity  that  has  developed 
and  to  continue  the  sharing  of  resources. 

In  calling  for  a continued  application 
of  a gospel  of  reconciliation,  Mr.  Ford 
asked  the  churches  to  build  a bridge  of 
reconciliation  to  those  young  men  who 
had  refused  to  fight  in  war  through  some 
kind  of  amnesty.  He  asked  for  a contin- 
uation of  evangelical  social  concern, 
such  as  that  shown  by  the  seventy  fam- 
ilies who  have  been  relating  to  prisoners 
in  Attica  since  Mr.  Ford’s  crusade  at 
Rochester,  New  York,  sixteen  months 
ago. 

An  evaluation  of  Key  73  to  date  by 
Robert  Hart,  chairman  of  phase  5 de- 
velopment committee,  showed  the  strong 
areas  to  be  the  launch  TV  program, 
the  emphasis  on  repentance,  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  50  million  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture. However,  in  the  latter  area  the 
method  advocated  least  (blanket  distri- 
bution) was  the  most  used.  Cooperative 
evangelistic  home  Bible  studies  proved 
to  be  a weak  area  since  they  often  in- 
volved only  Christians.  The  use  of  mu- 
sic was  also  weak. 

Others  pointed  out  that  dependence  on 
denominational  offices  for  communica- 
tion to  local  congregations  had  slowed 
the  process  too  much.  This  lack  of  com- 
munication to  the  grass  roots  was  also 
a factor  in  the  poor  showing  of  the  fund- 
raising compaign  that  prevented  the 
carrying  out  of  a number  of  national 
program  ideas,  high  visibility  events, 
and  a greater  use  of  the  mass  media. 
But  with  modest  additional  income,  Key 
73  should  end  the  year  in  the  black. 

Henry  Ginder  of  the  Brethren  in  Christ 
Church  said,  “I  believe  the  best  thing 
that  happened  in  Key  73  was  for  us  all 
to  discover  each  other  as  brothers  and 
sisters  in  Christ.”  Malcolm  Wenger 


Option  2.  The  FLC  assignment  would  be  the 
same  as  above,  but  instead  of  the  FLRT  portion 
of  the  job  description  the  person  would  devote 
half  time  to  family  life  education  and  coun- 
seling. 

Interested  persons  should  send  letters  of  inquiry 
to: 

Faith  and  Life  Communications 

202-1483  Pembina  Hwy. 

Winnipeg,  Manitoba  R3T  2C9 
Telephone:  204-452-3432 


We  are  searching  for  a 

Communications  Director 


THE  MENNONITE 


671 


Leprosy  patients  work  again 


When  leprosy  disables  a Paraguayan 
farmer,  he  can’t  take  to  a wheelchair 
and  still  earn  a living.  So  in  addition  to 
providing  medication  and  teaching  lep- 
rosy patients  how  to  prevent  damage  to 
their  hands  and  feet,  the  Mennonite 
hospital  at  Kilometer  81  in  Paraguay 
makes  specially  fitted  shoes  and  gloves 
so  that  the  patients  can  again  manage 
for  themselves,  said  Eleanor  Mathies. 

Ms.  Mathies,  from  Leamington,  On- 
tario, on  furlough  from  her  position  as 
nurse  and  physical  therapist  at  the  hos- 
pital, is  the  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission’s  only  worker  in  Paraguay.  She 
serves  with  Paraguayan  Mennonites  un- 
der the  Paraguayan  Mennonite  missions 
committee,  which  now  administers  the 
hosptal  and  provides  one-third  of  the 
financing  for  new  projects.  The  other 
two-thirds  plus  other  funding  comes 
from  Mennonite  Central  Committee  and 
American  Leprosy  Mission. 

Ms.  Mathies  told  of  one  leprosy  pa- 
tient who  could  not  work  and  whose 
wife  had  left  him.  Depressed,  he  did  not 
take  care  of  his  feet  or  even  shave,  she 
said.  Now  he  has  special  shoes  and 
gloves.  His  feet  are  well;  he  can  walk 
and  use  his  hands — and  he  is  earning 
money.  He  makes  and  sells  charcoal, 
and  last  year  harvested  his  first  pine- 
apple crop  from  rented  land.  This  year 
he  could  not  rent  the  land,  but  next  year 
his  son  will  graduate  from  school  and 
will  be  able  to  add  to  the  family  finances. 

The  frustrations  of  the  work,  Ms.  Ma- 
thies said,  come  when  patients  feel  they 
don  t have  to  take  any  part  in  solving 
their  own  problems. 

“You  can’t  perform  miracles  on  peo- 
ple if  they’re  not  going  to  let  you,”  she 
said. 

There  are  joys  in  the  work,  too — 
when  patients  do  their  part  to  help  a 
nurse  help  them,  when  they  feel  good 
about  themselves  because  they  can  man- 
age again,  when  they  find  Christ. 

“When  a severely  ill  patient  gives  his 
life  to  the  Lord,  this  helps  him  phys- 

1 


Eleanor  Mathies 


ically,”  Ms.  Mathies  said.  “Getting  well 
is  an  emotional  thing,  too.” 

The  hospital — sixty  miles  outside  the 
capital  city  of  Asuncion  and  some  dis- 
tance from  the  Mennonite  colonies — 
has  registered  more  than  1,000  leprosy 
patients.  About  half  of  these  are  under 
treatment  now.  Inpatients — those  who 
need  surgery,  physical  therapy,  or  help 
with  special  problems  — average  about 
thirty. 

In  addition,  hospital  personnel  give 
public  health  talks  in  grade  schools; 
have  general  clinics,  family  planning  clin- 
ics, and  well-baby  clinics  at  the  hos- 
pital; conduct  clinics  in  outlying  vil- 
lages; and  distribute  bundles  of  clothing 
and  school  supplies  to  children  of  lep- 
rosy patients.  The  bundles  for  these  chil- 
dren, formerly  provided  from  North 
America,  are  now  a project  of  the  Men- 
nonites of  Paraguay. 

The  German-speaking  Mennonites  in 
Paraguay,  who  comprise  most  of  the 
staff,  are  getting  more  involved  in  the 
rehabilitation  program  of  the  hospital, 
Ms.  Mathies  said.  A few  years  ago, 
several  young  people  from  the  colonies 
volunteered  three  months  at  the  hos- 
pital. Two  remained  on  a long-term  ba- 
sis. Now  one  of  these  has  completed 
nurses’  training  and  has  returned  to 
work  at  the  hospital.  Another  stayed  to 
work  at  the  hospital  and  has  now  left 
for  nurses’  training.  Administration  of 
the  hospital  was  turned  over  to  the  Par- 
aguayan Mennonites  two  or  three  years 
ago. 

The  hospital  has  also  begun  training 
leprosy  workers  for  the  Paraguayan  Min- 
istry of  Health,  and  Dr.  Frank  Diirksen, 
hospital  surgeon,  is  also  surgeon  at  the 
government  leprosarium. 

Kilometer  81  staff  conducts  Sunday 
schools  and  Bible  study  in  three  vil- 
lages and  has  Sunday  morning  serv- 
ices, Bible  study,  and  Saturday  evening 
prayer  meeting  for  patients  at  the  hos- 
pital. 

She  related  the  story  of  one  leprosy 
patient  who  was  baptized,  married,  and 
has  become  overseer  of  the  hospital. 
Often  he  is  able  to  talk  and  listen  to 
other  patients  better  than  the  chaplain. 
The  overseer  and  his  wife,  who  is  hos- 
pital cook,  on  many  evenings  take  a lan- 
tern and  go  to  a patient’s  room.  There 
other  patients  gather  and  sing  Christian 
songs. 

“It  creates  a family  atmosphere,”  Ms. 
Mathies  said. 


Verney  Lehr  man  fixes  a door  at  a Zairi- 
an hospital. 


Volunteer  in  Zaire 
given  new  name 

A volunteer  in  central  Zaire  has  re- 
cently been  given  a new  name  by  the 
local  church  people  who  are  happy  for 
the  work  he  is  doing  among  them. 

Verney  Lehrman,  of  the  Tabor  Men- 
nonite Church,  Newton,  Kansas,  received 
an  African  name  that  signifies  “Child 
of  Christ.”  Verney,  a Paxman,  has  been 
amazing  missionaries  as  well  as  the  Af- 
rican church  people  with  the  amount  of 
work  he  can  get  done.  Verney  got  the 
name  “Child  of  Christ”  after  helping 
the  local  church  construct  a meeting 
place  and  building  benches  for  it. 

Verney’s  father,  who  visited  him  at 
Tshikapa  in  November  1972,  reported 
back  to  the  Tabor  congregation  what 
the  Zairian  church  needed.  In  three  weeks 
they  had  raised  $1,200  for  the  building 
project.  They  channeled  the  gift  through 
the  Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission. 

“The  church  people  here  couldn’t  be- 
lieve that  they  had  a roof  over  their 
church  just  because  someone  had  love,” 
Verney  said.  He  later  helped  paint  the 
structure  and  suggested  he  would  build 
benches  for  the  church  if  the  people 
provided  lumber. 

The  church  building  is  one  of  a dozen 
or  more  buildings  and  remodeling  proj- 
ects Verney  has  been  involved  in  since 
he  arrived  in  Tshikapa  in  July  1971. 
He  keeps  things  moving  by  keeping  sev- 
eral projects  going  at  the  same  time. 


672  NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


November  20,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  EDITION 


Duties  temporarily  shifted 

There  will  be  a slight  shift  in  re- 
sponsibilities for  the  next  six 
months  with  respect  to  The  report- 
er. Jacob  Friesen,  Central  District 
conference  minister,  has  been  ed- 
itor of  this  sheet.  He  has  been  giv- 
en encouragement  by  the  execu- 
tive committee  to  take  a Clinical 
Supervised  Pastoral  Experience 
course  given  jointly  by  Oaklawn 
Psychiatric  Center  and  Associated 
Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries.  It 
was  felt  that  this  course  would 
help  him  in  his  present  work,  as 
well  as  being  beneficial  for  any 
later  duties  he  might  undertake. 

To  give  Jacob  Friesen  time  to 
take  this  course,  L.  L.  Ramseyer 
has  been  asked  to  edit  The  reporter 
through  the  April  1974  issue.  Any 
materials  to  be  published  should 
reach  him  at  488  West  Elm  St., 
Bluffton,  Ohio  45817,  not  later 
than  the  twelfth  of  the  month  pre- 
ceding the  month  in  which  the  ma- 
terial is  to  appear  in  print.  This 
shift  has  been  approved  by  the 
education  and  publication  commit- 
tee, as  well  as  by  the  executive 
committee. 

Churches  and  institutions  in  the 
Central  District  are  invited  to  send 
in  news  that  might  be  of  interest 
to  others  in  the  district.  One  must 
remember  that  there  is  a lapse  of 
about  a month  between  the  time 
when  the  news  must  be  in  and  the 
time  when  the  printed  Reporter 
appears. 


Ministers’  retreat  held 

Ministers  of  the  General  Conference  and 
the  Mennonite  Church  in  Illinois  gath- 
ered for  a retreat  at  Camp  Menno  Ha- 
! ven,  Tiskilwa,  Illinois,  October  7-8. 

; Speakers  included  Willard  Claassen,  Milo 
Kauffman,  J.  C.  Wenger,  and  John  How- 
ard Yoder.  The  purpose  of  the  retreat 
j was  fellowship,  Bible  study,  and  discus- 
sion of  common  problems. 


Members  respond  to  conference  goals 

Goal  No.  2:  Establishment  in  the  faith  of  children  and  young  people  in  this  age  of 
confusion. 


Children  and  youth  need  to  find  stability 

Children  and  young  people  are  an  important  part  of  our  future  church.  They  need 
to  find  stability  in  their  lives.  We  can  encourage  them  to  find  a time  and  place  for 
their  daily  devotions  and  to  make  this  a time  of  real  soul  searching.  They  can  then 
realize  that  faith  in  God  can  be  just  as  real  today  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Abraham 
and  Noah  in  Bible  times.  It  is  as  practical  for  everyday  living  as  it  is  in  a church 
building  on  Sunday  morning.  We  as  a conference  need  to  be  ready  to  meet  the  needs 
of  questioning  minds,  whether  it  be  individually  or  in  promoting  seminars  to  be  of 
service  to  our  youth  in  this  age  of  confusion.  Carol  Sprunger,  Camp  Friedenswald 
committee 


Christian  education  involves  personal  encounter 

A mother  recently  told  me,  “I  wonder  if  I’m  raising  my  children  for  a world  that 
doesn’t  exist  anymore.”  I think  she  was  alluding  to  the  fact  that  she  was  raising  her 
children  as  she  had  been  raised  and  was  afraid  it  might  not  work.  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  speaks  to  directional  goal  No.  2.  This  could  lead  into  a discourse  on  the  impor- 
tance of  relevant  and  creative  curriculum,  trained  and  capable  leadership,  and  the 
use  of  visual  aids,  drama,  and  role  playing  for  the  establishment  of  faith  and  the 
assurance  of  spiritual  growth.  These  are  all  good  and  necessary. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  know  that  no  superabundance  of  clever  methods  or  a dis- 
pensing of  biblical  information  will  automatically  usher  our  offspring  into  “the  house- 
hold of  faith.”  With  the  swift  tempo  of  today’s  society,  we  educate  for  an  uncertain 
world.  Christian  education  happens  when  persons  meet  Christ,  when  persons  meet 
persons,  and  where  together,  young  and  old,  teacher  and  pupil  participate  as  seekers 
and  learners;  where  in  honesty  we  share  doubts,  frustrations,  and  joys  in  our  pil- 
grimage. Our  mission  is  not  to  nurture  them  into  “hothouse  Christians”  who  have 
had  no  exposure,  as  Roger  Shinn  suggests,  but  to  build  faith  that  can  be  maintained 
when  the  world’s  chill  winds  strike.  So  help  us  God!  Joan  Wiebe,  vice-president 


We  must  communicate  and  demonstrate  our  faith 

Perhaps  one  thing  that  makes  it  so  difficult  for  parents  and  the  church  to  establish 
faith  in  children  and  young  people  stems  from  our  inability  to  communicate  with 
our  children.  Communication  implies  two-way  dialog  between  parent  and  child  or 
church  and  child.  It  is  important,  I feel,  to  communicate  and  discuss  with  our  chil- 
dren the  many  outside  forces  attempting  to  influence  their  thinking. 

It  is  also  for  parents  and  the  church  to  try  to  help  the  child  or  young  person  under- 
stand what  Christ  taught.  It  is  just  as  valid  today  as  when  Christ  was  here  in  the 
flesh.  It  is  important  to  establish  this  relevancy  of  Christ  and  his  teaching  in  the  day- 
to-day  life  of  the  young  person.  This  in  turn  can  only  be  done  by  having  us,  as  par- 
ents, demonstrate  our  faith  in  our  day-to-day  activities. 

If  we  as  parents  and  the  church  can  communicate,  educate,  and  finally  demon- 
strate our  faith,  then  I think  we  will  go  a long  way  in  helping  establish  faith  in  the 
children  and  youth  of  today,  the  adults  of  tomorrow.  Dave  Suter,  missions  committee 


THE  MENNONITE 


A- 1 


Faith  and  works  inconsistency 
aids  “age  of  confusion” 

My  first  reaction  or  question  would  be 
who  is  responsible  for  the  confusion, 
or  who  is  calling  it  an  “age  of  confu- 
sion”? Are  youth  confused  because  of 
the  greater  number  of  options  available 
to  them  (sometimes  labeled  temptations) 
or  because  they  are  keenly  aware  of  the 
inconsistencies  of  those  who  profess 
with  their  lips  but  have  failed  to  put 
their  words  into  actions?  “Faith  with- 
out works  is  dead.” 

Secondly,  if  “establishment  in  the 
faith”  suggests  a need  to  take  a new 
look  at  the  ways  of  revealing  the  “good 
news”  to  children  and  youth  (usually 
called  evangelism)  so  that  they  will 
voluntarily  adopt  it  as  their  faith,  this 
touches  a number  of  areas  of  concern. 
How  enthusiastic  are  we  who  supposed- 
ly have  the  faith?  Do  we  employ  pres- 
sure techniques  that  both  violate  the 
concept  of  freedom  of  choice  of  each 
individual  as  well  as  the  loving  nature 
of  God  contrasted  to  his  wrath?  Have 
we  in  the  home  abdicated  our  responsi- 

Self-discipline  necessary 

All  religions  recognize  some  way  of 
communing  with  the  supreme  being  in 
whom  they  believe.  Christians  believe 
that  each  person  can  have  direct  ac- 
cess to  God,  without  some  human  inter- 
mediary. We  believe  that  prayer  is  two- 
way  communication,  speaking  to  God 
and  listening  while  his  spirit  speaks  to  us. 

Real  prayer  is  not  just  a formal  rite 
in  which  we  engage.  To  be  meaningful 
one  must  really  desire  to  communicate. 
Yet  if  the  individual  merely  waited  until 
he  felt  like  praying,  many  would  pray 
only  at  times  of  stress,  engaging  only 
in  the  “fox  hole”  type  of  prayer.  Yet 
we  need  daily  communication  with  God. 
We  are  even  told  that  we  should  pray 
without  ceasing,  being  in  a constant  at- 
titude of  devotion.  But  humans  are  weak, 
and  unless  they  set  aside  certain  times 
to  pray,  they  may  seldom  do  it.  This 
makes  necessary  self-discipline  which 
will  motivate  the  person  to  frequently  be 
in  the  attitude  for  prayer.  A well-known 
hymn  characterizes  prayer  as  “the  soul’s 
sincere  desire.”  We  need  to  discipline 
ourselves  to  share  our  sincere  desires 
with  God,  while  also  permitting  God 
to  speak  to  us  while  we  quietly  medi- 
tate. 

Too  many  public  prayers  are  not 
meaningful  because  they  are  dictated  by 
certain  times  and  places  rather  than  by 


bilities  as  stewards  of  the  gospel  to  the 
extent  that  we  cast  doubt  upon  the  Chris- 
tian education  program  of  the  church, 
both  the  curriculum  and  the  staff,  when 
we  don’t  see  our  youth  responding  to 
Christ’s  invitation  as  we  feel  they  should? 
“Don’t  keep  on  scolding  and  nagging 
your  children,  making  them  angry  and 
resentful.  Rather,  bring  them  up  with 
the  loving  discipline  the  Lord  himself 
approves,  with  suggestions  and  godly  ad- 
vice” (Eph.  6:4,  The  living  Bible).  Ell- 
wyn  Hartzler,  peace  and  service  com- 
mittee 

Satisfying  faith  yields 
fullness  of  life 

This  goal  extends  the  hope  that  all  chil- 
dren and  young  people  will  be  given  the 
opportunity  at  each  age  level  to  under- 
stand all  they  are  able  to  comprehend 
of  the  Christian  faith. 

The  fellowship  of  believers  under- 
stands the  need  for  adult  faithfulness  to 
achieve  such  a goal.  They  are  also  aware 
that  the  goal  cannot  be  achieved  by  only 
their  efforts. 

for  meaningful  prayer 

felt  desire.  The  writer  resents  the  state- 
ment, “Let  us  repeat  the  Lord’s  Prayer.” 
Prayers  are  never  merely  to  be  repeated; 
they  are  to  come  from  a sincere  desire. 
But  how  can  an  entire  congregation 
have  that  desire  at  any  one  point  in 
time?  Can  we  have  prayers  at  sched- 
uled times  in  our  worship  services  and 
still  have  them  meaningful?  One  of  the 
purposes  of  any  devotional  service  is  to 
cultivate  an  atmosphere  conducive  to 
meaningful  prayer.  The  service  is  to 
help  “set  the  stage”  for  meaningful 
communication. 

Whether  as  individuals,  in  local  church 
gatherings,  or  when  the  conference 
meets  as  a whole,  prayer  is  important. 
To  be  meaningful,  it  must  grow  out  of 
a sense  of  “the  soul’s  sincere  desire.”  It 
will  not  do  to  excuse  ourselves  by  say- 
ing that  this  sense  of  need  and  desire 
is  not  present.  By  self-discipline  as  in- 
dividuals, or  by  the  way  a devotional 
service  is  arranged  and  conducted,  it  is 
possible  to  cultivate  a mind  set  condu- 
cive to  meaningful  prayer.  If  the  Central 
District  is  really  to  do  God’s  will  in  the 
world,  prayer  is  essential.  Let  us  live 
and  act  in  such  a way  that  it  can  be 
meaningful  communication  with  God. 
Lloyd  L.  Ramseyer,  Central  District 
president  and  interim  editor  of  The 
reporter. 


God  has  offered  his  abundant  life  to 
all  including  the  young.  The  adults  in 
the  community  of  faith  are  charged  with 
the  responsibility  to  provide  an  environ-, 
ment  that  will  convey  that  knowledge, 
that  awareness  of  and  appreciation  for 
God  in  Jesus  Christ  and  the  life  he  of- 
fers. This  teaching  process  goes  on  con- 
tinually, positively  or  negatively,  with  or 
without  our  awareness. 

This  goal  also  implies  that  this  is  a 
time  when  many  other  ideas,  some  very 
conflicting  ones,  are  being  taught  and 
are  making  a strong  bid  for  the  allegi- 
ance of  the  young.  Ignorance  of  the 
faith  or  insufficient  knowledge  of  the 
faith  can  also  have  a confusing  effect, 
particularly,  when  young  people  are  try- 
ing to  test  ideas  and  make  them  a part 
of  their  lives. 

The  community  of  faith  understands 
that  there  can  be  no  fullness  of  life  for 
children  and  young  people  without  a 
satisfying  faith  in  God.  Let  us  then  in- 
vite his  Spirit  to  work  among  us,  to 
complete  his  good  work  in  our  lives  and 
in  the  lives  of  the  young  persons  we  love. 
Kathleen  Kindle,  education  and  publica- 
tion committee 

General  Conference  church 
has  3%  conversion  growth 

Most  new  members  of  General  Confer- 
ence congregations  are  gained  by  baptism 
of  members’  children  or  by  transfer  from 
other  churches,  according  to  statistics 
compiled  by  Malcolm  Wenger  of  the 
Commission  on  Home  Ministries.  The 
Institute  of  Church  Growth  suggests 
three  categories  of  church  growth:  “bio- 
logical” growth,  or  evangelism  of  chil- 
dren of  believers;  transfer  growth;  and 
conversion  growth,  or  winning  people 
of  non-Christian  parentage  to  the  faith. 
Using  these  categories,  the  General  Con- 
ference for  the  last  six  years  would 
have  54  percent  biological,  43  percent 
transfer  growth,  and  3 percent  conver- 
sion growth.  Leland  Harder  in  the  Fact 
book  of  congregational  membership 
writes,  “The  early  Anabaptist  commit- 
ment to  an  aggressive  evangelism,  to  re- 
cruit new  members  who  were  true  be- 
lievers, has  been  largely  replaced  by  an 
in-group  birthrate  as  the  means  of  per- 
petuation.” How  does  your  church  com- 
pare with  these  statistics  for  the  confer- 
ence as  a whole?  What  difference  has 
Key  73  made  in  your  evangelistic  ap- 
proach, now  as  the  year  nears  its  end? 
If  our  commitment  to  evangelism  is 
real,  there  should  be  some  new  people 
in  the  family  of  God. 


A-2 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


Theme  . . . “For  everything  its  season, 
and  for  every  activity  under  heaven  its 
time.  . . “Ecclesiastes  3:1. 


Women  of  the  Central  District  Conference  gathered  at  Camp  Friedenswald  for 
Women’s  Retreat.  Shown  here  is  one  of  many  small  group  discussions.  For  Kathy 
Wine,  author  of  the  following  article,  it  was  the  vast  experiences  of  the  participants 
which  enriched  the  discussions. 


A visitor  shares  impressions 


WMA  offers  church  women 
seminary  scholarships 

Several  years  ago  the  wma  executive 
committee  decided  to  make  scholarships 
available  to  Central  District  ministers 
as  an  encouragement  for  them  to  attend 
interterm  seminary  courses.  Several  min- 
isters have  taken  the  opportunity. 

At  the  last  Central  District  wma  ex- 
ecutive committee  meeting,  it  was  de- 
cided to  extend  this  invitation  to  min- 
isters’ wives,  so  that  they  can  join  their 
husbands  in  seminary  study.  These  schol- 
arships are  also  available  to  other  wom- 
en who  are  interested  in  Christian  edu- 
cation and  other  ministries  of  the  church. 
Application  for  that  or  full  scholarships 
may  be  made  to  Lois  Kreider  (Central 
District  wma  president).  Route  2,  Bluff- 
ton,  Ohio  45817.  Pass  the  word! 

Executive  committee  elected 

A new  committee  has  been  selected  and 
is  already  beginning  to  plan  for  the 
Women’s  Retreat  in  1974.  They  are  Mel- 
ba Bechtel,  Goshen,  Indiana;  Eunice 
Jackson,  Chicago,  Illinois;  Bertha  Miller, 
Woodbum,  Indiana;  JoAnn  Preheim, 
Elkhart,  Indiana;  and  Adele  Reichert, 
Goshen,  Indiana. 

Role  of  women  in  the  church 

Because  wma  is  especially  concerned 
about  women’s  role  in  the  church,  a 

! grant  of  $100  has  been  given  to  help 
make  possible  the  seminar  on  that  topic 
held  at  Elkhart,  Indiana,  October  25-27. 
Further  reports  will  be  in  the  next  issue. 


I’ve  just  returned  from  a most  mem- 
orable weekend,  better  known  as  the 
Women’s  Retreat,  at  Camp  Friedens- 
wald. I am  from  the  Bettendorf,  Iowa, 
Presbyterian  Church  and  was  a guest  of 
Louise  Kreider.  We  hadn’t  driven  ten 
miles  out  of  camp  when  the  driver  of 
our  car  asked  me  if  I would  like  to 
write  down  my  impressions  of  the  re- 
treat as  a first-time  visitor.  I said  I’d 
love  to.  So  here  I am. 

Louise  Kreider,  my  dear  friend,  for- 
merly from  Mountain  Lake,  who  at- 
tended Bethel  and  is  a graduate  of 
Bluffton,  had  introduced  me  to  some 
of  the  Mennonite  tradition  and  belief. 
I already  knew  of  the  VS  and  the  TAP 
programs,  but  I was  not  prepared  for 
the  vast  involvement  that  everyone  there 
seemed  to  enjoy.  It  seemed  as  though 
everyone  had  been  somewhere,  usually 
abroad,  involved  in  some  kind  of  serv- 
ice. This  is  unusual,  I think,  as  I know 
of  no  other  denomination  that  can  lay 
claim  to  such,  and  it  truly  inspired  me. 

We  walked  into  the  beautiful  A-frame 
chapel  Friday  night,  filled  with  expecta- 
tion and  thrilled  with  the  beautiful  har- 
monizing voices — the  first  of  many  such 
songfests.  Another  first  impression — 
Mennonite  women  can  sing. 

The  retreat’s  main  speaker,  Margaret 
Showalter,  presented  her  Christian  dy- 
namics techniques  at  our  morning,  after- 
noon, and  evening  meetings.  Interspersed 
through  the  day  were  formal  and  in- 
formal discussion  groups.  Again,  it  was 
the  vast  experiences  of  these  many  wom- 


en that  enlivened  and  stimulated  our 
thinking. 

One  more  mention  of  the  women  them- 
selves— I sensed  a great  feeling  of  be- 
longing among  them.  Many  had  gone  to 
the  church  colleges  and  had  kept  their 
acquaintances  and  friendships  alive  in 
a way  that  most  graduates  don’t.  This 
lends  a lot  of  continuity  to  their  lives, 
therefore  meaning.  I must  say,  I was  en- 
vious of  this. 

All  too  soon  we  were  packing  up  our 
things  getting  ready  to  go.  I had  ac- 
quired some  new  and  interesting  read- 
ing material  from  the  camp’s  temporary 
bookstore — a really  good  idea  for  the 
retreat  and  those  weeks  ahead. 

The  beauty  of  Camp  Friedenswald  in 
the  fall  of  the  year  will  always  be  a won- 
derful memory  for  me.  Add  to  that  the 
warmth  of  the  people  and  the  relaxed 
feeling  of  the  retreat  and  it  makes  an 
unforgettable  experience  I feel  fortunate 
to  have  shared.  Thank  you.  Kathy  Wine 

New  executive  committee 
member  appointed 

Sara  Von  Gunten  (Mrs.  Kenneth),  of 
Middlebury,  Indiana,  is  the  new  district 
project  adviser  for  the  Central  District 
wma.  She  is  a teacher,  mother  of  two, 
and  a member  of  the  wms  of  the  Pleas- 
ant Oaks  Church.  Sara  fills  the  position 
held  by  Edna  Troyer  (Mrs.  Lyle)  for 
the  past  three  years. 

Material  for  this  page  should  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Marjorie  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, IH.  61701. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-3 


Survey  relates  to  Key  73  and  evangelism 


Recently  as  a group  of  leaders  of  a local 
church  was  studying  plans  for  goal  set- 
ting in  their  church,  someone  asked, 
“We  have  been  working  on  Key  73. 
How  does  this  relate  to  what  we  have 
been  doing?”  The  reply  was  that  it  can 
work  directly  toward  that  end.  The  plan 
under  discussion  was  the  Evangelism-in- 
Depth  congregational  survey,  which  is 
being  used  by  a number  of  churches  in 
the  Central  District. 

There  are  twenty  questions  on  this 
survey,  and  at  first  glance  one  might 
wonder  just  how  they  are  related  to 
evangelism.  The  first  four  deal  with  one’s 
personal  religious  life;  for  example,  one’s 
practices  in  Bible  study  and  prayer.  The 


next  six  deal  with  the  local  church  fel- 
lowship and  one’s  relationship  to  it.  For 
example,  one  statement  to  which  one  is 
asked  to  respond  is  “There  is  a positive 
spirit  of  oneness  in  our  congregation” 
(yes  or  not  really).  The  next  four  state- 
ments deal  with  one’s  relationships  with 
his  neighbors;  for  example,  “I  have  be- 
come well  enough  acquainted  with  my 
three  nearest  neighbors  that  I know  their 
hobbies  or  main  interests.”  Then  follow 
statements  dealing  with  one’s  beliefs  and 
activities  more  directly  related  to  evan- 
gelism; for  example,  “Within  the  past 
month  I have  tried  to  win  a non-Chris- 
tian to  Jesus  Christ.” 

The  entire  survey  is  thus  related  to 


evangelism,  and  to  Key  73.  How  can 
one  win  others  to  Christ  unless  he  him- 
self is  committed  to  him?  How  can  one 
invite  others  to  his  church  unless  he  feels 
that  there  is  real  Christian  fellowship 
there?  How  can  one  lead  others  to  Christ 
unless  he  is  well  enough  acquainted  with 
them  to  have  some  influence  on  them? 
Then,  of  course,  he  cannot  win  others 
to  Christ  unless  he  feels  a deep  desire 
to  do  so  and  feels  that  with  God’s  help 
he  can  approach  others. 

It  is  in  this  light  that  the  entire  sur- 
vey is  evangelism-oriented,  and  the  goals 
of  the  evangelistic  thrust  can  be  found 
in  the  survey  results. 


Grace  Church  illustrates  goals  with  banners 


The  Grace  Church,  Pandora,  Ohio,  be- 
gan its  congregational  survey  and  goal 
study  last  March.  The  task  forces  and 
core  group  decided  that  banners  for 
each  of  the  three  goals  selected  would 
be  helpful  in  reminding  members  of  the 
congregation.  Three  banners  were  made, 
one  for  each  goal,  and  they  were  dis- 
played in  the  foyer  of  the  church.  By 
this  time  a total  of  seven  banners  have 
been  made,  displayed  in  various  places 
in  the  church,  to  keep  a fresh  approach 
before  church  members.  One  of  the  goals 
was  to  increase  personal  Bible  reading 
and  devotions.  The  banner  shown  at 
near  right  stresses  this  goal.  Its  leg- 
end is  “Read  it  and  teach  it  at  home” 
(Deut.  6:6,7).  The  banner  at  far  right 
is  to  remind  folks  of  the  goal  to  secure 
greater  understanding  between  church 
members,  so  that  each  person  would 
have  a greater  feeling  of  acceptance. 
Its  legend  reads,  “You  love  God  as 
much  as  the  person  you  love  the  least.” 
Banners  were  also  made  to  stress  the 


third  goal,  which  was  to  have  an  in- 
creased proportion  of  the  membership 
able  and  willing  to  share  Christ  with 


others.  The  church  was  fortunate  to  have 
those  in  its  membership  who  had  orig- 
inality and  artistic  ability. 


Goals  stressing  Bible  reading  and  member  acceptance  are  illustrated  above. 


A-4 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


These  things  merit  our  attention 


Capital  punishment  reinstated 


B.C.  hosts  Bible  lectures 
and  ministers’  conference 

The  annual  Bible  lectures  and  ministers’ 
conference  was  held  on  the  Bluffton  cam- 
pus November  12-14.  The  main  speaker 
was  Vemard  Eller,  author  of  a number 
of  books  and  a member  of  the  faculty 
of  LaVeme  College,  California.  He  is 
an  ordained  and  active  minister  of  the 
Church  of  the  Brethren. 

Millard  Lind,  Goshen  Biblical  Semi- 
nary, led  four  sessions  of  Bible  study  for 
ministers  and  others.  He  is  a specialist 
in  the  Old  Testament. 

Central  District  ministers  and  their 
wives  had  a special  session  at  which  the 
report  of  the  General  Conference  com- 
mittee on  the  ministry  concerning  ordi- 
nation was  discussed,  as  well  as  the  study 
on  ministerial  salaries  reported  in  the 
October  issue  of  The  reporter. 

A meeting  of  the  executive  commit- 
tee and  chairmen  of  committees  deter- 
mined the  budget  to  be  presented  for  the 
next  fiscal  year. 

General  Conference 
1974  sessions  planned 

“Jesus:  Free  to  follow,  bound  to  choose” 
has  been  chosen  as  the  theme  for  the 
fortieth  triennial  session  of  the  General 
Conference  Mennonite  Church.  It  will 
be  held  August  1-7,  1974,  a slight  change 
in  date  from  that  originally  announced, 
on  the  campus  of  Brock  University,  St. 
Catharines,  Ontario.  The  conference  will 
include  Bible  study,  board  reports,  spe- 
cial interest  groups,  speakers,  a centen- 
nial service,  and  a communion  service. 
Opening  each  weekday  will  be  Bible 
study  led  by  David  Schroeder  of  Cana- 
dian Mennonite  Bible  College,  Winni- 
peg, and  small  group  discussions  of  the 
biblical  material. 

Bluffton  College  enrollment 
is  stable 

Bluffton  College  has  an  enrollment  this 
term  of  687  full-time  and  19  part-time 
students.  This  is  approximately  the  same 
enrollment  as  at  the  corresponding  date 
last  year.  With  independent  liberal  arts 
colleges  having  difficulty  maintaining 
their  enrollments,  this  speaks  well  for 
Bluffton. 


Two  years  ago  the  United  States  Su- 
preme Court  declared  existing  state  laws 
authorizing  capital  punishment  uncon- 
stitutional, since  they  authorized  “cruel 
and  unusual  punishment.”  Since  then, 
sentiment  favoring  such  punishment  has 
increased,  spurred  on  by  a tough  “law 
and  order”  policy  by  the  national  ad- 
ministration. As  a result  twenty  states, 
including  Ohio  and  Indiana,  have  rein- 
stated death  penalty  laws,  and  courts  of 
two  other  states  have  construed  legisla- 
tion to  allow  the  death  penalty.  Eleven 
states  have  enacted  mandatory  death 
penalty  laws.  Many  have  been  convinced 
that  the  death  penalty  is  a deterrent  to 

Seminary  workshop  discusses 
relevant  biblical  preaching 

A workshop  on  “Contemporary  biblical 
preaching”  is  to  be  held  at  the  Associat- 
ed Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries,  Elk- 
hart, Indiana,  January  8 to  February  1. 
It  will  be  sponsored  by  the  seminaries 
and  area  Mennonite  conferences.  The 
workshop  is  designed  for  pastors  and 
seminarians  as  well  as  others  interested 
in  the  renewal  of  faithful  biblical  preach- 
ing which  speaks  relevantly  to  the  con- 
temporary human  situation. 

MCC  Peace  Assembly 
considers  male,  female  roles 

The  interdependence  of  men  and  women 
was  the  focus  of  discussion  at  the  fifth 
annual  Peace  Assembly,  held  at  Camp 
Friedenswald  November  9-10,  sponsored 
by  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
Peace  Section.  The  purpose  of  the  as- 
sembly was  to  sensitize  the  participants 
as  to  how  discriminatory  language,  dis- 
torted values,  and  sexual  stereotypes  pre- 
vent men  and  women  from  fully  using 
their  gifts  in  church  and  society.  There 
were  panel  discussions,  lectures,  small 
group  discussions,  several  films,  and  a 
drama. 

On  October  25-27  a seminar  concern- 
ing “The  role  of  women  in  the  church” 
was  held  on  the  Mennonite  Biblical 
Seminary  campus  sponsored  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Mennonite  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries. 


violent  crime,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
states  like  Rhode  Island,  Michigan,  and 
Wisconsin  without  the  death  penalty 
have  lower  murder  rates  than  neighbor- 
ing states  who  retained  the  death  pen- 
alty. 

In  spite  of  this  trend,  the  National  Ad- 
visory Commission  on  Criminal  Stan- 
dards and  Goals,  as  the  result  of  a study 
financed  by  a federal  grant,  stated  that 
fear  of  punishment  is  not  an  important 
deterrent  to  crime.  While  not  mention- 
ing capital  punishment,  the  report  stat- 
ed, “Recidivism  rates  are  notoriously 
high.  Institutions  do  succeed  in  punish- 
ing, but  they  do  not  deter.”  Instead  of 
recommending  a tough  policy,  the  rec- 
ommendation was  for  greater  leniency. 
They  recommended  that  outright  release 
of  persons  convicted  of  minor  crimes, 
first  offenses,  and  white-collar  crime 
should  be  considered. 

In  1965  the  General  Conference  took 
action  opposing  capital  punishment.  As 
Christians,  we  should  consider  what  we 
should  do  concerning  the  present  trend. 

Bluffton  home  now  completed 

The  new  wing  of  the  Mennonite  Me- 
morial Home  at  Bluffton  is  now  com- 
pleted and  partially  occupied.  State  li- 
censes have  been  received  for  the 
“home  for  the  aging,”  as  it  is 
technically  called  by  the  state.  The  li- 
cense includes  the  intermediate  nursing 
care  floor  and  the  rest  home  floor.  Only 
self-care  occupants  are  in  the  old  sec- 
tion and  the  third  floor  of  the  new  sec- 
tion. This  third  floor  has  eleven  suites 
equipped  as  apartments.  The  capacity 
of  the  home  is  116.  Applications  from 
additional  persons  who  desire  to  enter 
the  home  are  being  received. 

The  level  of  care  and  equipment  re- 
quired by  the  state  makes  operation  of 
a home  like  this  very  costly.  While  some 
may  feel  that  rates  are  high,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  the  home  is  not  only 
nonprofit,  but  it  must  depend  on  gifts 
to  supplement  income  from  other  sources. 

A formal  open  house  was  held  Octo- 
ber 8,  but  those  who  could  not  attend  at 
that  time  are  invited  to  see  the  facili- 
ties provided  at  any  time. 


' 

THE  MENNONITE  A-5 


Normal  Church  to  honor  Raymond  L.  Hartzler 


Service  assignments  given 

Barbara  Enns,  Beamsville,  Ontario,  is 
serving  for  one  year  with  the  General 
Conference  voluntary  service  unit  in 
Markham,  Illinois.  She  will  work  at  the 
day-care  center  or  the  Sheltered  Care 
Workshop. 

Irene  Enns,  Dawson  Creek,  British 
Columbia,  will  be  a General  Conference 
volunteer  for  at  least  a year  in  Elkhart, 
Indiana.  Her  assignment  is  with  the  Elk- 
hart County  Association  for  the  Retard- 
ed. 

Joan  Huebert,  Henderson,  Nebraska, 
has  joined  the  Markham,  Illinois,  vol- 
untary service  unit  of  the  General  Con- 
ference. 

Tanya  Schulz,  Winnipeg,  Manitoba, 
has  been  assigned  to  General  Conference 
voluntary  service  in  Markham,  Illinois. 
She  will  serve  ten  months  to  one  year 
at  the  Community  Day  Nursery. 


Raymond  L.  Hartzler  will  observe  his 
eightieth  birthday  November  28.  The 
First  Mennonite  Church  in  Normal,  Illi- 
nois, of  which  Rev.  Hartzler  is  a member, 
will  honor  him  with  a birthday  tea  from 
2 to  4 Sunday  afternoon  November  25 
with  a tea  in  the  church. 

Mr.  Hartzler  has  long  been  promi- 
nent, first  in  the  Central  Conference, 
and  after  the  merger  with  the  Middle 
District  Conference  in  1957,  in  the  Cen- 
tral District  Conference.  He  first  became 
a member  of  the  Central  Conference 
when  the  Maple  Grove  Church,  south 
of  Topeka,  Indiana,  joined  the  Confer- 
ence. Later  he  was  pastor  of  the  Car- 
lock,  Illinois,  Church.  Mr.  Hartzler  then 
became  executive  secretary  of  the  Cen- 
tral Conference,  a post  which  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  in  the  Central  District 
Conference.  This  position  was  essentially 


the  same  as  the  one  now  called  the 
conference  pastor. 

R.L.,  as  he  has  usually  been  called 
by  those  who  have  known  him  well,  was 
editor  of  The  Christian  evangel,  pub- 
lished by  the  Central  Conference.  He 
was  well  known  for  his  excellent  writ- 
ing and  clear  analysis  of  problems  which 
faced  the  church. 

For  many  years  he  was  closely  asso- 
ciated with  the  Mennonite  hospital  in 
Bloomington.  He  was  also  for  many 
years  a member  of  the  seminary  and 
the  Congo  Inland  Mission  boards. 

When  the  committee  for  the  encour- 
agement of  estate  planning  became  ac- 
tive, Mr.  Hartzler  for  a time  was  ap- 
pointed as  its  executive  secretary.  He 
continues  his  interest  in  the  activities 
of  that  committee,  contributing  articles 
to  this  publication  in  the  interests  of 
estate  planning  every  other  month. 

Friends  who  are  too  far  distant  to 
attend  the  birthday  tea  are  invited  to 
send  cards  and  letters  to  R.  L.  Hartzler, 
809  N.  Evans  St.,  Bloomington,  Illinois 
61701. 

Evangelism  retreat  held 
at  Camp  Friedenswald 

An  evangelism  retreat  was  held  at  Camp 
Friedenswald  October  26-28  sponsored 
by  the  mission  committee  of  the  Central 
District  and  arranged  by  the  evangelism 
task  force  composed  of  Louis  Dela- 
grange,  Lynn  Liechty,  Richard  Tschet- 
ter,  Leonard  Wiebe,  and  Jacob  Friesen. 
The  theme  of  the  retreat  was  “Key  73 — 
Sharing  your  faith.”  Ministers  and  lay 
representatives  from  each  of  the  church- 
es in  the  Central  District  were  urged  to 
attend.  Resource  persons  included  Jim 
Miller,  dentist  from  Kidron,  Ohio,  and 
David  Whitermore,  staff  representative 
from  the  Commission  on  Home  Minis- 
tries, Newton,  Kansas.  There  were  dis- 
cussions on  what  has  been  happening  in 
Key  73  and  ways  to  improve  the  evan- 
gelistic outreach  in  the  churches. 

Walter  Gering  to  assist 
First  Church,  Bluffton 

Walter  Gering,  past  president  of  the 
General  Conference,  and  his  wife  have 
moved  from  Mountain  Lake,  Minnesota, 
to  Bluffton,  Ohio.  He  is  to  assist  Stanley 
Bohn,  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church. 
His  duties  will  involve  pastoral  care  for 
senior  citizens.  He  will  assume  his  new 
duties  January  1,  when  Wilmer  Shelly 
retires. 


ALCOHOL  - AMERICA'S 
No.  1 DRUG  PROBLEM 


18  MILLION 
ALCOHOL 
ADDICTS  AND 
DEPENDENT 
DRINKERS  OF 
LEGAL 
ALCOHOLIC 
DRINKS. 


22  BILLION 
DOLLARS  SPENT 
ANNUALLY 
FOR  LEGAL 
BEER,  WINE, 
VODKA  AND 
DISTILLED 
SPIRITS. 


LEGAL  ALCOHOL  IS  HEAVILY  INVOLVED 
IN  MURDER,  SUICIDE  AND  MOST  OTHER  CRIME. 


Vi  MILLION  DAILY  USERS 
OF  MARIJUANA 

$800  MILLION  SPENT 
YEARLY  FOR  MARIJUANA 

ESTIMATED  Vz  TO  ONE 
MILLION  HEROIN  ADDICTS 

$60  MILLION  PER 
YEAR  FOR  HASHISH 

ONLY  10%  OF  MAJOR  CRIMES  DUE  TO  HEROIN 


—The  American  Issue 


A-6 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


Weidners  serve  MCC  Cincinnati 


Pastor  plans  retirement 

Wilmer  Shelly,  assistant  pastor  of  the 
First  Mennonite  Church,  Bluffton,  plans 
to  retire  on  his  eightieth  birthday  in 
December.  Mr.  Shelly  is  one  of  those 
competent  and  active  individuals  who 
has  made  several  attempts  to  retire,  but 
the  church  continued  to  ask  for  his  serv- 
ices. 

Wilmer  Shelly  was  graduated  from 
Bluffton  College  in  1920.  He  married 
Emma  Good  of  Washington,  Illinois, 
whom  he  met  in  college.  After  serving 
in  the  public  schools  of  Illinois  for  a 
time,  and  attending  Witmarsum  Sem- 
inary, he  began  his  pastoral  work.  He 
was  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Wads- 
worth 1927-41,  of  the  Topeka  Church 
in  Indiana  1941-47,  and  the  Hereford 
Church,  Bally,  Pennsylvania,  1947-54. 
He  then  served  as  administrator  of  the 
Eastern  District  retirement  home  at  Fred- 
erick, Pennsylvania,  with  his  wife  serv- 
ing as  dietician,  from  1954-59.  This  was 
during  a building  program  at  the  home. 

The  Shellys  then  moved  to  Bluffton 
to  “retire.”  But  since  then  he  has  served 
in  six  churches  as  interim  pastor:  Grace, 
Pandora,  Ohio;  Comins,  Michigan;  New 
Stark,  Ohio;  St.  John,  Pandora,  Ohio; 
Good  Samaritan,  Philadelphia,  Pennsyl- 
vania; and  the  Bethel  Church  in  Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania. 

In  1965  Mr.  Shelly  became  assistant 
pastor  of  the  First  Church,  Bluffton, 
with  special  responsibility  for  ministry 
to  those  who  had  reached  the  age  of 
sixty-five.  His  work  in  this  capacity  has 
been  very  much  appreciated.  He  now 
wants  to  retire  once  again  at  the  end 
of  the  year,  with  his  position  as  as- 
sistant pastor  to  be  filled  by  Walter 
Gering,  who  has  moved  to  Bluffton.  It 
is  our  prayer  that  God  may  continue 
to  bless  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shelly. 

Wayland,  Iowa,  holds 
teachers  workshop 

Forty-six  teachers  from  the  Wayland, 
Iowa,  area,  including  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  and  Mennonite  church- 
es participated  in  a three-day  workshop. 
Sessions  included  “Creative  Bible  study,” 
“Problems  and  opportunities  in  the  class- 
room,” and  “Classroom  techniques.”  Re- 
source persons  from  the  Newton  Gen- 
eral Conference  office  included  Loris 
Habegger,  Dick  Rempel,  and  Frank 
Ward.  Participants  heartily  recommend 
such  an  experience  for  old,  new,  and 
future  teachers. 


Mark  and  Sue  Weidner  and  their  three 
children  moved  to  383  Probasco  St., 
Cincinnati,  August  30  where  they  oc- 
cupy an  apartment  on  the  second  and 
third  floors.  Their  apartment  is  two 
blocks  from  the  University  of  Cincin- 
nati and  fifteen  blocks,  a ten-minute  bus 
ride,  from  other  mcc  personnel.  Mark 
is  a recent  graduate  of  Mennonite  Bib- 
lical Seminary,  and  both  he  and  his  wife 
were  members  of  the  First  Mennonite 
Church  in  Allentown,  Pennsylvania.  They 
have  served  a term  under  mcc  in  Viet- 
nam. They  are  to  assume  a dual  role 
in  Cincinnati,  acting  as  leaders  of  the 
mcc  group  and  also  attempting  to  estab- 
lish some  type  of  worship  center  in  the 
city. 

The  VS  group  works  in  an  area  that 
at  one  time  was  the  residence  of  wealthy, 
industrious,  European  settlers  who  came 
to  this  country  over  a century  ago.  To- 
day the  area  is  about  50  percent  black. 
The  people  are  faced  with  poor  housing 
and  high  unemployment.  The  mcc  pro- 
gram works  at  the  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment through  its  educational  emphasis. 
Through  observation  and  talking  with 
VS  tutors,  the  people  seeking  “educa- 
tion” come  not  only  for  academics,  but 
also  to  talk  with  a concerned  person. 
In  addition  to  helping  to  plan  the  work 
of  the  unit,  the  Weidners  plan  regular 
activities  for  unit  personnel.  The  group 
meets  together  on  Sunday  evenings  for 
supper,  rotating  homes.  There  is  a Wed- 


Mark  Weidner 


nesday  evening  meeting  for  book  or  Bi- 
ble study,  and  recreational  activities  are 
planned. 

The  Weidners  are  also  commissioned 
to  see  what  can  be  done  in  the  way  of 
establishing  some  type  of  worship  cen- 
ter, not  only  for  the  VS  unit,  but  also 
for  others  in  need  of  such  services.  In 
this  they  work  in  cooperation  with  oth- 
ers in  the  area  engaged  in  various  types 
of  mission  projects.  They  have  also  made 
approaches  to  Mennonites  living  in  the 
city  to  explore  their  feeling  of  need  for 
fellowship  meetings.  So  far  the  work 
has  been  largely  exploratory,  and  at  pres- 
ent the  future  of  the  work  is  still  to  be 
determined.  In  this  phase  of  their  work 
the  Weidners  are  responsible  to  the  mis- 
sion committee  of  the  Central  District 
Conference,  which  also  helps  to  provide 
financial  support.  We  trust  that  this  work 
will  be  supported  by  your  interest  and 
prayers. 


Pleasant  Oaks  Church  celebrates  50th  year 


The  Pleasant  Oaks  Mennonite  Church, 
Middlebury,  Indiana,  celebrated  its  fifti- 
eth anniversary  Sunday,  October  21. 
Until  1965  the  church  was  called  the 
Warren  St.  Church.  In  1923  the  church 
was  organized  and  began  worshiping  in 
what  had  been  the  village  opera  house. 
The  first  pastor  was  public  school  teach- 
er, farmer,  minister,  Simon  S.  Yoder. 
The  building  was  redecorated  and  refur- 
nished so  that  it  made  quite  an  accept- 
able house  of  worship.  The  congregation 
flourished  for  some  time,  but  later  found 
itself  struggling  for  existence,  and  all 
but  closed.  An  almost  miraculous  re- 
vival took  place  about  1965  in  which 
it  was  decided  to  build  a new  building 
at  the  outskirts  of  the  village  and  change 
the  name  to  Pleasant  Oaks.  Floyd  Quen- 
zer  was  the  pastor  and  under  his  leader- 
ship the  church  grew  to  the  point  that 


an  addition  was  necessary  to  the  build- 
ing which  had  only  recently  been  con- 
structed. It  is  now  a flourishing  congre- 
gation, composed  largely  of  young  peo- 
ple. 

Lotus  Troyer,  a son  of  the  congrega- 
tion and  presently  pastor  of  the  Menno- 
nite Church  at  Flanagan,  Illinois,  and 
chaplain  of  the  Meadows  Mennonite 
Home,  was  the  speaker  for  the  occa- 
sion. He  briefly  reviewed  the  activities 
of  the  church,  as  he  remembered  them. 
Letters  were  read  from  former  mem- 
bers and  pastors  who  could  not  be  pres- 
ent. Ladies  of  the  church  provided  an 
excellent  meal  for  all  guests. 

Considering  the  number  of  young  peo- 
ple and  children  in  the  church,  and  the 
evident  enthusiasm  of  the  members,  the 
church  should  face  a bright  and  useful 
future. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A -7 


Walter  Yoder  dies 

Walter  Yoder,  active  in  church  and  con- 
ference work,  died  September  24  in  the 
Mennonite  Hospital,  Bloomington,  Illi- 
nois. He  was  born  in  Danvers,  Illinois, 
and  spent  all  of  his  life  until  the  last 
three  years  in  that  area.  He  was  a suc- 
cessful attorney  and  was  elected  a cir- 
cuit judge  of  the  11th  Judicial  Court, 
serving  in  that  capacity  for  six  years. 
After  his  retirement  he  and  his  wife 
moved  to  Clearwater,  Florida,  but  he 
was  brought  back  to  the  Bloomington 
hospital  when  he  became  seriously  ill 
with  cancer. 

Walter  Yoder  was  a very  active  mem- 
ber of  the  First  Church  in  Normal,  Illi- 
nois. Among  other  things,  he  was  an 
excellent  Sunday  school  teacher.  He  was 
elected  by  the  Central  District  to  repre- 
sent it  on  the  Bluffton  College  Board  of 
Trustees  from  1946-51  and  again  from 
1966-69.  He  also  served  on  the  Board 
of  Business  Administration  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference.  He  is  survived  by  his 
wife,  the  former  Marie  Marquis,  a son 
and  a daughter. 

Vernon  Sprunger  to  assist 
in  Berne  Church 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Vernon  Sprunger  have  re- 
cently retired  from  their  lifetime  work  as 
missionaries  to  Zaire,  Africa.  They  are 
making  their  home  in  Berne,  Indiana. 
Vernon  will  be  an  assistant  at  the  Church 
with  the  responsibility  of  pastoral  care 
and  visitation  for  senior  citizens. 


Weto  telling 
44  million  prisoners 
in  the  United  states 
how  to  escape. 


V ITAL  STATISTICS 


BIRTHS 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Alan  Hefner,  Rebekah  Lynette, 
Aug.  14. 

Eighth  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Byron  Ediger,  Deborah  Diane, 
Sept.  5. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jerry  Fosnaugh,  Jeffrey  Scott,  Sept.  19; 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Duane  Bluhm,  Mark 
Duane,  Oct.  3. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Tim  Kruse,  Benjamin  Bryan,  Sept.  12. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Donald  Nester,  Daune  Kenneth,  Sept.  7. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Frank  Young  (Nancy  Bucher), 
Scott  Douglas,  Aug.  6;  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
James  Lemley,  Stephen  James,  Aug.  14; 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kreg  Schey,  Carey  Jo, 
Aug.  27;  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Don  Burk- 
holder, James  Anthony,  Sept.  14;  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Holtgreven  (Fran- 
ces Baumgartner)  Heather  Lynn  Estelle, 
Sept.  14. 

Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio:  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Charles  Hostetler,  Rodney 
Lynn,  Sept.  29;  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ronald 
Klett,  Brian  Andrew,  Sept. 

Silver  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Richard  Yoder,  Shelly  Kathleen, 
Sept.  15;  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ray  Graber, 
Nannette  Fay,  Sept.  18. 

St.  John,  Pandora,  Ohio:  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Terry  Cramer,  Angela  Lynn,  Aug. 
14;  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Reimer,  Josh- 
ua Emerson,  Aug.  22. 

Way  land,  Iowa:  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Donald  Crowl,  Jennifer  Renee,  July  10; 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Les  Schlatter,  David 
Victor,  Aug.  15. 


ANNIVERSARIES 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  O. 
E.  Baumgartner,  50th,  Sept.  16. 

Carlock,  Carlock,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Leslie  Whitmer,  50th,  Aug.  19;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gordon  Gates,  25th,  Aug.  12;  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Oscar  Anderson,  59th,  Aug. 
25;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Guy  Myers,  59th, 
Aug.  27. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  El- 
mer Lehman,  53rd,  Sept.  26;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Clarence  Sprunger,  54th,  Sept.  28; 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Marcus  Lehman,  51st, 
Oct.  1;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carl  Flueckiger, 
53rd,  Oct.  3. 


Meadows,  Meadows,  111.:  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Walter  Eash,  50th,  Sept.;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Robert  Roszhart,  45th,  Sept. 

St.  John,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Homer  and 
Selma  Reichenbach,  51st,  Aug.  26. 

Way  land,  Iowa:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Espey 
Schrolls,  50th,  July  8. 

DEATHS 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  Elmer  Garber, 
Sept.  4. 

Ebenezer,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Cora  Gris- 
more,  Aug.  29. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Rosine  Oberli, 
Sept.  26;  Homer  Niederhauser,  Sept.; 
Tillman  Moser,  Sept. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Clara  Schumach- 
er, Sept.  22. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  Ruth  Schwartzen- 
truber,  Sept.  3. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Delilah  Am- 
stutz,  Sept.  22. 

Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio:  Della  B. 
Gerig,  Sept.  23;  Mary  Schrock,  Sept.  13. 

Pulaski,  Pulaski,  Iowa:  Mina  Bertha 
Bohi,  Sept.  18. 

MARRIAGES 

Bethel,  Fortuna,  Mo.:  Darlene  Faye 

Wenger  and  Leonard  Roy  Reimer,  Sept. 
29. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Ryan  Sprunger  and 
Connie  Weikel,  Oct.  6. 

Grace,  Pandora,  Ohio:  Mary  Shank 
and  Dean  Luginbill,  Aug.  5;  Karla  Par- 
ker and  Timothy  Craig,  July  13;  Corinne 
Bucher  and  David  Lee,  July  28;  Robert 
Hilty  and  Jan  Burkholder,  Sept.  29. 

Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio:  Sharon 
Schrock  and  Leonard  Beechy,  Aug.  25; 
Kay  Thut  and  Ray  Nussbaum,  Sept.  1. 

Silver  St.,  Goshen,  Ind.:  Bonnie  Mie- 
rau  and  Wendell  Bailey,  Sept.  29. 

Zion,  Donnellson,  Iowa:  Margo  Jan 
Hohl  and  Randal  Scott  Sprunger,  Aug. 
11. 

NEW  MEMBERS 

Carlock,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wayne  Mil- 
ler, Larry  Miller,  Randy  Miller,  Mrs. 
John  Stutzman,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert 
Waller. 

Material  for  Vital  Statistics  should  be  sent  to: 
Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant  Plain,  Elkhart, 
Ind.  46514.  Other  material  for  the  Central 
District  Reporter  should  be  sent  to  Lloyd  L. 
Ramseyer,  488  West  Elm  St.,  Bluffton,  Ohio 
45817. 


A-8 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


Bible  institute 
enrollment  up  again 

la  each  of  its  four  years  of  operation 
Columbia  Bible  Institute,  Clearbrook, 
British  Columbia,  has  experienced  a 
growth  in  enrollment.  This  school,  which 
is  the  result  of  the  combining  of  efforts 
of  the  MB  Bible  Institute  and  Bethel 
(GC)  Bible  Institute,  has  254  students 
this  year. 

Its  students  come  from  six  provinces 
and  six  states.  Sixty-nine  of  the  students 
come  from  General  Conference  church- 
es, twenty-five  of  whom  are  from  out 
of  the  province;  157  are  from  Menno- 
nite  Brethren  congregations;  and  twenty- 
eight  come  from  other  churches. 


Henry  Epp 

Henry  H.  Epp  will 
step  down  in  1974 

Henry  H.  Epp,  who  has  been  executive 
secretary  of  the  Canadian  Conference  s 
Congregational  Resources  board  and 
the  earlier  Board  of  Education  and  Pub- 
lication since  1965,  will  be  concluding 
his  services  with  the  conference  in  1974. 
This  decision  was  reached  by  the  Con- 
gregational Resources  Board  at  its  fall 
meeting. 

Prior  to  his  present  employment,  Mr. 
Epp  served  as  a pastor  and  teacher  in 
Waterloo,  Ontario,  and  in  Asuncion,  Par- 
aguay, and  Montevideo,  Uruguay,  for 
seventeen  years. 

His  duties  with  Congregational  Re- 
sources have  focused  on  providing  local 
congregations  with  educational  and  pub- 
lication resources.  He  was  the  initiator 
of  this  past  summer’s  innovative  educa- 
tion seminar  in  Winnipeg  and  he  has 
also  been  actively  promoting  confer- 
ence-related publications  among  Cana- 
dian churches.  At  present  he  is  super- 
vising a year-end  promotional  effort  to 
acquaint  potential  new  readers  to  Der 
Bote,  Mennonite  reporter,  and  The  Men- 
nonite. 

Among  his  earlier  responsibilities  with 
the  board  were  the  editing  of  the  Ger- 
man Gesangbuch  and  the  devotional 
material  Licht  fuer  den  Tag. 


Mr.  Epp’s  services  have  never  been 
limited  to  board  work.  Extensive  travel 
has  taken  him  to  congregations  and 
church-related  schools  across  Canada. 
His  archival  work  has  laid  the  foundation 
for  an  enlarged  Mennonite  archives  pro- 
gram. His  inter-Mennonite  activities  have 
included  participation  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a ministry  to  university  stu- 
dents and  in  the  planning  for  Menno- 
nite centennial  celebrations. 

The  Epp  family  worships  with  the 
Fort  Garry  Mennonite  Fellowship,  of 
which  they  are  charter  members. 

New  student 
residences  begun 

Construction  on  new  student  residences 
for  Rosthern  (Saskatchewan)  Junior 
College  is  to  begin  as  soon  as  possible. 
This  decision  was  reached  at  the  cor- 
poration meeting  in  October. 

The  new  facility,  which  will  accom- 
modate 168  students,  will  cost  an  esti- 
mated $600,000.  The  corporation  has 
already  received  pledges  totaling  over 
$200,000  from  its  members.  Solicitation 
for  support  will  continue.  Following  the 
vote,  which  went  overwhelmingly  in 
favor  of  construction,  ground-breaking 
exercises  were  held  on  the  construction 
site.  Gerhard  Bartel  of  Calgary,  a long- 
time member  of  the  board  of  directors 
turned  the  ceremonial  sod. 


Flaming  named  Western 
District  youth  worker 

Ron  Flaming,  senior  at  Bethel  College, 
North  Newton,  Kans.,  has  been  hired 
as  part-time  youth  worker  by  the  West- 
ern District  Conference  education  com- 
mittee. 

His  September-to-June  assignment  is 
to  work  with  the  Western  District 
Young  People’s  Union  cabinet  and  to 
visit  youth  groups  in  local  churches, 
helping  them  to  find  leadership  and  di- 
rection and  to  become  meaningfully  in- 
volved in  their  churches. 

David  C.  Wedel,  member  of  the  edu- 
cation committee,  said  Mr.  Flaming  will 
try  to  visit  all  youth  groups  during  the 
school  year. 


College  interpreted 
to  congregations 

Ben  Sprunger,  president  of  Bluffton  Col- 
ley0- is  continuing  his  efforts  to  meet  the 
church  constituencies  of  Bluffton  Col- 
lege, Bluffton,  Ohio. 

Since  his  inauguration  in  October 
1972,  Mr.  Sprunger  has  spoken  in  twen- 
ty Mennonite  churches  in  Kansas,  Illi- 
nois, Indiana,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio. 

The  topic  which  he  uses  in  his  church 
visits  is  “The  college’s  mission:  A re- 
affirmation at  a crucial  time.” 

Churches  visited  recently  include  Tis- 
kilwa,  Illinois;  St.  John’s,  Pandora,  Ohio; 
Calvary,  Washington,  Illinois;  Deep  Run, 
Bedminster,  Pennsylvania;  Eden,  Sch- 
wenksville,  Pennsylvania;  and  Ebenezer, 
Bluffton,  Ohio. 

Second  inter-Mennonite 
leadership  meeting  planned 

A Canadian  inter-Mennonite  leadership 
consultation  will  be  held  in  Ontario  in 
early  1975.  Representatives  from  eight 
Mennonite  conferences  and  from  the 
Mennonite  Central  Committee  met  here 
in  September  to  draw  up  the  agenda  for 
the  meeting.  The  consultation  will  follow 
by  two  years  a similar  leadership  gath- 
ering held  in  Saskatoon  earlier  this  year. 

The  scheduled  meeting  dates,  Janu- 
ary 8-11,  1975,  have  been  set  to  coin- 
cide with  that  year’s  mcc  (Canada)  an- 
nual meeting. 

The  planning  group  agreed  that  the 
consultation,  which  will  likely  have  about 
150  participants,  should  discuss  church- 
state  relationships,  peace  and  evange- 
lism, the  mcc  (Canada)  role,  and  na- 
tive ministries. 

Part  of  the  consultation’s  objective 
will  also  be  to  enable  the  groups  to  be- 
come better  acquainted  with  the  pro- 
grams that  they  are  engaged  in. 

Daniel  Zehr,  mcc  (Canada)  execu- 
tive secretary,  has  been  asked  to  serve 
as  coordinator  of  the  consultation.  He 
will  be  assisted  by  the  conference  repre- 
sentative on  the  planning  body.  Four 
conference  moderators  will  be  asked  to 
serve  as  chairmen  of  one  session  each. 

Lawrence  fellowship  meets 

A Mennonite  fellowship  in  Lawrence, 
Kansas,  has  begun  meeting  at  11  a.m. 
on  alternate  Sundays  for  worship  in 
homes  and  a potluck  lunch,  according 
to  David  Schmidt  of  Lawrence.  Place 
of  meeting  is  available  by  calling  842- 
7264  or  843-6015,  he  reported. 


THE  MENNONITE 


673 


An  Open  Letter.. 


Mennonite 

Central 

Committee 


21  South  Uth  Street 
Akron 

Pennsylvania 

17501 

U.S.A. 


Telephone 

(717)  859-H  SI 


Cable 

mencencom 


o 


,or  10  1973 

November  ru  - 


BUSINESS  of  TOMORROW  a comfortably 

£ the  United  States  and  Ca^e  one of  the  as 

' -iSl  ^^£r^olSe?anf  Brethren  In 

ar£  rin^"^^^^ 


• tribution:  ri^untries  cfXn  even 
mis  the  Someth  America  ErUu^le 

! -Uese%he  surpluses  *“  y thit  there 

'“r  aS°  " to  cod  ana  to  the  MOC  ““oibutlons  thtsjf  incteased 

n,?£°h  ss^^grst’ssse.-  in  hand  uith 

S^al1  giving  and  mere  MCC  is  working £hf  the  whole  man- 

r live  by  bread  alon  COIIIinon  con^r  ive  generously  MCC 

ig&rgsJS  ass*5*  “°s 

SS.* . £ot  these  times, 

he  prophet  Isaiah  had  a hungry  and  “<curity, 

Id  if  thou  draw  out  thy  soul  t Ught ^ 58 : 10 

dSness  hi  as  the  noonday. 


liecSvlseTetary 


yTS-.mab 


MCC 

Akron,  PA,  17501 


MCC  (Canada) 

Winnipeg.  Man.  RUT  7CS 


674 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


RECORD 


Ministers 


Dotty  Janzen  was  licensed  to  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  by  the  Faith  Church,  New- 
ton, Kans.,  Nov.  4.  A graduate  of  the 
Biblical  Seminary  in  New  York,  she  is 
presently  enrolled  in  Clinical  Pastoral 
Education  at  Wesley  Medical  Center, 
Wichita. 


Workers 


Lowell  Detweiler  has  been  appointed 
secretary  of  personnel  services  at  Men- 
nonite  Central  Committee  headquarters, 
Akron,  Pa.  He  has  served  in  the  Teach- 
ers Abroad  Program  in  Newfoundland 
and  Tanzania.  He  has  been  associate 
secretary  of  personnel  services  since 
1971. 


Daniel  George,  East  Swamp  Church, 
Quakertown,  Pa.,  has  begun  a two-year 
assignment  with  the  U.S.  Peace  Corps 
in  Tunis,  Tunisia. 

Peter  R.  Harder  retired  in  September 
from  his  position  as  business  manager  of 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College  after 
fourteen  years  of  service. 

Mark  O.  Hatfield,  U.S.  senator  from 
Oregon,  has  accepted  a three-year  ap- 
pointment to  the  President’s  Council  of 
Advisors  of  Bethel  College.  Prior  to 
being  elected  to  the  Senate  in  1966, 
Mr.  Hatfield  was  governor  of  the  state 
of  Oregon  for  two  terms.  He  was  speak- 
er at  the  inauguration  of  Harold  J. 
Schultz  as  president  in  October  1971. 
“Senator  Hatfield  will  be  helpful  to  Beth- 
el College  in  challenging  students  to 
enter  government  service  and  in  advis- 
ing the  college  on  federal  legislation  and 
funding  related  to  education,”  Mr. 
Schultz  said. 


Landauer 


Pamela  Anne  Landauer,  Forest  Grove, 
Ore.,  began  one  year  of  voluntary  serv- 
ice with  the  General  Conference  on  Oct. 
15.  She  has  been  assigned  to  Hutchinson, 
Kans.,  as  a day-care  worker.  Ms.  Lan- 
dauer is  a 1973  graduate  of  Forest  Grove 
High  School  and  has  attended  the  Bible 
Church  of  Dilly,  Forest  Grove. 

Luke  Myers  has  accepted  an  assign- 
ment as  assistant  secretary  of  personnel 
services  for  Mennonite  Central  Commit- 


Thp 

Mennonite 


tee,  Akron,  Pa.  He  has  just  returned 
from  three  years  in  the  Teachers  Abroad 
Program  in  Nigeria  and  is  presently  lead- 
ing the  mcc  service  team  on  a three- 
months  tour  of  Mennonite  and  Brethren 
in  Christ  centers  in  eastern  and  mid- 
western  United  States. 


A.  Schirmer  D.  Schirmer 

Daniel  and  Amy  Schirmer  recently 
celebrated  their  fortieth  anniversary  of 
missionary  and  pastoral  work.  They  are 
now  Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
workers  among  the  Hopi  people  at  Hote- 
villa,  Arizona.  They  have  also  served 
among  the  Northern  Cheyennes  in  Bir- 
ney  and  Busby,  Montana.  Daniel  is  a 


ntroduce 


o 


The 

‘iinonilt1 


native  of  Hotevilla  and  Amy  Talasnemp- 
tewa  is  a native  of  nearby  Oraibi,  Ari- 
zona. They  are  presently  serving  the 
Bacavi  Church. 


D.  Unger  N.  Unger 


Don  and  Naomi  Unger  have  begun  a 
three-year  term  of  service  with  mcc 
in  Oturkpo,  Nigeria.  They  are  teaching 
at  Wesley  High  School.  Don  is  the  son 
of  George  and  Mary  Unger,  Hague, 
Sask.  Naomi  is  the  daughter  of  Bern- 
hard  and  Mary  Friesen,  Rosthern,  Sask. 
The  Ungers  are  members  of  the  Mount 
Royal  Church,  Saskatoon,  Sask. 

Lav  on  Welty,  formerly  secretary  of 
personnel  services  for  Mennonite  Cen- 


tral Committee,  Akron,  Pa.,  has  be- 
come director  of  mcc’s  administrative 
services.  He  had  previous  service  with 
mcc  as  a Paxman  in  Burundi. 

Calendar 


Dec.  10-11 — General  Board  executive 
committee  meeting,  Newton,  Kans. 

Jan.  18-19,  1974 — Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee  annual  meeting,  Hills- 
boro, Kans. 

Feb.  4-8,  1974 — Council  of  Commis- 
sions (General  Conference),  Sargent 
Ave.  Church,  Winnipeg,  Man. 

Feb.  7-10,  1974 — South  American  tri- 

Aug.  1-7,  1974 — General  Conference 
triennial  sessions,  St.  Catharines,  Ont. 
ennial  sessions,  Delta,  Uruguay. 

Northern 

Nov.  22-25 — Mission  festival,  First 
Church,  Mountain  Lake,  Minn.;  Vemey 
Unruh,  speaker. 

Western 

Dec.  21 — Annual  business  meeting, 
Eden  Church,  Moundridge,  Kans. 


They  have  learned  to  know  you.  You  respect  each  other's  ideas.  They  often 
have  questions:  "What  do  Mennonites  really  believe?"  "What’s  happeninq 
among  Mennonites  now?" 

Help  them  get  to  know  Mennonites — and  you — a little  better  with  a qift  sub- 
scription to  The  Mennonite. 


During  1974  your  friends  can  find  in  The  Mennonite: 

• feature  articles  on  the  nature  of  the  church,  the  Christian’s  relationship  to 
the  state,  the  family,  Bible  study,  mission,  and  social  concerns. 

• news  about  the  General  Conference,  Mennonite  Central  Committee,  other 
Mennonite  groups,  and  the  church  at  large. 

• book  and  film  reviews. 

• letters  from  readers. 


I 

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676 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


CHJLDREN 
□FThE  TUBE 

Howard.  Raid 


When  we  read  the  above  phrase  we 
think  immediately  of  the  efforts  of  mod- 
ern man  to  grow  human  beings  in  a 
test  tube.  In  our  mind’s  eye  some  of  us 
may  see  great,  strong,  beautiful  super- 
beings who  are  able  to  solve  all  the 
problems  of  our  world. 

Some  of  us  may  also  see  a terrible 
monster  being  created  by  the  minds  of 
men.  The  monster  may  be  so  cunning 
and  cruel  as  to  be  beyond  our  compre- 
hension. Man’s  test-tube  creation  of 
himself  may  turn  out  to  have  six  arms 
with  huge  hands  capable  of  crushing  the 
bodies  of  normal  mortals  who  oppose 
him.  This  monster  may  be  so  clever  that 
he  can  lead  humanity  joyously  to  its  de- 
struction, as  did  the  Pied  Piper. 

When  we  stop  to  think  about  all  of 
the  monsters  that  could  come  out  of  the 
test  tube,  many  of  us  are  inclined  to 
say,  “Stop  such  research.”  Perhaps  some 
of  us  believe  that  this  kind  of  seeking 
on  the  part  of  man  for  more  knowledge 
is  the  same  as  Adam  and  Eve’s  eating 
of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil.  Therefore  it 
would  be  wrong  for  man  to  continue  to 
seek  to  grow  test-tube  babies.  Probably 
the  end  result  will  be  to  let  loose  on 
the  face  of  the  earth  even  more  power- 
ful forces  of  destruction  than  we  have 
at  present.  But  such  research  is  with 
us.  What  are  we  going  to  do  about  it? 

I would  propose  that  most  Amer- 
ican families  have  at  least  as  fearful  a 
“monster”  in  their  living  rooms  as  that 
conjured  up  by  the  fantasy  of  the  test- 
tube  baby.  This  tube,  too,  could  pro- 
duce a great  and  beautiful  man,  but 
for  the  most  part  it  produces  monsters — 
terrible,  horrible,  clever,  and  cunning 
monsters  with  beautiful  exteriors  and 
vile  hearts  that  seduce  and  destroy  men’s 
soul. 

This  monster  is  so  vile  that  some 
child  psychologists  are  now  saying  that 
no  small  child  should  be  allowed  to  see 
it.  Just  the  sight  of  it  would  destroy 
the  great.  God-given  qualities  placed 
there  by  the  Creator.  Its  cunningness 
will  cause  adult  minds  to  think  that 
“cleaning  up  operations,”  meaning  stab- 
bings,  crushings,  beatings,  clubbings, 


THE  MENNONITE 


677 


stranglings,  and  bayonetings  through  the 
human  heart,  are  perfectly  normal  ac- 
tivities for  normal  human  beings. 

The  church  says  little  about  “the  mon- 
ster.” 

Television  brings  into  our  living  rooms 
highway  scenes  of  crushed  cars,  man- 
gled men  and  women,  bodies  of  babies 
beaten  into  a messy  pulp  by  the  impact 
of  crashing  cars.  We,  the  viewers,  sit 
there  and  calmly  eat  our  ice  cream  with- 
out in  any  way  entering  into  the  tragedy 
and  human  suffering.  Without  a qualm 
we  move  on  to  a scene  of  a drunken 
man  staggering  stupidly  into  the  path  of 
an  oncoming  car. 

Without  the  blink  of  an  eye,  let  alone 
a tear  of  sympathy  for  this  “some  moth- 
er’s son,”  for  this  man  created  in  the 
image  of  God,  or  for  his  wife  desper- 
ately trying  to  keep  “body  and  soul” 
together,  we  wait  impatiently  for  the 
weather  report  to  indicate  the  prospects 
for  our  golf  game,  boat  trip,  or  picnic. 

The  TV  monster  has  created  children 
of  the  tube.  They  are  no  longer  our 
children.  The  TV  tube  has  so  distorted 
our  minds  that  we  are  unable  to  know 
what  is  happening  to  us.  We  have  more 


PRflVER 

□Ffl 

TWENTIETH 

CENTJHV 

PILGRIM 

Ruth  Naylor 


Thank  you,  God, 

For  all  the  obvious  things, 

For  all  the  things  we  forget 
to  remember, 

And  for  all  the  things 
we’d  just  as  soon  forget. 


facts  and  knowledge  than  ever  before, 
but  less  understanding  to  judge  this  by, 
because  we  live  only  for  the  instant.  We 
have  no  values  that  we  can  hold  to. 
Many  of  the  old  values  have  been  swept 
away.  Children  tend  not  to  look  to  their 
parents  for  values.  Parents  seemingly  do 
not  know  what  to  believe.  They  accept 
the  current  cliche  that  the  old  values 
no  longer  are  valid.  They  have  accept- 
ed the  tube's  values  of  “eat,  drink,  and 
be  merry”  but  they  have  not  been  merry. 
They  are  confused. 

The  other  “saviors”  have  been  dis- 
credited. Science  has  only  enabled  us 
to  destroy  ourselves  in  new  ways.  Be- 
fore science,  mankind  was  killed  by  nat- 
ural forces,  starvation,  natural  disasters, 
and  disease.  Science  has  overcome  many 
of  these  but  has  created  such  a need  for 
resources  that  nations  now  kill  mankind 
in  order  to  secure  them.  Our  means 
of  production  are  so  specialized  and  un- 
natural that  the  pollution  side  effects 
concern  us.  Education  was  supposed  to 
bring  reason  to  the  natural  man,  but 
the  educated  man  has  only  found  more 
reasons  for  being  unreasonable. 

The  tube  has  failed  us.  The  average 
North  American  young  person  by  the 
time  he  enters  college  has  spent  more 
hours  in  front  of  the  tube  than  he  has 
spent  in  church,  Sunday  school,  young 
people’s  meetings,  grade  school,  and  high 
school.  What  has  he  gotten  out  of  it? 
The  monster  has  distorted  his  values, 
perverted  his  senses,  debilitated  his  phys- 
ical body,  maculated  the  mind,  and 
broken  the  rudder  for  his  ship. 

So  where  does  all  this  leave  us?  It 
seems  that  the  tragedy  of  our  day  is 
that  we  do  not  feel  any  tension  between 
ourselves  and  the  world.  In  even  the 
most  poverty-stricken  American  home, 
the  TV  set  is  usually  to  be  found.  Some 
studies  indicate  that  the  more  poverty- 
stricken  the  home,  the  more  the  set  is 
used  as  an  escape  mechanism  to  live  in 
an  unreal  world.  In  the  average  North 
American  Christian  home  the  TV  set 
has  tended  to  replace  the  family  Bible 
as  the  focal  point  of  interest  in  the 
living  room. 

Whenever  the  topic  is  discussed,  if 
someone  dares  to  raise  a question  about 
the  effect  of  the  TV,  immediately  some- 
one will  point  out  the  interesting  pro- 
grams that  come  on,  such  as  election 
coverage,  news  stories,  and  some  of  the 
documentaries  that  are  valuable.  This 
sort  of  rationalization  of  the  use  of  the 
television  assumes  that  the  human  be- 
ing operates  rationally  when,  in  fact, 
he  usually  operates  on  an  emotional  ba- 


sis, following  the  line  of  least  resistance. 
It  is  difficult  to  get  any  logical  discus- 
sion of  the  problem  of  the  television  and 
the  way  it  is  used  in  the  average  home. 

For  example,  what  does  television  do 
to  a person’s  creativity?  It  occupies  so 
much  of  the  individual’s  time  that  he 
has  little  opportunity  to  develop  any  ar- 
tistic or  creative  skills.  What  is  the  effect 
on  the  solution  of  problems  by  the  in- 
dividual? On  television  every  problem 
must  be  solved  within  thirty  minutes  or 
an  hour.  If  the  solution  is  not  in  ac- 
cord with  the  watcher’s  wishes,  the  dial 
is  swiftly  switched  to  a channel  that 
does  satisfy  him. 

What  does  TV  do  to  the  ability  to 
hear  what  people  are  saying?  If  the  set 
is  going  continually,  voices  are  heard, 
minds  may  be  drifting  back  and  forth, 
without  any  conscious  effort  of  really 
understanding  what  is  being  said.  Con- 
stant conversation  does  not  encourage 
in-depth  communication. 

What  about  realistic  values  for  life? 
The  basic  approach  on  TV  seems  to  be 
to  get  all  the  material  goods  you  can, 
and  you  will  have  solved  your  earthly 
problems.  Furthermore,  the  forces  of 
power  are  the  group  forces.  The  power 
of  the  mind  and  the  power  of  the  spirit 
are  soldom  exhibited  by  the  heroes  or 
heroines  on  television. 

What  does  television  tend  to  do  to 
goal  setting  for  the  individual  life?  It 
seems  to  put  the  emphasis  on  getting 
the  other  fellow  before  he  gets  you,  on 
accumulating  for  conspicuous  consump- 
tion’s sake  rather  than  in  seeking  to  be 
of  service  to  humanity. 

What  does  TV  do  to  the  way  in  which 
we  look  at  our  fellow  men  and  women? 
On  the  one  hand,  it  seems  to  stereotype 
people,  which  certainly  limits  our  under- 
standing of  individuals  as  persons.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  seems  to  think  of 
human  beings  as  psychic  creatures  who 
can  only  be  treated  by  the  psycholog- 
ical approach,  with  everyone  becoming 
a psychologist  in  his  own  right  and  not 
interested  in  expressing  love  and  con- 
cern for  persons  as  individuals. 

What  effect  does  television  have  in 
regard  to  developing  confidence  and 
trust  in  what  is  said?  Many  of  the  ad- 
vertisements border  on  fantasy,  and 
many  of  the  political  and  patriotic  pro- 
nouncements verge  on  idol  worship.  Our 
own  nation  is  always  right,  and  many 
religious  programs  appear  to  be  an  ap- 
peal for  funds  for  their  sponsors. 

The  question  for  us  is:  What  kind  of 
test-tube  children  are  we  creating  out 
of  our  TV  tube? 


678 


NOVEMBER  20,  1973 


MEDITATION 


Inspirational  communication 

Shakespeare  wrote  of  the  forest  of  Arden.  In  it,  one  could  find: 

"Tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks 
Sermons  in  stone,  and  good  in  everything.” 

As  you  like  it,  act  2,  scene  1 

Who  ever  saw  a tongue  in  a tree  or  a sermon  in  a stone?  And  what  would  happen 
if  you  put  a book  in  a running  brook? 

You  might  even  argue  that  the  printer  probably  erred.  Maybe  it  should  read: 
“Sermons  in  books  and  stones  in  brooks.” 

No,  it  is  no  error.  Shakespeare  wrote  in  words  and  concepts  that  convey  truths 
to  the  point  of  inspiration.  Ralph  J.  Hallman  writes:  “The  creative  personality  is 
unique  in  that  during  the  initial  stages  he  prefers  the  chaotic  and  disorderly  and  tends 
to  reject  what  has  already  been  systematized.” 

One  of  the  reasons  why  the  church  has  difficulty  attracting  people  is  because  we 
fail  to  learn  the  lesson  of  creative  communication. 

The  biblical  Genesis  tells  us  that  God  created  the  things  of  the  universe  and  man. 
Then  God  observed  that  man  was  too  lonely  with  all  these  “things.”  And  God  creat- 
ed woman  so  that  man  would  have  someone  with  whom  to  enter  into  living,  dynamic 
communication.  “And  God  saw  that  this  was  very  good. 

Again  and  again  man  tries  to  develop  his  own  Genesis  story.  We  create  dish- 
washers, television  sets,  automobiles,  jets,  tractors,  and  computers.  We  multiply  our 
possessions.  But  man  gets  more  and  more  empty  and  lonely.  Man’s  Genesis  is  one  of 
growing  alienation.  And  so  we  become  locked  into  dullness. 

Would  that  God’s  Spirit  might  shake  us  out  of  the  doldrums  of  sameness  and 
things.  George  J.  Seidel  says,  “The  ability  to  relate  and  to  connect,  sometimes  in  odd 
and  yet  striking  fashion,  lies  at  the  very  heart  of  any  creative  use  of  the  mind,  no 
matter  in  what  field  or  discipline.” 

May  the  Genesis  of  our  minds  and  our  efforts,  be  one  of  authentic  and  creative 
communication!  Bernie  Wiebe 


Your  total  CROP  contributions,  when  designated 
for  MCC,  will  support  your  overseas  MCC  emergency 
relief  and  development  programs. 

GIVE  HUNGRY  PEOPLE  A CHANCE 
FOR  A CHANGE 


Contents 


The  eternal  mile  665 

Games  Christians  watch  666 

News  669 

Record  675 

Children  of  the  tube  677 

Prayer  of  a twentieth-century  pilgrim  678 
Inspirational  communication  679 

The  spoken  witness  and  the  living 

witness  680 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Poet  Pollyanna  Sedziol's  address  is  2498 
Lourdes  Lane,  Cincinnati,  Ohio  45238. 

Jacob  W.  Elias,  335  E.  32nd  Ave., 
Vancouver  1 0,  B.C.,  is  pastor  of  the 

Mountainview  Mennonite  Church. 

Howard  Raid  is  on  the  faculty  at 
Bluffton  College,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817. 

Ruth  Naylor  is  also  from  Bluffton.  Her 
address  is  Route  2,  Box  151. 

Bernie  Wiebe,  recently  appointed  pres- 
ident of  Freeman  Junior  College,  is 
chairman  of  the  Mennonite  Council  on 
Mass  Communication.  His  meditation  ap- 
peared in  the  MCMC’s  most  recent  news- 
letter. 


CREDITS 

Cover,  RNS,  Bob  Van  Lindt;  667,  RNS: 
670,  Harold  Penner,  3003  Benham  Ave., 
Elkhart,  Ind.  46514;  672,  Don  Lloyd, 

MCC;  677,  Verlag  Horst  Deike,  Werner 
H.  Mueller. 


Meimonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  721 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  Scu’h,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arboi. 
Mich.  48106. 


THE  MENNONITE 


679 


The  spoken  witness  and  the  living  witness 


In  these  days  of  political  dirty  tricks,  assaults 
on  freedoms  of  speech  and  press,  governmental 
cover-ups,  graft,  war  making  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  people,  and  expansion  of  presidential 
powers,  it  is  easy  to  write  off  government  as  one 
of  the  powers  of  evil.  We  want  to  separate  our- 
selves from  it  and  disclaim  any  responsibility 
for  it. 

A traditional  Mennonite  response  to  an  evil 
government  has  been  to  emigrate. 

The  assumption  of  emigration  is  that  the  gov- 
ernment will  not  change  its  course  because  of  the 
influence  of  the  emigrating  group.  All  appeals 
have  been  exhausted.  Because  the  government 
cannot  be  made  more  humane,  or  simply  to  es- 
cape genocide,  the  only  option  is  to  leave. 

A second  response,  especially  of  the  affluent, 
is  quietism. 

Governments  are  ordained  of  God,  we  remind 
ourselves.  And  even  though  we  ourselves  are  not 
willing  to  take  up  the  sword  or  push  the  button 
to  drop  the  bomb,  we  want  someone  to  do  so  to 
protect  us  and  our  wealth.  It  is  assumed  that 
governments,  being  evil,  can  do  nothing  else  but 
wage  war  or  oppress  the  poor  and  are  utterly 
unredeemable.  So  we  separate  ourselves  from 
governmental  processes  and  keep  our  mouths 
shut. 

There  is  a third  alternative  which  refuses  to 
call  those  who-  govern  unredeemable. 

The  Old  Testament  prophets  did  not  hesitate 
to  identify  evil  as  evil,  even  if  the  king  was  the 
wrongdoer,  even  if  the  whole  nation  had  fallen 
away  from  God. 

The  message  of  judgment  which  the  prophets 
felt  compelled  to  relay  to  the  people  and  those 
in  power  was  seen  as  a message  from  God.  But 
the  rest  of  the  message  was  that  repentance  was 
possible  and  that  a new  future  was  open.  The 
structures  and  those  who  worked  within  them 
could  be  redeemed. 


The  church  today  must  issue  the  call  to  re- 
pentance in  the  United  States,  condemning  evil 
and  yet  addressing  the  nation  as  a community 
fallen  away  from  its  own  promise,  capable  of 
new  beginnings  and  more  humane  structures. 

At  the  same  time,  the  church  must  validate  its 
spoken  witness  with  a living  witness. 

When  the  church  demands  that  the  poor  and 
handicapped  be  allowed  a decent  standard  of 
living,  it  must  show  within  its  membership  what 
Christian  economic  sharing  means. 

When  the  church  demands  truthfulness  in  gov- 
ernment, its  leaders  must  not  protect  the  con- 
stituency from  “things  they  wouldn’t  understand.” 

When  the  church  condemns  the  undue  influ- 
ence of  the  dairy  industry  or  the  military  over 
government  policy,  the  church  must  give  all  its 
members,  regardless  of  wealth  or  social  standing, 
a share  in  decision  making 

When  the  church  takes  a stand  deploring  dis- 
crimination against  racial  minority  groups  or 
women,  it  must  show  within  the  brother/sister- 
hood that  the  gifts  of  all  can  be  recognized  and 
used. 

When  the  church  speaks  out  against  war  and 
capital  punishment,  it  must  demonstrate  that 
within  the  church  love  is  overflowing. 

Lawyer-theologian  William  Stringfellow,  in  his 
recent  lectures  at  Bethel  College,  said  that  the 
Christian  response  to  an  illegitimate  government 
is  to  “live  now  as  if  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
had  been  brought  to  an  end  and  the  kingdom 
of  God  established  . . . , witnessing  in  the  middle 
of  this  history.” 

Living  in  the  new  kingdom  does  not  eliminate 
the  Christian’s  responsibility  to  witness  to  the 
present  regime.  The  witness  becomes  a living 
witness,  and  the  community  living  in  the  new 
kingdom,  yet  among  the  principalities  and  pow- 
ers, points  the  way  in  word  and  action  to  God’s 
new  community,  lj 


Tlip 

Mennonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:43  NOVEMBER  2 7,  1973 


Spare  no  effort  to  make  fast  with  bonds 
of  peace  the  unity  which  the  spirit  gives. 
There  is  one  body  and  one  Spirit  . . . 
one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  over 
all  and  through  all  and  in  all  (Eph. 
4:3-6,  neb). 

How  can  the  traditional  relationship  of 
cordiality  and  brotherliness  between  the 
American  and  Canadian  churches  be 
maintained  or  even  improved?  This  ques- 
tion seems  to  come  up  regularly  at  con- 
tinental meetings  of  one  sort  or  another. 

The  General  Conference  General 
Board,  for  instance,  discussed  the  mat- 
ter in  August  and  it  will  be  on  the 
agenda  again  in  February.  The  question 
also  cannot  be  avoided  in  the  mcc  self- 
study  currently  under  way. 

Before  we  begin  to  analyze  the  prob- 
lem and  propose  some  solutions,  let  us 
reaffirm  the  common  desire  to  maintain 
and  strengthen  the  relations  across  our 
national  boundaries.  At  least  for  the 
present  writer,  the  issue  is  not  whether 
we  should  or  shouldn’t  relate,  but  rather 
how  it  can  best  be  done. 

My  critique  of  some  of  the  old  ways 
should  not  be  interpreted  as  an  attempt 
to  undermine  or  destroy  a relationship. 
That  would  be  a misinterpretation,  for 
the  sole  intention  of  this  article  is  to 
search  for  that  way  which  will  make  the 
best  long-term  relationship  possible.  > 

Let  me  begin  with  a brief  review  of 
the  historic  development.  In  days  gone 
by,  it  happened  that  North  American 
Mennonitism  was  organized  in  its  de- 
nominations along  continental  rather 
than  national  lines.  The  largest  of  our 
North  American  inter-Mennonite  agen- 
cies, Mennonite  Central  Committee,  was 
likewise  given  a continental  rather  than 
a national  shape. 

'E  It  also  happened  that  all  or  most  of 
the  institutional  centers  of  these  con- 
tinental structures  were  south  of  our 
common  border.  By  centers  we  mean 
conference  offices,  publishing  houses, 
mission  board  offices,  colleges,  and  sem- 
inaries. 

This  development  was  a natural  one 
and  not  without  many  blessings  also 
to  the  Canadian  Mennonites.  At  a time 


Frank  H.  Epp 


when  our  churches  were  younger  and 
much  weaker,  we  needed  and  appreciat- 
ed the  help  that  was  given  to  us  and  the 
way  we  were  patiently  drawn  into  a pre- 
cious partnership. 

'■  It  followed,  however,  that  the  insti- 
tutional centers,  being  as  they  were  all 
in  one  nation,  took  on  roles,  carried  with 
them  expectations,  and,  generally  speak- 
ing, developed  identities  that  were  as 
much  national  as  continental  in  nature, 
notwithstanding  all  the  brotherly  bend- 
ing-over-backwards  by  the  Americans  to 
prevent  it. 

Thus,  it  happened  that  the  Americans 
felt  the  need  much  less  than  the  Cana- 
dians to  form  national  institutions.  It 
wasn’t  that  they  weren’t  nationally  mind- 
ed. Rather  the  continental  institutions 
served  their  national  purposes.  To  say 
it  that  way  is  not  to  blame  or  judge.  All 
of  this  was  a natural  development. 

Natural  also  was  the  emergence  of 
separate  Canadian  institutions  as  the 
churches  gained  in  strength,  as  they 
sought  to  indigenize,  and  as  they  tried 


to  stand  on  their  own  two  feet  and  be 
witnesses  in  their  own  land. 

^ It  was  inevitable  that  problems  should 
arise.  As  the  Canadian  conferences  be- 
came stronger  and  as  mcc  (Canada)  was 
founded,  the  continental  structures  came 
to  have  an  international  purpose  only 
for  Canadians. 

For  our  American  brethren,  however, 
these  same  structures  of  necessity  had 
to  serve  a national  purpose  as  well.  In- 
deed, the  psychological  expectations 
and  theological  mandates  that  became 
attached  to  these  structures  definitely 
took  on  an  American  flavor. 

At  the  same  time  our  American  broth- 
ers were  caught  up,  often  against  their 
will,  in  a total  political  environment  in 
which  Canada  and  the  rest  of  the  world 
became  easy  extensions  of  America. 
Thus,  it  happened  that  America  felt  it- 
self as  America  sometimes  in  national 
terms,  sometimes  in  continental  terms, 
and  sometimes  in  international  terms, 
only  rarely  knowing  the  difference.  De- 
cisions could  easily  be  made  for  the 
whole  world  without  asking  or  involv- 
ing that  world. 

To  a degree  this  also  happened  in 
the  churches.  Example:  Through  the 

years  mcc  evolved  quite  naturally  to 
serve  national,  continental,  and  inter- 
national purposes.  Yet  today  we  can  see  I 
that  mcc  is  not  properly  structured  to  I 
serve  any  one  of  those  purposes.  The  j! 
same  is,  to  a degree,  true  also  of  the 
General  Conference. 

Fortunately,  we  have  had  wise  lead- 
ership and  so  strong  a common  cause, 
that  minor  irritations  could  always  be 
overcome  by  an  overwhelming  purpose 
and  an  unfeigned  love. 

There  comes  a time,  however,  when 
the  unequal  structural  yoke  becomes  a 
frustration  too  great  for  even  the  most 
generous  goodwill  to  carry.  And  it  seems 
that  we  are  approaching  such  a time  in 
the  Canada-U.S.  church  relations. 

It  is  often  said  in  our  time  that  Can- 
adian Mennonites  are  allowing  them- 
selves to  be  influenced  too  much  by  the 
growing  nationalism  in  their  society. 
There  is  some  truth  to  that,  but  it  is  not 
the  whole  truth.  The  other  greater  fact 


682 


NOVEMBER  27,  1973 


of  the  matter  is  that  not  only  has  the 
nation  grown  up,  but  so  have  the  church- 
es. 

Yet,  so  often  they  must  adjust  to  the 
habits  of  an  earlier  day,  no  longer  com- 
patible with  the  new  situation.  Exam-, 
pies  are  the  continuing  easy  accessi- 
bility to  Canada,  so  much  appreciated 
in  the  past,  of  American  publications, 
educational  institutions,  and  mass  media 
: productions,  while  a reversal  of  the  trend 
to  the  point  of  a true  two-way  com- 
munication is  virtually  impossible  to 
i achieve. 

We  Canadians  must  admit,  of  course, 
that  we  may  not  have  tried  sufficiently 
to  achieve  a two-way  flow.  The  reasons 
may  be  partly  because  we  lack  the  will, 

I partly  because  we  lack  the  resources 
and  know-how. 

What  is  to  be  done?  Two  approaches 
to  a solution  can  be  considered.  The 
one  calls  for  a maximization  of  good- 
will while  minor  structural  adjustments 
are  made.  More  Canadians  are  put  on 
boards.  Parts  of  some  offices  are  moved 
to  Canada.  Brave  attempts  at  Canadian 
| content  are  made  in  the  continental  lit- 
erature. 

Generally  speaking,  our  American 
brothers  are  bending  over  backwards  to 
accommodate  Canadian  feeling.  Yet,  the 
frustrations  seem  to  remain.  And  one 
of  the  real  problems  is  that  every  gen- 
erous American  compromise  works  only 
for  a short  time  and  then  both  parties 
are  frustrated  again.  ^ 

The  other  approach  begins  with  the 
recognition  that  there  is  indeed  a more 
fundamental  issue  at  stake,  namely  an 
unequal  structural  yoke  tied  to  dissimilar 
psychological  expectations. 

In  my  opinion,  the  former  patchwork 
approach  of  resolving  our  problems  will 
not  work  much  longer.  The  old,  fre- 
quently repaired  wineskins  cannot  any 
longer  contain  the  new  wine  being  gen- 
erated. It  is  time,  therefore,  to  address 
ourselves  to  the  fundamental  issue  of 
providing  structures  that  are  in  harmony 
with  our  task  and  our  desired  relation- 
ship. 

This  can  be  done  in  one  of  two  ways. 
One  is  for  the  Canadians  to  give  up  or 


totally  subordinate  their  national  con- 
ferences and  mcc  (Canada).  In  this  way 
we  would  merge  our  national  and  con- 
tinental agenda  and,  presumably,  once 
again  go  to  the  continental  meetings 
on  the  same  footing  as  the  Americans. 

The  other  way  is  for  the  American 
Mennonites  to  identify  clearly  those  in- 
stitutions which  serve  the  desired  and 
necessary  American  national  purpose.  I 
say  identify,  rather  than  create,  because 
it  would  be  better  and  easier  to  begin 
the  structural  reshaping  with  psycholog- 
ical facts  rather  than  constitutional  facts. 

The  psychological  facts  are  that  in- 
stitutions like  mcc  and  the  General  Con- 
ference in  their  fundamental  essence 
serve  the  Americans  in  the  same  way 
that  mcc  (Canada)  and  the  Canadian 
conferences  serve  the  Canadians.  In 
other  words,  psychologically  and  emo- 
tionally they  are  American  even  though 
constitutionally  they  may  be  North 
American. 

Let  us  begin  by  recognizing  that  fact 
and  make  structural  adjustments  ac- 
cordingly, if  necessary  rename  mcc  to 
something  like  mcc  (U.S.)  and  the 
General  Conference  to  something  like 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  the  United 
States. 

The  renamed  entities  could  retain 
their  present  headquarters,  most  of  the 
present  staffs  and  functions,  and  most 
of  the  present  momentum.  What  they 
would  not  retain  would  be  what  is  prop- 
er continental  agenda:  foreign  relief, 
foreign  missions,  seminary  education, 
some  publication  work,  and  such  other 
things  to  which  we  would  commonly 
agree. 

For  that  new  continental  partnership 
we  would  establish  a new  structural  way 
of  working  together.  It  could  be  built 
up  from  the  congregational  grass  roots, 
but  my  own  preference  would  be  to 
have  the  linkage  come  through  and  from 
the  national  boards.  This  arrangement 
would  not  exclude  occasional  continen- 
tal assemblies,  but  it  would  reduce  sub- 
stantially the  complexity  with  which 
Canadians  now  do  their  tri-level  confer- 
ence work  and  which  the  Americans 
quite  properly  fear. 


My  own  feeling  is  that  this  latter 
course  — Americans  clearly  identifying 
their  national  institutions  rather  than 
Canadians  giving  theirs  up — is  the  more 
fruitful  one  to  pursue.  It  would  place  us 
all  in  position  once  again  to  enter  into 
a true  partnership  in  which  we  would 
come  to  the  same  meetings  not  neces- 
sarily with  equal  representation  (the 
larger  U.S.  number  cannot  be  ignored) 
but  with  compatible  expectations  and  a 
common  agenda. 

There  are  problems  related  to  the 
above  proposal,  especially  for  the  Amer- 
icans. But  they,  too,  will  acknowledge 
that  it  is  better  radically  to  rearrange 
and  revitalize  our  relationships  than  to 
have  them  kept  alive  artificially  for  a 
time,  only  to  die  eventually  anyway. 

The  advantages  are  many.  The  best 
of  them  is  that  it  makes  possible  a re- 
shaping and  perhaps  relocating  of  at 
least  some  of  our  foreign  offices.  Such 
relocation  is  becoming  not  only  desirable 
from  a Canadian  point  of  view  but  also 
necessary  from  a world  perspective. 

It  may  also  lead  to  a second  look  at 
some  other  institutions,  seminaries  for 
instance.  How  long  can  it  be  that  the 
Canadian  churches  will  remain  tied  to 
four  continental  seminaries  if  all  of  these 
seminaries  are  on  one  side  of  the  bor- 
der? 

One  other  point  is  to  be  made  in 
closing.  The  new  relationship  to  be 
worked  out  between  Canadian  and  U.S. 
churches  is  only  one  part  of  our  task. 
The  other  part  is  the  related  challenge 
of  allowing  Mennonites  elsewhere  in  the 
world  to  become  full  partners  with  us 
North  Americans.  In  that  context  Cana- 
dians and  Americans  are  in  the  same 
imperialistic  boat. 

The  World  Conference  can  be  an  in- 
strument in  the  desired  direction,  but 
only  if  we  North  Americans  can  con- 
sent to  a diminution  of  North  American 
unilateralism,  as  it  has  come  to  be 
through  the  mission  boards  and  mcc. 
What  has  come  to  be,  again  let  it  be 
clear,  was  not  bad,  but  unless  we  now 
make  some  necessary  adjustments  it 
could  easily  become  so.  May  God  help 
us. 


THE  MENNONITE 


683 


S^SESis 


Lois  Franz  Bartel 


Paper  crackling  in  a crib  is  a delightful 
sound.  The  infant  is  introducing  himself 
to  the  world  of  reading  by  happily  crush- 
ing colorful  paper.  In  no  time  sounds  of 
jabbering  will  join  the  crackle.  The  in- 
fant is  copying  grownups. 

Colorful  pictures  attract  even  the 
youngest.  Reaching  for  the  bright  red 
on  the  cover  of  Time  magazine  caused 
our  firstborn  to  roll  over  for  the  first 
time.  When  the  little  explorer  began  to 
crawl,  he  discovered  magazines  on  the 
coffee  table.  By  moving  them  around  he 
became  even  more  like  big  people  he 
saw.  Such  happy  associations  with 
books  set  a good  climate  for  learning 
to  read.  A child  who  has  been  exposed 
to  books  soon  becomes  curious  about 
what  is  inside. 

In  today’s  world  of  mass  communi- 
cation, however,  this  love  of  reading 
does  not  come  automatically  in  all  chil- 
dren. Competition  for  a child’s  time  is 
great.  Parents  can  do  a great  deal 
toward  instilling  a desire  to  read  in 
their  children.  The  young,  impression- 
able age  is  the  time  to  begin. 

Children  go  through  numerous  stages 
in  appreciating  books.  At  first  it  is  fun 
to  page  through  books,  letting  the 
youngster  help.  Names  of  objects  can 
be  repeated.  Around  eighteen  months 
he  will  sit  and  listen  to  simple,  short 
content.  Later  a child  will  sit  alone  and 
page  through  a book,  “reading”  the  story 
from  memory.  What  a thrill  this  gives 
parent  and  child!  As  the  child’s  mind 
develops  it  is  flooded  with  questions 
which  pop  out  as  stories  are  read. 

Benjamin  Spock  writes  in  Red  book 
(December  1972),  “It’s  impossible,  I 
think,  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of 
reading  aloud  to  children  from  the  age 
of  two  until  they  can  read  enjoyably  to 
themselves — which  doesn’t  come  until 
several  years  after  they  have  begun  the 
process  of  learning  to  read.” 

Carefully  chosen  books  are  an  aid  in 


answering  the  countless  questions  and  in 
developing  basic  concepts.  A two-year- 
old  gets  help  with  prepositions  in  P.  D. 
Eastman’s  Go  dog  go  (Random,  Inc.) 
“The  yellow  dog  is  under  a tree.  ...  A 
dog  over  the  water.”  He  will  also  enjoy 
a bird’s  search  for  his  mother  at  this 
age  in  Are  you  my  mother?  by  the  same 
author.  Anxiety  about  mother’s  leaving 
is  greater  at  the  age  of  two,  and  this  may 
help  explain  why  parents  are  requested 
to  read  this  book  over  and  over. 

Animal  stories  are  easy  to  identify 
with.  By  the  age  of  three  and  four,  chil- 
dren can  find  virtues  in  animal  heroes 
that  they  want  to  emulate.  Animal  sto- 
ries also  teach  the  vulnerability  of  an- 
imals. They  provide  satisfaction  for  chil- 
dren who  enjoy  wild  animals  and  for 
children  who  can’t  have  pets  of  their 
own. 

One  fine  day  by  Nonny  Hogrogian 
(Macmillan  Co.,  $5.95)  is  an  example 
for  three-  to  six-year-olds.  It  is  a fable 
the  youngest  can  understand.  A fox 
drinks  milk  from  a woman’s  pail,  and  in 
anger  she  chops  off  his  tail.  He  goes 
through  exciting,  beautifully  illustrated 
experiences  to  get  it  sewed  back  on. 

Don’t  be  afraid  of  some  ageless  lit- 
erature, such  as  the  Psalms.  Children 
may  not  catch  all  the  symbolism  but 
“they  can  get  a feeling  from  a thing  as 
simple  and  full  of  rhythm  as  Psalm  23. 
Both  through  its  music  and  its  emotional 
tone  it  can  mean  much  to  them”  ( Your 
child  and  God  by  Robbie  Trent,  Harper 
and  Row,  1952).  The  tone  in  the  read- 
er’s voice  tells  a great  deal  about  how 
he  feels  toward  what  he  is  reading. 

Appreciation  of  people  of  other  cul- 
tures can  be  fostered  at  an  early  age 
with  books.  When  clay  sings  by  Byrd 
Baylor,  (Scribners,  $4.95)  is  for  the  very 
young  and  all  ages.  It  is  as  expressive 
as  the  title  sounds  and  the  illustrations 
are  works  of  art.  It  is  dedicated  to  an- 
cient artists  who  created  the  designs  and 


to  the  museums  that  preserve  them.  It 
speaks  of  the  clay  fragments  found  half 
buried  in  mother  earth.  Indian  children 
are  taught  to  handle  these  fragments 
carefully,  as  each  piece  of  clay  is  a 
piece  of  someone’s  life.  Designs  have 
been  placed  lovingly  on  these  pots,  they 
are  told. 

One  gets  the  feeling  of  oneness  with 
the  earth  and  a feeling  of  awe  by  the 
portrayal  of  finding  the  broken  but 
beautiful  pottery  pieces  and  hearing  the 
philosophy  of  their  creators.  Songs  were 
an  important  part  of  their  lives.  “They 
say  that  even  now  the  wind  sometimes 
finds  one  of  those  songs  still  in  the  clay 
and  lifts  it  out  and  carries  it  down  the 
canyon  and  across  the  hills.”  This  book 
is  a must  for  any  library. 

When  children  can  read  by  themselves 
they  can  truly  discover  the  world  of  ex- 
citement, travel,  information,  vicarious 
experience,  and  problem  solving  that 
books  bring.  Adults  still  have  the  op- 
portunity and  responsibility,  however,  to 
guide  their  choices  by  making  books 
available.  Giving  books  as  gifts  is  an 
excellent  way.  Books  can  be  borrowed 
from  the  library,  but  there’s  a special 
feeling  about  having  one’s  own  book- 
shelf with  books  one  can  return  to. 

Giving  a book  like  Only  the  earth 
and  sky  last  forever  by  Nathaniel  Bench- 
ley  (Harper  and  Row,  $4.50)  promotes 
ethnic  understanding  among  teenagers. 
It  is  the  story  of  the  last  days  of  Chief 
Crazy  Horse,  told  through  the  eyes  of 
a young  man  feverishly  trying  to  prove 
himself  worthy  of  a maiden  whom  he 
loves.  It’s  not  Lasheka  he  needs  to  prove 
it  to,  but  her  grandmother,  who  wishes 
many  ponies  for  her  granddaughter.  He 
doesn’t  have  them. 

The  coming  of  the  white  man  inter- 
feres. Trouble  begins  when  he  goes  to 
the  Paha  Sapa  (Black  Hills)  to  think 
things  through  and  listen  to  the  Great 
Spirit.  He  is  shot  at  by  a white  soldier. 


IMs  pubS w«“lv  exc^t  f T'  1 b.U'ld  t1®  ^'T  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Church  toWeSWA  ?vV,?ndc'ue  last  **“  Weeks  in  °Kember  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  M^nonite 

office-  6 OOSha ftesbu^  Blud  ° r Newton,  Kans.  67 1 17.  Subscriptions:  ,n  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 

ry  d.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


684 


NOVEMBER  27,  1973 


Another  problem  comes  when  govern- 
ment men  come  to  tribal  leaders  to  buy 
the  Paha  Sapa — an  incredible  thought! 
Buy  mother  earth?  Especially  a sacred 
place?  Continued  disturbances  are  what 
finally  “decided  me,”  he  says.  The  trou- 
ble had  to  be  ripped  out  and  the  trouble 
was  the  white  man,  the  Washita.  The 
young  man  defies  his  teachings  about 
taking  life  and  joins  the  “hostiles.” 

A deeper  insight  of  the  feelings  and 
reasons  for  happenings  such  as  “Wound- 
ed Knee”  and  a greater  understanding 
of  life  will  come  to  anyone  reading  Only 
the  earth  and  sky  last  forever. 

Julie  of  the  wolves  by  Jean  Craig- 
head George  (Harper  and  Row,  $4.95) 
is  a 1973  Newbery  Medal  Award  win- 
ner. It  gives  juniors  and  teenagers  in- 
sight into  the  beauties  of  the  Eskimo 
I life-style  and  the  conflicts  brought  on 
' with  increased  contact  with  technology 
and  “gussaks”  (whites).  Miyak  flees  an 
, unhappy  situation  only  to  find  herself 
lost  in  the  tundra.  The  keen  understand- 
ing of  nature  and  animals  which  she  has 
[ received  from  her  father  enables  her  to 
i survive.  When  the  gussaks,  for  sport, 

( come  to  kill  the  wolf  leader  who  has 
helped  her  stay  alive,  her  determination 
; to  find  her  pen  pal  living  in  a pink  bed- 
room in  San  Francisco  vanishes.  But 
where  does  she  belong? 

Ms.  George  spent  a summer  studying 
wolves  and  the  tundra  in  Barrow,  Alas- 
ka. She  has  also  written  My  side  of 
the  mountain,  a favorite  of  preteens. 

A totally  new  world  of  teenage  prob- 
lems is  brought  to  fight  for  most  middle- 
class  young  people  when  they  read  The 
planet  of  Junior  Brown  by  Virginia  Ham- 
ilton (Macmillan  Co.,  $5.95).  Three 
lonely  people,  a former  teacher  now  jan- 
iotr,  an  overweight  boy,  and  a homeless 
boy,  form  the  core  of  the  story.  Grad- 
ually they  become  involved  in  helping 
many  homeless  boys — in  a most  incred- 
ible way — all  top  secret.  It’s  done  through 
a satellite  system  in  which  dependent 
boys  stay  with  a “Tomorrow  Billy”  in  a 
hideout  until  they  no  longer  feel  the 
need  of  having  “Billy”  around  tomor- 
row and  can  fend  for  themselves.  To 
me  the  story  seemed  unbelievable,  as 
if  someone  had  a wild  dream.  A friend 
of  mine  who  has  experienced  this,  both 
personally  and  in  the  Peace  Corps,  as- 
sures me  this  is  reality  for  countless 
youth. 

The  beauty  of  the  book  is  its  portray- 
al of  true  brotherhood:  how  self-realiza- 
tion emerges  in  each  character  and  how 
they  five  basically  for  each  other. 

Biographies  provide  models  for  young 


people.  They  provide  a svay  to  meet  in- 
teresting people  of  today  and  of  the  past 
and  to  see  the  problems  and  joys  they 
experienced.  Doctor  in  rags  by  Louise 
A.  Vernon  (Herald  Press,  $2.9^)  takes 
the  reader  on  a lively  trip  into  history. 
Michael  is  supposed  to  be  watching  his 
seriously  ill  sister.  Instead  he  runs  to 
look  out  from  the  balcony,  where  he 
sees  his  widowed  mother  letting  strange 
men  into  the  yard.  They  turn  out  to  be 
Hutterites,  and  it’s  unlawful  to  hire  or 
protect  them  in  Moravia,  this  being  in 
the  1530s.  He  overhears  there  is  a doc- 
tor among  them  and  determines  to  per- 
suade his  mother  to  ask  him  to  look  at 
his  sister.  A friendship  results.  Through 
sharing  the  risks  and  sufferings  of  these 
Anabaptists,  the  family  becomes  part  of 
the  movement.  Eventually  Michael 
strikes  out  determined  to  become  an- 
other doctor  in  rags. 

This  book  for  juniors  is  one  of  a 
series  of  moderately  priced  paperbacks 
by  Louise  Vernon  on  Anabaptist  his- 
tory. The  entire  family  will  enjoy  read- 
ing these  aloud  together  chapter  by  chap- 
ter, even  if  everyone  can  read  by  them- 
selves. As  well  as  making  important  his- 
tory come  alive,  it  enriches  a car  trip  or 
evenings  spent  together  at  home. 

Situations  and  difficulties  faced  in  fife 
can  be  solved  by  reading.  One  way  is 
to  read  about  others  who  have  similar 
problems  or  handicaps.  The  child  reads 
about  the  way  the  person  handles  the 
problem  in  the  story  and  this  can  give 
him  ideas  for  solving  his  own  problems. 
This  is  called  bibliotherapy.  The  goal  is 
to  have  the  right  books  at  the  right  time. 
Here  are  examples. 

What  goes  on  in  the  mind  of  a teen- 
ager when  she  faces  the  reality  that 
her  parents  no  longer  five  together,  that 
they  are  divorced?  Mindy  by  Dorothy 
Hamilton  (Herald  Press,  $1.95)  is  such 
a girl.  Loneliness  becomes  an  overwhelm- 
ing part  of  her  fife.  She  is  tom  between 
loyalty  and  love  for  each  parent.  The 
visitation  agreement  leaves  her  feeling 
like  a piece  of  property. 

Any  teenager  who  is  in  a similar  set- 
ting or  who  knows  someone  in  such  a 
situation  will  identify  and  gain  insight 
from  Mindy.  However,  the  father  tends 
to  come  through  as  the  good  guy  and 
the  mother  the  one  who  is  selfish.  The 
solution  and  hints  of  reunion  come  when 
the  mother  recognizes  her  problem.  The 
explanation  of  why  mother  wanted  the 
divorce  seems  oversimplified  and  unreal- 
istic. It  may  give  young  people  reading 
the  book  the  feeling  that  one  is  at  fault, 
and  when  he  changes  all  will  be  well. 


Problems  leading  to  divorce  are  far  more 
complex  than  portrayed  in  the  book.  As 
Mindy  reflected  in  bed  one  night,  “It’s 
easy  for  people  to  make  such  big  mis- 
takes.” 

A book  that  gives  a view  of  another 
family’s  burden  and  at  the  same  time 
provides  readers  with  a new  opportu- 
nity to  appreciate  nature,  is  Incident  at 
Hawk’s  hill  by  Eckert  (Little,  Brown). 
The  geographical  description  makes 
vivid  the  area  and  animals  west  of  the 
Red  River  and  north  of  Winnipeg.  One 
can  see  the  prairies  and  almost  feel  the 
jolt  of  stepping  into  a prairie  dog  hole 
as  one  walks  along. 

In  this  setting  Ben,  the  youngest  son 
of  a pioneer  family  in  the  late  1800s, 
seems  to  hear  a different  drumbeat.  His 
ability  to  relate  and  interact  with  an- 
imals is  uncanny  and  causes  much  con- 
cern in  his  family.  One  of  the  most  grip- 
ping accounts  I have  ever  read  begins 
the  day  he  gets  lost  running  after  a 
prairie  chicken.  He  is  given  up  for  dead 
while  living  with  a female  badger.  Au- 
thor Eckert  writes,  “Incident  at  Hawk’s 
hill  is  a slightly  fictionalized  version  of 
an  incident  which  actually  occurred  at 
the  time  and  place  noted!” 

Still  another  family  shares  a burden 
in  Summer  of  the  swans  by  Betsy  Byars 
(Viking,  $3.95).  Anyone  with  a retard- 
ed child  in  the  family  circle  will  iden- 
tify with  teenage  Sara  as  she  takes  Char- 
lie along  to  visit  a friend.  They  then  go 
down  to  the  pond  to  see  the  swans  and 
Sara  can’t  convince  Charlie  to  come 
home.  The  experiences  and  the  final 
crisis  will  aid  any  reader  in  understand- 
ing the  special  love  and  understanding 
those  affected  by  retardation  need,  plus 
the  typical  “growing  pains”  Sara  en- 
counters as  she  becomes  a teen.  It  is  a 
fast  moving  book  for  juniors  and  teen- 
agers. 

The  above  reviews  merely  scratch  the 
surface  of  the  exciting  new  books  that 
are  available. 

No  one  should  miss  out  on  the  world 
of  reading.  Happy  is  the  person  who 
knows  books  as  friends.  Books  enrich, 
entertain,  console,  excite,  inform,  and 
help  their  readers.  They  meet  the  varied 
needs  of  all  stages  of  fife. 

Fader,  who  works  with  young  people 
who  have  had  problems  in  school 
writes,  “The  poorest  man  in  the  world 
is  the  man  limited  to  his  own  experi- 
ence, the  man  who  does  not  read” 
( Hooked  on  hooks,  program  and  proof 
Berkley,  1969,  95  cents).  Fortunate  is 
the  person  who  discovers  the  joys  of 
books  at  an  early  age. 


THE  MENNONITE 


685 


NEWS 


Consultation  proposes  MCC  restructuring 


The  Mennonite  Central  Committee  will 
undergo  some  marked  changes  in  its 
structure  and  in  some  of  its  program- 
ming if  it  adopts  the  recommendation 
of  a recent  self-study  consultation. 

Meeting  in  Chicago  October  31  to 
November  2 at  mcc’s  invitation,  eighty 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  rep- 
resentatives proposed  two  major  changes 
to  mcc:  first,  that  it  should  in  the  fu- 
ture be  encouraged  to  integrate  the 
word  and  the  deed  more  fully  in  its 
ministry,  and,  secondly,  that  work  should 
be  started  on  the  establishment  of  some 
sort  of  a U.S.  counterpart  to  mcc  (Can- 
ada). 

The  consultants  also  asked  the  re- 
cently formed  Council  of  Moderators 
and  Secretaries  to  convene  a Mennonite 
and  Brethren  in  Christ  conference  to 
look  at  present  cooperative  endeavors 
and  to  consider  possible  new  forms  of 
inter-Mennonite  activity,  either  through 
mcc  or  other  agencies. 

The  word-deed,  or  evangelism-serv- 
ice, question  has  been  pestering  mcc  for 
a long  time.  For  most  of  its  fifty-three- 
year  history  it  has  felt  compelled  to  stay 
out  of  evangelism  and  church-planting 
activities.  This  function,  it  was  said,  be- 
longed to  the  mission  boards.  But  such 
a division  conflicts  with  the  Mennonite 
churches’  theology  of  the  oneness  of  the 
church’s  mission,  namely  that  the  “giv- 
ing of  the  cup  of  cold  water”  and  the 
proclamation  of  the  gospel  go  hand  in 
hand. 

Paul  Kraybill,  general  secretary  of  the 
Mennonite  Church,  said,  “The  struc- 
tural discontinuity  of  the  past  fifty  years 
has  tended  to  split  our  theology.  . . . 
Dare  we  continue  to  move  in  this  di- 
rection?” 

The  consultation  tried  to  solve  the 
problem  by  agreeing  that  mcc  personnel 
should  be  given  the  freedom  to  become 
involved  in  evangelism,  and  even  in  the 
establishment  of  churches  under  certain 
circumstances.  Church  planting  could  oc- 
cur, they  said,  if  none  of  the  member 
groups’  mission  boards  are  active  in  that 
region  or  if  there  seems  to  be  a potential 
for  the  establishment  of  an  Anabaptist 
Christian  fellowship. 

Although  the  consultation’s  decision 


to  free  mcc  to  become  more  involved 
in  evangelism  was  broadly  applauded 
and  caused  Peter  J.  Dyck  to  exclaim, 
“Happy  day!”  some  acknowledged  that 
the  basic  difficulty  may  run  deeper  than 
this  solution  suggests. 

Elmer  Neufeld,  chairman  of  both  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  and 
Africa  Inter-Mennonite  Mission,  voiced 
his  fear  that  the  church  seems  to  be 
losing  its  sense  of  mission,  as  it  has  done 
several  times  earlier  in  its  history  with 
disastrous  effects.  His  question  was: 
What  can  be  done  to  give  the  Mennonite 
Church  a clear  new  vision  of  the  broad 
dimensions  of  its  mission? 

Aaron  Klassen,  chairman  of  mcc 
(Ontario),  said  he  agreed  basically  with 
the  decision  to  give  mcc  personnel  more 
freedom  to  share  the  word  along  with 
the  deed,  but  he  was  fearful  that  it 
might  result  in  some  insensitive  efforts 
at  evangelism. 

Speaking  on  behalf  of  those  small 
conservative  groups  which  do  not  feel 
comfortable  with  direct  evangelistic  ac- 
tivity, Norman  Shenk  of  Salunga,  Penn- 
sylvania, asked  if  this  move  might  not 
cause  these  conferences  to  discontinue 
their  affiliation  with  mcc. 


Vernon  Wiebe,  the  executive  secre- 
tary of  the  Mennonite  Brethren  mission/ 
service  board  and  a strong  proponent  at 
the  meeting  for  giving  mcc  workers 
more  latitude  in  their  witness,  said,  “We 
are  not  trying  with  this  to  force  anyone 
to  do  evangelism,  but  to  free  them  to 
do  it  if  they  feel  led  to  do  so.” 

Mr.  Wiebe  further  advocated  that  the 
mission  boards  should  be  consulted  at 
the  beginning  of  any  of  mcc’s  longer- 
term  projects  so  that  the  two  sets  of 
agencies  could  work  together  more  close- 
ly- 

The  discussion  on  the  need  for  a sep- 
arate United  States  mcc  organization 
was  the  most  hotly  debated  issue  at  the 
two-day  consultation.  It  began  when 
Canadian  representatives  pointed  out 
that  they  were  experiencing  increased 
frustrations  in  dealing  with  the  Akron- 
based  mcc  organization.  The  problem, 
they  said,  is  that  the  Akron  office  serves 
both  as  international  headquarters  and 
as  the  clearinghouse  for  many  U.S.  inter- 
Mennonite  activities. 

Frank  H.  Epp,  an  mcc  (Canada) 
board  member  and  the  most  outspoken 
of  the  Canadian  participants  on  this  is- 
sue, urged  the  U.S.  conferences  to  or- 


Small  cross-sections  of  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  representatives  dealt  with 
more  specific  matters  at  the  MCC  self-study  meeting. 


£ 


686 


NOVEMBER  27,  1973 


ganize  an  mcc  (United  States).  This  or- 
ganization, he  suggested,  could  assume 
responsibility  for  all  national  projects 
and  concerns  and  combine  with  mcc 
(Canada)  to  form  a separate  body  to 
carry  on  an  international  program  joint- 
ly, as  equal  partners.  Under  the  present 
arrangement  Canadians  have  felt  the  re- 
lationship is  more  on  the  parent-child 
level  than  on  an  equal  brother/sister 
basis. 

The  discussion  on  the  proposal,  both 
during  and  between  sessions,  was  in- 
tense. The  preliminary  findings  commit- 
1 tee  report,  which  is  still  subject  to  some 
rewriting,  stated : 

“Structural  revision  could  begin  with 
the  formation  of  an  mcc  (U.S.A.)  com- 
ponent built  up  from  United  States 
member  bodies,  which  should  be  con- 
ferences, but  which  could  also,  imme- 
| diately  or  later,  include  regions  institut- 
ed along  inter-Mennonite  lines.  ...  mcc 
(U.S.A.)  and  mcc  (Canada)  could  then 
[ form  an  mcc  (North  America)  as  the 
agency  for  continental  and  international 
work.” 

The  meeting  recommended  that  a spe- 
cial committee  be  created  to  formulate 
the  mandates,  structural  models,  and 
timetables  which  could  become  the  ba- 
sis for  a reconstitution  of  mcc. 

Such  questions  as  the  location  of  the 
mcc  (North  America)  office,  they  said, 
should  not  be  predetermined  by  tradi- 
tion. 

A suggestion  which  generated  immedi- 
ate support  was  a call  for  the  conven- 
ing of  the  Mennonite  equivalent  of  a 
“Jerusalem  Council.”  Under  its  aegis, 
Mennonite  and  Brethren  in  Christ  church- 
es in  Canada  and  the  United  States 
would  be  called  together  to  discuss  the 
things  they  are  now  doing  together  and 
additional  activities  which  they  would 
like  to  do  jointly. 

It  was  noted  that  mcc  is  but  one  of 
four  dozen  interconference  organiza- 
tions. A good  precedent  thus  exists,  the 
consultants  said,  for  the  churches  to  take 
a thorough  look  at  their  joint  witness 
and  fellowship. 

The  Council  of  Moderators  and  Sec- 
retaries, which  is  currently  under  the 
chairmanship  of  Newton  Gingrich,  mod- 
erator of  the  Mennonite  Church,  was 
asked  to  consider  the  convening  of  such 
a meeting. 

Mcc’s  .restructuring  would  not  wait 
for  this  meeting,  but  it  would  remain 
open  to  any  counsel  emerging  from  it. 

A recommendation  to  the  consultation 
from  the  Home  Ministries  Council  that 
mcc  reduce  its  VS  program  in  the  Unit- 


ed States  in  favor  of  enlarged  confer- 
ence-related voluntary  service  programs 
was  not  accepted.  The  consultation  rec- 
ommended that  such  matters  of  policy 
should  be  dealt  with  at  meeting:  vhere 
members  of  the  participating  boards  and 
committees  are  involved.  The  Home  Min- 
istries Council  is  made  up  entirely  of 
staff  administrators. 

John  Ventura,  Denver,  Colorado,  one 
of  only  three  representatives  of  racial 
minorities  at  the  consultation,  pleaded 
for  greater  representation  of  young  peo- 
ple, women,  and  cultural  minorities  in 
the  mcc  decision-making  bodies.  He  sug- 
gested that  at  least  one-third  of  the  mcc 
committees  under  the  restructured  setup 
should  be  made  up  of  representatives 
from  the  three  groups  about  which  he 
is  concerned:  youth,  women,  and  racial 
minorities. 

The  findings  committee  did  not  pro- 
pose a quota  system  for  achieving  great- 
er minority  group  representation,  but  its 
report  does  urge  mcc  to  incorporate 
more  persons  from  these  groups  at  both 
the  administrative  and  decision-making 
levels. 

Since  mcc’s  self-study  was  not  prompt- 
ed by  any  urgent,  visible  problem,  the 
consultants  asked  good-humoredly  what 
the  “under-the-table”  agenda  really  was 
for  the  self-study.  Some  suggested  that 
it  was  the  conferences’  fear  that  mcc 
was  becoming  a Mennonite  super 
church.  Others  wondered  if  the  real 
agenda  might  not  be  the  tension  between 
the  conferences  and  mcc.  Some  con- 
ference representatives  were  quick  to 
admit  that  tensions  do  exist,  and  that 
they  are  heightened  by  mcc’s  rapid 
growth  and  the  seeming  ease  with  which 
it  can  raise  its  rapidly  growing  budget. 

An  additional  problem  which  was 
raised  but  not  dealt  with  was  the  ques- 
tion of  the  concentration  of  the  decision- 
making power  in  the  hands  of  a rela- 
tively small  group  of  persons,  namely 
mcc’s  executive  committee  and  the  ex- 
ecutive secretary’s  office.  One  participant 
likened  this  arrangement  to  a corpora- 
tion model  rather  than  to  a believers’ 
church  model. 

The  mcc  (Canada)  organization’s 
strength  was  seen  as  coming  from  its 
large  annual  provincial  meetings,  where 
all  major  decisions  are  brought  up  for 
discussion  and  ratification.  Mcc  has  no 
similar  arrangement  for  grass  roots  par- 
ticipation in  decision  making  in  the 
United  States.  This  was  recognized  as 
a weakness,  and  it  was  one  of  the  rea- 
sons why  it  was  suggested  that  an  mcc 
(U.S.A.)  organizational  structure  might 


include  regional  inter-Mennonite  group- 
ings similar  to  the  provincial  mccs  in 
Canada. 

The  foregoing  “under-the-table”  agen- 
da items  were  acknowledged  as  needing 
attention,  but  they  were  hardly  touched 
at  this  meeting.  Perhaps  they  will  have 
to  wait  until  mcc’s  next  self-study. 

Participation  at  the  consultation  was 
broad.  Most  Mennonite  and  Brethren  in 
Christ  groups  were  represented.  But  some 
obvious  deficiencies  soon  became  appar- 
ent. Only  five  of  the  eighty  people  at 
the  meeting  were  women,  and  two  of 
these  were  staff  members  who  were  in- 
volved in  secretarial  duties  much  of  the 
time. 

Young  people  were  largely  unrepre- 
sented despite  the  fact  that  most  of 
mcc’s  750  volunteers  and  staff  members 
are  under  thirty. 

The  failure  to  get  broader  representa- 
tion from  these  groups  rests  not  only 
with  mcc  but  with  the  organizations 
which  appoint  members  to  mcc  func- 
tions. 

For  the  General  Conference  and  the 
Canadian  mcc,  a glaring  omission  was 
the  absence  of  representation  from  the 
22,000-member  Conference  of  Menno- 
nites  in  Canada.  None  of  its  executive 
committee  members  or  its  staff  had  been 
invited. 

A criticism  directed  at  the  General 
Conference  delegation  during  one  of  its 
caucuses  was  the  preponderance  of  staff 
persons  among  its  representatives.  Five 
persons  from  the  central  office  in  New- 
ton attended  the  meeting.  None  of  the 
other  conferences  had  more  than  two 
staff  people  in  their  delegations. 

The  meeting  was  held  at  a Catholic 
retreat  in  suburban  Chicago.  Despite  the 
retreat  ground  atmosphere,  the  consulta- 
tion remained  mostly  a shirt-and-tie  af- 
fair. The  heavy  agenda  which  had  to 
be  dealt  with  in  less  than  forty-eight 
hours  seemed  to  preclude  intimacy  and 
a more  relaxed  search  for  consensus. 

From  the  Carbrini  Contact  Center  in 
Chicago  the  consultation’s  findings  will 
go  through  a redrafting  stage  by  C.  J. 
Dyck,  the  finding’s  committee’s  chair- 
man. He  will  be  assisted  by  Robert 
Kreider,  the  self-study  director,  and  H. 
Ernest  Bennett,  mcc  chairman.  After 
this  draft  has  been  checked  again  with 
the  consultation  participants  by  mail,  it 
will  go  to  the  mcc  annual  meeting  in 
Hillsboro,  Kansas,  January  18-19  for 
discussion  and  approval.  If  the  proposal 
is  approved  there,  portions  of  it  will  be 
checked  with  the  constituent  conferences 
for  final  ratification.  Larry  Kehler 


THE  MENNONITE 


687 


Gulfport:  Being  white  among  blacks 


Twenty-five  years  ago  Orlo  and  Edna 
Kaufman  came  to  Gulfport,  Mississippi, 
under  the  General  Conference  Board  of 
Missions  to  work  among  low-income 
blacks  and  whites. 

Gulfport  is  different  now.  Racial  fears 
have  diminished.  Economic  opportunities 
for  blacks  have  increased;  the  average 
black  family  has  an  annual  income  of 
over  $7,000.  Public  schools  and  beach- 
es are  integrating.  Blacks  are  being  giv- 
en and  are  taking  more  responsibility. 

I he  Kaufmans,  other  workers,  and 
the  many  volunteers  who  have  come 
from  out  of  state  to  live  at  Camp  Lan- 
don,  a collection  of  barracks  just  out- 
side of  town,  have  been  part  of  those 
changes.  They  came  to  say  that  blacks 
and  whites  can  work  together.  There 
were  suspicions  at  first,  but  the  mere 
fact  that  they  have  stayed  twenty-five 
years  has  said  something  to  Gulfport 
residents. 

“There  was  some  resentment  against 
the  Mennonites  at  first,  but  not  now,” 
said  Amos  Crouch,  who  helps  start  mi- 
nority businesses  and  is  president  of  the 
Good  Deeds  Association,  a black  com- 
munity organization. 

"Blacks  were  accustomed  to  being  ex- 
ploited when  they  came  in  contact  with 
whites,”  he  said.  “They  kept  expecting 
the  punch  line,  and  it  didn’t  come.” 

Although  the  work  in  Gulfport  start- 
ed among  both  blacks  and  whites,  it  is 
now  almost  exclusively  among  blacks. 
The  work  among  whites  was  shifted  to 
the  Crossroads  Mennonite  Church  when 
it  was  formed  by  the  South  Central 
(Old  Mennonite)  Conference,  but  that 
congregation  has  not  met  for  two  or 
three  years. 

Programs  in  North  Gulfport,  formerly 
under  the  Board  of  Missions  and  now 
under  the  Commission  on  Home  Minis- 
tries, have  been  primarily  along  tradi- 
tional lines:  Bible  classes,  recreation  pro- 
grams, helping  out  individuals  with  spe- 
cial needs  on  an  informal  basis. 

From  left  are  Amos 
Crouch,  president  of 
the  Good  Deeds 
Association;  Bill  Baugh- 
man, administrator  of 
Pine  Lake  Camp;  Ann 
Tuggle,  North  Gulfport 
school  principal;  and 
Orlo  Kaufman,  CHM 
staff  person  in  Gulfport . 


The  white  volunteers  who  initiated  the 
programs,  however,  have  not  felt  the 
need  to  keep  a tight  hold  on  them. 

The  recreation  program,  started  by 
Camp  Landon  people,  is  now  run  by 
the  Good  Deeds  Association,  a corpora- 
tion to  which  thirty  North  Gulfport 
families  belong.  The  association  runs  a 
swimming  pool  and  a recreation  center, 
which  employs  two  staff  people:  Doug 
Dyck,  a native  of  British  Columbia,  and 
Jeannette  Berry,  from  the  local  area. 
The  General  Conference  is  arranging 
transfer  of  the  title  of  the  center  to  the 
association,  and  the  association  plans  to 
double  the  size  of  the  building  and  add 
indoor  toilets. 

The  Community  Federal  Credit  Un- 
ion, which  has  received  Poverty  Fund 
money,  is  now  independent  and  has  as- 
sets of  more  than  $60,000. 

Mennonites  were  the  first  to  conduct 
vacation  Bible  schools  in  the  black  com- 
munity. Now  the  black  churches  run 
their  own  classes. 

“Most  of  the  controversy  (about  the 
Mennonites)  was  when  they  stopped  you 
all  from  coming  to  our  church  and 
helping  us  with  Bible  classes,”  said  Net- 
terine  Theodore.  “Then  we  decided  we 
could  do  it  ourselves.” 

Mennonites  were  also  the  first  whites 
to  teach  in  the  North  Gulfport  school 
when  the  teaching  staff  was  integrated. 

“At  first  there  was  a fear  of  white 
people,”  said  Lena  Reimer,  now  in  her 
seventh  year  in  the  North  Gulfport  ele- 
mentary school.  “Blacks  felt  that  whites 
came  only  for  the  white  person’s  bene- 
fit. Now  black  teachers  have  learned  to 
accept  me,  and  I them.”  The  school  still 
has  trouble  attracting  enough  white 
teachers  to  meet  its  quota. 

Camp  Landon  has  six  volunteers  in 
addition  to  the  Kaufmans  and  the  Dycks. 
Cathy  Bartel  and  Cindy  Lehman  teach 
in  the  North  Gulfport  school  and  pro- 
vide most  of  the  income  for  the  volun- 
tary service  unit.  Don  MacBumey  is  in- 


volved in  small  home  repair  jobs,  some 
in  cooperation  with  the  Community  Ac- 
tion Agency.  Ken  Funk  is  an  unpaid 
teacher’s  aide  in  the  elementary  school 
Lynn  Blevens  helps  Don  repair  houses 
and  is  setting  up  a bicycle  shop  across 
the  street  from  the  recreation  center. 
Brenda  MacBurney  is  teaching  Bible 
classes. 

For  the  last  ten  years  both  local  staff 
and  Newton  staff  have  wavered  between 
phasing  out  the  Gulfport  program  and 
increasing  staff  and  program.  Maybe 
white  Mennonites’  work  here  is  finished, 
some  people  said. 

Some  new  directions  are  slowly  emerg- 
ing. 

Staff  is  increasing.  The  Good  Deeds 
Association  requested  a year  ago  that 
Doug  and  Marilyn  Dyck,  former  volun- 
teers, return  to  Gulfport  as  staff. 

The  South  Central  Conference  wants 
to  revive  the  Crossroads  Church  and  is 
looking  for  a minister. 

Mr.  Kaufman  is  considering  new  forms 
of  ministry,  perhaps  in  family  counsel- 
ing. 

The  most  definite  new  direction,  how- 
ever, is  at  Pine  Lake  Camp,  a camp- 
grounds 150  miles  north  of  Gulfport, 
run  by  a loose  organization  of  Menno- 
nite congregations  in  Mississippi  and 
Louisiana. 

The  camp  board  recently  made  volun- 
teer Bill  Baughman  administrator  of  the 
camp  in  October  with  authorization  to 
expand  the  camp’s  activities.  The  camp 
will  now  be  open  not  only  to  southern 
Mennonite  groups,  but  to  Mennonites 
from  other  areas  and  community  groups 
from  nearby  Meridian.  The  latter  groups 
might  include  senior  citizens,  handi- 
capped children,  people  from  the  mental 
health  center,  or  interracial  groups. 

Mennonites  in  the  South  are  few  and 
scattered,  and  the  camp  has  been  one 
of  the  ways  for  Mennonites  from  five 
conferences  to  get  together.  Lois  Barrett 
Janzen 


688 


NOVEMBER  27,  1973 


during  U.S.  Government  crisis 


Seminar  meets 

The  climate  in  Washington,  D.C.,  was 
one  of  controversy,  uncertainty,  and  de- 
moralization as  the  thirty-five  registrants 
for  the  fourth  Churchman’s  Seminar  met 
October  22-24  to  discuss  “Watergate:  A 
moral  inquiry.”  The  seminar,  attended 
by  ministers,  lay  persons,  college  fac- 
ulty, and  students  from  Eastern  Men- 
nonite,  Bluffton,  and  Messiah  colleges, 
began  less  than  forty-eight  hours  after 
the  two  top  Justice  Department  officials 
, resigned  and  the  Watergate  special  pros- 
ecutor was  fired.  This  upheaval  was  not 
1 without  its  effect  on  the  seminar. 

Two  hours  prior  to  the  time  the 
group  was  to  meet  with  a Justice  official, 
Delton  Franz,  director  of  the  mcc  Peace 
► Section  Washington  Office  and  coordi- 
; nator  of  the  seminar,  received  a call 
I from  the  anxious  Justice  Department 
i lawyer  informing  him  that  the  meeting 
i would  have  to  be  postponed.  In  the 
room  and  at  the  time  the  meeting  had 
been  scheduled,  Elliot  Richardson  con- 
i ducted  a press  conference  to  explain  his 
resignation. 

Opportunity  was  provided  in  the  sem- 
inar for  congressional  appointments  and 
visits  to  the  House  and  Senate.  Many 
of  the  participants  experienced  firsthand 
the  pulse  and  dynamics  of  recent  events 
upon  entering  their  representative’s  of- 
fice. Congressional  staff  reported  receiv- 
ing hundreds  and  in  some  cases  thou- 
sands of  telegrams  urging  impeachment. 
Several  Mennonites  sat  in  the  gallery  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  as  impeach- 
ment procedures  were  debated. 

While  the  drama  continued  to  un- 
ravel, the  seminar  participants  exam- 
ined the  events,  attitudes,  and  ideologies 
that  made  Watergate  possible.  Guest 
speakers  referred  to  cynicism  and  the 
breakdown  of  moral  values  as  people 
on  both  the  right  and  left  lost  confi- 
dence in  the  possibilities  of  goodness. 
Speakers  frequently  described  the  Con- 
gress as  being  feeble  and  the  Adminis- 
tration as  being  paranoid  and  obsessed 
with  national  security. 

A Washington  post  reporter  whose 
column  appears  on  the  editorial  page 
told  the  Mennonites  gathered  in  Wash- 
ington that  a lethargic,  monopolistic 
press  concerned  with  profits  must  as- 
sume a great  deal  of  responsibility  for 
permitting  the  events  associated  with 
Watergate  from  passing  unnoticed  for 
so  long.  ‘This  country  is  very  lucky  that 
the  two  Post  reporters  broke  the  Water- 
gate story  when  they  did.  Six  months 


later  may  have  been  too  late.  Those 
papers  that  failed  in  the  past  now  have 
another  chance,  for  we  are  embarked 
on  the  most  dangerous  period.  It  is  now 
that  politics  must  come  to  terms  with 
dishonesty.  The  next  few  months  will 
demand  that  every  reporter  in  D.C.  be- 
comes an  investigative  reporter.” 

Dagmar  Homa-Perman,  Georgetown 
University  history  professor,  presented 
a historical  perspective  for  analyzing 
Watergate  in  a provocative  — if  not 
alarming  — session  on  “The  subversion 
of  the  German  Government  in  the  Nazi 
era.”  Pointing  out  that  there  are  pitfalls 
in  attempting  to  compare  any  two  his- 
torical epochs,  Mr.  Perman  went  on  to 
say  that  there  are  some  striking  simi- 
larities between  the  German  experience 
of  the  1930s  and  the  current  situation. 
A number  of  the  parallels  noted  includ- 
ed: an  able  opportunist  who  builds  on 
the  ashes  of  past  political  failures,  a 
deep-rooted  belief  in  law  and  order,  a 
constitution  providing  for  a strong  leg- 
islature and  for  impeachment  but  ig- 
nored, disaffected  youth,  a strong  tradi- 
tion of  violence,  and  economic  turmoil. 
According  to  Mr.  Perman,  Hitler  over- 
reached himself  in  his  dealings  with  the 
Protestant  church.  “Resistance  began  in 
the  basements  of  the  Lutheran  church- 
es.” 

As  the  foundation  of  our  own  nation 
is  shaken,  should  Christians  be  gathering 
in  church  basements  and  meeting  rooms 


Decisions  to  “accept  Christ  as  Savior” 
should  not  be  forced  on  very  small  chil- 
dren, a St.  Cloud,  Minnesota,  psychia- 
trist and  Sunday  school  teacher  told  two 
conferences  on  Christian  education  in 
St.  Paul  recently. 

“I  believe  that  when  a child  up  to 
the  age  of  five  or  six  accepts  Christ,  it 
is,  on  many  occasions  at  least,  satisfy- 
ing the  needs  of  the  adult  urging  the 
decision  more  than  it  is  the  child’s,” 
said  Paul  L.  Warner. 

“It  is  my  belief,”  he  added,  “that  God 
in  his  mercy  understands  at  what  age  a 
child  is  accountable  and  that  in  general 
that  age  is  when  a child  can  hear  the 
Word  and  then  come  and  say  to  a par- 
ent or  Sunday  school  teacher,  ‘I  want  to 
have  Christ  as  my  Savior.’  ” 

Mr.  Warner,  a Sunday  school  teacher 
at  Calvary  Baptist  Church,  St.  Cloud, 


to  consider  afresh  the  nature  of  the 
church’s  message  to  the  state?  This  ques- 
tion was  often  discussed  with  varying 
opinions  among  speakers  and  partici- 
pants. While  one  speaker  urged  Chris- 
tians to  become  more  directly  and  ac- 
tively involved  in  politics,  another  speak- 
er called  for  a community  that  would 
first  of  all  devote  itself  to  changing  the 
values  of  society  rather  than  trying  to 
reform  the  system.  Another  option  sev- 
eral people  found  appealing  was  for 
Christians  to  become  contemplative  crit- 
ics who  serve  as  pastors  and  prophets 
to  persons  in  authority. 

Although  these  ways  of  responding  to 
Watergate  differ  in  some  respects,  they 
share  a commitment  to  continual  vigi- 
lance, an  active  press,  participatory  dem- 
ocracy, an  examination  of  our  own  val- 
ues and  the  values  fostered  by  a cap- 
italistic society,  and  the  quest  for  truth. 
Brooks  Hays,  a seventy-four-year-old 
former  Congressman  and  former  presi- 
dent of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention, 
emphasized  the  need  to  seek  the  truth. 

At  the  final  session,  the  group  read 
an  antiphonal  litany  contrasting  Romans 
13  and  Revelation  13.  And  with  these 
words,  the  seminar  clossed:  “If  anyone 
has  an  ear  let  him  hear.  If  anyone  is  to 
be  taken  captive,  to  captivity  he  goes. 
If  anyone  slays  with  the  sword,  with  the 
sword  must  he  be  slain.  Here  is  a call 
for  the  endurance  and  faith  of  the  saints.” 
Luann  Habegger 


gave  two  lectures  at  a National  Christian 
Education  Seminar  sponsored  by  the  Na- 
tional Sunday  School  Association.  He 
repeated  them  at  the  1973  Minnesota 
Sunday  School  Convention. 

Mr.  Warner  said  it  is  not  uncommon 
in  his  practice  “to  have  people  come  to 
me  with  marked  confusion  in  their  minds 
because  of  having  made  a commitment 
too  early  in  life.”  He  said  they  had 
“been  quizzed  by  an  evangelist  or  overly 
zealous  Christian  worker  as  to  whether 
they  are  really  saved  or  not.”  They  then 
had  made  some  statement  which  implied 
doubt  and  were  told  they  never  were 
saved. 

“These  people  are  very  miserable  in 
their  uncertainty,  and  frequently  it  is 
difficult  to  get  them  to  a place  where 
they  can  have  complete  assurance,”  Mr. 
Warner  said. 


Warns  against  early  decisions 


THE  MENNONITE 


689 


Council  looks  at  new  voluntarism 


Voluntary  service  got  a closer  look  at 
the  October  meeting  of  the  Home  Min- 
istries Council,  an  inter-Mennonite  gath- 
ering of  denominational  and  Mennonite 
Central  Committee  administrators. 

Resource  person  Robert  Kreider  of 
Bluffton,  Ohio,  told  the  council  that  a 
lot  of  voluntarism  is  happening  outside 
the  traditional  voluntary  service  pro- 
grams, in  such  areas  as  offender  minis- 
tries, Mennonite  Disaster  Service,  hous- 
ing rehabilitation,  college  study-service 
programs,  and  various  self-styled  local 
programs. 

The  council  asked  its  executive  com- 
mittee to  organize  a seminar  for  people 
working  in  community  service  ministries. 

In  addition,  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee staff  will  take  responsibility  for 
organizing  a conference  on  housing  re- 
habilitation. This  gathering  would  in- 
volve building  contractors  as  well  as 
Mennonites  involved  in  low-income  hous- 
ing rehabilitation  programs. 

No  dates  for  either  gathering  have 
been  set,  but  the  executive  committee 
will  make  further  plans  at  its  January 
meeting. 

A thornier  problem  was  the  issue  of 
who  is  responsible  for  voluntary  service 
programs  in  Canada. 

The  Home  Ministries  Council  took 
no  official  action,  but  most  denomina- 
tions which  have  voluntary  service  pro- 
grams separate  from  mcc  wanted  to 
keep  their  programs  separate  in  Canada 
as  well  as  in  the  United  States. 

One  of  the  tensions  was  between  ty- 
ing in  voluntary  service  units  with  local 
Mennonite  congregations  and  sending 
volunteers  to  places  that  need  them  but 
do  not  have  a Mennonite  church. 

The  subject  of  mcc  versus  denomina- 
tional VS  programs  came  up  again  a 
week  later  at  the  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  self-study  meeting.  The 
question  was  not  settled,  but  the  mcc 
executive  committee  was  authorized  to 
arrange  a review  of  present  VS  program 
policies  with  conference  board  members 
and  administrators  in  order  to  develop 
clearer  guidelines  between  mcc  and 
conference  VS  programs. 

In  other  action,  the  Home  Ministries 
Council  decided  to  meet  annually  instead 
of  semiannually.  The  regular  spring 
meeting  would  be  devoted  to  regional 
rather  than  continental  gatherings  of 
staff  persons  in  the  area  of  home  min- 
istries. This  would  include  district  min- 
isters, workers  in  offender  ministries, 


some  denominational  office  people  in 
those  regions,  some  mcc  staff,  repre- 
sentatives from  mental  health  centers, 
and  possibly  chairmen  of  home  missions 
committees. 

In  1974  such  gatherings  would  prob- 
ably take  place  on  the  East  Coast,  in 
northern  Indiana,  in  central  Kansas,  on 
the  West  Coast,  and  in  Canada. 

The  area  “mini-Probe”  meetings  sug- 


gested for  the  end  of  the  year  will  prob- 
ably not  happen  as  planned. 

“Maybe  this  was  not  a felt  need  in 
local  areas,”  said  Palmer  Becker,  coun- 
cil executive  secretary. 

Some  such  meetings  will  happen,  how- 
ever. Mcc  (Manitoba)  is  convening  thir- 
teen clusters  of  congregations  to  discuss 
“Images  of  Jesus.”  State  gatherings  are 
projected  for  Washington  and  Oregon. 


PRIORITY 


MISSIONARY 

PREPARATION 


Improve  the  initial 
preparation  and  continued 
training  of  missionaries 
for  greater  effectiveness 
and  better  identification 
with  the  national 
church  and  culture. 


Commission  on  Overseas  Mission 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114 


690 


NOVEMBER  27,  1973 


Javanese  migrate  to  Sumatra 


' Over  120  of  the  poorest  families  from 
i Muria  area  in  central  Java  are  moving 
to  less  populated  areas  in  South  Su- 
matra, a two-day  journey  by  land  and 
sea,  to  find  land  for  development  and 
to  begin  a new  life  according  to  reports 
from  Lawrence  M.  Yoder,  Mennonite 
Central  Committee  worker  in  Indonesia. 

These  families  from  the  Javanese 
Mennonite  Church  are  getting  help  in 
the  migration  process  from  the  Indone- 
sian Council  of  Churches  and  from  mcc. 
The  goal  of  the  migration  is  to  give  to 
these  landless  people,  who  are  at  the 
end  of  their  economic  rope  in  Java,  two 

Manual  on  economic  aid 
written  in  Colombia 

Three  North  American  Mennonites  in 
Colombia  have  developed  a manual  to 
facilitate  the  work  of  local  economic 
development  committees  in  making  loans 
to  Mennonite  small  business  people. 

Roger  Friesen,  the  first  full-time  Men- 
nonite Economic  Development  Associ- 
ates (meda)  overseas  representative,  has 
been  working  with  meda  projects  near 
Cali,  Colombia,  for  the  past  year.  Mr. 
Friesen  found  that  the  local  meda  ad- 
ministrative committee  expected  him,  the 
North  American,  to  make  all  the  deci- 
sions. Concerned  about  what  would  hap- 
pen to  such  a committee  when  he  left, 
he  initiated  the  development  of  a man- 
ual clearly  outlining  the  responsibilities 
of  local  committees. 

Mark  Claassen,  a General  Conference 
missionary  working  with  a meda  com- 
mittee in  Bogota,  and  Vernon  Reimer, 
a Mennonite  Brethren  missionary  who 
helped  set  up  the  Cali  committee  in 
1971,  helped  draft  the  manual. 

The  Cali  and  Bogota  administrative 
committes  are  responsible  for  the  twenty- 
eight  Colombian  meda  projects  begun 
since  1971.  A North  American  invest- 
ment of  $11,000  has  grown  to  $16,000 
through  repayment  of  early  loan  funds. 
Loans  have  been  made  to  taxi,  electrical 
repair,  general  merchandising,  leather, 
poultry,  scrap  iron,  tailoring,  and  mining 
businesses. 

The  new  manual  states  that  the  ad- 
ministrative committees,  consisting  of 
several  nationals  with  one  North  Amer- 
ican, are  to  evaluate  loan  applications, 
supervise  accepted  projects,  provide  learn- 
ing opportunities  in  small  business  man- 
agement, and  report  on  the  progress  of 
the  program. 


hectares  of  land  and  a new  chance.  Many 
of  the  migrating  families  suffered  great- 
ly from  floods  last  year.  The  Javanese 
church  has  organized  pastors  to  be  aware 
of  possible  candidates  for  migration. 

Other  goals  of  the  larger  government- 
sponsored  migration  program  are  to  re- 
lieve the  increasing  pressures  of  over- 
population on  Java  and  to  develop  the 
potentially  productive  agricultural  areas 
in  South  Sumatra,  five  hundred  miles 
northwest  of  the  Muria  area. 

The  Indonesian  Government  has  been 
working  on  this  program  for  a number 
of  years  and  has  designated  locations  for 
settlement  of  migrants  in  South  Sumatra, 
Sulawesi,  and  other  islands. 

The  Javanese  Mennonite  migrants 
have  mostly  gone  to  the  Way  Abung 
settlement,  just  north  of  the  city  of  Ko- 
tabumi  in  South  Sumatra. 

“Visiting  Way  Abung,  I saw  signs  of 
new  hope  on  the  faces  of  people  who 
proudly  display  what  they  have  earned 
out  of  the  wilderness,”  said  Mr.  Yoder. 

Mr.  Yoder  also  noted  the  urgent  need 
for  community  services.  Way  Abung  is 
three  hours  by  jeep  over  often  impass- 
able roads  from  the  nearest  hospital. 
Most  villages  have  neither  schools  nor 
teachers.  The  settlers  come  from  the 
rice  paddy  cultivation  of  Java;  in  Way 
Abung,  no  rice  paddies  exist.  They  must 
grow  vegetables  and  dry  land  crops  to 
survive  in  their  new  environment. 

Jamaica  volunteers 
aid  flood  victims 

Following  heavy  rains  from  tropical 
storm  Gilda,  which  brought  1,500  home- 
less persons  to  the  National  Stadium 
in  Kingston,  Jamaica,  and  knocked  out 
bridges  and  roads  between  major  cen- 
ters, Mennonite  Central  Committee  vol- 
unteer teachers  and  Jamaica  Mennonite 
Church  workers  in  Jamaica  dropped  nor- 
mal activities  and  helped  with  flood  re- 
lief for  the  victims. 

Mcc  staff  in  Jamaica  made  an  im- 
mediate cash  donation  to  the  Red  Cross 
for  relief  food.  Ken  Brunk,  moderator 
of  the  Jamaica  Mennonite  Church,  was 
involved  in  transportation  of  clothing 
for  flood  victims.  Mabel  Snyder,  mcc 
volunteer,  sorted  clothing  at  the  Red 
Cross  center  in  the  stadium,  and  other 
mcc  volunteers  transported  food. 

The  damages  affected  many  schools 
and  areas  across  Jamaica  where  twenty- 
eight  mcc  volunteers  now  serve,  can- 


celing classes  and  disrupting  schedules. 
No  volunteer  personnel  were  reported  in 
danger. 


Mennonites  to  meet 
at  Urbana  73 


All  Mennonites  and  General  Conference 
Mennonite  young  people  will  have  spe- 
cial meetings  at  Urbana  73,  the  tenth 
Inter-Varsity  missionary  convention,  De- 
cember 27-31  at  the  University  of  Illi- 
nois in  Urbana. 

Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  rep- 
resentatives and  missionaries  will  be  at 
the  convention  with  information  and  lit- 
erature. 

An  all-Mennonite  meeting  is  planned 
for  Sunday  afternoon,  December  30,  fol- 
lowed by  a meeting  of  General  Confer- 
ence Mennonite  participants. 

More  information  on  these  meetings 
and  the  convention  as  a whole  is  avail- 
able from  the  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas 
67114,  or  from  Urbana  73,  233  Lang- 
don,  Madison,  Wisconsin  53703. 


THE  MENNONITE 


691 


Indian  coal-mining  issue 
not  settled  by  senate  bill 

The  status  of  coal  prospecting  leases 
which  Northern  Cheyennes  in  Montana 
are  seeking  to  have  rescinded  is  still  un- 
certain. 

The  U.S.  Senate  has  passed  a bill  re- 
stricting strip  mining  on  federally  owned 
land.  The  bill  is  in  a House  subcom- 
mittee and  probably  will  not  be  voted  on 
by  the  House  until  early  next  year. 

However,  Indian  reservations  are  not 
considered  federally  owned  land,  accord- 
ing to  Luann  Habegger  of  the  Washing- 
ton Office  of  the  Mennonite  Central 
Committee  Peace  Section. 

Indian  land  is  classified  as  trust  prop- 
erty, and  barring  any  further  legisla- 
tion, mining  regulations  on  the  reserva- 
tions will  continue  to  be  negotiated  be- 
tween the  tribes  and  the  coal  companies. 

Ms.  Habegger  said  Senator  James  Ab- 
ourezk  of  South  Dakota  has  recognized 
the  unique  circumstances  of  Indian  lands 
and  has  met  with  a group  of  attorneys 
representing  the  tribes  with  coal  deposits. 
Intratribal  conflict  persuaded  the  senator 
to  postpone  introducing  an  amendment 
to  the  strip-mining  bill  which  would  have 
provided  an  interim  plan  for  Indians 
while  ways  of  preserving  the  land  were 
being  studied. 

Some  Indian  leaders  are  talking  of 
drawing  up  an  Indian  Strip-Mining  or 
Environmental  Act. 

Another  issue,  Ms.  Habegger  said,  is 
whether  the  Congress  should  legislate 
strip-mining  regulations  on  Indian  lands. 
Some  people  feel  that  Indians  should  be 
given  the  right  to  determine  the  use  of 
their  land. 

The  strip-mining  problem  is  most  acute 
for  both  Indians  and  whites  who  live 
atop  the  Fort  Union  Formation  in  the 
Powder  River  Basin  of  Wyoming  and 
Montana  and  in  the  western  part  of  the 
Williston  Basin  of  Montana  and  the 
Dakotas.  This  formation  contains  the 
richest  known  deposits  of  coal  in  the 
world. 

According  to  the  July  issue  of  Audu- 
bon, at  least  1.5  trillion  tons  of  coal  lie 
within  6,000  feet  of  the  surface,  and 
perhaps  more  than  100  billion  tons  so 
close  to  the  surface  as  to  be  economically 
recoverable  today. 

The  issue  is  whether  energy  demands 
are  more  important  than  destruction  of 
the  land  and  water  resources  of  the  area, 
and  for  those  on  at  least  four  Indian 
reservations  in  the  area,  whether  Indians 
or  whites  will  control  the  removal  of  the 
coal. 


At  present,  neither  state  law  nor  the 
proposed  federal  legislation  regulates 
strip  mining  on  the  reservations.  Indian 
lands  in  Montana  contain  approximately 
one-third  of  the  state’s  total  30  billion 
tons  of  strippable  coal  reserves.  The 
most  valuable  deposits  underlie  the  en- 
tire Crow  and  Northern  Cheyenne  res- 
ervations. 

The  Northern  Cheyenne  tribal  coun- 

RECORD 


cil  is  claiming  that  the  Bureau  of  Indian 
Affairs  did  not  fully  safeguard  the  tribe’s 
rights  when  the  Peabody  Coal  Co.  was 
given  a permit  to  mine  on  16,035  acres 
and  when  about  231,000  acres  were 
leased  to  coal  companies  for  prospect- 
ing. 

Four  Mennonite  congregations  are  lo- 
cated on  the  Northern  Cheyenne  reser- 
vation. 


Calendar 


triennial  Conference  sessions,  St.  Cath- 
arines, Ont. 


Dec.  10-11 — General  Board  executive 
committee  sessions,  Newton,  Kans. 

Dec.  27-29 — Graduate  student  fellow- 
ship, Winnipeg 

Jan.  18-19,  1974 — Mcc  annual  meet- 
ing, Hillsboro,  Kans. 

Feb.  4-8,  1974 — General  Conference 
council  of  commissions,  Sargent  Ave. 
Church,  Winnipeg 

Aug.  1-7,  1974 — General  Conference 


Workers 


Jim  Frazier,  pastor  of  the  Moencopi 
Church,  Moencopi,  Ariz.,  and  his  wife, 
Betsy,  have  accepted  an  appointment 
by  World  Missions,  Inc.,  to  start  a Bible 
school  in  Nigeria.  They  are  scheduled  to 
arrive  in  Nigeria  in  March  1974  and 
will  continue  at  the  Moencopi  Church 
at  least  until  January. 


Conference  budget 


$2,250,000 

2,000,000 

1.750.000 

1.500.000 

1.250.000 

1,000,000 

750.000 

500.000 

250.000 


BUDGET  FOR  1973  INCLUDES: 


1973  BUDGET: 
$2,155,945 


Financial  support  of  General  Conference  programs  continued  above  expectations 
during  October.  We  have  now  received  76.9  percent  of  total  budget,  with  83.8 
percent  of  the  year  having  passed.  This  is  4.4  percent  ahead  of  last  year  at  the  same 
time.  With  the  two  big  months  of  the  year  left,  it  would  seem  that  we  should  receive 
the  total  budgeted  for  the  year.  This  is  indeed  encouraging,  and  we  have  paid  out 
very  little  in  interest  even  during  the  summer  slump  months.  Wm.  L.  Friesen,  con- 
ference treasurer 


692 


NOVEMBER  27,  1973 


your  poverty  dollars  at  work 


. . . seeking  to  minister 
to  the  whole  man — 
physically,  economically, 
and  spiritually 


About  $20,000  has  been  received 
for  new  poverty  projects  this 
year.  But  $40,000  more  is  need- 
ed to  complete  projects  costing 
$60,000  planned  by  the  three 
commissions.  Give  to  General 
Conference  "Poverty  Projects 
through  your  church  offerings, 
or  mail  your  contribution  to: 

Poverty  Projects 

Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114 

or 

600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  AAanitoba  R3P  0M4 


HOG  PROJECT.  A hog-raising  cooper- 
ative has  been  started  by  Jake  Unrau, 
pastor  of  the  largely  Cheyenne  Indian 
Bethel  Mennonite  Church  in  Hammon, 
Oklahoma.  Don  Esau,  a volunteer 
agriculturalist  from  Beatrice,  Nebras- 
ka, is  working  with  the  program. 

Hog  raising  is  a learning  experi- 
ence, and  it  is  practical.  It  can  sup- 
plement the  diet  and  income  of  many 
poverty-stricken  families. 

This  is  a truly  cooperative  venture. 
The  Commission  on  Home  Ministries 
has  advanced  $700  of  poverty  proj- 
ect money  to  buy  initial  equipment. 
Oklahoma  Extension  Service  is  sup- 
plying hogs  for  the  boys,  while  adults 
buy  their  own.  Local  businessmen  are 
also  helping,  but  additional  funds  are 
needed  for  feed  supplies. 


FISH  PROJECT.  A new  fish  industry  is 
being  developed  in  India  to  provide 
badly  needed  protein,  as  well  as  cash 
income. 

Missionary  Jake  Giesbrecht,  di- 
rector of  our  economic  development 
program  in  India,  recently  learned  of 
a new  breed  of  fish  that  grows  rap- 
idly in  rice  fields  and  farm  ponds. 

The  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion is  excited  about  the  possibilities 
of  this  new  project.  Subhash  Barik, 
who  has  worked  closely  with  Gies- 
brecht for  over  five  years,  will  be  sent 
to  the  Asia  Rural  Institute  in  Japan 
for  a year  to  gain  ci  thorough 
knowledge  of  fish  culture  and  other 
aspects  of  agriculture  and  economic 
development. 

Four  hundred  dollars  in  poverty 
project  funds  is  being  invested  in  the 
fish  project  this  year,  and  another 
$2,000  is  planned  for  1974. 


“If  someone  who  is  supposed  to  be  a 
Christian  has  money  enough  to  live 
well,  and  sees  a brother  in  need,  and 
won’t  help  him — how  can  God’s  love 
be  within  him?”  (1  Jn.  3:17,  Living 
Bible  paraphrase). 


THE  MENNONITE 


693 


REVIEW 

Hope  for  the  flowers 


Hope  for  the  flowers,  by  Trina  Paulus 
( Paulist-Newmati  Press,  New  York, 

1972,  $4.95). 

Its  publisher  calls  it  a “contemporary 
adventure  parable  in  the  genre  of  Jon- 
athan Livingston  Seagull  and  The  little 
prince.” 

Those  who  read  Hope  for  the  flow- 
ers will  undoubtedly  readily  agree,  for 
those  who  have  read  this  Paulist  Press 
book  about  two  caterpillars  have  seen  in 
it  touching  allegories  about  faith,  re- 
demption, grace,  eternal  life. 

Still  others  have  seen  in  it  only  what 
the  book  cover  promises:  “A  tale — part- 
ly about  life,  partly  about  revolution  and 
lots  about  hope,  for  adults  and  others 
(including  caterpillars  who  can  read).” 
Hope  for  the  flowers  is  a story  about 
two  caterpillars  named  “Stripe”  and 
“Yellow."  When  we  first  encounter 
Stripe,  he  is  eating  and  growing  and 
thinking  to  himself,  “There  must  be  more 
to  life  than  just  eating  and  getting  big- 
ger.” 

He  is  shortly  attracted  by  the  sight 
of  what  appears  to  be  a huge  pillar  in 
the  distance.  As  he  gets  closer,  Stripe 
notices  that  it  is  nothing  more  than  a 
column  of  caterpillars,  each  busily  crawl- 
ing over  one  another,  trying  to  reach 
the  top. 

Stripe  starts  climbing  too,  although 
no  one  else  on  the  column  knows  ex- 
actly what’s  “up  there.” 

“The  first  moments  on  the  pile  were  a 
shock,”  goes  Miss  Paulus’  narration. 
“Stripe  was  pushed  and  kicked  and 
stepped  on  from  every  direction.  It  was 
climb  or  be  climbed.” 

It  is  a philosophy  Stripe  accepts,  un- 
til he  meets  another  caterpillar,  a fe- 
male named  Yellow,  who  startles  him 
by  wondering  aloud  whether  the  climb- 
ing is  worth  it. 

Yellow  convinces  Stripe  to  go  back 
down  with  her  and  to  be  content  to 
crawl  together  and  nibble  grass  and  to 
wait  for  something  better  in  life. 

But  soon  afterward,  Stripe  becomes 
restless  again,  and  more  curious  about 
what  the  other  caterpillars  are  striving 
toward. 

While  he  is  away,  his  mate  Yellow 
comes  upon  a caterpillar  going  into  a co- 
coon who  tells  her:  “I  have  to  do  this  to 


become  a butterfly.  . . . It’s  what  you 
are  meant  to  become.” 

Yellow  asks  how  one  becomes  a but- 
terfly, and  the  other  caterpillar  answers, 
“You  must  want  to  fly  so  much  that 
you  are  willing  to  give  up  being  a cater- 
pillar.” 

And  in  the  book’s  most  significant 
interchange,  Miss  Paulus  writes: 

“ ‘You  mean  to  die?’  asked  Yellow. 

“ ‘Yes  and  no,’  he  answered.  ‘What 
looks  like  you  will  die  but  what’s  really 
you  will  still  live.  Life  is  changed,  not 
taken.’  ” 

Torn  between  wanting  to  believe  the 
caterpillar  and  wondering  what  Stripe 
will  think  if  he  returns  and  fails  to  find 
her,  Yellow,  in  an  act  of  faith  enters  a 
cocoon,  becomes  a butterfly,  flies  up  the 


pillar  that  Stripe  is  climbing,  and  coaxes 
him  back  down. 

“To  get  to  the  top  he  must  fly,  not 
climb,”  is  the  message. 

According  to  a spokesman  for  Paul- 
ist press,  Hope  for  the  flowers  is  a book 
that  “deals  with  the  phenomenon  of 
change,  the  kind  of  change  that  we  find 
everywhere  today — in  government,  busi- 
ness, education,  religion,  and  most  im- 
portantly, within  self.  . . . 

“What  beams  through  so  clearly  is  a 
message  of  faith  and  hope — that  al- 
though the  future  of  each  person  and 
the  future  of  mankind  may  not  be  clear 
to  us,  and  although  the  life  and  struc- 
tures we  know  are  the  only  ones  we 
know,  there  is  within  us  another  possi- 
bility.” Catholic  Press  features 


694 


NOVEMBER  27,  1973 


MEDITATION 


bad  deal? 


'God  gave  me  a bad  deal!” 

Have  you  ever  thought  these  words?  Perhaps  you  haven’t  dared  to  express  them 
is  such,  but  they  have  come  out  in  other  ways.  Perhaps  you  have  said,  “I  wish  that 
[ had  never  taken  this  job,”  or  “I  would  be  better  off  unmarried,”  or  “I  am  a poor 
lomemaker;  I wasn’t  intended  to  be  a homemaker.  , 

Probably  most  people  feel  this  way  sometimes  in  their  lives.  Life  just  isn’t  what 
you  expected  it  to  be.  Faith  doesn’t  come.  I’m  disillusioned  about  what  Jesus  Christ 
really  means. 

There  is  hope.  God  can  reach  down  to  you  and  lift  you  up.  New  meaning  can  be 
brought  into  life. 

God  might  not  lift  you  out  of  the  circumstances.  Nor  will  he  probably  take  you 
away  from  the  people  who  irk  you  most.  Fulfillment  in  life  does  not  come  from 
right  circumstances  and  lovely  people  surrounding  you. 

Let  us  look  at  two  situations.  Here  is  Rhonda.  She  was  reared  in  a Christian  home. 
Her  family  attended  church  regularly.  But  somehow  there  was  a lack  of  proper 
love  and  Christian  respect  between  her  parents.  Rhondas  mother  often  blamed  her 
father  for  not  providing  as  well  for  the  family  as  her  father  had.  She  became  bitter 
against  other  Christians  who  had  more  talents  than  she.  She  was  not  a happy  woman 
because  she  was  not  really  committed  to  Christ.  . 

Rhonda  married  at  seventeen  and  had  three  children  in  quick  succession.  Her 
husband  was  irresponsible  and  was  not  able  to  hold  a steady  job.  Their  living  condi- 
tions were  poor  and  Rhonda  finally  had  to  seek  employment  to  make  ends  meet.  In 
other  words  Rhonda  was  handed  a bad  deal  in  life,  and  she  blamed  God. 

She  had  seen  her  mother  blame  her  father,  and  in  turn,  Rhonda  was  now  blaming 
God  for  her  difficult  situation. 

Then  there  was  Collette.  She  too  married  young.  She  was  reared  in  a Christian 
home  where  the  parents  strived  to  follow  Christian  principles.  The  mother  and  father 
respected  each  other.  The  mother  did  not  berate  her  husband  for  their  lack  of 
affluence.  They  loved  the  Lord  and  showed  it  in  their  relationship  with  each  other. 

Collette’s  husband  was  an  intelligent  young  man  with  a promising  future  when  she 
married  him,  but  within  a few  short  years  his  hopes  were  dashed.  He  discovered 
that  he  had  an  irreversible  disease  which  slowly  but  steadily  crippled  him. 

Collette  had  to  go  to  work.  Her  heart  often  cried  out  to  God,  “Why  has  this  hap- 
pened to  me?”  Her  dreams  of  being  a secure  mother  in  a peaceful  suburban  home 
were  shattered. 

But  Collette  began  searching  the  Bible  for  the  answers  to  her  problems.  She  dis- 
covered that  God  still  loved  her,  and  that  he  was  intensely  interested  in  her  life  and 


its  details. 

She  read  these  words,  “We  can  rejoice,  too,  when  we  run  into  problems  and  trials 
for  we  know  that  they  are  good  for  us — they  help  us  learn  to  be  patient.  And  pa- 
tience develops  strength  of  character  in  us  and  helps  us  trust  God  more  each  time 
we  use  it  until  finally  our  hope  and  faith  are  strong  and  steady.  Then  when  that 
happens,  we  are  able  to  hold  our  heads  high  no  matter  what  happens  and  know  that 
all  is  well,  for  we  know  how  dearly  God  loves  us,  and  we  feel  this  warm  love  every- 
where within  us  because  God  has  given  us  the  Holy  Spirit  to  fill  our  hearts  with  his 


love”  ( Living  Bible,  Rom.  5:3-5). 

Collette  began  to  believe  that  there  was  a reason  for  her  trials.  She  did  not  become 
bitter  and  blame  God.  Her  husband  was  still  a cripple.  She  still  was  overburdened 
with  work,  but  she  now  knew  that  God  loved  her  and  as  she  committed  each  day 
into  his  hands,  life  began  to  have  new  meaning.  Through  her  trials  she  was  able  to 
understand  and  help  others  in  similar  circumstances. 

Collette’s  circumstances  did  not  change,  but  her  attitude  changed.  Christ  changed 


ler  way  of  looking  at  life. 

We  must  stop  blaming  God  for  the  circumstances  of  our  lives,  and  begin  to  ac- 
mowledge  him  as  lord  of  our  lives.  Elsie  Epp 


Contents 


U.S.  and  Canadian  churches 
Discovering  the  joy  of  books 

News  

Record 

Hope  for  the  flowers 

A bad  deal?  

Headache  No.  49 — Will  it  come 
or  go?  

CONTRIBUTORS 

Frank  H.  Epp  is  president  of  Conrad 
Grebel  College,  Waterloo,  Ont.,  and  for- 
mer editor  of  Mennonite  Reporter  and 
The  Canadian  Mennonite. 

Lois  Franz  Bartel,  910  Belleview,  La- 
Junta,  Colo.  81050,  has  two  sons,  ages 
nine  and  eleven,  and  she  is  a teacher 
in  a remedial  reading  lab  in  LaJunta  s 
public  school  system.  She  is  also  the 
author  of  A New  Vision. 

Elsie  Epp's  address  is  Route  1,  Box 
135,  Marion,  S.D.  57043. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Ron  Engh,  Pine  Lake  Farm,  Star 
Prairie,  Wise.  54026;  686,  Don  Ziegler, 
MCC;  688,  Lois  Janzen. 


682 

684 

686 

692 

.694 

695 

.696 


Meiinonite 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 

Business  and  subscription  office:  72S 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
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Editor.:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen,-  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  Sowh,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arboi. 
Mich.  48106. 


THE  MENNONITE 


695 


Headache  No.  49  --  Will  it  come  or  go? 


For  some  Canadian  members  of  the  General 
Conference,  the  feelings  of  discomfort  about  their 
relationship  to  the  dominant  U.S.  portion  of  the 
conference  are  like  the  early  warning  throbs  of  a 
headache.  Only  a few  are  sensing  that  “Excedrin 
Headache  No.  49”  is  on  its  way.  The  slight  nag- 
ging is  still  too  vague  and  undefined  to  cause 
people  to  pay  it  much  heed.  There  is  no  aware- 
ness yet  of  how  painful  the  tensions  within  our 
international  body  could  become  if  the  relation- 
ships among  the  three  national  groupings  within 
the  conference  are  not  given  a thorough  examina- 
tion before  the  ache  begins  to  localize  and  to 
intensify. 

The  headache  is  on  its  way.  No  doubt,  it  will 
be  a doozer  if  some  preventative  actions  are  not 
begun  soon. 

Frank  H.  Epp’s  lead  article  attempts  to  give 
us  a diagnosis  of  what  is  happening  and  how  the 
ailment  might  be  cured  before  it  develops  into 
a chronic  migraine. 

The  views  in  the  article  are  Frank’s  personal 
opinions.  He  has  tested  his  position  with  a few 
people  in  Canada  and  the  United  States  in  a pre- 
liminary way,  but  a consensus  has  not  yet  emerged 
among  either  the  Canadian  or  provincial  confer- 
ence leaders  on  this  question.  (To  lend  credence 
to  Frank’s  thesis,  however,  the  readers  should 
know  that  it  was  largely  his  analysis  which  helped 
mcc’s  recent  self-study  consultation,  which  is  re- 
ported elsewhere  in  this  issue,  to  recommend  a re- 
structuring of  mcc.  The  proposal  calls  for  a 
separate  U.S.  organization,  to  serve  as  a counter- 
part of  mcc  (Canada),  and  for  a North  Amer- 
ican mcc  to  look  after  international  and  con- 
tinental programs.) 

The  General  Conference’s  international  make- 
up is  not  in  jeopardy.  Through  the  years  Cana- 
dian churches  have  shown  a single-minded  loy- 


alty to  the  work  of  the  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission.  This  support  will  grow,  although  the  ad- 
ministrative patterns  for  com  and  the  channels 
for  raising  funds  in  Canada  need  to  be  reviewed. 

Strong  Canadian  attachments  have  also  devel- 
oped toward  a number  of  the  Commission  on 
Education’s  projects,  particularly  its  Sunday  school 
materials,  hymnals,  and  the  personnel  resources 
which  it  has  provided  to  congregations. 

The  commission  which  appears  to  be  the  most 
difficult  for  Canadians  to  relate  to  is  the  Com- 
mission on  Home  Ministries.  The  larger  portion 
of  chm’s  programming  is  done  in  the  United 
States:  voluntary  service,  Indian  ministries,  and 
peace  and  social  concerns.  The  Canadian  church- 
es have  parallel  activities  in  these  areas. 

An  overall  problem  is  the  location  of  the  con- 
ference’s institutions  and  offices.  Almost  all  of 
them  are  south  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel.  The 
feeling  of  imbalance  is  accented  by  the  fact  that 
the  same  pattern  holds  true  not  only  for  the  con- 
ference but  for  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
as  well. 

In  visiting  congregations  on  both  sides  of  the 
border  during  recent  months,  I have  sensed  a 
strong  grass  roots  desire  to  nurture  and  develop 
the  international  character  of  our  sister/brother- 
hood. This  will  to  grow  and  work  together  is  a 
good  starting  point  for  an  effort  to  find  a solution. 

It  is  now  up  to  our  conference’s  elected  leader- 
ship and  its  staff  to  clear  the  path  for  intensive 
vision  building  and  for  whatever  structural 
changes  may  become  necessary  to  meet  the  new 
realities  in  our  conference. 

In  the  opening  paragraph  above,  mention  is 
made  of  three  national  groupings.  The  South 
American  membership  in  the  conference  also 
needs  review.  The  time  to  do  that  is  probably 
also  now.  lk 


T|h> 

Mennoiiite 


OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN 


LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 

88:44  DECEMBER  4,  1973 


A Qc4^it 


Education: 

public  or  private? 

David  Schroeder 


What  are  the  basic  presuppositions 
which  shape  the  private  and  public1 
approaches  to  education  in  our  commu- 
nities? I shall  attempt  in  this  article  to 
discuss  the  topic  on  the  basis  of  the  the- 
ory on  which  these  two  systems  rest. 

In  actual  practice  neither  private  nor 
public  schools  conform  in  all  their  as- 
pects to  the  basic  assumptions  of  that 
system.  Some  public  schools  function  for 
all  intents  and  purposes  like  a private 
school.  All  the  teachers  may  in  fact  be- 
long to  the  same  faith  and  have  the  lib- 
erty to  discuss  questions  of  faith  and 
religion.  It  is  also  possible  for  a private 
school  to  function  on  the  assumption  of 
pluralism  and  thus  share  a basic  pre- 
supposition with  the  public  school. 

The  particular  type  of  private  educa- 
tion we  are  concerned  with  here,  how- 
ever, is  private  education  in  a Christian 
context. 

1.  Education  is  a process  of  integrat- 
ing information  about  ourselves  and  the 
world  under /into  a basic  world  view. 

Education  does  not  take  place  in  a 
vacuum.  It  entails  the  process  of  order- 
ing things  in  a general  frame  of  refer- 
ence, a world  view,  so  as  to  give  mean- 
ing to  the  things  we  observe  and  expe- 
rience and  so  as  to  allow  us  to  make 
the  appropriate  choices  with  respect  to 
what  we  should  or  should  not  do.  This 
holds  for  every  educational  endeavor,  in 
spite  of  claims  to  the  contrary. 

Education  does  not  consist  so  much 
of  imparting  information  about  things 
as  of  learning  to  understand  ourselves 
and  the  world  about  us.  It  is  the  process 
of  seeing  things  (events,  people,  etc.) 
under  a framework  of  understanding  so 
that  they  will  be  meaningfully  related 
to  each  other.  This  framework  of  under- 
standing is  what  we  refer  to  as  a view 
of  the  world,  Weltanschauung. 


1.  By  “public  education”  is  meant  public  educa- 
tion on  elementary,,  high  school,  and  undergraduate 
levels  which  is  publicly  administered. 


The  world  view  that  we  hold  influ- 
ences our  interpretation  of  the  things 
we  see  and  hear.  It  makes  a difference 
whether  you  view  man  as  another  an- 
imal (as  in  a naturalistic  world  view) 
or  as  created  in  the  image  of  God  (as 
in  the  Christian  world  view).  In  both 
cases  you  are  speaking  about  the  same 
fact,  if  you  mean  by  it  the  particular 
man  that  the  eye  can  see,  but  the  mean- 
ing given  to  the  word  man  is  different 
in  each  case. 

The  process  of  understanding,  of  mean- 
ingfully relating  things,  always  occurs  in 
relation  to  a basic  world  view.  Our 
world  view,  in  this  sense,  is  a set  of 
assumptions  or  presuppositions  about 
ourselves  and  the  world  which  we  bring 
to  the  things  we  study  and  through 
which  we  learn  to  understand  and  in- 
tegrate new  information  about  the  world. 

We  are  never  really  without  a world 
view  of  some  kind.  By  the  time  we  learn 
to  order  things  rationally,  the  rudiments 
of  a world  view  are  already  present. 
They  have  been  imputed  to  us  by  our 
early  training.  If  we  have  grown  up  in 
a Christian  home,  we  have  been  induct- 
ed into  a Christian  world  view.  If  we 
have  received  our  early  training  in  a 
Hindu  setting,  we  have  received  that 
world  view  as  a heritage.  If  we  have 
been  trained  in  a pseudo-Christian  set- 
ting (a  context  that  is  more  materialistic 
than  Christian),  we  have  imbibed  that 
world  view.  If  we  have  grown  up  in  a 
pluralistic  setting  (where  parents  be- 
longed to  contradictory  world  views), 
we  will  no  doubt  have  imbibed  elements 
of  both  views  and  will  feel  this  split  in 
ourselves  very  deeply.  But  the  point  is 
that  we  are  never  really  without  some 
kind  of  a world  view  that  we  bring  with 
us  to  whatever  things  we  may  be  study- 
ing. 

During  adolescence  the  world  view 
that  we  have  come  to  accept  in  child- 
hood may  be  reaffirmed  and  accepted 
as  our  own,  rejected  for  another,  or 


altered  and  adapted  in  accordance  with 
our  experience.  During  adolescence  we 
ask  the  kind  of  questions  that  will  allow 
us  to  sort  out  our  own  world  view.  We  do 
so  tentatively  at  first,  but  it  is  never- 
theless the  frame  of  reference  around 
which  we  integrate  our  knowledge  of 
the  world. 

This  is  not  to  imply  that  our  world! 
view  is  static.  As  we  receive  more  in- 
formation and  experience  new  things, 
the  world  view  is  enlarged  and  altered 
sufficiently  to  accommodate  the  new  in- 
formation. The  basic  world  view,  how- 
ever, is  not  rejected  unless,  of  course, 
we  receive  more  and  more  information 
that  cannot  be  integrated  into  our  world 
view.  Thus,  for  example,  if  I were  a 
materialist  but  observed  repeated  phe- 
nomena that  could  not  have  a mate- 
rialistic base,  I might  have  to  reject  ma- 
terialism for  some  other  world  view. 

It  is  no  different  for  a Christian.  If 
he  receives  information  repeatedly  that 
calls  into  queston  the  basic  tenets  of  ' 
the  faith,  and  there  is  little  or  no  cor- 
roboration of  the  faith  or  anyone  to 
help  him  accommodate  the  new  infor- 
mation into  his  world  view,  he  may  well 
reject  his  Christian  faith  for  another 
faith. 

2.  The  presuppositions  which  have  in- 
formed education  in  America  have  un- 
dergone significant  change  over  the  years. 

During  the  colonial  period  (1636-ca. 
1790),  when  most  of  the  early  colleges 
were  founded,  education  was  considered 
to  be  Christian.  Training  to  be  a gentle- 
man of  high  moral  character,  training 
for  public  life,  and  training  for  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  were  one  and  the  same 
thing.  Education  was  for  the  purpose 
of  formation  and  this  was  understood 
to  be  Christian  formation.  The  educa- 
tional system  operated  entirely  within 
the  Christian  frame  of  reference.  The 
colleges  were  founded  by  the  denomina- 
tions and  were  seen  as  Christian  institu- 


698 


DECEMBER  4,  1973 


tions.  Education  as  a whole  was  thought 
of  much  as  it  is  seen  in  present-day 
private  Christian  education. 

With  the  expanding  frontier  (begin- 
ning about  1800)  came  the  revival  fires 
and  the  spread  of  the  small  denomina- 
tional colleges.  In  this  setting,  educa- 
tion was  directly  related  to  the  mission 
of  the  church.  Education  was  used  as  a 
bulwark  against  rationalism  and  deism, 
Roman  Catholicism,  and  other  Prot- 
estant denominations.  The  colleges  pro- 
vided the  right  religio-moral  contexts  for 
learning  as  well  as  the  right  theological 
and  philosophical  content  of  instruc- 
tion. In  this  setting  it  was  difficult  not 
to  confuse  education  with  evangelism, 
instruction  with  induction,  and  teaching 
with  indoctrination. 

Alongside  of  the  private  colleges  there 
developed  a network  of  state  colleges. 
At  first  they  devoted  most  of  their  time 
to  technical  training,  but  by  now  they 
have  become  full  universities.  They  even 
have  their  own  departments  of  religion 
now.  They  operated  under  the  assump- 
tion that  education  and  faith  can  be 
treated  as  two  separate  things  and  that 
faith  is  not  integral  to  education.  Reli- 
gion was  not  only  omitted  as  a subject, 
but  it  was  assumed  that  questions  of 
faith  were  subjective  in  nature  and 
should  not  be  permitted  in  any  way  to 
influence  the  discussion  of  objective  data 
studied  in  the  various  disciplines.  It  was 
presupposed  that  data  speaks  for  itself. 

All  three  approaches  have  their  prob- 
lems. The  first  assumed  that  all  people 
were  Christian  and  provided  no  context 
of  freedom  for  the  non-Christian. 

The  second  approach  used  education 
too  much  as  a tool,  a means  to  an  end, 
and  all  too  often  violated  the  integrity 
of  the  disciplines  (e.g.,  prescribing  what 
a scientist  may  or  may  not  find  in  the 
world). 

The  secular  model  was,  of  course,  a 
deception.  No  one  could  really  separate 
his  facts  from  his  world  view,  and  still 


Education  does  not  consist  so 
much  of  imparting  information 
about  things  as  of  learning  to 
understand  ourselves  and  the  world 
about  us 


relate  them  meaningfully  to  each  other. 

If  matters  of  faith  were  not  talked  about, 
they  were  nevertheless  communicated. 
Since  all  three  approaches  did  not  con- 
firm themselves  in  the  long  run,  a new 
approach  was  taken,  even  though  seldom 
analyzed  or  explained. 

3.  Education  in  a pluralistic  setting 
assumes  that  it  helps  a student  to  choose 
his  own  world  view. 

In  public  education  teachers  who  hold 
opposing  world  views  teach  in  the  same 
institutions  and,  for  that  matter,  in  the 
same  subject  area.  Even  in  departments 
of  religion,  persons  who  belong  to  dif- 
ferent denominations  and  to  different 
faiths  teach  side  by  side.  A person’s  par- 
ticular persuasion  is  not  considered  as 
a primary  factor  in  hiring  faculty. 

The  basic  assumption  is  that  to  receive 
one’s  education  in  a pluralistic  setting 
is  a good  thing  and  helps  the  student  to 
choose  his  own  world  view.  During  the 
course  of  his  education  it  is  assumed  he 
will  encounter  many  different  perspec- 
tives from  which  to  view  the  world.  He 
can  then  choose  that  perspective  that  is 
most  meaningful  to  him. 

This  model  presupposes  that  the  vari- 
ous options  (world  views)  will  be  pre- 
sented more  or  less  evenly,  that  the 
student  will  be  able  to  see  and  appre- 
ciate them  as  real  options,  that  both  the 
teacher  and  the  student  will  be  aware 
or  conscious  of  the  world  view  that  he 
brings  to  the  material,  that  the  student 
will  in  fact  be  free  to  reject  a particular 
world  view  presented  to  him,  and  that 
questions  of  faith  and  a world  view  can 
be  spoken  to  objectively  and  from  a 
neutral  standpoint.  Yet  few  of  these 
points  are  ever  actualized. 

The  world  view  through  which  we 
view  things  is  seldom  made  explicit.  It 
is  implied,  however,  in  what  we  say  and 
do.  It  is  implied  in  statements  we  make 
about  things,  especially  statements  that 
contain  moral  and  nonmoral  value  judg- 
ments. Our  world  view  is  communicated 


it 


THE  MENNONITE 


699 


From  the  teacher’s  standpoint,  both  private  and  public  schools  provide 
an  excellent  Christian  calling.  It  is  not  the  case  that  one  is  engaged 
in  secular  education  and  the  other  in  religious  education. 


also  in  the  choices  we  make,  because  our 
choices  rest  on  the  values  we  hold.  The 
student,  particularly  if  he  or  she  is  still 
a child,  is  seldom  in  a position  to  know 
where  and  when  a teacher’s  world  view 
comes  into  play  and  could  be  chal- 
lenged, for  it  is  never  made  that  explicit. 

Education  in  a pluralistic  setting  has 
its  contributions  to  make.  It  draws  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  not  all  people 
share  the  same  faith  and  that  they  must 
learn  to  live  together  in  peace  and  har- 
mony. For  the  person  who  already  has 
a well-integrated  world  view,  or  has  the 
help  of  parents  and  selected  teachers  to 
help  him  wrestle  with  problems  of  basic 
orientation  to  life,  an  encounter  with 
other  points  of  view  will  serve  to  strength- 
en his  own  convictions.  This  would  then 
be  for  him  an  excellent  setting  for  wit- 
nessing to  his  faith. 

The  problems  of  receiving  one’s  edu- 
cation in  a pluralistic  setting  are  many. 
We  can  only  list  a few. 

— All  too  often  pluralism  is  not  really 
the  case.  In  one  school  all  the  teachers 
may  be  Christian  and  in  another  all 
may  be  non-Christian.  In  such  cases  the 
public  system  operates  much  like  the 
private  system  only  not  explicitly  so. 

— A world  view  is  seldom  made  ex- 
plicit and  is  not  necessarily  consciously 
taught  but  nevertheless  communicated. 
The  student  in  such  instances  is  hardly 


free  to  accept  or  reject  what  is  given 
him.  He  is  not  aware  of  its  influence  on 
him. 

— It  is  usually  the  case  that  children 
and  students  have  not  synthesized  their 
world  view  in  such  a way  that  they  could 
clearly  state  it,  let  alone  defend  it  against 
a professor  or  teacher  who  holds  an  op- 
posing point  of  view. 

— To  receive  all  of  one’s  education  in 
a pluralistic  setting  means  that  one  al- 
ways remains  at  the  starting  point,  ar- 
guing about  which  world  view  will  pro- 
vide the  best  perspective  on  life.  It  does 
not  allow  the  discussion  to  develop  to 
the  depths  that  it  does  in  settings  where 
certain  basics  can  be  assumed  and  then 
built  upon. 

— In  the  field  of  values,  it  subtly  sug- 
gests relativism.  If  every  statement  of 
value  and  every  moral  judgment  is  chal- 
lenged by  positing  another  point  of  view, 
the  tendency  is  to  accept  some  form  of 
relativism:  a thing  can  be  right  or  wrong 
depending  on  this  or  that  factor. 

4.  Private  education  helps  the  student 
to  relate  his  knowledge  of  the  world  to 
the  world  view  in  which  he  or  she  has 
been  nurtured  by  his  or  her  parents. 

Private  education  also  operates  under 
certain  basic  assumptions.  In  such  edu- 
cation it  is  taken  for  granted  that  edu- 
cation is  given  from  a given  point  of 
view.  In  private  Christian  schools  it  is 


assumed  that  all  of  the  teachers  will  be 
Christian.  It  is  assumed  also  that  the 
Christian  world  view  will  be  made  ex- 
plicit so  that  it  will  be  possible  for  the 
student  to  accept  or  to  reject  that  par- 
ticular world  view. 

What  is  intended  in  private  Christian 
education  is  to  give  a fair  presentation 
of  the  materials  related  to  the  various 
disciplines  as  well  as  of  the  Christian 
faith.  In  this  way  the  student  can  learn 
to  relate  his  knowledge  of  the  world  to 
the  world  view  in  which  he  or  she  has 
been  nurtured  by  his  parents.  It  is  de- 
signed to  allow  the  student  to  make  his 
heritage  his  own. 

There  are  many  pitfalls  in  private 
Christian  education  that  are  a denial  of 
its  basic  intention,  and  regretfully,  they 
have  not  always  been  avoided. 

— There  is  the  pitfall  of  indoctrina- 
tion, where  the  student  is  not  really  pre- 
sented a choice,  but  is  carefully  guided, 
along  a predetermined  course  of  thought 
and  action. 

— There  is  the  danger  of  ghetto  exis- 
tence, where  all  other  ideas  and  all  chal- 
lenges to  the  Christian  view  are  ruled  out 
of  order  and  not  wrestled  with  in  any 
way.  The  student  is  isolated  and  protect- 
ed from  the  world. 

But  as  has  been  indicated,  all  such 
programs  are  really  a denial  of  the  basic 
presuppositions  on  which  such  education 
rests. 

The  positive  aspects  of  private  Chris- 
tian education  are  significant. 

— The  various  subjects  are  taught  in 
a way  that  allows  the  person  to  see  how  ! 
the  material  can  be  integrated  into  a I 
Christian  world  view.  Where  there  are 
problems  these  can  be  openly  discussed. 

It  is  no  threat  to  the  Christian  world 
view  that  not  everything  can  immediately 
be  integrated.  j 

— Students  can  take  note  of  how  their . 
own  teachers  have  synthesized  their 
knowledge  about  the  world.  By  means 
of  rigorous  questioning,  they  can  get 
further  details  on  how  they  might  inte- 
grate their  knowledge  within  the  frame- 
work of  their  own  faith. 

— A new  depth  can  be  achieved  iii  > 
that  students  and  teachers  together  can 
apply  themselves  to  getting  at  all  of  the 
ramifications  of  the  basic  tenets  of  their 
own  world  view  or  faith. 

— Rather  than  always  and  again  being 
challenged  to  defend  the  starting  point,  | 


It  is  “bS  weeTly  excrprb7welwv  dUTina  J^  and  Mm  It  ‘J  u f,e"°Wsh'P  uw,,h'"  ,he  c°ntex*  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
ChurdT  Second-class  postaae  mW  at  North  Neiiin  .W®?kcS  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  67117,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Meimonits 

officTdOO  Thaftesbu^  ^ r-  17‘  Subs"'P"°ns!  m U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 

off.ee.  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Wmn.peg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Bus, ness  office.  722  Main  St..  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster.  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  547,  Newt™  Kan  67m 


700 


DECEMBER  4,  1973 


he  student  can  in  a relationship  of  trust 
md  commitment  explore  the  world  in 
which  he  finds  himself. 

— There  is  an  exploration  also  of 
other  world  views  and  an  attempt  to 
evaluate  fairly  and  explicitly  the  various 
other  options  open  to  a student. 

— Most  significant,  however,  is  that 
here  education  happens  in  a community. 
The  community  adds  a dimension  of 
meaning  in  that  it  is  known  to  the 
student  before  he  enters  the  school  and 
will  continue  to  support  him  throughout 
his  life. 

It  provides  the  context  within  which 

to  treat  religious  courses  in  such  a way 
as  to  allow  the  student  to  consciously 
examine  his  faith.  He  may  also  reject 
j it,  but  he  will  do  so  on  the  basis  of 
; a fair  discussion. 

5.  The  Christian  teacher  has  a place 
in  both  public  and  private  schools. 


and  is  made  open  to  acceptance  and 
rejection.  Before  accepting  for  them- 
selves such  a world  view,  it  has  to  be 
weighed  from  all  sides.  The  process  of 
countering  the  tenets  of  a world  view 
is  one  of  the  ways  a student  has  to 
find  out  whether  or  not  that  view  can 
encompass  all  of  life. 

I would  not  advocate  that  we  should 
have  only  private  education  nor  do  I 
think  we  can  do  without  private  edu- 
cation. The  strength  of  the  church  may 
well  be  directly  related  to  the  strength 
of  the  private  schools,  or  to  the  process 
of  education  in  the  church.  The  private 
school  option  should  therefore  be  kept 
alive  on  the  elementary,  high  school, 


college,  and  postgraduate  level. 

It  is  not  a question  of  two  systems 

fighting  each  other,  it  is  a matter  of 

doing  two  different  jobs.  It  is  not  a 

question  of  Christian  teachers  teaching 
in  private  schools;  it  is  a matter  of 

Christians  teaching  in  both  systems.  It 
is  not  a question  of  all  children  from 
Christian  homes  being  sent  to  private 
schools;  it  is  a matter  of  parents  decid- 
ing what  is  needed  by  the  child  and 
v/hich  approach  to  education  would  be 
most  suited  to  him  or  her  (not  merely 
least  expensive).  It  is  a matter  of  clar- 
ifying the  basic  assumptions  that  lie 
behind  both  systems  and  then  making 
a Christian  contribution  to  it. 


Responses 

to  David  Schroeder 


From  the  teacher’s  standpoint  both 
educational  contexts  provide  an  excellent 
Christian  calling.  It  is  not  the  case  that 
one  is  engaged  in  secular  education  and 
the  other  in  religious  education.  For  a 
Christian  he  is  in  Christian  service  in 
both  settings. 

In  the  public  education  system  the 
work  of  a Christian  teacher  may  well 
be  undone  by  a fellow  teacher  who  holds 
a different  world  view.  But  even  in  such 
cases,  the  manner  in  which  the  Christian 
carries  on  discussions  about  the  differ- 
ence in  points  of  view  is  in  itself  a 
witness  to  the  faith  that  he  has.  In  any 
case,  he  is  always  in  a position  to  reflect 
a Christian  point  of  view  to  faculty  and 
students. 

Even  one  Christian  teacher  may  well 
be  a great  help  to  a Christian  student  or 
to  a child  who  has  grown  up  in  a Chris- 
tian home.  In  such  a case  there  is  not 
only  a point  of  identity  but  the  teacher 
is  a sign  to  the  student  that  he  will  be 
able  to  build  on  his  faith,  as  the  teacher 
has  done. 

In  the  private  school  the  Chistian 
teacher  is  able  to  work  with  a team 
which  shares  the  same  faith  and  basic 
• objectives.  He  finds  himself  in  a Chris- 
tian community  that  supports  and  under- 
girds the  work.  He  is  expected  to  spell 
out  clearly  not  only  the  regular  subject 
material  but  also  the  tenets  of  faith. 

The  part  that  is  often  disconcerting  to 
private  schoolteachers  is  the  apparent 
opposition  to  the  Christian  world  view 
by  the  students,  especially  so  in  high 
school.  But  it  indicates  what  happens 
when  the  world  view  is  made  explicit 


True,  but . . . 

The  initial  reaction  to  David  Schroe- 
der’s  paper  is:  Yes,  this  I can  buy.  There 
is  little  one  can  take  issue  with.  However, 
in  trying  to  sort  things  out,  one  of  the 
difficulties  I found  for  myself  was  that 
the  article  tries  to  cover  too  broad  a 
field,  namely,  all  levels  of  education 
(elementary,  high  school,  undergradu- 
ate). 

And  so  I find  myself  saying:  True,  but 
only  at  the  college  level,  or  this  is  cer- 
tainly not  happening  in  our  private  high 
schools  or  if  it  is  happening  it  is  happen- 
ing too  late  (e.g.,  according  to  my  limit- 
ed experience  with  junior  highs,  ques- 
tions of  Mennonite  origins,  identity,  and 
belief  should  be  tackled  in  early  junior 
high  years  rather  than  left  till  senior 
high). 

Dr.  Schroeder  does  not  criticize  what 
our  North  American  private  schools  (be 
they  elementary,  denominational  high 
schools,  Bible  schools,  liberal  arts  and 
Bible  colleges,  or  seminaries)  are  doing 
or  not  doing  as  evaluated  from  the  phi- 
losophy he  expounds.  In  this  sense  the 
article  should  be  but  the  beginning  of 
some  serious  evaluation  of  what  in  reality 
is  happening  or  not  happening. 

As  I understand  him,  he  sees  both  pri- 
vate and  public  schools  as  having  sig- 
nificant contributions  to  make.  What  is 
left  is  but  to  choose  the  right  school.  The 
only  criterion  he  gives  on  how  to>  know 
which  school  a child  should  attend  is  of 


“parents  deciding  what  is  needed  by  the 
child  and  which  approach  to  education 
would  be  most  suited  to1  him  or  her — 
This  is  hardly  realistic,  since  at  least  on 
the  elementary  level  there  is  no!  choice 
for  most  of  our  people.  There  are  few 
private  schools  that  could  come  into  con- 
sideration. Even  if  parents  would  feel  the 
need  to  send  their  child  to  a private 
Christian  school  in  the  elementary  years, 
it  would  not  even  be  a possibility. 

In  this  admirable  but  general  philos- 
ophy that  Dr.  Schroeder  advocates  we 
find  no  direction  or  suggestion  as  to 
where  the  priorities  of  private  Christian 
education  should  lie.  Is  it  not  at  the  ele- 
mentary level  where  children  are  still 
naturally  inclined  to  believe  their  teach- 
ers? Yet  it  is  at  this  level  where  we  have 
literally  abandoned  the  responsibility  of 
the  education  of  our  children  to  the 
state. 

With  what  world  view  do  we  want  our 
children  to  be  influenced  at  this  level? 
Are  they  ready  to  choose?  In  these  so- 
called  pluralistic,  supposedly  neutral 
public  schools,  can  the  children  see  or 
find  the  Christian  world  view  (that  in 
itself  is  such  a general  and  broad  de- 
scription open  to  numerous  interpreta- 
tions) when  what  is  in  fact  being  taught 
is  the  all  but  universally  held  scientific- 
materialistic  view? 

Is  it  possible  at  all  in  this  setting  for  a 
teacher  to  teach  a child  “the  way  he 


THE  MENNONITE 


701 


Responses 


shall  go”  according  to  the  biblical  injunc- 
tion? Maybe  we  say  that  this  is  the  task 
of  the  home  and  the  church.  So  it  is,  but 
is  the  Christian  education  in  our  homes 
and  churches  strong  enough  so  that  it 
will  not  be  overpowered  by  this  domin- 
ant view  of  our  public  schools  and  soci- 
ety? Yet  since  we  conceded  to  the 
“public  school  system”  at  the  turn  of  the 
century  there  has  been  too  little  concern, 
questioning,  or  analysis  of  the  status  quo 
in  this  regard.  Could  it  be  that  our  pub- 
lic schools  are  the  principal  agency  in 
our  society  promoting  the  scientific-ma- 
terialistic, cultural  religion  which  our 


prophets  decry?  Certainly  our  private 
schools  should  challenge  this  world  view. 

The  model  presented  of  education  in 
a pluralistic  setting  “presupposes  that  the 
various  options  (world  views)  will  be 
presented  more  or  less  evenly  . . . both 
the  teacher  and  the  student  will  be 
aware.  . . This  points  out  only  one 
example  of  the  disparity  between  the 
ideal  and  the  real.  The  real,  according  to 
Christian  friends  of  mine  in  the  public 
school  teaching  profession,  is:  Very  few 
euucators  realize  or  will  admit  that 
education  entails  the  process  of  ordering 
things  into  a world  view.  The  popular 
attitude  toward  education  is  to  deny  that 
one  passes  any  value  judgment  on  to 
the  student. 

The  public  school  will  not  disappear 
but  neither  should  the  private  school, 
however  threatened  its  existence  may 


sometimes  seem.  Is  it  misunderstanding 
of  the  approach  of  our  private  schools, 
a feeling  of  a lack  of  control  on  the 
part  of  the  parents  (things  are  not  going 
the  way  they  would  like),  or  a lack  of 
conviction  of  the  need  for  private 
schools  that  they  frequently  lack  sup- 
port? We  can  usually  afford  things  we 
are  convinced  we  need.  Maybe  we  do 
not  always  see  how  the  Christian  private 
school  today  fits  into  the  total  mission 
of  the  church,  in  its  evangelism,  etc.  I 
fail  to  see  any  explicit  clarification  of 
this  in  the  article. 

If  to  formulate  an  all-embracing  uni- 
fied Christian  philosophy  is  the  greatest 
need  in  the  field  of  private  Christian 
education  today,  there  certainly  is  more 
work  to  be  done.  Anna  Ens,  home- 
maker and  former  teacher,  Ottawa, 
Ontario 


Providing  help  for  parents 


The  ideal  as  stated  by  David  Schroeder, 
“It  is  a matter  of  parents  deciding  what 
is  needed  by  the  child  and  which  ap- 
proach to  education  would  be  most  suit- 
ed to  him  or  her,”  is  not  that  simple 
in  reality.  When  the  choosing  calls  for 
finding  a home  for  a child  in  a rooming 
and  boarding  situation,  for  cash  outlay 
in  the  light  of  expectant  college  expenses, 
for  helping  the  child  leave  home  during 
the  adolescent  years  when  one’s  own 
experience  was  in  being  at  home  during 
those  years,  the  decision  is  often  not 
practical  and  seldom  unbiased.  To  com- 
plicate the  question  further  the  child  may 
differ  in  his  views  of  the  kind  of  edu- 
cation suited  for  him. 

The  question,  “Education:  Private  or 
public?”  is  not  a live  option  for  many 
people.  It  was  not  a question  in  my 
growing-up  years.  Living  on  a farm  in  a 
small  somewhat  isolated  Mennonite 
community  in  northern  Illinois  put  one 
geographically  outside  the  possibility  of 
a private  school.  I knew  that  Catholic 
children  went  to  special  schools  but  I 
was  not  sure  why. 

The  one-room  school  I attended  had 
three  teachers  during  my  eight  years 
there,  two  of  them  Mennonites,  the  other 
of  another  denomination  but  undeniably 
a Christian  (I  recall  pitying  her  because 
she  was  not  a Mennonite).  The  school 
was  probably  as  close  to  being  a private 
school  as  a public  school  could  be. 

High  school  was  larger,  farther  from 
home,  and  often  underlined  the  fact  that 
our  family  was  different.  I remember 
that  was  painful  but  I seldom  doubted 


the  “rightness”  of  the  values  taught  at 
home  and  at  church. 

So  as  parents  who  had  had  a suppor- 
tive public  school  education  we  tended 
to  think  that  it  would  be  possible  for  our 
children  to  work  within  the  framework 
of  the  public  school  situation.  We  know 
now  that  there  were  points  at  which  that 
expectation  was  not  realized,  and  times 
when  as  parents  we  were  not  sure  how 
to  be  helpful. 

As  a church  we  have  seldom  consid- 
ered the  possibility  of  an  ecumenical 
school  possibility,  the  sort  of  school  that 
would  be  practically  possible  in  almost 
any  area  where  there  are  parents  of 
other  denominations  interested  in  private 
school  education.  So  that  makes  private 
education  possible  only  in  the  more 
heavily  populated  Mennonite  areas. 

This  leaves  a great  many  Mennonite 
parents  who  will  continue  to  rely  on 
public  education  for  their  children, 
even  while  they  live  uneasily  with  the 
knowledge  that  neither  the  church  nor 
the  home  has  escaped  the  weakening  of 
a materialistic  culture. 

Since  if  a child  repeatedly  receives 


information  that  calls  into  question  the 
basic  tenets  of  faith  and  if  he  has  no  one 
to  aid  him,  he  may  reject  the  faith,  per- 
haps what  is  needed  most  is  support  for 
parents.  Christian  parents  want  the 
Christian  world  view  to  appeal  to  their 
children.  They  want  their  home  to  be 
of  such  strength  that  other  world  views 
can  be  looked  at  both  in  the  home  and 
out  of  it  without  damage  to  the  child’s 
Christian  world  view. 

What  are  some  tools  for  giving  par- 
ents the  kind  of  support  they  need? 
Could  the  church  begin  by  being  far 
more  serious  about  parental  education, 
first  admitting  that  being  a parent  does 
not  automatically  make  for  full-blown 
maturity?  Could  it  take  for  granted  (in- 
stead of  making  it  the  exception)  that 
there  will  need  to  be  one-to-one  coun- 
seling service  available,  special  classes 
for  parents,  planned  small  groups? 

Might  such  a program  even  take 
precedence  over  a concerted  Sunday 
school  effort  for  children,  if  it  came 
down  to  time  and  energy  for  one  or  the 
other?  Helen  Alder fer,  homemaker  and 
editor,  Scottdale,  Pennsylvania 


Growing  through  relationships 

David  Schroeder  has  presented  a valu-his  reference  to  the  role  of  the  Christian 
able  examination  of  the  intellectualcommunity.  It  is  the  existence  and 
processes  through  which  one  arrives  atquality  of  this  community  of  students, 
a mature  Christian  faith  and  the  rolefaculty,  and  administration  which  pioba- 
of  Christian  schools  in  that  process.  bly  plays  one  of  the  most  decisive  roles 
One  of  the  parts  of  his  article  whichin  determining  one’s  faith, 
struck  me  as  particularly  important  was  It  seems  to  me  that  the  second  most 


702 


DECEMBER  4,  1973 


important  claim  a Christian  school  can 
make  is  that  there  one  will  find  intel- 
ligent discussion  of  the  nature  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  The  most  important 
claim  a Christian  school  can  make  is  that 
a part  of  that  kingdom  exists  within 
that  school. 

One  never  claims  his  or  her  faith  in 
.a  vacuum.  If  that  were  possible,  one 
would  need  only  pick  out  the  best  one 
or  two  hundred  books  on  every  side  of 
the  religious  question,  go  into  seclusion 
a few  months,  and  emerge  with  an 
answer.  The  reason  this  approach  is  so 
| seldom  recommended  is  that  we  discover 
who  we  are  and  what  is  what  to  a large 
( extent  by  our  interactions  with  others. 

It  is  this  discovery  through  community 


experience  which  should  characterize  a 
Christian  school.  As  it  is  written,  “How 
can  they  hear  without  a preacher?”  What 
better  defense  of  the  Christian  faith 
could  there  be  than  the  discovery  of  its 
existence  through  the  trust  and  love  and 
forgiveness  of  friends  and  professors? 

While  the  Christian  school  serves  as  a 
“think  tank”  in  which  the  Christian  faith 
is  better  understood  and  related  to  the 
world  in  which  we  find  ourselves,  it  is 
also,  at  its  best,  a collection  of  people 
who  are  understanding  and  growing  in 
their  faith  by  relating  their  intellectual 
exploration  of  it  to  their  day-to-day 
relationships  with  each  other.  Melvin 
Lehman , graduate  of  a Mennonite  high 
school  and  college,  Washington,  D.C. 


Student  and  teacher  together 


The  “world  view”  approach  used  in 
this  article  to  me  is  a fair  and  valid  one 
with  which  I agree.  Having  been  educat- 
ed in  public  elementary  and  high  schools, 
having  attended  both  church  colleges  and 
state  universities,  and  having  taught  in 
both  public  and  private  schools,  I find 
myself  underscoring  the  positive  aspects 
of  private  Christian  education  mentioned 
in  David  Schroeder’s  article. 

The  caliber  of  the  teacher  or  profes- 
sor determines  to  a large  extent  the  class- 
room atmosphere.  In  the  case  of  the 
Christian  teacher,  student  and  teacher 
work  through  conflicting  ideas  together 
i in  a way  that  the  student  is  able  to  ac- 
cept or  reject  the  ideas  in  light  of  his 
own  faith  or  world  view. 

I would  agree  that  most  important  “is 
that  education  happens  in  community.” 

: This  encourages  the  student  to  interpret 
information  and  happenings  in  light  of 
his  own  faith. 

It  is  doubtful  that  there  is  a Christian 
method  of  teaching  that  2 plus  2 equals 


4,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  children 
have  assimilated  quite  unconsciously 
some  of  the  philosophy  and  attitude  of 
the  teacher. 

One  pitfall  of  Christian  education 
mentioned  in  the  article  recently  became 
a stark  reality  when  a child  from  a 
parochial  school  made  the  remark,  But 
there  is  nothing  of  God  in  the  public 
school!” 

Although  Dr.  Schroeder  does  not  ex- 
actly say  so,  it  appears  that  unless  the 
Christian  school  can  do  an  equally  good 
job  of  the  factual  knowledge,  and  a 
better  job  of  providing  an  atmosphere 
for  learning  in  which  the  child  can  re- 
late his  knowledge  of  the  world  to  his 
own  faith,  one  would  need  to  have  some 
serious  second  thoughts  about  Christian 
education. 

This  article  is  indeed  a fair  and  ac- 
curate evaluation  of  both  public  and 
private  education.  Esther  E.  Yoder, 
public  school  principal,  Grantsville, 
Maryland 


Crisis  corning  for  the  colleges 


Mennonite  higher  education  faces 
a major  crisis  which  will  be  dramatic  in 
1977  and  by  1984  may  close  some  col- 
lege doors.  The  question  in  David 
Schroeder’s  title,  “Education:  Private  or 
public?”  may  not  signify  any  real  choice 
in  1984. 

What  is  the  basis  for  impending  crisis? 
First,  fewer  students.  Across  the  United 
States,  the  number  graduating  from  high 


school  will  drop  precipitously  in  1977 
and  will  decline  steadily  through  1984. 

Among  Mennonites  the  birthrate  ap- 
pears to  be  declining  even  more  rapidly 
than  the  national  average.  Recent  studies 
of  Mennonite  communities  in  central 
Kansas  suggest  that  the  pool  of  Mennon- 
ite high  school  graduates  will  be  cut  al- 
most in  half  by  1980. 

In  addition  to  declining  birthrates, 


rural  Mennonite  communities  are  dwin- 
dling as  families  move  to  the  cities, 
and  in  the  cities,  identity  and  close  con- 
tact with  Mennonite  institutions  are 
often  lost.  It  is  easier  to  recruit  students 
from  farms  than  cities. 

It  is  clear  that  the  usual  source  of 
students  will  not  provide  populations 
large  enough  to  sustain  all  our  colleges 
in  1984. 

The  second  major  problem  contribut- 
ing to  impending  crisis  is  that  the  forces 
which  have  kept  youth  in  school  have 
nearly  run  their  course  and  are  clearly 
seen  as  myths.  The  main  myth  is  that 
formal  education  opens  all  doors,  makes 
all  men  equal,  guarantees  a better  job, 
and  leads  to  the  good  life.  It  no  longer 
sells  well. 

Shall  we  elaborate?  In  our  culture, 
graduation  has  been  the  major  rite  of 
passage  by  which  youth  are  admitted  to 
adulthood.  Schools  have  been  assigned 
roles  which  conflict  sharply  with  the 
purposes  and  processes  of  education. 
Schools  are  a holding  agency  and  exist  to 
relieve  parents  of  responsibility,  to  keep 
youth  out  of  the  labor  force  as  long  as 
possible,  and  to  permit  the  exploitation 
of  youth  as  consumers  of  what  is  pro- 
duced by  those  aged  twenty-five  to  fifty. 
Compulsory  school  attendance,  child 
labor  laws,  and  minimum  wage  laws  com- 
bine with  contrived  certification  functions 
to  prevent  youth  from  earning  or  produc- 
ing until  after  they  graduate. 

It  is  generally  accepted  and  widely 
demonstrated  that  productive,  creative 
work  is  still  the  major  avenue  by  which 
persons  become  autonomous,  by  which 
they  can  meet  their  own  basic  needs  for 
physical  well-being,  safety,  love,  self- 
esteem, and  self-actualization.  Indeed 
this  fact  is  underscored  when  youth  are 
implored  to  “stay  in  school  so  you  can 
get  a better  job.”  Society  sanctions  the 
postponing  and  limiting  of  the  very  ac- 
tivity requisite  to  human  development 
while  demanding  allegiance  to  it.  Em- 
ployers, employees,  parents,  and  edu- 
cators all  agree  to  the  sanction  and  keep 
the  system  going. 

To  compound  the  problem  with  irony, 
schooling  does  rather  little  to  prepare 
students  for  eventual  job  entry.  Whereas 
80  percent  of  the  work  force  holds  semi- 
skilled and  skilled  jobs  and  only  20 
percent  fill  professional  and  managerial 
roles,  students  consistently  reverse  the 
percentages  in  their  planning.  This  is  not 
a new  development;  educational  dollars 
have  long  poured  into  massive  vocational 
education  programs  to  correct  the  dis- 
crepancy. However,  with  a few  excep- 


THE  MENNONITE 


703 


Responses 


tions,  such  as  combining  work  and  study, 
the  basic  overall  formula  for  keeping 
youth  out  of  work  until  after  graduation 
is  in  full  force. 

The  results  are  mostly  bad:  Some 
drop  out  of  school  and  are  sentenced 
to  unemployment  and  arrested  develop- 
ment. Some  persist  through  graduation, 
but  refuse  to  play  the  game  further, 
perceiving  college  to  be  a continuation 
of  the  myth.  Yet  others  have  become 
conformers — apathetic  and  unimagin- 
ative robots  who  have  surrendered  their 


own  lives  to  accept  the  rewards  of  play- 
acting education  and  life.  None  of  these 
are  likely  candidates  for  our  colleges. 

My  two  points  are  ( I ) that  there  will 
be  fewer  students  of  typical  college  age, 
and  (2)  that  among  the  students  from 
whom  to  recruit  for  college  are  many 
whose  personal  development  has  been 
seriously  impaired  because  legitimate 
work  experience  was  denied  them  and 
education  was  contrived. 

In  1984  some  Mennonite  colleges  will 
be  no  more  unless  they  attract  and 
serve  many  more  non-Mennonites; 
racial  minorities;  older  persons  long  in 
the  work  force;  youth  seeking  salable 
skills  before  a liberal  arts  education; 
students  who  interrupt  studies  with  vol- 


untary service,  apprenticeships,  or  try- 
out jobs;  and  persons  who  have  been 
badly  frustrated  from  meeting  their  own 
basic  needs. 

It  will  not  be  easy  to  prepare  for  these 
students.  Four  years  is  too  short  a lead- 
time  to  define  all  the  issues,  to  collect 
the  needed  data,  to  develop  compre- 
hensive ten-year  institutional  plans,  to 
change  our  own  thinking,  to  develop  the 
required  new  skills,  to  create  the  cur- 
riculum content  and  form,  to  educate 
our  supporting  constituencies,  or  to  give 
up  our  interfering  wish-dreams. 

Four  years  is  too  short,  but  God’s 
people  are  not  abandoned  to  their  own 
shortages.  Walter  Friesen,  college  dean, 
Wichita,  Kansas 


Across  North  America  the  number  of  students  graduating  from 
high  school  will  drop  dramatically  in  1977  and  continue  to  decline  until 
1984.  F or  Mennonite  colleges  the  pool  of  Mennonite  high  school  graduates 
will  be  cut  almost  in  half  by  1980  in  some  regions. 


704 


DECEMBER  4,  1973 


NEWS 


Assembly  looks 

Instead  of  one  or  two  main  speakers, 
the  Mennonite  Central  Committee  Peace 
Section  Assembly  this  year  offered  a 
smorgasbord  of  speakers  and  interest 
groups  on  “The  interdependence  of  men 
and  women.” 

More  than  200  persons  attended  the 
assembly  November  9-10  at  Camp  Frie- 
denswald,  Michigan. 

Two  prominent  theologians  who  are 
women  had  been  invited  to  speak  but 
i could  not  come.  Instead,  the  assembly 
: allowed  short  presentations  from  about 
seventeen  participants,  and  more  than 
; forty  others  led  interest  groups  on  male- 
female  roles  in  the  church,  society,  and 
the  home. 

Interest  groups  discussed  male-female 
roles  in  intentional  communities,  families 
without  children,  families  with  children, 
and  in  other  cultures;  abortion;  socializa- 
tion of  children;  sexuality;  alternatives  to 
marriage;  identity;  women  and  welfare; 
racism  and  sexism;  biblical  material;  the 
use  of  gifts  in  local  congregations;  Chris- 
tian feminists  and  the  church;  Anabaptist 
women;  women  in  church  structures  and 
institutions;  language  barriers;  and  men 
and  women  at  seminary. 

lohn  A.  Lapp,  mcc  Peace  Section 
| chairman,  said  the  assembly’s  topic  had 
| relevance  to  the  Peace  Section  agenda 
even  though  people  have  often  limited 
the  meaning  of  peace  to  “the  absence  of 
war.” 

But  the  Bible  refers  to  peace  as  the 
total  well-being  of  the  individual  and  as 
the  reconciliation  of  those  who  are  sep- 
arated from  one  another,  he  said.  One 
of  the  oldest  forms  of  separation  is  the 
separation  of  men  from  women. 

Dorothy  Yoder  Nyce  of  Goshen,  In- 
diana, speaking  on  male-female  interde- 
pendence in  the  Bible,  told  the  assembly, 
“In  the  past,  I had  resentment  toward 
the  Apostle  Paul.  Now  I thoroughly  love 
Paul,  and  I have  to  deal  with  my  hostil- 
ity toward  those  who  have  misinterpreted 
him.” 

Paul,  she  said,  emphasized  the  mutual- 
ity of  men  and  women.  In  1 Corinthians 
11,  for  example,  the  word  “head”  does 
not  denote  authority  of  a husband  over 
his  wife,  but  her  source,  or  origin. 

She  also  discussed  the  creation  ac- 


at  male-female 

counts  of  Genesis  1-3  and  said  that  rigid 
sex  roles  are  the  result  of  sin  not  part  of 
men’s  and  women’s  nature. 

Richard  Friesen  of  Elkhart,  Indiana, 
spoke  briefly  on  the  role  of  Anabaptist 
women  who  were  equal  with  men  in 
their  deaths  as  martyrs  and  on  a 1947 
Mennonite  conference  in  Goshen  on  the 
family.  The  papers  at  the  conference  saw 
women’s  only  place  in  the  home  or  in 
such  fields  as  social  work. 

Gayle  Gerber  Koontz,  Akron,  Penn- 
sylvania, discussed  Christian  feminism 
as  the  liberation  of  people  from  destruc- 
tion by  powerful  sex  roles.  All  people 
have  both  “masculine”  and  “feminine” 
potential  within  them,  she  said. 

She  called  for  women  to  get  rid  of 
self-hatred  and  hatred  of  other  women 
and  to  encourage  each  other  to  take 
leadership  roles  in  the  church. 

The  assembly,  unlike  previous  assem- 
blies, passed  no  resolutions.  However, 
Luann  Habegger,  staff  person  at  the  mcc 
Peace  Section  Washington  Office,  said 
the  Peace  Section  is  considering  such  ac- 
tions as  sending  teams  of  women  to  con- 
gregations to  speak  on  the  issues  of  the 
assembly,  sponsoring  a seminar  on  fam- 
ily issues  next  spring,  producing  a pack- 
et of  literature  on  women’s  issues  to  be 
available  the  first  of  next  year,  and  pub- 
lishing a book  of  essays  on  male-female 
roles. 

Doug  Hostetter  of  New  York  City,  a 
Peace  Section  member,  announced  a new 
Vietnam  Christmas  project  through  mcc, 
which  would  provide  help  for  families 
of  the  100,000  to  200,000  political  pris- 
oners still  held  in  South  Vietnam  and 
also  help  prisoners  in  the  United  States 
and  Canada,  particularly  draft  registers 
or  refugees. 

Mennonites  are  being  requested  to  give 
money  to  the  project,  called  “Liberty  to 
the  captives,”  money  which  they  would 
ordinarily  have  spent  on  Christmas  gifts 
for  family  and  friends.  Clergy  and  Laity 
Concerned  and  the  American  Friends 
Service  Committee  are  also  publicizing 
such  a project. 

Probably  a majority  of  those  at  the 
assembly  were  women,  but  no  one 
thought  of  counting  to  make  sure.  It  was 
evident,  however,  that  most  were  under 


stereotypes 

thirty.  The  annual  assemblies  have  be- 
come a gathering  place  for  college  and 
postcollege  people  who  have  an  interest 
in  the  broad  areas  of  peace. 

In  an  evaluation  session  Saturday  eve- 
ning, more  people  said  they  came  be- 
cause it  was  a Peace  Assembly  than  be- 
cause of  the  particular  topic. 

The  next  Peace  Assembly  will  be 
March  28-30  in  Winnipeg  on  the  topic 
of  “U.S. -Canadian  relations.”  Lois  Bar- 
rett Janzen 

New  radio  spots  ready 
for  distribution  in  January 

Choice  IV,  a new  series  of  sixty-five 
90-second  radio  programs,  will  be  re- 
leased lanuary  1. 

The  programs  have  been  jointly  pro- 
duced by  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite Church,  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church,  and  Mennonite  Church,  with 
participation  by  the  Church  of  the 
Brethren. 

Palmer  Becker,  executive  secretary  of 
the  General  Conference’s  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries,  said  information  on 
Choice  IV  and  its  promotion  to  radio 
stations  will  be  sent  to  pastors  and 
congregational  representatives  of  the 
three  denominations  on  November  25. 

Theme  of  the  spots  is  resolving 
family  conflicts. 

A new  book  by  David  Augsburger  en- 
titled Love  fight : Caring  enough  to  con- 
front will  serve  as  a follow-up  to  the 
radio  spots. 

In  addition,  Choice  I,  first  released  in 
1969  in  a 3 Vi  -minute  format,  will  be 
rewritten  for  a ninety-second  format, 
since  stations  are  more  willing  to  use  the 
shorter  programs.  The  rewritten  spots 
will  be  ready  by  the  fall  of  1974. 

To  date,  Choice  I has  been  used  by 
176  stations.  Choice  II  by  280  stations, 
and  Choice  III  by  268  stations.  Choice 
II  and  III  were  released  in  1972. 


THE  MENNONITE 


705 


Reflections  on 

Alvin  Beachy 

The  Menno  Simons  Lectureship  Foun- 
dation, established  by  the  John  P.  and 
Carolina  Kaufman  family  of  Mound- 
ridge,  Kansas,  in  1950  has  brought  a 
number  of  distinguished  speakers  to  the 
Bethel  College  campus.  This  year’s  lec- 
turer was  William  Stringfellow. 

The  general  theme  for  the  lectures, 
which  began  on  Sunday  evening,  October 
28,  and  continued  through  Tuesday  eve- 
ning, October  30,  was  “Issues  of  state 
and  church,  obedience  and  conscience 
in  ethics  and  in  eschatology.” 

These  lectures  grew  out  of  Mr.  String- 
fellow’s  reflections  on  Romans  13  and 
Revelation  13,  both  of  which  speak  of 
the  Christian’s  relationship  to  the  state, 
but  under  widely  divergent  circumstanc- 
es. Mr.  Stringfellow  asked  his  audience 
not  to  try  to  smooth  out  the  contrast 
or  even  the  apparent  contradictions  be- 
tween these  two  passages,  stating  that 
“consistency  was  a Greek  virtue.”  Chris- 
tians, on  the  other  hand,  who  know 
that  their  faith  takes  history  seriously, 
should  not  be  surprised  to  discover  that 
the  New  Testament  enjoins  a different 
response  to  the  state  at  different  times 
in  history. 

The  passage  from  Romans,  main- 
tained Mr.  Stringfellow,  speaks  of  the 
attitude  which  Christians  should  have 
toward  the  state  or  government,  when 

Winnipeg  bookstore 
moves  to  new  building 

Fellowship  Bookcenter  in  Winnipeg 
plans  to  change  locations  in  the  city 
sometime  in  December,  according  to 
Dick  Rempel,  manager  of  Faith  and  Life 
Press,  Newton,  Kansas. 

The  bookstore  is  jointly  operated  by 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  (through  Faith  and  Life  Press) 
and  the  Canadian  Conference  of  Men- 
nonite Brethren  Churches.  It  is  the 
product  of  the  combining  two  years  ago 
of  the  former  Faith  and  Life  Bookstore 
in  Rosthern,  Saskatchewan,  and  the 
Christian  Press  Bookstore  at  its  present 
location  at  159  Henderson  Highway, 
near  Mennonite  Brethren  Bible  College. 

The  new  location  will  be  302  Kennedy 
Street,  near  the  main  Winnipeg  business 
district.  The  bookstore  will  have  more 
floor  space  and  will  be  on  street  level 
rather  than  on  the  second  floor.  The 
move  of  the  bookstore’s  total  operations 
will  be  made  before  Christmas. 


Romans  13  and 


government  is  a legitimately  constituted 
authority.  The  Revelation  13  passage,  on 
the  other  hand,  reflects  a Christian  at- 
titude toward  the  state  at  a period  in 
history  where  the  state  has  become  de- 
monic or  illegitimatized  itself  by  the 
wrongful  use  of  its  power. 

Mr.  Stringfellow  was  quite  blunt  in 
his  affirmation  that  the  present  admin- 
istration in  Washington,  although  it  may 
have  come  to  power  having  at  least  the 
guise  of  legality,  had  now  made  itself 
illegitimate  by  its  corrupt  practices  in 
office. 

Strangely  enough,  it  was  not  so  much 
the  Revelation  13  passage  that  Mr. 
Stringfellow  appealed  to  in  his  criticism 
of  the  present  administration,  as  it  was 
John  Calvin’s  interpretation  of  Romans 
13.  According  to  Mr.  Stringfellow,  Cal- 
vin held  that  any  government  that  wages 
war  thereby  constitutes  itself  as  illegiti- 
mate, and  Christians  are  no  longer  re- 
quired to  render  such  a government 
love,  honor,  and  obedience.  Christians 
may  in  fact,  stated  Mr.  Stringfellow, 
find  that  in  their  obedience  to  the  lord- 
ship  of  Christ  they  are  sometimes  re- 
quired to  engage  in  acts  of  civil  disobe- 
dience against  a government  that  has 
become  illegitimate,  even  though  it  re- 
mains the  government  in  power.  He  cit- 
ed the  Vietnam  War  as  a war  that  was 
both  illegal  and  criminal  and  stated  that 
some  who  have  resisted  the  draft  or  de- 
serted the  Armed  Forces  had  in  fact  ex- 
hibited the  highest  type  of  patriotism. 

While  most  of  the  argument  for  civil 
disobedience  as  a form  of  Christian  obe- 
dience was  based  on  the  tradition  of 
John  Calvin’s  interpretation  of  Romans 
13,  Mr.  Stringfellow  did  not  hesitate  to 
point  out  the  parallels  to  Revelation  13 
in  the  present  political  administration. 
He  is  fearful  of  the  influence  of  tech- 
nology on  democracy  and  speaks  out  of 
a background  of  experience  with  per- 
sonal surveillance  by  the  fbi  because  of 
the  shelter  he  gave  to  Daniel  Berrigan 
and  other  war  resisters. 

On  the  whole,  Mr.  Stringfellow  ex- 
pressed deep  disappointment  at  the  si- 
lence of  the  church  during  the  decade 
of  war  in  Indochina  and  now  its  failure 
to  speak  out  in  favor  of  telling  the  truth 
in  the  light  of  the  Watergate  scandal. 
But  his  disappointment  is  that  of  one 
who  loves  the  church  and  is  attempting 
to  do  what  he  can  to  lead  her  to  re- 
pentance. 


Revelation  13 


Mr.  Stringfellow  did  not  hold  out 
much  hope  for  great  improvement  in 
the  human  condition  because,  he  said, 
“the  world  and  its  institutions  bear  the 
marks  of  fallenness.”  The  Christian,  be- 
cause of  his  conversion,  will  always  find 
himself  lined  up  against  the  status  quo. 
Nevertheless,  he  works  to  amend  what 
is  dehumanizing  both  to  himself  and  oth- 
ers. Conscience  is  not  that  faculty  with 
which  we  divine  the  will  of  God,  but  our 
involvement  in  the  struggle  against  all 
that  dehumanizes.  In  that  struggle  we 
find  our  freedom  in  obedience,  even 
though  we  may  be  killed  for  entering 
the  struggle.  Yet  when  we  choose  not 
to  become  involved,  we  bring  a sort  of 
death  upon  ourselves. 

Middle  East 
projects  reopened 

Although  no  peace  settlement  has  been 
reached  in  the  Middle  East,  govern- 
ment restrictions  because  of  the  war  are 
relaxing.  Mcc  projects  closed  by  the 
Jordanian  Government  in  mid-October 
reopened  October  30.  Four  volunteer 
teachers  in  Cairo,  Egypt,  have  started 
school.  Work  is  continuing  on  the  West 
Bank. 

Urbane  Peachey,  Jordan  director,  re- 
ported on  October  23  that  although 
blackout  for  the  country  was  continu- 
ing, lights  were  permitted  in  the  houses 
at  night  with  shades  drawn.  Car  lights 
were  on  again  at  night. 

However,  relief  workers  are  still  in- 
structed not  to  use  anything  from  their 
warehouses  without  permission  from  the 
Jordanian  Ministry  of  Social  Affairs. 

Mr.  Peachey  has  been  in  contact  with 
several  relief  organizations  and  reports 
that  he  is  not  aware  of  any  large-scale 
emergency  relief  situations  now. 

Moencopi  Church 
opens  youth  center 

The  Moencopi  Mennonite  Church,  Tuba 
City,  Arizona,  has  begun  a youth  center 
in  the  side  room  of  the  church  building 
which  will  be  known  as  “Friendship 
House.” 

James  Frazier,  pastor  of  the  Moen- 
copi Church,  said  the  center  will  offer 
to  Hopi  children  Ping-Pong,  chess, 
checkers,  and  dominoes  plus  leathercraft 
and  beadwork  and  a library.  Hopi  adults 
will  act  as  supervisors. 


706 


DECEMBER  4,  1973 


Mission  agencies  meet  with  Bible  society 


J.  Allen  Brubaker 

The  Bible  offers  hope  for  mankind  and 
is  a resource  for  spiritual  growth  and 
effective  change,  Andrew  Shelly  told 
some  forty  representatives  of  the  Home 
Ministries  Council,  Council  of  Overseas 
Board  Secretaries,  and  American  Bible 
Society  meeting  October  24  in  Rosemont, 

1 Illinois.  Mr.  Shelly  is  past  executive 
l secretary  of  the  Commission  on  Overseas 
■ Missions  for  the  General  Conference 
| Mennonite  Church. 

Speaking  about  the  possibility  of  shar- 
ing the  Bible  with  every  creature,  he 
' continued,  “There  is  a massive  con- 
! vergence  of  feasibility  today. 

He  cited  technological  advances  in 
the  production  and  distribution  of  high- 
quality,  low-cost  literature  and  the  mood 
of  Christians  to  share  the  Word  as  evi- 
dence of  this  feasibility. 

In  order  to  bring  God’s  Word  to 
i every  creature,  he  stressed  "optimum 
implementation”  — support  for  Bible 
causes  — at  four  levels:  (1)  personal, 

(2)  congregational,  (3)  interdenomina- 
tional, and  (4)  special  leadership.  He 
cited  the  American  Bible  Society  as  an 
example  of  this  special  leadership  in 
Bible  translation  and  distribution. 

Chan  Y.  Choi,  denominational  dis- 
I tribution  secretary  for  the  abs,  high- 
lighted the  need  for  Bible  distribution 
here  in  the  United  States,  especially 
i among  new  readers. 

He  called  attention  to  the  $60  million 
Good  news  for  new  readers  project  in- 
itiated by  the  abs  in  September. 

The  new  program  contains  Good 
News  Scripture  literacy  selections  to 
teach  new  readers  to  read  and  write  by 
using  the  Scriptures.  It  will  contain  five 
levels  of  literacy  selections. 

The  Good  news  for  new  readers  proj- 
ect calls  for  the  translation,  production, 
and  distribution  of  725  million  specially 
designed  Scripture  literacy  selections  in 
more  than  200  languages  during  the  first 
twelve  years  of  the  project. 

Good  news  literacy  selections  have 
been  under  study  for  some  time  by  Bi- 
ble Society  experts  and  have  been  suc- 
cessfully tested  for  the  past  five  years  in 
Latin  America. 

There  are  currently  some  780  million 
illiterate  people  in  the  world  according 
to  John  Erikson,  abs  secretary  for  church 
relations. 

In  reviewing  the  organizational  struc- 
tures of  the  American  Bible  Society, 


Mr.  Erickson  pointed  out  that  the  abs 
is  an  interdenominational  society. 

In  1972  the  Society  operated  on  a 
budget  of  nearly  $10  million.  In  terms 
of  per-member  giving,  the  Mennonite 
church  was  the  second  highest  contrib- 
utor with  $0,384  per  member. 

The  worldwide  effort  to  translate  and 
distribute  the  Bible  is  carried  on  by  the 
United  Bible  Societies,  a fellowship  of 
fifty-six  individual  Bible  societies  coordi- 
nating work  in  more  than  150  countries 
and  territories  around  the  world. 

Warner  Hutchinson,  secretary  of  the 
program  division  of  abs,  clarified  Unit- 
ed Bible  Societies’  patterns. 

“The  United  Bible  Societies  wants  to 
tailor  its  program  to  denominational 
needs  for  Bible  resources,”  he  said.  The 


Clarence  Hiebert,  Tabor  College, 
Hillsboro,  Kansas,  has  been  researching, 
collecting,  and  compiling  a “live  story” 
of  the  immigration  of  Mennonites  to 
North  America  from  Russia  1870-1885. 

Mr.  Hiebert  states  that  the  “scrap- 
book” is  basically  made  up  of  five 
elements — largely  from  a perspective  by 
the  contemporary  nonimmigrants  who 
reported,  saw,  and  recorded  aspects  of 
the  move  of  these  approximately  18,000 
Mennonites  a century  ago.  These  five 
elements  are: 

( 1 ) The  journalistic  reports  appearing 
in  the  Herald  of  Truth,  an  (Old)  Men- 
nonite, English-language  paper  published 
at  that  time  under  the  editorship  of  John 
F.  Funk  at  Elkhart,  Indiana. 

(2)  The  ship  lists  of  some  150  ship- 
books.  The  lists  include  the  name  of 
the  ship,  date  and  place  of  departure, 
and  date  and  place  of  arrival,  along  with 
the  name,  age,  and  occupation  of  each 
passenger. 

(3)  Articles  which  appeared  in  public 
papers  throughout  the  country.  These 
describe  in  vivid  terms  the  interesting 
observations  which  “outsiders”  made, 
and  some  of  the  things  they  regarded  as 
“oddities.” 

(4)  As  complete  a set  as  possible  of 
pictures  and  art  sketches  depicting  this 
immigration  and  establishment  in  North 
America.  This  includes  the  pictures  of 
approximately  forty  of  the  ships,  early 
houses,  pioneers,  village  scenes,  etc. 

(5)  Some  of  the  official  documents 


societies  aim  to  distribute  the  Scriptures 
without  doctrinal  note  or  comment  and 
without  profit. 

One  of  the  main  functions  of  the  ubs 
is  to  pool  financial  and  personnel  re- 
sources for  maximum  efficiency  in  trans- 
lating and  distributing  the  Bible.  While 
acknowledging  that  this  cooperative  ef- 
fort is  not  without  problems,  he  empha- 
sized that  it  has  made  possible  the  growth 
of  the  Bible  in  the  vernacular  at  various 
levels  of  understanding. 

He  summarized  the  purpose  of  the 
ubs  as  “providing  Scriptures  in  language 
people  will  readily  understand  and  in 
formats  acceptable  to  the  public  and 
at  a reasonable  price.” 

Portions  of  the  Bible  have  now  been 
translated  into  1,500  languages. 


pertaining  to  the  government’s  involve- 
ment in  the  immigration.  Mr.  Hiebert 
will  write  a brief  introduction,  sketching 
the  immigration  itself. 

An  exact  date  of  publication  has  not 
been  announced.  Approximately  one- 
fourth  of  the  manuscript  is  virtually  ready 
for  the  printer.  It  is  hoped  that  it  can  be 
released  in  the  early  part  of  next  year 
when  the  centennial  experience  of  im- 
migration gets  into  full  swing. 

Commemorative  stamp 
proposed  for  centennial 

A possibility  exists  that  the  Canadian 
Post  Office  may  issue  a stamp  commem- 
orating the  coming  of  the  Mennonites 
to  Canada  in  1874,  the  Member  of  Par- 
liament for  Provencher  riding  in  Man- 
itoba, Jake  Epp,  has  indicated. 

Mr.  Epp  has  been  making  representa- 
tions to  Postmaster  General  Andre  Ouel- 
let  to  ask  for  such  a commemorative 
stamp  to  be  issued  during  1974,  as  one 
of  two  which  will  be  issued  in  a series 
the  Post  Office  proposes  to  do  on  Cana- 
dian multiculturalism. 

Mr.  Epp  has  suggested  that  persons 
who  favor  the  idea  should  write  letters 
or  send  telegrams  to  the  Minister  in 
Ottawa,  stating  their  support  and  ex- 
plaining why  they  feel  the  stamp  could 
be  worthwhile.  He  is  encouraging  dupli- 
cate copies  of  letters  and  telegrams  to 
him  to  help  him  in  further  representa- 
tions he  intends  to  make. 


Pictorial  "scrapbook”  planned 


| 

THE  MENNONITE 

i 


707 


Young  Kimbanguist  leader  prepares  at  CMBC 

Rudy  A.  Regehr 


Jean-Welo  Owanga  is  the  first  and 
only  Kimbanguist  student  to  come  to 
Canada  to  study  theology.  Jean  (pro- 
nounced John)  was  recommended  as  a 
student  for  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible 
College  by  mcc  representatives  in  Zaire. 
During  the  years  of  Mennonite  activity 
in  Africa,  mcc  personnel  had  become 
acquainted  with  members  of  the  Kim- 
banguist Church  and  recognized  im- 
mediately that  there  was  a certain 
spiritual  kinship  between  them. 

The  Kimbanguists  are  a church  group 
inspired  by  the  faith  and  leadership  of 
one  of  their  own  people,  Simon  Kim- 
bangu.  for  whom  the  group  is  named. 
Simon  Kimbangu,  whose  public  ministry 
was  limited  to  a few  months  in  1921, 
spent  most  of  his  life  in  a Belgian 
colonial  prison.  The  followers  of  Kim- 
bangu made  special  vows  “until  such 
time  as  the  black  man  in  Africa  will  be 
free  to  worship  God  in  his  own  way.” 
With  this  special  sense  of  their  own 
identity,  certain  individuals  and  groups 
which  deviated  from  original  norms  were 
tempted  to  become  a political  force  in 
Africa  during  the  1950s,  especially  since 
they  were  being  rejected  by  the  leader- 
ship of  established  churches. 

After  the  Congo’s  independence,  po- 
liticians offered  to  make  them  the  na- 
tional church  of  the  Congo,  but  their 
leaders  declined  the  offer.  They  believe, 
with  their  founder,  that  the  reward  for 
faithfulness  to  the  principle  of  nonvio- 
lent resistance  would  be  that  eventually 
people  from  all  over  the  earth  would 
come  to  worship  with  them.  In  1968  they 
became  the  first  African  church  without 
identifiable  connection  to  western 
churches  to  be  accepted  into  the  World 
Council  of  Churches. 

Jean  Owanga  first  came  in  contact 
with  the  Kimbanguists  when  he  offered 
to  help  some  of  them  in  his  own  village 
with  the  writing  of  some  French  letters. 
He  later  joined  the  group  and  became 
the  director  of  the  local  school  and  was 
then  called  to  Kinshasa’s  General  Di- 
rection. Tater  he  became  the  assistant 
to  the  secretary  general  of  the  Kim- 
banguist Church. 

In  August  1970  Jean  came  to  Ca- 
nadian Mennonite  Bible  College  under 
the  sponsorship  of  the  Mennonite  Cen- 
tral Committee.  He  graduated  with  a 
bachelor  of  theology  degree  in  1973.  By 
taking  extra  courses  and  attending  sum- 
mer schools  at  the  University  of  Mani- 


The  Jean-Welo  Owanga  family 


toba,  he  also  earned  a BA  degree, 
majoring  in  philosophy.  He  is  presently 
enrolled  at  the  Interdenominational 
Theological  Center  in  Atlanta,  Georgia, 
one  of  the  few  seminaries  which  offers 
work  in  African  studies. 

Prior  to  his  leaving  I spent  some  time 
with  Jean  and  asked  him  about  his  stay 
in  Canada.  His  first  comment  was,  “I 
long  to  go  back  home.”  This  is  a senti- 
ment that  he  has  always  expressed — 
even  after  his  family  joined  him  here 
more  than  a year  ago. 

I asked  him  how  he  felt  about  Men- 
nonites  after  three  years  in  their  midst. 
He  was  quick  to  point  out  that  “Kim- 
banguists share  a common  heritage  of 
persecution  with  the  Mennonites.”  He 
went  on  to  say  that  “they  (the  Mennon- 
ites) share  a broad  view  of  the  church 
that  takes  an  interest  beyond  them- 
selves.” 

On  the  question  of  foreign  students’ 
bringing  their  families  with  them,  he  felt 
that  a man  coming  for  only  a year  of 
study  ought  not  to  bring  his  family  un- 
less he  knows  the  situation  well.  “In  our 
culture,”  he  explained,  “we  feel  it  is  bet- 
ter for  one  person  to  face  the  difficulties 
of  a new  culture  alone.  It  is  not  good 
to  subject  the  whole  family  to  those  un- 
certainties. A year  later,  when  the  hus- 
band can  make  proper  preparations,  it 


is  good  to  bring  the  family.”  He  de- 
scribed his  first  year  as  difficult  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  he  did  well  academically. 

After  his  year  of  studies  in  Atlanta, 
Jean  and  his  family  will  return  to  Zaire  > 
where  he  is  being  assigned  to  teach 
ethics  in  Ecole  de  Theologie  Kimban- 
guiste,  B.P.  7069,  Kinshasa,  Zaire, 
Africa. 

Churchmen  and  educators  alike  con- 
tinue to  ask  whether  it  is  good  to  bring 
students  from  abroad  to  study  in 
America.  From  cmbc’s  experience,  at 
least  two  conditions  must  be  met  to 
have  at  least  reasonable  assurance  of  a 
meaningful  educational  experience  for 
foreign  students.  First,  the  foreign  stu- 
dent must  have  a supportive  community 
back  home  or  elsewhere  which  makes  his 
stay  here  meaningful  and  offers  support 
when  the  going  gets  tough.  Secondly, 
there  must  be  an  adequate  base  of  fi- 
nancial support.  Here  the  role  of  mcc 
cannot  in  Jean’s  case  be  overemphasized. 

Jean  Owanga  has  enriched  the  life  of 
the  cmbc  community  with  his  incisive 
analysis  and  ready  wit  for  the  past  three 
years.  We  hope  that  he  will  take  with 
him  a fuller  understanding  of  the  nature 
of  the  church  as  a result  of  his  having 
been  with  us. 

Elkhart  premiere 
for  Merle  Good  film 

The  new  motion  picture  Happy  as  the 
grass  was  green  has  been  booked  for  a 
special  Elkhart  County  premiere  engage- 
ment at  the  Holiday  Theater,  Elkhart, 
Indiana,  for  two  weeks  only,  November 
30  through  December  13. 

This  run  was  arranged  by  special  per- 
mission from  the  producers  of  the  pic- 
ture which  is  making  its  West  Coast  de- 
but in  Los  Angeles  on  December  5. 

Happy  as  the  grass  was  green  is  based 
on  the  Herald  Press  book  by  Merle 
Good  and  stars  Geraldine  Page,  Pat 
Hingle,  and  Graham  Beckel.  The  world 
premiere  took  place  at  the  Fulton  Op- 
era House  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania, 
received  favorable  local  reviews,  and 
succeeded  in  breaking  all-time  attend- 
ance records  there,  including  those  of 
Sound  of  music. 

Plans  call  for  U.S.  and  Canadian  dis- 
tribution to  be  followed  by  foreign  dis- 
tribution (it  is  currently  playing  in  Af- 
rica) and  TV  movie-of-the-week  expo- 
sure. 


708 


DECEMBER  4,  1973 


RECORD 


Ministers 


Abe  Hiebert,  pastor  of  Zion  Church, 
Swift  Current,  Sask.,  was  installed  at  a 
special  commissioning  service  Oct.  14. 
Mr.  Hiebert  has  been  serving  the  church 
since  July  1. 

Wilmer  Shelly,  assistant  pastor,  First 
Church,  Bluffton,  Ohio,  plans  to  retire 
in  December.  Since  1965  he  had  had 
special  responsibility  for  ministry  to  those 
over  sixty-five.  His  position  will  be  filled 
by  Walter  Gering,  Mountain  Lake, 
Minn.,  who  will  move  to  Bluffton  to  as- 
sume his  new  duties  Jan.  1. 


Workers 


Holly  Gerbrandt,  North  Star  Church, 
Drake,  Sask.,  has  begun  a two-year  term 
of  service  with  mcc  at  Children’s  Cen- 
ter in  Forest  Haven,  Md.  She  is  serving 
as  a teacher’s  aide.  Holly  is  the  daughter 
of  Eldon  and  Eunice  Gerbrandt,  Drake. 


Hiebert 


Irene  Klassen,  Blumenorter  Church, 
Gretna,  Man.,  has  begun  a thirty-months 
term  of  service  with  mcc  in  Germany. 
She  is  serving  as  a nurse  aide.  Irene  is 
the  daughter  of  George  and  Marie  Klas- 
sen, Winkler,  Man. 

Evelyn  Riediger,  Mountainview  Church, 
Vancouver,  B.C.,  is  serving  in  a public 
health  program  in  Bolivia  under  mcc. 
Her  assignment  will  last  twenty-seven 
months.  She  received  an  RN  from  Grace 
Hospital  School  of  Nursing,  Winnipeg. 
She  is  the  daughter  of  John  and  Kay 
Riediger,  White  Rock,  B.C. 

Leonard  and  Janet  Schmidt  of  Lon- 
don, Ont.,  have  begun  a one-year  term 
of  voluntary  service  with  the  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions,  Elkhart,  Ind.  Leon- 
ard is  a member  of  the  United  Menno- 


Klassen 


L.  Schmidt 


J.  Schmidt 


nite  Church,  Dunnville,  Ont.,  and  Janet 
is  a member  of  the  First  Church,  Bluff- 
ton, Ohio.  The  Schmidts  are  serving  as 
program  directors  at  the  VS  unit  in  Lon- 
don, Ont.  Leonard  is  the  son  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Henry  Schmidt,  Dunnville,  Ont. 
Janet  is  the  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Harvey  M.  Bauman,  Bluffton,  Ohio. 


NEW  BOOKS 


appropriate  for:  church 
Christians,  birthday 


anc 


libraries,  ministers,  church  workers,  Sunday  school 
wedding  gifts,  Christmas  presents. 


teachers,  young  and  adult 


2 


BASIC  CHRISTIAN 
CONVICTIONS 

by  Edmund  G.  Kaufman 

1972 

Published  by  Bethel  College, 

North  Newton,  Kansas 

338  pages/$6.50 

CONTENTS:  Preface,  Dr.  Robert  Kreider;  Introduction,  Dr.  Erland  Waltner; 
Religion  and  the  Religions;  God  Our  Father;  Creation,  God's  Handi- 
work; Man,  His  Majesty  and  Misery;  Jesus  Christ,  Lord  and  Savior;  The 
Holy ' Spirit"  and  the  Trinity;  The  Kingdom  and  the  Church;  The  Bible: 
The  Story  of  Reconciliation;  The  Christian  Hope  for  the  Future;  The 
Christian  Life. 


GENERAL  CONFERENCE 
MENNONITE  PIONEERS 

by  Edmund  G.  Kaufman 
1973 

Published  by  Bethel  College, 

North  Newton,  Kansas 
438  pages/$6.75 

CONTENTS-  Introduction,  Dr.  Cornelius  J.  Dyck;  Founding  Fathers  (16 
biographies  beginning  with  John  H.  Oberholtzer);  Pioneers  in  Educa- 
tion: The  Wadsworth  School  [3  biographies),  Halstead  Seminary  and 
Bethel  College  (4  biographies),  Bluffton  College  (4  biographies). 
Freeman  Junior  College  (3  biographies),  The  Mennonite  Seminary  (3 
biographies);  Pioneers  in  Publication  (9  biographies);  Missionary  Pio- 
neers (6  biographies);  Later  Pioneers  (10  biographies). 


Order  from  Faith  and  Life  Bookstore,  724  Main,  Newton,  Kansas  67114, 
or  Bethel  College  Bookstore,  North  Newton,  Kansas  67117 


THE  MENNONITE 


709 


LETTERS  MEDITATION 


Thoughts  at  the  fair 

Recently  at  the  state  fair  I marveled  at  the  fantastic  claims  made  along  the  row  of 
sideshow  tents:  a girl  who  could  change  herself  into  a gorilla  right  before  your- 

eyes!  A snake  with  a real  human  head!  A woman  who  had  an  invisible  stomach! 
Wow!  Could  those  things  really  be  true? 

Sensibly  I reasoned:  “Of  course  not!  They’ve  all  got  to  be  a trick  in  some  way!” 
And  so  I walked  on,  deciding  not  to  waste  fifty  cents  on  them. 

But  it  spoke  to  me  of  how  the  devil  makes  the  same  kind  of  fantastic  claims  to  us 
about  the  material  world,  especially  encouraging  us  to  place  our  trust  in  it  (money), 
or  find  our  security  here  (jobs  and  homes).  I could  see  him  bombarding  us,  like  the 
screaming  barkers  of  the  sideshows,  with  temptations  to  “just  step  inside.”  That’s 
exactly  what  he  wants  us  to  do,  for  we  will  in  that  way  waste  our  lives  moving  from 
tent  to  tent,  only  to  find  out  too  late  that  he  has  nothing  real  to  offer. 

We  should  not  be  fooled  anymore  by  him  than  by  the  sideshow  claims.  But  it  is 
a sad  comment  on  us  to  watch  the  guillible  crowds  plunk  down  their  money  (or  their 
lives)  for  nothing.  Nick  Kassebaum 

The  teachers 

One  was  like  a lighted  match 
Touching  unused  wicks 
— Waiting 

For  the  flame  to  catch 
And  burn. 

The  second  was  brass  domed, 

A long-handled  critic 
Snuffing  out  light 
Even  under  the  hood 
Of  self-respect. 


Ruth  Naylor 


About  the  Dunamis  article 

Dear  Editor:  Since  my  name  was  omit- 
ted as  the  author  of  the  article  on  “Du- 
namis— Pastor-prophets  to  people  in 
power”  (October  30  issue),  I would 
simply  like  to  identify  myself.  The  rea- 
son for  this  is  not  only  my  wish  to  share 
and  extend  the  Dunamis  call,  but  also 
a wish  to  be  held  accountable  by  the 
brother-sisterhood  of  the  Mennonite 
church. 

These  are  trying  times  in  the  U.S. 
Government  when  our  decision-makers 
are  working  under  special  duress.  Those 
of  us  who  are  trying  to  relate  to  them 
from  a Christian  context  (whether  in 
the  capital  or  in  the  home  congressional 
districts)  need  the  input  and  good  think- 
ing of  each  other. 

Especially  because  our  church  family 
embodies  several  nations,  we  need  to 
prod  each  other  to  sharper  thinking, 
clearer  call,  deeper  study,  and  commit- 
ment. By  so  doing,  we— the  subjects  of 
another  King  and  another  order — can  be 
truly  church  and  healers  of  societies 
that  are  sick.  Marian  {Mrs.  Delton) 
Franz,  Dunamis,  2025  Massachusetts 
Ave.,  N.W.,  Washington,  D.C.  20036 

Nov.  1 

Editor’s  note:  Marians  name  was  omit- 
ted unintentionally  from  the  article  dur- 
ing the  final  production  stage  of  the  Oc- 
tober 30  issue.  We  apologize  for  the  de- 
letion and  urge  readers  to  take  another 
look  at  her  significant  article. 

New  awareness  is  born 
in  a tin  cattle  barn 

Dear  Editor:  We’ve  just  returned  from 
the  Western  District  Conference  at  Clin- 
ton, Oklahoma,  and  we  want  to  share 
some  of  the  excitement  and  personal 
soul  growth  this  has  meant  for  us. 

Two  thousand  years  ago  love  trans- 
formed a cattle  shed  into  a place  made 
beautiful  by  the  birth  of  truth  as  the 
Word  took  on  a form  men  could  see 
and  understand.  Once  again  a tin  cattle 
barn  on  the  fairgrounds  at  the  edge  of 
town  was  made  beautiful  as  a new  aware- 
ness of  the  truth  of  each  other’s  person- 
hood  was  bom  in  us,  and  we,  as  Indian 
and  white  people,  loved  each  other  as 
Christian  brothers.  It  was  real,  and  we 
knew  it! 

How  ironic  that  the  building  itself 


was  named  after  Custer,  at  whose 
treacherous  hand  our  Indian  brothers 
suffered  unspeakable  tragedy  and  injus- 
tice. But  Custer  didn’t  have  the  last 
word  after  all!  What  a victory  when  so 
many  years  later,  in  a building  named 
for  him,  love  triumphed  and  we  broke 
bread  together  in  holy  communion  and 
clasped  each  other’s  hands  singing,  “We 
are  one  in  the  Spirit,  we  are  one  in  the 
Lord.” 

As  the  conference  sessions  unfolded 
(including  music  and  filmstrips  of  both 
Mennonite  and  Indian  heritage,  tours  to 
historic  sites  and  museums,  as  well  as 
the  moving  and  informative  talks  by  our 
conference  speaker,  Cecil  Corbett,  about 
the  Indians’  culture,  value  system,  and 
struggles  with  the  white  man’s  dealings), 
it  became  increasingly  clear  that  both 
have  great  gifts  to  share  with  each  other. 
And  that  when  these  are  surrendered  to 
the  lordship  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Savior, 
they  can  be  fused  into  something  richer 
and  more  whole  than  either  could  have 
been  without  the  other. 


As  so  often  happens  after  a new  and 
enlightening  experience  like  this,  we 
struggled  again  with  our  personal  frus- 
tration and  guilt,  asking,  “What  now?” 
and  “How  can  we  help?”  As  a begin- 
ning, we  want  to  personally  covenant 
with  our  Indian  brothers,  in  a spirit  of 
humility  and  thankfulness,  to  try  to 
absorb  a little  more  into  our  own  lives 
some  of  the  values  we  feel  they  have 
shown  us. 

1.  A deeper  understanding  of  what 
it  means  when  we  say,  “The  earth  is  the 
Lord’s,”  and  conscientiously  live  in  great- 
er harmony  with  nature,  loving,  using, 
and  caring  for  it  in  the  way  the  Creator 
intended. 

2.  A realization  of  the  folly  of  divid- 
ing our  lives  into  secular  and  religious 
compartments.  Instead,  our  faith  must 
permeate  every  area  of  our  living  and 
determine  our  actions  and  decisions,  or 
our  religion  is  hypocrisy. 

3.  A new  understanding  of  the  mean- 
ing of  generosity  that  is  bom  of  true 
caring  and  will  share  without  question 


710 


DECEMBER  4,  1973 


as  long  as  there  is  something  to  share, 
not  only  when  it  is  convenient,  seems 
our  duty,  or  doesn’t  cost  too  much. 

4.  The  painful  truth  that  white  man’s 
passionate  personal  commitment  to  his 
possessions  is  surely  as  pagan  as  many 
of  the  Indian  beliefs  and  practices  we 
have  so  easily  condemned. 

Of  course,  it  is  easy  to  overcompen- 
sate and  to  give  in  to  the  temptation  of 
sentimentalizing  and  glorifying  every- 
thing about  the  Indians’  past  in  our  ef- 
fort to  atone  for  our  feelings  of  guilt. 
We  must  be  realistic  enough  to  recog- 
nize the  universality  of  man’s  sinfulness 
and  the  element  of  failure  in  both  our 
culture  and  theirs.  Each  needs  to  mea- 
sure his  values  by  Christ’s  standards  and 
test  his  commitment  by  the  fruits  of  his 
living.  And  then,  perhaps,  in  true  ac- 
ceptance of  each  other,  we  can  feel  com- 
fortable as  friends,  and  as  Dinah  Craik 
says  in  her  poem,  we  can  pour  out  the 
chaff  and  the  grain  together,  certain  that 
a faithful  hand  will  take  and  sift  them — 
keeping  what  is  worth  keeping,  and  with 
the  breath  of  kindness,  blowing  the  rest 
away. 

We  will  remember  yellow  orange  and 
bronze  marigolds  in  a stone  crock  be- 
fore the  pulpit,  set  on  the  red  Oklahoma 
soil  of  the  bam  floor.  We  will  remem- 
ber beautiful  beaded  wall  hangings  and 
woven  blankets  decorating  the  plain  al- 
tar and  bare  windows.  We  will  remem- 
ber people,  as  Arapaho  and  Cheyenne 
or  whites  from  Goessel,  Arvada,  and 
Hydro,  singing,  praying  and  striving  to- 
gether in  earnest  dialog.  And  we  will 
remember  we  are  all  friends  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Erlene  and  Bob  LJnruh,  Route  2, 
Newton,  Kans.  67114  Oct.  24 

Citizens  of  two  kingdoms 

Dear  Editor:  How  wonderful  it  is  that 
Mennonite  Christians  are  becoming  more 
alert  to  social  issues.  Much  good  has  al- 
ready come  out  of  this  concern.  At  the 
same  time,  priorities  are  sometimes  ne- 
glected or  misconstrued.  Certainly  we 
do  right  to  be  concerned  about  justice 
in  courts,  law  and  order,  discrimination, 
delay  or  repeal  of  the  death  penalty,  etc. 

Yet  it  seems  to  me  we  have  much 
more  imperative  priorities  to  speak  out 
on.  Namely,  the  abusive  use  of  alcohol, 
cigarettes,  drugs,  pornography,  and  other 
vices  that  cripple  and  destroy  many 
times  more  people  than  the  death  pen- 
alty through  courts  has  destroyed 
throughout  the  ages  of  man. 

All  Christians  should  be  busy  wit- 
nessing and  winning  souls  to  the  Lord 


I 

THE  MENNONITE  711 


and  thus  changing  society.  We  might  save 
a few  lives  (physically)  through  repeal- 
ing the  death  penalty,  yet  just  think  of 
the  multitudes  of  lives  physically  and 
spiritually  that  we  are  bypassing  by  our 
business  with  the  death  penalty  issue. 

Personally,  I am  persuaded  by  the 
Word  of  God  that  we  as  Christians  and 
as  a nation  face  much  more  urgent 
nation-building  and  salvaging  issues. 

It  would  seem  that  in  our  day  the 
lawbreaker,  the  murderer,  the  person 
who  commits  a crime  has  more  rights 
and  privileges  to  be  safeguarded  than 
the  total  community  or  nation.  This  is 
a gross  miscarriage  of  justice  and  a flout- 
ing of  God’s  law. 

I,  too,  plead  for  a just  system  of  laws 
and  a proper  carrying  out  of  justice. 
However,  let  us  put  forth  much  greater 
energies  at  halting  the  drowning  of  souls 
in  alcohol,  drugs,  illicit  sex,  pornograph- 
ic literature,  sex  shows  in  theaters  and 
on  television,  juvenile  and  parental  de- 
linquency, etc. 

Also  let  us  remember  Christians  are 
citizens  of  two  kingdoms:  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  and  the  nation  here  on  earth. 
Each  kingdom  has  its  specific  laws.  They 
do  differ,  and  this  many  people  fail  to 
realize.  A.  J.  Regier,  pastor,  MacGregor 
Bergthaler  Mennonite  Church,  MacGreg- 
or, Man.  ROH  0R0  Oct.  25 

Accurate  portrait 

Dear  Editor:  As  editor  of  The  Men- 
nonite, you  are  to  be  commended  for 
the  effective  and  challenging  manner  in 
which  you  perform  your  services. 

A special  word  of  appreciation  for 
the  glowing  tribute  you  paid  John  R. 
and  Paula  Dyck  in  “Living  the  VS  way” 
(October  9 issue).  Knowing  them  as  I 
do,  your  portrait  of  them  is  excitingly 
accurate. 

One  of  the  plus  factors  (among  many 
others)  which  makes  them  so  effective 
is  their  ability  to  identify  with  people 
regardless  of  age  or  status  and  to  com- 
municate the  fact  of  the  constraining 
love  of  Christ,  which  is  their  motivating 
factor. 

As  such,  I’m  sure  that  God  will  con- 
tinue to  use  them,  whether  on  special 
assignment,  or  as  they  travel  among  their 
many  friends,  to  show  how  God  can  use 
his  people  when  they  are  open  to  the 
Spirit’s  leading. 

May  he  continue  to  bless  them  as 
they  witness  to  his  unfailing  love,  as 
well  as  you  in  your  responsibilities  as 
editor.  John  D.  Wiebe,  R.R.  3,  Beat- 
rice, Neb.  68310  Oct.  10 


Contents 


Education:  Public  or  private?  698 

Responses  to  David  Schroeder  701 

News  705 

Record  709 

Letters  710 

Thoughts  at  the  fair  710 

The  teachers  710 

Any  difference?  712 


The  education  of  C.  Maxwell  Stanley  712 
CONTRIBUTORS 

David  Schroeder,  professor  of  New  Testa- 
ment and  acting  president  of  Canadian 
Mennonite  Bible  College,  Winnipeg, 
writes  and  speaks  frequently  on  the 
theme  of  education. 

Rudy  A.  Regehr  is  registrar  at  the 
Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College,  Win- 
nipeg. 

J.  Allen  Brubaker  is  director  of  news 
services  for  Mennonite  Broadcasts,  Inc., 
Harrisonburg,  Va. 

Alvin  Beachy  is  professor  of  Bible  and 
religion  at  Bethel  College,  North  Newton, 
Kans. 

Nick  Kassebaum,  Wayland,  Iowa 
52654,  is  pastor  of  the  Wayland  Men- 
nonite Church. 

Ruth  Naylor,  a teacher  herself,  lives 
on  Route  2,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817. 

Daniel  Hertzler  is  editor  of  Gospel 
Herald. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  698,  Rohn  Engh,  Pine  Lake  Farm, 
Star  Prairie,  Wise.  54026;  700,  704, 
RNS. 


Meimonite 


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Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

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ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
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R3L  0S1;  Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arboi. 
Mich.  481  06. 


Any  difference? 

One  of  the  troublesome  questions  for  sup- 
porters of  Christian  private  schools  is  whether 
the  graduates  are  any  different  from  those  who 
went  to  public  schools.  We  assume  that  Christian 
schools  are  needed  because  we  believe  the  state- 
supported  schools  will  surely  not  bring  up  our 
children  for  God. 

We  are  probably  right,  but  how  do  we  know? 
One  thing  we  do  know  is  that  some  in  each  group 
grow  up  to  follow  Christ  and  some  of  each  do 
not.  To  know  whether  more  of  one  group  or  the 
other  responds  to  Christ  takes  research  which  is 
difficult  to  do  carefully,  and  the  results  are  often 
not  entirely  clear. 

Some  results  have  come  in.  In  a study  of 
Mennonite  young  people  Paul  M.  Lederach  found 
“few  if  any  significant  differences”  between  those 
in  church  high  schools  and  those  in  state  schools. 
Paul  wisely  observed  that  one  survey  of  this  kind 
did  not  answer  the  question.  Other  research  is 
being  done  and  needs  to  continue. 

In  the  meantime  we  do  well  to  note  that  only 
a fraction  of  a young  person’s  life  is  spent  in 
school  and  unless  the  Christian  community  sup- 
ports what  the  school  tries  to  teach,  the  labor 
may  well  be  in  vain.  J.  Marion  Snapper,  writing 
in  The  Reformed  journal  for  April  1973,  told 

The  education  of  C.  Maxwell 

David  Stanley  became  intrigued  with  the  notion 
of  peace  and  world  community  as  a college  stu- 
dent in  his  home  state  of  Iowa.  That  was  back 
in  the  days  before  peace  was  a popular  issue. 
Each  time  he  returned  home,  David  and  his  busi- 
nessman father,  C.  Maxwell  Stanley,  got  into  a 
wrangle  about  the  son’s  radical  ideas.  Neither  of 
them  budged.  Finally,  in  exasperation,  David  of- 
fered a way  out  of  the  impasse.  “Okay,  Dad,  I’ll 
let  you  off  the  hook  if  you  will  agree  to  read  one 
book:  The  anatomy  of  peace,  by  Emery  Reeves.” 

The  elder  Stanley  agreed.  Instead  of  getting 
off  the  hook,  he  was  captivated  by  the  ideas 
which  the  book  proposed.  He  became  a strong 
proponent  of  world  federalism,  and  in  1956  he 
wrote  his  first  book,  Waging  peace. 

As  the  Stanleys’  business  interests  flourished, 
they  began  testing  ways  in  which  their  financial 
resources  could  be  put  to  the  best  use  in  pursuit 
of  their  vision  for  peace.  The  result  was  the 
formation  of  the  Stanley  Foundation. 

Among  the  Stanley  Foundation’s  ventures  is 


the  story  of  Mr.  Polder  and  his  sixth  graders. 
Mr.  Polder  was  teaching  them  how  to  think  in  a 
Christian  way  about  the  geography  of  their  area 
and  the  use  of  land  as  a gift  from  God. 

They  studied  God’s  natural  laws  and  tfaced 
titles  of  farms  “back  to  God”  to  see  that  the  land 
is  a trust  from  him.  They  considered  what  pos- 
sible uses  could  be  made  of  the  land  and  which 
of  these  uses  would  do  best  to  serve  God  by 
serving  human  need.  The  students  made  two  lists, 
one  showing  in  order  how  the  land  would  yield 
the  most  in  economic  returns  and  another  rank- 
ing the  various  uses  of  the  land  in  terms  of  service. 

When  the  students  reported  the  results  of  their 
study  at  home  there  was  quite  an  uproar  and 
threats  of  the  cutoff  of  support  for  the  school. 
Why  the  uproar?  Eighty-five  percent  of  the  land 
owned  by  patrons  of  the  Christian  school  was 
growing  tobacco.  Students  had  ranked  tobacco 
growing  at  the  top  of  the  list  for  economic  return, 
but  at  the  bottom  of  the  list  in  terms  of  human 
value.  Their  parents  were  not  amused. 

Do  you  suppose  a researcher  comparing  these 
pupils  as  products  of  a Christian  school  with 
others  in  their  church  who  had  attended  a state 
school  would  find  any  significant  difference? 
Daniel  Hertzler 

Stanley 

the  convening  of  a variety  of  annual  conferences 
and  seminars  to  help  diplomats  and  politicians 
to  develop  strategies  for  peace  and  to  excite  the 
public  about  initiatives  for  better  international 
understanding  which  are  being  undertaken  by 
organizations  such  as  the  United  Nations. 

This  writer  attended  the  foundation’s  fifth 
annual  news  media  seminar  at  the  United  Na- 
tions this  fall.  Among  the  participants  were  ed- 
itors and  editorial  writers  from  several  religious 
periodicals  as  well  as  from  daily  newspapers. 

One  young  man’s  vision  and  persistence  led 
to  an  important  thrust  for  peace.  The  Stanley 
family’s  experience  should  remind  us  that  educa- 
tion does  not  occur  only  in  a school  setting  and 
that  the  stimulus  for  learning  flows  from  the 
young  to  the  old  as  well  as  in  the  reverse  direc- 
tion. 

David  Stanley  meanwhile  has  pursued  his 
dream.  He  is  now  a member  of  the  Iowa  State 
assembly  and  an  occasional  participant  in  the 
Stanley  Foundation’s  conferences.  Larry  Kehler- 


TW 

Meimonite 

OTHER  FOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:45  DECEMBER  11,  1973 


The 


Christian 

John  Friesen  community 

in  mission 


A reexamination  of  the  Biblical  witness  on 

evangelism,  especially  as  understood  through 
the  Anabaptist-Mennonite  heritage. 


The  Christian  churches  in  North 
America  are  presently  heavily  involved 
in  evangelism.  A succession  of  expertly 
marketed  evangelistic  techniques,  as  well 
as  efforts  like  Key  73,  have  raised  the 
concern  for  evangelism  to  a new  height. 

Many  Mennonites  have  eagerly  adopt- 
ed some  of  the  evangelistic  techniques 
and  programs  because  it  seemed  that 
finally  it  would  be  possible  to  break 
through  the  Mennonite  cultural  barriers. 
But  after  the  initial  enthusiasm  some 
have  begun  to  raise  questions  about  the 
various  evangelisms.  This  has  inspired  a 
reexamination  of  the  biblical  witness  on 
evangelism,  especially  as  understood  in 


the  context  of  the  Anabaptist-Mennonite 
heritage. 

Some  may  raise  an  objection  at  this 
point.  Why  look  at  the  Anabaptist-Men- 
nonite heritage?  Why  not  simply  read 
Scripture? 

I think  it  is  valid  to  examine  this  her- 
itage. The  Mennonite  church  does  stand 
on  the  shoulders  of  its  early  leaders.  So 
it  is  legitimate  to  discover  the  reasons 
for  our  distinctive  existence.  Further- 
more, in  interpreting  Scripture,  the  meth- 
od is  all-important.  I think  it  is  impor- 
tant to  understand  how  our  own  fore- 
fathers understood  Scriptures. 

By  looking  at  the  Anabaptist-Menno- 


nite heritage,  I shall  attempt  to  do  two 
things.  The  major  task  is  to  construct  a 
theological  framework  within  which  evan- 
gelism can  be  understood.  Second,  I 
shall  attempt  to  indicate  what  the  con- 
tent of  evangelism,  or  the  good  news,  is. 

The  church — the  body  of  Christ 

The  Anabaptists  believed  that  the 
church  was  central  to  the  message  of 
salvation  that  Jesus  had  come  to  bring 
to  man.  For  them  the  gospel  meant  that 
men  were  being  called  to  become  part 
of  a new  community  whose  Lord  was 
Jesus  Christ.  They  emphasized  clearly 
that  the  commitment  was  a personal  one 
which  could  not  be  inherited  nor  forced 
by  state  or  church.  But  the  personal 
commitment  was  a commitment  both  to 
Jesus  Christ  and  to  a new  community, 
both  to  the  head  and  to  the  body,  to  use 
biblical  language. 

This  dual  commitment  to  the  commu- 
nity and  to  its  Lord,  was  central  to  the 
Anabaptists’  understanding  of  what  it 
meant  to  become  a new  man  in  Christ. 
According  to  Scripture  they  concluded 
that  the  chief  characteristic  of  the  old  I* 
man,  the  man  outside  of  Christ,  was 
selfishness  and  self-centeredness.  From 
Adam  down  through  the  ages,  sinful 


714 


DECEMBER  11,  1973 

t 


man  had  been  more  concerned  for  his 
own  welfare  than  for  the  welfare  of 
God  or  his  neighbor.  Sinful  man  protect- 
ed himself  and  his  property  from  oth- 
ers. His  love  was  eros  (love  for  self) 
rather  than  agape  (unselfish  love). 

So  the  Anabaptists  concluded  that  a 
person  who  was  turned  around  (convert- 
ed) by  Jesus  Christ,  also  had  his  self- 
centeredness  turned  to  selflessness.  In 
their  view  the  person  who  was  living  a 
selfish  life  was  less  than  God  had  in- 
tended him  to  be.  He  was  not  fully  hu- 
man. He  was  still  in  sin.  Only  the  per- 
son who  had  been  freed  to  live  for  God 
and  fellowman,  who  had  been  freed  to 
commit  himself  to  a new  community, 

1 only  he  had  really  found  salvation  in 
Jesus  Christ.  Thus  the  view  that  man 
can  find  meaning  in  life  through  his 
own  personal  inner  quest  for  self-iden- 
tity  would  have  seemed  grossly  unbib- 
' lical  to  the  Anabaptists.  Also  the  view 
j that  first  a person  discovers  salvation 
' by  himself  and  then  seeks  a fellowship 
of  believers  with  whom  to  join  would 
j have  seemed  unbiblical  to  them.  They 
1 saw  man’s  problem  as  selfish  alienation 
from  God  and  man.  This  is  what  Jesus 
1 had  come  to  save  man  from.  This  salva- 
tion was  offered  to  man  by  Jesus  in  a 
| new  community,  over  which  Jesus  was 
Lord  and  in  which  people  actually  re- 
lated differently  to  each  other. 

We  as  Mennonites  are  caught  in  a 
quandary  on  the  issue  of  community. 
Many  of  us  have  rejected  the  Russian 
and  early  Canadian  forms  of  Mennonite 
community  as  being  too  narrow,  old- 
fashioned,  and  a stumbling  block  to 
' evangelism.  Many  in  the  rural  and  urban 
churches  have  attempted  to  define  the 
church  as  a “spiritual”  community  which 
is  free  of  special  ethnic  characteristics 
about  which  we  have  become  embar- 
rassed. Now  we  are  discovering  that  be- 
ing Mennonite  meant  being  part  of  a 
community. 

We  have  suddenly  awakened  to  the 
realization  that  the  communities  which 
we  depreciated  and  left  had  an  integ- 
rity which  is  biblically  sound  and  envied 
by  many.  This  has  raised  the  question 
whether  the  content  of  the  good  news 
: ought  also  to  include  Christian  commu- 
nity. 

; A RECONCILING  COMMUNITY 

The  various  Anabaptist  groups  repeat- 
edly admonished  each  other  to  live  ac- 
cording to  Matthew  18:15-22,  which 
they  called  the  Rule  of  Christ.  This 
passage  assumes  that  the  members  in  the 
church  have  committed  themselves  to 


THE  MENNONITE  715 

3 


counsel  and  admonish  each  other.  If 
one  sees  his  fellow  believer  sin,  he  has 
the  responsibility  to  help  him  see  his 
sin  and  to  overcome  it.  Everyone  is 
committed  to  be  open  to  accept  counsel 
and  admonition. 

Marlin  Jeschke  in  his  book  DiscipUng 
the  brother  argues  that  discipline  within 
the  community  of  believers  expresses 
the  same  kind  of  concern  as  evangelism 
to  the  unbeliever  does.  Both  are  in- 
tended to  restore  the  person  to  fellow- 
ship with  God  and  his  neighbor.  Both 
emphasize  that  according  to  Jesus  bro- 
ken fellowship  with  God  and  with  man 
needed  to  be  taken  seriously.  To  fail  to 
practice  discipline  within  the  church 
community  was  to  fail  to  express  that 
dimension  of  evangelism  which  relates 
to  the  fellow  believer.  It  prevents  for- 
giveness from  occurring. 

In  our  recent  Mennonite  experience 
we  have  become  afraid  to  express  this 
kind  of  mutual  admonition,  counsel,  sup- 
port, and  forgiveness.  One  reason  for 
this  is  that  we  have  experienced  that 
admonition  was  sometimes  not  done  with 
the  intent  to  bring  about  reconciliation. 
Rather,  it  was  done  in  order  to  purify 
the  church,  to  punish  the  sinner,  or  to 
resolve  power  struggles.  So  we  have 
become  hesitant  to  practice  this  biblical 
admonition. 

But  the  Anabaptists  emphasized  this 
passage,  because  to  them  if  sin  or  un- 
resolved enmity  or  hatred  or  pride  re- 
mained within  the  church,  the  body  of 
Christ  was  torn  apart.  Where  the  body 
of  Christ  was  tom  and  Christians  ceased 
to  forgive  each  other,  there  people  could 
not  experience  the  forgiveness  of  God 
either.  So  for  them  to  ignore  unresolved 
enmities,  or  any  break  in  fellowship, 
was  to  indicate  a lack  of  concern  for 
man’s  relationship  to  both  God  and 
man.  It  prevented  the  new  community 
from  happening. 

Another  reason  why  we  have  become 
hesitant  to  admonish  is  that  we  have 
been  taught  by  some  that  the  forgive- 
ness of  man’s  sin  is  a private  matter 
between  man  and  God.  If  reconciliation 
is  also  achieved  between  man  and  man, 
that  is  considered  a bonus.  That  view 
disregards  the  latter  part  of  this  Scrip- 
ture passage.  “Whatever  you  forbid  on 
earth  shall  be  forbidden  in  heaven,  and 
whatever  you  allow  on  earth  shall  be  al- 
lowed in  heaven.” 

These  verses,  in  the  context  of  admoni- 
tion and  reconciliation,  seem  to  mean 
that  wherever  two  who  were  in  enmity, 
forgive  each  other,  and  reestablish  fel- 
lowship and  pray  to  God  to  forgive  them, 


there  God  will  honor  their  prayer  and 
accept  their  forgiveness  as  accomplished. 

The  Anabaptists  in  this  same  context 
took  seriously  the  promise  that  when 
they  came  to  God  in  unity,  he  would 
hear  them.  They  believed  that  accord- 
ing to  John  14,  God’s  Spirit  had  been 
sent  to  guide  them.  It  was  clear  that 
when  there  was  division  or  broken  fel- 
lowship, the  Spirit  of  God  could  not  lead. 
In  order  for  the  church  to  remain  a free 
church,  fellowship  would  need  to  be 
maintained. 

They  believed  that  a church  faithful 
to  the  teachings  of  Christ  would  be  a 
community  in  which  reconciliation  and 
forgiveness  would  take  place.  This  was 
an  essential  aspect  of  being  a church  in 
mission.  The  forgiveness  and  reconcilia- 
tion in  Christ  which  they  preached  were 
actually  occurring. 

A SHARING  COMMUNITY 

The  Anabaptist  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture is  that  the  church  is  a sharing  com- 
munity. In  a faithful  church  the  lines 
of  communication  between  people  are 
open.  In  a faithful  church  there  are  op- 
portunities or  structures  to  help  the  mem- 
bers relate  to  each  other,  support  each 
other,  cry  and  laugh  with  each  other. 

The  sharing  that  happened  was  how- 
ever not  only  on  the  so-called  spiritual 
level.  The  Anabaptists  read  their  New 
Testament  and  noticed  that  Jesus  called 
people  to  share  their  material  posses- 
sions. He  said  if  someone  had  two  coats 
he  should  share  one.  They  also  noted 
that  the  early  Christian  church  in  Jeru- 
salem shared  its  material  possessions. 
Upon  reading  and  rereading  their  New 
Testament  they  became  convinced  that 
the  Christian  gospel  did  not  only  deal 
with  a certain  segment  of  life  called 
“spiritual.”  Rather,  the  Christian  gospel 
meant  that  all  of  life  was  now  changed. 

Sharing  of  material  possessions  be- 
came significant  for  the  followers  of 
Menno,  the  Swiss  Brethren,  and  the  Hut- 
terian  Brethren  in  Moravia.  They  had 
seen  the  demonic  dimensions  of  dispari- 
ties in  wealth.  The  various  peasants’  re- 
volts and  the  response  to  them  were  tes- 
timonies to  the  lack  of  communication, 
lack  of  brotherly  concern,  and  the  need 
to  protect  vested  interests  with  violence. 
The  Anabaptists  believed  that  such  dis- 
parities and  broken  relationships  ought 
not  to  occur  in  the  Christian  commu- 
nity. 

It  gradually  became  clear  to  them  that 
their  attitude  toward  money  was  also  an 
issue  which  tested  whether  man  was 


It  gradually  became  clear  to  the  Anabaptists  that  their  attitude  toward  money  and 
material  possessions  was  also  an  issue  which  tested  whether  a person  was  committed 
to  God  and  the  church.  To  refuse  to  share  was  a sign  that  man  was  still  living  in 
bondage  to  self. 


committed  to  God  and  his  church,  or 
if  he  was  still  rebelling  against  God  and 
rejecting  him.  The  Christian  was  one 
who  had  agape  (unselfish)  love,  such 
as  Jesus  expressed  to  man  when  he  died 
on  the  cross.  So  the  Christian  would 
joyfully  share  with  those  in  need. 

But  to  protect  one’s  possessions,  to 
consider  them  private,  to  refuse  to  help 
the  brother  in  need  revealed  lack  of 
love.  It  revealed  the  same  rejection  of 
the  community  as  the  refusal  to  give  and 
take  counsel  did.  To  refuse  to  share  was 
a sign  that  man  was  still  living  in  bond- 
age to  self. 

For  us  this  presents  some  difficulties. 
North  American  society  values  the  eco- 
nomic freedom  of  the  individual.  The 
culture  spawns  myths  about  people  pull- 
ing themselves  up  by  their  bootstraps. 
We  Mennonites  feel  uneasy  because  we 
remember  that  in  our  past  we  did  share 
economically.  Mennonites  developed 
structures  for  sharing  with  each  other. 
For  example,  the  richer  farmers  from 
the  Bergthal  colony  helped  the  poorer 
farmers  in  1874-76  when  the  whole 
colony  moved  to  Canada.  Every  church 
had  an  Armenkasse  which  served  as  a 
bank  and  as  a method  to  help  people 
in  need. 

In  our  society  today  the  major  form 
of  sharing  is  through  the  taxes  imposed 
by  the  federal,  provincial,  and  state  gov- 


ernments. The  government  forces  a cer- 
tain redistribution  of  wealth.  The  result 
has  been  that  we  have  become  account- 
able for  our  finances  only  to  the  tax  de- 
partment. We  have  ceased  to  be  account- 
able to  each  other  for  the  way  we  spend 
our  money. 

If  we  accept  that  it  is  essential  for 
a church  in  mission  to  discipline  the 
brother  in  the  biblical  sense  of  coun- 
seling, admonishing,  and  forgiving,  then 
the  failure  to  be  accountable  to  each 
other  financially  may  result  in  a very 
serious  breakdown  in  trust  and  fellow- 
ship. Such  a breakdown  in  fellowship 
within  the  church  would  have  serious 
implications  for  evangelism.  By  failing 
to  share  or  at  least  to  be  accountable  to 
each  other  in  the  Christian  community, 
we  may  be  preventing  reconciliation 
within  the  church. 

A PACIFIST  COMMUNITY 

When  the  Anabaptists  struggled  to  ex- 
press what  the  New  Testament  said  a 
faithful  church  ought  to  be,  they  dis- 
covered that  their  church  was  very  threat- 
ening to  the  state  and  to  the  other 
churches.  Especially  the  nonresistant  or 
pacifist  groups  discovered  that  they 
were  accused  of  being  revolutionaries,  of 
destroying  the  order  of  society  by  not 
baptizing  babies  and  by  not  going  to 


war.  It  seemed  that  every  established 
authority  feared  a biblical  church. 

In  1524  Conrad  Grebel  wrote  to 
Thomas  Muentzer,  a South  German  re- 
former who  was  preaching  revolution. 
In  his  letter  Grebel  complimented  Muent-. 
zer  for  his  witness  to  the  teaching  of 
Scripture  about  baptism.  Grebel  con- 
cluded, however,  that  he  was  disturbed 
to  hear  that  Muentzer  was  willing  to 
take  up  the  sword  to  bring  about  the 
new  kingdom.  Grebel  pointed  out  that 
the  use  of  the  sword  was  completely 
inconsistent  with  life  in  the  new  age  in 
Christ. 

The  Anabaptists  believed  that  the 
church  was  called  to  be  faithful  to  Jesus 
Christ.  One  dimension  of  that  was  “to 
love  your  enemies”  and  “to  do  good  to 
them  that  hate  you  and  despitefully  use 
you.”  They  saw  no  biblical  justification 
for  taking  up  the  sword  either  to  defend 
themselves  or  to  protect  society.  They 
saw  that  there  were  two  communities, 
each  with  its  priorities.  They  discovered 
that  the  priorities  of  the  new  commu- 
nity clashed  with  the  priorities  of  the 
old.  To  the  world  it  seemed  that  they 
were  revolutionaries. 

The  Anabaptists  fully  realized  that  by 
taking  up  Jesus’  way  of  love  and  rec- 
onciliation they  might  be  killed  by  the 
world  as  Jesus  was  killed.  They  realized 
that  faithfulness  to  Christ  would  not 
guarantee  them  physical  protection  nor 
an  easy  life.  They  realized  that  the  con- 
flict between  the  communities  might 
make  them  homeless  and  leave  them 
without  citizenship.  Many  native  Swiss 
were  banished  from  their  cantons.  Yet 
many  were  willing  to  accept  joyfully  a 
life  of  suffering  faithfulness  to  Jesus 
Christ. 

This  conviction  was  based  on  their 
view  of  Christ  and  his  work.  They  said 
Christ  was  born  a man  in  order  to 
reconcile  man  to  God.  As  such  he  fully 
revealed  God,  and  yet  he  also  fully  iden- 
tified with  man  and  his  plight.  Jesus  be- 
came man  to  reveal  that  God’s  new  way 
of  dealing  with  man’s  disobedience  and 
selfishness  was  not  to  punish  him  accord- 
ing to  the  magnitude  of  his  sin.  Rather, 
Jesus  came  to  show  that  reconciliation 
was  only  possible  if  the  one  who  had 
been  sinned  against  (God)  was  ready  to 
forgive  man’s  sinfulness.  Jesus’  life  and 
death  indicated  that  to  be  ready  to  for- 
give meant  to  serve,  to  love  unselfishly, 
and  to  be  willing  to  die. 


THE  MENNON.TE  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  motivate,  and  build  the  Christian  fellowship  within  the  context  of  Christian  love  and  freedom  under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Holy  Spirit. 
It  !S  published  weekly  except  biweekly  during  July  and  August  and  the  last  two  weeks  in  December  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671 17,  by  the  General  Board  of  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
' urc  ‘ GSJ  Post°9e  paid  at  North  Newton,  Kans.  671  17.  Subscriptions:  in  U.S.  and  Canada,  $5.50,  one  year;  $10.50,  two  years;  $15.50  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  Editorial 

office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


716 


DECEMBER  11,  1973 


The  life  of  Jesus  also  exemplified  that 
some  would  reject  the  offer  of  recon- 
ciliation. They  would  be  closed  to  restor- 
ing fellowship.  They  would  rather  de- 
stroy the  one  who  loved  them.  Thus 
reconciliation  could  not  be  forced  upon 

man.  . 

The  challenge  of  nonresistance  comes  to 
us  at  a time  when  it  is  difficult  to  hear 
it.  We  have  just  witnessed  a thirteen- 
year  war  between  the  United  States  and 
the  people  in  Vietnam.  We  Canadians 
have  not  been  involved  directly,  yet 
| thousands  of  American  young  men  fled 
to  Canada  to  avoid  serving  in  a war 
they  thought  was  unjust.  We  have  wit- 
nessed many  peace  demonstrations,  most 
of  which  were  sponsored  by  a wide  range 
of  people,  from  biblical  pacifists  to  com- 
munists. Some  have  accused  pacifists  of 
. being  traitors  to  America  or  to  the  West 
i or  to  Christianity.  So  we  have  wondered 
whether  pacifism  is  still  a way  of  life 
1 for  us  today. 

First,  it  might  be  helpful  to  point  out 
that  also  for  the  Anabaptists  of  the 
; sixteenth  century,  the  stand  of  pacifism 
caused  them  to  be  called  traitors  and 
i supporters  of  the  Turks.  Pacifism  was 
for  them  to  a certain  extent  political  and 
I ambiguous  and  needed  to  be  clarified 
over  and  over  again.  The  state  churches 
consistently  refused  to  accept  the  Ana- 
baptist stance  on  pacifism  as  a faithful 
expression  of  Jesus’  admonitions  to  love 
the  enemy  and  to  suffer  rather  than  to 
cause  suffering.  So  maybe  Jesus’  teach- 
ing on  love  to  the  enemy  is  always  open 
to  misinterpretation.  The  possibility  of 
j misinterpretation  may  not,  however,  be  a 
’ legitimate  reason  for  not  expressing  it 
loudly  and  clearly. 

Second,  from  the  Anabaptists  we  can 
also  learn  that  pacifism  does  not  mean 
siding  with  the  Turks  rather  than  with 
the  Christian  European  states,  or  with 
communism  against  capitalism.  Rather, 
pacifism  assumes  that  Jesus  has  brought 
a message  which  critiques  both  Turks 
and  Christian  kings,  both  capitalists  and 
communists.  Pacifism  teaches  that  the 
hatred,  hysteria,  murder  in  the  name  of 
God,  country  and  family,  are  demonic 
on  both  sides. 

For  the  Anabaptists  it  was  clear  that 
a church  in  mission  could  not  use  the 
sword  against  any  enemies.  To  preach 
God’s  love  and  reconciliation  to  the  non- 
believer and  then  to  participate  in  his 
destruction  was  contradictory.  One  can- 
. celed  the  other  out.  All  enemies  were 
potential  brothers  in  Christ.  To  kill  any 
man  would  be  to  rob  him  of  the  possi- 
bility of  becoming  a believer.  To  be  an 


THE  MENNONITE 


evangelistic  church  meant  the  rejection 
of  war  as  a way  to  resolve  conflicts,  it 
meant  the  rejection  of  the  sword  as  a 
method  of  conversion,  and  it  meant 
the  rejection  of  the  demands  of  ulti- 
mate allegiance  made  by  states. 

A MISSIONARY  COMMUNITY 

The  Anabaptists  attempted  to  express 
the  biblical  view  that  the  true  church  is 
a missionary  community  in  a world 
which  has  largely  rejected  Christ.  As 
Menno,  and  as  the  Schleitheim  Con- 
fession said,  those  who  believe  in  Jesus 
“walk  in  the  resurrection.”  Obviously 
most  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century 
was  not  “walking  in  the  resurrection” 
and  had  no  intention  of  walking  thus. 
Consequently  the  Anabaptists  charged 
that  the  society  was  pagan,  not  Chris- 
tian. They  saw  that  only  a very  small 
minority  was  really  living  according  to 
the  teachings  of  Jesus.  Only  a few  real- 
ly believed  that  Jesus  had  come  to  found 
a new  community. 

For  the  Anabaptists,  the  true  church 
was  one  which  was  always  calling  peo- 
ple to  find  salvation  in  the  body  of 
Christ.  They  were  missionary  commu- 
nities, calling  people  to  repentance,  to 
live  in  mutual  commitment  to  fellow 
believers,  to  share,  to  express  the  peace 
that  God  intended  for  man. 

The  true  church  could  not  enjoy  its 
own  “purity.”  The  true  church  could 
not  live  unto  itself.  During  the  sixteenth 
century  the  true  church  could  not  even 
emigrate.  Rather,  the  Anabaptists  criss- 
crossed Europe,  bringing  people  the  good 
news,  baptizing,  and  founding  new 
churches.  Thousands  died  for  their  faith. 
At  one  time  it  seemed  that  all  of  South 
Germany  was  in  danger  of  becoming 
Anabaptist.  The  intense  persecutions 
were  designed  to  prevent  this. 

The  content  of  the  Anabaptists’ 
preaching  included  pacifism,  sharing,  rec- 
onciliation, and  the  possibility  of  suffer- 
ing. What  they  preached  was  their  full 
understanding  of  the  biblical  view  of 
salvation.  The  Anabaptists  in  the  various 
areas  were  tempted  to  preach  a gospel 
which  could  be  kept  secret,  which  would 
have  been  “spiritual,”  which  would  not 
have  challenged  the  state  churches  nor 
caused  people  persecution.  This  kind  of 
gospel  the  Anabaptists  rejected  as  a false 
gospel.  As  Christ  had  become  incarnate, 
so  the  body  of  Christ,  the  church,  must 
become  incarnate  in  history,  visible,  chal- 
lenging, and  vulnerable. 

Today  we  are  a church  that  has  a 
strong  mission  and  evangelism  program. 
So  we  feel  that  at  this  point  we  are 


certainly  expressing  the  best  insight  of 
our  heritage.  Yet  as  we  look  at  our 
mission  efforts  and  evangelistic  programs, 
it  seems  that  we  are  caught  in  a dilem- 
ma. As  we  have  accepted  missions  and 
evangelism,  we  have  increasingly  felt 
the  need  to  deny  and  reject  our  Anabap- 
tist-Mennonite  heritage. 

We  may  even  become  hesitant  in  our 
evangelism  to  preach  that  commitment 
and  reconciliation  to  Christ  include 
commitment  and  reconciliation  to  the 
body  of  Christ,  because  the  body  of 
Christ  is  Mennonite  it  speaks  German; 
it  seems  so  human.  But  in  this  process, 
we  may  have  become  unfaithful  to  the 
teachings  of  Scripture.  Despite  being 
evangelistic,  is  it  possible  that  we  may 
have  failed  to  communicate  the  good 
news? 

I think  that  in  evangelism  we  should 
be  able  to  affirm  our  peoplehood  as 
Mennonites  and  yet  also  call  others  to 
become  a new  people  with  us.  The 
early  church  accomplished  this.  Both 
Jew  and  Greek  were  called  to  become  a 
new  people.  Both  were  able  to  affirm  their 
past  and  yet  become  a new  people. 
This  we  must  also  learn. 

Evangelism  has  implications  for  the 
nature  of  the  church.  Evangelism  calls 
people  to  reconciliation  with  God  and 
man.  This  call  goes  out  to  both  the  un- 
believer and  the  Christian.  A church 
which  is  concerned  about  evangelism 
ought  to  have  structures  which  effect 
forgiveness,  sharing,  and  other  dimen- 
sions of  community.  A church  which  is 
evangelistic  is  pacifistic.  It  attempts  to 
reconcile  even  the  “enemy”  to  God. 

For  Anabaptists,  the  content  of  evan- 
gelism is  that  in  Christ  God  has  created 
a new  community.  The  content  of  evan- 
gelism must  include  the  call  to  be  recon- 
ciled with  people,  to  share,  and  to  love 
the  enemy.  Evangelism  is  a call  to  all 
people  to  become  one  with  a new  com- 
munity of  which  Christ  is  Lord. 

Finally,  the  language  that  we  use 
must  reflect  the  witness  of  Scripture  on 
evangelism.  The  evangelistic  language 
that  we  most  often  use  has  been  singu- 
larly deficient  at  this  point.  It  fails  to 
express  adequately  the  creation  of  a 
new  community.  It  fails  to  call  people 
to  reconciliation  with  each  other.  We 
need  to  look  critically  at  the  vocabulary 
and  structures  with  which  we  attempt  to 
communicate  the  gospel. 

The  challenge  is  to  be  Christian  com- 
munities in  mission.  The  agenda  is  to 
incarnate  this  understanding  into  our 
total  individual  and  corporate  lives. 


717 


NEWS 


Intense  interection  at  evangelism  conference 


“I  don’t  want  to  hear  the  word  ‘evan- 
gelism’ again  for  a long  time,”  said  one 
young  person  after  she  had  attended 
the  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  College’s 
theology  and  evangelism  conference  in 
Winnipeg  November  15-18. 

She’s  in  favor  of  evangelism,  but  the 
three  days  of  intense  discussion,  which 
often  exposed  uncomfortable  differences 
of  opinion,  left  her  exhausted.  Many  of 
the  other  participants  also  felt  “wrung 
out”  after  the  experience,  even  though 
most  of  them  were  happy  they  had 
come.  The  exhaustion,  some  explained, 
was  caused  by  their  immersion  in  a 
question  which  is  one  of  the  central 
concerns  of  Christ’s  followers:  How  and 
why  does  one  share  the  faith? 

The  intensity  of  the  interaction  was 
heightened  by  the  presence  of  support- 
ers of  points  of  view  who  don’t  often 
have  the  opportunity  to  meet  in  the 
same  discussion  arena.  Proponents  of  the 
Coral  Ridge  (Kennedy),  Campus  Cru- 
sade, Anabaptist-Mennonite,  house 
church,  and  other  approaches  were 
there.  None  of  their  positions  went  un- 
challenged. 

By  Friday  evening,  the  end  of  the 
second  day,  the  initial  effervescence  had 
largely  disappeared  and  the  usual  mid- 
conference lows”  had  set  in.  The  group 
stayed  together,  however,  and  by  Satur- 
day evening’s  final  large  public  meeting 
a greater  degree  of  understanding  and 
acceptance  seemed  to  have  emerged.  At 
the  conclusion  of  that  two-hour  session, 
David  Schroeder,  cmbc’s  acting 
president,  said,  “I’m  sorry  that  it  took 
us  so  long  to  get  to  know  each  other 
so  that  we  could  say  what  we  really  feel. 
Conferences  so  often  only  really  begin 
when  they  end.” 

Peter  Fast,  a cmbc  faculty  member 
and  chairman  of  the  Saturday  evening 
session,  said  that  he  felt  the  people  at 
the  conference  had  shared  deeply  and 
deliberately.  He  noted  that  some  of  the 
things  which  had  not  been  said  had 
surprised  him.  There  was  an  absence  of 
comment,  he  said,  about  saving  souls 
from  damnation.  The  talk  about  salva- 
tion had  had  a this-worldly  ring.  People 
at  the  conference,  he  observed,  had 
testified  about  being  saved  from  drugs, 


about  being  given  joy,  and  so  forth.  The 
motivation  wasn’t  based  on  the  familiar 
heaven-or-hell  option. 

He  further  noted  that  the  frequently 
voiced  fear  of  the  past,  that  there  was 
a movement  toward  humanism  afoot, 
was  not  mentioned  either.  Jesus  was 
acknowledged  to1  be  central. 

A number  of  participants  said  that 
they  felt  the  conference  focused  too 
much  on  the  methodology  of  evange- 
lism. The  inclusion  on  the  agenda  of 
reports  from  nine  congregational  groups 
from  various  parts  of  Canada  made  this 
emphasis  inevitable. 

One  hundred  and  thirty-five  people 
from  thirty-nine  congregations  joined 
the  cmbc  students  and  staff  in  the 
examination  of  evangelism.  The  best 
proportionate  representation  came  from 
British  Columbia,  which  had  members 
from  seven  congregations  at  the  confer- 
ence. 

The  congregations  which  gave  twenty- 
to  thirty-minute  reports  at  the  Friday 
and  Saturday  afternoon  sessions  came 
from  Aldergrove,  Mission  City,  and 
Vancouver,  British  Columbia;  Saska- 
toon and  Waldheim,  Saskatchewan;  and 
Crystal  City,  Steinbach,  and  Winnipeg, 
Manitoba.  Crossroads,  an  inner-city 
ministry  in  Winnipeg  supported  by  sev- 
eral General  Conference  churches,  also 
reported.  Several  house  church  groups 
from  Ontario  were  invited,  but  they  did 
not  come. 

The  congregational  reports  ranged 
from  “introspective”  to  “preachy”  ac- 
cording to  some  participants.  Several  of 
the  congregations  frankly  confessed 
their  inadequacies  and  the  ordinariness 
of  their  evangelistic  activities.  Others 
had  discovered  means  of  outreach  which 
they  had  found  to  be  exciting  and 
fruitful  and  they  described  their  expe- 
riences in  glowing  terms. 

Several  of  the  congregations  which 
prepared  reports  said  that  the  invitation 
to  do  so  had  forced  them  to  look  at 
their  efforts  much  more  closely  than 
before.  This  careful  scrutiny  of  their 
own  involvement  in  evangelism  revealed 
imbalances  which  they  hadn’t  recognized 
earlier,  they  said,  and  which  they  would 
now  attempt  to  correct. 


One  student  remarked  that  he  had 
been  frustrated  by  the  congregations’ 
reports  because,  as  he  said,  “I  like  to 
talk  in  abstract  terms,  but  we  had  to 
face  these  people  face-to-face  as  per- 
sons,” He  suggested  that  it  was  harder  to 
be  critical  in  such  a setting. 

There  was  some  disquietude  among 
some  that  the  widely  held  assumption 
that  showing  people  the  way  to  Christ 
is  the  same  as  drawing  them  into  a con- 
gregation. The  one  lost  sheep  often  has 
no  interest  at  all  in  joining  the  ninety- 
nine  “dead  bodies”  in  the  church,  said 
one  participant. 

David  Schroeder,  in  one  of  the  theo- 
logical papers  given  at  the  conference, 
said,  “If  the  church  proclaims  a mes- 
sage that  is  denied  in  its  life,  people 
will  soon  cease  to  listen.  But  if  it 
preaches  liberty  to  the  captives  and  it 
is  evident  that  people  are  set  free  to 
live  a new  life  for  Christ,  ears  will  be 
opened  and  people  will  be  open  to  ac- 
cept Christ  as  Savior  and  Lord.” 

A further  question  which  drew  con- 
siderable attention  was  a concern  about 
language.  “Too  often  we  use  the  New 
Testament  language  of  salvation  and 
assume  that  everyone  understands  what 
‘salvation,’  ‘redemption,’  being  ‘born 
again’  mean,”  said  Mr.  Schroeder  in  his 
address. 

“But  Jesus  and  his  disciples  did  not 
assume  this.  They  give  clear  indications 
as  to  how  they  intend  their  words  to  be 
understood.  . . . What  is  significant  (in 
their  understanding),”  said  Mr.  Schroed- 
er, is  that  always  salvation  is  spoken 
of  in  concrete  historical  terms.  An  ac- 
tual historical  bondage  has  been  broken 
and  a new  liberty,  a new  freedom,  a 
new  life  has  come  into  being.” 

John  Friesen,  a cmbc  faculty  mem- 
ber who  presented  the  conference’s  sec- 
ond  theological  paper  (see  the  feature 
article  in  this  issue),  also  raised  the 
question  about  language,  but  from  the 
perspective  of  the  Mennonite  people’s 
heritage.  “In  the  area  of  method  and 
vocabulary  we  need  creative  thought 
most  urgently,”  he  said. 

“Many  Canadian  Mennonite  churches 
changed  language  recently,”  he  said. 
“We  attempted  to  translate  our  beliefs 


718 


DECEMBER  11,  1973 


from  German  into  English.  But  the 
English  vocabulary  that  we  found 
available  did  not  really  express  our  ex- 
periences, our  faith,  or  our  earlier  in- 
terpretation of  Scripture.  We  need  to 
look  critically  at  this  whole  area.” 

Besides  the  two  theological  papers  by 
David  Schroeder  and  John  Friesen,  two 
presentations  were  made  to  the  confer- 
ence by  Leonard  Wiebe,  pastor  of  the 
Maplewood  Mennonite  Church,  Fort 
Wayne,  Indiana.  In  his  first  address  he 
proposed  that  one  of  the  major  motiva- 
tions for  doing  evangelism  should  be 
the  joy  that  a newly  converted  person 
brings  to  a church.  “Bringing  new  peo- 
ple "into  our  congregations,”  he  said, 
“would  have  saved  us  from  much  hair- 
splitting debate  about  doctrinal  trivia. 

At  the  second  public  session,  Mr. 
Wiebe  suggested  “loving  people  to 


Christ”  as  a method  of  evangelism.  He 
said  that  this  type  of  an  approach  does 
not  focus  on  large  numbers.  It  is  a 
costly,  time-consuming  way,  but  it 
doesn’t  create  as  many  of  the  barriers 
that  other  methods  often  do. 

If  each  member  of  a General  Con- 
ference congregation  would  seek  to  love 
one  or  two  people  to  Christ,  said  Mr. 
Wiebe,  he  was  sure  that  the  General 
Conference’s  present  rate  of  getting  only 
3 percent  of  its  new  members  through 
conversions  would  climb  dramatically. 

One  of  the  most  sobering  moments 
of  the  conference  came  during  the  Sat- 
urday evening  meeting  when  Tom  Neu- 
feld,  a staff  member  of  the  Crossroads 
program,  shared  his  frustrations  with 
the  narrow  view  of  evangelism  to  which 
he  felt  the  conference  had  given  so 
much  time. 


“We  are  living  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury with  its  vast  issues  ...  its  real  hu- 
man problems  . . . and  where  human 
beings  are  being  destroyed.  . . . But  our 
discussion  has  been  so  pretty,  he  said. 
“We  have  a God  who  is  not  only  the 
God  of  a small  enclave  but  he  is  the 
God  of  all  creation.  . . . The  talk  here 
about  methodology  may  be  the  writing 
on  the  wall  that  we  are  lost.  We  need 
to  become  overwhelmed  by  the  tre- 
mendous suffering  in  the  world.  ...  I 
haven’t  sensed  the  scandal  of  the  good 
news  here.  . . .” 

The  sign  of  hope  came  from  a soft- 
voiced  British  Colombia  delegate  who 
spoke  for  many  at  the  meeting  when 
she  confessed  to  Tom  and  to  the  group. 
Yes,  Tom,  we  lack  vision.  But  don’t  be 
too  angry  with  us.  We  are  trying  to  be 
more  sensitive.  Larry  Kehler 


Wiebe  suggesiea  iuvmg  ^ m 

India  hospitals  to  join  medical  association 

of  nnrticination  available.  Christian  nurture  board  is 


Full  participation  of  the  two  Mennonite 
hospitals  in  India  in  the  Emmanuel  Hos- 
pital Association  has  been  approved  by 
the  mission  conference  in  India. 

The  approval  implements  the  deci- 
sion made  at  Raipur  in  October  by  the 
joint  meeting  of  the  mission  conference, 
church  conference,  and  Commission  on 
Overseas  Mission  delegation. 

Full  participation  in  the  eha  means 
that  administration,  operation,  person- 
nel matters,  and  finances  will  be  under 
the  hospital  association  and  that  the 
medical  board  of  the  mission  conference 
will  dissolve. 

The  mission  conference  voted  by  a 
large  majority  to  incorporate  with  the 
Emmanuel  Hospital  Association,  the 

Words  & deeds 

A United  Church  of  Christ  congregation 
in  Canton,  Ohio,  offered  the  following 
suggestions  in  a recent  newsletter  for 
making  a friendlier  church:  (1)  Speak 
to  your  neighbor  in  the  pew  first.  Do 
not  wait  for  someone  else  to  take  the 
! initiative.  (2)  If  you  do  not  know  the 
person  sitting  next  to  you,  introduce 
yourself.  (3)  Wear  a pleasant  expression. 
If  you  have  to  be  grumpy  and  sour,  do 
it  somewhere  else  rather  than  in  church. 
(4)  Take  Will  Roger’s  testimony  as  your 
motto:  “I  never  met  a person  I did  not 
like.”  (5)  Memorize  and  practice  Prov- 
' erbs  18:24:  “A  man  that  hath  friends 
must  show  himself  to  be  friendly” 
(KJV). 


highest  level  of  participation  available. 
Present  at  the  conference  were  two 
medical  doctors  from  hospitals  which 
belong  to  the  five-year-old  Christian 
association,  who  helped  dispel  some  of 
the  fears  which  missionaries  had  con- 
cerning the  association. 

The  doctors  assured  them  that  local 
groups  would  still  have  a large  say  in 
day-to-day  operations  of  the  hospitals. 
Standards  of  medical  care  will  be  es- 
sentially the  same.  The  biggest  differ- 
ence will  be  in  personnel  and  salary 
structure.  The  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission  will  still  provide  financing 
for  the  hospitals  but  will  channel  the 
money  through  the  eha  instead  of  the 
mission  conference. 

Verney  Unruh,  com  secretary  for 
Asia,  said  the  membership  in  the  eha 
affiliates  the  hospitals  with  an  Indian- 
based  organization  and  will  give  them 
more  long-range  stability.  “Private  hos- 
pitals are  going  to  have  a tough  time 
going  it  alone,”  he  said. 

The  two  hospitals  involved  are  Chris- 
tian Hospital  in  Champa  and  Sewa 
Bhawan  Hospital  in  Jagdeeshpur. 

A number  of  other  denominational 
hospitals  have  become  members  of  the 
eha  in  recent  years. 

A survey  team  will  evaluate  the  hos- 
pitals, and  turning  over  of  adminis- 
tration will  come  within  six  months,  Mb. 
Unruh  said.  The  medical  board  will 
then  dissolve. 

The  medical  board  has  been  one  of 
four  boards  of  the  mission  conference, 
medical,  education,  literature,  and 
Christian  nurture.  The  work  of  the 


Christian  nurture  board  is  soon  to  be 
turned  over  to  the  church  conference. 

The  second  main  issue  at  the  mission 
conference  was  whether  the  Commission 
on  Overseas  Mission  should  be  asked  to 
provide  1 00  percent  of  the  funds  for  a 
new  building  for  the  Beacon  School  in 
Korba. 

The  school,  which  opened  in  1966, 
now  has  more  than  400  students  in 
crowded  quarters.  Korba  is  an  indus- 
trialized area  with  a large  number  of 
fairly  wealthy  people  who  send  their 
children  to  the  English-language  school. 
Many  of  them  come  from  non-Hindi- 
speaking  regions  and  thus  cannot  send 
their  children  to  local  government 
schools. 

The  aluminum  company  in  Korba, 
v/hich  employs  many  of  these  people, 
has  offered  IV2  acres  of  land,  if  some- 
one else  will  erect  the  buildings  for  the 
school.  The  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission,  however,  wants  to  spend  as 
little  as  possible  on  bricks  and  mortar 
in  the  future. 

The  mission  conference  finally  de- 
cided to  survey  possible  income  and  re- 
sources in  India  for  the  building  of  the 
school,  such  as  individual  contributions 
or  foundation  grants,  com  would  likely 
provide  matching  funds  if  some  money 
could  be  raised  in  India. 

In  other  action  the  Economic  Life 
and  Relief  Committee  (telarc)  ap- 
proved the  following  projects,  as  money 
is  available:  tractor  driver  training,  a 
typing  school,  capital  to  provide  stock 
for  weavers,  and  development  of  the 
fishery. 


THE  MENNONITE 


719 


Harvest  festival  focuses  on  the  arts 


We  had  a celebration  at  First  Menno- 
nite  Church  of  Christian,  Moundridge, 
Kansas,  an  exciting  celebration.  We  were 
acclaiming  worship  and  the  arts. 

Annually  in  November  our  congregation 
has  Harvest  Thanks  Services.  In  our  ru- 
ral community,  everyone  understands  the 
meaning  of  harvest  and  the  bounty  it 
suggests,  and  this  is  a meaningful  observ- 
ance. Customarily  we  invite  a guest 
speaker  to  be  our  leader  for  five  ses- 
sions. 

But  this  year  was  different.  We  de- 
cided to  explore  how  we  could  worship 
by  using  different  fine  art  forms.  A com- 
mittee of  six  was  appointed  in  August 
with  little  more  qualification  than  that 
they  were  interested  in  experimenting. 
As  enthusiasm  began  to  mount,  the  com- 
mittee was  increased  to  eleven. 

For  several  weeks  in  advance,  an  an- 
nouncement in  the  church  bulletin  read: 
To  make  the  art  exhibit  during  the 
week  of  Harvest  Thanks  a success,  we 
need  your  participation  by  letting  us 
know  what  you  have  to  display  or  in- 
form us  as  to  what  other  members  have 
that  should  be  displayed.  We  are  interest- 
ed in  your  hobbies  such  as  wood  carv- 
ing, crocheting,  photography,  interesting 
collections,  etc.” 

We  were  quite  unprepared  for  the  im- 
mediate warm  response  as  people 
brought  to  the  church  things  they  had 
made  for  their  own  enjoyment — oil 
painting,  sketching,  quilting,  crocheting, 
wood  carving,  crafts  of  all  kinds,  rugs, 
a homemade  wedding  gown,  floral  ar- 
rangements, cutwork,  embroidery,  tex- 
tile painting,  samplers  old  and  new,  pho- 
tography exhibits,  poetry,  woodwork, 
decoupage,  tole  painting,  sculpture,  pot- 
tery, ceramics,  hand-painted  china,  col- 
lections of  old  churns,  refinished  antique 
furniture,  old  brass  and  copper  pots  bur- 
nished until  they  shone — and  lots  more. 

Sunday  school  teachers  had  been  told 
weeks  before  the  services  that  they  were 
to  have  their  classes  work  on  suitable 
projects  that  would  involve  their  chil- 
dren in  something  which  could  be 
shown.  As  a result,  every  child  in  church 
had  one  or  two  items  on  display,  their 
drawings  carefully  mounted. 

There  were  exhibits  by  professional 
artists,  too,  lending  dignity  to  the  entire 
display.  The  exhibit  was  set  up  in  the 
fellowship  hall  of  the  church  and  was 
open  several  hours  daily  for  anyone  who 
cared  to  spend  time  there.  The  local  art 
teacher  brought  her  classes  there,  and 


many  people  from  town  stopped  in  to 
enjoy  the  displays  as  well. 

The  art  exhibit  set  the  stage  for  the 
week,  but  other  arts  were  used  as  well. 
The  week  began  with  a sermon  by  the 
pastor  which  stressed  that  true  worship 
was  done  not  for  you,  but  that  it  in- 
volved the  person  himself.  While  the 
choir  sang  a festive  harvest  song,  several 
members  of  the  junior  choir  expressed 
joyous  worship  with  interpretive  move- 
ments. 

The  church  dinner  which  followed 
the  morning’s  service  was  the  only  part 
of  our  traditional  observance  that  we 
kept  this  time.  While  the  good  food 
would  probably  be  classified  as  practical 
arts  rather  than  fine  arts,  the  fellowship 
and  gathering  of  friends  is  a thing  of 
the  spirit  as  well. 

Sunday  evening  featured  a demon- 
stration of  a spinning  wheel  with  every- 
one in  church  crowding  around  to  see 
how  it  looked  and  felt.  While  the  art 
exhibit  was  open  in  the  fellowship  hall, 
there  was  also  a demonstration  of  quilt- 
ing by  members  of  the  women’s  group. 

Monday  evening  was  “The  use  of 
drama  in  worship.”  A drama-reading 
group  from  the  college  presented  sev- 
eral skits.  Some  of  our  church  college 
students  were  part  of  the  group,  al- 
though they  are  not  drama  students.  It 
was  a practical  demonstration  of  the 
effectiveness  of  the  spoken  word  that 
any  church  could  put  on  by  itself.  The 
director  also-  used  some  of  our  youth 
fellowship  members  with  the  college 


students  to  encourage  the  church  to 
carry  on  by  itself. 

We  called  Tuesday  night  “The  use  of 
art  in  worship.”  It  was  a sermon  demon- 
stration of  the  potter  and  the  potter’s 
wheel  by  a college  art  instructor.  Again 
children  and  adults  crowded  around  to 
see  and  touch.  The  Prophet  Jeremiah 
became  a real  life  character,  as  the  clay 
took  shape,  was  rejected,  and  then  re- 
shaped in  better  form. 

No  fine  arts  observance  would  be 
complete  without  music,  and  Wednesday 
was  hymn  festival.  The  adult  choir,  the 
junior  choir,  and  the  congregation  be- 
came a mass  choir.  A woodwind  en- 
semble and  a brass  quartet  added  their 
instrumental  voices  to  organ  and  people. 
We  used  each  song  leader  in  church  and 
each  organist.  Three  bright  banners 
made  by  two  mothers  and  their  children 
illustrating  praise,  love,  and  thanksgiv- 
ing were  carried  in  as  the  congregation 
sang.  The  emphasis  for  the  evening  was 
not  perfection  of  performance,  but  in 
worshiping  the  Lord  with  heart  and 
voice. 

Three  things  stand  out  about  our  spe- 
cial celebration.  First,  it  was  an  inter- 
generational  activity  from  beginning  to 
end  which  helped  involve  many.  Second, 
it  gave  every  participant  an  affirmation 
that  he  had  a talent  which  gave  plea- 
sure to  others,  instead  of  reserving  the 
word  “talent”  for  the  soloist  or  profes- 
sional. Third,  the  realization  came  afresh 
that  God  the  Creator  can  be  worshiped 
in  many  creative  ways.  Gladys  Goering 


Visitors  view  art  exhibits  in  the  fellowship  hall  of  First  Church  of  Christian,  Mound- 
ridge, Kansas. 


720 


DECEMBER  11,  1973 


DECEMBER  11,  1973  / VOLUME  I / NUMBER  2 


The  culture  of  Taiwan  can  be  regarded  as 
an  extension  of  Mainland  Chinese  culture. 
Most  of  the  residents  in  Taiwan  come 
from  various  provinces  of  Mainland  China, 
while  only  a small  percentage  are  from 
the  Malaysia  area. 

Cultural  characteristics  are  people's 
opinions  or  philosophies  of  life  and  the 


Confrontation: 

Christianity 
and  Culture 


by  Peter  Lin 


Preaching  the  gospel  is  at  the  mercy  of  Taiwanese  culture.  The  church  will  have  to 
take  action  in  the  matter  of  adjusting  itself  into  Taiwanese  society. 


universe,  and  the  ways  in  which  people 
deal  with  these.  These  ways  of  life  come 
from  traditions  handed  down  from  gener- 
ation to  generation.  When  people  of  dif- 
ferent cultural  backgrounds  come  into 
contact  with  one  another,  each  has  the 
idea  that  his  culture  is  superior  to  the 
other's.  As  a result  misunderstandings 
arise.  I will  try  to  show  how  Taiwanese 
culture  affects  the  presentation  and  re- 
ception of  the  good  news  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ. 

Before  Christianity  was  preached  in 
Taiwan,  Confucianism,  Taoism,  and 
Buddhism,  as  well  as  some  local  religious 
sects,  were  already  present.  Generally 
the  objects  of  worship  are  the  heavens, 
sun,  stars,  moon,  mountains,  rivers,  fire, 
weather,  plants,  animals,  idols,  ancestors, 
past  heroes,  unknown  ghosts,  fairies,  etc. 
All  these  are  believed  to  be  decisive  pow- 
ers that  dominate  people's  lives.  Because 
the  people  of  Taiwan  have  a history  of 
suffering  through  natural  disasters  and 
wars,  they  tend  to  seek  additional  gods 
for  help  and  security  and  borrow  them 
from  religions  other  than  their  own. 

Each  religious  sect  does  not  necessarily 
have  its  own  doctrine.  People  have  the 
option  to  worship  whichever  gods  they 
choose. 

Taiwan  has  become  a place  of  many 
Pai-Pais  (festivals  for  worshiping  gods). 
During  Pai-Pai  season  people  are  con- 
cerned only  about  parading,  playing,  eat- 
ing, and  drinking.  It  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion to  talk  about  faith  and  behavior  or 


Peter  Lin  graduated  from  Taiwan  Theological 
College,  Taipei,  Taiwan,  and  is  currently  pastor 
of  the  Ho-Peng  Mennonite  Church  in  Taichung. 


Parents  teaching  their  children  how  to  worship  at  the  temple  on  Chinese  New  Year  s Day. 


THE  MENNONITE  E-1 


Offering  "god  money"  and  incense  sticks  to  the  gods. 


moral  criteria  in  their  religious  activities. 
They  pay  much  attention  to  their  own 
selfish  benefits.  Their  philosophy  is 
based  on  the  belief  that  man  is  the  origi- 
nator and  the  end  of  all  things.  All  he 
does  is  the  result  of  his  own  power,  done 
for  his  own  good,  without  respect  to 
others.  Self-satisfaction  is  the  basis  of 
all  his  actions.  Man  is  the  premise  and 
the  conclusion.  Although  the  Taiwanese 
believe  that  morality  and  religion  are 
created  by  man,  they  superficially  ac- 
knowledge the  existence  of  gods  and  use 
many  religious  terms. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  cultural  back- 
grounds of  Taiwan  and  the  Christian 
faith  form  two  distinct  categories.  Preach- 
ing the  gospel  to  the  Taiwanese  multi- 
tudes and  trying  to  establish  Christianity 
will  create  a strong  controversy  against 
the  local  culture.  This  work  consists  of 
trying  to  make  it  possible  for  Taiwanese 
society  to  accept  the  church  as  part  of 
its  culture.  From  the  point  of  anthro- 
pology the  church  should  not  be  inde- 
pendent of  Taiwanese  society.  If  it  is, 
the  church  will  become  withered,  for 
both  of  them  are  built  on  people. 

Preaching  the  gospel  is  at  the  mercy  of 
Taiwanese  culture.  The  church  will  have 
to  take  action  in  the  matter  of  adjusting 
itself  into  Taiwanese  society.  Gospel 
workers  are  advised  to  keep  in  mind  that 
while  they  are  preaching  the  good  news, 
they  must  never  neglect  the  cultural  char- 
acteristics of  the  Taiwanese  people. 

Other  matters  complicate  factors  in 
this  society.  First,  the  language:  in 

Offering  food  to  the  gods  at  the  temple  in  Taipei. 


Taiwan  there  are  at  least  four  currently 
used  languages— Mandarin,  Taiwanese, 
Cantonese,  and  the  languages  used  by  the 
mountain  tribes.  Behind  each  language 
group  there  are  different  thought  patterns 
and  cultural  characteristics. 

Secondly,  there  is  education:  city- 
based  people  are  usually  well  educated, 
while  country  people  are  poorly  educated. 
Within  each  of  the  four  language  groups, 
then,  there  are  two  apparent  divisions, 
the  educated  and  the  uneducated. 

Finally,  there  is  the  family:  to  every 
person,  the  family  is  the  central  and  most 
important  unit.  It  is  very  closely  con- 
nected with  the  land.  People  feel  that 


only  as  the  family  works  together  on  its 
land  can  it  provide  for  its  needs.  There- 
fore, the  family  has  become  a production 
unit  as  well  as  a consumption  unit.  The 
family  is  more  important  than  country  or 
society.  In  such  a tradition  man's  sense 
of  responsibility  and  cooperation  is  lim- 
ited to  the  family.  The  saying  goes, 
“Each  one's  work  is  simply  to  clean  the 
snow  from  in  front  of  the  door  of  his 
own  house."  People  do  not  have  the 
common  feeling  of  being  members  of  a 
larger  society.  One  can  readily  see  how 
this  "family-centeredness"  can  become  a 
hindrance  in  establishing  the  church.  It 
is  difficult  to  summon  all  the  villagers  to- 
gether and  ask  them  to  bear  responsibili- 
ties in  the  larger  family  of  the  church. 

This  attitude  is  not  necessarily  wrong;  it 
is  simply  a reaction  produced  by  one  as- 
pect of  a particular  culture  in  a particular 
society. 

Although  the  truth  of  the  gospel  tran- 
scends national  boundaries,  we  must  pay 
more  attention  to  the  constituent  factors 
of  culture.  If  we  do  not  reach  into  the 
core  of  this  culture,  we  can  hardly  com- 
municate intimately  with  the  people,  and 
no  feeling  of  "closeness"  will  exist. 


"Our  Father  in  heaven  . . . Thank  you 
that  you  have  emptied  your  hands  for 
the  hurt  people  of  the  world.  Where  be- 
fore I hated,  now  I can  love.  Where  be- 
fore I thought  only  of  myself,  now  I can 
give  . . Prayer  of  a Taiwanese  Christian 


E-2  December  1 1 , 1973 


Garlands  for  the  Pastor 


Bethel  Church  in  Jagdeeshpur,  India,  was 
filled  and  the  congregation  sang  with  feel- 
ing on  the  occasion  of  Reverend  J.  Gardia  s 
retirement  recognition.  The  church's  dea- 
con since  1938  and  pastor  since  1951 , 

Rev.  Gardia  had  won  the  affection  of  the 
large  community.  Representatives  of  the 
high  school,  primary  school,  hospital  staff, 
and  other  individuals  came  forward  to  ex- 
press this  affection  in  the  array  of  garlands 
presented  to  the  former  pastor  and  his 
wife. 

In  his  address  of  recognition,  Mr.  Sam- 
uel Stephen  cited  several  remarkable  char- 
acteristics of  Rev.  J.  Gardia's  ministry. 

His  direct  preaching,  his  extra  teaching 


load  during  the  annual  Bible  course,  and 
his  concern  for  young  people  and  chil- 
dren's education  were  recognized.  To 
the  church  conference  committees  of 
which  he  was  a member  he  brought  sound 
thinking  and  deep  concern.  His  love  for 
the  great  hymns  of  the  church,  many  of 


which  he  memorized,  will  be  a comfort 
and  strength  to  him  now  that  he  is  blind. 

Mr.  Freddie  Benn,  church  conference 
chairman,  presented  a gift  of  money  to 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  Gardia  on  behalf  of  the 
conference.  Mr.  Z.  B.  Gardia,  on  behalf 
of  the  Bethel  Church,  gave  them  a gift  of 
two  chairs,  two  woolen  blankets,  and  a 
walking  stick. 

Mr.  Gardia  spent  a happy  childhood 
in  a Christian  home  in  the  village  of 
Surkhri,  the  place  where  Rev.  P.  J.  Wiens 
was  led  to  begin  a Christian  witness.  One 
of  the  first  children  to  be  sent  from 
Phuljhar  to  the  Mauhadih  School,  Mr. 
Gardia  attended  primary,  middle,  and 
normal  schools  there.  Returning  to 
Jagdeeshpur,  he  served  a year  as  Rev. 

S.  T.  Moyer's  secretary  before  accepting 
a position  as  teacher  in  the  Jagdeeshpur 
Primary  School.  When  the  Mauhadih 
School  was  moved  to  the  same  place,  he 
became  housefather  for  the  boys.  In 
1951  he  accepted  the  leadership  of  Bethel 
Church  and  has  served  as  its  pastor  since 
that  time. 

A diabetic  condition  and  blindness 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  pastor  the 
church  which  has  more  than  five  hundred 
members.  In  his  response  to  the  congre- 
gation on  the  occasion  of  his  formal  re- 
tirement he  said,  “Although  I shall  no 
longer  serve  you  as  pastor,  I shall  never- 
theless spend  the  remaining  years  of  my 
life  serving  the  Lord  and  the  church  in  a 
voluntary  way.  For  this  I ask  your 
prayers."  Helen  Kornelsen 


Local  Funds  and  Labor 
Build  Banga  School 


A modern,  two-room  secondary  school 
building  including  an  inner  office  for  pro- 
fessors has  been  built  at  Banga,  Zaire, 
entirely  as  a result  of  Zairian  contribu- 
tions and  labor. 

A year  ago  each  student  entering  the 
school  paid  five  dollars  towards  the  con- 
struction of  the  building.  Teachers  and 
parents  went  down  into  the  ravine  to  dig 
out  rocks  and  break  them.  These  were 
carried  to  the  building  site  by  grade  and 
high  school  students.  After  cement  block 
pillars  had  been  erected,  white  stone  was 


used  as  filling  between  them.  Desks  for 
students  were  constructed.  As  soon  as 
the  first  building  was  completed,  a group 
of  men  went  down  the  hill  to  dig  out 
more  stone  for  a second  structure. 

Many  expressions  of  pride  and  satis- 
faction are  heard  from  the  Banga  people. 
They  have  proven  to  themselves  that  they 
do  not  need  to  wait  on  a government 
grant  or  funds  from  the  United  States. 
The  local  church  is  the  organization  be- 
hind this  project.  Glenn  Rocke 


Dr.  Henry  Poettcker  and  interpreter  Hiroshi 
Yanada  during  a lecture  on  Mark  at  the 
Kirishima  Christian  Church  in  Kyushu. 


CONFERENCE 
PRESIDENT 
VISITS  JAPAN 

General  Conference  president  Henry 
Poettcker  and  his  wife  Agnes  are  spend- 
ing a sabbatical  in  the  Orient.  Japan  was 
the  first  nation  to  benefit  from  their  min- 
istry. During  the  first  part  of  July  they 
toured  most  of  the  General  Conference 
related  churches  in  Kyushu  and  served  in 
a special  pastor-missionary  seminar. 
Poettcker's  lectures  focused  on  the  Gospel 
of  Mark  and  Anabaptist-Mennonite  studies. 
They  were  well  received. 

In  addition,  the  Poettckers  succeeded 
in  establishing  warm  personal  relation- 
ships with  both  Japanese  Christians  and 
missionaries  wherever  they  went.  Follow- 
ing the  Kyushu  tour,  they  travelled  to 
Hokkaido  in  northern  Japan  to  serve  the 
(Old)  Mennonite  related  congregations  in 
the  same  way. 

From  Japan  the  Poettckers  went  to 
Indonesia  to  spend  five  weeks  with  the 
Mennonite  Christian  community,  and 
from  there  to  Taiwan  to  devote  the  major 
part  of  the  sabbatical  year  to  ministries 
at  several  theological  seminaries  and  to 
the  Taiwan  Mennonite  congregations. 


"Not  to  continue  in  missions  would  be 
insanity;  it  would  destroy  us  spiritually." 
Howard  Habegger,  upon  his  return  from 
India 


THE  MENNONITE  E-3 


The  following  matters  were  dealt  with  at  a recent  daily  8:00  a.m.  interstation  A I MM 
radio  broadcast.  Kathy  Wait  at  Nyanga  has  just  called  in  each  station  in  turn  to  learn 
which  of  them  have  business.  Station  names  rather  than  official  call  numbers  are  used 
to  facilitate  identification.  Remarks  in  parentheses  fill  in  for  the  reader. 


Nyanga  (Kathy):  Kalonda,  go  ahead  with 
your  messages. 

Kalonda  (Tina  Quiring)  with  Nyanga: 

What  time  is  George  (MAF  pilot)  planning 
to  return  from  the  flight  to  Kananga  to- 
day? Can  he  fly  Pastor  Kabangi  (Zaire 
Church  General  Secretary)  to  Njoka 
Punda  for  a meeting  with  church  leaders 
on  October  15?  What  time  will  George 
come  to  pick  up  Levi  and  Eudene  (Keidel) 
for  the  flight  to  Banga  tomorrow  (for  two 
weeks  of  Bible  teaching  ministry)?  By 
for  you. 

Nyanga:  George  plans  to  get  back  from 
Kananga  about  12:30.  Yes,  he  can  make 
the  Njoko  Punda  flight.  He’s  planning  to 
leave  from  Tshikapa  for  Banga  tomorrow 
about  2:30.  Tshikapa,  give  your  messages. 
Tshikapa  (Herman  Buller)  with  Nyanga: 
When  George  goes  to  Kananga  today, 
have  him  ask  the  Presbyterians  if  I still 
need  to  come  to  Air  Zaire  (commercial 
flight)  Monday  to  help  verify  AIPROKA 
accounts.  By  for  you. 

Nyanga:  Roger.  He'll  ask.  Njoko  Punda, 
give  your  messages. 

Njoko  Punda  (Earl  Roth):  Sam  (Entz) 
got  here  OK  yesterday  (to  fix  station 
light  plant  and  do  other  urgent  mechanical 
work).  The  river  barge  arrived  yesterday. 

It  has  about  thirty  tons  of  AIMM  stuff. 
Nyanga,  call  Jim  Bertsche  to  the  radio. 

By. 

Nyanga:  Roger.  We're  calling  him. 

Banga,  your  messages. 

Banga  (Glenn  Rocke)  for  Kalonda:  Tell 
Eudene  to  bring  her  accordion;  we'll  need 
it  for  accompaniment.  Also  bring  slide 
projector  and  slides  for  night  meetings. 

We  need  tracts,  and  lots  of  Kituba  New 
Testaments;  not  many  folks  where  we're 
going  know  Tshiluba.  Ina  wants  to  know 
if  Dr.  Elvina  (Martens)  received  her  letter 
asking  about  medicine  for  diabetics  here. 

If  so,  send  the  medicines  with  Keidels 
tomorrow.  Back  to  Nyanga. 

Nyanga:  Mutena  come  in. 

Mutena  (Leona  Schrag):  Nyanga,  what 
time  will  George  be  arriving  with  the 


members  of  the  Christian  education  com- 
mission this  afternoon?  For  Kalonda: 
How  is  Muanda,  that  emergency  sick 
patient  George  flew  in  from  here  last 
week?  By. 

Nyanga:  George  plans  to  arrive  with  the 
Christian  education  people  about  2:30. 
Jim  Bertsche  is  here  now;  Njoko  Punda, 
go  ahead  with  your  message. 

Njoko  Punda:  Jim,  we've  unloaded  every- 
thing off  the  barge  except  a beautiful  new 
light  plant  for  Nyanga.  (This  is  an  historic 
event;  Nyanga  has  been  without  electricity 
for  some  years.  It  is  needed  not  only  for 
medical  work  and  missionary  dwellings, 
but  in  the  college;  night  study  halls  are  il- 
luminated with  Coleman  lanterns  whose 
heat,  unfortunately,  is  in  proportion  to 
their  light.)  It  is  still  sitting  on  the  deck. 

It  weighs  over  a ton,  and  we  can't  unload 
it.  Workers  gave  up  last  night  and  walked 
off  the  job.  I suppose  we  might  be  able 
to  mobilize  enough  school  kids  to  try  and 
do  something.  But  the  river  is  low,  and 
the  barge  is  some  distance  from  shore. 

We  don't  have  boards  strong  enough  to 
hold  it.  I suppose  we  could  try  building 
some  kind  of  ramp  out  to  the  barge.  The 
captain  is  tooting  his  whistle  right  now, 
wanting  to  return  to  llebo  (a  more  impor- 
tant river  port  120  miles  north).  Shall  we 
let  him  take  it  back  to  llebo?  By. 

Nyanga  (Jim):  We're  holding  a little  con- 
sultation here.  (Nancy)  Kalonda,  do  you 
have  an  answer  to  those  medical  ques- 
tions? 

Kalonda:  Banga,  we  read  you  on  all  the 
things  you  need.  Dr.  Elvina  says  she 
hasn't  received  Ina's  letter.  If  she  wants 
to  give  its  contents  over  the  air,  the  Doc- 
tor will  do  what  she  can  to  help.  Mutena, 
Muamba  lost  her  baby;  she  has  some  in- 
fection now,  but  is  going  to  be  OK.  For 
Njoko  Punda:  Dr.  Elvina  wants  Aggie 
(Friesen)  to  send  her  two  dozen  surgical 
sutures.  By  for  Nyanga. 

Nyanga  (Jim):  Earl,  you'd  better  let  the 
captain  take  it  back  to  llebo  rather  than 
risk  dumping  the  thing  into  the  Kasai 


River.  I think  they've  got  cranes  there 
big  enough  to  handle  it.  The  only  thing 
is,  how  can  we  be  sure  that  he  remembers 
to  leave  it  off  there  and  doesn't  haul  it  all 
the  way  back  to  Kinshasa  again?  Maybe 
you'd  better  call  Sam  to  the  radio.  Back 
to  you. 

Njoko  Punda:  Wayne  (Albrecht)  says 
he'll  ride  the  barge  back  to  llebo  to  make 
sure  it  gets  off  there.  Kalonda,  we'll  tell 
Aggie  about  the  surgical  sutures.  By  for 
Nyanga. 

Nyanga  (Jim):  Wayne  shouldn't  have  to 
do  that;  it  would  knock  him  out  of  school 
for  almost  a week  (Wayne  is  director  of 
woodworking  school  there).  Has  Sam 
come  yet?  By. 

Njoko  Punda:  Sam  is  here. 

Nyanga:  Sam,  we're  wondering  if  you 
could  work  it  into  your  schedule  to  make 
a trip  with  the  big  truck  to  llebo  soon  to 
pick  up  that  light  plant.  It  doesn't  seem 
that  either  of  the  trucks  here  is  in  good 
enough  shape  to  make  a trip  like  that. 
What  do  you  say? 

Njoko  Punda  (Sam):  I have  a trip  to 
Kananga  for  kerosene  and  cement  next 
week;  I could  probably  do  it  the  follow- 
ing week.  Would  that  be  all  right?  Kalon- 
da, I'm  trying  to  make  up  my  load  to  re- 
turn there.  Ask  Vernie  (Lehrman,  PAX 
builder)  if  he  wants  me  to  bring  any  of 
the  roofing  that  came  in  on  the  barge. 

By  for  Nyanga. 

Nyanga  (Jim):  That  will  be  fine,  Sam; 
we'll  leave  it  that  way,  and  trust  the  good 
graces  of  the  captain  to  remember.  The 
plant  will  set  on  the  dock  until  you  get 
there.  (Nancy)  By  for  Kalonda. 

Kalonda:  Vernie  says  bring  all  the  roof- 
ing you've  got  room  for;  he  needs  it  for 
the  new  Dr.  Hirschler  house.  Nyanga, 
Pastor  Kabangi  would  like  a flight  to  take 
evangelism  commission  members  to 
Kandala  via  Mukedi  on  October  19.  If  it 
is  possible,  we  will  need  to  notify  people 
there.  By. 

Nyanga:  George  can  fly  them.  Ask  your 
Zairois  radio  operator  there  to  notify 
Mukedi  and  Kandala  church  leaders  on 
their  ten  o'clock  broadcast.  I think  that 
takes  care  of  everything.  Nyanga  is  clear. 

Levi  Keidel 


E-4  December  1 1 , 1973 


TA-TUNG  CHURCH 
ADDS  FIVE 

At  its  twenty-first  baptismal  service,  held 
in  September,  the  Ta-Tung  Mennonite 
Church  of  Taipei,  Taiwan,  increased  its 
membership  by  five,  making  the  present 
total  144.  Three  persons,  Mr.  So,  Miss 
Kang,  and  Mrs.  Tan,  received  baptism, 
and  two  others,  Sheldon  and  Marietta 
Sawatzky,  who  are  missionary  interims, 
were  received  upon  transfer  of  member- 
ship. Reverend  Mark  Chen,  pastor,  of- 
ficiated. 


Front  row:  Mrs.  Tan,  Miss  Kang,  Mr.  So;  back  row:  Pastor  Mark  Chen,  Marietta,  Ruth  Marie, 
and  Sheldon  Sawatzky. 


APARTMENT  CHURCH  AND  CUT  GLASS  TUMBLERS 


After  moving  from  one  rented  building  to 
another  in  its  nine-year  history,  the 
Chung-Ho  Mennonite  congregation  real- 
ized a dream  come  true  as  it  dedicated  its 
new  building  on  October  7.  For  the  past 
six  years  the  small  group  of  believers  has 


Upon  approval  by  the  delegates  to  the 
annual  assembly  of  the  Mennonite  Com- 
munity of  Zaire,  the  Nyanga  district  or- 
dained Mbonza  Kikunga  and  Muizu 
Kabadi  to  the  pastoral  ministry. 

Mbonza  Kikunga  is  a graduate  of  the 
faculte  de  theologie  at  Kisangani.  Follow- 
ing his  ordination  he  assumed  the  duties 
of  the  chaplaincy  at  the  Christian  Medical 
Institute  of  the  Kasai. 

Muizu  Kabadi,  after  finishing  the  three- 
year  course  at  the  Bible  Institute  at 
Kalonda,  returned  to  his  profession  of 
teaching.  His  constant  interest  in  and 
concern  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his 


been  adding  steadily  to  its  building  fund 
in  spite  of  low  incomes. 

In  the  spring  of  1973,  when  a loan 
from  Church  Extension  Services  and  fi- 
nancial help  from  other  Taiwan  churches 
were  added  to  the  fund,  the  Chung-Ho 


students  resulted  in  his  district  recom- 
mending him  for  ordination.  He  is  re- 
turning to  a rural  church  center  in  the 
Nyanga  district  where  he  will  continue 
to  serve  as  assistant  director  and  pastor 
for  the  area. 

Until  well  into  the  1950s  missionaries 
were  in  authority  and  controlled  the  Zaire 
Mennonite  Church.  But  now  a corps  of 
African  pastors  has  replaced  the  mission- 
aries. The  Zaire  Church  is  in  fact  and 
reality  in  the  hands  of  Zairian  leadership. 
This  speaks  of  vitality  within  the  church 
as  well  as  of  the  tremendous  importance 
of  leadership  training. 


group  was  able  to  purchase  two  floors  in 
a four-story  apartment  building.  The  first 
floor  houses  the  main  assembly  room 
while  the  second  floor  provides  the  home 
for  the  pastor  and  his  family. 

In  spite  of  driving  rain,  the  church  was 
filled  to  capacity  for  the  dedication  ser- 
vice. Reverend  Mark  Chen,  chairman  of 
the  Fellowship  of  Mennonite  Churches  in 
Taiwan;  Peter  Kehler,  chairman  of  the 
Evangelism  Committee;  and  Dr.  Henry 
Poettcker,  now  in  Taiwan  on  sabbatical 
leave  from  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible 
College,  participated  in  the  service.  A 
mass  choir,  comprised  of  young  people 
from  the  four  Mennonite  churches  of  the 
Taipei  area,  enhanced  the  service  with 
musical  selections. 

At  the  end  of  the  service,  as  is  custom- 
ary, each  person  attending  was  given  two 
cut-glass  tumblers  with  the  Mennonite 
symbol  and  the  name  and  date  of  the 
special  event  engraved  on  them.  The 
tumblers  are  a reminder  to  pray  for  the 
pastor,  the  members,  and  the  work  of  the 
Chung-Ho  Mennonite  Church.  Lydia 
Kehler 

Shirley  Hildebrand  directing  the  choir  of  the 
Chung-Ho  Mennonite  Church  at  its  first  service 
in  the  new  building. 


Congregation  of  the  Chung-Ho  Mennonite  Church.  Reverend  Li,  pastor,  is  seated  in  the  front, 
fourth  from  the  left.  His  wife  is  third  from  the  left. 


Nyanga  District  Ordains  Pastors 


THE  MENNONITE  E-5 


Church  with- 
out a Pastor 


Retreat  group 

Terranova  Messages  Initiate 
Vital  Interaction 


In  keeping  with  the  goals,  priorities,  and 
strategy  outlined  recently  for  the  Men- 
nonite  mission  in  Colombia,  a workers' 
retreat  was  held  in  Cachipay  September 
27-30.  Twenty-five  Mennonite  workers 
were  joined  by  twenty-four  leaders  from 
nine  other  church  groups  for  three  days 
of  spiritual  impact.  Carmelo  Terranova, 
an  Argentine  minister-evangelist  with 
Christian  and  Missionary  Alliance,  was 
the  featured  speaker. 


Retreat  speaker  Carmelo  Terranova 


Terranova's  message  was  presented  in 
beautiful,  flowing  Spanish,  but  what  each 
of  us  heard,  Colombian  and  North  Ameri- 
can alike,  was  the  voice  of  God  speaking 
and  reaching  us  at  our  point  of  need. 

What  was  the  basic  need?  It  surprised 
many  of  us  to  recognize  how  very  little 
we  love  God  and  our  brother!  The  first 


commandment  is  to  love  God,  yet  we  so 
rarely  express  this  love  openly. 

At  the  close  of  the  final  service.  Rever- 
end Terranova  led  us  in  a practical  exer- 
cise of  this  love.  He  directed  each  of  us 
to  pray  aloud,  telling  God  we  love  Him, 
even  though  we  might  not  have  a “feeling 
of  love."  Then  we  were  instructed  to 
express  our  love  to  persons  sitting  near  us 
and  to  those  who  had  been  most  difficult 
for  us  to  love.  Many  eyes  were  moist 
with  tears  as  we  went  to  one  another, 
embraced,  and  said  the  long  overdue 
words  "I  love  you."  The  action  carried 
real  impact  because  it  was  impossible  to 
do  this  without  confession  and  pardon 
or  without  facing  the  smallness  of  our 
brotherly  affection.  God  blessed  and 
gave  us  His  gift  of  love  and  a sense  of 
unity  in  the  Spirit,  a gift  we  had  previous- 
ly tried  to  program  by  human  energy. 
Lillian  Claassen 

Translations  and  Revisions 

ZAIRE 

Reverend  Gymalu  and  James  Bertsche  are 
translating  the  Bible  into  the  Gipende 
language  for  the  Bapende  tribe  in  Zaire. 

INDIA 

Helen  Kornelsen  has  prepared  Vacation 
Bible  School  books  and  materials  in  the 
Hindi  language  for  use  by  seminary  and 
Bible  school  students  in  summer  work  in 
the  churches  of  India.  She  and  Marie 
Moyer  have  revised  the  English  VBS  ma- 
terials of  the  eleven-year  course  for  use 
with  English-speaking  students. 


Two  years  ago  the  Aburatsu  Christian 
Church,  located  in  Nichinan  city  which 
is  a pulp  factory  and  fishing  center  on 
the  southern  coast  of  Kyushu  Island, 
Japan,  found  itself  without  either  a pas- 
tor or  missionary.  The  pastor  had  moved 
to  a larger  city  to  work,  and  the  mission- 
ary, who  had  been  instrumental  in  start- 
ing the  church,  went  back  to  America  to 
serve  a congregation.  That  meant  that 
the  laymen  had  to  continue  the  work  of 
the  church  alone. 

Though  not  easy,  this  has  caused  them 
to  reflect  on  their  role  in  the  church.  Mr. 
Hirakawa,  who  is  employed  by  the  pulp 
factory,  has  been  serving  as  lay  leader  of 
the  group.  Other  laymen,  too,  have  taken 
on  additional  responsibilities.  Mr. 
Hirakawa  is  especially  interested  in  the 
pattern  of  the  early  church  in  the  book 
of  Acts,  which  also  was  led  by  laymen. 
Once  a month  the  church  invites  a pastor 
or  missionary  from  another  congregation 
to  serve,  but  for  the  most  part  the  mem- 
bers are  carrying  on  by  themselves. 

Their  efforts  have  already  produced 
results.  On  a recent  Sunday  three  new 
believers  were  baptized:  Miss  Hasegawa, 
a high  school  student;  Mrs.  Saito,  a 
housewife;  and  Mr.  Nakano,  employee  of 
a concrete  manufacturing  company.  The 
day  also  included  a child  dedication  cere- 
mony and  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

Until  this  time  the  Aburatsu  Christian 
Church,  like  many  others,  felt  that  it 
would  be  unable  to  carry  on  its  work 
without  a pastor  or  missionary.  But 
faithful  dedication  and  willing  service 
show  what  can  happen  when  a congrega- 
tion becomes  lay  oriented  rather  than 
pastor  or  missionary  centered.  Submitted 
by  Hiroshi  Isobe 


Latin  Americans  are  "Fiesta-oriented." 
They  need  to  feel  their  faith  and  express 
it  joyously.  One  reason  the  Bogota 
church  has  large  attendance  at  its  services 
is  that  the  Colombian  pastor  encourages 
participation,  expression,  and  freedom  in 
the  worship  of  God. 


E-6  December  1 1,  1973 


Amoeba  Ghuoch 
Evangelism 


Eye 

Evangelism 

, John  and  Elma  Wiebe  operate  a Christian 
bookstore  out  of  their  home  in  Bogota, 

| Colombia,  and  show  Bible-oriented  films 
| on  request. 

Among  their  customers  is  Mrs.  Serna, 

| a Catholic  Christian  lady  who  has  bought 
; many  thousands  of  pesos  worth  of  New 
j Testaments  for  her  personal  distribution. 
She  encourages  other  Catholic  laymen, 
priests,  and  nuns  to  visit  the  bookstore. 

On  five  consecutive  Tuesdays  she  invited 
John  to  show  ten  Life  of  Christ  films  to 
about  sixty  persons  in  her  home.  She 
has  formed  five  ladies'  prayer  and  Bible 
study  groups. 

Films  are  shown  in  the  local  theater, 
on  the  football  field,  in  schools,  a jail,  an 
Old  Folks'  home,  and  churches  of  various 
denominations.  Literature  displays  are 
often  set  up  in  conjunction  with  film 
showing. 

A mail-order  service  operates  out  of 
the  store. 

Wiebe  is  hopeful  that  in  the  near  fu- 
ture a Colombian  will  become  a partner 
with  him  in  this  type  of  evangelistic  work. 


John  and  Elma  Wiebe  make  another  sale  in 
their  Bogota  bookstore. 


Visiting  in  the  Wiebe  home  with  a Catholic 
friend,  Mrs.  Serna,  who  actively  supports  the 
film  and  literature  program. 


The  Kirishima  Christian  Brotherhood  is 
presently  engaged  in  experimental  meth- 
ods of  evangelism  which  have  grown  out 
of  years  of  struggle,  trial,  and  error.  After 
a nucleus  of  believers  was  established  in 
Kobayashi  City  with  the  help  of  mission- 
aries and  a national  pastor,  the  group 
faced  a crisis  experience  which  caused  it 
to  turn  outward  and  concentrate  its  ef- 
forts on  evangelism  and  church  growth. 

The  crisis  involved  making  a decision 
concerning  the  purchase  of  a church 
building.  Through  prayer  and  discussion, 
the  believers  reached  the  conclusion  that 
a building  is  not  the  main  priority  of  the 
church.  The  Kobayashi  fellowship  rea- 
soned that  since  the  church  exists  for  the 
world,  the  believers  would  continue  to 
meet  in  homes  and  begin  to  move  towards 
a decentralized  church.  Small  groups 
meet  in  homes  in  Kobayashi  City  and  in 
many  small  towns  surrounding  the  city. 

Each  group  is  led  by  a layman  and  meets 
on  the  day  which  best  suits  its  members. 
Pastor  Yamada  visits  each  group  on  oc- 
casion, giving  encouragement  and  taking 
part  in  the  life  of  each  cell  group.  All 
groups  are  considered  members  of  the 
nucleus  church  in  Kobayashi  City. 

In  1967  a layman  Mr.  Okutsu  and  his 
wife  from  the  Kobayashi  fellowship  vol- 
unteered to  move  to  the  large  city  of 
Kagoshima,  two  hours  distant,  to  investi- 
gate the  possibility  of  beginning  a new 
group  there.  In  discussing  this  idea  with 
the  Kobayashi  Church,  the  plan  of  in- 
viting a lay  couple  from  the  United  States 
to  work  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Okutsu  emerged. 
In  1970  Carl  and  Sandra  Liechty  were 
invited  back  to  Japan  to  live  in  this  uni- 
versity city  and  establish  relationships 
with  new  persons. 

After  three  years  some  definite  pat- 
terns seem  to  be  emerging  which  cast 
much  light  on  the  task  of  church  plant- 
ing and  growth  in  modern  Japan.  Lay- 
men play  a unique  role  in  evangelism. 

New  forms  of  church  life  have  emerged. 

For  example,  placing  a great  deal  of  em- 
phasis on  Sunday  morning  worship  ser- 
vices tended  to  limit  the  church.  There- 
fore the  laymen  in  Kagoshima  have 


developed  worship  services  whenever  and 
wherever  feasible.  The  Holy  Spirit  seems 
to  be  leading  in  a definite  direction  which 
might  be  termed  "the  amoeba  church." 

A small  group  of  believers  meets  in  the 
traditional  way  on  Sunday  mornings  with 
different  members  leading.  Once  a month 
Pastor  Yamada  brings  a message  and 
shares  news  of  other  cell  groups.  But  the 
major  growth  and  activity  takes  place  on 
the  edges  of  these  "amoeba  churches." 

Since  Kagoshima  is  a university  city, 
it  offers  countless  opportunities  for  meet- 
ing persons  through  English  Bible  study. 
Carl  Liechty,  as  foreign  professor  of  Eng- 
lish at  the  university,  has  complete  free- 
dom in  the  selection  of  textbooks  for  his 
classes.  Twice  a week  he  teaches  in  a 
junior  college  where  the  English  Speaking 
Club  has  requested  Bible  study.  English 
teachers,  doctors,  women,  and  others 
meet  in  separate  groups  during  weekdays 
for  Bible  study.  Efforts  are  being  made 
to  incorporate  worship  services  into  each 
group. 

The  Mennonite  Church  in  Kagoshima 
is  expanding  because  persons  attending 
small  groups  are  invited.  Laymen  in  each 
group  help  lead  the  services.  In  turn  the 
smaller  groups  are  encouraged  to  make 
their  meetings  meaningful  through  active 
participation  of  members.  These  small 
fellowships,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  self-per- 
petuating, not  needing  to  rely  on  pastor 
or  missionary. 

Of  necessity  this  new  type  of  church  is 
quite  flexible  and  often  difficult  to  organ- 
ize. But  the  important  requisite  is  that  it 
be  living,  fluid,  and  active  in  reaching  into 
the  world  with  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 


THE  MENNONITE  E-7 


Printed  in  U.S.A. 


Mennonite  Christian  Hospital 
Graduates  Ten 


JAPANESE  SEMINAR 
EXAMINES 
GOVERNMENT  BILLS 


Ten  nurses  graduated  from  the  Mennonite 
Christian  Hospital  School  of  Nursing  in 
Hualien,  Taiwan,  on  September  14,  1973. 
The  graduation  ceremony  was  held  in  the 
hospital  chapel. 

The  graduation  address  "Let  Your 
Light  Shine"  was  given  by  a young  Toroko 
preacher.  Susan  Martens,  superintendent 
of  the  Nursing  School,  presented  the  grad- 
uating nurses  with  diplomas,  pins,  roses, 
and  gifts.  The  three  teachers  of  the  school 
Miss  C.  Wang,  Miss  C.  Lai,  and  Miss  F. 
Hsieh,  assisted  in  the  ceremonies.  The 


Susan  Martens  presents  diplomas  and  roses  to  the 
School  of  Nursing. 


graduates  expressed  their  commitment  by 
singing  "I  Want  the  Lord  to  Prepare  the 
Way  for  Me."  Peter  Kehler,  chairman  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite  Mission 
in  Taiwan,  gave  the  dedication  prayer.  In 
her  valedictory  speech  Miss  Lin  expressed 
appreciation  to  all  who  had  had  a part  in 
making  the  graduates'  attainment  a reality 
in  spite  of  many  fears  and  difficulties.  Dr. 
Roland  Brown,  director  of  the  hospital, 
added  his  congratulations  and  commented 
that  there  is  real  fulfillment  in  a life  of 
dedicated  service.  Helen  Willems 


973  graduates  of  Mennonite  Chris'tian  Hospital 


An  Anabaptist  seminar  hosted  by  the 
Kyushu  Mennonite  churches  in  southern 
Japan  took  place  October  10  and  1 1 and 
involved  representatives  from  various  Men- 
nonite groups  in  Japan.  A unique  aspect 
of  the  seminar  was  that  the  lecturers  were 
all  Japanese,  which  gives  some  indication 
of  the  degree  to  which  Anabaptist-Men- 
nonite  concepts  are  taking  root  in  Japan. 
Lecturers  included  Dr.  Gan  Sakakibara, 
who  has  written  several  books  on  the 
Hutterites  and  other  Christian  communal 
movements,  and  Takio  Tanase,  who  has 
studied  at  Goshen  and  Elkhart  and  is 
vitally  interested  in  historical  Anabaptism 
as  it  relates  to  radical  obedience  to  the 
teachings  of  Jesus. 

There  is  evident  conviction  among  a 
number  of  Japanese  church  leaders  that 
the  Mennonite  faith  has  a vital  message 
for  the  people  of  modern  Japan.  This 
was  also  manifested  in  the  theme  of  the 
seminar  "The  Church  and  the  State," 
most  relevant  in  view  of  the  recent  power 
tactics  of  the  Japanese  government  in  the 
direction  of  reestablishing  the  Yasukuni 
Shrine  for  Japan's  war  dead  as  a national 
shrine.  It  is  financed  by  state  funds.  This 
has  long  been  a highly  controversial  bill 
before  the  Japanese  Diet  and  seems  on 
the  verge  of  becoming  law.  There  is  also 
renewed  concern  that  it  may  be  only  a 
short  time  until  the  Japanese  "Peace  Con- 
stitution" is  revised,  not  only  to  make 
the  Japanese  "Self-Defense  Forces"  legal, 
but  also  to  empower  the  government  to 
strengthen  its  armed  might  without  re- 
striction. George  Janzen 


ENCOMPASS  is  published  quarterly  for  the 
Commission  on  Overseas  Mission,  722  Main 
Street,  Newton,  Kansas,  by  Faith  and  Life 
Press,  724  Main,  Newton,  KS  671 14. 

Mary  Rempel,  editor 


E-8  December  1 1 , 1973 

i 


Ontario  gives  nod  to  inter-Mennonite  council 


Frustration  with  lack  of  time  for  ade- 
quate discussion  marked  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  Conference  of  United 
Mennonite  Churches  of  Ontario  in  ses- 
sion at  Bethany  Mennonite  Church  in 
Virgil,  Ontario,  November  9-11. 

Constant  reminders  by  the  chair  that 
the  time  was  short  meant  the  curtailing 
of  discussion  on  many  issues  where 
delegates  clearly  wanted  more  informa- 
tion and  greater  consensus. 

Innovations  this  year  included  a mov- 
ing Sunday  afternoon  communion  serv- 
ice and  a unique  reflection-and-feed- 
back  type  of  imput  rather  than  sermons. 
Leland  and  Bertha  Harder,  Elkhart. 
Indiana,  centered  their  comments  on  the 
theme,  “The  changing  church.” 

Delegates  approved  payment  of  a 
$10,200  mortgage  to  liquidate  the  debt 
on  Welcome  Inn,  Hamilton,  and  passed 
a $70,400  budget  with  a projected  sur- 
plus of  $7,000. 

Also  given  the  nod  was  formation  of 
an  inter-Mennonite  executive  council  for 
coordination  of  mutual  ventures  with 
the  Ontario  and  Western  Ontario  Men- 
nonite conferences,  which  approved  the 
proposal  earlier  this  year. 

A draft  of  a translated  and  revised 
constitution  was  approved  to  take  effect 
at  the  1974  session.  The  only  signif- 
icant changes  are  the  merger  of  the 
missions  and  peace  and  service  com- 


mittees into  the  missions  and  service 


committee,  and  the  extension  of  elective 
offices. 

Delegates  referred  back  for  study  the 
proposed  change  of  annual  meeting  date 
and  granting  of  bursaries  to  high  school 
students. 

An  executive  committee  recommen- 
dation that  an  office  be  opened  and  an 
executive  secretary  hired  was  tabled. 

The  following  were  also  approved: 

An  $1,800  sum  to  hire  a youth  work- 
er to  coordinate  activities  with  other 
conferences,  $6,000  for  the  Jacob  H. 
Janzen  scholarship  fund  to  be  adminis- 
tered by  Conrad  Grebel  College,  and  a 
joint  1974  yearbook  with  the  Ontario 
and  Western  Ontario  conferences. 

Conflict  over  the  emphases  of  Silver 
Lake  Camp  (a  separate  organization 
with  links  to  conference)  erupted  late 
Saturday  evening  but  the  discussion  was 
curtailed  with  the  tabling  of  a motion  to 
open  discussion  between  the  education 
committee  and  Silver  Lake  board. 

The  chair  reported  that  discussions 
between  the  executive  and  the  camp 


Leland  and  Bertha  Harder  of  the  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary  faculty,  tlkhart, 
Indiana,  provided  reflection-feedback  commentary  at  the  Ontario  United  Mennonite 
Churches’  recent  annual  conference. 


have  already  been  held  leading  to  a 
possible  future  takeover. 

The  Ontario  conference’s  new  chair- 
man is  Edward  Enns,  St.  Catharines.  He 


succeeds  John  N.  Harder  of  Vineland. 
Paul  Penner  and  Darrell  Fast  remain 
vice-chairman  and  secretary.  David 
Kroeker 


International  TV  spots  may  be  produced 


Production  of  a series  of  international 
television  spot  announcements  is  being 
explored  by  broadcasting  agencies  of 
the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church,  Mennonite  Church,  and  Men- 
nonite Brethren  Church. 

Preliminary  studies  have  been  started 
on  the  feasibility  of  producing  short 
programs  with  cartoon  characters  to-  be 
used  outside  North  America  in  countries 
where  Mennonites  have  mission  work. 

No  final  decision  on  the  production 
has  been  made,  but  if  plans  progress, 
the  TV  spots  could  be  ready  in  two  more 
years. 

The  idea  for  the  international  spots 
came  from  Melvin  Loewen,  anthro- 
pologist and  former  Mennonite  Brethren 
missionary  in  Zaire.  He  came  to  the 
inter-Mennonite  broadcasters  in  1972, 
saying,  TV  is  hitting  the  third  world. 
How  can  we  be  involved? 

Kenneth  Weaver,  executive  director 
of  Mennonite  Broadcasts,  Inc.,  took  the 
issue  to  the  Council  of  Mission  Board 
Secretaries  (an  inter-Mennonite  group 
of  administrators)  and  has  surveyed 
missionaries  and  nationals  in  twenty- 
seven  countries.  Response  to  this  survey 
has  shown  strong  interest  in  the  idea. 

The  next  step  will  be  to  share  the 
results  of  the  survey  with  these  mission- 
aries and  nationals  and  ask  them  to 
give  priorities  to  possible  subjects  and 
themes. 

If  produced,  the  visual  portion  of  the 


spots  would  be  the  same  for  each  coun- 
try with  different  sound.  However,  there 
may  be  problems  with  using  a cartoon 
character  in  African  countries. 

Palmer  Becker,  executive  secretary  of 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries, 
said  marketing  of  the  spots  will  probably 
be  more  expensive  in  the  third  world, 
since  little  free  television  time  is  avail- 
able there  for  “public  service”  an- 
nouncements. 

Kuebler-Ross  workshop 
coming  at  Prairie  View 

Elizabeth  Kiibler-Ross  is  scheduled  to 
conduct  a workshop  on  “Death  and  dy- 
ing” at  Prairie  View  Mental  Health 
Center,  Newton,  Kansas,  January  18, 
1974.  The  workshop  is  being  sponsored 
by  the  Church  and  Human  Relations 
Committee. 

An  international  consultant  in  the 
care  of  the  dying  patients  and  their 
families,  Dr.  Kiibler-Ross  is  also  the 
author  of  the  widely  read  On  death  and 
dying. 

The  Church  and  Human  Relations 
Committee  is  an  ad  hoc  committee  re- 
lated to  Prairie  View.  It  focuses  on 
ways  for  mental  health  centers  and 
churches  to  cooperate. 

Further  information  on  both  the  one- 
day  workshop  and  additional  programs 
on  the  subject  of  death  and  dying  is 
available  from  Prairie  View. 


THE  MENNONITE 


721 


Arthur  Gish  addresses 
intercollege  council 

The  Intercollegiate  Christian  Council  of 
Mennonite  Colleges  (icc  met  November 
29-December  1 on  the  Bluffton  College 
campus. 

“The  changing  Christian  community 
on  campus”  was  the  theme  of  the  two- 
day  conference. 

Arthur  G.  Gish,  an  itinerant  minister 
with  the  Church  of  the  Brethren,  served 
as  the  resource  person. 

Objectives  of  the  conference  were  to 
discuss  mutual  problems  and  share  ex- 
periences, promote  understanding  a- 
mong  the  colleges,  and  study  campus 
and  world  needs  in  light  of  the  Christian 
student’s  responsibility. 

Participating  colleges  included  Go- 
shen, Eastern  Mennonite,  Hesston, 
Bethel,  Tabor,  and  Bluffton. 

Grant  given 
for  peace  lectures 

Bethel  College  has  received  a $2,000 
grant  from  the  Schowalter  Foundation 
to  underwrite  a peace  lecture  series  over 
the  next  two  years,  to  be  known  as  the 
Bethel  College  Schowalter  Peace  Lec- 
tures. 

Lecturers  for  this  year’s  series,  to  be 
presented  during  the  second  semester, 
are  now  being  secured,  according  to 
Duane  Friesen,  director  of  the  college’s 
peace  studies  program.  The  lecture  pre- 
sentations form  a part  of  a seminar  on 
the  liberal  arts  and  peace  studies  taught 
by  Mr.  Friesen. 

A peace  studies  and  conflict  manage- 
ment major  was  introduced  at  Bethel 
last  year  which  students  may  elect  to 
take  in  conjunction  with  another  major 
field  of  study. 

Chicago  area  Mennoraites 
plan  mission  strategy 

On  October  27  persons  from  Chicago 
area  Mennonite  churches  met  to  fellow- 
ship, to  pray,  and  to  discuss  a mission 
strategy  for  the  Chicago  area.  Repre- 
sentatives from  twelve  of  the  thirteen 
congregations  in  the  area  were  present 
to  report  on  their  congregational  life  and 
program.  Also  present  were  Jacob  Frie- 
sen, Central  District  conference  min- 
ister, Edwin  J.  Stalter,  conference  minis- 
ter for  the  Illinois  Mennonite  Confer- 
ence, and  Ray  Horst,  Simon  Gingerich, 
and  Virgil  Brenneman  from  Mennonite 
Board  of  Missions,  Elkhart,  Indiana. 

The  purpose  for  the  strategy  meeting 


was  (1)  to  consider  the  needs  for  an 
enlarged  Christian  witness  in  the  Chic- 
ago area  of  more  than  six  million  per- 
sons; (2)  to  become  aware  of  the  Men- 
nonite presence  (congregations,  fellow- 
ships, student  groups,  and  individuals) 
and  program  in  the  Chicago  areas;  and 
(3)  to  discover  ways  to  strengthen  and 
enlarge  the  Mennonite  churches’  wit- 
ness for  Christ  in  the  Chicago-  area. 

The  committee  which  is  responsible 
for  the  planning  of  this  meeting  and 


RECORD 

Workers 


Lehmann 


Lutz 


Dennis  Lehmann,  Salem  Church,  Free- 
man, S.D.,  has  begun  a thirty-months 
term  of  service  with  mcc  in  Zaire.  He 
is  serving  in  agricultural  work.  Dennis 
has  received  an  associate  of  arts  degree 
from  Freeman  Junior  College.  He  is  the 
son  of  Henry  and  Elta  Lehmann,  Hur- 
ley, S.D. 

David  Lutz,  Hereford  Church,  Bally, 
Pa.,  has  begun  a three-year  term  of  serv- 
ice with  mcc  in  Pakistan.  He  is  serving 
in  a land-leveling  project.  David  received 
a BS  in  agricultural  engineering  from 
Pennsylvania  State  University.  He  is  the 
son  of  Walter  and  Elsie  Lutz,  Barto,  Pa. 


Martin  Penner  Mary  Penner 

Martin  and  Mary  Rempel  Penner, 
Sargent  Ave.  Church,  Winnipeg,  Man., 
have  begun  a twenty-seven  months  term 


others  similar  to  it  consists  of  the  fol- 
lowing: Alvin  Voth  (Grace);  Leamon 
Sowell  (Bethel);  Joe  Richards  (Lom- 
bard); Ed  Springer,  secretary  (Mark- 
ham); Ivan  Kauffmann,  chairman  (Gen- 
eral Board  office). 

The  committee  was  instructed  to 
move  ahead  aggressively  for  the  enlarge- 
ment of  a Mennonite  Christian  witness 
in  the  Chicago  area.  A desire  for  a closer 
working  relationship  and  more  fellow- 
ship with  each  other  was  expressed. 


of  service  with  mcc  in  Brazil.  Martin 
is  serving  in  agriculture  and  Mary  is 
serving  as  a nurse.  Martin  received  a 
bachelor’s  degree  in  Christian  educa- 
tion from  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible 
College  and  a BSA  in  plant  science 
from  the  University  of  Manitoba.  Mary 
received  an  RN  from  Winnipeg  Gen- 
eral Hospital  School  of  Nursing.  Martin 
is  the  son  of  Mrs.  K.  Penner,  Winnipeg. 
Mary  is  the  daughter  of  Peter  and  Ma- 
ria Rempel,  Winnipeg. 

Deaths 


Peter  Philip  Wedel  of  Moundridge, 
Kans..  born  Oct.  6,  1884,  died  Nov.  18. 
He  was  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of 
Christian,  Moundridge,  for  forty-five 
years.  He  was  vice-president  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  from  1920  to  1926, 
president  of  the  General  Conference 
1926-33,  and  a member  of  the  General 
Conference  Foreign  Mission  Board 
1933-50.  He  also  served  as  president  of 
the  Western  District  Conference  1935- 
38  and  as  member  of  the  Bethel  College 
Board  of  Directors  1926-31. 

Calendar 


Dec.  27-29 — Graduate  student  fellow- 
ship, Winnipeg 

Jan.  18-19,  1974 — Mcc  annual  meet- 
ing, Hillsboro,  Kans. 

Feb.  4-8,  1974 — General  Conference 
council  of  commissions,  Winnipeg 

Aug.  1-7,  1974 — General  Conference 
triennial  sessions,  St.  Catharines,  Ont. 

Central 

Jan.  8-Feb.  1,  1974 — Workshop  on 
“Contemporary  biblical  preaching,”  As- 
sociated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries, 
Elkhart,  Ind. 


722  DECEMBER  11,  1973 


“THE  OVERALL  PURPOSE  OF  THE  COMMIS- 
SION ON  HOME  MINISTRIES  IS  CONGREGA- 
TIONAL MISSION.  WE  WILL  TEAM  UP  WITH 
PASTORS,  DISTRICT  COMMITTEES,  AND  THE 
COMMISSION  ON  EDUCATION  TO  HELP  LIV- 
ING, ACTIVE  CONGREGATIONS  OF  THE 
GENERAL  CONFERENCE  TO  EMBARK  UPON 
AN  EVANGELISM-THAT-CARES  TYPE  OF 
OUTREACH  IN  THEIR  RESPECTIVE  COM- 
MUNITIES AND  A WITNESS  THAT  CARES  TO 
THEIR  GOVERNMENTS.”  (adopted  1972} 


This  purpose  is  being  carried  out  through: 

-Assisting  20  congregations  and  over  100  volunteers  in 
their  local  mission  through  Voluntary  Service  units. 

- Training  and  assisting  nine  primary  consultants  who 
are  helping  35  congregations  in  goal  setting  for  evan- 
gelism/service. 

- Giving  special  attention  and  support  to  Indian  Amer- 
icans through  12  congregations  and  an  elementary 
school. 

- Assisting  congregations  and  committed  groups  to  de- 
fine and  get  funding  for  poverty  projects. 


- Helping  district  conferences  research,  recruit,  and  set 
priorities  for  new  church  planting. 

- Helping  to  keep  the  gospel  relevant  to  the  whole  needs 
of  society  through  a strong  emphasis  on  peace  and 
social  concerns. 

- Cooperating  with  other  Mennonite  groups  in  produc- 
ing Choice  radio  programs  for  about  200  stations  and 
TV  spots  for  over  500. 

Your  continued  support  is  appreciated. 

Commission  on  Home  Ministries 

Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671 14 


THE  MENNONITE 


723 


REVIEW 

The  politics  and  power  of  nonviolent  action 


The  politics  of  nonviolent  action,  by 
Gene  Sharp  (Porter  Sargent  Publisher, 
Boston , 1973,  1,000  pp„  $24.95)  is  re- 
viewed by  Peter  J.  Ediger,  pastor,  Ar- 
vada, Colorado. 

Strange  things  happened  to  me  on  the 
way  through  a book.  Like  fantasies. 

Fantasy  1.  Five  hundred  Mennonite 
men  are  singing  “Faith  of  our  fathers 
living  still,  in  spite  of  dungeon  fire  and 
sword.  . .”  and  I am  deeply  moved.  It 
is  1972  and  the  bombs  are  raining  on 
Indochina,  and  in  my  fantasy  I see 
those  men  begin  to  move  as  they  sing. 
I see  them  begin  to  move  out  of  the 
auditorium  into  the  streets  singing  as 
they  march  right  into  their  communities 
and  their  churches,  and  as  they  march 
and  as  they  sing  I hear  them  saying, 
“No  more!  No  more  paying  for  those 
bombs!  No  more  worshiping  of  Caesar!” 
And  the  saying  no  is  as  beautiful  as  the 
singing.  . . . 

Fantasy  2.  Mennonites  in  Canada 
and  the  United  States  are  celebrating 
their  centennial  in  their  respective  lands 
in  1974.  With  songs  and  with  speeches 
and  with  monuments  they  give  thanks 
to  God  for  life  and  liberty  . . . and  in 
my  fantasy  I hear  them  rise  up  with 
united  voices  in  a great  crescendo: 
“Liberty  to  the  captives!”  And  I see 
them  fleshing  out  those  words  of  Jesus 
as  they  invest  their  lives  in  varied  forms 
of  nonviolent  actions  in  behalf  of  op- 
pressed peoples.  . . . 

Fantasy  3.  A man  on  a cross  is 
saying,  “All  power  is  given  to  me  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  . . ,”  and  as  they 
drive  those  nails  and  drain  his  blood  and 
say,  “If  you’re  the  son  of  God  save 
yourself.”  He  says,  “Father,  forgive 
them.  . . .” 

But  No.  3 is  not  fantasy.  That’s  for 
real.  And  I wonder,  why  is  it  so  hard 
to  move  our  fantasies  into  reality? 

Along  come  John  Howard  Yoder  and 
Frank  Epp  and  tell  us  that  following 
Jesus  has  some  gutsy  meanings  for  our 
life  in  the  world,  including  the  freedom 
and  the  responsibility  to  say  both 
yes  and  no  to  contemporary  Caesars 
as  they  stretch  their  principalities  and 
flex  their  powers. 

And  along  comes  this  Harvard  profes- 
sor, Gene  Sharp,  who  after  years  of 


research  and  observation  writes  this 
book  about  the  power  of  nonviolent  ac- 
tion, driving  home  the  thesis  that  the 
exercise  of  power  is  ultimately  depen- 
dent upon  the  consent  of  the  people,  and 
there  is  much  more  power  in  nonviolent 
action  than  most  of  us  have  realized. 

In  a thousand  pages  he  elaborates 
and  illustrates  this  thesis,  citing  hundreds 
of  situations  in  which  varied  kinds  of 
nonviolent  action  have  had  significant 
effect.  And  in  an  interesting  and  some- 
times exciting  and  sometimes  exhaust- 
ing listing,  he  does  descriptive  analyses 
of  198  different  forms  of  nonviolent 
action,  ranging  from  vigils  and  marches 
and  teach-ins  and  boycotts  and  strikes 
and  religious  processions  and  picketing 
to  noncooperation  and  sit-ins,  stand-ins, 
pray-ins,  and  civil  disobedience  of  vari- 
ous kinds  and  many  variations  on  all 
of  the  above  and  others. 

As  I ponder  all  this  I am  amazed 
at  the  many  kinds  of  options  open  to 
persons  concerned  about  expressing 
opposition  to  corrupt  political  practices. 
And  I am  amazed  at  the  extensiveness 
of  Gene  Sharp’s  documentation  of  the 
varieties  of  nonviolent  actions. 

I am  even  more  amazed  to  discover 
in  this  massive  material  the  complete 
absence  of  reference  to  nonviolent  non- 
resistant  actions  from  Anabaptist  his- 
tory, with  the  exception  of  one  brief 
reference  to  Mennonite  migrations  as 
a form  of  nonviolent  noncooperation 
with  government.  I wonder  what  that 
ommission  means. 

I think  it  may  mean  several  things: 
(a)  Mennonites  are  not  as  committed  to 
nonviolent  action  as  to  nonviolent 
theorizing,  (b)  Mennonites  are  not  noted 
for  displaying  their  nonviolence  in  pub- 
lic, (c)  Gene  Sharp  was  not  as  thorough 
in  his  investigation  as  the  1,000  pages 
and  extensive  bibliography  might  sug- 
gest, and  (d)  Gene  Sharp  has  a bias 
against  religiously  motivated  nonvio- 
lence or  chooses  to  cite  illustrations 
from  other  motivations,  perhaps  in  line 
with  the  delimitation  of  his  study  as 
stated  in  his  preface  that  “relationships 
between  this  technique  (nonviolence) 
and  ethical  problems,  and  between  this 
technique  and  belief  systems  exhorting 
to  nonviolent  behavior  are  for  the  most 
part  not  discussed  here.” 


As  I reflect  further  on  Mr.  Sharp’s 
persistent  affirmations  that  nonviolence 
can  work  and  on  his  prolific  analyses  of 
how  and  when  and  why  it  can  work, 
I am  both  encouraged  and  troubled. 
I am  encouraged  at  the  awareness  of  the 
possibilities  in  nonviolent  actions  and 
troubled  at  the  treatment  of  nonviolent 
action  as  a technique  apart  from  rootage 
in  a world  view  or  a faith. 

As  I finish  the  1,000  pages,  I find  my- 
self feeling  that  I’m  glad  Gene  Sharp 
wrote  this  book  and  I’m  glad  that  I got 
it  free  for  writing  this  review  because 
the  cost  seems  almost  violent.  I wonder 
how  many  church  librarians  will  look 
beyond  the  cost  and  decide  they  should 
get  it.  I hope  it  will  be  many. 

I wonder  how  many  Mennonites  will 
stumble  at  the  word  “politics”  in  the 
title  and  I wish  for  them  the  title  might 
read  The  power  of  nonviolent  action. 
And  I remember  that  John  Yoder’s  book 
is  titled  The  politics  of  Jesus  and  I think 
that  would  make  a good  companion 
study  with  this  book,  for  I see  in  both 
of  them,  from  different  perspectives,  an 
elaboration  of  what  Jesus  said  in  ten 
words,  “Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they 
shall  inherit  the  earth.”  And  I wonder 
whether  we  have  really  heard  those 
words  or  understood  them  or  believed 
them  or  known  how  to  live  them  out.  If 
Gene  Sharp’s  book  can  give  us  handles 
to  apply  the  faith  which  we  profess,  the 
$25  will  be  well  worth  it. 

For  with  Watergate  and  other  signs 
of  deceptive  and  oppressive  policies 
coming  from  high  places,  with  the 
clouds  of  Babylon  hanging  over  us,  we 
need  all  the  discernment  and  the  cour- 
age available  to  defuse  our  fear  and 
worship  of  corrupt  powers,  so  that  we 
may  give  our  allegiance  to  the  One 
Power.  Yoked  with  theological  writings 
of  John  Yoder  and  others.  The  politics 
of  nonviolent  action  may  help  us  to 
wake  from  our  comfortable  sleep  at  the 
altars  of  Caesar  and  rise  to  the  vision 
of  John  the  Revelator  that  Babylon  is 
fallen,  and  the  Lamb  is  on  the  throne. 


724 


DECEMBER  11,  1973 


LETTERS 


Avoid  finger  pointing 

Dear  Editor:  Various  publications  have 
at  times  been  guilty  of  printing  articles 
which  were  character  assassinating  in 
nature.  One  would  hardly  expect  to  read 
this  type  of  an  article  in  a church-spon- 
sored publication,  yet  The  Mennonite 
carried  an  article  which  was  very  finger- 
pointing in  context.  I refer  to  the  article 
on  Rex  Humbard  by  Levi  Miller  (Sep- 
tember 18  issue).  Has  it  ever  occurred 
to  Mr.  Miller  when  you  point  a critical 
finger  at  someone  else  that  three  of 
your  own  fingers  are  pointing  back  at 
you? 

I have  difficulty  reconciling  this  type 
of  article  with  a fellowship  which  is  to 
exemplify  love  and  peace.  With  this 
thought  in  mind,  perhaps  we  need  to 
elaborate  on  the  positive  results  of  Rex 
Humbard’s  ministry  rather  than  magnify 
his  personal  shortcomings.  Our  Lord  can 
and  will  forgive  one  who  has  confessed 
and  repented  of  making  a mistake.  This 
is  much  to  be  preferred  to  a situation 
where  everything  has  gone  wrong  and 
nobody  has  admitted  an  error. 

As  in  the  case  of  a salesman,  one 
does  not  enhance  his  own  product  by 
running  down  the  product  of  someone 
else.  One  needs  to  be  mindful  of  the 
fact  that  his  ministry,  like  a mirror,  will 
reflect  only  that  which  is  placed  before 
it.  Is  the  nature  of  your  dealing  with 
Rex  Humbard  the  image  that  you  wish 
to  reflect  to  the  world?  Harold  D.  Rixe, 
pastor,  Eicher  Emmanuel  Church,  Way- 
land,  Iowa  52654  Oct.  25 

Did  it  build? 

Dear  Editor:  A warm  and  lively  dis- 
cussion among  a cluster  of  people  in  the 
vestibule  of  the  church  after  the  service 
on  a recent  Sunday  morning  attracted 
my  attention.  The  topic  was  the  poem 
on  the  front  cover  of  The  Mennonite 
(October  30  issue).  The  discussion  wasn’t 
favorable  to  that  type  of  poetry.  Some- 
one did  counter  by  way  of  support  that 
“there  was  a lot  of  truth  in  it.”  The  gen- 
eral consensus,  however,  was  that  the 
truth  does  not  have  to  be  expressed  in 
that  manner — not  by  Christians,  and 
not  in  a church  paper,  which  has  a 
wealth  of  profound,  good,  scriptural  po- 
etry available  from  a myriad  of  sources. 


Something  else  would  have  been  more 
suitable  for  the  front  page  of  our  church 
paper. 

In  the  light  of  the  statement  that  “ The 
Mennonite  seeks  to  witness,  teach,  moti- 
vate and  build  Christian  fellowship  with- 
in the  context  of  Christian  love  and  free- 
dom under  the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,”  these  thoughts 
emerge:  Did  it  witness?  How?  Did  it 
teach?  What?  It  certainly  motivated,  that 
was  in  evidence  that  Sunday  morning. 
Did  it  build  Christian  fellowship  within 
the  context  of  Christian  love?  How  was 
the  guidance  of  the  Scriptures  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  evidence? 

An  unkind  remark  was  made  about 
the  poet,  but  by  modern  journalistic 
standards  this  piece  probably  had  out- 
standing literary  value.  After  all,  it  is  up 
to  the  editors  to  select  material  that  fits 
the  criteria  indicated  above,  as  published 
in  every  issue  of  The  Mennonite.  C.  B. 
Friesen,  400  North  Main,  Hesston,  Kans. 
67062  Nov.  5 

VS  program  needs  review 

Dear  Editor:  Following  is  a statement 
I shared  with  the  Appalachian  Commit- 
tee and  the  Appalachian  director,  who 
together  are  responsible  to  plan  and  co- 
ordinate the  mcc  voluntary  service  pro- 
gram in  Appalachia.  The  committee  rec- 
ommended that  we  send  a copy  of  the 
statement  to  The  Mennonite  to  be  pub- 
lished as  our  response  to  Edgar  Stoesz’s 
editorial  (October  9 issue). 

Edgar  Stoesz’s  article  presents  a num- 
ber of  implications.  . . . 

1.  If  we  assume  that  he  is  correct  in 
saying  that  more  money  is  coming  into 
service  programs  (from  what  sources?) 
but  the  number  of  volunteers  is  decreas- 
ing sharply,  then  we  must  closely  exam- 
ine how  and  where  we  appropriate  the 
money  and  place  the  volunteers.  This 
calls  for  careful  research,  planning,  goal 
setting,  and  program  implementation  to 
make  the  most  effective  use  of  our  re- 
sources. In  each  of  our  program  areas, 
we  should  be  required  to  document  need 
and  appropriation  of  resources. 

2.  Since  more  money  and  fewer  vol- 
unteers are  available,  we  should  explore 
the  possibility  of  developing  a small 
(five  or  six  persons)  team  of  technicians 
available  as  consultants,  advisors,  and 


teachers  to  local  persons  who  desire  to 
do  the  jobs  but  do  not  have  the  skills 
and  knowledge.  The  technicians  might 
include  a social  worker,  a business  man- 
ager, an  agriculturist,  a health  care  spe- 
cialist, and  the  like,  depending  on  what 
is  needed  and  asked  for.  These  techni- 
cians would  be  salaried  (at  a modest 
local  level)  and  provided  with  expense 
monies.  Otherwise  funds  would  go  into 
salaries  for  local  trainees  and  workers 
and  project  subsidies.  The  emphasis 
would  be  on  local  development  rather 
than  bringing  in  another  outside  organ- 
ization and  program.  (This  is,  in  fact, 
the  community  development  model  Mr. 
Stoesz  advocates  in  his  book. ) 

3.  Volunteers,  if  they  are  to  continue 
to  be  sought,  should  come  from  all  age 
groups,  not  just  the  young.  Mr.  Stoesz 
emphasizes  youth  volunteers  and  ignores 
the  potential  of  middle-age  and  older 
volunteers.  But  the  latter  age  groups  rep- 
resent many  skills  which  could  well  be 
applied  in  our  programs.  The  comfort- 
able ones  who  can  give  money  should 
be  urged  to  volunteer  also.  Perhaps  their 
giving  patterns  will  change  afterward. 

4.  Building  service  programs  more  on 
money  and  less  on  people  is  a fact  to 
be  appreciated,  not  bemoaned  (as  Mr. 
Stoesz  does).  It  represents  an  opportu- 
nity to  assist  communities  in  their  own 
development,  rather  than  to  do  things 
for  them,  as  service  projects  usually  do. 

5.  Voluntary  service  is  usually  a pe- 
riod of  intense  learning  for  the  volun- 
teer. While  he  is  providing  much-need- 
ed services  to  the  community  in  which 
he  serves,  the  volunteer  gains  much  in 
terms  of  self-awareness,  initiative,  and 
personal  growth.  He  returns  to  his  home 
community  a stronger,  more  highly 
skilled  person,  one  who  is  able  to  make 
a greater  impact  on  his  church,  his  as- 
sociates, and  his  community  as  a whole. 
The  mcc  orientation  process,  as  well  as 
the  volunteer  development  program, 
should  work  more  on  the  volunteer’s 
learning. 

We  believe  the  total  volunteer  pro- 
gram of  the  Mennonite  churches  should 
be  reviewed  and  adjusted  to  changes 
both  in  the  world  in  which  we  live  and 
in  the  church  through  which  we  serve. 
We  need  to  deal  with  such  questions  as: 
Are  there  significant  program  changes 
that  we  should  make  and  recommend  to 


THE  MENNONITE 


725 


MEDITATION 


The  Christmas  tree  in  us 

Have  you  ever  thought  of  yourself  as  a Christmas  tree?  Your  answer,  I’m  sure,  is  I 
no,  and  neither  have  I.  However,  we  can  make  some  comparisons  of  our  lives  to  the 
Christmas  tree.  . I 

Christmas  trees  are  beautiful.  Each  tree  is  unique  and  special.  There  are  all  sizes 
and  shapes  of  trees  just  like  us.  The  characteristics  of  each  tree  are  what  make  each 
one  beautiful. 

Perhaps  we  are  the  trunk  of  the  tree.  The  roots  are  our  past.  Our  many  experi-  i 
ences  have  helped  us  to  grow  strong.  We  have  weathered  many  storms  along  with 
the  sunshine.  The  branches  are  the  roads  that  we  travel  each  day,  and  the  needles 
the  people  that  we  contact. 

At  the  top  of  our  tree  is  a star  that  is  lit.  This  is  our  light  shining  for  others  as  we 
go  out  into  the  world.  Hopefully  there  are  many  other  lights  on  our  tree.  They  repre- 
sent those  around  us  whom  we  have  blessed.  Do  you  see  a light  flickering?  Help  is 
needed.  Does  someone  you  know  need  your  prayers,  help,  or  encouragement  today? 

Are  more  lights  regularly  being  added  to  your  tree? 

I see  some  bare  spots  on  some  of  the  trees.  Yes,  there  are  empty  spots  in  many  of 
our  lives.  Are  we  willing  to  let  Christ  fill  these  spots  with  his  love? 

Our  tree  needs  water  to  keep  alive  and  to  grow.  Our  water  is  God’s  Word.  I hope 
your  tree  is  alive  and  growing. 

Do  the  bells  on  your  tree  sing  out  the  story  of  Christmas? 

Our  star  points  toward  heaven  where  we  shall  one  day  meet  our  Savior,  Jesus 
Christ,  who  was  born  on  Christmas  Day.  That’s  what  Christmas  is  all  about! 

“Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and 
glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven”  (Mt.  5:16).  Donna  Lehman 


Akron  which  involve  different  financial 
or  personnel  commitments?  Or  should 
we  continue  as  we  are  now?  What  about 
the  idea  of  “a  core  of  technicians”  versus 
a full-fledged  VS  unit?  David  Brunner, 
director,  Letcher  County  Family  Serv- 
ices, for  the  Appalachian  Committee, 
Whitesburg,  Ky.  41858.  Nov.  12 

Edgar  Stoesz  responds 

Edgar  Stoesz,  MCC  director  for  Latin 
America,  responds.  I agree  with  most  of 
the  observations  you  make.  . . . The 
truth  may  be  somewhere  between  my 
article  and  your  letter.  I am  ready  to 
admit  that  perhaps  this  dimension  could 
have  been  strengthened  in  my  article. 
Had  I had  your  critique  earlier,  I would 
certainly  have  incorporated  it. 

At  the  same  time  I do  not  want  to 
appear  to  be  backing  away  from  the  ar- 
gument that  qualified  and  dedicated  peo- 
ple are  still  very  central  to  the  mcc 
model  and  to  development  of  the  third 
world.  My  own  concept  of  development 
is  moving  more  toward  having  such  for- 
eign workers  serve  as  advisors  and  en- 
ablers (or,  to  use  the  French  term,  as 
animators)  and  not  in  the  performing 
of  functions  which  third  world  people 
can  contribute. 

Likewise,  I accept  your  criticism  that 
too  much  emphasis  has  been  directed 
toward  recruits  who  are  under  the  age 
of  thirty.  Just  yesterday  I prepared  a 
news  release  which  is  beamed  precisely 
at  the  middle  age  bracket. 

Indian  analyses  inept 

Dear  Larry:  Thank  you  for  two  good 
articles  that  have  recently  appeared  in 
The  Mennonite  by  David  Ewert  (Sep- 
tember 11  issue)  and  Leighton  Ford 
(October  23  issue).  I especially  found 
the  one  by  David  Ewert  biblical  and 
helpful. 

I have  been  utterly  dissatisfied  to  the 
point  of  disgust  every  time  you  have 
spoken  out  on  the  Indian  problem.  The 
whole  analysis  and  approach  to  the  race 
problem  is  inept,  especially  from  a 
Christian  point  of  view.  It  would  seem 
to  me  it  could  stir  up  racial  hatred  if 
anything,  because  any  Indian  reading 
your  articles  would  have  his  passions 
and  unrighteous  indignation  inflamed  if 
he  were  in  any  way  given  to  malicious- 
ness towards  whites. 

The  white  man  and  his  bureaucracy 
may  have  been  a monster  as  far  as  the 
Indian  is  concerned,  but  that  is  only 
half  the  story.  The  other  half  is  the 
story  of  the  Indian  himself,  and  it  is 


scarcely  prettier  than  that  of  the  white 
man.  To  say  the  white  man  has  made 
him  thus  is  scarcely  credible.  The  In- 
dians were  not  angels  before  Columbus 
ever  set  foot  on  this  continent.  The  in- 
ebriated Indian  belching  at  the  lamppost 
has  got  basically  the  same  problem  as 
the  inebriated  white  man. 

It  seems  to  me  you  have  minimized 
the  supernatural  of  conversion  right  out 
of  existence.  Jesus  said,  “John  baptized 
with  water,  but  you  shall  be  baptized 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  not  many  days 
hence.”  That  happened  at  Pentecost, 
and  Peter  then  explained  how  the  same 
miraculous  event  could  happen  to  any- 
one (Acts  2:38).  It  unexpectedly  and 
dramatically  happened  again  at  the  con- 
version of  the  Roman  general,  Cornelius 
(Acts  11:15-17).  Did  you  receive  the 
Spirit  by  works  or  by  the  hearing  of 
faith  (Gal.  3:2)?  Until  we  by  choice  al- 
low that  miraculous  event  to  take  place 
in  our  lives,  are  “born  of  the  Spirit”  as 
Jesus  explained  it  to  Nicodemus,  there 
is  little  hope  for  genuine  change  or  alle- 
viation of  a painful  situation.  Our  nat- 
ural power  will  not  do;  we  need  unnat- 
ural power  working  within  (Rom.  8:9). 

Often  our  race  problem  has  been  com- 


pared with  that  of  the  Americans.  Tom 
Skinner,  a Christian  American  intellectu- 
al, has  given  a discerning  insight  into 
the  problem  and  the  solution  in  his  own 
life,  an  insight  that  is  equally  applicable 
in  every  race  situation.  Perhaps  you  have 
read  his  book,  Black  and  free,  but  in 
case  you  have  not  I am  enclosing  a 
little  tract  which  contains  about  three 
chapters  of  it.  I recommend  it. 

I fully  agree  that  we  need  to  work 
to  correct  social  imbalances  and  impro- 
priety wherever  we  see  it,  especially  in 
this  problem  of  race.  I only  ask  that  we 
see  the  whole  problem  and  the  solution 
from  a Christian  perspective.  I think 
our  missionaries  on  the  field  for  Menno- 
nite Pioneer  Mission  are  doing  this  far 
better  than  the  administration.  Should 
they  follow  the  philosophy  and  the  pol- 
icy the  administration  seems  to  have 
taken,  mpm  will  soon  no  longer  be  worth 
a plugged  dime  of  any  conscientious 
Christian’s  support.  Gus  Konkel,  Route  1, 
Box  287,  Winkler,  Man.  Nov.  5 

A response 

Editor’s  note:  To  pursue  the  dialog  on 
the  church’s  relationship  and  ministry  to 
North  America’s  native  peoples,  we  in- 


726  DECEMBER  11,  1973 


vited  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt  to  respond  to 
Gus  Konkel’s  letter.  Mr.  Gerbrandt  was 
one  of  the  initiators  of  the  Mennonite 
Pioneer  Mission  program  when  it  was 
started  in  the  1940.  He  is  now  executive 
secretary  of  the  Conference  of  Menno- 
nites  in  Canada. 

Gus  Konkel’s  letter  tells  me  The  Men- 
nonite has  readers  who  take  note  of  what 
is  printed.  This  is  good.  It  also  tells  me 
that  he  is  concerned  about  our  confer- 
ence’s Indian  ministry.  That  is  very  good. 
Having  been  closely  connected  with  the 
beginning  of  our  Indian  ministry  work 
and  now  deeply  involved  with  our  con- 
ference ministry  in  many  areas,  I feel 
a response  is  called  for. 

Sharing  the  good  news  of  God’s  re- 
deeming love  in  a transcultural  setting 
has  posed  problems  to  God’s  people  of 
all  ages.  Jonah  did  not  do  very  well  with 
his  Nineveh  assignment.  The  Apostle 
Peter  got  himself  into  a frustrating  situa- 
tion at  Antioch.  There  are  some  who  feel 
Paul  had  difficulties  with  his  sermon  on 
Mars  Hill  facing  the  intellectual  Greeks. 
The  Jerusalem  Council  admits  the  prob- 
lem, and  from  it  comes  the  edict  that 
no  Jewish  cultural  tradition  shall  be 
imposed  on  Gentile  believers. 

In  our  Indian  ministry  we  admit  the 
same  difficulties,  and  with  many  other 
believers,  we  are  searching  for  the  best 
witness  we  can  give.  The  various  articles 
carried  in  this  magazine  are  part  of  that 
search.  So  is  Gus  Konkel’s  letter. 

It  should  not  be  necessary  to  repeat 
that  our  mpm  missionaries,  our  board 
members  and  our  mission  administration 
are  in  agreement  with  the  good  news 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  answer  to  the 
Indians’  need.  The  cross-cultural  seminar 
report  (October  30  issue)  underlines  this. 

The  problem  does  not  lie  in  the  mes- 
sage, but  in  the  messenger  and  his  rela- 
tionship to  the  Indian.  Here  appears  to 
be  Brother  Konkel’s  problem.  I do  not 
know  how  we  can  divide  responsibility 
and  guilt  and  say  that  white  and  Indian 
are  equally  responsible.  In  fact  the  In- 
dian may  be  100  percent  responsible 
for  his  present  plight,  and  at  the  same 
time  we  white  people  may  also  be  100 
percent  responsible.  The  article  in  The 
Mennonite  you  refer  to  may  point  only 
to  our  guilt.  There  is  no  need  to  point  to 
the  Indian  and  to  make  him  feel  guilty. 
Upon  closer  association  with  an  Indian 
who  tends  to  inebriate  himself  you  may 
discover  degrees  of  guilt  and  shame 
which  few  white  people  have  experi- 
enced. In  our  office  we  read  several 
Indian  newspapers.  They  reveal  the  In- 


dian’s awareness  of  his  plight. 

Our  missionaries  and  many  of  our 
board  members  have  had  close  associa- 
tions with  the  Indians.  Our  administrator 
knows  only  too  well  what  has  happened 
to  the  thousands  of  uprooted,  dehuman- 
ized, and  guilt-inflicted  Indians  of  Win- 
nipeg. When  he  attempts  to  walk  in  their 
moccasins  he  does  so  to  share  their  hurt 
and  pain. 

Mr.  Konkel  recommends  the  pamphlet, 
Now  I’m  free.  He  says  this  is  taken  from 
the  book  Black  and  free  by  Tom  Skin- 
ner. I read  the  pamphlet  and  found  it 
puzzling.  I had  read  the  book  years  ago. 

I read  the  book  again  today  and  find  the 
pamphlet  is  not  based  on  the  first  three 
chapters  alone.  It  is  poorly  edited  and 
does  not  truly  portray  Tom  Skinner’s  po- 
sition. I strongly  recommend  the  whole 
book. 

A year  after  writing  the  book,  Mr. 
Skinner  said  the  following  at  the  evan- 
gelism congress  in  Minneapolis,  “The 
kind  of  Christ  that  leaps  out  of  the  New 
Testament  was  a very  gutsy  man  . . . 
who  could  look  the  establishment  in  the 
face  and  say, ‘You  generation  of  vipers.’ 
We  must  not  forsake  Christ  as  the  main- 
tainer  of  the  status  quo.  Jesus  Christ  is 
not  the  head  of  the  Pentagon,  he  is  not 
the  president  of  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange,  he  is  no  more  capitalist  than 
he  is  communist,  no  more  Republican 
than  he  is  Democrat.  He  is  the  Lord  of 
heaven  and  must  be  worshiped  as  Lord.” 

In  our  ministry  to  the  native  people  we 
attempt  not  to  dilute  the  good  news.  But 
this  good  news  will  not  be  heard  until  we 
acknowledge  that  we  are  dealing  with  a 
people  who  have  been  sinned  against 
and  who  are  now,  after  several  centuries, 
trying  to  regain  their  manhood.  In  their 
struggle  to  be  humans  with  dignity  they 
may  make  mistakes.  To  lessen  these  mis- 
takes they  need  friends  who  struggle 
with  them.  Being  a friend  to  a man  in 
misery  and  despair  is  the  beginning  of 
sharing  the  gospel. 

Though  I have  problems  with  Tom 
Skinner’s  present  position,  I will  quote 
once  more  from  his  book:  “The  only 
way  that  a white  person  can  communi- 
cate Christ  to  a Negro  is  for  him  to  first 
win  that  Negro  as  a friend.” 

Missionaries,  board  members,  mission 
administrators,  Indian  believers,  and 
friends  of  the  mission  joined  hands  at 
the  cross-cultural  seminar  to  support 
each  other  in  this  ministry.  In  this  task 
we  need  many  understanding  critics,  sup- 
porters, and  praying  partners.  H.  J. 
Gerbrandt,  600  Shaftesbury,  Winnipeg, 
Man.  R3P  0M4 


Contents 


The  Christian  community  in  mission  714 


News  718 

Record  722 

The  politics  and  power  of 

nonviolent  action  724 

Letters  725 

The  Christmas  tree  in  us  726 

The  day  that  Jesus  came  to 

Washington  728 


CONTRIBUTORS 

John  Friesen  teaches  history  and  the- 
ology at  Canadian  Mennonite  Bible  Col- 
lege, 600  Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg, 
Canada  R3P  0M4.  His  article  is  adapted 
from  a presentation  he  made  at  CMBC's 
theology  and  evangelism  conference  in 
November  (see  page  718). 

David  Kroeker  is  editor  of  Mennonite 
Reporter,  Waterloo,  Ont. 

Donna  Lehman's  address  is  5111  East 
State  Blvd.,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  46805. 

Robert  J.  Hastings  is  editor  of  the  Illi- 
nois Baptist,  Springfield,  III. 

CREDITS 

Cover,  Rohn  Engh,  Pine  Lake  Farm,  Star 
Prairie,  Wise.  54026;  714,  John  Hie- 
bert;  716,  MCC;  720,  Kenney  Photog- 
raphy, Moundridge,  Kans.  67107;  721, 
Dave  Kroeker. 


Tlip 

Mennonite 


Editorial  office;  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 
Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 


Business  and  subscription  office:  722 

Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  671  14; 
Telephone:  Area  316/283-5100 

Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1C3; 
Ray  Hamm,  586  Mulvey  Ave.,  Winnipeg 
R3L  0S1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
Ave.  South,  Minneapolis,  Minn.  55406; 
Hedy  Sawadsky,  Henderson,  Neb.  68371. 

Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
back  issues  of  The  Mennonite  may  be 
purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbot. 
Mich.  481  06. 


THE  MENNONITE 


727 


The  day  that  Jesus  came  to  Washington 


Robert  J.  Hastings 

I dreamed  that  Jesus  Christ  visited  our  nation. 
Plans  called  for  his  plane  to  land  at  the  National 
Airport  in  Washington  at  noon.  Government, 
business,  and  church  officials  were  to  meet  him 
at  the  airport,  form  a parade  from  Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue,  then  hold  a public  rally  in  front 
of  the  Washington  Memorial. 

By  daybreak,  every  road  into  Washington  was 
hopelessly  jammed.  By  noon,  traffic  would  come 
to  a complete  standstill  on  nearby  Interstates  95 
and  495  that  ringed  the  city,  with  cars  and  buses 
backed  up  to  Baltimore  on  the  north  and  Fred- 
ericksburg on  the  south. 

All  motels  were  sold  out.  A tent  city  was  set 
up  on  The  Mall,  and  citizens  opened  their  homes 
to  thousands  of  visitors.  Many  slept  in  their  cars. 
Some  spread  sleeping  bags  on  sidewalks  along 
the  parade  route.  Hospitals  and  fire  stations  op- 
erated with  skeleton  staffs,  and  all  businesses  and 
schools  closed. 

Souvenir  and  hotdog  stands  lined  the  streets. 
Best-selling  items  were  Sallman’s  Head  of  Christ 
and  medallions  engraved  with  the  Lord’s  Prayer. 
Many  brought  picnic  lunches. 

By  10  a.m.,  two  hours  before  his  plane  was 
scheduled  to  land,  authorities  saw  the  situation 
was  getting  out  of  hand.  Sanitation  facilities  and 
food  supplies  grew  critical.  Downtown  spectators 
were  so  tightly  jammed  that  several  plate  glass 
windows  were  broken.  There  were  reports  of 
widespread  looting. 

By  11  a.m.,  the  president  began  calling  for 
military  units  from  Fort  Meyer  and  Fort  Belvoir 
in  Virginia,  and  Fort  Meade  in  Maryland. 

Meantime,  tension  mounted  as  the  minutes 
ticked  away  toward  noon.  Then  as  his  plane 
finally  pulled  up  at  the  terminal,  the  Marine  Band 
played  “All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus’  name.”  As 
the  last  notes  faded,  a quiet  hush  fell  over  the 


waiting  throng.  Every  eye  was  riveted  on  one 
person. 

Even  the  delegation  headed  by  President  Nixon, 
including  his  cabinet,  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  congressional  leaders,  was  overshad- 
owed by  the  Presence. 

The  silence  was  soon  broken  by  an  argument 
between  two  or  three  of  the  welcoming  officials. 
Pushing  and  shoving  broke  out  near  the  waiting 
limousine  at  the  head  of  the  parade.  It  seems 
there  was  a disagreement  over  who  was  to  ride 
with  Christ  in  the  lead  car. 

By  the  time  the  controversy  ended,  Christ  was 
nowhere  to  be  found.  Some  said  he  just  seemed 
to  melt  into  thin  air.  Others  reported  he  slipped 
through  the  cordon  of  police  officers.  Still  others 
said  he  went  back  inside  the  plane. 

Now  real  pandemonium  broke  out.  “Fraud!” 
cried  some  of  the  bystanders.  “We  knew  Jesus 
Christ  would  never  come  to  Washingon.  It’s  all  a 
promotional  stunt.” 

Slowly,  the  crowds  drifted  away.  Reluctantly, 
the  concessionaires  took  down  their  stands.  Some 
sightseers  tore  up  their  souvenir  pictures  of  Christ. 
It  was  past  midnight  before  traffic  again  flowed 
smoothly  on  Interstates  95  and  495. 

Meanwhile,  police  continued  their  search  for 
the  missing  Nazarene. 

About  2 a.m.  an  unidentified  plainclothesman 
found  him  sitting  on  the  curb  of  a deserted  street 
in  the  inner  city.  With  his  arms  around  a runaway 
delinquent,  he  was  retelling  the  story  of  the  Prod- 
igal Son. 

“Where  in  the  name  of  common  sense  have 
you  been?”  demanded  the  irate  official.  Jesus 
smiled,  “They  that  be  whole  need  not  a physi- 
cian. ...  I am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous,  but 
sinners  to  repentance”  (Mt.  9: 12-13). 


Arise,  shine;  for  your  light 
has  come, 

and  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
has  risen  upon  you. 

For  behold  darkness  shall 
cover  the  earth, 

and  thick  darkness 
the  people; 

but  the  Lord  will  arise  upon  you, 
and  his  glory  will  be  seen 
upon  you. 

And  nations  shall  come  to 
your  light, 

and  kings  to  the  brightness 
of  your  rising. 

Isaiah  60:1-3 


i|M. 

Mennoiiite 

OTHER  EOUNDATION  CAN  NO  MAN  LAY  THAN  THAT  IS  LAID,  WHICH  IS  JESUS  CHRIST 


88:46  DECEMBER  18,  1973 


Max  Ediger 


Dreams 
to  celebrate 
Christmas 


j 


t 

V 


Narrator  (reading  from  the  Bible):  “And 
thou,  child,  shalt  be  called  the  prophet 
of  the  Highest;  for  thou  shalt  go  before 
the  face  of  the  Lord  to  prepare  his 
ways:  to  give  knowledge  of  salvation 
unto  his  people  by  the  remission  of 
their  sins,  through  the  tender  mercy  of 
our  God:  whereby  the  dayspring  from 
on  high  hath  visited  us,  to  give  light  to 
them  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the 
shadow  of  death,  to  guide  our  feet  into 
the  way  of  peace.  . . 

(Looking  up)  I guess  you  are  all 
wondering  why  I am  sitting  here  read- 
ing and  meditating  instead  of  enjoying 
the  Christmas  feast  in  the  next  room.  I 
would  like  to  join  them.  The  food  smells 
good.  However,  I had  a strange  expe- 
rience a few  nights  ago,  and  that  inci- 
dent has  led  me  to  do  what  I am  doing 
now.  ...  I am  fasting. 

You  may  think  that  Christmas  isn’t 
the  time  to  fast,  but  perhaps  if  I relate 
my  experience  you  will  agree  with  my 
action.  It  was  a strange  dream.  Perhaps 
my  mind  was  stimulated  by  all  the  things 
I have  been  reading  about  in  the  news- 
paper recently.  All  the  news  seems  to 
be  bad  these  days.  But  whatever  caused 
it,  it  was  so  real  that  I feel  as  though  I 
actually  met  the  people  whom  I saw  in 


the  dream.  Here  are  two  segments  of  the 
vision  that  I can  recall. 

Scene  1 

First  world  person-.  Merry  Christmas 
to  you,  my  good  friend!  How  are  you 
this  beautiful  day? 

Third  world  person : Do  you  want  the 
standard  answer  or  the  truth? 

First : There  is  nothing  I admire  more 
in  a person  than  truthfulness.  Feel  free 
to  share  your  most  honest  feelings  with 
me. 

Third:  To  be  honest,  I’m  really  not 
feeling  well.  Stomach  pains. 

First:  Ah,  yes.  I know  just  how  you 
feel.  I just  came  from  my  family’s 
Christmas  dinner.  Great  food,  really 
great!  That’s  one  of  the  beautiful  things 
about  Christmas.  . . . Families  getting 
together  and  sharing  a meal.  I don’t 
want  to  brag,  but  my  wife  is  a great 
cook.  We  had  one  of  the  biggest  turkeys 
we  could  find.  And  the  stuffing,  wow! 

Third:  Sounds  good. 

First:  You’re  drooling.  I start  drooling, 
too,  when  I think  about  candied  sweet 
potatoes,  salads,  gravies,  buttered  buns, 
and  desserts.  We  had  three  kinds  of  pies, 
including  butter  pecan,  my  favorite,  two 
big  cakes,  and  at  least  four  jello  salads. 


Third:  Sounds  quite  filling. 

First:  Filling  is  hardly  the  word  for  it. 
We  ate  more  than  is  healthy.  But,  after 
all,  it  is  Christmas. 

Third:  That’s  right,  it  is  Christmas. 

First:  Yes,  I know  how  you  feel. 
Everyone  has  an  upset  stomach  today. 
Even  our  two  dogs  got  more  than  they 
could  eat. 

Third:  That’s  unfortunate. 

First:  Thank  goodness  for  Alkaseltzer. 
(pause)  By  the  way,  what  did  you  have 
for  dinner?  I bet  you  can’t  surpass  the 
spread  we  had. 

Third:  You’re  right.  Actually  we  didn’t 
have  a Christmas  dinner.  Our  stomachs 
are  hurting  because  we’re  hungry.  We 
haven’t  eaten  for  three  days.  During  the 
past  year  our  homes  were  destroyed  and 
our  land  ruined.  Our  crops  just  couldn’t 
grow.  To  make  matters  worse,  we  were 
forced  to  move  out  of  our  old  homes 
into  camps  where  we  couldn’t  farm.  The 
price  of  food  doubled,  and  there  are  no 
jobs  available. 

First:  How  could  you  have  had  so 
much  bad  luck  in  one  year? 

Third:  I don’t  understand  it  either.  It 
has  something  to  do  with  lack  of  enough 
resources  to  go  around  and  power  strug- 
gles. 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


730 


First:  That  really  is  too  bad.  Some 
people  just  can’t  think  of  anyone  but 
themselves.  I am  sorry  to  hear  that  your 
Christmas  hasn’t  been  as  happy  as  it 
should  have  been.  Fortunately  it  is  the 
spirit  of  the  occasion  that  counts,  isn’t 
it? 

Third:  I suppose  so.  But  it  is  hard  to 
have  a good  spirit  when  your  children 
are  starving. 

First:  Maybe  I can  help  a bit.  We 
have  some  food  left  over  from  our 
Christmas  dinner.  I’ll  ask  my  wife  to 
scrape  some  of  it  together  and  send  it 
over  to  your  house. 

Third:  For  the  first  time  in  my  life 
I really  see  what  Christmas  is  all  about. 
You  have  been  a lifesaver  for  us.  Your 
concern  and  understanding  amaze  me. 
Thanks  for  the  table  scraps  . . . er,  . . . 
food,  but  please  don’t  do  yourself  short. 
Your  dogs  will  probably  be  able  to  eat  a 
little  more  by  now. 

First:  You  don’t  have  to  get  sarcastic. 
I was  only  trying  to  help. 

Third:  Your  goodwill  is  misplaced. 


Your  eyes  are  blinded  by  your  wealth. 
I wish  you  and  your  family  a very  merry 
Christmas.  Do  try  to  forget  our  situation. 
We  don’t  want  to  spoil  your  celebration. 

First:  Don’t  worry  about  us.  At  Christ- 
mastime we  must  think  of  others  . . . 
but  I must  be  going.  I promised  my 
children  we  would  open  our  gifts  this 
evening.  I want  to  see  the  look  on  their 
faces  when  they  see  the  toys  we  bought 
them  ...  an  electric  train  and  a new 
doll  which  speaks,  walks,  and  wets. 
Merry  Christmas. 

Scene  2 

Third  world  person:  Tell  me:  How 
do  you  Christians  celebrate  Christmas? 

First  world  Christian:  It  is  the  cele- 
bration of  Christ’s  birthday.  May  I read 
the  story  to  you?  It’s  interesting. 

Third : Don’t  bother.  I’ve  read  it  many 
times.  We  third  worlders  are  curious. 
We  like  to  know  what  makes  you  tick. 
We  can  learn  a lot  about  you  by  obser- 
ing  your  religion.  Yes,  I have  read  the 
Christmas  story.  In  fact,  I’ve  read  the 


entire  New  Testament.  It  is  interesting 
indeed.  Sometimes  I have  been  tempted 
to  see  some  truth  in  it,  some  value  for 
our  lives  here.  But  every  time  I look  at 
it  more  seriously  I am  stopped  by  the 
fact  that  it  doesn’t  seem  to  have  a very 
positive  effect  on  most  of  your  people. 

Christian:  You  have  a point  there, 
but  you  must  remember  that  any  re- 
ligion should  be  looked  at  through  its 
teachings,  not  through  the  people  who 
attempt  to  follow  it. 

Third:  Tell  me  this:  If  this  lesus  Christ 
spoken  of  in  the  Christmas  story  does 
not  affect  your  people  more  positively, 
is  he  any  more  powerful  or  true  than 
the  other  religions  of  the  world? 

Christian:  What  should  we  do  to  make 
Christianity  more  believable? 

Third:  Are  you  sure  you  want  to  ask 
that  question?  It  opens  you  up  for  criti- 
cism. 

Christian:  I’m  willing  to  listen.  Shoot 
away! 

Third : I find  the  Christmas  story 

fascinating.  It  can  speak  to  us  in  the 


THE  MENNONITE 


731 


Lois  Rensberger 

She  sits  on  her  new  rocking  horse,  bouncing  and  laughing  and 
hanging  on  tight  as  she  rides  to  glory  on  Christmas  morning. 

“Do  you  like  your  horsie?”  someone  asks. 

She  nods  gravely  as  she  considers  the  question.  The  happy 
bouncing  slows  and  finally  stops  as  she  reaches  out  to  pat  her 
new  friend.  Gently  she  touches  his  head,  then  passes  her  hand 
down  his  nose  and  feels  his  mouth.  One  tiny  finger  pokes  against 
his  teeth. 

“Bite,”  she  says.  “Bite.” 

Her  face,  transparent  in  its  innocence,  changes  from  laughter 
to  sober  contemplation  to  panic  as  she  feels  the  terror  of  the 
crunching  teeth. 

“Bite,  bite,”  she  whimpers,  her  face  puckered  and  ready  for 
tears. 

“Hush,”  her  daddy  soothes  her.  “The  horsie  didn’t  bite  you. 
But  he’ll  give  you  another  ride  if  you  want  him  to.  Hang  on  and 
I’ll  bounce  you.” 

Hesitantly  she  puts  her  hands  on  the  horse’s  mane.  Slowly 
Daddy  begans  to  bounce  her  slowly,  slowly,  and  then  faster  as  she 
forgets  the  terrible  teeth  and  begins  to  laugh  again.  Surrounded  by 
her  father’s  love  she  is  safe  from  the  fantasy  disaster. 

Wooden  teeth  cannot  bite,  nor  imagination  kill.  . . . 

Ride  on,  my  child.  Ride  on. 


third  world  because  we  can  readily  re- 
late to  a person  born  in  a situation  sim- 
ilar to  ours.  We  find  it  easy  to  trust 
someone  of  our  social  standing  who  is 
wise.  He  is  the  kind  of  leader  we  are 
looking  for.  But  I have  the  impression 
that  you  first  world  Christians  leave 
Christ  in  the  manger  only  long  enough 
to  sing  your  Christmas  carols.  Then  you 
see  him  on  the  cross  again. 

Christian-.  What  do  you  mean  by  that? 

Third:  You  have  Santa  Claus  to  be 
the  goody-goody  person  of  Christmas. 
You  seem  rather  to  want  Christ  on  the 
cross.  You  Christians  act  as  though  the 
rest  of  the  world  is  responsible  for  kill- 
ing your  Christ  and  you  have  to  take 
revenge. 

Christian:  1 don’t  quite  comprehend 
what  you’re  trying  to  say. 

Third:  Let  me  give  you  an  example. 
Look  at  my  country.  It  has  been  all  but 
ruined  by  your  country.  Your  planes 
have  bombed,  strafed,  and  sprayed  our 
countryside.  Do  you  not  remember  the 
unprecedented  bombings  of  a year  ago? 
Thousands  of  our  people  have  been 
killed.  Our  economy  is  ruined  and  our 
life  is  disrupted.  This  has  been  done  by 
your  country,  which  is  run  by  Christians. 
And  they  expend  money  for  armaments 
which  have  been  supplied  by  you  Chris- 
tians. You  say  that  you  want  to  preserve 
our  freedom  so  that  we  can  worship 
and  live  as  we  please.  What  you  actually 
mean  is  that  you  want  my  country  safe 
for  your  Christian  religion  and  that  that 
religion  cannot  survive  unless  your  own 
kind  of  political  and  social  life  is  estab- 
lished here.  We  have,  in  essence,  killed 
your  Christ,  and  he  can  only  come  down 
off  the  cross  after  you  have  made  it 
safe  for  him  here. 

Christian:  That  sounds  bitter. 

Third:  I am  bitter.  I hear  your  good 
stories,  but  I see  the  facts  of  my  country 
and  its  mutilated  body.  I also  see  your 
military  machine.  It  is  the  biggest  in  the 
world.  You  control  weapons  which  can 
destroy  all  of  us  in  an  instant.  You 
police  the  world  and  force  your  wishes 
on  my  people.  And  then  you  say  that 
you  have  total  faith  in  a God  of  love 
and  peace. 

Christian:  But  I am  but  one  person. 

I cannot  be  responsible  for  what  my 
country  does. 

Third:  Can  you  honestly  say  to  me 
that  you  have  no  part  in  this  horrible 
military  machine?  . . . that  you  have  no 


responsibility  for  what  your  country’s 
policies  are?  . . . that  you  have  paid  no 
money  for  this  war? 

Christian:  I cannot  deny  having  some 
part  in  it.  Do  you  hate  me  for  that? 

Third:  I do  not  hate  you,  but  I can- 
not understand  how  you  as  a Christian 
can  celebrate  this  Christmas  season  and 
speak  about  the  “Prince  of  peace”  and 
“Joy  to  the  world.”  If  the  Christmas 
story  is  more  than  just  a story,  how  does 
it  show  itself?  Where  does  it  become 
real  for  me  to  see?  When  does  it  be- 
come more  than  the  religion  which  my 
people  now  follow?  . . . Don’t  tell  me 
about  Christmas.  Show  me  Christmas. 

Narrator:  Those  were  my  dreams.  I 
had  others  . . . one  about  a Christian 
talking  to  a man  imprisoned  in  a tiger 
cage.  I didn’t  sleep  much  after  the  vi- 
sions came.  I kept  thinking  about  the 
Christmas  season  and  what  it  really 
means  to  people  of  other  lands  and  cul- 
tures. I asked  myself  what  it  really  means 
to  me.  I realized  that  in  order  to  be  con- 


sistent with  Christ,  Christmas  had  to 
become  more  to  me  than  gifts  and  food. 
It  had  to  take  people’s  sufferings  into 
account.  Christmas  is  for  all  people. 

I have  decided  to  fast,  not  because  I 
feel  guilty  about  eating  much  food  today 
when  others  eat  little.  I realize  that  if  I 
don’t  eat  today,  the  food  prepared  for 
me  will  not  go  to  the  hungry.  I am  fast- 
ing because  I want  to  spend  this  time 
in  prayer  and  study.  Christ  is  speaking 
to  me  about  Christmas  in  a new  way.  I 
see  areas  in  my  life  where  I have  in- 
terpreted the  Bible  to  suit  my  own  de- 
sires. I have  used  people.  I am  involved 
in  creating  many  of  the  situations  in 
which  third  world  people  find  themselves. 
In  recognizing  my  complicity,  I see  ways 
in  which  my  own  life  can  be  turned 
around.  It  is  as  though  the  Christmas 
story  is  coming  to  life  once  again.  Christ 
is  becoming  alive  in  my  life. 

Why  don’t  you  join  me?  This  Christ- 
mas, fast  and  meditate  on  the  real 
Christmas. 


■ofFirf*.  Ann  Qhn^ckM  ,,  PU  • *'*  •"  ana  kanaaa,  4>o.o u,  one  year;  $iu.ou,  two  years;  $16.60  three  years;  foreign,  $6.00  per  year.  lunv..u. 

. 0 Shaftesbury  Blvd.,  Winnipeg,,  Canada  R3P  0M4.  Business  office:  722  Main  St.,  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114.  Postmaster:  Send  Form  3579  to  Box  347,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 


732 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


REACHING 


Antoine  Desilets 


Christ’s  birth  has  probably  inspired  more  artistic 
endeavor  than  any  other  event  in  history.  On  this 
page  are  three  recent  examples  of  Christmas  in- 
spirations. They  are  part  of  the  UNICEF  greeting 
card  and  year-round  collection  for  1973.  The  three 
artists  come  from  three  different  nations:  Elizabeth 
Catlett  from  Mexico,  Mark  Jenson  from  the  United 
States,  and  Antoine  Desilets  from  Canada. 


CHRISTMAS  INSPIRATIONS 


MOTHER  AND  CHILD 


Elizabeth  Catlett 


THE  SHEPHERD  Mark  Jenson,  12 


THE  MENNONITE 


733 


NEWS 


Giving  for  peace:  Four  projects 

Walton  Hackman 


If  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  re- 
ceive, perhaps  persons  should  be  encour- 
aged to  give — especially  at  Christmas- 
time. But  give  what,  how,  and  to  whom? 

Simply  giving  Christmas  gifts  out  of 
habit  is  not  especially  significant.  On  that 
first  Christmas  the  gifts  given  by  the 
magi  were  only  secondary  or  coinciden- 
tal; their  gifts  could  have  been  sent  by 
special  courier  or  camel  express.  The 
more  significant  act  of  these  three  visit- 
ors was  that  they  came  to  witness  and 
participate  in  this  great  event  of  history 
— the  incarnation. 

Giving  in  a way  that  recognizes  the  in- 
carnation is  what  gives  significance  to 
gifts  at  Christmastime.  One  important 
way  to  celebrate  the  birth  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace  is  to  recognize  and  experience 
God’s  incarnation  into  the  world  in  1973. 
Jesus  indicated  that  as  we  minister  to  the 
hungry,  the  sick,  strangers,  prisoners,  we 
minister  to  him.  Giving  gifts  to  celebrate 
God’s  presence  in  “the  least  of  these”  is 
a much  better  motive  for  giving  gifts  than 
simply  buying  a gift  for  overconsuming 
and  overweight  friends  and  relatives. 

It  is  with  some  purpose  in  mind  that 
Jesus  in  his  sermon  on  a little  hillside  re- 
ferred to  as  “blessed”  those  who  are  per- 
secuted, reviled,  ridiculed,  meek,  poor  in 
spirit,  peacemakers,  and  those  who 
mourn.  The  need  this  Christmas  is  to  find 
these  blessed  people.  To>  be  present  with 
them  is  to  celebrate  Christmas  in  the  true 
spirit  of  that  first  celebration  in  Bethle- 
hem. 

These  “blessed”  people  who  by  soci- 
ety’s norms  are  the  “least  of  these,”  can 
be  found  in  every  community  and  nation. 

In  prisons  and  jails  across  North  Amer- 
ica are  many  persons  disowned  and  ne- 
glected by  society  and  dehumanized  by 
the  system  in  which  they  have  been 
placed. 

In  South  Vietnam,  there  are  100,000 
civilian  prisoners — peasant  farmers,  stu- 
dents, laborers,  professors,  civil  servants, 
and  lawyers.  These  prisoners  were  to 
have  been  released  under  the  terms  of 
the  cease-fire  agreement  reached  last  Jan- 
uary, but  are  still  being  detained  by 
their  fellow  countrymen — the  South  Viet- 
namese Government. 


In  Canada,  young  men  who  were 
ridiculed  and  made  fugitives  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  law  because  they  refused  to 
take  up  arms  and  kill  fellow  human 
beings  in  Indochina,  are  living  in  exile. 
Others  face  prosecution  for  their  refusal 
to  become  a part  of  the  military  system. 

The  list  could  go  on  and  include  aged 
persons  forgotten  in  their  retirement,  the 
10,000  Chilean  political  refugees,  and 
orphans  and  widows  of  the  Arab-Israeli 
war. 

In  every  community  God’s  reincarna- 
tion can  be  witnessed,  experienced,  and 
the  true  spirit  of  Christmas  demonstrated. 
It  is  in  giving  gifts  to  the  disinherited 
and  dispirited  that  we  recognize  God’s 
presence  in  our  world  and  that  we  affirm 
the  first  and  greatest  incarnation — the 
birth  of  Jesus. 

Where  and  to  whom  can  such  gifts 
be  given?  You  may  know  some  of  the 
blessed  people  to  whom  Jesus  referred 
either  in  your  own  or  in  some  other 
community.  You  are  encouraged  to  give 
your  Christmas  gifts  to  meet  these  needs 
through  those  channels. 

If  you  do  not  personally  know  any 
of  the  “blessed”  people  or  do*  not  have  a 
way  of  sharing  your  Christmas  gifts  with 
them,  the  mcc  Peace  Section  is  offering 
to  serve  again  this  year  as  a channel  for 


gifts  given  in  recognition  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace.  The  following  are  a few 
projects: 

1 . To  families  of  civilian  prisoners 
in  South  Vietnam.  This  aid  would  be 
channeled  through  mcc  personnel. 

2.  To  imprisoned  conscientious  objec- 
tors and  other  needy  prisoners  in  jails 
and  prisons  across  North  America.  These 
contributions  would  be  channeled  through 
Prison  Visitation  and  Support  Services, 
a group  in  which  the  mcc  Peace  Sec- 
tion is  a member. 

3.  To  assist  young  men,  potential  recip- 
ients of  amnesty,  who  could  not  fight  in 
the  Vietnam  War  and  are  exiled  in 
Canada  or  are  facing  criminal  charges 
for  their  actions.  These  funds  would  be 
channeled  through  the  mcc  Peace  Sec- 
tion and  mcc  (Canada). 

4.  To  Chilean  political  refugees  who 
are  being  detained  and  will  need  to  leave 
that  country  before  December  31.  These 
funds  would  be  channeled  through  those 
religious  agencies  working  directly  with 
these  refugees. 

Gifts  for  helping  the  persons  mentioned 
in  this  article  can  be  sent  to  the  fol- 
lowing address:  Christmas  Peace  Proj- 

ect, mcc,  Akron,  Pennsylvania  17501, 
or  1483  Pembina  Hwy.,  Winnipeg,  Man- 
itoba R3T  2C8. 


COMBS  hears  Bangladesh,  Southern  Africa  report 


Plans  for  a joint  mission  to  Bangladesh 
with  the  Asia  Mennonite  Conference 
have  been  temporarily  stalled,  according 
to  reports  to  a recent  meeting  of  the 
Council  of  Mission  Board  Secretaries,  a 
grouping  of  eleven  Mennonite  and  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  overseas  mission  and  serv- 
ice agencies. 

A joint  meeting  with  representatives 
of  combs  and  the  Asia  Mennonite  Con- 
ference will  be  held  in  early  1974  to  iron 
out  some  of  the  problems  of  internation- 
alizing missions  over  long  distances. 

The  fall  combs  meeting  also  heard 
reports  from  Ed  Weaver  and  James 
Juhnke  on  the  African  independent 
church  movement.  Mr.  Weaver  strongly 
urged  a united  Mennonite  mission  and 
service  effort  in  southern  Africa. 


Mr.  Juhnke,  who  recently  returned 
from  two  years  with  Mennonite  Central 
Commitee  in  Botswana,  presented  a 
strong  case  for  involvement  with  inde- 
pendent African  churches  in  evangelism, 
Bible  training,  economic  development, 
and  racial  justice. 

Combs  set  a $10,200  budget  for  1974, 
mostly  for  Asian  projects. 

Newly  elected  officers  were  Wilbert 
Shenk,  Mennonite  Board  of  Missions,  ex- 
ecutive secretary;  Vernon  Wiebe,  Men- 
nonite Brethen  Missions/ Services,  chair- 
man; and  Howard  Habegger,  General 
Conference  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission,  vice-chairman. 

Paul  Kraybill  will  continue  as  acting 
executive  secretary  until  Mr.  Shenk  re- 
turns from  a sabbatical  study  leave. 


734 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


I An  Egyptian  farmer  and  his  family  lead  their  cattle  past  the  wreckage  of  an  Egyp- 
tian army  ammunition  truck  in  the  Israeli-occupied  area  on  the  Suez  Canal’s  west 
bank. 


Draft  statement  on  Mideast 


The  mcc  Peace  Section,  at  its  semi- 
annual meeting  at  Camp  Friedenswald 
in  Michigan  recently,  spent  a ma'or  block 
of  time  discussing  the  current  Middle 
East  situation  and  the  need  to  help  rec- 
oncile not  only  Israel  and  the  Arab 
states  but  also  North  Americans  who 
have  become  polarized  over  the  situation. 

The  following  is  a statement  drafted 
by  the  Peace  Section  members: 

The  Peace  Section,  meeting  in  the  af- 
termath of  the  fourth  Arab-Israeli  war 
in  the  past  twenty-five  years  and  con- 
scious of  Mennonite  involvement  in  the 
Middle  East  and  the  variety  of  Peace 
Section  educational  activities,  feels  moved 
once  again  to  express  itself. 

We  deplore  the  recent  resort  to  vio- 
lence when  negotiation  is  needed  to  re- 
solve differences. 

We  deplore  the  fueling  of  violence  on 
the  part  of  Russia  and  the  United  States, 
noting  the  temptation  of  the  military  to 
use  the  Middle  East  as  a testing  ground 
for  new  weapons.  Judgment  may  come 
in  sowing  to  the  wind  and  reaping  the 
i nuclear  whirlwind. 

We  feel  deeply  the  sufferings  of  Jews 
over  the  centuries  and  particularly  in  the 
holocaust  of  Nazi  Germany.  Mennonites, 
who  have  suffered  persecution  and  op- 
pression as  a minority  religious  commu- 
nity, should  be  particularly  compassion- 
ate and  should  avoid,  resist,  and  protest 


prejudicial  stereotyping,  which  aggra- 
vates such  situations  and  makes  socie- 
ties persecution  prone. 

We  also  feel  deeply  the  injustice  done 
to  Palestinians  who  have  been  dispos- 
sessed of  land  and  homes  as  a result  of 
military  action.  They,  with  other  Arabs, 
are  victims  of  centuries  of  exploitation 
and  suffering.  Their  needs  should  be  rec- 
ognized and  attempts  made  to  resolve 
the  problems  related  to  them.  We  also 
would  warn  about  the  danger  of  stereo- 
typing the  Arabs  in  such  ways  as  dehu- 
manize or  demonize  them  as  persons. 

The  Peace  Section  takes  the  following 
actions: 

1.  To  provide  more  information  to 
help  our  constituents  understand  the 
complexities  of  the  Middle  East  prob- 
lem. Special  problems  would  be  anti- 
Jewish  prejudices  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  readiness  to  support  Zionism  as  ful- 
fillment of  prophecy  instead  of  seeing 
its  secular  political  thrust. 

2.  To  provide  information  which 
would  ask  the  U.S.  Government  to  work 
for  broad  reconciliation  and  develop- 
ment to  enable  all  people  in  the  Middle 
East  to  enjoy  security  and  prosperity, 
rather  than  support  through  armaments, 
which  aggravate  and  escalate  the  vio- 
lence. 

3.  To  activate  the  Middle  East  refer- 
ence committee  to  give  guidance  on  prac- 


tical steps,  including  stepped-up  encoun- 
ters between  Mennonite  personnel  in 
Arab  and  Israeli  countries. 

4.  To  encourage  the  Middle  East  the- 
ological study  committee  to  provide  ma- 
terials which  will  help  the  constituency 
in  its  biblical  and  theological  awareness 
on  the  Middle  East  problems. 

Inter-Mennonite  dialog 
on  “Images  of  Jesus” 

Over  100  Mennonite  pastors  and  lay  peo- 
ple met  in  twelve  regional  groups  in  var- 
ious Manitoba  communities  Saturday 
afternoon,  November  10,  to  discuss  a 
theological  topic  suggested  by  the  pro- 
vincial mcc’s  peace  and  social  concerns 
committee. 

This  was  the  second  year  that  the  com- 
mittee organized  this  type  of  regional 
inter-Mennonite  dialog.  The  theme  for 
this  year’s  discussion  was  “Images  of 
Jesus.”  The  intention  was  to  give  par- 
ticipants a new  look  at  the  breadth  and 
diversity  of  Jesus’  concern  and  ministry. 

The  overall  purpose  of  these  discus- 
sions was  to  give  interested  persons  an  op- 
portunity to  discuss  theological  subjects 
in  an  inter-Mennonite  context.  The  peace 
committee’s  feeling  has  been  that  usually 
inter-Mennonite  meetings  focus  on  such 
themes  as  relief  and  service,  but  rarely 
on  such  matters  as  faith  and  life. 

Each  of  the  146  Mennonite  congre- 
gations in  the  province  was  invited  to 
send  as  many  as  three  persons  to  the 
group  meeting  nearest  to  them.  A person 
from  each  region  had  been  asked  in  ad- 
vance to  lead  the  discussion.  The  leaders 
had  a session  together  in  September  to 
decide  on  some  of  the  questions  to  which 
the  groups  might  be  asked  to  speak. 

Although  some  of  the  groups  didn’t 
get  the  type  of  inter-Mennonite  interac- 
tion they  had  hoped  for,  most  of  them  re- 
ported that  they  had  a good  experience 
together.  They  urged  mcc  (Manitoba) 
to  sponsor  such  seminars  again  in  1974. 

Taiwan-Japan 
conference  scheduled 

A joint  conference  of  Mennonites  in  Tai- 
wan and  Japan  is  being  planned  for  the 
near  future. 

The  conference  will  be  held  on  the 
island  of  Kyushu,  Japan,  where  most 
Japanese  Mennonite  churches  are.  The 
Taiwan  churches  have  requested  help 
from  the  Japanese  churches  in  getting 
visas  for  fifteen  persons. 


THE  MENNONITE 


735 


Black  Africans  and  Americans  meet  in  Nairobi 


Blair  and  Ruth  Seitz 

The  first  meeting  of  Black  Mennonites 
from  Africa  and  North  America,  afram, 
produced  no  resolutions  on  church  pol- 
icy but  struggled  through  the  pains  of 
differences  to  a rare  celebration  of 
brotherhood.  As  brothers  with  conflict- 
ing views  clasped  each  other  in  forgiving 
prayer,  the  conference  became  a “meet- 
ing of  hearts  at  the  cross.” 

The  idea  for  an  African  Afro-Amer- 
icas  inter-Mennonite  unity  conference 
hatched  at  the  Ninth  Mennonite  World 
Conference  in  Brazil  last  year.  Fifty- 
three  delegates  from  the  four  corners 
of  Africa  and  the  U.  S.  met  November 
4-10  at  Nairobi,  Kenya,  to  initiate  “a 
search  for  commonalities  that  would 
lead  to  communication”  and  to  work  at 
strategies  for  black  church  development. 

Individual  reasons  for  coming  swung 
across  a much  broader  spectrum.  Gener- 
ally, North  American  blacks  pursued  an 
experiential  knowledge  of  their  heritage. 
A bridge  linking  them  to  Africans  was 
of  paramount  importance — “I  wanted  to 
restore  my  broken  culture  by  affirming 
black  Christian  brotherhood.” 

Some  wanted  to  move  beyond  fellow- 
ship to  a unifying  administrative  struc- 
ture. “As  over  40  percent  of  the  Men- 
nonite world  population,  we  blacks  should 
not  let  whites  wield  their  influence  with- 
out our  sharing  the  decision  making.” 
“It  was  a long-awaited  chance  for  us 
black  Americans  to  discuss  issues  with 
brothers  who  are  on  a similar  economic 
level.  It’s  too  hard  to  accept  guidelines 
set  up  by  the  privileged.” 

Africans  arrived  on  the  scene  more 
cautiously,  several  just  recently  learning 
of  non-African  black  Mennonites.  Some 
were  unaware  of  the  racial  problem  in 
the  States  and  had  difficulty  understand- 
ing the  situation.  Others  felt  that  coloni- 
alism had  brought  some  of  the  same 
problems  to  their  countries. 

Speeches  on  evangelism,  economic  de- 
velopment, and  Christian  education,  as 
related  to  black  Mennonites,  were  fol- 
lowed by  small  group  discussions.  These 
surfaced  some  common  concerns  and 
differences  in  church  situations. 

Black  Americans  identified  with  some 
Africans’  financial  frustrations.  A pastor 
of  a ghetto  church:  “We  get  mission 
funds  with  strings  attached  to  put  Band- 
Aids  on  a dilapidated  building.” 

Other  black  Americans  confessed  that 
a welfare  mentality  has  hindered  ambi- 
tions in  their  communities  for  self-suffi- 


ciency; thus  only  three  out  of  fifty-six 
black  North  American  Mennonite 
churches  are  self-supporting. 

Ethiopian  and  Zairian  delegates  felt 
the  financial  burden  of  inherited  institu- 
tions. “Because  white  missionaries  came 
from  an  elite  society,  they  imported 
schools  and  hospitals  that  are  beyond 
the  means  and  administrative  ability  of 
our  local  church.  We  felt  guilty  when 
we  couldn’t  share  the  cost  equally  with 
the  mission  board.” 

A Central  African  felt  that  the  local 
church  must  alter  its  structure  by  work- 
ing at  a community  level.  Also,  “the 
economic  disparity  of  a whitewashed 
mission  compound  in  the  middle  of  mud 
huts  makes  it  easy  for  the  local  Christian 
to  rationalize  against  giving  and  to  as- 
pire to  share  the  luxurious  life  of  the 
missionary.”  At  the  same  time,  there 
was  an  appreciation  shown  for  what  mis- 
sionaries do  give  up. 

Another  African  found  an  escape  from 
this  economic  trap.  A loan  enabled  him 
to  start  a profitable  farm.  Now  he  returns 
his  pastor’s  salary  for  the  training  of 
other  church  leaders. 

Apart  from  this  commonality,  there 
were  varying  reactions  on  church  power. 


Sharp  dissent  followed  the  introduction 
of  a proposal  “to  liberate  our  church 
from  external  forms  of  religious  culture 

Nigerian:  “Because  Mennonite  mis- 

sionaries first  studied  us,  we  have  a 
church  organized  in  harmony  with  our 
culture.” 

North  American:  “We’re  saying  to 
the  whites,  ‘Please  meet  us  halfway.’ 
For  years  I’ve  been  singing  hymns  of 
European  tradition,  and  I enjoy  them. 
But  when  I sang  ‘black  songs’  one  time 
at  Mission  72,  I was  severely  criticized. 

. . . Why  must  we  always  be  patient  and 
humble?” 

Tanzanian  bishop:  “I  perceive  as  a*, 
elder  that  you  want  us  to  be  a part  of 
your  problem  back  home.  . . .” 

The  Tanzanian  representatives  did  not 
share  a need  for  adopting  new  forms  of 
worship.  “You  hear  our  music;  it  is 
ours,  not  what  the  missionaries  brought.” 

The  two  continental  groups  intersect- 
ed around  music  and  rhythm.  While  the 
Tanzanian  choir  rendered  dramatic  songs 
of  Bible  lessons  in  three-part  harmony, 
black  Americans  enthusiastically  joined 
in  the  clapping  and  praising. 

The  Cushites  from  Ethiopia  sang  a 


In  a spontaneous  outburst  of  song,  AFRAM  delegates  join  on  "Down  by  the  river- 
side” led  by  Afro- A merican  LeeRoy  Berry,  Jr. 


736 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


CENTRAL  DISTRICT  REPORTER 


December  18,  1973 


Advent  — power  of  the  personal 


(James  Waltner  wrote  this  Christmas 
editorial  by  request.  He  is  pastor  of  the 
First  Church,  Normal,  Illinois;  author  of 
This  we  believe  used  extensively  in  cate- 
chetical instruction  in  our  conference; 
and  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  Mennonite  Biblical  Seminary.) 


Recently  I spent  several  days  in  a 
community  I had  never  visited.  I had 
often  heard  the  name  of  the  town  and 
church  mentioned.  I knew  the  names  of 
people  from  that  place  and  had  formed 
certain  impressions  of  what  the  place 
and  people  might  be  like. 

Then  I was  there,  met  people  face  to 
face,  shook  hands,  talked,  sang,  wor- 
shiped, prayed,  ate,  visited,  and  felt 
joys  and  hurts  together.  Not  until  then 
did  place  and  people  become  more  than 
name — a living  reality  to  me. 

But  that’s  the  way  it  is.  Places  are 
names  until  we’ve  been  there  and  felt 
the  spirit.  People  are  names  (and  often 
nameless  and  faceless)  until  we  are  there 
in  person,  meet  face  to  face,  sit  down, 
talk,  eat,  worship,  work,  and  play  to- 
gether. Some  things  simply  do  not  hap- 
pen over  the  telephone  or  by  letter  or 
in  any  other  way. 

In  a similar  way  God  has  become 
far  more  than  name  to  people  through 
the  Advent  of  Jesus.  Advent  reveals  the 
power  of  the  personal.  “The  Word  was 
in  the  world  ...  the  Word  became  a 
human  being  and  lived  among  us.”  And 
“We  saw.  . . ” That’s  John’s  way  of  de- 
scribing the  Advent  and  power  of  the 
personal  appearance  (1:10,  14  tev). 
That  Jesus  was  Jesus  of  Bethlehem  and 
Nazareth,  Galilee  and  Golgotha  is  signif- 
icant. That  people  could  see  and  hear 
and  touch  and  experience  him  “in  the 
flesh”  was  crucial.  His  words  about  the 
kingdom  caught  the  fancy  of  people, 
because  the  words  were  accompanied  by 
powerful  demonstrations  of  caring,  help- 
ing, patience,  warmth,  and  suffering  that 
led  people  to  respond,  “If  God  is  like 
that.  . . .”  The  servant-way  of  Jesus 
continues  as  an  impelling  force  today. 

But  the  servant-way,  God  in  the  form 
of  one  who  cares  deeply  and  comes 


alongside  us  to  help,  is  not  a once  long 
ago  event.  Advent  continues.  That  you 
and  I should  be  touched  by  the  Advent 
of  Jesus  at  all  is  because  other  persons 
who  were  touched  by  Advent  have 
touched  our  lives.  The  continuing  Advent 
is  dependent  upon  love  made  visible 
through  persons.  You  and  I are  part  of 
the  “living  body”  we  call  the  church 
because  we  have  seen  and  experienced 
“Christ  in  persons.”  That’s  the  glory  of 
the  church,  and  the  peril,  too,  if  we 
neglect  the  trust  God  places  in  us. 


The  continuing  Advent!  That’s  the  task 
of  our  congregations.  And  let  us  not 
underestimate  the  hunger  for  life  to  be 
personal  and  lived  in  communities  that 
care.  In  an  age  of  electronic  overstimu- 
lation and  manipulation,  a world  where 
vast  impersonal  forces  seem  to  control 
our  lives,  the  most  human  word  is  still 
the  word  spoken  between  people  who 
care.  The  strength  of  congregational  life 
is  this  power  to  be  personal.  Let  us 
capitalize  on  it  and  use  it  in  the  name 
and  spirit  of  Christ. 


Board  searches  for  Camp  Friedenswald  director 


As  noted  elsewhere  in  this  issue  the 
Jesse  Kauffmans  are  retiring  from  their 
Camp  Friedenswald  responsibilities.  They 
planned  to  take  a terminal  vacation  in 
December  and  begin  their  retirement 
December  31.  The  board  had  employed 
George  Bohrer,  who  came  originally 
from  Illinois  and  has  been  a Boy  Scout 
executive  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
to  assume  the  directorship,  beginning  in 
November.  However,  after  starting  his 
work  he  decided  that  this  was  not  what 

We  extend  our  sympathy 

We  extend  our  sympathy  to  Orlando 
A.  Schmidt,  associate  professor  of 
Church  Music  and  Worship  at  Menno- 
nite Biblical  Seminary,  and  his  son 
John  in  the  tragic  death  of  Mrs. 
Schmidt  and  son  Ted  on  Sunday,  No- 
vember 25.  They  were  traveling  near 
Champaign,  Illinois,  in  heavy  traffic 
when  they  were  struck  from  behind  by 
another  car.  The  gas  tank  was  punctured 
and  the  car  immediately  burst  into 
flames.  The  two  members  of  the  family 
in  the  front  seat  were  able  to  escape,  but 
car  doors  were  jammed  by  the  impact 
and  those  in  the  rear  were  trapped  in  the 
fire. 

Words  fail  us  in  trying  to  convey  the 
sense  of  deep  sympathy  which  we  feel. 
May  God  grant  the  comfort  which  we 
cannot  give,  and  inspire  others  to  those 
acts  of  companionship  and  compassion 
which  will  help  to  lighten  the  load  of 
grief  and  loneliness. 


he  felt  called  to  do.  Consequently  he 
asked  to  be  released  from  his  contract  to 
return  to  his  position  in  the  Boy  Scout 
program,  which  was  still  open  for  him. 
The  board  granted  the  request  and  as  of 
December  1 was  starting  another  search 
for  a director. 

We  are  sorry  that  George  felt  that  he 
should  not  continue  in  this  role,  but  we 
continue  to  wish  him  well  in  the  work 
that  he  is  doing.  Meanwhile  we  hope 
and  pray  that  the  board  can  find  a 
suitable  successor  to  the  Kauffmans. 

New  radio  spots  ready 

Choice  TV,  a new  series  of  sixty-five  90- 
second  radio  programs,  will  be  released 
January  1. 

The  programs  have  been  jointly  pro- 
duced by  the  General  Conference  Men- 
nonite Church,  Mennonite  Brethren 
Church,  and  Mennonite  Church,  with 
participation  by  the  Church  of  the 
Brethren. 

Palmer  Becker,  executive  secretary  of 
the  General  Conference’s  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries,  said  information  on 
Choice  IV  and  its  promotion  to  radio 
stations  will  be  sent  to  pastors  and  con- 
gregational representatives  of  the  three 
denominations  on  November  25. 

Theme  of  the  spots  is  resolving  fam- 
ily conflicts. 

A new  book  by  David  Augsburger  en- 
titled Love  fight : Caring  enough  to  con- 
front will  serve  as  a follow-up  to  the 
radio  spots. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-l 


Response  to  conference  goals 

Involvement  and  motivation  of  all  members 


Motivation  will  lead  to  involvement 


It  seems  to  me  that  this  should  read 
“The  motivation  and  involvement  of  all 
members.”  Motivation  comes  before  in- 
volvement. A person’s  motivation  is 
determined  much  by  the  circumstances 
and  surroundings  in  which  he  finds 
himself  as  well  as  by  past  experiences. 

How  can  the  church  and/or  the  con- 
ference stimulate  its  members  so  that 
they  are  so  motivated  that  they  want 
to  be  involved?  This  must  be  an  exciting 
challenge  to  the  pastors  of  the  congrega- 
tions. 

If  a person  has  had  a sincere  and 
exciting  experience  with  Christ  and  his 
redemptive  love,  he  will,  as  a “bubbling” 
Christian,  be  so  motivated  as  to  have  the 


One  of  the  major  goals  in  every  con- 
gregation must  be  the  involvement  and 
motivation  of  every  member.  Someone 
has  said  something  to  this  effect;  a good 
leader  is  not  one  who  is  always  up  front 
in  the  limelight,  but  rather  one  who  can 
get  his  people  involved  while  he  him- 
self is  content  to  coach  them  from  the 
sideline. 

The  implications  of  the  term  involve- 
ment probably  need  to  be  spelled  out 
more  clearly.  There  is  a trend  toward 
more  audience  participation  in  the  wor- 
ship service.  This  has  its  place,  but,  the 
goal  for  involvement  will  need  to  reach 
beyond  the  ritualistic  element  of  the 
worship  service  to  a one-to-one  basis  of 
involvement  with  people  in  society  where 
the  problems  and  hurts  exist.  This  is 
where  we  need  to  focus  involvement. 


Most  organizations,  secular  and  reli- 
gious, would  rank  goal  three  high  on 
their  priority  list.  As  a conference  goal, 
it  deserves  some  clarification  and  focus. 
It  is  possible  to  be  so  involved  in  church 
work  that  we  fail  to  come  to  grips  with 
the  will  of  God  for  our  lives.  There  is  no 
particular  virtue  about  involvement,  per 
se. 

Motivation  can  be  the  kind  of  term  that 
has  a high-sounding  tone  but  lacks  spir- 
itual content.  We  have  probably  all  been 


desire  to  be  involved  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord,  whether  it  be  in  the  local  church 
and  community  or  conferencewide. 
With  the  help  of  inspirational  and  chal- 
lenging messages  from  the  pastor,  the 
encouragement  received  from  Christian 
families  and  friends,  and  the  warmth  of 
a personal  devotional  life,  the  sensitive 
Christian  tries  to  walk  closer  to  the  Lord 
in  his  way.  In  seeking  the  Lord’s  will, 
one  is  sure  to  have  many  opportunities 
in  which  he  may  use  his  “gifts.”  If  he 
accepts  these  challenges,  he  becomes  in- 
volved in  the  Lord’s  work.  Phyllis  Baum- 
gartner, member  of  ministerial  commit- 
tee 


The  motivation  toward  such  involve- 
ment is  probably  the  most  difficult  chal- 
lenge for  any  congregation.  To  stimulate 
the  interest  of  the  people  toward  total 
involvement,  our  people  must  be  chal- 
lenged to  a renewed  recognition  of  the 
commission  of  Jesus  Christ  and  its  im- 
plications of  being  actual  partners  with 
God  in  his  great  program  for  mankind. 
Meaningful  goals  must  be  prayerfully 
established  which  are  not  program  but 
people  oriented.  There  must  also  be  a 
renewed  emphasis  upon  the  excitement 
which  comes  from  total  discipleship.  The 
church  is  people  and  its  work  is  the  to- 
tal involvement  of  people  reconciling  oth- 
er persons  with  Jesus  Christ  and  their 
fellowman.  Ben  Rahn,  chairperson,  edu- 
cation and  publication  committee 


impressed  by  meeting  people  who  are 
motivated  by  idealism  or  humanism.  Our 
goal,  however,  should  be  a commitment 
to  Jesus  Christ  and  a desire  to  yield  our 
lives  to  him.  If  we  are  moved  to  action 
and  love  of  others  because  Christ  is  real- 
ly Lord  and  we  have  experienced  some- 
thing of  his  life,  death,  and  resurrection, 
then  we  are  ready  to  function  as  vital 
members  of  the  congregation.  Robert 
Liechty,  peace  and  service  committee 


Everyone  has  a talent 

What  an  ideal  situation — every  member 
a committed  and  active  participant  in 
the  program  of  the  church! 

If  one  part  of  the  body  is  not  used, 
it  becomes  weak;  could  it  be  the  same 
with  the  church?  If  someone  is  not  con- 
tributing, he  becomes  spiritually  weak? 
If  all  persons  contribute  time  and  talent 
to  the  work  of  the  church,  surely  the 
church  would  be  strengthened. 

Conceivably  there  is  a job  for  each 
person.  But  how  does  one  find  it?  The 
time  and  talent  sheet  which  our  church 
members  were  asked  to  complete  this 
month  helps  me  to  consider  just  what  I 
am  willing  to  do — or  not  to  do — at  this 
particular  time. 

Recently  I made  out  a list  of  jobs  that 
needed  to  be  done  at  home  and  asked 
the  children  to  choose.  Surprisingly,  each 
selected  jobs  other  than  their  regular 
chores  and  with  unusual  enthusiasm  car- 
ried out  the  tasks. 

Perhaps  we  expect  the  same  people  to 
do  the  same  jobs  repeatedly.  A time  and 
talent  form  can  be  helpful  to  locate 
those  members  who  are  motivated,  will- 
ing, and  eager  to  become  more  involved. 
Lois  Kreider,  president,  Women’s  Mis- 
sionary Association 

Make  full  use  of  talents 

It  is  probable  that  many  men  who  read 
The  reporter  think  that  the  “women  at 
work”  page  (page  seven  this  issue)  is 
for  women  only.  We  suggest  that  men 
also  read  that  page  this  month.  Both  ar- 
ticles are  well  worth  reading. 

However,  it  is  the  report  on  the  con- 
sultation on  the  role  of  women  in  the 
church  to  which  we  wanted  especially 
to  call  your  attention.  Too  many  church- 
es still  have  sex  roles  into  which  they 
expect  members  to  fit.  They  thus  lose 
important  contributions  which  women 
can  make  and  fail  to  give  them  the  op- 
portunities for  service  which  their  tal- 
ents deserve.  More  women  are  being 
elected  to  conference  positions,  both  on 
the  district  and  General  Conference  lev- 
els. We  predict  that  nominating  com- 
mittees this  summer  will  include  the 
names  of  many  women  on  their  slates. 

We  would  like  for  you  to  consider, 
however,  whether  your  local  church  is 
responding  to  the  need  to  use  the  tal- 
ents of  women  in  an  adequate  way,  and 
gives  them  the  opportunity  for  service 
which  they  deserve.  Examine  your  own 
church  policy. 


Total  discipleship  must  result  in  involvement 


Commitment  to  Christ  should  motivate 


A-2 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


Make  disciples  in  all  nations 


Ministers  meet  to  explore 
Mennonite  witness  in  Chicago 

Mennonite  churches  in  the  Chicago  area 
sent  representatives  to  a meeting  at  the 
Grace  Church,  4221  South  Rockwell 
Street,  on  October  27.  Two  Central  Dis- 
trict ministers,  Alvin  Voth  of  the  Grace 
Church  and  Ed  Springer  of  the  Mark- 
ham Church,  along  with  two  ministers 
of  other  Mennonite  churches,  were  in- 
strumental in  calling  the  meeting.  In  ad- 
dition to  representatives  of  the  church- 
es, representatives  of  denominational 
mission  boards,  house  fellowships,  stu- 
dent groups,  and  conference  ministers 
were  invited.  Jacob  Friesen,  Central  Dis- 
trict minister,  took  part  in  the  sessions. 
About  thirty-five  persons  were  in  at- 
tendance. 

The  purpose  for  the  strategy  meeting 
was  (1)  to  consider  the  needs  for  an 
enlarged  Christian  witness  in  the  Chica- 
go area  of  more  than  six  million  per- 
sons; (2)  to  become  aware  of  the  Men- 
nonite presence  (congregations,  fellow- 
ships, student  groups,  and  individuals) 
and  program  in  the  Chicago  areas;  (3) 
to  discover  ways  to  strengthen  and  en- 
large the  Mennonite  church  witness  for 
Christ  in  the  Chicago  area. 

Radio  and  television  station  wgn  has 
invited  the  Mennonite  church  to  present 
two  televised  programs.  One  would  be 
televised  January  20  and  the  other  in 
July,  but  both  must  be  taped  by  Janu- 
ary 20.  It  was  felt  that  these  programs 
should  be  presented  by  a joint  effort  of 
the  Mennonite  churches  in  the  Chicago 
area.  A committee  consisting  of  LeRoy 
Kennel,  Ed  Springer,  and  Ivan  Kauff- 
man was  selected  to  give  leadership  to 
this  project. 

Mennonites  in  the  Chicago  area 
planned  a joint  Thanksgiving  service  for 
November  18  at  the  Lawndale  Church, 
2570  South  Lawndale,  Chicago.  Mary 
Oyer  of  Goshen  College  was  invited  to 


be  the  guest  song  leader  for  this  service. 

The  Central  District  has  three  church- 
es within  the  Chicago  area.  In  addition 
to  Grace  and  Markham,  previously  men- 
tioned, there  is  also  the  First  Church, 
1477  West  73rd  Street,  with  John  Burke 
as  pastor. 

This  Mennonite  Fellowship  would  like 
to  have  the  names  of  all  Mennonites  now 
living  within  the  Chicago  area.  We  sug- 
gest that  you  send  names  and  addresses 
to  Ed  Sprunger,  16154  South  Kedzie, 
Markham,  Illinois  60426,  secretary  of 
the  fellowship. 

Plans  made  to  continue 
evangelistic  thrust 

A new  effort  to  build  on  Key  73  was 
proposed  by  an  ad  hoc  group  which  met 
in  St.  Louis  in  October.  The  consensus 
of  the  group  was  that  there  should  be  a 
continuation  of  Key  73  in  a somewhat 
different  form  with  a new  grouping  that 
might  include  some  agencies  not  in  Key 
73.  A group  will  meet  in  Chicago  in 
March  to  discuss  plans. 

An  evaluation  of  Key  73  showed 
the  strong  areas  during  the  past  year  to 
be  the  launch  TV  program,  the  empha- 
sis on  repentance,  and  the  distribution 
of  50  million  portions  of  Scripture.  Blan- 
ket distribution,  the  method  least  recom- 
mended for  Scripture  distribution,  was 
however  the  method  most  used.  Cooper- 
ative evangelistic  home  Bible  studies 
proved  to  be  a weak  area  since  they  of- 
ten involved  only  Christians.  The  use  of 
music  was  also  weak. 

The  real  need  now  is  to  recognize 
that  we  have  only  begun.  Key  73  has 
done  much  of  its  job.  It  remains  for  the 
churches  to  grasp  anew  a vision  of  life 
lived  out  in  the  world  which  bears 
witness  to  God’s  love  and  concern  for 
all  persons,  regardless  of  how  they  are 
related  to  one  another.  An  evangelistic 
life-style  is  now  in  order. 


THE  MENNONITE  A-3 


State  of  missions  examined 
in  Trueblood’s  new  book 

All  church  members  should  include  a 
book  on  missions  on  their  reading  list. 
We  would  like  to  suggest  a book  by 
D.  Elton  Trueblood,  Earlham  College 
philosopher.  We  suggest  The  validity 
of  the  Christian  mission,  (1972)  pub- 
lished by  Harper  and  Row.  Trueblood 
has  been  a prolific  writer,  but  has  not 
previously  ventured  into  the  field  of 
missions.  What  he  has  to  say  is  espe- 
cially noteworthy,  since  he  could  in  no 
sense  be  considered  a “professional” 
missions  exponent  and  certainly  could 
not  be  charged  with  having  an  axe  to 
grind  or  of  riding  a hobby.  In  the  pref- 
ace he  says  that  previously  “the  possi- 
bility that  I ought  to  write  on  the  sub- 
ject did  not  even  enter  my  mind.  What 
finally  made  the  difference  was  the  op- 
portunity of  firsthand  observation  of  the 
world  mission,  particularly  in  a slow 
world  tour  beginning  in  November 
1970.” 

Dr.  Trueblood  discusses  the  decline 
in  mission  interest  on  the  part  of  Chris- 
tians. He  gives  and  refutes  the  reasons 
commonly  given  for  the  lack  of  interest. 
This  lack  of  interest  is  shown  not  only 
in  coolness  but  sometimes  in  actual  op- 
position to  missions.  In  discussing  the 
theology  of  missions  he  maintains  that 
Christianity  is  essentially  a religion  of 
evangelism,  that  evangelism  must  in- 
clude humanitarian  concern,  but  must 
be  based  on  a vital  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 
and  concern  about  the  good  news  of 
the  gospel.  He  also  feels  that  our  own 
educational  institutions  should  not  be 
overlooked  as  a field  for  Christian  mis- 
sion. He  says,  “There  is  no  way  to  ex- 
aggerate the  potential  strength  of  a min- 
istry which  combines  evangelical  the- 
ology with  fearless  mentality  and  a gen- 
uine concern  for  people”  (p.  109). 

This  book  is  of  modest  length. 


Living,  active  congregations 


HAPPENINGS 


The  Mennonite  Choral  Society  of 
Berne  presented  its  annual  rendition  of 
The  Messiah  by  G.  F.  Handel  in  the 
First  Church  December  1 and  2. 


The  First  Church  of  Bluff  ton  offered 
two  special  courses  this  fall,  the  classes 
meeting  on  Sunday  evenings.  One  course, 
‘Training  to  help  in  crisis,”  which  in- 
cluded adjustments  to  aging  and  to 
strokes,  was  taught  by  guest  specialists. 
The  other  course  on  “The  theology  of 
Paul”  was  taught  by  the  pastor,  Stanley 
Bohn. 


Roger  Siebert,  pastor  of  the  Grace 
Church,  Pandora,  began  the  practice  of 
using  one  of  the  epistles  for  midweek 
Bible  study,  followed  by  Sunday  morn- 
ing sermons  taken  from  the  same  epistles. 


The  Bluffton  College  Choral  Society, 
under  the  direction  of  James  Bixel,  pre- 
sented its  annual  Christmas  program  in 
Founders  Hall  December  9.  Some  of 
the  numbers  from  Handel’s  Messiah  most 
appropriate  for  the  Christmas  season, 
were  sung.  In  a departure  from  the  usual 
practice,  those  who  attended  were  urged 
to  bring  their  copies  of  the  oratorio  and 
sing  along  with  the  chorus.  The  chorus 
also  presented  Bach’s  Magnificat  and 
Vivaldi’s  Gloria. 


A “walk  for  the  hungry”  was  spon- 
sored by  the  First  Church,  Berne,  Sat- 
urday, November  3.  The  event  kicked 
off  the  annual  crop  drive.  Walkers  were 
sponsored  by  individuals  in  the  com- 
munity. Proceeds  went  to  the  mcc  and 
other  crop  agencies.  Curtis  Bedsworth 
was  chairman  of  the  walk. 


Dan  Dalke,  pastor  of  the  Ebenezer 
Church  near  Bluffton,  has  been  granted 
a six-months  sabbatical  leave  by  the 
church  council.  During  that  period  he 
will  be  pastor  of  an  English-speaking 
church  in  Ecuador’s  capital  city  of  Quito. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dalke  and  two  of  their 
children  will  be  in  Ecuador  from  January 
through  June. 


Women  of  the  Grace  Church,  Pan- 
dora, and  First  Church,  Bluffton,  coop- 
erated in  an  mcc  self-help  sale  Novem- 


ber 7 and  8.  The  sale  was  held  in  the 
meetinghouse  of  the  First  Church.  New 
items  of  international  crafts  and  needle- 
work were  available.  The  mcc  self-help 
program  attempts  to  provide  poor  fam- 
ilies in  less  developed  areas  a meaningful 
way  to  earn  a living.  Buyers  came  from 
a wide  area  to  examine  and  purchase  a 
wide  variety  of  items,  including  metal 
and  woodwork  and  a wide  selection  of 
needlework.  Gross  income  totaled  in  ex- 
cess of  $4,600. 


Rev.  Alvin  Voth,  Grace  Church,  Chi- 
cago, represented  the  Central  District 
at  a meeting  at  Rosemont,  Illinois,  of 
the  General  Conference  Commission  on 
Overseas  Ministries  and  other  mission 
boards  with  the  American  Bible  Society. 
The  importance  of  distribution  of  Scrip- 
tures in  many  languages  was  stressed. 
Scriptures  recorded  on  cassettes  and 
printed  in  Braille  are  available  for  those 
who  cannot  use  regular  printed  Bibles. 
Mennonite  churches  have  made  signif- 
icant contributions  to  this  cause  but 
more  help  is  needed. 


The  Salem  Church  near  Kidron,  Ohio, 
which  has  recently  engaged  in  goal  set- 
ting, using  the  Evangelism-in-Depth 
technique,  set  aside  one  Sunday  school 
period  for  task  forces,  emphasizing  each 
of  the  four  goals,  to  inform  members 
of  plans  to  make  progress  toward  the 
goals  which  had  been  adopted.  Periodic 
inserts  in  the  Sunday  morning  bulletins 
are  also  being  used  to  keep  people  in- 
formed, and  to  challenge  participation. 


Young  people  of  the  First  Church  of 
Sugarcreek,  Ohio,  gathered  candlestubs 
and  melted  them  down  to  form  one  huge 
candle.  This  will  be  displayed  downtown 
and  from  it  youth  will  light  smaller 
candles  and  will  walk  around  town  with 
their  lighted  candles,  singing  carols  in 
the  form  of  a witness  to  the  Prince  of 
Peace. 

The  Intercollegiate  Christian  Council 
of  Mennonite  Colleges  held  its  annual 
conference  on  the  Bluffton  campus.  The 
theme  of  the  two-day  conference  was 
“The  changing  Christian  community  on 
campus.”  Arthur  G.  Gish  of  the  Church 
of  the  Brethren  served  as  the  resource 
person.  Participating  colleges  included 
Goshen,  Eastern  Mennonite,  Hesston, 
Bethel,  and  Tabor. 

Churches  are  invited  to  send  brief 


news  items  for  The  reporter.  Since  about 
a month  is  required  for  news  to  be  pub- 
lished, announcements  of  future  events  . 
must  be  sent  in  early. 

Elkhart  organization 
receives  poverty  grant 

A grant  of  $500  has  been  made  to 
Church  Community  Services,  Elkhart, 
Indiana,  from  poverty  project  money  of 
the  Commission  on  Home  Ministries. 

The  money  will  be  used  to  supple- 
ment an  emergency  loan  fund  for  fami- 
lies with  emergency  needs  for  housing, 
utilities,  and  food. 

During  the  past  year  more  than 
$3,000  was  loaned  to  ninety-eight  fam- 
ilies or  individuals.  With  relatively  little 
pressure,  about  30  percent  of  the  loans 
are  returned. 

Loans  have  been  used  to  help  pay  de- 
posits on  apartments  and  houses,  make 
rent  or  house  payments,  pay  utility  bills, 
pay  moving  expenses  within  Elkhart,  or 
buy  medical  supplies. 

“Whether  the  loans  are  repaid  or  not, 
we  are  helping  at  a time  when  it  is  need- 
ed according  to  the  principles  that  Jesus 
established,”  said  Joe  Yoder  of  Church 
Community  Services. 

Church  Community  Services  operates 
across  racial  and  denominational  lines 
to  bring  together  the  resources  of  con- 
gregations and  cases  of  human  need. 

Grabers  are  active  in  Nigeria 

Eldon  Graber,  formerly  registrar  at  Bluff- 
ton College  and  active  in  the  Central 
District,  has  been  helping  to  develop 
university  education  in  Zaria,  Nigeria. 
This  past  summer  he  planned  and  direct- 
ed the  first  summer  session  for  master’s 
degree  candidates  at  the  Faculty  of  Edu- 
cation at  Ahmadu  Bello  University.  He 
also  organized  a master’s  degree  pro- 
gram in  guidance  and  counseling.  In 
September  he  assisted  with  the  organ- 
ization of  the  orientation  program  for 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  new  students 
admitted  to  the  university.  Graber  and 
his  wife,  Martha,  helped  plan  a new 
degree  program  in  elementary  education. 
The  program  began  this  fall.  The  Grabers 
stated  that  their  experience  leads  them 
to  believe  that  many  opportunities  are 
still  available  for  people  with  experience 
in  education  and  other  professions  to 
make  a significant  contribution  in  the 
developing  nation  of  Nigeria. 


> 


A-4 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


COM  delegates 

Two  of  the  four  representatives  of 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission  of 
the  General  Conference  who  visited  In- 
dia in  late  summer  studying  the  work 
there  are  members  of  Central  District 
churches.  They  are  Elmer  Neufeld, 
chairman  of  the  Commission  on  Over- 
seas Mission,  a member  of  the  First 
Church,  Lima,  Ohio,  and  Robert  L. 
Ramseyer,  director  of  the  Overseas  Mis- 
sion Training  Center  at  the  Associated 
Seminaries  in  Elkhart,  a member  of  the 
Hively  Avenue  Church.  The  other  two 
in  the  group  were  Howard  Habegger, 
com  executive  secretary,  and  Vemey 
Unruh,  com  secretary  for  India. 

The  group  visited  all  of  our  mission 
stations,  schools,  and  hospitals  and  had 
extensive  conferences  with  representatives 

Theme  and  date  set 
i for  CD  conference 

The  1974  session  of  the  Central  District 
Conference  will  be  held  March  28-31 
[ at  East  Bay  Camp,  Lake  Bloomington, 
Illinois.  The  Central  Illinois  churches 
will  serve  as  hosts.  This  was  also  the  lo- 
1 cation  of  the  1970  sessions. 

Since  conference  will  be  a month  ear- 
lier than  has  been  customary,  other  dates 
must  also  be  advanced.  All  materials  to 
! go  into  the  conference  report  book 
I should  be  in  the  hands  of  the  conference 
| minister  by  February  1.  All  information 
I which  should  be  published  before  con- 
I ference  in  The  reporter,  such  as  the  de- 
I tailed  conference  program  and  the  re- 
port of  the  nominating  committee,  should 
i be  in  the  hands  of  the  editor  by  Febru- 
: ary  10. 

Details  of  the  program  will  be  an- 
| nounced  later.  However,  the  program 
I committee  is  planning  to  make  “The 
j Christian  family”  the  central  theme. 

I Two  half  days  will  be  given  to  sem- 
I inars  led  by  conference  committees  and 
institutions  with  topics  related  to  this 
i central  theme.  During  another  half  day, 

! committees  and  institutions  will  present 
brief  statements  concerning  their  work 
and  present  problems  which  they  would 
like  for  the  conference  to  consider.  Con- 
sideration of  reports  and  resolutions  will 
occur  in  both  small  groups  and  by  the 
conference  as  a whole.  Sunday  forenoon 
will  be  given  to  worship,  installation  of 
officers,  and  a communion  service.  Con- 
ference is  to  adjourn  at  noon,  giving 
time  for  delegates  to  return  to  their 
homes  yet  that  evening. 


visit  India 

of  the  Bharatiya  General  Conference 
Mennonite  Church  and  our  missionaries. 
More  extensive  reports  have  appeared 
in  other  church  papers.  It  is  probably 
enough  for  our  purpose  here  to  state 
that  as  a result  of  the  consultations  the 
church  in  India  will  begin  a new  thrust 
in  evangelism  and  church  planting  in 
1974,  with  a goal  of  four  thousand  new 
members  by  1984.  The  church  confer- 
ence will  also  assume  the  full  responsi- 
bility for  the  Christian  nurture  program 
which  has  been  operated  by  the  mis- 
sion conference.  There  will  be  no  in- 
crease in  mission  appropriations  for 
schools  in  the  near  future. 

Strong  affirmation  for  a continuing 
missionary  presence  in  India  came  from 
the  governing  body  of  the  church  con- 
ference. 

Mennonite  youth  gather  for 
Inter-Varsity  Urbana  73 

Mennonite  young  people  of  all  branches 
of  the  church  will  have  a special  meeting 
in  conjunction  with  the  tenth  Inter- 
Varsity  missionary  convention,  Urbana 
73,  December  27-31,  at  the  University 
of  Illinois.  Commission  on  Overseas  Mis- 
sion representatives  and  missionaries  will 
be  at  the  convention  with  information 
and  literature.  The  All-Mennonite  meet- 
ing is  planned  for  Sunday  afternoon, 
December  30,  followed  by  a meeting  of 
General  Conference  participants.  More 
information  on  these  meetings  and  the 
convention  as  a whole  is  available  from 
the  Commission  on  Overseas  Mission, 
Box  347,  Newton,  Kansas  67114,  or 
from  Urbana  73,  233  Langdon,  Madison, 
Wisconsin  53703. 

Church  aid  most  efficient 

Do  you  know  what  it  costs  to  give? 
Evangelical  visitor  reports  that  when 
you  give  one  hundred  dollars  to  help 
other  people,  it  costs  three  hundred  dol- 
lars to  deliver  that  one  hundred  dollars’ 
worth  of  aid  through  federal  channels 
. . . twenty-seven  dollars  to  deliver  the 
same  amount  through  voluntary  charities 
. . . and  eight  dollars  to  deliver  it  through 
the  church.  By  giving  through  the  church 
we  are  practicing  good  stewardship. 


Camp  to  offer  winter  retreats 

Camp  Friedenswald  is  offering  winter 
retreats  which  give  an  opportunity  to 
enjoy  the  beautiful  winter  scenery  and 
winter  sports.  The  outdoors  can  be  en- 
joyed in  various  ways,  especially  if  it 
snows.  Hiking  is  popular,  and  if  weather 
cooperates,  iceskating,  sledding,  tobog- 
ganing, and  cross-country  skiing  become 
the  main  highlights.  Retreats  are  offered 
for  late  December,  January,  and  Febru- 
ary. 

Young  adults — December  30- January 
1 For  Single  and  married  young  adults 

Father-daughter — January  18-20  For 
dads  and  their  daughters 

Family — February  22-24  For  the 
whole  family. 

Youth  Retreat  No.  1 January  4-6 

Retreat  No.  2 January  11-13 

Bring  the  whole  ypu  and  meet  and 
share  ideas  with  the  other  youth  of  the 
Central  District.  Contact  your  youth 
leader  for  further  information. 

Father-son — February  8-10  For  dads 
and  sons. 

For  further  information  contact  your 
pastor  or  write  to  Camp  Friedenswald 
registration,  R.R.  3,  Cassopolis,  Michi- 
gan 49031. 

Church  planting  explored 

David  Whitermore,  working  out  of  the 
chm  office,  Newton,  has  been  working 
with  the  Central  District  missions  com- 
mittee exploring  possibilities  for  starting 
new  churches  or  fellowships.  In  this 
work  he  has  visited  many  of  the  major 
cities  in  the  Central  District  area.  He  is 
also  visiting  Mennonite  families  who  have 
moved  into  these  cities  to  discover  the 
possibilities  and  needs  for  Mennonite 
fellowships. 

Along  with  projects  previously  support- 
ed, the  missions  committee  is  giving 
some  support  to  the  Bluffton  College 
campus  ministry,  the  Elkhart  coffeehouse, 
and  the  prison  ministry. 

Service  assignments  given 

George  and  Karen  Thompson  left  for  a 
three-year  term  of  service  with  mcc 
in  Sudan.  George  will  teach  in  a post- 
secondary school  in  Atbara,  northern 
Sudan.  Karen’s  asignment  is  yet  to  be 
determined.  Until  school  opened  they 
studied  Arabic.  The  Thompsons  are 
members  of  the  Neil  Avenue  Church, 
Columbus,  Ohio. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A-5 


Couples  find  retreat  helpful 


There  is  an  old  saying  that  the  test  of 
the  pudding  is  in  the  eating.  Similarly 
the  test  of  a retreat  is  in  what  it  does  to 
those  who  participate.  Two  couples  who 
attended  a Married  Couples  Retreat  at 
Friedenswald  were  asked  to  comment  on 
their  experience. 

Carol  and  Jerry  Hoffman,  Danvers, 
Illinois,  said,  “The  retreat  gave  us  a 
chance  to  get  away  from  everyday  home 
duties  and  responsibilities  and  just  be  a 
couple  sharing  intimate  relationships  that 
we  don’t  always  take  time  to  do>  when 
we  are  tied  down  with  so  many  other 
avenues  of  life.  Sometimes  the  real  feel- 
ing of  togetherness  fades  away  as  we 
both  go  our  own  ways  and  participate 
in  different  activities.  We  met  with  other 
couples  of  all  ages  participating  and 
discussing  in  therapy  groups.  We  learned 
to  improve  communication  skills  and  to 
establish  priorities  and  we  had  time  for 
relaxation  and  being  ourselves.  We  also 
shared  openly  an  awareness  of  our  feel- 
ings, communication,  and  sensitivity  to 
our  spouses  and  others  in  the  group.  We 
left  with  a feeling  of  closeness  toward 


At  the  suggestion  of  the  Commission 
on  Home  Ministries  of  the  General  Con- 
ference a week  in  October  was  desig- 
nated as  Amnesty  Week.  Now  during 
the  Christmas  season  might  be  a good 
time  to  think  more  about  this  question. 

The  dictionary  definition  of  amnesty 
is  “a  general  pardon  for  offenders  by 
a government,  especially  for  political 
offenses.”  We  particularly  refer  to  am- 
nesty for  those  who  either  left  the  coun- 
try or  went  to  prison  to  protest  the 
part  they  were  asked  to  play  in  the 
Vietnam  War.  Several  classes  are  includ- 
ed: (1)  Those  who  could  have  received 
CO  status  but  protested  the  entire  selec- 
tive service  system.  (2)  COs  who  asked 
for  but  were  denied  1-W  classification. 
(3)  Those  opposed  to  the  Vietnam  War, 
but  not  to  all  war,  and  were  denied  CO 
status.  (4)  Some  in  the  armed  forces  who 
could  no  longer  “stomach”  what  they 
were  required  to  do  and  deserted. 

Various  attitudes  have  been  taken  by 
those  in  government  positions:  (1)  No 
amnesty  under  any  conditions.  (2)  Re- 
quiring a period  of  public  service  as  the 
price  for  amnesty.  (3)  No  blanket  am- 
nesty, but  considering  each  case  on  its 
merits.  (4)  Blanket  amnesty  for  all  who 
refused  to  serve. 


each  other  and  to  God  giving  us  a 
spiritual  uplift  that  we  wanted  to  share 
with  others.” 

Carol  and  Roy  Sprunger,  Berne,  Indi- 
ana, also  felt  that  the  retreat  was  helpful. 
“Married  Couples  Retreat  was  a learning 
experience  in  sharing  and  caring  relation- 
ships. With  guidance  by  Roy  Keim,  we 
did  some  real  thinking  and  sharing  in 
three  areas:  how  we  feel  about  ourselves, 
how  we  feel  about  our  mate,  how  we 
feel  about  others.  We  were  amazed  at 
how  soon  and  easily  came  the  feeling 
of  mutual  trust.  As  we  learned  to  know 
ourselves  and  each  person,  we  felt  an 
openness  that  led  to  a time  of  searching, 
reacting,  and  a strengthening  of  relation- 
ships. We  also  felt  we  experienced  real 
healing  as  we  climaxed  the  retreat  in 
communion  with  each  other  and  him. 
As  a group  we  are  happy  to  know  that 
both  newlyweds  and  thirty-year-weds  are 
interested  in  a more  meaningful  Chris- 
tian marriage.” 

Married  couples  who  haven’t  shared 
in  such  an  experience  should  plan  to 
try  it  in  the  future. 


What  do  you  believe?  What  position 
should  the  government  take?  Why?  What 
position  should  be  taken  by  the  church? 
What  attitude  should  the  church  take 
toward  these  men  as  individuals? 

You  are  invited  to  send  us  your 
thoughts  concerning  this  question  in  not 
more  than  150  words  to  be  published 
in  the  February  issue  of  Thre  reporter. 
Send  replies  to  Lloyd  L.  Ramseyer,  488 
West  Elm  Street,  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817, 
so  that  they  reach  him  not  later  than 
January  10. 

VS  opportunities  available 

The  decline  in  volunteers  for  different 
types  of  church  service  has  caused  some 
concern.  Not  only  is  this  a significant 
way  to  help  others,  but  is  also  an  ex- 
cellent experience  for  people  of  all  ages. 
Lists  of  service  opportunities  are  sent  to 
the  churches  regularly  by  mcc  and  the 
General  Conference.  Study  these  lists 
and  bring  them  to  the  attention  of  oth- 
ers in  your  church.  Service  is  a great 
opportunity  offered  by  our  church. 


Mennonite  Foundation 
counsels  in  estate  planning 

There  are  many  ways  of  giving  to  the 
church  and  its  institutions.  One  should 
give  generously  during  his  lifetime  in 
proportion  to  the  way  he  has  been  blessed  f 
materially.  Every  person  who  anticipates 
that  some  financial  resources,  large  or 
small,  will  be  left  at  the  time  of  death  , 
should  give  careful  consideration  to 
where  these  funds  will  go.  The  Christian 
will  probably  want  to  leave  some  gifts 
for  the  church  and  its  institutions.  These 
gifts  may  be  left  directly  to  specific 
causes  or  institutions  through  wills,  annu- 
ities, and  the  like. 

Many  people  need  advice  and  help  in 
planning  their  estates.  The  Mennonite 
Foundation  is  a special  stewardship  serv- 
ice agency  dedicated  to  helping  con- 
cerned Christian  stewards.  It  provides 
estate  planning  guidance  and  effective 
management  of  gift  property.  This  foun- 
dation can  be  of  help  to  you. 

Harry  E.  Martens  is  a General  Con- 
ference representative  of  this  foundation 
in  our  area.  He  can  be  contacted  at 
1110  North  Main  Street,  Goshen,  Indiana 
46526.  The  foundation  will  be  glad  to  £ 
help  you  to  plan  your  estate  so  that 
your  resources  will  go  to  any  church 
agency  of  your  choice. 

Keeney  attends  Dutch 
Mennonite  peace  celebration 

William  Keeney,  Elkhart,  Indiana,  was 
the  American  representative  to  attend  I 
the  celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  Dutch  Mennonite  Peace  Group 
in  Elspeet,  Netherlands.  Keeney  was 
formerly  a member  of  the  Bluffton  Col- 
lege faculty,  more  recently  dean  of  Bethel 
College,  and  presently  secretary  of  studies 
for  the  Mennonite  Central  Committee 
and  a fellow  of  the  Institute  of  Men- 
nonite Studies  of  our  seminary.  The  •> 
Netherlands  group  honored  Cor  Inja, 
who  has  served  for  twenty-five  years  as 
counselor  for  conscientious  objectors. 
During  that  time  he  has  counseled  at 
least  5:,000  conscientious  objectors. 

Following  the  conference,  Keeney  at- 
tended meetings  in  Germany  in  celebra-  , 
tion  of  the  450th  anniversary  of  the 
beginning  of  the  Mennonite  church.  The 
possible  reconstitution  of  the  German 
Mennonite  Peace  Committee  was  consi- 
dered. Keeney  also  served  as  resource 
person  for  an  mcc  and  Mennonite 
mission  worker  retreat  in  Germany, 
where  he  also  talked  with  American 
Mennonites  who  have  been  relating  to 
peace  activities. 


For  consideration 


A-6 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


WOMEN 

AT 

WORK 


Arabs,  their  word  for  greeting — hello  or 
goodbye — is  peace,  “Shalom.”  And  we 
are  certain  that  deep  inside,  all  these 
peoples  must  want  peace. 

In  this  season  when  we  as  a family 
again  celebrate  the  coming  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace,  we  will  remember  our  friends 


in  many  countries  whose  lives  are  af- 
fected by  war.  And  we  will  sing  again 
the  hymn  “Peace  in  our  time,  O Lord. 

. Come  now  and  dwell  within  the 
hearts  of  all  men  everywhere.  Amen.” 
Lois  Kreider,  Central  District  WMA 
President 


Church  discusses  women 


Theme  . . . “For  everything  its  season, 
and  for  every  activity  under  heaven  its 
time.  . . “Ecclesiastes  3:1. 

Peace  in  our  time 

Today  at  Sunday  dinner  table  we  be- 
gan reminiscing  of  our  family  travels 
three  years  ago  in  the  Mediterranean 
world.  We  recalled  our  week  of  camp- 
ing on  the  quiet  shores  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee. 

On  our  TV  screen  we  have  seen  re- 
cently the  horrors  of  war  in  the  Middle 
East.  Tanks  and  soldiers  in  the  Golan 
shared  her  excitement  about  visiting 
Heights  were  within  miles  of  the  spot 
where  we  camped. 

We  remember  the  Hungarian  refugee 
lady  who  operated  the  restaurant  and 
Mount  Sinai. 

We  remember  the  friendly  Israeli  sol- 
diers who,  late  into  the  night,  wished  to 
talk  of  their  people  and  ours. 

We  remember  the  Syrian  border 
guard  who  cut  from  the  flowerbed  a 
rose  and  brought  it  to  us  while  we  wait- 
ed for  the  paper  work  to  be  completed. 

We  recall  the  evening  spent  in  the 
home  of  a Jewish  family  in  Jerusalem 
their  eagerness  to  learn  of  Mennonites 
and  their  delight  that  several  of  our 
children  had  Jewish  names — Esther,  Da- 
vid, Ruth. 

We  remember  Sophia  and  her  help- 
ers who  each  day  drove  from  Jericho  to 
Jerusalem  to  supervise  the  mcc  needle- 
work program.  And  we  think  of  the 
Arab  women  in  the  little  village  of 
Surif  whose  crossstitch  tablecloths  and 
scarves  we  displayed  at  our  mcc  self- 
help  sale  last  month. 

Recently  came  a letter  from  our  Arab 
friend,  Mary,  in  Bethlehem  telling  of 
her  desire  to  continue  her  education. 

We  recall  that  for  both  Jews  and 


Is  the  General  Conference  Mennonite 
Church  open  to  all  the  gifts  within  its 
membership — including  those  given  to 
women? 

About  sixty  persons  in  church  leader- 
ship positions,  including  the  General 
Conference  commissions,  General  Board, 
WMA,  MCC,  and  seminary,  met  together 
October  25-27  at  the  Mennonite  Bib- 
lical Seminary  at  Elkhart,  Indiana,  for 
a consultation  on  the  role  of  women  in 
the  church. 

To  better  understand  what  the  Bible 
says  about  women,  Dorothy  Yoder  Nyce, 
Old  Testament  student,  Goshen,  Indiana, 
and  Dr.  Josephine  M.  Ford,  professor 
of  New  Testament  at  Notre  Dame,  South 
Bend,  Indiana,  gave  scholarly  biblical 
presentations  on  woman’s  place  in  God’s 
plan  in  creation,  Jesus’  attitude  toward 
and  relationship  to  women,  and  Paul’s 
misunderstood  teaching  on  the  role  of 
women  in  the  church  of  his  day. 

To  better  understand  what  our  her- 
itage teaches  about  women,  C.  J.  Dyck, 
professor  of  Church  History  at  the  As- 
sociated Mennonite  Biblical  Seminaries, 
discussed  the  role  women  played  in  the 
Reformation  and  Anabaptist  movements. 
Dorothy  Nickel  Friesen,  student  at  the 
seminary,  spoke  of  the  changing  role  of 
Mennonite  women  in  migration  and  re- 
settlement. Gayle  Gerber  Koontz,  Akron, 
Pennsylvania,  spoke  of  twentieth-century 
influences  for  more  “equal  rights”  and 
shared  responsibility. 

An  evaluation  of  the  present  contribu- 
tion of  women  in  decision  making  and 
leadership  roles  on  the  local,  district, 
and  conference  levels  brought  out  sev- 
eral concerns.  One  of  these  was  “Where 
does  the  wma  fit  into  the  picture?”  Fol- 
lowing a review  of  the  history,  scope  of 
wma  involvement,  and  contribution  to 
the  total  work  of  the  church,  further 
questions  were  raised.  Is  the  wma  meet- 
ing the  needs  of  all  the  women  in  the 
church?  If  its  function  is  valid,  how  can 
it  be  better  tied  into  the  conference  or- 
ganizationally? 

Chet  Raber,  Oaklawn  Psychiatric  Cen- 
ter, helped  to  form  task  force  groups 
that  struggled  with  ways  to  facilitate  the 


development  and  use  of  women’s  gifts 
within  the  church. 

The  consultation  was  a first  on  wom- 
an’s role  in  the  church  but  hopefully 
only  a beginning  of  a wider  study.  Mrs. 
Evelyn  Bertsche,  district  advisor 


Reminder  to  WMA  officers 

Your  completed  1973  annual  report 
should  be  sent  to  the  district  advisor 
no  later  than  January  15.  This  is 
necessary  so  that  the  Central  District 
wma  report  can  be  compiled  in  time 
for  the  Council  of  Commissions  meet- 
ing to  be  held  in  Winnipeg  the  first 
week  in  February. 

If  for  some  reason  your  president 
did  not  receive  the  report  forms, 
write  to: 

Mrs.  Evelyn  Bertsche,  District 
Advisor 

1404  North  Walnut  St., 

Normal,  Illinois  61761 


Evaluate  pastor-church 
relationships 

We  had  an  article  on  the  new  evalua- 
tion forms  for  pastors  and  church  coun- 
cils, developed  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence, all  ready  to  include  in  this  Re- 
porter. Then  the  November  13  issue  of 
The  Mennonite  arrived  with  the  an- 
nouncement of  this  service.  We  thought 
it  unnecessary  to  repeat  the  information, 
but  we  do  want  to  call  your  attention 
to  it.  Proper  use  of  such  an  evaluation 
might  help  to  prevent  the  misunderstand- 
ings which  are  sometimes  so  disastrous 
to  the  church,  or  help  to  heal  misunder- 
standings that  have  already  developed. 
If  you  missed  this  announcement  find 
your  November  13  issue  of  The  Menno- 
nite and  turn  to  page  656.  If  your 
church  would  like  to  have  copies  of  this 
form  contact  Jacob  Friesen,  2625  Pleas- 
ant Plain,  Elkhart,  Indiana  46514. 

Material  for  this  page  should  be  sent  to  Mrs. 
Marjorie  Nester,  623  E.  Chestnut  St.,  Blooming- 
ton, ind.  61701. 


THE  MENNONITE 


A -7 


Giving  for  peace  at  Christmas 

If  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  re- 
ceive, perhaps  persons  should  be  encour- 
aged to  give — especially  at  Christmas. 

Giving  in  a way  that  recognizes  the 
incarnation  is  what  gives  significance  to 
gifts  at  Christmastime.  One  important 
way  to  celebrate  the  birth  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace  is  to  recognize  and  experience 
God’s  incarnation  into  the  world  in 
1973.  Jesus  indicated  that  as  we  min- 
ister to  the  hungry,  the  sick,  strangers, 
prisoners,  we  minister  to  him.  Giving 
gifts  to  celebrate  God’s  presence  in  “the 


Kauffmans  to  retire 


Jesse  and  Vi  Kauffman 


After  six  years  of  loyal  service  to  the 
Central  District  in  operating  the  camp 
at  Friedenswald,  Jesse  and  Vi  Kauffman 
plan  to  retire.  They  are  taking  a bit  of 
vacation  in  December  and  will  terminate 
their  relationship  to  the  camp  December 
3 1 . As  those  who  have  had  close  rela- 
tionships with  the  camp  know,  Jesse  has 
been  general  manager  of  the  camp  and 
its  program  and  his  wife  has  been  in 
charge  of  meal  service. 

During  this  past  six  years  the  Kauff- 
mans have  become  well-acquainted  with 
many  people  of  the  Central  District.  In 
their  camp  work  their  lives  have  influ- 
enced the  lives  of  many.  As  is  usual  in 
this  type  of  work,  there  is  no  way  to 
adequately  measure  the  good  that  they 
have  done.  We  can  be  assured  that  for 
many  years  the  effect  of  this  influence 
on  lives  will  be  bearing  fruit. 

The  Kauffmans  have  purchased  a fifth- 
wheel  trailer  and  expect  to  do  consid- 
erable traveling  during  the  next  few 
years.  We  thank  them  for  the  work 
which  they  have  done  and  pray  that  God 
may  bless  them  in  their  retirement  years. 

Material  for  Vital  Statistics  should  be  sent  to= 
Jacob  T.  Friesen,  2625  Pleasant  Plain,  Elkhart, 
Ind.  46514.  Other  material  for  the  Central 
District  Reporter  should  be  sent  to  Lloyd  L 
Ramseyer,  488  West  Elm  St.,  Bluffton,  Ohio 
45817. 


least  of  these”  is  a much  better  motive 
for  giving  gifts  than  simply  buying  a 
gift  for  overconsuming  and  overweight 
friends  and  relatives. 

It  is  with  some  purpose  that  Jesus  in 
his  sermon  on  a hillside  referred  to  as 
“blessed”  those  who  are  persecuted,  re- 
viled, ridiculed,  meek,  poor  in  spirit, 
peacemakers,  and  those  who  moum.  The 
need  this  Christmas  is  to  find  these 
blessed  people.  To  be  present  with  them 
is  to  celebrate  Christmas  in  the  true 
spirit  of  that  first  celebration  in  Beth- 
lehem. 

These  “blessed”  people  who  by  soci- 
ety’s norms  are  the  “least  of  these,”  can 
be  found  in  every  community  and  na- 
tion. 

If  you  do  not  personally  know  any  of 
the  “blessed”  people  or  do  not  have  a 
way  of  sharing  your  Christmas  gifts  with 
them,  the  mcc  Peace  Section  is  offering 
to  serve  again  this  year  as  a channel  for 
gifts  given  in  recognition  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace.  The  following  are  a few  projects: 

1.  To  families  of  civilian  prisoners  in 
South  Vietnam. 

2.  To  imprisoned  conscientious  ob- 


jectors and  other  needy  prisoners  in  jails 
and  prisons  across  North  America.  These 
contributions  would  be  channeled 
through  Prison  Visitation  and  Support 
Services. 

3.  To  assist  young  men,  potential  re-  - 
cipients  of  amnesty,  who  could  not  fight 
in  the  Vietnam  War  and  are  exiled  in 
Canada  or  are  facing  criminal  charges 
for  their  actions.  These  funds  would  be  ' 
channeled  through  the  mcc  Peace  Sec- 
tion and  mcc  Canada. 

4.  To  Chilean  political  refugees  who 
are  being  detained  and  will  need  to  leave 
that  country  before  December  31,  1973. 
These  funds  would  be  channeled  through 
those  religious  agencies  working  direct- 
ly with  these  refugees. 

Gifts  to  the  Peace  Section  for  helping 
the  persons  mentioned  in  this  article  can 
be  sent  to  the  following  address: 


VITAL  STATISTICS 


21  South  12  th  St. 

Mcc  Peace  Section 

Christmas  peace  project 

Akron,  Pennsylvania  17501 

Walton  Hackman,  executive  secretary. 


Eicher,  Wayland,  Iowa:  Frank  Schrad, 
September  13. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Rev.  Ivan  Welty, 
Lewellyn  Stucky,  Oct.  28. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Clara  Schumach- 
er, Sept.  22;  Cal  Amstutz,  Oct.  12;  Levi 
Gable,  Oct.  19. 

First,  Normal,  HI.:  Judge  Walter  A. 
Yoder,  Sept.  24. 

Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio:  Marie 
(Gerig)  Miller,  Oct.  12. 

BIRTHS 

Congerville,  Illinois:  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 

Steve  Gordons,  Jill  Renee,  Oct.  2. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Malcolm  Lehman,  Julie  Marie,  Oct.  14. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  to  Ed  and  Don- 
eta  Reineke,  Jana  Lee,  Oct.  2;  to  Tim 
and  Paula  Kruse,  Benjamin  Bryan,  Sept. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  to  the  Larry  Jantz- 
es,  a son,  Oct.  15. 

Maplewood,  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.:  to  Lar- 
ry and  Hlse  Yoder,  a daughter,  Aug.  27. 

Neil  Avenue,  Columbus,  Ohio:  to 

Gary  and  Sharon  Nissley,  De  Shan, 
Oct.  3. 

Oak  Grove,  Smithville,  Ohio:  to  Tom 
and  Kathy  Smucker,  Christine  Diane, 
Aug.  7,  by  adoption. 


Pulaski,  Iowa:  to  S.  Roy  and  Lorretta 
Kaufman,  Dora  Elizabeth,  Oct.  12. 

Salem,  Kidron,  Ohio:  to  John  and  She- 
lia Hofstetter,  Hans  Nicholas,  Oct.  19. 

United,  Peoria,  111.:  to  Max  and  Paula 
Pope,  Audrea  Jean,  Sept.  22;  to  Ray  and 
Karen  Wilson,  Laura  Jeanene,  Sept.  24; 
to  Dennis  and  Joyce  Birkey,  Amy  Kay, 
Oct.  13. 

ANNIVERSARIES 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ira 

Stucky,  54th,  Oct.  10;  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Herman  Lehman,  56th,  Nov.  4;  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Edwin  Nussbaum,  52nd,  Nov.  6. 

United,  Peoria,  111.:  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Art 
Bauer,  40th,  Sept.  30. 

MARRIAGES 

Eighth  Street,  Goshen,  Ind.:  Beth  - 

Swanson  and  Jack  Bechtel,  Nov.  11. 

First,  Berne,  Ind.:  Lindsey  Bowen 
and  Kenneth  Schwartz,  July  6. 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Bill  Hamman 
and  Dawn  Burchfield,  Oct.  27;  Avonelle 
Zimmerman  and  John  Beagle,  July  21. 

NEW  MEMBERS 

First,  Bluffton,  Ohio:  Ben  and  Sue 

Sprunger,  Walter  and  Meta  Gering. 

First,  Normal,  111.:  Lila  Eschenfelder, 
Noel  and  Frieda  Blair. 


\ 

1 


A-8 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


slow-paced  Amharic  liturgy  in  unison. 
After  a rousing  “Thank  you,  thank  you, 
Jesus”  in  English,  Swahili,  and  French, 
an  Ethiopian  confessed,  “This  is  the  first 
time  I experienced  all  my  organs  sing- 
ing.” 

Tanzanians  rejected  the  use  of  drums 
in  worship  because  they  were  rooted  in 
tribal  customs  associated  with  a life  of 
sin.  Nigerians  find  drumming  a mean- 
ingful worship  medium.  Black  Ameri- 
cans want  to  establish  their  music  as  an 
acceptable  mode  among  Mennonites. 

After  a painful  session  blocked  by 
disagreement  on  whom  a future  afram 


should  include,  the  Tanzanians’  decision 
to  abstain  on  any  resolution  action  “un- 
til we  get  a consensus  from  the  people  at 
home”  aroused  some  thoughtfulness  on 
community.  “We  black  Americans  as- 
sumed we  knew  more  about  the  African 
church  than  we  did.” 

Somali:  “As  a Muslim,  I gave  up  my 
blood  brothers  for  Christ.  I asked  God 
for  a family,  and  I’ve  found  one  here.” 
Tanzanian:  “Forgive  me,  but  I felt 
most  of  you  were  bypassing  me.  I had 
hard  thoughts,  but  I can’t  go  back  to 
where  I was  before  I changed  directions 
with  Jesus.  ...” 


Afro-American:  “I  still  have  bitter 

feelings;  my  intellect — all  the  ugly  his- 
tory I know — gets  in  my  way.  For  a 
long  time  I couldn’t  smile  because  of 
the  hurt.  Now  I can.  ...” 

Afro-American:  “You  Africans  affirm 
many  things  in  your  culture  that  I reject. 
We  need  your  help.” 

With  root-deep  healing  after  prayer, 
individuals  moved  to  each  other  in  hugs 
of  confession  and  tears.  Without  their 
individual  problems  solved,  but  armed 
with  this  breathtaking  affirmation  of 
brotherhood,  delegates  left  with  a new 
base  for  personal  freedom. 


Four  provincial 

November  is  annual  meeting  time  for 
the  provincial  Mennonite  Central  Com- 
mittee organizations  in  Canada.  Four  of 
the  five — mcc  (Alberta)  is  the  one 
exception — met  on  successive  weekends 
during  that  month. 

The  Mennonite  has  received  reports 
from  three  of  these  meetings.  Summaries 
follow. 

Saskatchewan  takes  budget 
oversubscription  in  stride 

Respect.  Dignity.  Integrity.  These  were 
key  words  as  192  delegates  plus  many 
visitors  gathered  for  the  tenth  annual 
mcc  (Saskatchewan)  meeting  in  Ros- 
them  November  9 and  10. 

Setting  the  tone  for  the  meeting  were 
reports  from  Vernon  and  Helen  Reimer, 
v/ho  served  in  India  for  nearly  a decade, 
Ann  Warkentin,  who  returned  from  In- 
donesia; and  Daniel  Zehr,  who  spoke 
from  the  vantage  point  of  an  mcc 
(Canada)  administrator. 

For  a group  which  had  contributed 
some  $158,000  during  the  previous  year, 
exceeding  its  budget  by  nearly  $70,000, 
the  business  sessions  were  surprisingly 
quiet.  This  was  not  so  much  apathy  as 
good  reporting. 

Following  a discussion  on  a nursing 
homes  study  report,  the  provincial  mcc 
executive  was  encouraged  to  move  ahead 
with  an  in-depth  study  covering  all  areas 
of  the  needs  of  the  elderly  besides  nur- 
sing home  care. 

The  relief  sale  committees  were  al- 
lowed to  plan  further  sales  in  both  the 
southern  and  northern  regions  of  the 
province  in  1974,  although  some  reser- 
i vations  were  expressed  about  this  type 
' of  fund  raising. 

The  executive  committee  was  empow- 
ered to  build  a structure  for  McKer- 

I 


MCCs  hold  annual  meeting 


racher  House,  a halfway  institution  in 
Swift  Current,  if  studies  now  under  way 
confirmed  the  need  for  the  building. 

Two  of  the  other  institutions  operated 
by  mcc  (Saskatchewan),  Menno  Home 
in  Waldheim  and  Carmel  House  in 
Saskatoon,  reported  good  years  in  their 
service  to  retardates  and  troubled  young- 
sters, respectively. 

A budget  of  $130,000  was  accepted 
for  1974. 

Joe  Neufeld,  a member  of  Grace 
Mennonite  Church,  Regina,  was  elected 
to  succeed  James  Mullet  of  Guernsey 
as  chairman.  Adapted  from  a report  by 
Jacob  Nickel 

Need  for  volunteers 
highlighted  in  Ontario 

An  attendance  of  nearly  twice  the  num- 
ber expected  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
mcc  (Ontario),  held  at  the  Brethren  in 
Christ  church  in  Wainfleet  on  Novem- 
ber 17,  was  further  evidence  of  the  grass 
roots  interest  in  a cooperative  witness. 

The  179  delegates  were  augmented  by 
scores  of  visitors  for  an  attendance  of 
about  450. 

Major  emphasis  was  placed  this  year 
on  the  need  for  volunteers.  The  four 
speakers  were  recent  volunteers,  who 
spoke  eloquently  of  the  needs  and  op- 
portunities as  well  as  of  the  difficulties 
of  working  abroad. 

Ron  Mathies,  Kitchener,  who  returned 
recently  from  six  years  of  teaching  in 
Malawi,  told  of  a great  shortage  of  teach- 
ers and  other  professionals  in  that  coun- 
try. He  said  the  main  enemies  of  the  Ma- 
lawi children  are  poverty,  disease,  and 
ignorance. 

He  decried  the  silence  of  both  the 
church  and  the  press  to  inhumane  treat- 
ment of  Jehovah’s  Witnesses  in  Malawi. 


Many  have  been  harassed  and  murdered 
for  their  faith  without  the  world’s  knowl- 
edge. 

“But  when  two  Canadian  girls  were 
shot  at  the  Zambia  border  there  was  a 
great  uproar  and  the  whole  world  was 
upset,”  he  said.  Mr.  Mathies  is  teaching 
at  Elmira  District  Senior  Secondary 
School. 

Murray  and  Loretta  Snyder,  also  of 
Kitchener,  who  have  taught  in  Kenya 
and  Newfoundland,  called  for  greater 
information  input  about  mcc  and  serv- 
ice opportunities  to  young  persons  in 
the  churches. 

They  cautioned  that  returned  volun- 
teers should  not  be  put  on  a pedestal. 
“Don’t  equate  service  with  mcc,”  said 
Murray.  “Those  at  home  are  serving 
just  as  well.” 

Mr.  Snyder  reminded  the  audience  of 
the  extreme  loneliness  that  faces  many 
volunteers.  “Letters  from  home  are  ter- 
ribly important,”  he  said. 

He  also  urged  churches  to  assist  vol- 
unteers in  the  reentry  process.  “You  ex- 
perience more  of  a culture  shock  when 
you  come  home  than  when  you  go 
away,”  he  said. 

Marcella  Weber  Ninomya  recalled  her 
years  as  a nurse  in  Vietnam  and  encour- 
aged others  to  respond  to  appeals  for 
volunteers.  She  said  she  and  her  husband 
want  to  return  to  Asia  after  his  studies 
are  completed.  She  is  now  working  in 
the  Kitchener-Waterloo  Hospital. 

Ontario  mcc  alumni  met  briefly  dur- 
ing the  day  and  decided  to  offer  their 
services  in  recruitment  and  information 
giving  as  well  as  in  counseling,  housing, 
and  job  placement  for  returnees. 

At  present  there  are  54  volunteers 
from  Ontario  and  about  175  from  Can- 
ada. 

After  considerable  discussion,  the 


THE  MENNONITE 


737 


peace  and  social  concerns  committee 
was  given  the  green  light  to  study  the 
use  and  abuse  of  alcohol  and  to  conduct 
an  educational  program  in  the  churches. 

That  committee  was  also  given  a man- 
date to  produce  and  distribute  printed 
and  materials  relating  to  vocational  con- 
flicts, peace  witness  in  industry,  and 
choosing  of  professions.  Each  congrega- 
tion was  encouraged  to  plan  a yearly 
vocations  seminar. 

Jake  Reimer,  Port  Roman,  and  Vern 
Toews,  Leamington,  reported  on  their 
involvement  in  counseling  and  assisting 
Mexican  Mennonites  with  immigration 
procedures  and  housing  needs. 

According  to  Mr.  Reimer  there  are  be- 
tween 400  and  500  of  these  families  liv- 
ing within  forty  miles  of  Port  Rowan.  It 
was  estimated  there  might  be  as  many 
as  1,000  families  in  Ontario. 

Although  mcc  is  not  directly  in- 
volved, it  has  been  in  discussion  with  lo- 
cal organizations  and  voted  $2,500  to  as- 
sist in  the  setting  up  of  a community  ef- 
fort at  Aylmer. 

Outgoing  chairman  Aaron  Klassen 
reported  that  “mcc  (Ontario)  is  in  good 
health.  “The  real  work,”  he  said,  “is  car- 
ried on  by  the  800  volunteers  and  staff.” 

Succeeding  Mr.  Klassen  as  chairman 
is  Ross  Nigh,  pastor  of  Fallsview  Breth- 
ren in  Christ  Church  in  Niagara  Falls. 
Elected  member-at-large  to  serve  on  the 
mds  executive  was  Larry  Tiessen  of 
Leamington. 

A budget  of  $88,500  was  accepted,  an 
increase  of  more  than  15  percent  over 
last  year’s  income  of  $348,668.  Largest 
income  unit  was  the  $107,000  from  the 
relief  sale.  Dave  Kroeker 

Enlarged  offender  program 
approved  in  Manitoba 

A ministry  to  offenders  has  become 
mcc’s  major  local  undertaking  in  Mani- 
toba. 

Three  years  ago  the  mcc  (Manitoba) 
annual  meeting  took  the  first  steps  to- 
ward a program  for  offenders  by  ap- 
proving a three-year  trial  period  for  a 
new  probation  hostel  recommended  by 
its  peace  and  social  concerns  committee. 
This  institution,  called  Grosvenor  Place, 
has  provided  a home  for  thirty-three 
young  men  for  varying  periods  of  time 
since  1971. 

In  1972  the  annual  meeting  gave  the 
green  light  for  the  development  of  a 
volunteer  and  job  therapy  program  for 
people  who  have  been  or  who  still  are 
incarcerated.  This  endeavor,  which 
opened  its  doors  in  downtown  Winnipeg 


in  July  1973,  has  been  named  Open 
Circle. 

The  1973  annual  meeting,  held  No- 
vember 24  in  the  North  Kildonan  Men- 
nonite  Brethren  Church,  Winnipeg,  ap- 
proved both  Grosvenor  Place  and  Open 
Circle  as  ongoing  programs  and  gave 
the  committee  the  okay  to  open  a second 
institution  similar  to  Grosvenor  Place. 

The  293  delegates,  who  came  from 
85  of  the  province’s  146  Mennonite 
congregations,  gave  a resounding  favor- 
able response  to  all  three  components 
of  the  offender  ministry  presented  by  the 
committee. 

Grosvenor  Place  and  Open  Circle 
together  have  a budget  of  $42,000  for 
the  coming  year.  Nearly  half  of  this 
amount  will  be  covered  by  government 
grants  and  fees  for  service  and  by  room 
and  board  receipts  from  the  residents. 

The  delegates  unanimously  approved 
a $316,530  cash  budget  for  mcc  (Man- 
itoba) for  1973-74.  This  is  $12,000 
more  than  it  received  during  the  year 
just  past.  Of  the  coming  year’s  antici- 
pated income,  $170,000  will  go  to  mcc’s 
Canadian  and  international  programs. 

In  a narrow  vote,  71-62,  the  meeting 
approved  a motion  from  the  floor  that 
gave  the  board  of  directors  permission 
to  make  a token  contribution  to  the 
Manitoba  Mennonite  Centennial  Com- 
mittee, which  is  heading  up  the  planning 
for  activities  throughout  the  province 
in  1974  to  celebrate  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  coming  of  the  first 
Russian  Mennonites  to  Canada. 

In  view  of  the  slender  majority  and 
the  many  abstentions  in  this  vote,  the 
mcc  (Manitoba)  chairman,  Jake  Harms, 
indicated  later  that  he  felt  the  board 
would  likely  make  only  a modest  con- 
tribution to  the  centennial  committee, 
perhaps  a few  hundred  dollars. 

Among  the  items  of  interest  reported 
by  executive  secretary  Arthur  Driedger 
were  the  following: 

— As  a result  of  the  strong  financial 
support  given  to  the  mcc  (Manitoba) 
by  the  churches  last  year,  it  was  able 
to  send  $180,000,  nearly  30  percent 
more  than  it  had  budgeted,  to  mcc’s 
national  and  international  programs. 

— The  six  community  self-help  centers 
operated  by  auxiliary  groups  in  Altona, 
Steinbach,  Morris,  Brandon,  and  Winni- 
peg (two)  raised  $26,700  for  mcc  last 
year. 

— Seventy-five  persons  from  Manitoba 
are  currently  serving  under  mcc  in  vari- 
ous lands.  This  number  represents  10 
percent  of  mcc’s  total  volunteer  force. 

A change  of  pace  in  the  agenda 


occurred  when  a lively  chancel  drama,  || 
“The  good  Sam,”  a contemporary  version 
of  the  good  Samaritan  story,  was  per-  P 
formed  by  the  grade  elevens  of  the  [; 
Mennonite  Brethren  Collegiate  Institute.  1( 
Larry  Kehler  L 

Bluffton  College 

dean  resigns  0 

Mark  H.  Houshower,  dean  and  vice-  [ 
president  for  academic  affairs  at  Bluff-  j 
ton  College,  has  announced  his  resigna-  p 
tion.  He  will  step  down  September  1, 
1974.  t 

Mr.  Houshower  has  requested  that  [( 
he  be  released  from  the  position  of  || 
academic  dean  so  that  he  may  return 
to  teaching  in  the  areas  of  speech  and  i 
education.  The  Bluffton  College  board 
of  trustees  has  granted  him  a sabbatical 
leave  for  the  1974-75  academic  year  ' 
after  which  he  will  return  to  teaching  | 
duties  at  the  college. 

During  his  eight  years  as  dean,  the  1 
calendar  and  curriculum  at  Bluffton  Col- 
lege have  undergone  significant  chang- 
es. Also  during  his  tenure  the  interterm,  1 
a one-month  concentrated  study  of  one 
topic,  was  instituted.  The  latest  change 
has  been  the  adoption  of  a mixed  cal-; 
endar  composed  of  modules  and  terms.  \ 
It  features  self-directed  study  for  all 
students. 

Japan  missionaries 
decide  to  construct  house 

General  Conference  missionaries  in  Japan  r 
have  reversed  a previous  decision  and 
have  voted  to  purchase  land  and  build  11 
a house  for  missionaries  with  extra  room  l! 
for  classes.  I 

When  Mennonite  missions  first  started 
in  Japan,  missionaries  bought  houses  andj 
remodeled  them  or  bought  land  and  built. , 
Later,  as  Japanese  housing  became  more 
available,  this  policy  was  reevaluated, 
and  missionaries  decided  to  place  pro- 
gram above  property. 

The  new  house  to  be  built  in  Miyako- 
nojo,  Japan,  will  house  Fritz  and  Ellen 
Sprunger,  who  have  been  working  with 
the  Namiki  Church  in  the  Takaochoi 
area.  Classes  had  been  held  in  their  small 
rented  house  or  above  a drugstore.  The 
new  building  will  include  extra  room  for 
classes.  Money  is  to  come  from  sale  of  a f 
missionary  residence  in  another  part  of 
the  city. 

Final  approval  for  the  new  house  must 
come  from  the  Commission  on  Overseas 
Mission.  i 


738 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


ndia  church  conference 
alans  new  evangelism  push 

The  Bharatiya  General  Conference  Men- 
lonite  Church  in  India  has  developed  a 
lew  plan  for  evangelism  in.  both  regions 
n which  it  has  congregations. 

The  plan  follows  the  decision  of  the 
Dctober  meeting  in  Raipur  of  the  church 
inference,  mission  conference,  and 
Dommision  on  Overseas  Mission  delega- 
;ion  to  make  evangelism  and  church 
slanting  the  top  priority. 

In  the  Saraipali-I agdeeshpur  area,  the 
jvangelistic  committee  wants  to  station 
:our  workers  and  a leader  in  each  of  the 
three  centers.  From  these  centers  they 


will  go  house-to-house  in  surrounding 
villages  with  Gospel  portions  and  Chris- 
tian literature.  Time  span  for  this  proj- 
ect is  February  1 to  May  30,  preceded 
by  a two-week  workshop  on  evangelism. 

Follow-up  will  be  done  in  villages 
where  there  is  response.  About  300  vil- 
lages are  within  a thirty-mile  radius  of 
Jagdeeshpur  and  Saraipali. 

A six-  to  seven-day  evangelistic  cam- 
paign is  also  planned  in  the  industrial 
area  of  Korba. 

Among  other  proposals  for  1974  are 
film  festivals  in  urban  areas,  gospel 
camps  in  urban  areas,  literature  distribu- 
tion and  open-air  preaching,  visitation 
of  scattered  Christian  homes  in  rural 


areas  during  the  Christmas  season,  dis- 
tributing Gospels  and  literature  at  week- 
ly markets,  and  employing  five  evange- 
lists to  do  follow-up  work  along  with  lay 
leaders. 

The  Commision  on  Overseas  Mission 
is  being  asked  to  provide  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  financing  for  the  evange- 
lism projects. 

The  church  conference  has  also  taken 
steps  to  organize  a Christian  nurture 
committee  which  would  take  over  the 
work  of  the  Christian  nurture  board  of 
the  mission  conference. 

The  work  includes  adult  education, 
pastors’  retreats,  lay  training  in  evange- 
lism, and  Bible  camps. 


RECORD 


Workers 


Miguel  Brun,  professor  at  Evangelical 
Mennonite  Seminary,  Montevideo, 
Uruguay,  is  studying  the  science  of  re- 
ligion as  a doctoral  student  in  Stras- 
bourg, France.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brun  were 
recently  reunited  with  their  three  chil- 
dren after  a year  in  prison  in  Uruguay. 
Their  address  is  83  Avenue  de  la  Foret 
Noire,  67000  Strasbourg,  France. 

Arnold  and  Erna  Froese,  United  Men- 
nonite Church,  Mission  City,  B.C.,  have 
begun  a two-year  term  of  service  with 
mcc  at  its  Akron,  Pa.,  headquarters.  Ar- 
nold is  serving  in  maintenance,  and  Erna 
is  working  with  the  self-help  program. 
Arnold  is  the  son  of  Peter  and  Tina 
Froese,  Mission  City,  B.C.  Erna  is  the 
daughter  of  Henry  and  Annie  Friesen, 
Chilliwack,  B.C. 

Ken  and  Noreen  Preheim  Gingerich 
have  begun  a three-year  term  of  service 
with  mcc  in  Bolivia.  Ken  is  serving  in 
agriculture  and  Noreen  in  education. 
Ken  received  a BA  and  Noreen  a BS 
in  biology  from  Goshen  College.  Ken  is 
the  son  of  Paul  and  Vesta  Gingerich, 
Williamsburg,  Iowa,  and  a member  of 
First  Mennonite  Church,  Iowa  City. 
Noreen  is  the  daughter  of  Otto  and 
Sieglinda  Preheim,  Freeman,  S.D.,  and 
a member  of  Salem  Church,  Freeman. 

Don  Harms,  Blumenorter  Church, 
Gretna,  Man.,  has  begun  a one-year  term 
of  service  with  mcc  in  Lancaster,  Pa. 
Don  will  be  working  with  Tabor  Com- 
munity Services,  a housing  rehabilita- 
tion project  to  benefit  low-income  fam- 


1 


A.  Froese 


E.  Froese 


ilies.  Don  received  a diploma  in  design 
and  drafting  technology  from  Red  River 
Community  College.  He  is  the  son  of 
William  and  Gertrude  Harms  of  Gretna. 

Daryl  Mast,  Pleasant  View  Menno- 
nite Church,  Hydro,  Okla.,  is  serving  a 
three-year  term  as  an  agriculturalist  with 
mcc  in  Bangladesh.  He  has  a BS  in  agri- 
cultural engineering  from  Oklahoma 
State  University  and  is  the  son  of  Levi 
and  Dorothy  Mast,  Weatherford,  Okla. 

Paul  and  Vernelle  Klassen  Miller  are 
serving  a three-year  term  with  mcc  in 
Mexico.  Paul  is  working  in  agricultural 
extension  and  as  mcc  Mexico  director. 
Vernelle  is  working  with  family  services. 
Paul  has  a BS  in  agricultural  education 
from  Kansas  State  University.  Vemell 
received  a BS  in  home  economics  from 
Bethel  College.  Paul  is  a member  of  the 
Hanston  (Kans.)  Church  and  is  the  son 
of  Marvin  and  Lorna  Miller,  Hanston. 
Vemell  is  a member  of  the  Alexander- 
wohl  Church,  Goessel,  Kans.,  and  is  the 
daughter  of  R.  A.  and  Selma  Klassen. 

Glenn  and  Carolyn  Driedger  Snider 
are  serving  a twenty-seven-months  term 


with  mcc  in  community  development  in 
Brazil.  Carolyn  received  a BA  in  math 
from  the  University  of  Waterloo.  Glenn 
is  the  son  of  Harold  and  Eileen  Snider, 
Bresley,  Ont.,  and  a member  of  the  Bres- 
lau Mennonite  Church.  Carolyn  is  a 
member  of  the  Leamington  (Ont.)  Unit- 
ed Mennonite  Church  and  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  lohn  and  Marianne  Dreidger, 
Kingsville,  Ont. 

Vernon  Sprunger,  former  missionary 
to  Zaire,  will  be  assistant  pastor  at  the 
First  Church,  Berne,  Ind.,  with  responsi- 
bility for  pastoral  care  and  visitation  of 
senior  citizens. 


Calendar 


Canadian 

Jan.  24-26,  1974 — Council  of  boards, 
Conference  of  Mennonites  in  Canada, 
Winnipeg 

Central 

March  28-31,  1974— Central  District 
Conference  annual  sessions,  East  Bay 
Camp,  Lake  Bloomington,  111. 


THE  MENNONITE 


739 


clmisT  CAME  IN  PERSON 


Jm. 


r4 


50 


J C / ‘ 


/!  -O  ^ 


/. 


« -'-77  Jf  < ■ : ' * V * Mr  "''Arif  dt 


f/ 

•*• " 'j  ' * 


Christ  came  to  us  in  person 

Now  suffering  members  of  our  world  family 

Are  asking  Christians  to  come  in  person. 

To  share  in  rebuilding. 

Heal  broken  persons,  % 

Stimulate  rebirth  from  the  soil. 

And  be  sisters  and  brothers 
In  the  name  of  Christ. 


O 


MCC  MCC  (Canada) 

Akron,  PA  17501  Winnipeg,  Man.  R3T  2C8 


LETTERS 


Christ  or  guru? 

Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  Doesn’t  an  editor 
aave  the  privilege  of  rejecting  an  article 
ar  letter  for  publication?  Must  you  pub- 
lish something  in  The  Mennonite  that 
you  reject? 

We  were  shocked  to  see  a letter  like 
the  one  from  Ruth  Juhnke  on  “Peace 
through  meditation”  (November  13  is- 
sue). Who  gives  us  peace,  Christ  or 
guru? 

We  trust  that  The  Mennonite,  as  a 
Christian  publication,  will  henceforth 
present  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  our 
peace  as  well  as  our  Savior  and  Lord. 
Erma  M.  Birky  and  Irene  Zook,  1902 
Keystone  St.,  Pasadena,  Calif.  91107 

Nov.  13 

Guru  is  false  prophet 

Dear  Editor:  A duplicate  of  this  letter 
and  copy  of  the  brochure  in  which 
Maharaji  Ji  is  acknowledged  in  bold 
face  type  as  the  prince  of  peace  is  be- 
ing sent  to  Ruth  Juhnke  in  response  to 
her  letter  (November  13  issue). 

On  May  23  our  children  took  us  with 
them  to  Elkhart,  Indiana,  to  attend  grad- 
uation exercises  at  the  seminary.  On  the 
way  we  toured  many  places  of  interest. 
On  the  streets  of  Chicago,  the  following 
brochure  was  handed  to  me.  It  says  in 
part  and  in  boldface  type:  “Your  high- 
ness IS  HERE  AND  HE  WANTS  TO  GIVE 
YOU  HIS  KINGDOM.  FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD 

maharaj  ji,  can  show  you  the  lovelight 
that  you  call  your  life.  He  is  the  Prince 
of  Peace  and  his  kingdom  is  Heaven. 
His  most  loving  and  merciful  mother, 
shri  mata  ji,  is  here  to  show  you  that 
the  Lord  is  truly  come,  hear  her!  ad- 
mission free.  May  23,  Tuesday  7:30 
p.m.  Holy  Discourse,  Unitarian  church 
auditorium.  . . .” 

In  my  file  I have  clippings,  brochures, 
and  literature  pertaining  to  Maharaj  Ji 
since  his  birth,  December  10,  1957,  the 
son  of  the  Perfect  Master  of  the  time, 
Shri  Hans  Ji  Maharaj.  Upon  the  death 
of  the  father,  the  son  Maharaj  Ji  was 
crowned  with  the  crown  of  Rama  and 
Krishna  and  named  the  Perfect  Master 
Maharaj  Ji.  He  attended  a Catholic 
grammar  school.  He  is  in  a succession 
of  great  saints  . . . Rama,  Krishna, 
Moses,  Buddha,  Christ,  Mohammed.  . . . 


In  Capper’s  weekly  (September  11 
issue)  is  the  following  headline,  “Ma- 
haraj Ji,  fifteen-year-old  guru,  was  hos- 
pitalized in  Denver  with  an  ulcer. 

The  Levitical  law  required  that  the 
sacrificial  lamb  be  without  spot,  without 
blemish,  even  as  the  Lamb  of  God 
Jesus  Christ  is!! 

In  Capper’s  weekly  (September  18  is- 
sue) is  the  headline  and  article,  “Boy 
guru  of  Denver  ‘God’  to  many.”  Among 
many  things,  it  tells  of  his  sprawling 
$80,000  split-level  house  in  Denver,  plus 
homes  in  Los  Angeles  and  India.  There 
are  two  Mercedes-Benz  automobiles  for 
use  in  this  country  and  two  airplanes.  In 
London,  his  followers  have  given  him 
a Rolls-Royce.  Weighing  160  pounds  at 
five  feet  five,  the  guru  might  blame  his 
girth  on  an  obvious  sweet  tooth. 

Another  clipping,  from  the  newspaper 
Enquirer  of  London,  is  entitled,  Mil- 
lions believe  thirteen-year-old  Indian 
Guru  to  be  the  new  ‘Son  of  God.’  ” The 
picture  accompanying  article  shows  wor- 
shipful followers  of  Maharaj  Ji  bowing 
down  before  him  at  Heathrow  Airport, 
London.  Maharaj  Ji  told  the  Enquirer : 
“You  give  your  devotion  to  God  through 
me.  I multiply  it  many  times  and  then 
send  it  to  him.  My  mission  in  life  is  to 
teach  everyone  to  love  one  another.  We 
are  all  brothers  and  sisters  no  matter 
what  the  color  of  our  skins.  The  voice 
of  truth  is  spoken  through  me.  I am  the 
vessel  through  which  Divine  Truth 
flows.  ...” 

A white-robed  devotee  in  London, 
Charles  Hammond,  said:  “People  from 
all  over  India  heard  about  him  as  the 
Divine  Revelation  and  came  to  worship 
him  and  they  are  saved  in  his  presence. 
...  He  decided  to  come  to  Britain  and 
America  and  spread  his  word  of  truth 
among  those  who  will  listen.  . . .” 

Joshua  24:15:  “And  if  it  seem  evil 
unto  you  to  serve  the  Lord,  choose  you 
this  day  whom  ye  will  serve;  whether 
the  gods  which  your  fathers  served  that 
were  on  the  other  side  of  the  flood,  or 
the  gods  of  the  Amorites,  in  whose  land 
ye  dwell;  but  as  for  me  and  my  house, 
we  will  serve  the  Lord!” 

Mark  13:22-23:  “For  false  Christs 

and  false  prophets  shall  rise,  and  shall 
shew  signs  and  wonders,  to  seduce,  if 
it  were  possible,  even  the  elect.  But  take 
ye  heed:  behold,  I have  foretold  you  all 


things.”  Read  also  Isaiah  9:61.  Mrs. 

R.  A.  Klassen,  R.  2,  Box  102 A,  Newton, 
Kans.  67114  Nov.  14 

Charismatic  renewal 

Dear  Mr.  Kehler:  I would  like  to  ex- 
press my  appreciation  for  the  articles  on 
the  charismatic  renewal  (September  11 
issue).  I have  been  involved  with  charis- 
matics  of  many  denominations  for  about 
31/2  years,  and  meeting  together  in  some 
of  these  prayer  and  praise  groups  has 
been  and  is  a great  blessing  to  me. 

I feel  there  is  a great  deal  of  mis- 
understanding on  the  subject  and  what 
the  Scriptures  have  to  say  about  it  on 
the  part  of  those  who  have  never  in- 
vestigated the  facts  for  themselves.  Re- 
garding D.  D.  Klassen’s  letter  (October 
23  issue),  in  which  he  brings  up  a num- 
ber of  things  in  opposition,  I want  to 
speak  at  least  to  the  last  point  he  men- 
tions. He  claims  that  charismatic 
Christians  seldom  recognize  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  by  his  full  title.  I must 
say  that  I have  never  been  in  any 
charismatic  meeting  or  met  a charis- 
matic Christian  anywhere  who  did  not 
recognize  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord.  One  of 
the  favorite  choruses  sung  in  meetings 
is: 

“He  is  Lord;  he  is  Lord; 

He  is  risen  from  the  dead,  and  he  is 
Lord 

Every  knee  shall  bow,  every  tongue 
confess, 

That  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord.” 

Also  a charismatic  speaker  at  a con- 
ference recently  stated  in  his  message. 
“Any  doctrine  that  diminishes  the  cen- 
trality and  the  supremacy  and  the  ex- 
altedness and  the  glory  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  of  God.” 

As  Mr.  Klassen  points  out,  the  Holy 
Spirit  brings  forth  glory  and  honor  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  this  is  exact- 
ly what  happens  in  all  the  charismatic 
groups  I know.  If  there  are  any  groups 
that  do  not  recognize  Jesus  Christ  as 
Lord,  then  they  are  grossly  in  error,  but 
if  there  is  such  error  on  the  part  of 
certain  individuals,  that  does  not  give 
any  reason  to  throw  out  the  baby  with 
the  bathwater,  or  to  say  that  the  bap- 
tism with  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not  real 
or  scriptural. 

In  my  case,  and  I suspect  in  a good 


THE  MENNONITE 


741 


many  others,  there  are  several  main 
reasons  why  1 rejected  the  teaching  of 
the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  One 
was  that  1 knew  little  about  it  until 
about  four  years  ago.  Another  reason 
was  that  I knew  the  Holy  Spirit  had 
brought  me  to  the  new  birth  a good 
many  years  ago  and  that  I was  aware 
of  the  Spirit’s  working  and  dealing  with 
me  many  times  in  spite  of  my  weak- 
nesses and  failures,  so  I knew  that  I 
had  the  Holy  Spirit. 

What  I did  not  realize  was  that  hav- 
ing the  Holy  Spirit  and  being  baptized 
wfth  the  Holy  Spirit  are  two  different 
things.  In  the  new  birth  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  active  throughout  in  bringing  a per- 
son to  the  realization  of  his  lost  condi- 
tion, bringing  him  to  repentance,  apply- 
ing the  blood  of  Christ  to  wash  away 
his  sins,  and  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
being  received  as  Savior  and  Lord.  As 
I see  it,  the  Holy  Spirit  baptizes  us  into 
the  body  of  Christ  (1  Cor.  12:13), 
which  is  the  new  birth.  The  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  one  who  baptizes  us  with 
the  Holy  Spirit,  not  for  salvation,  but 
for  power,  boldness,  love,  etc.  (Acts 
1 : 8 and  others ) . 

Another  problem  I had  was  a misun- 
derstanding about  “tongues.”  I believe 
that  a distinction  needs  to  be  made  be- 
tween the  manifestation  of  tongues  and 
the  gift  of  tongues.  As  far  as  I know,  the 
majority  of  charismatic  people  use 
the  manifestation  of  tongues,  at  least  to 
an  extent,  in  private  worship  and  pray- 
er. Paul  says  in  1 Corinthians  14:18 
that  he  speaks  in  tongues  more  than 
any  of  the  Corinthian  Christians  (in 
private).  In  private  Paul  prayed  both 
in  tongues  (in  the  spirit),  and  also  with 
the  understanding  (language  he  knew, 

I Cor.  14:15).  This  praying  in  the  spirit 
is  basically  for  building  ourselves  up  in 
our  spiritual  lives  and  also  for  praying 
for  ourselves  or  others  when  we  don’t 
know  how  to  pray  or  what  the  Lord’s 
will  may  be  in  a certain  matter.  Jude 
20  and  21  also  says  we  are  to  build  our- 
selves up  in  our  most  holy  faith,  “pray- 
ing in  the  Holy  Spirit,  etc.” 

The  gift  of  tongues,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  one  of  the  nine  gifts  of  the 
Spirit  mentioned  in  1 Corinthians  12:8- 

I I which  are  for  public  ministry,  es- 
pecially to  the  believers.  In  the  charis- 
matic circles  I know  only  a few  people 
have  the  gift  of  tongues  for  public 
ministry,  and  if  a message  is  given  that 
way,  either  the  person  himself  or  some- 
one else  usually  is  given  the  interpreta- 
tion in  English.  Paul  says,  however,  that 
unless  there  is  an  interpreter,  then  it  is 


better  to  use  the  gift  of  prophecy  or 
some  of  the  other  gifts  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  I find 
that  prophecy  is  used  much  more  than 
the  gift  of  tongues  as  far  as  public  min- 
istry is  concerned.  I have  seen  all  or 
nearly  all  of  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit  in 
operation  at  some  time  or  other. 

For  a good  many  years  I had  read 
and  heard  the  viewpoints  only  of  those 
who  said  that  a person  gets  both  salva- 
tion and  the  baptism  with  the  Holy 
Spirit  at  conversion,  or  that  the  gifts 
of  the  Spirit  had  passed  away  with  the 
early  apostles  or  early  church  or  when 
the  Scripture  canon  was  complete,  etc. 
Possibly  four  years  ago  I read  The  cross 
and  the  switchblade,  and  later  They 
speak  with  other  tongues,  and  then 
read  and  heard  the  scriptural  interpre- 
tations of  those  who  had  experienced 
the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 

When  I attended  the  first  charismatic 
meeting,  I was  not  so  sure  about  some 
things,  and  as  I checked  the  things  I 
saw  with  Scripture,  I attended  some 
more  meetings.  The  love  of  Jesus  and 
for  Jesus,  the  power  in  the  singing,  the 
love  for  each  other  and  for  others  out- 
side was  amazing,  the  sharing  of  Scrip- 
ture and  of  what  the  Lord  was  doing 
in  individual  lives,  no  generation  gap, 
etc.,  were  things  that  went  beyond  any- 
thing I had  seen  anywhere,  regardless  of 
denomination.  It  was  not  long  before 
I knew  that  this  was  not  just  some- 
thing emotional,  but  that  most  of  it 
came  from  the  heart,  and  that  I needed 
it,  too. 

Since  then  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has 
been  even  more  real,  more  intimate, 
and  more  precious  than  before.  Many 
of  the  Scriptures  which  had  been  vague, 
especially  about  the  Holy  Spirit,  became 
much  clearer  than  before.  I found  that 
the  Scripture  canon  would  be  complete, 


but  that  they  would  pass  away  when 
that  which  is  perfect  is  come  and  we 
see  “face  to  face.”  This,  of  course, 
means  when  we  see  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  face  to  face.  Then  the  gifts  won’t 
be  needed.  In  the  meantime,  however, 
they  are  still  with  us  and  available. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  there  are  no 
problems  in  the  charismatic  renewal, 
for  anywhere  God  is  working  the  devil 
is  working  also  to  interfere.  One  of  the 
problems  I see  is  that  there  are  some 
people  who  may  go  to  extremes  in  one 
area  or  another  of  the  gifts  of  the 
Spirit.  For  example,  a few  seem  to  think 
that  everybody  who  is  prayed  for  for 
physical  healing  should  be  healed,  but 
this  does  not  always  happen  and  also 
goes  beyond  what  the  Scriptures  teach. 
No  doubt,  lack  of  faith  is  involved  in 
some  cases,  but  both  Oral  Roberts  and 
Kathryn  Kuhlmann  state  frankly  that 
they  do  not  know  the  full  reason  why 
some  people  who  are  prayed  for  are 
healed  and  others  are  not. 

However,  I know  of  a number  of 
healings  that  have  taken  place  during 
recent  years  and  have  heard  and  read 
of  a good  many  others  ...  It  would  take 
a book  to  cover  the  subject,  and  this 
covers  only  a very  small  area,  but  for 
myself  I believe  God  is  working  in 
tremendous  ways  today,  and  I am  con- 
vinced that  the  charismatic  renewal, 
scripturally  understood,  is  one  area 
where  this  is  particularly  evident  at  the 
present  time.  Over  and  over  again  we 
see  biblical  prophecy  being  fulfilled  in 
these  days,  indicating  that  we  are  rapid- 
ly approaching  the  end  of  this  age.  With 
Satan  working  with  great  fury  through- 
out the  world  today,  and  evil  and  wick- 
edness growing  by  leaps  and  bounds, 
Christians  need  all  the  spiritual  power 
that  God  has  available.  Arnold  Reimer, 
Route  4,  Beatrice,  Neb.  68310  Nov.  15 


742 


DECEMBER  18,  1973 


MEDITATION 


Contents 


Christmas  primer 

See  the  long  and  weary  road. 
See  the  people,  tired  and  cold. 
See  the  star  awake  the  earth, 
Heralding  the  Savior’s  birth! 


Hear  the  moaning  of  the  lost. 

Hear  the  barren  tree,  wind-tossed. 
Hear  an  angel  tell  the  news: 
Rejoice!  Both  pagan  men  and  Jews! 


Feel  the  emptiness  of  sin. 

Feel  your  own  heart  yearn  within. 

Feel  emotions  overflow 

When  joyously  the  Christ  you  know! 


Then  tell  his  love  in  word  and  deed, 
Tell  it  both  in  life  and  creed: 
Emmanuel,  Jesus  Christ  is  here. 

All  people,  come!  Rejoice!  Revere! 


Dreams  to  celebrate  Christmas 

Parable  

Christmas  inspirations 

Mews  

Record  

Letters  

Christmas  primer 

Beneath  Bethlehem's  star  

New  kingdom  celebration 


by  730 
732 

733 

734 

739 

741 

743 

743 

744 


CONTRIBUTORS 

Max  Ediger,  Box  991,  Saigon,  Vietnam, 
is  the  assistant  MCC  director  in  Vietnam. 
He  has  had  over  five  years  of  experi- 
ence in  the  third  world,  first  in  Burundi 
and  now  in  Vietnam.  In  Vietnam  he  has 
had  considerable  contact  with  families 
and  friends  of  political  prisoners.  His 
article  in  this  issue  is  condensed  from  a 
long  three-scene  reading  he  has  written. 

Lois  Rensberger's  address  is  Route  1, 
Box  99,  Middlebury,  Ind.  46540. 

Ruth  and  Blair  Seitz  are  residents  of 
Nairobi,  Kenya  (Box  21285). 

The  Meditation  writers  are  Pollyanna 
Sedziol,  2498  Lourdes  Lane,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio  45238,  and  Clarence  Unruh,  314 
Southeast  5th,  Newton,  Kans.  67114. 

Ruth  Naylor  lives  on  Route  2 (Box 
151),  Bluffton,  Ohio  45817. 


Pollyanna  Sedziol 

Beneath  Bethlehem's  star 

A new  day,  a new  era  began 
in  a stable, 

Beneath  the  star  of  Bethlehem 

when  Jesus  the  Savior  was  bom. 


CREDITS 

Cover,  Fritz  Eichenberg,  % The  Catholic 
Worker,  36  East  First  St.,  New  York, 
N.Y.  10003;  731,  RNS;  735,  RNS;  736, 
Blair  Seitz,  Box  21285,  Nairobi,  Kenya; 
742,  CORK,  Postbus-101,  Heerenveen, 
The  Netherlands. 


Mennonite 


They  came  to  worship  and  serve 
the  promised  messiah; 

Angels  from  the  glories  of  heaven. 
Shepherds  from  the  hills. 

Wise  men  from  afar. 

Many  are  they,  that  even  today  are 
launching  out  in  faith, 
engulfing  the  earth, 
reaching  out  to  worship  and  serve 
their  Savior  and  Redeemer. 

Because — 

they  take  seriously 
the  star, 

the  manger,  and 
the  cross. 


Editorial  office:  600  Shaftesbury  Blvd., 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Telephone: 
Area  204/888-6781 

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Editor:  Larry  Kehler,  600  Shaftesbury, 

Winnipeg,  Canada  R3P  0M4;  Associate 
editor:  Lois  Janzen,  Box  347,  Newton, 

Kans.  67114;  Editorial  assistant:  Ardith 
Fransen;  Art  director:  John  Hiebert.  Busi- 
ness manager:  Dietrich  Rempel.  Circula- 
tion secretary:  Marilyn  Kaufman.  Editorial 
and  business  committee:  Jake  Harms, 

chairman,  767  Buckingham  Rd.,  Winni- 
peg R3R  1C3;  Henry  J.  Gerbrandt,  1415 
Sommerville  Ave.,  Winnipeg  R3T  1 C3; 
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R3L  OS  1 ; Eleanor  Kaufman,  2211  - 28th 
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Microfilm  copies  of  current  as  well  as 
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purchased  from  Xerox  University  Micro- 
films, 300  N.  Zeeb  Road,  Ann  Arbot. 
Mich.  481  06. 


Clarence  Unruh 


THE  MENNONITE 


743 


3 


With  this  issue  we  close  Volume  88  of  The  Mennonite.  The  next  issue  will  be  dated  January 
1»  1974-  As  a service  to  our  readers,  an  offset  copy  of  our  1973  index  will  be  sent  to  anyone  re- 
questing it. 


INDEX 


AUTHOR 


Alderfer,  Helen,  Providing  help  for  parents,  702 

Arnold,  James,  Brother  Sun,  Sister  Moon,  373;  So  good  it's  hard  to  believe,  28 
Athnos,  Gregory  S.,  Cantus,  250 

Augsburger,  David,  Releasing  gifts  in  the  church,  186;  Who  is  bringing  communism?  618 
Barkman,  Frieda,  No  longer  lonely/  Ask  me  to  dance,  212 

Bartel,  Floyd  G. , Sifting  the  tradition,  11;  Sound  doc trine- -The  neglected  ingredient, 
490 

Bartel,  Lois  Franz,  Discovering  the  joy  of  books,  684;  Live  so  you  will  be  asked,  490 
Baxter,  Pat,  The  giant  cross,  582 

Beachy,  Alvin,  Harvest  and  crisis,  503;  Reflections  on  Romans  13  and  Revelation  13,  70  , 
The  politics  of  Jesus,  580 
Becker,  Betty,  Wondering,  214 

Becker,  Palmer,  Toward  a practical  Anabaptist  theology  of  evangelism,  408 
Berkshire,  Mary  Beth,  To  live  above  ourselves,  438 
Berney,  Virginia,  John,  my  son,  34 

Bernier,  Madeleine,  Volunteer  counsels  war  objectors  in  Winnipeg,  449 
Bohn,  Stan,  A nation  of  strangers,  164;  The  Paul  principle,  231 
Brierton,  Mariana  L.,  The  hands  are  different,  502 
Brubacher,  Ray,  Sudan  survives  seventeen  years  of  civil  war,  72 
’Brubaker,  Amzie,  Volunteers  serve  city  youth  in  Toronto,  10 
Brubaker,  J.  Allen,  The  birth  of  a family  life  television  spot, 
meet  with  Bible  society,  707 

Brumback,  H.  Lee,  Kansas  agriculturist  in  Greece  digs  in,  640 
Brunk,  Conrad  G.,  Rediscovering  biblical  noncomformity , 541 
1 Buller , Harold  W. , Lighting  the  curriculum  candle,  96 
Buller,  Peter  W. , Slow  ferrymen  and  a VW  distributor  from  heaven, 

694 


194;  Mission  agencies 


285 


V 

Catholic  Press  Features,  Hope  for  the  flowers, 

'Christopher  new  notes,  One  world  or  none,  424 
Cornell,  George  W-,  Shifting  scenes  on  the  religious  landscape,  2 

^Derksen,  Mary,  Cracks  in  a god's  great  rock  chest,  651 
%Dick,  LaVernae,  The  man  who  came  to  reconcile,  348 

^Drescher,  John,  A father  reflects:  If  I were  to  start  my  family  again,  379;  Acceptance 
and  work,  312;  Check  here,  151;  Power  of  negative  thinking,  552 
-Dyck,  Leona,  Manitoba  Mennonites  plan  centenary,  271;  Relate  to  the  disreputable, 
seminar  told,  162;  Test  ideas  locally,  says  Manitoba  chairman,  193 

Dyck,  Paul  I.,  Covenant  of  despair,  244  # 

•Dyck,  Peter  J.,  Another  family  reunited,  641;  Politics  of  small  steps  Will  trust  come. 

464 

JEckman,  Lois  Kemrer,  Personhood  and  the  "real  woman,"  190 

Ediger,  Max,  Dreams  to  celebrate  Christmas  by,  733;  Handles  for  lending  a hand,  440 
Ediger,  Peter  J0,  The  politics  and  power  of  nonviolent  action,  724;  The  rich  man  and 
Lazarus  revisited,  570;  Wounded  Knee  and  a hardened  heart,  236 


i -745 


December,  1973 


Ediger,  Sam,  Construction  progresses  on  African  hospital,  239 

Elias,  Jacob  W.,  Games  Christians  watch,  666;  Marriage  is  a partnership,  304 

Enns,  Elizabeth,  Growing  old--A  family  affair,  310 

Ens,  Anna,  True,  but...,  701 

Enz,  Jacob,  At  the  Lord's  table:  Tumult  and  calm,  554 

Epp,  Elsie,  A bad  deal,  695;  Commitment:  A two-way  street,  326 

Epp,  Frank,  Say  yes  to  tomorrow,  393;  U.S.  and  Canadian  churches:  Time  to  rearrange 
relationships,  682 

Esau,  John,  Art  and  worship:  Related  or  unrelated?  120;  Biblical  foundations  for 
Christian  worship,  406;  Musical  drama  on  Revelation  staged  in  Goessel,  357 
Ewert,  David,  Reversing  the  curse  of  Babel,  506 
Ewert,  Margaret,  Conference  departs  from  usual  format,  192 

Fairchild,  James,  People  lovers  and  house  churches,  469 
Fast,  Darrell,  Of  holy  days  and  holidays,  423 

Fransen,  Jack  J.,  Guidelines  for  serving  the  mentally  retarded,  74;  Help  for  the 

mentally  retarded  is  spotty,  56;  What  you  should  know  about  mental  retardation,  39 
Franz,  Delton,  Bad  news  for  the  poor,  poverty  war  curtailed,  226;  Chileans  try  a 
"second  way,"  174;  Watergate:  The  corruption  of  power,  420 
Franz,  Marian,  I now  pronounce  you...,  198;  Dunamis:  Pastor-prophets  to  people  in  power, 
620 

Fretz,  J.  Winfield,  MEDA:  A concrete  response  to  cries  for  help,  616;  The  Amish  in 
Canada,  387 

Friesen,  Dorothy  Nickel,  Resources  for  women  and  the  church,  197 
Friesen,  Jane  Herstine,  Christ  in  common--Key  73,  485 
Friesen,  John,  The  Christian  community  in  mission,  714 

Friesen,  Rachel,  MDS  family  vacation  provides  many  benefits,  498;  The  significance  of 
seminary,  167 

Friesen,  Walter,  Crisis  coming  for  the  colleges,  703 
Friesen,  William  L. , Dollar  devaluation--Where  it  hurts,  352 
Ford,  Leighton,  Covered  up  or  covered  over?  602 
Funk,  John,  The  way  I feel  it  now,  600 

Gaeddert,  Ida,  Good  homemaking,  30 

Geissinger,  Marjorie,  Eastern  District  departs  from  traditional  format,  350 
Gilliom,  Carol  Ann,  Summer  service:  Receiving  and  giving,  659 
Goering,  Gladys,  Harvest  festival  focuses  on  the  arts,  469 
Griffin,  Jerry  J.,  Musings  late  in  the  day,  115 
Guth,  Bob,  The  significance  of  seminary,  167 

Habegger,  Loris,  The  word  became  flesh,  94 

Habegger,  Luann,  MCC  invests  in  inner  city  loan  association,  10 

Hackman,  Walton,  Accepting  defeat  and  resolving  the  guilt,  184;  Brief  favors  veterans 
benefits  for  objectors,  546;  Giving  for  peace:  Four  projects,  734;  Taxes-f or-peace 
fund  new  channel  for  witness,  158;  The  veteran--Another  victim,  428 
Hamm,  Ray,  Canada:  Is  independence  possible?  180 
Harder,  Ann,  Alberta  Conference  told  to  "make  disciples,"  352 
Harder,  Geraldine,  Tante  Fleming's  search  for  identity,  460 
Harder,  Leland,  What  is  a sociologist  doing  at  seminary?  155 
Harder,  Rebecca,  Here's  your  Sunday  dinner,  477 
Harder,  Waldo  E.,  Jesus  is  coming  back,  346 
Harms,  Jake,  Unity  within  and  between,  279 
Hartley,  Ben,  Back  to  the  Bible,  126 

Hastings,  Robert  J. , The  day  that  Jesus  came  to  Washington,  728;  What  do  you  think  of 


THE  MENNONITE 


746 


■ yourself?  486 

Hatfield,  Mark  0.,  Leadership,  power,  and  the  purpose  of  life,  442;  Misplaced 
allegiance,  216 

Hertzler,  Daniel,  Any  difference?  712 

Hertzler,  Joseph,  Seminary  without  walls:  Faculty  reports,  156 
' Hess,  J.  Daniel,  Advertising:  A threat  to  human  identity,  136 
I-  Hiebert,  David,  Holy  Spirit  festival  attracts  over  2,000,  382 

Hiebert,  Susan,  Half-breed:  A proud  and  bitter  legacy,  596;  Mennonite  and  United 
|:  churches  share  minister,  626 

Hilty,  Celia,  How  could  you  let  them  go?  405 

Hubbard,  David  A.,  Going  through  life  with  your  armor  on?  522 

Huebner,  Harry,  King  Jesus1  manual  of  arms  for  the  armless/Liberation  ethics,  628;  The 
gathering  of  the  ungifted,  358 

Hunsicker,  Ron  and  Joyce,  Parent  effectiveness  training,  532 
* Hutchinson,  Warner  A.,  The  Bible  is  alive  and  speaking  to  millions  in  Eastern  Europe, 
264 


Jantzen,  Lubin  W. , Is  Christ's  missionary  mandate  still  valid?  663 
*■  Janzen,  David,  The  empire  of  mammon  and  the  joyous  fellowship,  130 
Janzen,  Heinz,  Evangelism,  social  issues  concern  NAE,  338;  Festschrift:  Call  to 
I'  faithfulness,  293 

Janzen,  Helen,  Inspired  by  living  models,  544 
t Janzen,  Hilda,  A meaningful  Christmas  that  really  happened,  643 
Janzen,  Kathy,  Disturbed  children  helped  at  learning  center,  159 
‘ Janzen,  Lester,  Five  denominations  or  one?  286 
Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Alternative  congregations  grow  in  the  city,  176;  Assembly  looks  at 
* male-female  stereotypes,  705;  B.C.  Mennonites  find  joy  in  life  in  the  Spirit,  511; 
Changes  recommended  for  church  and  women,  670;  City  church  combines  colors, 
denominations,  466;  Commission  on  Education  looks  at  higher  education,  142;  Community 
lost  or  community  found?  335;  Conference  will  study  Canada-U.S.  relations,  494; 
Equilibrium  and  the  new  creation,  80;  From  Poverty  Fund  to  poverty  projects,  191; 
Games  people  play  about  women  and  the  Bible,  200;  General  Board  sets  record  budget 
for  1973,  417;  Gulfport:  Being  white  among  black,  688;  Kingman  churches  to  merge, 

113;  Letting  go  and  leaving  behind,  536;  Mennonite  colleges:  The  look  inward,  22; 
Mennonite  women:  Three  portraits,  188;  Oklahoma  town  avoids  another  Wounded  Knee, 

237;  Overseas  commission  deals  with  church-mission  issues,  148;  Program  leads  from 
jails  to  jobs,  222;  Seminarians  look  at  women's  roles,  238;  Shelter,  145;  The 
participative  creation,  344;  The  real  costs  of  independent  transportation,  456;  The 
spoken  witness  and  the  living  witness,  680;  Two  draft  resisters--Where  are  they  now? 
254 

Janzen,  Lydia,  Which  is  the  real  India?  314 
Janzen,  Waldemar,  The  Christian  and  warfare,  92 

Juhnke,  James,  The  legacy  of  David  Livingstone,  the  renovator,  353 

Jurgensen,  Barbara,  Say  it  isn't  so,  567;  The  Beatitudes  according  to  the  natural  man, 
598;  Your  call  did  not  go  through,  470 

Kassebaum,  Nick,  Thoughts  at  the  fair,  710 
Kauffman,  Howard,  The  state  of  the  Mennonite  family,  298 
Kaufman,  Eleanor,  May  I ask  a few  questions.  Lord?  374 
Keeney,  William,  Not  yet  peace,  426 

Kehler,  Larry,  A hankering  after  rainbows,  423;  A painful  dilemma,  623;  A somber 

rejoicing,  111;  An  opportunity  for  renewed  relationships,  111;  Conference  leaders 
consult,  87;  Consultation  proposes  MCC  restructuring,  686;  Education  for  leadership 
and  service,  280;  Four  provincial  MCCs  hold  annual  meetings,  737;  Give  thanks  and 


747 


December,  1973 


listen  to  the  whispered  question,  128;  Headache  No.  49--WH1  it  come  or  go?  696, 

Home  Ministries  considers  Key  73,  church  planting,  147;  Intense  interaction  at 
evangelical  conference,  718;  Is  service  interest  waning?  264;  Keeping  our  overseas 
workers  posted,  600;  Laying  up  more  bricks  and  mortar,  376;  Lights  green  at  Canadian 
council  of  boards,  118;  Listen,  brother,  16;  Looking  back  on  a cycle  of  conferences,  , 
488;  Looking  to  our  roots,  552;  MCC(Canada)  has  big  agenda,  lively  debate,  86; 
Meetinghouse --Time  to  evaluate,  312;  MMA-planned  conference  focuses  on  abortion, 

624;  Montana  Cheyennes  attend  district  convention,  446;  NCC:  The  awkward  giant 
reaches  for  renewal,  26;  New  circles  of  fellowship,  392;  Redeeming  the  maimed  and 
brutalized,  64;  Seminar  hails  intergenerational  education,  482;  Signs  of 
polarization  diminish  at  Edmonton,  462;  Thanks,  I needed  that,  152;  That's  the 
Spirit,  520;  The  education  of  C.  Maxwell  Stanley,  712;  The  happiness  of  pursuit,  392; 
The  John  R.  Dycks:  Living  the  VS  way,  575;  The  last  word:  Life,  264;  The  ministerial 
marketplace,  568;  The  multidimensional  Jesus,  48;  What  chance  brotherhood?  248 
Keidel,  Levi,  The  gospel  according  to  scrap  brake  drums,  172 
Klassen,  John  E.,  Secondary  education  in  Zaire:  Training  leaders,  652 
Klippenstein,  LaVerna,  Comfort  me  with  something  creamy,  330;  Food,  145 
Koehn,  Dennis,  Freedom  in  commitment,  545 

Koontz,  Gayle  Gerber,  Indians  want  to  make  their  own  decisions,  mistakes,  366; 

Mennonites  train  Flatwoods  corpsmen,  179;  Peace  missioner  denied  South  Africa  visa, 
461;  Spoiled  children  in  the  consumerism  cycle,  132;  Unsolved  problems  keep  Buffalo 
Creek  tense  256 

Koontz,  Gayle  Gerber  and  Ted,  New  front  in  the  battle  with  militarism,  400;  Religion  and 
the  new  majority,  13 

Koontz,  Ted,  Peace  churches  respond  to  WCC  study,  38;  Peace  groups  examine  development 
strategies,  273 

Kreider,  Robert  S.,  Influenced,  but  not  imprisoned  by  our  heritage,  538 
Kroeker,  David,  Ontario  gives  nod  to  inter-Mennonite  council,  721 

Lapp,  Alice  W.,  War  games,  278 

LaRoque,  Emma,  Sioux  in  Rapid  City  face  many  problems,  590 
Leatherman,  Paul,  Aid  considered  for  refugees  at  Wounded  Knee,  237 
Lee,  Carroll  H. , A home  for  Stevie,  413 

Lehman,  Anita,  A part-time  job:  More  time  for  relationships,  533 

Lehman,  Dennis,  With  open  Bible,  45 

Lehman,  Donna,  The  Christmas  tree  in  us,  726 

Lehman,  George,  VS  is  good  news,  220 

Lehman,  Melvin,  Growing  through  relationships,  702 

Letkemann,  Katy,  CMBC  seniors  teach  workshops  in  Alberta,  206 

Liechty,  Robert,  Holiness  tradition  looks  at  war  and  peace,  451 

Lind,  Millard,  Love  is  forever,  311 

Link,  Dave,  Turkey  Red  wheat  returns  to  Russia,  290 

Loewen,  Esko,  The  closing  circle,  229 

Lohrenz , Gerhard,  August  1914:  An  important  new  Russian  novel,  77 
Longacre,  Paul,  Peace  not  yet  at  hand  for  the  Vietnamese,  255 

Mace,  Jack,  Condemned,  246 

MacDonald,  William,  Evangelical  dilemma,  458 

Mackey,  Lloyd,  Camp  report  sparks  B.C.  conference  discussion,  173 
Martens,  Harry  E.,  Adopting  a church  "child,"  646 
Martin,  Dwayne,  An  apostolic  adieu  for  Jim  and  Anna  Juhnke,  591 
Martin,  Earl,  Live  bombs  lie  waiting  for  Viet  farmers,  431 
Martin,  Luke,  The  gospel--Down  but  not  out,  430 

Meilen,  Bill,  In  memoriam,  Wounded  Knee,  December  1890,  March  1973?  235 


THE  MENNONITE 


748 


~ Miller,  Levi,  Rex  Humbard:  North  America's  TV  pastor,  526 
Mueller,  Amelia,  Cycle  of  life,  253;  My  father,  390 

1 Naylor,  Phyllis  Reynolds,  Thoughts  and  afterthoughts,  14 
Naylor,  Ruth,  New  kingdom  celebration,  744;  Psalm  for  the  seventies,  124;  The  teachers, 
710 

' Neufeld,  Elmer,  Authenticity--Zairian  and  Christian,  492;  Distances,  664 
Neufeld,  Frieda,  Good  food  is  the  best  medicine,  659 
* Neufeld,  Vernon  H.,  Guidelines  for  serving  the  mentally  retarded,  74;  Help  for  the 

mentally  retarded  is  spotty,  56;  On  making  persons  whole,  230;  What  you  should  know 
about  mental  retardation,  39 

Neufeld,  Walter,  The  rural  church  in  a seductive  culture,  341 
Nickel,  Polly,  Lighting  a small  candle,  615 
Nigh,  Harry,  Caring,  550 

1 Oyer,  Lora  S.,  Biggest  task:  To  arrange  priorities,  199 

is 

Peters,  Abe  H. , Society  wants  criminals,  consultation  told,  6 
“Peters,  Bob,  The  three  crosses,  262 
Platt,  LaVonne,  Single  feats  of  daring,  572 

^ Poettcker,  Henry,  Basic  Christian  convictions,  454;  What  difference  does  it  make?  524 
Pomeroy,  Dave,  Bang  the  drum  slowly,  647 
, Powell,  John  H.,  Among  chaos,  a place  to  belong,  543 
Preheim,  Marion,  MAF--Flying  servant  of  the  church,  401 


Raid,  Howard,  Children  of  the  tube,  677 

Ramseyer,  Robert,  New  mission  training  center  begins,  158 
Ranck,  Don,  Custodio  and  Maria  struggle  against  poverty,  351 
Regehr,  Rudy  A.,  Young  Kimbanguist  leader  prepares  at  CMBC,  708 
Regier,  Fremont,  Poverty  grant  buys  egg  incubator  in  Zaire,  258 

Regier,  Jerry,  Spectator  or  participant?  Getting  involved  in  aggressive  evangelism,  333 

Regier,  Waldemar,  Divine  history  written  in  human  lives,  612 

Reimer,  Vic,  Jesuit  priest  addresses  school  staff  in  India,  227 

Rempel,  C.G.,  Coping  in  crisis,  113 

Rempel,  Erwin,  The  Jesus  people,  61 

Rensberger,  David,  Outline  for  church  renewal,  62;  Until  the  Lord  comes,  62 
Rensberger,  Lois,  A series  of  resurrections,  196;  Parable,  730 
Riesen,  Helen,  Teachers  learn  firsthand  about  learning,  625 
Rosenberger,  Elaine,  Testament  of  faith  and  commitment,  46 

Rupp,  Ann  Neufeld,  Because  they  wanted  enough  to  eat,  617;  Western  District  pastors 
wives  share  experiences,  105 


Sawatzky,  Erick,  The  significance  of  seminary,  167 
Schaller,  Lyle  E.,  What  is  happening  in  the  churches?  108 
Schmidt,  Charley  W.,  Love  is  the  answer,  631 

Schmidt,  Mel,  Ad  hoc  pastor's  group  meets  in  Minneapolis,  625;  Four  planks  from  Ephesians 
4,  362;  Funerals,  146 

Schmitt,  Abraham,  Reflections  on  the  meaning  of  marriage,  302 
Schroeder,  David,  Education:  Public  or  private?  698 
Schultz,  Harold,  A Christian  college:  Vision  for  peacemaking,  266 
Schwartz,  Emma,  Roses  again,  253 

1 Schwartzentruber , Hubert,  A portrait  of  the  involuntary  poor,  134 
Sedziol,  Pollyanna,  Christmas  primer,  743 
^eeliger,  Wes,  The  porcupine  debate,  78 


749 


December,  1973 


68 


Seitz  Ruth  and  Blair,  Black  Africans  and  Americans  meet  in  Nairobi,  736 

Shedd’  Charlie  W.,  The  fat  is  in  your  head,  332 

Shenk,  Dan,  Racial  background  doesn't  determine  theology,  367 

Shenk,  Wilbert,  MMSF  studies  church  growth  223 

Shiny!  M^rd:5A\1pp;8grfrfIr0NurruI!  m'Zw'b  brother,  170;  Making  things  work  in 
Bangladesh  fields,  339;  Poet  becomes  national  Bengali  monument,  41 

1™.  *-1-4“  life,  451;  The  sermon  I never  heard, 

202 

Siemens,  Bill  and  Elsie,  Village  celebrates  advent  of  electricity , 255 
Skinner,  Tom,  Christ  is  the  answer,  What  is  the  question. 

Smedes,  Lewis  B.,  Who  will  answer?  32  9 

Smucker,  John,  Can  Christians  purge  themselves  of  their  racism. 

Sprunger,  Arley,  The  shepherd  psalm,  455 
Sprunger,  Mary,  Dingdong,  110 

Stackley,  Muriel,  Ballad  of  an  aging  mother,  1 7 
Steen,  David  T.,  Red  Brodie,  474 

Stoesz,  Edgar,  More  dollars,  but  fewer  volunteers,  584 
Streetman,  Ann  Music,  Thank  you  for  wieners  and  carrots,  407 
Studer,  Gerald,  Bibles  for  smuggling,  18 

Tilitzky,  Jake,  Why  couldn't  we  cast  the  demon  out?  282 
Thielmann , Jake,  The  charismatic  movement  in  the  churches,  518 
Toews,  Franklin,  Washington  family  "adopts"  jailed  man,  447 

Unrau,  Ruth,  Two  churches,  one  faith,  316  _ . 

Unrau,  Harlan  D. , An  evangelical  rebuttal  to  existentialism,  325 

Unruh  Clarence,  Beneath  Bethlehem  s star,  743  . . 

Tnll]  Verney,  India  physician  becomes  head  of  hospital,  205;  New  efforts  coming  in 

southern  Africa,  Bangladesh,  435 

Vogt,  Esther  L.,  The  faded  hush  puppies,  98 

Waltner,  Erland,  Missionary  goals  in  the  New  Testament  church  410;  Seminary  1973  154 

Waltner,  Willard  and  Elma,  Reflections  on  a Swan  Lake  summer,  604;  The  recyclers, 

Ward,  Barbara,  Taking  our  feet  out  of  the  trough,  296 
Ward,  Frank,  Pop  Hunsberger  and  the  glorious  rumble  seat,  82 
Wenger,  Malcolm,  God  has  chosen  some  new  brothers  and  sisters  for  us,  58 
Whitemore,  David,  Helpers,  healers,  and  people  of  mercy,  218 


Wiebe 


Bernie,  Inspirational  communication,  679;  Would  you  say  that  again: 


300 


Wiebe,  Carol,  VS  has  a knack  for  getting  people  involved,  42 
Wiebe,  George,  Warmth  and  freedom  prevade  Catholic  movement,  5 * 

Wiebe,  Katie  Funk,  Conservatives  examine  women's  role,  445;  Mary  s love  gi  " 

perfume,  252;  The  capacity  for  outrage,  60;  The  great  reversal,  422,  The  sharing 

game,  534;  Work  and  leisure,  124  . 

Wiebe,  Menno,  Jake  and  Katy  Dyck's  skidoo,  588;  The  real  Rita  Joe,  360 


Wiebe,  Roger,  A cup  of  water  is  only  the  beginning,  472 
Willicuts,  J.L.,  Uncritical  lovers  or  unloving  critics, 


648 


Yoder,  Esther  E.,  Student  and  teacher  together,  703 

Yoder,  John  H. , Effective  or  obedient?  165;  Jesus’  kind  of  fisherman,  3 
Yoder,  Lawrence,  Financial  revo!ution--An  Indonesian  miracle,  288 

Zook,  Jeanne,  A Ntoka  snakebite  that  wasn't  fatal,  284 


THE  MENNONITE 


750 


SUBJECT 


Africa 

AFHAM  seeks  to  bring  blacks  together,  467 
African  church  leader  dies  in  prison,  40 
AIMM  delegation  plans  visit  to  Africa,  639 

Brubacher,  Ray,  Sudan  survives  seventeen  years  of  civil  war,  72 
Busenitzes  to  begin  work  for  AIMM  in  southern  Africa,  55 
Drought  relief  begun  in  Chad,  515 
Drug  companies  donate  vitamins  for  Chad,  624 

Juhnke , James,  The  legacy  of  David  Livingstone,  the  renovator,  353 
Keeney  appointed  peace  missioner  in  Africa,  287 
Keeney  visa  denial  appealed,  514 

Koontz,  Gayle  Gerber,  Peace  missioner  denied  South  Africa  visa,  461 
Letters,  30 

Martin,  Dwayne,  An  apostolic  adieu  for  Jim  and  Anna  Juhnke,  591 
Nigerian  mission  completed,  610 

Seitz,  Ruth  and  Blair,  Black  Africans  and  Americans  meet  in  Nairobi,  736 
Two  U.S.  couples  going  to  Africa  meeting,  563 


Aging 

Communities  urged  to  work  on  aging  concerns,  368 
JiEnns,  Elizabeth,  Growing  old--A  family  affair,  310 
Phase  I of  retirement  community  is  being  built,  292 
Seminars  on  aging  scheduled  in  two  Western  District  towns,  259 


American  Indians 


2 

*1 


Campbell,  Maria,  Christians  and  old  clothes,  597 
Coal  or  culture:  Issue  for  Northern  Cheyennes,  397 
Dialog  on  native  religion  set,  546 

Ediger,  Peter,  Wounded  Knee  and  a hardened  heart,  236 
Funk,  John,  The  way  I feel  it  now,  600 

Hiebert,  Susan,  Half-breed:  A proud  and  bitter  legacy,  596 
Hopi  Christians  celebrate  new  hymnal,  37 
Indian  coal-mining  issue  not  settled  by  Senate  bill,  692 
Indian  religion  may  have  held  key  for  the  present,  338 
Indians  poorest  minority,  census  report  shows,  495 
Indians  tackle  problems,  548 

Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Oklahoma  town  avoids  another  Wounded  Knee,  272 
Kehler,  Larry,  Montana  Cheyennes  attend  district  convention,  446 
Koontz,  Gayle  Gerber,  Indians  want  to  make  their  own  decisions,  mistakes,  366 
LaRoque,  Emma,  Sioux  in  Rapid  City  face  many  problems,  590 
'Leatherman,  Paul,  Aid  considered  for  refugees  at  Wounded  Knee,  237 
Letters,  598^  26 

Meilen,  Bill,  In  memoriam,  Wounded  Knee,  December  1890,  March  1973?  235 


H Mennonite  Indian  leaders  confer,  104 


\ 


j Plan  three-months  Wounded  Knee  program,  547 
Tribe's  needs  being  overlooked,  306 


7 751 


December,  1973 


Wenger,  Malcolm,  God  has  chosen  some  new  brothers  and  sisters  for  us,  586 
Wiebe,  Menno,  Jake  and  Katy  Dyck's  skidoo,  588 


Asia 


Asian  Catholics,  Protestants  discuss  health,  121 
Asians  seek  to  learn  from  West's  mistakes,  403 
Conference  president  will  teach  in  Asia,  90 
Filming  on  Asia  mission  study  begins,  590 

Bang ladesh 

Asians  plan  joint  mission  to  Bangladesh,  561 
COMBS  hears  Bangladesh,  southern  Africa  reports,  734 
Neufeld,  Frieda,  Good  food  is  the  best  medicine,  659 
Shelly,  Griselda,  Putting  pounds  on  frail  bodies,  160 

Shelly,  Maynard,  A happy  gift  for  Nurul,  480;  Banga ' s brother,  170;  Making  things  work 
in  Bangladesh  fields,  339;  Poet  becomes  national  Bengali  monument,  41 


Bible 

Brubaker,  J.  Allen,  Mission  agencies  meet  with  Bible  society,  707 
Hartley,  Ben,  Back  to  the  Bible,  126 

Hutchinson,  Warner  A.,  The  Bible  is  alive  and  speaking  to  millions  in  eastern  Europe, 
364 

Jurgensen,  Barbara,  The  Beatitudes  according  to  the  natural  man,  598 
Letters,  126 

Meeting  with  Bible  agency  set,  529 
Studer,  Gerald,  Bibles  for  smuggling,  18 


Camping 

Manitoba  camp  development  gets  go-ahead,  434 

Waltner,  Willard  and  Elma,  Reflections  on  a Swan  Lake  summer,  604 


Canada 


Boschman  congregation  mission  consultant,  55 
Celebration  at  Rosthern  commemorates  migration,  496 
Conference  ties  discussed,  593 

Epp,  Frank,  U.S.  and  Canadian  churches:  Time  to  rearrange  relationships,  682 
Foundation  names  officers,  242 

Hamm,  Ray,  Canada:  Is  independence  possible?  180 

Henry  H.  Epp  will  step  down  in  1974,  673 

Janzen,  Heinz,  Festschrift:  Call  to  faithfulness,  293 

Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Conference  will  study  Canada-U.S.  relations,  494 
Kehler,  Larry,  Four  provincial  MCCs  hold  annual  meeting,  737;  Headache  No.  49--Will  it 
come  or  go?  696;  Lights  green  at  Canadian  council  of  boards,  118 
Letters,  166 


THE  MENNONITE 


752 


Manitoba  premier  asks  for  meeting,  399 
■Menno  Wiebe  resigns  MPM  position,  576 
■ MPM  sponsors  weeklong  native  family  camp,  497 
Research  grants  awarded,  210 


China 

'China  watcher  doubts  evangelism  prospects,  610 
Door  to  China  still  closed  for  missionaries,  55 


Christian  education 


Anabaptist  Curriculum  Project  sets  budget,  609 
Bible  school  for  junior  highs  catches  hold,  210 
Bui ler , Harold  W.  , Lighting  the  curriculum  candle,  96 
Commission  on  Education  looks  at  higher  education,  149 
Cornelia  Lehn  will  teach  one  semester  at  CMBC,  337 
Family  learning  extended  to  the  whole  church,  562 
Habegger,  Loris,  The  word  became  flesh,  94 
Individualized  approach  used  in  education,  85 

Kehler , Larry,  Seminar  hails  intergenerational  education,  482 

Lehman,  Dennis,  With  open  Bible,  45 

Letters,  294,  438,  502 

Naylor,  Ruth,  The  teachers,  710 

New  curriculum  council  chooses  executive  director,  450 
Project  Teach  designed  for  church  school  teachers,  105 
Project  Teach  plans  for  second  year,  548 

Riesen,  Helene,  Teachers  learn  firsthand  about  learning,  625 
Robert  Kreider  asked  to  continue  COE  assignment,  419 
Three  denominations  will  publish  joint  curriculum,  309 
Ward,  Frank,  Pop  Hunsberger  and  the  glorious  rumble  seat,  82 
Warns  against  early  decisions,  689 


Christian  life 


Barkman,  Frieda,  No  longer  lonely /Ask  me  to  dance,  212 
Becker,  Betty,  Wondering,  214 

Berkshire,  Mary  Beth,  To  live  above  ourselves,  438 
Brierton,  Mariana  L.,  The  hands  are  different,  502 
Drescher,  John,  Power  of  negative  thinking,  551 
Enz,  Jacob  J.,  At  the  Lord's  table:  Tumult  and  calm,  554 
. Epp,  Elsie,  A bad  deal,  695;  Commitment:  A two-way  street,  326 
Ford,  Leighton,  Covered  up  or  covered  over?  602 
Gaeddert,  Ida,  Good  homemaking,  30 
.Harms,  Jake,  Unity  within  and  between,  279 
Hastings,  Robert,  What  do  you  think  of  yourself?  486 
Hubbard,  David  A.,  Going  through  life  with  your  armor  on?  522 
Huebner,  Harry,  The  gathering  of  the  ungifted,  358 

Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Equilibrium  and  the  new  creation,  80;  Letting  go  and  leaving 
behind,  536 

K Jurgensen,  Barbara,  Say  it  isn't  so,  567 

m m 


753 


December,  1973 


Kassebaum,  Nick,  Thoughts  at  the  fair,  710 

Kaufman,  Eleanor,  May  I ask  a few  questions.  Lord?  374 

Keeping  a cheerful  spirit  in  trying  days,  116 

Kehler,  Larry,  A hankering  after  rainbows,  423;  Listen,  brother, 
that,  152;  The  happiness  of  pursuit,  391 
Klippenstein,  La  Verna,  Comfort  me  with  something  creamy  330 
Mueller,  Amelia,  Cycle  of  life,  253 
Naylor,  Ruth,  Psalm  for  the  seventies,  124 
Nickel,  Polly,  Lighting  a small  candle,  615 
Poettcker,  Henry,  What  difference  does  it  make?  524 
Rensberger,  David,  Until  the  Lord  comes,  62 
Rosenberger,  Elaine,  Testament  of  faith  and  commitment,  46 
See liger , Wes,  The  porcupine  debate,  78 
Shedd,  Charlie,  The  fat  is  in  your  head,  332 
Sprunger,  Arley,  The  shepherd  psalm,  455 
Sprunger,  Mary,  Dingdong,  110 

Wiebe,  Bernie,  Inspirational  communication,  679 

Wiebe,  Katie  Funk,  Mary's  love-gift--A  vial  of  perfume,  252 


16;  Thanks,  I needed 


Christmas 


Ediger,  Max,  Dreams  to  celebrate  Christmas  by,  733 
Hackman,  Walton,  Giving  for  peace:  Four  projects,  734 
Janzen,  Hilda,  A meaningful  Christmas  that  really  happened  643 
Lehman,  Donna,  The  Christmas  tree  in  us  726 
Letters,  93 

Naylor,  Ruth,  New  kingdom  celebration,  744 
Rensberger,  Lois,  Parable,  730 
Sedziol , Pol lyanna , Christmas  primer,  743 
Unruh,  Clarence,  Beneath  Bethlehem's  star,  743 


Church 


Baxter,  Pat,  The  giant  cross,  582 
Bohn,  Stan,  The  Paul  principle,  232 

Cornell  George  W. , Shifting  scenes  on  the  religious  landscape,  2 

1 airfield,  James,  People  lovers  and  house  churches,  469 

Goering,  Gladys,  Harvest  festival  focuses  on  the  arts,  720 

Hiebert,  Susan,  Mennonite  and  United  churches  share  minister  626 

House  church  becomes  nucleus  of  fellowship,  448 

House  churches  grow  in  Waterloo,  368 

Hutchinson  churches  expand  city's  cleanup  month,  272 

Janzen  Lois  Barrett,  Alternative  congregation  grows  in  the  city,  176-  Cit- 
combmes  colors,  denominations,  466;  Gulfport:  Being  white  among  black,' 
Kingman  churches  to  merge,  113 

Kehler,  Larry,  Laying  up  more  bricks  and  mortar,  376 

Kingman  interchurch  meetings  bring  new  spirit,  370 

Koontz,  Gayle  and  Ted,  Religion  and  the  new  majority  13 

Neufeld,  Walter,  The  rural  church  in  a seductive  culture,  341 

New  Gulfport  congregation,  considered,  399 

New  phase  of  church  planting  to  begin,  592 

Rempel,  Erwin,  The  Jesus  people,  61 


church 

688; 


THE  MENNONITE 


754 


Rensberger , David,  Outline  for  church  renewal  62 

Schaller,  Lyle  E.,  What  is  happening  in  the  churches?  108 

Schmidt,  Mel,  Four  planks  from  Ephesians  4,  362 

Small  rural  church  adds  17,  529 

Wiebe,  Katie  Funk,  The  capacity  for  outrage,  60 

Willicuts,  J.L.,  Uncritical  lovers  or  unloving  critics,  648 

Church  and  state 


706 


464 


Augsburger,  David,  Who  is  bringing  communism?  618 
Beachy,  Alvin,  Reflections  on  Romans  13  and  Revelation  13, 

Churchman's  seminar  to  focus  on  Watergate,  560 
•Dyck,  Peter  J.,  Politics  of  small  steps--Will  trust  come? 

Ediger,  Peter  J.,  The  politics  of  nonviolent  action,  724 
Franz,  Delton,  Watergate:  The  corruption  of  power,  420 
Franz,  Marian,  Dunamis:  Pastor-prophets  to  people’in  power,  620 

Hatfield,  Mark  0 Leadership,  power,  and  the  purpose  of  life,  442;  Misplaced 
allegiance,  216 

Janzen,  Lois  Barrett  The  spoken  witness  and  the  living  witness,  680 
Letters,  126,  151,  166,  183,  195,  213,  342,  390,  439,  598,  710  711 

Mennonite  politician  takes  case  to  court,  657 
Millions  of  letters.  111 

Research  scholar  on  Communism  appointed,  481 
■Seminar  meets  during  U.S.  Government  crisis,  689 
Smedes,  Lewis  B.,  Who  will  answer?  32 


. Church  unity 

Dick,  LaVernae  J.,  The  man  who  came  to  reconcile,  348 
I Janzenj  Heinz,  Evangelism,  social  issues  concern  NAE  338 
^ Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  The  participative  creation,  344 

Kehler>  Larry , NCC:  The  awkward  giant  reaches  for  renewal,  26 

| City 

- 

L Chicago  area  Mennonites  plan  mission  strategy,  722 
1.  Denver  housing  gets  barn-raising  treatment,  415 
1 Government  says  yes,  then  no  to  Denver  housing  project,  287 
: Kansas  City  children  spend  week  with  rural  families,  529 

- Colombia 

Colombia  Mennonites  plan  for  next  five  years,  435 
Colombians  show  new  social  concern,  562 
Manual  on  economic  aid  written  in  Colombia,  691 
Stuckys  to  serve  in  Colombia  missions,  243 
,Two  North  Americans  will  attend  Colombia  GPS,  317 


755 


December,  1973 


Communications 


Brubaker,  JL  Allen,  The  birth  of  a family  life  television  spot,  194 
Communication  involves  moral  decisions,  says  speaker,  150 
Elias,  Jacob  W.  , Games  Christians  watch,  667 

Hess,  Daniel  J.,  Advertising:  A threat  to  human  identity?  136 
International  TV  spots  may  be  produced,  721 
Make  it  short,  says  broadcaster,  320 

Mass  communications  council  will  discuss  church  and  radio,  57 
New  radio  spots  ready  for  distribution  in  January,  705 


Conference  budget 

Friesen,  William,  Dollar  devaluation--Where  it  hurts,  352 

Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  General  Board  sets  record  budget  for  1973,  147 

Con f e r enc e - -MennoniteWorld 


MWC  elects  Belete  president,  495 
World  Conference  presidium  to  meet,  435 


Conferences 

Central  District  looks  at  abortion  issues,  334 

Dyck,  Leona,  Test  ideas  locally,  says  Manitoba  chairman,  193 

Eastern  District  follows  traditional  format,  350 

Ewert,  Margaret,  Conference  departs  from  usual  format,  192 

Geissinger,  Marjorie,  Eastern  District  departs  from  traditional  format,  350 
Harder,  Ann,  Alberta  Conference  told  to  "make  disciples,"  352 
Janzen,  Heinz,  Evangelism,  social  issues  concern  NAE , 338 
Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Community  lost  or  community  found?  335 

Kehler,  Larry,  Conference  leaders  consult,  87;  Looking  back  on  a cycle  of  conferences, 
488;  Signs  of  polarization  diminish  at  Edmonton,  462 
Kroeker,  David,  Ontario  gives  nod  to  inter-Mennonite  council,  721 
Letters,  710 

Mackley,  Lloyd,  Camp  report  sparks  B„C.  conference  discussion,  173 
Pacific  District  congregation  shares  reports,  432 
Shutt,  Joyce,  Gemeinschaft  I focuses  on  the  simple  life,  451 
Western  District  adds  two  "house  churches,"  654 


Death 

Former  North  American  missionary  dies,  193 
Kuebler-Ross  workshop  coming  at  Prairie  View,  721 
Letters,  29,  45 

Platt,  La  Vonne,  Single  feats  of  daring,  572 

Schmidt,  Mel,  Funerals,  146 

Vogt,  Esther,  The  faded  hush  puppies,  98 


THE  MENNONITE 


756 


Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  The  real  costs  of  independent  transportation,  456 
Koontz,  Gayle  Gerber,  Spoiled  children  in  the  consumerism  cycle,  132 
Loewen,  Esko,  The  closing  circle,  229 
Waltner,  Willard  and  Elma,  The  recyclers,  324 

Education 


Alderfer,  Helen,  Providing  help  for  parents,  702 
Ens , Anna,  True,  but...,  701 
Hertzler,  Daniel,  Any  difference?  712 

Kehler,  Larry,  The  education  of  C.  Maxwell  Stanley,  712 
Lehman,  Melvin,  Growing  through  relationships,  702 
Schroeder,  David,  Education:  Public  or  private?  698 
Yoder,  Esther  E.,  Student  and  teacher  together,  703 


Evangelism 

B.C.  church  reaches  out  to  "nearby"  towns,  528 

Becker,  Palmer,  Toward  a practical  Anabaptist  theology  of  evangelism,  408 

Canadian  groups  cooperate  in  book  evangelism,  398 

CHM  will  continue  goal  setting,  381 

CMBC  will  sponsor  evangelism  conference,  641 

Congregations  across  conference  set  goals,  321 

Friesen,  Jane  Herstine,  Christ  in  common--Key  73,  405 

Kehler,  Larry,  An  opportunity  for  new  relationships,  112;  Intense  interaction  at 
evangelism  conference,  718 
Key  73  activities  underway  in  churches,  273 
Key  73  committee  evaluates,  looks  ahead,  671 
Key  73--Participate  with  discrimination,  104 
Letters,  29,  30,  110,  214,  247,  725 
MacDonald,  William,  Evangelical  dilemma,  458 
Miller,  Levi,  Rex  Humbard:  North  America's  TV  pastor,  526 
Mini-Probe  meetings  possible  at  end  of  year,  384 

Regier,  Jerry,  Spectator  or  participant?  Getting  involved  in  aggressive  evangelism,  333 

Regional  inter-Mennonite  evangelism  seminars  planned,  469 

Skinner,  Tom,  Christ  is  the  answer,  What  is  the  question?  50 

Sprunger,  Mary,  Dingdong,  110 

Wiebe,  Katie  Funk,  The  great  reversal,  422 

Yoder,  John  H. , Jesus'  kind  of  fisherman,  328 


Faith 


Ediger,  Peter  J.,  The  rich  man  and  Lazarus  revisited,  570 
Fast,  Darrell,  Of  holy  days  and  holidays,  423 
Naylor,  Phyllis  Reynolds,  Thoughts  and  afterthoughts,  14 
•Poettcker,  Henry,  Basic  Christian  convictions,  454 
Rensberger,  Lois,  A series  of  resurrections,  196 
Tilitzky,  Jake,  Why  couldn't  we  cast  the  demon  out?  282 
Unrau,  Harlan  D.,  An  existential  rebuttal  to  existentialism,  325 


757 


December,  1973 


Fami ly 


Drescher,  John,  A father  reflects:  If  I were  to  start  my  family  again,  379; 

Acceptance  and  work,  311 
Elias,  Jacob  W. , Marriage  is  a partnership,  304 
Hilty,  Celia,  How  could  you  let  them  go?  405 
Hunsicker,  Ron  and  Joyce,  Parent  effectiveness  training,  532 
Kauffman,  Howard,  The  state  of  the  Mennonite  family,  298 
Lee,  Carroll  H„,  A home  for  Stevie,  413 

Schmitt,  Abraham,  Reflections  on  the  meaning  of  marriage,  302 
Seminar  probes  family  relationships,  515 
Stackley,  Muriel,  Ballad  of  an  aging  mother,  117 
Wiebe,  Bernie,  Would  you  say  that  again?  300 


Filmstrips 

"Camels  to  cornfields"  slide  set  may  be  borrowed,  439 
Filmstrip  gives  Cheyenne  interpretation  of  Jesus,  293 


General  Conference 


Amendments  to  conference  bylaws  proposed,  433 
CHM  staff  to  change,  budget  to  increase,  8 
CHM  will  continue  goal-setting  program,  381 
General  Board  prepares  for  February  meeting,  37 
Intentional  communities  will  stay  in  CHM--for  now,  8 

Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Commission  on  Education  looks  at  higher  education,  142;  Overseas 
commission  deals  with  church-mission  issues,  148 
Kehler , Larry,  Give  thanks  and  listen  to  the  whispered  question,  128;  Home  ministries 
considers  Key  73,  church  planting,  147 
Leland  Harder  takes  church-planting  assignment,  516 
Local  outreach  both  traditional,  innovative,  106 
New  members  come  from  Mennonite  fold,  606 
Nominating  committee  plans  first  meeting  in  November,  576 
Program  set  for  1974  General  Conference,  608 
Shelly,  Ward  W.,  Seventeen  years  on  the  board,  650 
Staff  will  coordinate  Northwest  workshops,  369 
Whitermore  will  work  in  church  extension,  243 


God 


Derksen,  Mary,  Cracks  in  a god's  great  rock  chest,  651 
Letters,  487,  662,  741 
Mueller,  Amelia,  My  father,  390 
Sprunger,  Arley,  The  shepherd  psalm,  456 

Gospel 

Bartel,  Floyd  G. , Sound  doctrine-- the  neglected  ingredient,  490 
Brunk,  Conrad  G. , Rediscovering  biblical  noncomformity , 541 


THE  MENNONITE 


758 


Janzen,  Waldemar,  The  Christian  and  warfare,  92 
Shenk,  Dan,  Racial  background  doesn't  determine  theology,  367 
. Theologians  discuss  kingdom,  38 
Vernard  Eller  to  speak  at  Bluffton  conference,  593 


i>  Higher  education 

Bernie  Wiebe  chosen  as  Freeman  president,  481 
Bluffton  College  dean  resigns,  481 
Colleges  will  emphasize  continuing  education,  610 
Conference  president  will  teach  in  Asia,  90 
v Conrad  Grebel  appoints  new  president,  101 
-Epp,  Frank,  Say  yes  to  tomorrow,  393 
Freeman  Junior  College  sets  new  directions,  237 
Friesen,  Walter,  Crisis  coming  for  the  colleges,  703 
Graduate  seminar  grapples  with  faith,  561 

IPF  conference  on  the  "third  world"  scheduled  in  March,  11 
-Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Mennonite  colleges:  The  look  inward,  22;  Commission  on  Education 
- looks  at  higher  education,  149 
Kehler,  Larry,  Education  for  leadership  and  service,  280 
Letkemann,  Katy,  CMBC  seniors  teach  workshops  in  Alberta,  206 
Letters,  213 

Lower  percentage  of  Mennonites  in  college,  336 
•New  advising  system  set  up,  486 

►Nine  Bible  institute  students  serve  as  interns,  122 
Schultz,  Harold,  A Christian  college:  Vision  for  peacemaking,  266 
Summer  graduate  seminar  will  be  in  Michigan,  56 

Holy  Spirit 

_Ewert,  David,  Reversing  the  curse  of  Babel,  506 
(Hiebert,  David,  Holy  Spirit  festival  attracts  over  2,000,  382 
Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  B.C.  Mennonites  find  joy  in  life  in  the  Spirit,  511 
Kehler,  Larry,  That's  the  Spirit,  520 
lLetters,  613,  741 
^Spirit's  role  is  stressed,  383 

(Thielmann,  Jake,  The  charismatic  movement  in  the  churches,  518 

Wiebe,  George  D. , Warmth  and  freedom  pervade  the  Catholic  charismatic  movement,  510 
‘Hospitals 

tGriffin,  Jerry,  Musings  late  in  the  day,  115 


^Consultation  in  India  probes  peace,  segregation,  431 
.Drought  grips  two-thirds  of  India,  317 
Green  revolution  fades,  Threat  of  famine  grows,  122 
Indians  hope  for  more  than  a ten-cent  crop,  417 
India  hospitals  to  join  medical  association,  719 


759 


December,  1973 


India  mission  properties  transferred,  306 
Janzen,  Lydia,  Which  is  the  real  India?  318 
Mennonites  active  in  India  drought  relief  programs,  12 
Missionaries  note  changes  in  India,  318 

Reimer,  Vic,  Jesuit  priest  addresses  school  staff  in  India,  227 
Responsibility  for  India  affirmed,  638 
Unrau,  Ruth,  Two  churches,  one  faith,  316 

Unruh , Verney,  India  physician  becomes  head  of  hospital,  205 
Indonesia 


Yoder,  Lawrence  M. , Financial  revolution--An  Indonesian  miracle,  289 


Japan 

Goals  set  in  Taiwan  and  Japan,  54 

Japanese  church  takes  charge  of  mission  work,  369 

Japan  missionaries  decide  to  construct  house,  738 

Jesus  Christ 


Beachy,  Alvin,  The  politics  of  Jesus,  580 
Harder,  Waldo  E.,  Jesus  is  coming  back,  346 

Hastings,  Robert  J.,  The  day  that  Jesus  came  to  Washington,  728 
Kehler,  Larry,  The  multidimensional  Jesus,  48 
Yoder,  John  H. , Effective  or  obedient?  165 


Journalism 


COM  names  new  publication,  Mary  Rempel  will  be  editor,  309 

Per  Mennonit  will  cease  publication,  577 

George  Lehman  named  forum  editor,  516 

Kehler,  Larry,  Meetinghouse--Time  to  evaluate,  312 

Letters,  29,  215,  231,  245,  327,  375,  389,  439,  470,  567,  645 

Labor 

Harder,  Rebecca,  Here's  your  Sunday  dinner,  477 

Steen,  David  T. , Red  Brodie,  474 

Wiebe,  Katie  Funk,  Work  and  leisure,  124 

Literature 

Bartel,  Lois  Franz,  Discovering  the  joy  of  books,  684 


THE  MENNONITE 


760 


(Love 

; 

Letters,  276,  295,  327 
Lind,  Millard,  Love  is  forever,  311 
Nigh,  Harry,  Caring,  550 
- Schmidt,  Charley,  Love  is  the  answer,  631 
i Shutt,  Joyce,  The  sermon  I never  heard,  202 


Mennonite  Central  Committee 


Aid  to  Managua  will  include  skilled  volunteers,  70 
. Brubaker,  Amzie,  Volunteers  serve  in  Toronto,  10 
Consultation  proposes  MCC  restructuring,  686 
Dyck,  Peter  J.,  Another  family  reunited,  641 

Habeggar,  Luann,  MCC  invests  in  inner  city  loan  association,  10 

Javanese  migrate  to  Sumatra,  691 

Jordanian  Government  requests  drought  aid,  548 

Kehler , Larry,  Consultation  proposes  MCC  restructuring,  686;  MCC(Canada)  has  bis 
debate,  86  65 

Koontz,  Gayle  Gerber,  Mennonites  train  Flatswood  corpsmen,  179 
Leamington  good  choice  for  MCC  meeting,  102 
Letters,  230,  486 

MCC  and  conference  begin  Montreal  outreach,  434 
.MCC  investigates  needs  after  Nicaraguan  quake,  38 
,MCC  personnel  down,  242 

MCC  self-study  progresses,  Special  meetings  planned  123 
MCC  self-study  to  hold  workshop  conferences,  479 
MEDA  goes  nonprofit,  Project  status  unaffected,  289 
Rising  costs  hit  Jamaican  poor  hard,  421 
Team  recruits  for  Nicaragua,  104 
Traffic  ticket  leads  policeman  to  MCC,  7 

' Mennonite  Disaster  Service 
> Disaster  service  sets  record  in  1972,  54 

Friesen,  Rachel,  MDS  family  vacation  provides  many  benefits,  498 
‘Koontz,  Gayle  Gerber,  Unsolved  problems  keep  Buffalo  Creek  tense  256 
'MDS  busy  with  repairs  after  Great  Lakes  floods,  25 


Mennonites 


^Bartel,  Floyd  G.,  Sifting  the  tradition,  11 
Brunk,  Conrad  G.,  Rediscovering  biblical  noncomformity , 541 
Cave  and  well  found  at  Germantown  site,  308 
College  hires  writer  for  centennial  drama,  385 
vConference  on  Christian  community  planned  May  3-6,  257 
\Dyck,  Leona,  Manitoba  Mennonites  plan  centenary,  271 
jFretz,  J.  Winfield,  The  Amish  in  Canada,  387 
Friesen,  John,  The  Christian  community  in  mission,  714 
Guide  to  oral  history  collection  published,  356 
Harder,  Geraldine,  Tante  Fleming's  search  for  identity,  460 


761 


lively 


December,  1973 


Historical  committees  share  centennial  ideas,  452 
Inter-Mennoni te  dialog  on  "Images  of  Jesus,"  725 
Janzen,  Lester,  Five  denominations  or  one?  286 
Janzen,  Helen,  Inspired  by  living  models,  544 
Kaufman  writes  book  on  GC  pioneers,  577 

Kehler,  Larry,  Looking  to  our  roots,  522;  New  circles  of  fellowship,  391 
Koehn,  Dennis,  Freedom  in  commitment,  545 

Kreider,  Robert,  Influenced,  but  not  imprisoned  by  our  heritage,  538 
Kroeker,  David,  Ontario  gives  nod  to  inter-Mennonite  council,  721 
Letters,  646 

Link,  Dave,  Turkey  Red  wheat  returns  to  Russia,  290 
Pictorial  "scrapbook"  planned,  707 
Philadelphia  Mennonites  form  new  council,  318 
Powell,  John  H. , Among  chaos,  a place  to  belong,  543 
Regier,  Waldemar,  Divine  history  written  in  human  lives,  612 
Second  inter-Mennonite  leadership  meeting  planned,  673 
Shenk,  Wilbert,  MMSF  studies  church  growth,  223 
Whitermore,  David,  Helpers,  healers,  and  people  of  mercy,  218 


Mental  health 


Applications  open  for  mental  health  scholarships,  578 
Berney,  Virginia,  John,  my  son,  34 

Boys  Village  unit  closed  after  twenty-two  years,  370 
Distress  line  helps  callers  in  Edmonton,  290 

Fransen,  Jack  J.,  Guidelines  for  serving  the  mentally  retarded,  74;  Help  for  the 
mentally  retarded  is  spotty,  56;  What  you  should  know  about  mental  retardation 
39 

Head  named  for  mental  retardation  program,  659 

Janzen,  Kathy,  Disturbed  children  helped  at  learning  center,  159 
Kehler,  Larry,  Thanks,  I needed  that,  152 
Letters,  165 

MMHS  concerned  about  retardation,  offender,  355 

Neufeld,  Vernon  H. , Guidelines  for  serving  the  mentally  retarded,  74;  Help  for  th 
mentally  retarded  is  spotty,  56;  What  you  should  know  about  mental  retardation 

39 

Rempel,  C.G.,  Coping  in  crisis,  113 
Special  education  courses,  575 


Mexico 


Mexico  consultation  scheduled,  386 
Mexico  earthquake  relief  begun,  560 


Middle  East 


Draft  statement  on  Mideast,  725 

Middle  East  projects  reopened,  706 

War  stops  MCC  work  in  the  Middle  East,  637 


THE  MENNONITE 


- Ministry 


Emma  Richards'  ordination  approved,  scheduled  in  June,  369 
Help  sought  for  pastors,  593 
Illinois  pastors  meet  jointly,  656 
Kehler , Larry,  The  ministerial  marketplace,  568 
* Letters,  165,  630 

” New  paper  for  pastors  gets  boost,  384 
Ordination,  a progress  report,  555 
Ordination  study  revised,  274 
Pastors'  evaluation  forms  prepared,  656 
Responses  to  the  ordination  report,  556 

Rupp , Ann  Neufeld,  Western  District  pastors,  wives  share  experiences,  105 
■Schmidt,  Mel,  Ad  hoc  pastors'  group  meets  in  Minneapolis,  625 
Workshop  on  preaching  set,  610 

Missions 
k. 

Dollar  devaluation,  new  workers  concern  COM,  461 
Dyck,  Paul  I.,  Covenant  of  despair,  244 
Former  North  American  missionary  dies,  192 
, Guidelines  available  on  aid  to  foreign  students,  356 
, Jantzen,  Lubin  W. , Is  Christ's  missionary  mandate  still  valid?  663 
Kehler,  Larry,  Keeping  our  overseas  workers  posted,  600 
Mission  consultant  looks  at  history,  future,  207 
Neufeld,  Elmer,  Distances,  664 

Preheim,  Marion,  MAF--Flying  servant  of  the  church,  401 
) Rams eye r,  Robert,  New  mission  training  center  begins,  158 
Unruh , Verney,  New  efforts  coming  to  South  Africa,  Bangladesh,  435 
^ Waltner , Erland,  Missionary  goals  in  the  New  Testament  church’  410 

» 

t Motion  pictures 


Arnold,  James  W.,  Brother  Sun,  Sister  Moon,  373; 
Elkhart  premiere  for  Merle  Good  film,  708 
Letters,  127 

Peace  film  is  in  planning  stage,  103 
Pomeroy,  Dave,  Bang  the  drum  slowly,  47 
Theme  selected  for  peace  film,  417 


So  good  it's  hard  to  believe,  28 


* 

* Peace 


Bethel  College  introduces  peace  studies  program,  289 
Ediger,  Peter  J.,  The  politics  and  power  of  nonviolent  action  724 
ackman,  Walton,  Taxes-for-peace  fund  new  channel  for  witness,’  158 
F conference  on  third  world  scheduled  in  March  11 
JKoontz^Ted^Peace  churches  respond  to  WCC  study,’  38;  Peace  groups  examine  development 

Leichty , Robert,  Holiness  tradition  looks  at  war  and  peace  451 
Letter  on  peace  observers  languishes,  418 
Peace  Assembly  announced,  577 


763 


December,  1973 


Peace  Section  puts  women's  items  on  agenda,  309 
Schowalter  Foundation  okays  peace  program,  699 


Poverty 

CHM  reference  council  okays  interim  poverty  monies,  337 

Franz,  Delton,  Bad  news  for  the  poor,  poverty  war  curtailed,  226 

Fretz,  J„  Winfield,  MEDA:  A concrete  response  to  cries  for  help,  616 

Haitians  take  more  initiative  in  development,  58 

Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  From  Poverty  Fund  to  poverty  projects,  191 

Letters,  246,  551 

Medical  corps  proposed,  259 

Poverty  program  may  have  consultant  for  congregations,  8 
Schwartzentruber , Hubert,  A portrait  of  the  involuntary  poor,  134 
Weldon  Nisly  will  become  poverty  consultant  for  CHM,  516 


Prayer 

Jurgensen,  Barbara,  Your  call  did  not  go  through,  470 
Streetman,  Ann  Music,  Thank  you  for  wieners  and  carrots,  407 


Prison 

Agencies  consult  on  offender  ministries,  209 
Dyck,  Leona,  Relate  to  the  disreputable,  seminar  told,  162 
Interchurch  group  plans  for  prison  project,  385 
Inter-Mennonite  offender  seminar  set  on  West  Coast,  479 
Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Program  leads  from  jails  to  jobs,  222 
Kehler,  Larry,  Redeeming  the  maimed  and  brutalized,  64 
Offender  must  feel  worthwhile,  says  Edgar  Epp,  223 
Offender  seminar  discusses  one-to-one  visiting,  89 
Peters,  Abe  H. , Society  wants  criminals,  consultation  told,  6 
Toews , Franklin,  Washington  family  "adopts"  jailed  man,  447 


Race 


Bartel,  Lois  Franz,  Live  so  that  you  will  be  asked,  66 
Fresno  church  to  work  on  race  relations,  381 
Kehler,  Larry,  What  chance  brotherhood?  248 
Letters,  165 

Smucker,  John,  Can  Christians  purge  themselves  of  their  racism?  68 
Wiebe,  Menno,  The  real  Rita  Joe,  360 


Relief 


Brazilians  start  relief-service  organization,  103 
Jordanian  Government  requests  drought  aid,  548 
Team  recruited  for  Nicaragua,  104 


THE  MENNONITE 


764 


Salvation 


Athnos,  Gregory  S.,  Cantus,  250 
Kehler,  Larry,  The  last  word:  Life,  264 
Mace,  Jack,  Condemned,  246 

Neufeld,  Vernon,  On  making  persons  whole,  230 
Peters,  Bob,  The  three  crosses,  262 
Schwartz,  Emma,  Roses  again,  253 


Seminary 

Friesen,  Rachel  Hilty,  The  significance  of  seminary,  167 
Fund  raising  begins  for  library  expansion,  450 
Guth,  Bob,  The  significance  of  seminary,  167 

Harder,  Leland,  What  is  a sociologist  doing  at  seminary?  155 
Hertzler,  Joseph,  Seminary  without  walls:  Faculty  reports,  156 
Letters,  247,  470 

Penner,  Barb  and  H.A. , The  significance  of  seminary,  167 
Sawatzky,  Erick,  The  significance  of  seminary,  167 
Seminaries  show  enrollment  increase,  627 
Waltner,  Erland,  Seminary  1973,  154 


Service 


Brumback,  H.  Lee,  Kansas  agriculturist  in  Greece  digs  in,  640 
Kehler,  Larry,  Is  service  interest  waning?  264 
Stoesz,  Edgar,  More  dollars,  but  fewer  volunteers,  584 
Team  will  seek  to  spark  interest  in  service,  576 
Wiebe,  Roger,  A cup  of  water  is  only  the  beginning,  472 


Service-Voluntary  Service 

Council  looks  at  new  voluntarism,  690 

Gene  Stoltzfus  named  voluntary  service  director,  386 

Gilliom,  Carol  Ann,  Summer  service:  Receiving  and  giving,  656 

Kehler,  Larry,  The  John  R.  Dycks:  Living  the  VS  way,  575 

Lehman,  George,  VS  is  good  news,  221 

Letters,  711,  725 

Summer  service  has  a variety  of  options,  224 
Three  VS  units  to  close,  418 

VS  group  helps  start  project  in  Saskatoon,  257 

VSers  uncover  needs  of  Atlanta’s  elderly,  574 

Wiebe,  Carol,  VS  has  a knack  for  getting  people  involved,  42 

Social  concerns 

Bohn,  Stan,  A nation  of  strangers,  164 

Evangelicals  plan  declaration,  657 

Health  assembly  will  meet  in  Atlanta  in  March,  119 

Janzen,  David,  The  empire  of  mammon  and  the  joyous  fellowship,  130 


765 


December,  1973 


Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Shelter,  146 

Kehler,  Larry,  A painful  dilemma,  632;  MMA-planned  conference  focuses  on  abortion,  624 
Klippens tein , La  Verna,  Food,  145 

Lehman,  Anita,  A part-time  job:  More  time  for  relationships,  553 
Letters,  93,  486,  699,  711 

Life  and  human  values  conference  planned,  516 
MDs  invite  theologians  to  discuss  abortion,  355 
Mennonites  speak  out  on  death  penalty,  609 
One  world,  or  none,  424 

Ward,  Barbara,  Taking  our  feet  out  of  the  trough,  296 
South  America 

Brazilians  start  relief-service  organization,  103 

Franz,  Delton,  Chileans  try  a "second  way,"  174 

Latin  Americans  organize  seminary  extension,  101 

Leprosy  patients  work  again,  672 

New  health  posts  created  in  rural  Bolivia,  370 

Paraguayan  Mennonites  build  at  home  for  the  aged,  275 

Ranck,  Don,  Custodio  and  Maria  struggle  against  poverty,  351 

Rutschmans  will  serve  in  Bolivia  for  summer,  354 

South  America  Conference  plans  February  sessions,  496 

Uruguay  annual  conference  looks  at  new  curriculum,  227 

Uruguay  political  situation  tense,  495 

Uruguay  seminary  professor  freed,  433 


Soviet  Union 

Lohrenz,  Gerhard,  August  1914:  An  important  new  Russian  novel,  77 
Pressure  on  religion  seen  easing  in  Russia,  421 
Russian  Christians  evaluate  western  church,  399 


Stewardship 

Agri-Urban  project  expanded,  529 
Drescher,  John,  Check  here,  153 

Ediger,  Peter  J.,  The  rich  man  and  Lazarus  revisited,  570 
Giving  from  the  heart,  with  the  head,  634 
How  to  live  on  less  than  $200  per  year,  648 
Martens,  Harry  E.,  Adopting  a church  "child,"  646 
Three  students  give  $5,000,  224 


Taiwan 


Siemens,  Bill  and  Elsie,  Village  celebrates  advent  of  electricity,  255 
Taiwan  churches  take  on  added  responsibility,  497 
Theological  extension  courses  continue  in  Taiwan,  449 


THE  MENNONITE 


766 


United  States 


Belgian  newsman  holds  mirror  to  American  ways,  322 


Vietnam 

Beachy,  Alvin,  Harvest  and  crisis,  504 
Congressmen  urged  to  end  Vietnam  War,  88 
Contact  sought  with  DRV,  209 

Day  of  concern  for  Vietnam  prisoners  set,  525 
Ediger,  Max,  Handles  for  lending  a hand,  440 

Hackman,  Walton,  Accepting  defeat  and  resolving  guilt,  184;  The  veteran--Another  victim, 
428 

Hanoi  churches  meet  three  times  a week,  669 
International  team  assists  at  Vietnam  clinic,  307 
Keeney,  William,  Not  yet  peace,  426 
Kehler,  Larry,  A somber  rejoicing,  112 
Letters,  93,  375,  502 

Longacre,  Paul,  Peace  not  yet  at  hand  for  Vietnamese,  225 

Martin,  Earl,  Live  bombs  lie  waiting  for  Viet  farmers,  431 

Martin,  Luke,  The  gospel--Down  but  not  out,  430 

Medical  aid  goes  to  Hanoi  through  Friends,  350 

Medical  journals  sent  to  North  Vietnam,  225 

Slides  show  post-war  war,  607 

Smedes,  Lewis  B.,  Who  will  answer?  31 

Volunteers  explore  defusing  Vietnam  fields,  607 


War 

A declaration  on  amnesty,  268 
Amnesty  Week  activities  encouraged,  577 

Bernier,  Madeleine,  Volunteer  counsels  war  objectors  in  Winnipeg,  449 
Draft  down,  but  ROTC  is  up,  staff  told,  208 

Hackman,  Walt,  Brief  favors  veteran  benefits  for  objectors,  546;  GI  benefits  for 
conscientious  objectors,  322 

Huebner,  Harry,  King  Jesus'  manual  for  the  armless/Liberation  ethics,  628 
Janzen,  Lois  Barrett,  Two  draft  resisters--Where  are  they  now?  254 
Janzen,  Waldemar,  The  Christian  and  warfare,  92 

Koontz,  Gayle  and  Ted,  New  front  in  the  battle  with  militarism,  400 
Lapp,  Alice  W.,  War  games,  278 
Letters,  276,  294,  645,  343 

Minneapolis  congregation  refuses  excise  tax,  242 
Responses  to  amnesty,  269 

Rupp,  Ann  Neufeld,  Because  they  wanted  enough  to  eat,  617 
Slide  set  on  war  kept  off  TV  despite  youth's  funding,  274 

Women 

Augsberger,  David,  Releasing  gifts  in  the  church,  186 
Conference  women's  group  to  start  new  publication,  178 
Consultation  on  the  role  of  women  planned,  467 


767 


December,  1973 


Eckman,  Lois  Kemrer,  Personhood  and  the  "real  woman,  190 
Franz,  Marian,  I now  pronounce  you...,  198 

Friesen,  Dorothy  Nickel,  Resources  for  women  and  the  church,  9/ 

Goering  replaces  Dyck  in  WMA  position,  627 

Janzen  Lois  Barrett,  Assembly  looks  at  male-female  stereotypes,  705;  Changes 

recommended  for  church  and  women,  670;  Games  people  play  about  women  and  the  i e, 
200;  Mennonite  women;  Three  portraits,  188;  Seminarians  look  at  women  s roles,  238 
Letters,  245,  247,  262,  276,  277,  390 

Oyer,  Lora  S.,  Biggest  task:  To  arrange  priorities,  199 

Peace  Section  puts  women's  items  on  agenda,  309 

Wiebe,  Katie  Funk,  Conservatives  examine  women's  role,  445 


Worship 


Esau,  John,  Art  and  worship:  Related  or  unre 
Christian  worship,  406;  Musical  drama  on 
Wiebe,  Katie  Funk,  The  sharing  game,  534 


lated?  120;  Biblical  foundations  o 
Revelation  staged  in  Goessel,  257 


f 


Youth 

Illinois  youth  convene  to  discuss  "being  real,"  73 
Pennsylvania  youth  give,  receive  in  flood  area,  89 
Youth  council  reports  on  regional  activities,  319 


Zaire 

AIMM  discusses  Zaire  political  pressures,  319 

Buller,  Peter  W.,  Slow  ferrymen  and  a VW  distributor  from  heaven,  285 
Ediger,  Sam,  Construction  progresses  on  African  hospital,  239 
First  Zairewide  Mennonite  pastor's  conference  held,  480 
Girls'  school  opens  in  Zaire,  639 

Keidel , Levi,  The  gospel  according  to  scrap  brake  drums,  172 
Klassen,  John  E.,  Secondary  education  in  Zaire:  Training  leaders,  652 
Mennonite  community  in  Zaire  joins  WCC , 574 
Moundridge,  Kansas,  will  host  Zairian  family,  402 
Neufeld,  Elmer,  Authenticity--Zairian  and  Christian,  492 
Regehr,  Rudy  A.,  Young  Kimbanguist  leader  prepares  at  CMBC , 708 
Regier,  Fremont,  Poverty  grant  buys  egg  incubator  in  Zaire,  258 
Restrictions  lifted  in  time,  Zaire  Mennonites  convene,  563 
Volunteer  in  Zaire  given  new  name,  672 
Waterwheel  built  in  Zaire,  607 

Zook,  Jeanne,  A Ntoka  snakebite  that  wasn't  fatal,  284 


Special  editions 

Central  District  Reporter,  Jan.  16;  Feb.  20;  March  20;  April  17;  June  19;  July  24; 

Sept.  18;  Oct.  16;  Nov.  20;  Dec.  18 
Encompass,  Sept.  11;  Dec.  11 
MCC  annual  report,  Feb.  27 

Pacific  District  Messenger,  Feb.  6;  March  27;  May  29;  Aug.  7;  Sept.  25;  Nov.  27 


THE  MENNONITE 


76£ 


* Western  District  News,  Jan.  2;  Feb.  6;  March  6;  April  3;  May  1;  June  5;  Sept.  4;  Oct.  2 
Nov.  6;  Dec.  4